Angelos Odyssey Archives: The History of the Citadel: I

by J. B. M. Patrick

  Vursk replied simply, “It is His strategy for which we wait.”

  “Strategy, indeed, for I know not why our people suffer exposure to the Algoans. In this God’s foolishness, do our people risk everything.”

  Feeling his sense of duty rise from within, Shogun Vursk took up his saber and ran his tempter through! He forced the man into the sea and let him drown as he bled out in punishment for his words.

  “I know not the inner strength to perform what has been requested of me,” the Shogun confessed, “and so I shall find he who is most loyal to our Dharmanic Leader and ask him to do my bidding.”

  Shogun Vursk went out among his men and issued a trial by combat, believing that the only one who could prove truly Faithful would be the one who bested him without suffering injury.

  Azum, begat by Ferender, who was begat by Navan of Vursk’s Vanguard, rose to the challenge as the others fell around him to Vurk’s fury. Azum battled his grandfather and prevailed by piercing the Shogun through his side. Before the Shogun collapsed, he ordered Azum to wait with him by the sea.

  THE BLESSING

  When they’d arrived, Shogun Vursk fell to his knees and stretched out his arms in offering. Azum parted them from his form, but Vursk did not bleed.

  In their place, another set appeared along with a second pair positioned below them. The Shogun stood to his feet and rejoiced in this gift before returning to Isolakandi. When he’d arrived at his Lord’s feet, much later than anticipated, Isolakandi was pleased. He spake unto him:

  “Thou hast become reborn, Shogun, and thou will rise now with a new name. Tell me: who was your servant in this act of faith?”

  “Azum, my Lord.”

  “Azum it was, and Aam it shall now be. As for you, I now name thee Shogun Vati; you shall discard your former heritage to unite in the Family of Isolakandi. It is in this way that you may be forgiven for the sins committed by your sons. In spite of this, the traitor Lak remains shielded in layer upon layer. Our efforts were spread over the expanse of time and too generously made, and so our consequence is to wait. To wait outside the walls until its inhabitants have either starved or come to worship me as is right and true. The Udochi will surround them and stop the Kasakai from nourishing themselves with goods from foreigners. And so, our plans shalt commence, my servant.”

  In the remaining months, Isolakandi blocked all forthcoming trade from reaching his enemy and trapped the Kasakai in a torture of their own making. Before the end of the year, Isolakandi called forth the rest of his nation to migrate to the land formerly ruled by the Kasakai.

  DIVISION

  The Algoans would have noticed their absence and proceeded to claim the forgotten lands, but they’d encountered several new enemies who’d flourished in the territories surrounding them. To the north of their estates, armadas from Tiramul came to disrupt their war against the Kasakai and Udochi; from the west, the warrior tribe of Kano united with its former rivals and forced the Algoans against the shore.

  The Xate, had waited far too long to strike and thus allowed their divine Messengers to demand servitude that reduced the quality of life for the common people. A civil war ensued, and the Xate split into three separate factions: the Xatists, who resided in the northeast of the mountains and continued sacrificing to divine Messengers; the Balgras, who’d become cannibals surviving in the northwest; and the Cherans, who were prevented from joining the Xatists by Shaman Cheranis.

  When Cheranis’ family wished to join with the Xatists and conquer the Kasakai, he executed them all in accordance with his belief in the Xu’tret. To perform this execution, he hung the bodies of his four sons, three daughters, and his two spouses before dismembering their legs at the knee and allowing them to bleed out in a public demonstration. To avoid the wrath of his people, Cheranis announced his ascension to Shaman, meaning he would commit to a life of abstinence of all worldly pleasure and never marry again in order to please the Eternal Blue Sky.

  Shaman Cheranis was a warrior by virtue of his mysticism. It is written that he wielded the Eternail Flail, which soared in the air with four heads that detached and pierced their targets without fail. In their place, four more appeared and so on until the Shaman no longer chose to strike.

