The Summoned
Triad
The Dark Plane: Outside Norax's Tower
"Shhh!" Seeker admonished, looking around.
"They'll hear you! Just let me do the talking." he turned his attention
from Asa and back to the task at hand.
Asa was standing, shivering, under the scrutiny
of two heavily armed guards. Nearly unidentifiable underneath their
armor, they still seemed able to scowl angrily. Seeker had been leading
Asa out a rarely-used gate, which had unfortunately been guarded.
The guard nearest the two held his hand out in a
gesture meant to stop them. Seeker kept on going, muttering curses
under his breath.
"Stop there!" the guard yelled. Seeker walked
right up to the man and glared at him.
"And who do you think you are?" Seeker demanded
angrily "To tell me to stop!?" He was back in his 'Janus' mode again.
"I was instructed by Norax himself not to allow
anyone through this gate." the guard replied waveringly. He obviously
hadn't recognized Seeker at first, but did now.
"Well I'm instructing you to let me through!
This young man has to go to Genaberg! And I don't like to be kept
waiting!" Seeker was nearly foaming in rage. Asa unconsciously
shrank back.
"We - we can't do that sir...." the other guard
spoke up in defense of the first. Both of them seemed nervous of
Janus, but were obviously more fearing of Norax.
Seeker sighed, and began walking back and forth
in front of the two guards. "You leave me no choice!" He declared.
"But to tell you exactly why I am doing this! You see, " his Janus
personality was becoming calmer, slowly being his normal self. "there
are many reasons why we should be let through this gate. The gate
itself is of inferior design, and easily breached in places. If I
were to take a shovel and dig one cubic foot per day, and two cubit feet
every third day, then by next week I might have tunneled under this gate.
In fact, I would have enough dirt to-"
The guards fell over, and began snoring.
"What did you do?" Asa said, looking incredulously
at the sleeping piles of armor, then back at Seeker.
Seeker smirked back at him. "I guess my story
was just a bit boring." With that, he walked out the gate, Asa trailing
after.
"The Abhorrent Triad", Seeker Began, "Is the reason
that we are in our current situation."
The two of them were walking along a dusty road
surrounded on both sides by skeletal trees. This wasn't the main
route to Naogon, according to Seeker, but he didn't want them getting spotted
by any of Norax's patrols. So it would take them longer to get there
- about an hour - but that should be well before the guards woke up and
alerted everyone else. At the moment, Seeker was telling the story
of the origin of Summoning, and Asa was trying to pay attention despite
his wet clothing and the rather brisk wind.
"Telan, Xanek, and Rokad were the first to discover
the Higher Path magic - forbidden magic to you and I. Actually, Telan
was the first, and always most powerful...."
The Light Plane: Telan's tower, 1500 years
before
Telan sat upon his throne, gazing down at the lowly
smith who lay prostrate before him. "Is It Finished?" he demanded
coldly of the smith.
"Yes, my lord. It has been done." the
smith, trembling with fear, didn't even possess enough courage to look
up at his master. Which was probably a good thing - people had been
condemned for believing themselves worthy of looking upon their master.
"Good. Have it brought to me."
The smith disappeared from view. Moments later,
four slaves, eyes averted from Telan's throne, entered the room.
Between the four of them, they were able to carry a heavy stone slab, on
top of which rested the object of Telan's desire. The smith reentered
shortly afterward.
Telan stood up, and descended the stairs that separated
him from the rest of the room. This had not been unheard of - their
god descending to their level. But never had someone ascended to
Telan's. The wizard, who seemed to tower over everyone else, followed
a straight path directly toward the slab. One of the slaves, not
knowing any better, glanced up at Telan and instantly burst into flames.
Another slave turned his gaze to the spectacle, and shared the first's
fate.
The slab, unable to be supported by two people,
clattered to the floor. Telan did not even flinch, but merely kept
walking his course. He bent down over the rod which lay, still cooling,
on the slab. The rod was long and thin in the middle, and shaped
like a trident on either side. It was painted a dull yellow.
Telan seemed infatuated with it anyway.
"Exactly as I had envisioned..." he whispered.
"Perfect down to the last detail! Smith, you have done a job beyond
my expectations of you. You have my favor."
The smith managed a "Thank you, my lord".
He had Telan's favor! He didn't know what else to say... just
working for Telan was enough, but to have his favor as well? He was
overwhelmed, and tried to say so but couldn't find the words.
"That is all right, smith. I know how you
feel." Telan picked up the rod and started walking back up the stairs.
"You may leave now, all of you."
The smith left, ecstatic. The remaining slaves
towed the charred and still moaning bodies of the other slaves out with
them. Telan's high priests left the room. He was alone.
He turned to the wall, and looked at the world beneath
him. It was, of course, only visible to him. Any mortal who
looked up there (and survived) would see only the concrete steps.
Telan's vision, was different, of course.
Looking at the rod, he reflected upon his accomplishments.
Once, eons ago, he had been just an ordinary wizard. Those days were
long past - the people who knew him now would not have even heard stories
from their ancestors about him. Back in those dark times, before
he had rose to power, he had been virtually unknown. Then he made
his discovery. The Higher Path. He had literally stumbled upon
it in his research, trying to add potency to what little he already knew.
