Prelude to Battle Part 14
In the Icy North
With sightless eyes Valkor looked up at the stars. A full moon in a clear sky was above his fortress. The green clouds of the Withered Aegis would never loom over what was his. His Power was too great. His hate was pure, clean, honest and unsullied by other emotions like the Withered Aegis. True he sucked the lives of others to survive, but that could not be helped, nor had he ever agreed to his present state for the sake of something else.
In his fleshless state his very bones hummed with the power wafting on the wind. A realization slowly formed in his mind. Torrin Macalir was coming back to the world. His armies and sycophants were on the move. But there was something else. Something more dark and sinister far more powerful underpinning all of what the Withered Aegis was doing. This Darkness provided all of his enemies therein with whatever power was needed and to whatever extent.
His attention was drawn to Kirasanct. By the Gods he thought, two Goddesses and a God walked the lands with divine power and vibrant life. The scent that was not a scent, indicated life that was tainted by agendas, needs and emotions. Their vibrant life force was not like his hate which was so pure. His attention wandered, then focused West and South.
Dalimond was where there was a Gigantic life force reaching high into the sky. Pure, unsullied, clean, vibrant and untainted the life force was so powerful to reach out to him from so far away. With bony hands and fingers extended in hate and need, desire flooded in.
Once again though, his sense of ethereal thought and smell caught the barest hint of his nemesis Torrin Macalir. Which did he want? A life force so powerful he could reclothe his bony frame with flesh and blood enjoying its pleasures, or did he want that ever so sweet taste of the life force of his great enemy? He toyed with his hate and his vengeance. It would be far better with Torrin's head mounted on a spike right here for his own personal joy and pleasure. He wanted to feel Torrin's throbbing and pulsing blood running down over his cold bones. He could see himself as he ripped out Torrin's heart. His enemy would scream for mercy and find none.
OH yes yes!! that is what he, Valcor wanted. His bony jaw clattered with laughter. A screaming wind whistled through his frame. IF only he had his wife's head present to see and hear Torrin's silent frozen open mouthed scream of horror in death.
He reached out his hand to the great dark power in the world and it answered, swirling madly around him in dark sweet joy. Darkness to darkness and like to like, Valkcor wanted nothing except the assistance to get Tazoon. He needed no God-like power nor anything offered. He had been sucking the life force of the Gifted for years. Life force robust like a fine wine, so did the Gifted taste to him. The black lines of power enveloped him then spread to his minions. The Dark Elder Gods realized they had finally found a disciple worth having. The Elder Dark Gods gave him all he asked for and more. Their new disciple understood them and they understood him.
In Dalimond the blind seeresses wailed together calling out in great fear, “... and the horrific Dark power of the north is born! The Dark Elder Gods shall prepare the way before it!”
In a further, more distant realm, Drulkar raised his head and sniffed the winds of power. Remembering his words to his distant children on Istaria, “When the Cusp of Prophecy is full, Elder Darkness shall come to you.”
The moment had come. The Stipulations of the Cusp of Prophecy had been met.
The Time for Battles had Begun