The Rift

Rezyn smelled the air. He coughed, and drew in another whiff. Acrid... Powder? Yes. Black root powder, a component in many poisons a thief might employ. This was the third time that a group of the Broken Dagger Clan had come into the town. The third set of murders. Rezyn could not afford to contact them anymore. If he was to make a deal with this band, he was going to need them alive. Having the ones sent to negotiate trading scenarios with the Guild of Fighters murdered three times in a row was three strikes he didn't need.

He decided that now he would go to The Broken Dagger, and either forge an alliance, or kill them all. So he set out across the wastelands to make his way to the ice flats to speak to the slavers who would give him safe passage to Keldabar via Ainian freighter.

Three weeks prior, a well known thief had all but disappeared from Windy Bluff. He had been waiting in Bar'gith, for a man to speak with him. However, his messenger arrived to find him gone. A day before that, a meteor had fallen to the earth in the plains of Goruud and shattered another of the many statues that frequented it. In the ruins, a crater the size of Varin lay, smoldering with the heat of the heavens. The meteor itself seemed to have disintegrated, but the mystics foretold it as a dark omen. Hatred and pain were coming to the lands north of the desert.

Jonesy had gone off to Bar'gith, and waited, but, growing impatient, he decided to leave. He slid down the mountain side, and discovered quite a peculiar phenomena. A portal, that glowed with strange luminescence. Far be it Jonesy to turn down a strange portal, and so he walked into it, and this was the beginning of his madness.

Jonesy awakened, confused and in Bar'gith. His memory consumed in darkness, he reached in front oh himself and felt the cold crevasse wall. The black rock, though brittle, had enough hand holds for him to easily ascend it, and looking around, he realized where he was. Jones shook his head, he tried to remember what had happened.

He had been walking, and he found a portal... and after that, he saw a man talking to him about something. Was it important? Jones had taken a scroll from the man, but also something else... a box encrusted with runes. Jones strained... after the box... darkness. Then a stone wall, but after that more darkness. The last thing he remembered was returning to Bar'gith.

Jones was puzzled, but also sure of himself. He figured anything of true importance would present itself, manifest as some form of conflict, in the near future. Indecision on his own thoughts lead to a decision to travel south. After all, he had to keep running... if Rezyn were to find out what was really happening. How the Broken Dagger wanted more than just a trade agreement...

Jones knew the road through Windy bluff was dangerous for him. The Broken Dagger goons he had killed earlier would have scouts out for him. He hired a black magus in the shadow city to make him a portal to Varin, where he could take out the Broken Dagger men and acquire some poison. And as Jones stepped through the portal, he noticed something different about his rift in timespace... something odd...

Rezyn had made his way to the Pardor pass. Earlier he stopped in Eria, and filled up on food and supplies. The local farmer obliged him with free milk, since he had bought so much cheese. On his way through the city, a dark man approached him.

"You're Rezyn Omen, leader of the Guild of Fighters, aren't you?" the dark figure's whispered voice asked.

Rezyn only nodded. He could see very well, even in the shadow the man hid in. He was a commoner, but he had cloaked his face.

"I'll pay you 3000 gold coins to kill this man." A parchment with the likeness of a guard changed hands.

The man, held out a bag of coins. Rezyn grabbed at it, but the man backed away a step. The warrior growled.

"Kill him first, I'm not going to get screwed and watch you run off with my money."

"Pay first, I'll take him out. And what do you mean run off with your money. That's chicken feed, I'd be doing you a favor to take that much. I should kill you here, as a matter of fact." Rezyn grinned.

"What? Are you nuts? I could just as easily get some Shadow to do it. I don't need your help anyhow." And then under his breath, "arrogant fighter."

So he left Eria with a head in sack, 3000 gold coins, and a snazzy cloak. It was only a couple days to Keldabar, and he was sure he'd make good time if he took the short cut through Morgaz There he could get to the tunnel to the Broken Dagger Clan's northern division, and negotiate a truce.

Strange Rezyn, he thought to himself. You haven't done anything against them, but if they know about the murders you know they'll try to blame it on you. Heheh, they won't even have time to run if they turn on me though. Still... the wounds on those men... I know it was Jones, but why?