  The Xatists, slothful in their ways, launched several unsuccessful attempts to conquer both the Cherans as well as the Balgras. The Balgras believed that consuming the bodies of divine beings gave them strength, and so they preyed on the Xatists whenever they’d returned from a prior skirmish with the Cherans. After their guerilla attacks, the Cherans would send in their own men to keep the Xatists from ever growing to the extent that they could have. With this balance in place, the three factions were deadlocked until their fates were changed from outside intervention.

  3068

  (748 P.R.)

  With the beginning of the first year, there came the emergence of an unexpected force within the confines of the Kasakai fortress—now named Haraja.

  Lak’s people had suffered a significant lack of resources and began eating their own in order to survive. Lak himself became gluttonous and ate the body of his own sister while demanding more be brought to them. Vati’s remaining son slowly grew mad as well as obese, and his people began to despise him. In order to keep the populace from retreating outside of the walls, Lak decreed that those who attempted to escape would be subject to watching their entire families be devoured by him in front of the victim before he also consumed them.

  DOGOLIN

  As sickness and grief prevailed within the fortress of Haraja, the spirit of a demon came to Lak in a vision.

  When Lak looked upon the empty void that spoke to him, he heard it say:

  “One must not fret. Rather, burrow into the earth and east. Verily, proceed east, and thou shalt find me in time.”

  Lak heeded the voice and ordered his men to begin digging deep and excavating a cave that was brimmed with overgrown flora and fungus. The discovery of new organisms caused his people to delight in assisting with further excavation, as much of what they discovered was capable of being consumed and used to sustain their resistance even longer.

  After a month of revealing increasingly more of the earth below them, and following the destruction of two of the outside walls, the ones assigned to further progress that day were turned to stone. Lak was assaulted by another vision of the demon, who called him into the cave. As he was far too heavy to move much on his own, he ordered his servants to carry him into the darkness where he met with the demon Dogolin.

  Dogolin was of the Puni’zen species and ultimately formless in appearance. The Puni’zen existed within an ambience and thrived as pluralities of matter rather than solid substances. Dogolin, however, had devised his own dream for mankind.

  The demon spake unto him:

  “Oh, my follower, would you hearken unto my words for further guidance?”

  Lak replied, “Alas, anything thou could ask could not be provided, for we have nothing left.”

  The ruler’s sullen disposition pleased Dogolin, who asked of Lak:

  “It matters not. Will thou swear fealty to me, and will thou carry faith in my word above the words of all others?”

  Lak fell to his knees as the ones around him were petrified. He answered, “Yes, my lord.”

  “Very well. Know then that I shalt place a curse upon thy people, an inescapable curse that will strike fear even into the heart of Isolakandi! The one who calls himself God shalt be cast down as his efforts against me prove futile, and thy people shalt rise above all others should they prove increasingly faithful! Thou shalt be renamed La’ark, and I will command thy future.”

  Concluding his speech, Dogolin caused the ruler of the Kasakai to regain enough strength to head back and stand amongst his people. La’ark returned to them but only displayed pain and writhing as he fell at their feet. La’ark’s body imploded from the inside, and it tore open to spread the Affliction, to spread the Rot.

  THE AFFLICTION

  Wit
h the Rot, La’ark’s people became near immortal. Their bodies and feral instincts mostly took over and rendered them immune to pain, to hunger, to thirst, and almost to Death itself. They became an unstoppable force but required a leader beyond the mindless spores that had spread from La’ark’s body.

  The captain of the guard, and a samurai who’d begun in the lands of the Kasakai as a slave, Uras, heard the voice of Dogolin and so took charge of them. As the Rot grew to occupy his mind, he could only speak in the demon tongue, for his natural breath was corrosive and damaging to those around him. But when he spoke in Dogolin’s way, with an ambience, they understood. The demon gave him his wisdom of strategy, claiming: “Your salvation lies in the civilization underground. Continue La’ark’s dream so that you may one day rise to the surface.”

  The Rotted progressed even further until discovering in the subsequent month a world built by those known as the Hayashi.