And suddenly, he had realized its power - the Higher Path lay open for
the taking, and so he had taken it.
It was a corrupting power, that he realized the
instant he embraced it. It could twist his mind, his body, his will
until he was a demon. But he fought that, and successfully.
Or so he liked to think - for he might be a demon. He thought he
had won, and emerged from his transformation unchanged, but perhaps he
just believed that, and in fact was the thing he hated most....
Telan shook that train of thought away. No,
that wasn't him. Since his transformation, he had contacted the other
planes, and witnessed what had happened to them. Xanek, leader of
the Dark Plane, was slowly losing his mind as the power within him overtook
his sanity. And Rokad, in his own plane, had become a demon, and
had shared his knowledge of Higher-path magic with everyone in his plane.
The majority of people, Telan had already discovered, were not ready for
Higher-path magic. They simply were overwhelmed by it, and became
uncontrollable demons. Those who hadn't succumbed to this were quickly
slaughtered by those who had. Telan had been forced to think quickly,
and had saved as many people as he possibly could from the demons.
And then, in a display of raw power, he had banished the legions of demons
to another plane, Rokad included.
Telan shivered and sat down in his throne.
That had been a horrifying experience. Even as a demon, Rokad was
still nearly as powerful as he was.... to throw him and his followers
into another plane had exhausted him almost to the point of death.
He had recovered, but he always wondered if he was as powerful as he had
been. And Rokad had continued to harass him even through the barrier
of the planes. For Rokad, along with Xanek, had discovered Telan's
other great secret as well - Summoning.
It had bothered Telan when he learned that there
were others who had discovered the Higher Path magic. Rokad especially,
for Rokad was in the same Plane as Telan. Xanek was more of an overbearing
tyrant, true, but Rokad was the more immediate threat. So Telan discovered
that he needed a way to transport his fighters quickly and efficiently,
for he almost never fought the battles firsthand. He created Summoning
- a subset of his powers that he could teach to his generals, without risking
them being turned into abominations. Somehow, whether through spies
or their own logic, Xanek and Rokad learned the secrets of Summoning as
well. It sickened Telan to know that his own creation was being used
against him.
Still, ever since his rivals had discovered summoning,
they had pretty much abandoned traditional warfare. Now, they would
simply summon the being of their choice - being leaders of all their people,
they had a great deal to chose from - and send it directly to the throne
room of their rival.
So from that day forth, Telan had searched for rods
that would give him more power when summoning. The rods were not
strictly necessary for summoning, but they did a good job of conducting
the magic that their user wielded. The shape of the rod was very
important... to small, and it would do nothing. Too large, and the
power it used would demolish everything around it. Finally, the rod
was ideal for placing one's power into. Telan would give this one
his largest share, in the hopes that he could summon something so powerful
he could finally dispatch his rivals and get on with his business.
The shape of this one was perfect - the exact balance between size and
power. He could only hope that neither Xanek or Rokad had discovered
it.
Sitting upon his throne, he began incarnating the
necessary phrases to imbue the rod with the power. Not, of course,
that the ceremony was needed, but he liked to keep that aspect of the wizardry
alive. The rod began to glow as Telan's own power poured into it.
Another moment, and it was done. Telan sat back and closed his eyes.
Would these battles ever be over? He began to turn his thoughts to
summoning again. He had to destroy Xanek and Rokad this time, and
needed something powerful enough to do it. There were always the
elementals - disembodied spirits who yearned to be corporeal again, if
only for a short amount of time. They would inhabit any of the four
elements and do whatever their master bid of them. But the elements
were easily countered. No, he needed something better.
Abruptly, he stood. He had it! A being
much like the elementals, but much, much stronger. This being was
only one, and had visited him one evening to offer its services.
Now would be a good time. Telan held out the rod, and willed it to
summon forth Darkness.
The rod glowed brightly, as expected, but nothing
happened. Telan felt the fabric of space shift around him, and was
suddenly afraid for the first time since he had been mortal. Something
was wrong. The rod began vibrating, and burning Telan's hand.
Screaming, he dropped it - but it was too late.
In the Dark Plane, Xanek screams in terror as
his plan goes horribly wrong - his new rod burns him and clatters to the
floor as he cries out - "Darkness! You have tricked me!"
Rokad grips his rod tightly, fighting with all
his will to reverse his summons of Darkness - he should have known not
to trust the being, but he had, and now he would pay the price....
A concussion of force tore Telan apart, ripped
his throne to shreds, and knocked the very walls from his tower.
The floor below that shattered, then the one below that. Exploding
in a haze of stone, tearing living matter and inanimate alike, ripping
the very fabric of space apart, the concussion traveled down into the earth
itself before stopping. The force from the blast vaporized everyone
within the tower, the tower itself, and everyone and everything within
a day's journey.
It was not until three days later that the first
travelers arrived to where the tower had been. They were a group
of high priests, coming to alert Telan of a revolution on the outer fringes
of the world. They did not find the tower.... they found a pillar
of energy standing where it had been, and a summoner's rod lying on the
ground.
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