Jones discovered a very important new life lesson that he would most likely forget in the near future. Don't enter a portal while your strange ancient weapon of enormous power is glowing an awkward manner. He had been sent to Aina, but when he arrived he was dizzy and nauseated. His shard of darkness throbbed in his hand. When he looked down at it, he saw the void energy coursing through him. Something snapped in his mind when he realized this, and he blacked out.

Jones awoke in a room, standing, surrounded by dead bodies. His weapons were sheathed, and his right hand had a key in it. Jones looked at the corpses. Broken Dagger? The armor was black and studded. It fit the profile... Great, I killed the spies in Aina already! Now time to get some refreshments!

The thief walked through the narrow alleyways, and took a stop at the Drunken Dragon. It was a popular bar for low life's, and Jones picked himself up a firebreather. The rest of the night was filled with drunken glee, all the while a small silver key, one that gave no explanation for having arrived, stay tucked away in one of many pockets. And somewhere far off, a pair of eyes watched through a window in Jones' mind... waiting for its next chance to take control.

Golam Loman. He was cast into the void a century before. Only when Jones had tapped into the void energy of the shard years before the meteor crash had he awakened. The void contained endless energy, of course, but the ripple caused by the shard utilizing that well of energy had aroused Loman. He could sense the vibrations, even in the nothingness.

Loman became aware of Jones with time, and could see his form when the void energy ebbed into the thief's veins through the shard. Even so, Loman could not take respite from his hell in the body of Jones. It was impossible, for the trickle of force going into the shard wouldn't be enough to transfer his consciousness. Then came the the meteor... That changed everything. It was not truly a space born object, but instead a sliver of the darkstone itself!

The energies comingled silently in the realm before the crash... even as it lay nestled in the heavens the darkstone reacted with the rift in timespace that Jones wielded. It forked energy back into the void, and Loman finally had a chance to tap Jones. The darkstone energy fueled Loman's strength, and the necromancer erected a link to Jones' mind. Jones was a perfect candidate for Loman's avatar, one whose aura was sustained by Darkstone and Void energy. Drawn to the sight by the rift, on the night of the crash, Jones had arrived first. He even dared to touch the stone.

The second the thief's skin contacted the sliver, Loman came forward, but he saw his problem in an instant. Even now he could not take complete control of Jones, for the darkstone shard was inactive, it's erratic polarity having switched from the crash... to activate it, he would need some things... Until then, he would hide the sliver somewhere no one would go, and Jones would be the perfect puppet for this.

As the embers died at the crater, and the magi made their predictions, Jones' body had traveled to Stonevale. Loman knew the way all too well. For was he not the necromancer who caused the dead to raise from the crypts and sweep the town? Now he was on a more pertinent mission. His playful childhood years were good memories to him, but his desire to free himself from the void made it hard to reminisce. He placed the runed box behind a loose stone at the monastery, and then traveled back to the foot of the Kithan mountains, where he turned towards Windy Bluff.

Even in the body of a thief, Golam Loman was a powerful necromancer. He could summon himself the mana he needed from the Void... and using this influence, he embedded in Rezyn Omen, Leader of the Guild of Fighters, that a pact should be formed with the clan of the Broken Dagger.

A messenger was sent, and three days passed. After that, three sets of men came, and Loman killed them all, and went back into hiding, leaving a rusty dagger in the inn where they waited. He made sure not to leave any tracks, and to travel with the cover of night. He also made sure not to strike until Redeye had gotten the rogues good and drunk. None of them, however, was the keyholder. Loman decided to push Rezyn a bit more... and he sent him to Keldabar. Meanwhile he traveled west, back to Kithan.

Through the mines, he trod, and then, down the rough decline of the mountain. He stopped in phatep to acquire a pipe, which he would use to confuse Jones with a false memory later. In the market place, he also bought a green potion with Jones' stolen gold, an important ingredient.

He left Phatep quickly, and on a tourist's horse, he rode off through the desert of the kings, to the edge of Bar'gith. Loman set the horse back south, and wandered aimlessly in Bar'gith, as his essence faded. Before he lost control of Jones, he altered the thief's memories, replacing the murders with a long grey root binge in Phatep... not a hard task seeing as how Jones had amnesia already.

