Storyboards: Demarius

Joining Adventurers
‘Yad Ho Gorim. Groja UL!’ said the kneeling Ulgo Zealot as he paused at the entrance to the cavern that would admit him into the Gorim’s Holy Presence.
‘Yad Ho Kilg. Groja UL!’ responded the Gorim less formally lifting the mystic by his hand and guiding him to a seat inside the cavern. ‘Old friend. There has never been place for formality among us. Please enter. Your timing is as usual perfect.’
As he watched the Zealot take his seat, the Gorim’s eyes wandered over his fellow Ulgo of a lean and wiry disposition not uncommon among members of his race. His chiselled face bore testimony to his many years of service spent in prayer to UL. However, to the keen observer, unlike the rest of his group who held themselves in moods of religious rapture on most occasion, today his demeanour seemed - for a lack of better words – troubled, though he smiled as he glanced back at the holy figure who sat opposite him.
‘Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Holiness. I am sorry to come to you with my troubles at this time,’ said Kilg bowing his head slightly to indicate his reverence.
‘Nonsense, Kilg. This conversation has been in long coming. I have noticed that your thoughts of late have been troubled. It is the boy isn’t it?’ said the Gorim reaching to fill a crystal glass for the zealot, ‘Do not alarm yourself,’ he said reassuringly upon noticing the stricken expression on Kilgs face, ‘Were it any other brother in your situation, I would have feared for the worst. You have always sought to be a good father figure to the boy. Perhaps, the fault is not yours but mine. I should have potentially called for you earlier and put your fears to rest.’
‘Then you know how to rid the boy of his notions!! All his talk about refusing the call to priesthood and his yearnings to explore the outside world,’ cried the zealot elatedly, as if a heavy weight had been lifted of his chest. ‘My prayers to UL have been answered, O Most Holy. I was beginning to despair for the boy.’
‘Yes, my friend. The answer came to me most recently. However, I will need to speak to the boy first before any decision is made.’
‘Yes of course, Gorim! Of course,’ said the somewhat dazed yet invigorated Kilg bowing as he quickly rose and almost half-ran out of the cavern, ‘I will call for the boy now.
In fact I will bring him here myself.’
Smiling, the Gorim watched him hurry away with a boyish grin on his face.

Meanwhile, in another much larger cavern further south the land of Ulgo, a boy treaded carefully yet confidently along the rocky floor. Blessed, like his father Kilg, with the ability to divine caves, the boy, Demarius, would normally spend hours on end exploring the many empty caverns of the mountain on his own, many of them deemed unsafe due to the instability of the rock. Today however, it was not his sense of exploration that guided him but that of self-preservation.
‘Father is going to be most upset if I am not on time for my devotions,’ he half grumbled to himself as he wormed his way around a tight corner, ‘It is bad enough that I have been late for the week and warned twice by the elders but today I promised father that I would pray with him,’ he said as he stepped into a cavern that would lead onto the path back to the prayer room.
All of a sudden, in mid-stride, he noticed a bright glow coming from a smaller cavern to the left. ‘I’d better warn whoever is in there. The roofs of the caves in this section are very unstable. ‘It’ll only take a minute in any case,’ he said to himself, curiosity overriding his sense of urgency as he stopped to peer into the smaller cavern.
As he stepped through the mouth of the cavern, his eyes squinted to adjust to the bright light radiating from the centre from the room. On doing so, he was able to observe an old man holding a ball of pure white light in his hands sitting on a bench in the centre of the room.
‘What a strange feeling,’ he thought as he neared the source of the light, ‘I feel unusually at home here. Yes, that’s it. I feel safe and comforted. I could almost swear though that I have never visited this section of the mountain before.’
Bowing he said ‘Yad Ho. Groja UL. Respected Elder, I am sorry to intrude on your moment of solitude but I fear that the cavern roof in this section is very unstable’ and paused in shock as the man raised his head, locked eyes with him and spoke in his head.
‘It will hold My son. No harm will befall you whilst in My Presence. Now listen to My words.’
