Fallen (Part 3)

Artaiya's encounter with Unverdus, God of elves

Artaia found her way through the tunnels underneath the city she believed was destroyed. The ground stuck to her like the sludge she remembered in the sewers. She felt her hand along the moldy walls, and breathed in the suffocating air...if it could be called that.

More than a few times did she stumble and grab the floor with her hands. Each time she would let the sludge cover her arms and legs. It seemed to go on for miles, and hours she walked until she stumbled one last time, and this last time it was to fall to sleep.

In her dream was darkness, nothing to be seen, nothing to be heard but maniacal laughter. It seemed familiar, very close to the voice of Sipus. She crawled on the ground that did not exist, and breathed the air that was not there.

“Where am I”

“Child...right where you need to be.” said a voice like Sipus's. “You have passed the test...assuming you can make it out of that pit. I will be there to greet you when you come up...if you come up the same that is.” he left her with maniacal laughter.

In front of her appeared to be a bright light, one that showed her a way out of the darkness, but into something new. She saw the inn in which she escaped, the bodies littering the floor, and blood pooling into the far end of the room, where the trap door was. She looked down to see her brother's mangled body, and her mother's, with an open wound in her chest. Blood flowed from there like a river. Her sibling and her mother were dead, and she believed it to be true. Looking forth, she saw the fires burning outside, still seeing some soldiers struggling from the iron fist of the orc, and let out screams of agony as they were being ripped limb from limb, their insides spilling out onto the ground, creating new rivers of blood. The blood...it never seemed to stop, until a wave of blood flooded through the city just above ankle height.

More screams from demons, those of whom she left behind to rot within the city. She escaped...I escaped, Should I feel this remorse that I feel...is this normal? No it is not my fault they died. They should have left! It is foolish to stand against the darkness. Darkness will prevail, and so will I. Decrepantaur...if you are real, give me your strength. Please!

“As you wish.” said a mysterious voice as the world around her became veiled in darkness. “You must answer three questions!”

Finding herself veiled in darkness, talking to an even darker figure, she collapsed to the floor. “First question.” he said. “Will you accept that Unverdus Himself is responsible for all of these things that have happened to you?”

She knew denouncing Unverdus, as many elves claimed him to be the one true God could have dire consequences. She would also realize that this night she would have to make enemies of the entire elven race. “Y...yes.” she stammered.

“Good.” he chuckled. “Do you accept that Unverdus is responsible for the death of your family...Artaia?”

She had to accept here. There was no going back from this. “Y...yes.” still fearful of what might happen to her in this dream, knowing that if there indeed was a heaven, she will not be able to enter through those gates. Worshiping Decrepantaur was dangerous, and true worshipers of him lead a path of evil.

“Good.” he let his maniacal personality show through his laughter. “Last question. Will you give me your undying loyalty in my war against Unverdus. The Creator of the Heavens and the skies? If you do, I will give you this world, while I inherit the Heavens and become...the New Creator. This world needs change, and you have seen it with your own eyes. These dying people in your city...what purpose do they have but to starve, and feed off of those who have money? None. I will give them purpose in the new world. Will you join me?”

“YES!” she remembered crying out. If there was any protection from her now, it would be from Decrepantaur. She knew one thing...it would want a sacrifice of blood to become a disciple of Decrepantaur. At her feet slid a platter with two wine glasses and a knife.

“Fill them up with your blood.” Decrepantaur commanded. His figure approached slowly to her.

She took the knife to her forearm and cut, allowing the blood flow into the cups. Slowly they filled, as part of her soul was being devoured into this dream. She could feel it too, but could not stop it. Decrepantaur took her arm in his hands and healed it before she passed from blood loss. He took one of the wine cups, and gave one to her. The other was his. He locked their arms together as they drank together.

“My disciple, you will receive the greatest gift of all. The gift of immortality.” he told her.

She quivered as he took his blood soaked lips to her and lay a kiss on her. He caressed her head into his shoulders. She whimpered as she felt the last of her will being pulled into her new savior. She wept in terror as she felt the words of Unverdus speak to her, “I have better hopes for you.” she could tell Unverdus was crying. The Lord of the creation can cry. “My child, I do hope you realize that immortality in this world is a curse...and nothing more.” the last words she shrugged off as she let out a cry of joy, and Embraced the Lord of the dark.

“Immortality, and the best training...I will train you in your sleep...but go. Wake up now and leave this place. I will see you again tonight...when you sleep.” he said. “My disciple...you may become my greatest creation.”

She woke with a start, her face still covered in the sludge of the sewers. She looked at her forearm, of which she cut in her dream.  She sobbed as she realized what it was she had done. Unverdus lost control of her life, and she knew it. Decrepantaur ruled the dreamlands, and therefore total malicious control over those who slept. She sold her soul to him. I am a soldier of the darkness. She thought proudly.

“Is it everything you ever dreamed of child?” said a powerful voice.

She turned around to see a man, but not just a man. An elf shrouded in light...a light so great that she went blind. “Who be ye?!” she shouted at him.

“I am Unverdus. As all deals being done to the darkness, I must oversee them all. It is a pity, because I cannot control the barters...only see them.” he sighed. He would have taken another step, if he could. “I am losing my control over this world...and I ask myself whether I should tell the truth.”

“You let my family fall!” she shouted at the wall, unable to tell where she was, or what she was looking at. “You killed them.”

“Everyone dies, and moves on to something else.” he said in a grim tone. “Your mother...sadly is with Decrepantaur, doing tortuous things to her in the Abyss. Your father will become a great man, as he is on his way to see the city. Your brother...is mine, and I will not let him go. He does not have the ability to dream like you. He is alive and well, unlike what Decrepantaur told you. Deceiver of deceivers, he is not all knowing. The next time you see your brother...it will be on the edge of the sword. You will not know your brother when you see him, and he will not know you. It will not be until the end...to the final stroke that you will know who each other are.”

“I will not kill my brother...nor he I!” she cried. “Curse you God! Why did you let this happen to me?!”

“You did this to yourself.” he said to her. “And you will have no choice in the matter Artaia. You are among dangerous company, and you will become like them, and you will deceive your way to the top. Until you fall.”

“I am immortal!” she told him. “I will not die!”

“Everyone dies.” he told her before disappearing back into his Heavenly realm. Artaia could see once again, but it was not perfect. Unverdus took one of her gifts away, she will never be able to shoot the bow like she once did before. She cried upon this realization. In one dream...she threw away her only chance of salvation. She wept as she hugged the walls of the tunnels she so longed to escape.