A dwarf had passed away of natural courses and at the evening funeral ritual, as the dwarves mourned their dead friend Valour’s purple eyes began to glow and he raised the dwarf up from the dead! The people screamed and pleaded with Valour to stop, Valour refused until the mighty dragon Obsidian flew down from his mountain top and threatened Valour!
Obsidian roared with an anger never seen before. “Boy, you maybe be special, but I will not allow you to torment these people with your darkness. Release the dwarf now!”
Valour, upon realising he was no match for a dragon, released the dwarf and allowed the poor soul to rest in peace. Faye had never seen such horrific magic.
Faye and Valour, though complete opposites with different ideologies still remained friends, as they aged into their twenties Faye tried her best to rid Valour of his natural darkness to no success, Valour refused to abandon his dark abilities that gave him comfort, whilst Faye continued practising with pure spirited magic, gaining admiration from the dwarves and Valour hated them for that!
One fateful day their beliefs would see them separate and take different paths in life.
Many times, Faye and Valour ventured out of Dwarven Peaks to travel and gain knowledge of the world around them. They would always end up at the beautiful pearl white rock with its wondrous aura. They had both been told by the dwarves and the dragon Obsidian that with more and more mages coming into the world, one day they would need to seek a homeland of their own and Faye had her sights set on the rock! Faye had dreams of building a community around this beautiful rock that beamed a wondrous aura, and with stories of mages being cast out of their towns due to people fearing their ever-growing power and also being hunted down and used as weapons, Faye wanted to create a safe haven for mages. Faye boasted she would call it ‘Aura Haven’ but Valour sniggered, all Valour was interested in was practicing his dark craft and raising the dead for his own desires and during a heated argument they were interrupted by the mighty Obsidian.
Obsidian emerged with a face of desperation; he spoke urgently. “Both of you must come now to the edge of Centre Plate, past Wolf Head Rock.”
“Why?” Valour arrogantly asked.
Obsidian responded with purpose. “Mages are now fleeing Eastern Plate as they are being hunted down and forced to serve the powers who rule that area. It’s time to rescue your people!”
Both Faye and Valour grouped together as many mages as they could find on Centre Plate, both turning to friends and mages of whom they trusted. They made it to the edge of Centre Plate just in time to rescue their mage brethren, though this would be the last act of their friendship.
Upon arriving at the border that divided Centre and Eastern Plates, hundreds of mages fatigued, tired, hungry, and injured were crossing over and informed Valour and Faye that eastern soldiers were still giving chase.
Valour laughed and boasted, “Excellent news!”
Faye snapped back angrily, “How is that excellent news! These people are scared. What are you going to do if the soldiers come here?!”
Valour turned to Faye, his face revealing a sinister look and his eyes glowed a bright purple. “I’m going to kill them. My undead minions will spread fear into the hearts of every witness today!”
Valour turned and walked off with other mages who were also wielders of this un-pure magic. Faye new this would be the end of a friendship.
Days past, and as the last of the mages made it across into Centre Plate the evil soldiers followed! They gave chase, forcing Faye, her friends, and any mages with the strength to fight to take up arms against this force. Faye used her lightning to strike all who crossed her path whilst other mages used their gemstones and attacked with magics of their own. Fire, ice, lightning, and many other types of magic struck the soldiers with deadly force, but the soldiers had the numbers and began turning the tide of battle as the mages tired. As the soldiers gained the upper hand, striking and slashing with swords and axes, a black mist started to shroud the battle area, the air turned cold and the smell of dead flesh began overpowering the area, Faye knew what was coming. Screams were heard from guards at the sight of undead wolfs, war-bears, lions and many other animals Valour had brought back to life, skeletons of long dead warriors began charging at the soldiers and undead corpses that had risen from the soil began biting, scratching and murdering their way through the unwanted army of the East. Valour himself, now consumed by this dark form of magic, grew more powerful and as soldiers were killed, he quickly began resurrecting them to do his bidding. Valour used his staff which now had a dark stone at its peak to spray blasts of potent poison and acid, burning the skin of his foes, leaving Faye in shock at this new evil power. The mages won the battle!
Faye turned to her estranged friend and gasped, “Valour, what is this?”
Valour responded boastfully, “This is MY gift and power! This is necromancy!”
Upon the end of this battle no more words were said between Faye and Valour as both knew of their opposing ideologies. Valour disappeared into the distance with mages who had chosen to follow him, Faye never saw Valour again and pressed on to the great pearl rock.
Upon reaching the pearl mountain rock, the pure and blissful aura it emitted began healing the injured mages and strengthening them. The mages stayed here and began settling around this gigantic magical rock, building homes, and creating a settlement. Valentina would fly over to check on these new settlers and to meet with her mage friend that she had nurtured since childhood. This white rock became the homeland of the mages and a stronghold for these human magic wielders. This homeland remains strong to this day and now in the year 417, a statue of Faye stands at the front of this kingdom celebrating her achievements and her greatest creation, the great mage homeland Aura Haven!