  A CITY OUT OF TIME

  The Hayashi had been placed in our reality via the First Rift, and, due to the disruption of Time, many of them had been transported—along with their homes—to several areas beneath the Earth in their entirety. They were not exactly human and thus did not require exposure to solar energy to survive in the dark; hence, their complexion was displayed in multiple hues of grey.

  When Uras and the Rotted broke through to the other side of a city built from only ore and minerals, they were met with squadrons of Hayashi. The Hayashi had understood the design of projectile weaponry in their old world and brought with them firearms similar to those carried by the Enrec soldiers who would bear them over a century later. Ah, and Uras had not anticipated such a resistance when he, of barely sound mind, charged into their ranks and attempted to confront them on purely physical grounds.

  His first contingent of men was decimated by a flurry of bullets, and, despite their overwhelming will to survive, they were brought down with little ceremony other than a symphony of gunpowder echoing in the city caverns. Uras retreated in shame and fell behind another line of his own men, which he used as a shield against the progressing Hayashi. The Hayashi themselves were led by their own deity, Kelphuren Seiden, who bid them drive the Rotted Ones far back to wherever they’d emerged.

  DOGOLIN’S SPEECH

  As Uras became overcome with despair, the Voice of the Demon Dogolin resonate in his mind. Before his vision, a phantom appeared and spake unto him:

  “Why fret ye, my Leader of the Decrepit?”

  Uras, panicking in his fear, said to his master:

  “Oh, Dogolin, can ye not see that I’ve carried out an inferior plan and followed an inferior path. I rushed into conflict without awareness and transgressed against the legacy of my own kind. I promised to lead the Rotted in my valor; I swore to never surrender to any foe who called themselves greater than thee… yet, I’ve turned my face away from the ongoing battle. I fear to perish even now when the Kasakai have journeyed so far. Great is my anxiety, for I do not wish to die in this place.”

  “Uras, my Servant, for it is unto you that the Gift was given. Through the rage of both Haem and Lak, who became La’ark in my service, you were granted power great enough to halt the footsteps of Isolakandi himself! How little you know, Uras, for Death in any place is not a matter of thought. Where Death appeareth, you cannot be. And where you exist, wherever you may call your battlefield, Death does not abide. It is an opposite state of you and far from your being.

  “Picture ye the lives given in battle. For when one soldier falls, another takes his place and embraces a heart of resistance. One such as thee is born to resist; without rebellion and triumph… thou can be nothing except not thy own self. In being as Uras, Uras finds peace. But thou hath not been as Uras, and so thou hath discovered the throes of anxieties; thou hath contorted the Face of Death as comfort when true comfort abides in thy duty, in the legacy I, the spirit of Dogolin, has granted upon thee. Thus, take the battle to the ones known as the Hayashi. Demolish them by thy own will and meet their God. When their foolishness has passed, grant them a coalition that will confront Isolakandi in his arrogance. This I say unto ye: a warrior finds compassion for himself in his mission and dread when straying from it.”

  The spirit of Dogolin did not await a response, knowing that Uras would gather his courage to return to battle. Uras turned to face the enemy and received another truth from the demon:

  “Their bullets may halt thy soldiers, but they cannot presume to end Uras the Rotted.”

  The leader of the Rotted withdrew his men and said unto them, “I will take the fight to the enemy on my own; you shall follow in my stead.”

  URAS THE ROTTED

  At the head of the battle, Uras moved through wave upon wave of promised destruction. Bullets did not affect his form, and he slashed through hundreds with twin, double-headed axes while carving a path toward the center of the underground city. Behind him, the Rotted sprinted and hordes of them flooded the underground with their affliction. As one of them was downed, their disease attached to the Hayashi and spread amongst their dwellings. Their enemies became as them, Rotted, and so their numbers swelled beyond imagination.

