Remembrance and Crisis

The acolyte entered the egg chamber, leaving the makeshift wooden box on top of the carved slab and turning towards the egg altar, but before he could begin to walk Throzahk had already appeared near him, and spoke [Those… are quite a lot of cores… Most seem to be non mutated… that's good, and what of that one… show it to me, it may serve to purify the tainted mana…] said Throzahk pointing towards the deep black mana core, the skeletal acolyte took the core with his clawed hand and showed it to Throzahk.

Seeing the red color of the core Throzahk spoke [Interesting… Truly interesting! This one hasn't mutated; it has been filled with pure raging mana! And that red hue to it… interesting… it isn't fire mana! Neither is it part of the base elements… It's something else! I wonder… well it matters not… place it on the opening in the slab, this core will do…] instructed Throzahk to the skeletal acolyte.

But as Throzahk spoke the skeletal acolyte had already started to move towards the hallway, eager to continue his explorations, at which Throzahk shouted [Acolyte! STOP!] his shout made the acolyte turn his way [I asked you to place the core in the slab! Do it and then you may go… the remainder of the cores are useless to me… as they are filled with tainted mana… however you may find an use to them… in time…] said Throzahk walking towards the slab, engraving small runic patterns on top of the slot that was to house the mana core.

The acolyte jogged towards the core crate, looking at the cores, seeing that there were no red cores, just regular looking blue shaded cores and a very deep black mana core, seeing this, the skeletal acolyte spoke [I only see blue shaded cores and a black one… yes yes! You mean the black core?] asked the skeletal acolyte, his clawed hand pointing towards the black mana core.

Listening to the question raised by the skeletal acolyte, Throzahk looked towards the red core before speaking [Hmm interesting… and yes that one… place it in the slot… but before that… do tell what colors do you see] said Throzahk, producing several flames made out of mana, that varied in color, gesturing the skeletal acolyte to answer.

[Blue… blue…. White! And then Black! Yess yess…] answered the skeletal acolyte, as he looked at the flames, most where blue, where shades of white and gray, and others were as black as the moonless sky.

[Interesting… truly interesting… I recall that some mages came to be treated, to be relieved of the pain that came forth when they actively used their mage's eyes, some complained of the unbearable pain, but most complained of the loss of color in their vision… most varied in the color loss, some couldn't see black at all, some saw tints of red, Keretar hated this… as he could only see red, he once described as if the world was being bathed in fire and blood… quite a… well… to put it in simple terms… it was torture for them… but shades of blue… that's quite rare! Indeed!] spoke Throzahk, instructing the acolyte with his hands to sit near him as he continued to speak.

[I remember when Samandiel Withersong came to the temple, he too sought treatment for his eyes, he was one of the few that saw mostly blue shades of color, his treatment was the first ritual that I partook in… quite a long one… indeed, Withersong was quite a powerful mage, his eyes were greatly afflicted… but… there is nothing that the healing light of Blessed Quilrorry can't heal when you got experienced priest and quite a bunch of acolytes to help! HA!] said Throzahk, laughing heartily, coming to a sudden stop before speaking once again.

This time his voice contained hints of nostalgia [Well… even when it took quite a lot of time, the ritual was a simple one, made even more easy thanks to Whitersong's willingness to teach the talented to carve the runic patterns that helped make use of most of the acolytes divine energy channeling, I was one of the ones that were taught by him, to the others I had an uncanny talent for magic, but for Whitersong it simply was average… however, considering that Adelig Álfar are naturally attuned to mana… one can consider that quite a praise, thanks to this I was given the tomes that you have read, and some more, that's how I was able to learn to control both mana and divine energy, truly Lady Quilrorry must have known that I would be of use…. well no matter… I cannot channel divine energy anymore, and let us not speak about magic… I may be able to cast simple spells, but anything more complicated than that and it fails… thankfully I don't have a body to experience the backlash of my own failures] said Throzahk, gesturing the acolyte to place the core in its place.

As the acolyte obeyed Throzahk moved his hands, producing strands of mana that carefully touched the core [now I shall demonstrate to you what appropriate mana core manipulation looks like… not that your core is not being used appropriately mind you…] the strands began to spread on the slab, carving their way on the surface, creating undulating runes on both the core and the slab, and soon a bright light emerged from the core, before dimming down a bit, then the light began rhythmically beating as if it was a heart, taking in black light before expelling .