Necromancers
“This is MY gift and power. This is Necromancy!”
These were the last words the first necromancer Valour said to his fellow mage and long-time friend Faye before he turned his back on the world and led these wielders of dark magic to lands of their own.
Valour had always been a quiet child. Nobody would ever express love or affection towards him due to his dark demeanour and even his parents shunned him. As a child, Valour would innocently roam areas around his village, playfully using dark energy to blast trees and rocks seemingly enjoying the destruction, he would also use this power to hunt and kill game to bring back and feed the village, the villagers would never take the food due to their fear of the boy. Valour would often leave home for days on end, exploring caves and forests and searching local woodland areas, Valour discovered dark stones deep into the woodlands and marvelled at their beauty and power, upon taking them home his parents would gasp at these evil stones that had a dark aura. The dark stones were black and donned purple shards deep within them, unlike other gemstones, these dark stones were not made of purity and light and instead, they seemed to empower the darker side of magic and enhance Valour’s dark nature.
Over time the parents could no longer live in peace with their son and his unknown power, they branded him an abomination and cast him out of their village. The other villagers supported this, believing Valour to be a walking curse, and at the age of ten he was thrown out. In a fit of rage during his expulsion, Valour noticed a dead dire wolf on the ground that had been hunted by the villagers and his dark energy surged like never before, he raised the dead wolf and ordered it to attack the head villager leading his expulsion. The undead wolf bit into the arm of the villager as the helpless man screamed in agony, much to Valour’s delight then Valour called off the wolf which dropped to the floor and laid dead again, this demonstration of power terrified the village, Valour left soon after.
Days later, alone, confused, and hungry Valour dropped to the floor and collapsed, upon waking, he found himself in the dwarven homeland of Dwarven Peaks. Passing Dwarves noticed the boy and decided to help, though they could sense a dark nature emitting from Valour. They bought him back to their lands with hopes of nurt
uring the boy and ridding him of this seemingly dark energy. For many years, the dwarves endeavoured to help Valour, but they failed as Valour and his dark abilities grew as well as his control over the dark stones that dwarves had forbidden. Witnessing Valour extract dark energy from these stones and use it to further strengthen his dark abilities filled their hearts with regret as they felt as though they had failed in their quest to purify the boy.
Years of being unable to build connections with people took its toll and by the age of eighteen this boy had grown cold, emotionless and was never able to express his feelings clearly. He was socially uncomfortable and awkward and even when he was introduced to Faye when they were ten-year-old kids, the darkness outweighed anything positive in his heart and his path in life was already clear, he was to be a dark loner. Faye and Valour spent many years together at Dwarven Peaks practicing magic and learning as much as they could about the world from dwarves. For many years, the two friends would explore the continent together with Faye always taking Valour to the white rock that she had dreams of settling near and building a safe haven for mages. Valour never enjoyed coming here and found it boring, nor did he enjoy being around the big white rock with its aura of purity. Faye would always try to get Valour to open up, talk and display any signs of emotion, but to no success as Valour’s heart was locked. Every visit and venture together would always result in arguments as Valour did not like being told that pursuing dark magic further could see him descend into madness. One night whilst the two friends were early into their twenties, one argument turned particularly nasty and finally drove them apart.
Faye stood side by side with Valour gazing into the white rock. “It’s beautiful isn’t it.” Faye said joyfully. “Imagine what we could achieve here! We can bring mages here from all over the map and build something special!”
Valour grunted, seemingly disinterested and dismissive. “Well you may be content with this weak life learning about your shit gemstones, but I think I’ll find my own place in this world.” Valour looked into Faye’s eyes with a look of pending bad news and continued, “My whole fucking life I’ve been shunned, avoided, abandoned and feared! And what for? Because my magic is dark and deemed by snobs to be impure, as if others have the right to judge me! I can’t help what I am! There’s no place for me here!”
Faye took hold of Valour’s hand passionately, reassuring Valour. “You do have a heart, Valour; I feel it, and nobody thinks you’re a monster. You have to understand though, your magic is somewhat of an acquired taste. Poison, acid and raising the dead, people have a right to be wary.”
Valour turned away aggressively, almost in shock, as yet again Faye’s attempted to mould him into something he was not. “You still don’t get it do you! You lost your fucking parents and got live with dragons before being welcomed by these dwarves who take it in turns to kiss your ass!” Valour knowing this would perhaps be one argument too many, he continued passionately. “My parents banished me! Never did my father tell me that he loved me, never did my own fucking mother hug me, they were scared of me, scared of my magic as they didn’t understand it . . . and so . . . they hated me for it! Now you stand there and want me to change who I am just to please other people! I know who I am, yes, I’m a wielder of dark arts and yes, I’m not the most affectionate of people but at least I’m true to who I am. I’m happy in the dark. At least I’m not playing a character like you! I’ve been shunned and abandoned my whole life just because people are scared of the dark, and now you want me to live in the light, the very light that made my life hell . . . fuck you!”