Trembling and in shock, Demarius fell to the floor paying homage to the old man, ‘O Lord! I will obey thee!’
‘You have nothing to fear Demarius, my son. The time has come for you to decide on your path in life. Soon you will be called in the presence of my beloved disciple, Gorim. There you must choose your destiny. But listen not to your mind but to your heart. In you lies a rare gift that will give Ulgo much to rejoice over but much depends on the choice made. Use it well my son and remember my words.’ Saying this, the figure and light faded away leaving behind a nearly emotionally overawed Demarius in an almost dark cavern.

Kilg was in a hurry. Demarius’ friends had told him that he was last seen moving south, no doubt seeking to divine and explore some of the more unstable caves there.
‘Reckless, reckless boy!’ he muttered as he raced south in search of the boy, ‘may UL guide him back to the path of sanity and protect his very footsteps.’ As he neared the spot where the boy was last sighted, he heard a soft rustle of cloth from a smaller cavern on the right. Fearing for the worst, he rushed in to find the boy on his knees looking awestruck and almost weeping in joy.
‘Father. I have been blessedm’ said Demarius on seeing Kilg.
Relieved, yet frustrated with the boy, Kilg pulled up Demarius sharply saying, ‘Keep your voice down here boy. And dust your clothes. You have been summoned to the presence of his Holiness Gorim.’
‘But…’ murmured the boy.
‘Shush, not a word until we are there and maybe later you can explain yourself to me,’ said Kilg half-dragging Demarius along as he hurried back in the direction of the Gorims cavern.
‘Sit down my child. There is no need to look so worried,’ spoke Gorim comfortingly as he ushered Demarius to a seat and bed Kilg to sit by the boy as well, ‘your father and me have both been worried for you and but I feel that today all this will come to rest.
‘You have often voiced your yearnings for a life outside Ulgo and now there lies the choice before you. Do not look so worried Kilg. Last night, I dreamed and in my dream our Lord UL appeared before me in all his glory and spoke commanding me to place this choice before the boy. UL bid me tell you that there is more to this boy than it seems and that if he is to meet his destiny he will have much to learn that Ulgo may not be able to teach him. However, one day he may return to us and we will be richer for it. Now, boy what will your choice be: Ulgo for a life of prayer and devotion in priesthood or the outside world there will be no Kilg or caves but only your own instincts and resources and I pray UL’s light to guide you. I must warn you though that the latter is a hard path. Very rarely has an Ulgo wandered away from I must warn you though the caves and even then, they have always returned quickly for they miss the sanctity of home. There will however, be no such chances for you as your choice will have already been made.’ The Gorim leaned back having said this and the room lapsed into a long stretch of silence as all focus was on the boy.
For a minute it seemed as if he wavered yet some inner resolve seemed to strengthen him as he said quietly almost to himself, ‘When I was in the cavern that you found me in, I was blessed with a vision from my Lord. He bade me be true to myself and so I swore to obey him. Father, I beg for your forgiveness but to be true to my heart I must travel from Ulgo and learn from the world. What would you have of me, O Holy?’
Smiling the Gorim reached over and laid his hand on the boy’s shoulder. ‘There is nothing to forgive my child. Your father wants the best for you as I do. Opening a small chest in front of him,’ the Gorim continued, ‘In preparation for this event, I wrote out a letter of introduction for you to an old friend of mine, Sister Urmela, who resides in Camaar, by Sendar. There is a merchant leaving for Sendar in a couple of days. Why not ride with him? The company would be good on such a long journey as well.’
The days that ensued were some of Demariuss most treasured memories. Finally, however, after a few emotional farewells and some quick lessons on defence, he loaded his pack of belongings onto the merchant’s wagon and set off to Sendar.
The merchant was typically humorous and talkative and sought to ply his wares to every passer-by much to the amusement of Demarius who found himself growing to like the man easily.