After that he lay dormant... waiting for his next chance. It came when Jones had entered the portal. This time, Loman seized the opportunity. He had become somewhat familiar to the energies the rift sent out, for they were fairly predictable. Manipulating them as Jones entered the portal, he was able to again usurp Jones of his consciousness, and roam in the thief's body. He found and killed the keyholder after arriving in Aina. Now Loman was a bit more powerful. He bent the shadows into his own kind of portal, and arrived before the Gnome Tower.

Around the side of the tower, there was a piece of steel. Loman clutched it in Jones' hand, and uttered an ancient word. The steel contorted into a tin box, glowing with runes. Loman stored the green potion he bought earlier in this box... he then used the same manner of travel to arrive in Kettin. There, he took Grim aside.

A voice not of Jones spoke to Grim, "I need the shield, I need it now. Give it to me." Fury and hatred burned in the katrin eyes... hatred of a thousand years of imprisonment.

Grim faltered... his usual gruff scoffing was replaced by an uneasy nod. He dropped the shield and ran. Loman picked up the shield, and smirked. His power would soon grow enough for him to challenge the immortals... for now, however, he must inhabit Jones as a mortal to succeed in fulfilling his own prophecy. He tucked the shield away, and ushered Jones back to Aina, where he again altered the memories, and let Jones take control. He waited once more now, and lurking in the back of Jones' mind, turned his attention to Rezyn.

"We know our men were killed, but listen, we've got spies all around. Something is happening, and I can't explain it." Walter spoke calmly to Rezyn, who was glad that there was not a conflict.

"Well what's going on, you have to know more than you're letting on. If we're going to work together, I'm going to need you to fill me in."

Walter gave Rezyn a long hard look, and Rezyn returned it. The two met each other's stares with the same confidence. "All right. Your man Jones is killing our men. And it's not his fault, there's something in him... we need to get demons blood, and we need to get it fast. I sent some ment to Folcur's Castle to slay the demon there, but they'll need help. They're waiting for a supply shipment to bring the dust and whatnot. I'll send you with it... if you want to help, get that blood."

Rezyn considered it, and ended up leaving that night with the supply wagon. It was a fast journey, through a portal and a mile up the road from the slaver camp he had arrived in. He met the Broken Dagger men, and they traveled into Folcur's Castle.

Pixie guards whizzed back and forth, but the camouflaged assassins lead by Rezyn walked through unnoticed. They hit a dead end, and Rezyn helped them to dig for the secret doorway. Down they traveled through the tunnels until the demon's chamber was before them. Each rogue and Rezyn himself draught from the chameleon stew, and each in turn disappeared from sight.

The demon could smell them... but it could not see them. It walked around uneasily, pulling at the chains that confined it to the small chamber it lived in. Each man dropped the jeweler's bag with its components inside, and each time the demon screamed in agony as its flesh melted away. Weakened horribly, it was not prepared for Rezyn Omen to slam into it suddenly, and as it lay stunned, Rezyn beheaded it. Five vials of poison were secured, and suddenly, Rezyn felt himself being pulled back to Windy Bluff... a portal opened in front of him, and he, without hesitation stepped through it.

Loman watched Rezyn trek and get the vials of blood. It was just what he wanted too. Jones had aimlessly returned to Windy Bluff. Before he had arrived there, however, he had been tapped by Loman and retrieved the darkstone. When he was back on course to the small town, he regained control, unaware of his being manipulated. Jones simply arrived in the Temple of Tarin, surprised by another portal.

Rezyn stepped through the portal, and held out five vials. Jones took them without thinking, and suddenly became aware of Loman's presence...

But it was too late, Loman came forward again, and opened the runed box containing the darkstone. "Finallly," spoke ten thousand voices at once. "Now, the energy of the void should be infused with this green one..." Loman removed the green potion from the tin box, which was now a swirling black glowing bottle. Loman dropped the tin box which flashed and once again became a chunk of worthless steel. He held the vials of blood and poured them over the shield he took from Grim, all the while chanting. The shield glowed a dark red, and the crimson light filled the temple.

"In this holy place, I defile you Tarin!" Loman screamed, and he quaffed the now black potion. The void filled Jones' body like bile, and gurgled through him. His lungs filled with blood, and his heart suddenly stopped beating. Loman the Dark Lich finally began to manifest in Jones. Holding the shield up to the sky, Loman continued chanting.