Faye, angry and hurt by this responded aggressively, perhaps also feeling that bridges were about to be burnt down beyond repair. “What’s that supposed to fucking mean! I’ve been a friend to you Valour!”
Valour stared coldly at Faye, he knew he was about to shatter a friendship and lose the only person to ever care for him. “You're pathetic, telling me to live this fake life that you live. You don’t care about a pure life and helping others no, what you really care about is power as well, but lucky for you, your power is embraced and cheered by everyone around you! You’ve always been the perfect one, and I reckon you have been so content with your dragon friends and your dwarven ass kissers that you probably don’t even remember your murdered parents do you!” Valour felt a lump in his throat and paused. He knew he had destroyed Faye’s heart and killed a friendship, His own eyes filled with water.
An eerie silence lingered for seconds, Faye too, with tears of anger and sadness in her eyes stared back at Valour, then she smiled. Remorsefully she jousted back, “Every day I see them, every day I see their murdered faces and every day I still taste their blood in my mouth. You couldn’t be more wrong Valour, I don’t seek power for greed, I seek it to help others. If you can’t see that, then we were never as close as I thought.”
Valour looked down at the ground perhaps realising his nastiness. “Faye . . . I’m sor—”
Faye interjected, “Don’t say sorry! It doesn’t suit you and it’s too late now.” Faye wiped her tears and continued, “I was a fool to try and change you. You were right, I was wrong to force you to be something you’re not. When the time comes for us to leave Dwarven Peaks, don’t follow me! Seek this path of darkness, and when you're powerful but equally lonely and unstable, then think of me and ask yourself whether it was worth it.”
Faye marched towards Valour and kissed him passionately on the lips, she took a step back after to see Valour blushing and in shock. “Never speak to me again.”
Faye walked off into the night and left Valour alone in the dark.
Years passed at Dwarven Peaks, and Valour resided here with Faye, until one day they were called into combat to free mages fleeing the Eastern war. Valour aided his long-time friend Faye in fighting off the soldiers that were giving chase to the mages from the East. He joined forces with Faye to take down the foreign threat, ultimately freeing the Eastern mages and allowing them to cross over into Centre Plate. Valour charged into combat with other necromancers who also had been drawn to the darker side of magic and turned the tide of the battle, just as Faye and her mages were being outnumbered and started to tire. Upon unleashing poison techniques, raining down acid and raising the dead, Faye and the other mages, though thankful for the assistance, were horrified at this darkness and knew once and for all that the dark and light of mage magic could not co-exist. Valour had always known this ever since he was a child and was shunned by everyone, apart from a few other mages that shared his interests and were also drawn to the dark.
After the battle against the Eastern soldiers Valour spoke one last time to Faye, “This is MY gift and power, this is Necromancy!”
Valour turned his back and was never seen again and whilst walking off, witnesses claimed the mage traits of purple eyes and hair began to disappear from Valour, and his eyes and hair turned silver.
The necromancers built their own culture and settlement over time, they became a darker type of mage with the power to control the evil energy in dark stones and wield the ability to use dark magic such as poison, acid and raising the dead. Necromancers enjoy the destructive force of magic and are regularly seen using dark blasts and shockwaves to destroy things much to their delight. From an early age, necromancers are drawn to dark stones and are able to harvest the evil energy in the forbidden stones, even the dwarves cannot control the energy, but for necromancers the dark energy is nothing more than a toy to be played with. Over time, exposing themselves to these dark stones and evil energy didn’t just enhance their darker natures but strengthened them, giving them new abilities such as poison wielding! Necromancers are able to secrete poison thanks to their dark stones when unleashing energy blasts and also have the ability to harvest the darkest of energies from within the stones to create acids that could be unleashed, burning the skins of their foes, much to the horror of witnesses.
As the necromancers aged, their powers grew until they became able to wield the grandest of dark mag
ic, raising the dead! Necromancers began to raise the dead with ease, no corpse was safe from this evil ability with many necromancers being able to raise dead animals, corpses, and even skeletons of beings long since dead. People would gasp in terror when a necromancer approached with an undead companion, the sight was unsettling to most people as these dark magic users would communicate with these undead manifestations no different to farmer would with cattle. Despite their dark magic, the necromancers were actually peaceful beings that wanted to quite simply be left alone to practice their arts and peacefully commit to their ideologies and way of life. There have been no records of necromancers attacking people and over time when warlords have offered sums of gold and jewels for their assistance in battle, the offer is always refused. Necromancers do not use the dark arts to help those with selfish and evil aspirations, instead they use the darkness for self-improvement and self-defence. During their twenties, their traditional mage hair and eye colour would change from purple to silver with this apparently being a result of great exposure to dark arts.
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