  As the underground network of caverns seemed impossible to scale without significant losses that would diminish the ranks of the Rotted, Dogolin stopped Uras’ progress early and bid him to simply allow their disease to grow. Uras claimed a palace for himself and took his throne amidst servants he ordered to find and craft instruments for his amusement. His palace became known as the Hall of the Diseased, for the Rot itself spread into every fiber of existence and transmutated much in its wake. Their dwellings twisted and grew spiked and curled stalagmites arising from every angle and in every crevice. These formations sprung to life and absorbed the air breathed by the Rotted while producing spores to spread the infection a tenfold.

  THE HAYASHI GOD

  Kelphuren Seiden waited in an underground dome carved from a shining blue mineral possessed by the Hayashi in their old world and known as Ocoim. His scouts were many and spread throughout their territory, and they arrived to speak to him in an increasingly fewer amount.

  The first scout’s words to him were as thus:

  “My God, our Seiden, the enemy has burrowed itself and climbed treacherously past our men, who themselves have succumbed to a sickness.”

  “And what sickness is that? Speak knowledge and not fear.”

  Kelphuren was a conceited entity, said to have been born from the Hayashi’s worship of a great oak, and he believed his people impenetrable. Kelphuren ignored the first scout and told him, “Inspect the matter again, ye, for the enemy does not know us. We will arm ourselves better against a negligible threat.”

  The first scout journeyed to the outer boundaries to prepare a better report. He never returned.

  The second scout was a Hayashi woman who pleaded with Kelphuren, “Our Holy Seiden, please act against the enemy. They have closed further the distance and arrive with swiftness unanticipated. Our people grow ill with the affliction and join their side!”

  “Nonsense,” spake Kelphuren, “For our people worship my name and my name alone. There is no affliction greater than my innumerable blessings.”

  He sent the second scout away, and she never returned.

  The third scout greatly annoyed him, and thus, rather than heed his warnings, Kelphuren sentenced him to death and waited anew for another message.

  When the fourth scout came, he was accompanied by Uras himself. Kelphuren Seiden ordered his men to fire at him before he could speak, but their bullets produced no effect. Uras spurned the deity, and Kelphuren thus froze him in place. As the Seiden rose to deliver the final blow, Dogolin appeared in his vastness and spake unto him:

  “Seiden, the war between our people is over.”

  “So thou sayeth.” Kelphuren proceeded, his mind filled with thoughts of murderous rage.

  Dogolin was provoked then to show unto the god a vision of his city overrun with the Rotted. When Kelphuren saw thousands of
his own men turned beyond their own reason, he felt sudden fear and questioned of the demon:

  “What is it that thou desireth from the Hayashi.”

  The demon was smug in his assurance and spake:

  “Not what I desireth, Kelphuren Seiden, but what we can accomplish together against the forces above.”

  “Above?”

  “Indeed, for the Awakened man known as Isolakandi wishes to lay claim to the whole of the world and cast us out.”

  “And thou wouldest coerce me by attacking my people.”

  “Verily, Seiden, let it be known that they attacked the Rotted. I always desired to parlay, and yet the Hayashi struck out in defiance.”

  “And why should I trust thee?”

  “If thou dost not, Dharmanic Leader Isolakandi will move his men into thy city and take everything for himself.”

  Kelphuren mocked his warning, “Isolakandi cannot hope to stand against a true God.”

  “Alas, he believes the opposite of thee, for Isolakandi has brought rain itself upon the Kasakai. The Kasakai have become the Rotted, and they can inform you of the truth.”

  “He speaketh truth,” Uras admitted.

  Kelphuren Seiden sent the two of them away for a period of four days before he made his decision. On the fourth day, he called Uras to his side and spake unto him:

  “The Hayashi will unite with the Rotted and move above ground to confront the threat. Thou, Uras, and thy demon, shall serve me indefinitely.”

  Uras agreed to this proposal, but Dogolin agreed only so that he could fulfill the workings of his own plan. And so, the remaining Hayashi were granted immunity from the affliction by the demon in order for them to be able to appropriately aid the other side in burrowing above ground. Once near the fortress of Haraja, Dogolin proposed a new scheme he believed capable of eliminating Isolakandi once and for all.