Lucid's Sacrifice

Life, Death

On a fateful night, an outbreak of unprecedented size tormented the small town of Delucite in a dark and desolate forest. Three weeks went on of near constant fighting, a war of monsters and mortals raged on and on with seemingly no end. The blood of hundreds were shed, children and mothers, fathers and siblings. The kind sorcerers of Vexheryn had enough of the insolence of the damned.   Off they traveled to the decrepit woodland, announcing their plan: to seal away the wretched creatures in a rift that descended to Hell, to push back the freakish beings to where they arose. However, there was one catch: there must be a bait, willing to sacrifice themselves and able to handle wielding the great Vexheryn's magic to double the seal from within. All to ensure, without a shadow of a doubt, they shall never rise again. At first, it was thought one of the great mages would commit to this sacrifice. It was only right.   Until the boy by the name of Lucid Amartya stood up, and offered up his life as trade. The boy told a tale of himself and his close friend, his soulmate, and the wondrous memories they'd acquired. However, on a day almost as dark as this, that friend had been ripped from his hands. Suddenly. Mysteriously. He had vanished one day, and never appeared again, two years ago in this unforgiving forest... he must have died out there, wherever he wandered. Lucid Amartya said it himself, how his life had no meaning without his second half. That was not all, for when asked by his teary-eyed townsfolk, he would simply say with a false smile:   "It's what Nico would have done."   So did the hero, clad in silver armor, lure in the snapping and snarling beasts. The hero was unafraid of the fate that would befall him, and the townsfolk watched from the sidelines as he disappeared into an isolated grove. Lucid Amartya never emerged.   Though the town has long since become a ghost town, the rift still stands in that grove. It still hums with magic, and sometimes, you can even hear the growl of one of those beasts. The land has flourished into a vast, ethereal garden, thanks to seeds planted in Lucid's name.