The darkstone floated from the runed box containing it, and as the first drips of blood contacted it, the polarities changed, and it activated. Loman cackled maniacally. He screamed with victory. The darkstone's energy immolated him, but did not so much as singe him. Instead a beam of light shot through the shield to the heavens, and a bolt of energy shot down back into the shield, into Jones/Loman.

Tendrils of bright blinding light rippled around Loman's avatar. Jones was aware and conscious now, even with lungs full of blood, he had held on to himself just enough to know what was happening to him. He was dying, but a new light was shining into him... one that made him ageless.

In a final brilliant flash, followed by a wind that swept through the realm, Loman's goal had been reached. He had entered a body through the void, and even more, he had infused darkstone energy to void energy, and made himself an immortal.

Rezyn was not aware when he handed Jones the blood vials. He was aware however, when the transformation had taken place. Jones' eyes glowed unnaturally. He was struck by a great force after performing a strange ritual, and he had somehow gotten his hands on a sliver of the darkstone, on top of everything! The brilliant flash had sundered some of his armor, and when Jones looked at him, his eyes were not those of Jones, but of something far more evil, far more determined. The thing spoke, too.

"You are my slave, Rezyn. I am all that is unheard, unseen. I will SHOW YOU MY POWER!!" and suddenly, it was upon him. Rezyn was ready, and even though he had been tackled out of the temple by an unknown force, he held the flametongue sword whose heat caused a steam to rise out of the fountain.

A voice spoke from behind him. "You're already dead." And suddenly, Rezyn felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. Blood rushed down his neck, and onto his armor, and he fell limp.

Loman stood over Rezyn's body. "No, I won't kill you this way... I'll save you for everyone else." Loman walked back into the temple, and snatched the darkstone, which was still floating. The disturbance of energies roused some of the Immortals, namely Tatianna, and Seluctruh, who both arrived in the temple in time to watch in horror as Golam Loman, in Jones' immortal body, infused the sliver of the darkstone into the rift in timespace. He laughed hideously when he saw the look on the Gods' faces.

"SEE?! I am immortal now. I am FREE! You fools tried to stop me, but now there's nothing you can do! I will see this land crumble! And now, none of you are powerful enough to stop me!"

Seluctruh gestured, and a whirlwind of hatred tore away at the flesh of the immortal being. Golam laughed and healed himself. "Your efforts are useless! I will use this body to flood the tangible world with the void itself. You let such powerful artifacts fall into the hands of an easily tapped pawn. Now you will pay with my vengeance!" Loman began chanting again.

Tatianna's thoughts became those of the Dark Lord Seluctruh. If he keeps chanting like that, you know that he'll bring the void upon us, don't you? Seluctruh calmly replied I don't think so... you see the darkstone energy in the rift will go through the void, and only Jones' body will be immersed in the energies... Loman however, will get sucked back into the void, caught in the torrent of the energy that no one, mortal or immortal can control... such is the will of the darkstone.

Loman uttered the final words of his incantations, and the shard of darkness spewed forth coils of jagged waves, the light of the world faded, and cascading adumbrated tremors of shade traversed the landscape. A foul wind roared on the oceans, and lightning crackled in the heavens. Loman grinned wildly, and was a bit surprised to see Seluctruh waving at him. "That's right Seluctruh! Wave goodbye to your precious, world!" The lich scoffed.

Irony is something that must become apparent with the passing of time. In Loman's case that's fine, for moments after his last taunt, the truth in Seluctruh's words to Tatianna shone. Jones' entire form seemed to fill with pitch black, and his face contorted. The last words Loman managed to scream were "What!? No! It can't be! How could I have been so foolish!?"

Jones was rigid, and convulsing on the ground after it all... Seluctruh peered at him, as did Tatianna. Both immortals knew that the meddling of Loman could not be completely reversed. Jones' rift contained a fragment of the darkstone, and his shard the essence of the void. These two powers to be wielded by a mere thief? Something needed to be done.

When Jones finally came to, his memory was apathetically blank. He did notice however his company was that of the Gods. "Congratulations Jones," spoke Tatianna. "Since you were an avatar to Golam Loman, we have decided to make you an Avatar of the realms. You're a hero, Jones."

Jones blinked. "Golam Loman? Avatar? Umm... do you have anything to eat, I'M STARVING!" And so it was that Jones became an avatar.

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