[Hmm… as expected… the concentration of tainted mana in this room has reached truly insidious and putrid levels…] said Throzahk, his tone clearly denoted the displeasure that he felt at the thought.

[Hmm… maybe… maybe that's what caused the egg to become soulless… well this should help clean up some of the tainted mana… however to completely stop the spread of the curse we would need three or four more cores… maybe even more…] said Throzahk looking at the rhythmically beating core.

Seeing Throzahk look at the core the acolyte spoke [Throzahk… now that we are speaking… yess… speaking good! May I ask some questions? Yess… yess] asked the acolyte, as his thirst for knowledge had began to mercilessly claw at his mind.

[Curiousness is good, it drives the intellect, so ask!] said Throzahk, he had yearned for conversation with another intelligent being, even if it meant talking to a now changed skeletal kobold.

[Good! Yes yes! Do you have a status window Throzahk? I mean it comes when I think of the phrase status…] asked the skeletal acolyte, this particular question had clawed at the back of his head for some time, he just had ignored it, as he had been distracted by the recent events.

This question surprised Throzahk, as he hadn't expected to be such a simpleton question [Of course I have a status window, those with the gift of magic or a blessing from a God can easily see their own status, not that it matters much, as it is a list of abilities, immunities and talents that the individual has, nothing more nothing less] said Throzahk with an uninterested voice, giving way to the skeletal acolyte to ask his questions.

[Interesting… yes yes! Do you want to know the contents of the scroll?] asked the skeletal acolyte, the reply from Throzahk was immediate, he replied with a simple [Yes…] keeping silent in hope of getting to know what troubled the High Seeress.

The skeletal acolyte told Throzahk the contents of the scroll, he narrated them with great detail, telling the horrifying tale, even retelling the torture that the worshipers of the Keeper of Souls went through at the hands of the High Bishop, the hunt of the one that fled and the utter destruction of cities and towns, the date and the name of the writer.

This tale utterly disgusted Throzahk, his voice had a seething rage to it as he spoke [That's… Utterly preposterous! The Children of Lereus wouldn't do such a destructive thing… normally that is… Oh! Blessed Quilrorry! What happened to thine brother's follower… Oh! Most Holy Quilrorry… if this is what happened to them… they lied to us! This is preposterous!] shouted in anger Throzahk.

[To think they went out of their way to hunt down even the children! This is… how dare they! They sought immortality that much I know! However, to simply go and massacre Most Wise Keeper of Souls followers… had they gone mad! They told the elders that it was a plage! An unknown disease… O! how foolish of the elders to believe them! May the thunder from Woldrim anger strike down these fools!] anger seemed to have taken over Throzahk.

[They even blasphemed against He Who Watches the River! But! There is something there that does not fit! Lereus is the Lord of the Forge, Watchman over the Flames, The Stone Hammer! not the Father of the Black Forge!] As Throzahk kept ranting, suddenly a black flame erupted from the scroll burning the thing to cinders, leaving only ashes behind.

Then a distant scream was heard, it was familiar to the skeletal acolyte, as he had already heard the seductive voice once when he was on his way to the upper levels [SOON! DAMNED PRIEST! SOON I SHALL BE FREE! AND I WILL DEVOUR YOUR SOUL! YOUR PUPPET WON'T BE ABLE TO HELP! DO YOU HEAR ME DAMNED PRIEST! THAT MEASLY CORE YOU USED WONT BE OF ANY HELP!] shouted the voice, turning guttural, menacing and cold, it carried such a dense force that removed the dust from the floor and walls, revealing almost faded runic scriptures, densely packed on all the walls.

Seeing this scenery made Throzahk tremble, as he was much to weakened to face this foe [Acolyte! Take the cores and place them there, there and there, all that you can put on there, it matters not if they are full of tainted mana, just place them there] he said as he moved throughout the room fixing the runic scriptures, creating slots in the floors and walls, in the places he had pointed to the acolyte shouting again [QUICKLY! It must be done!].

Seeing that his would be master was running around in the chamber, hastily repairing what seemed to be Draconic Runes, so he simply obeyed and put all the cores that he could in every available slot, as he did this he started to feel faint, this sensation had made him remember him of the first time he tried to cast a spell and failing to do so, it had drained him almost completely.

Seeing the acolyte get sluggish in his movement Throzahk shouted at him [DO NOT FALTER! IF YOU DO YOUR CHANCES OF BEING ALIVE AGAIN GO DOWN THE RIVER!] his voice still had anger in its commanding tone.