‘Ah t’is the life for me indeed,’ said the merchant one morning over a hearty breakfast, ‘a wife who loves you, a nice warm house to head back to and a job you love. Gives me a good reason to wake up that it does.’ Demarius nodded his head saying nothing but feeling happy for the merchant while missing the company of his father and fellow Ulgos.
The duo had been on the road for five days and five nights before the wagon was set upon by a couple of well armed bandits that, to Demarius, seemed to radiate menace and a keenness to kill.
‘We will be having all your valuables, horses and belongings by force or if you please by co-operation. Doesn’t make a difference to us either way,’ drawled the mounted bandits who looked to handle their weapons with an ease and deadly expertise that almost fascinated Demarius. ‘Look at this one!! He’s an Ulgo. Didn’t think one of those cave dwelling wretches would come and see normal folk like us. Ha! He'll be going back with his head down once we’ve taken all his stuff that he will,’ yelled one of the bandits as he pulled Demarius off the wagon sending him sprawling to the ground.
Punching Demarius hard in the stomach twice, he then turned his attention to the merchant whom he and his fellow bandit then proceeded to barrage with blows and kicks. Meanwhile, Demarius lying on the floor was doubled over in pain yet felt an unbidden pressure building in his head as he watched his travel companion who was mercilessly being beaten up by the pair of scoundrels.
‘Leave him alone!’ he screamed but this only seemed to encourage the bandits who now started booting the poor merchant harder.
Just as the pressure almost seemed unbearable, Demarius heard a loud *SMACK* and watched open mouthed as one of the bandits crumpled to the ground.
‘Who’s there! Show yourself you coward,’ yelled the other bandit hoarsely as he wheeled around looking for an opponent to fight. There was a long pause and then out stepped a Sendar lady strangely attired from the bushes bristling with weapons and radiating a commanding aura around her.
‘You called?’ she said as she watched the rage-driven bandit charge her with his sword. Sidestepping him neatly and tripping him, she progressed to send him sprawling onto the dirt before progressing to disarm him deftly. ‘I would advise against it, Sir,’ she said as she watched the bandit reaching for his dagger, ‘I would prefer not to kill but I will if I must. Take the hint and walk away.’ The bandit visibly shaken now seemed to master his anger and picking up his comrade placed him on a horse and galloped away shouting curses.
‘Here help me with him,’ she muttered as she lifted the injured merchant. ‘Woah! An Ulgo. Don’t see your type out here very often. What do they call you?’ she said surprised as Demarius lifted himself off the ground.
‘Thank you for your aid. How may I call you?’ answered the boy as he helped share the weight of the merchant and hastened to carry him into a palatial looking fortress that seemed to house a miniature city of its own.
‘You can call me Urmela, Demarius. Good meeting you. Good thing I happened to chance upon your little predicament there. Glad I could help though.’
‘Urmela! Wait I have a letter from the Gorim to you,’ almost yelled the excited boy as he lay the merchant on a soft bed and reached into his clothes to present Urmela with a crumpled sealed parchment.
‘Figures. Fate has a funny way with such things,’ said the Sendar Priestess as she broke the seal and quickly read through the letter. ‘Hmm. Most interesting indeed. So the Gorim thinks I might be the right person to take you under my wing. Czrel get in here. Have a look at this boy. What do you think?’
And just when Demarius thought things could not get any more fascinating, in walked a grinning yet intimidating well-dressed man who began circling Demarius inspecting him from head to toe. ‘Hrmmm..I don’t know Urmie. You know these Ulgos make good priests and even the warrior but there’s something about this one! Ah that’s it! Sorc,’ he mumbled as strode out of the room as quickly as he came in leaving behind a surprised Urmela and an even more bewildered Demarius.
‘Whats a…’ asked Demarius to be interrupted as Urmela quickly rose and moved out of the room saying,
‘Don’t worry about it just yet, Demarius. There will be time. I will bring food for your friend and you and we can call the healer to check up on him shortly. You should catch some rest though in the meanwhile. And by the way Demarius,’ she said backtracking a step to look the boy in the eyes with a smile on her face, ‘Welcome to the Adventurers Clan!!’

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