W
wakerman4
Guest
(This story is based before the Dark Age of Katorin history. This is also a very short story to describe a little more about Katorin. Remember: this is nothing compared to the hoards of text I normally write xD)
Let it be said, let the word spread, may tears be shred, for Rashk is dead.
These were the words that were carved into the wall of the Great Fortress, Dwarven Lands.
Though it was not new news. And not many shred tears over it anymore, let that be also known. For the Dwarven Lord Rashk has been dead for almost 300 years.
But he was never forgot. Lord Rashk was one of the many few who have the honor to be a Dwarven Lord, and he lived his life making every dwarf's life better. And unlike the words of other Lords, Rashk did this, in the name of Dwarves. The things he did for his race were unspeakable.
But sometimes honor comes with a price. And ignorance.
He marched the Dwarves to Scorched Hill, just north of the Eastwood City, and fought the Human's on that hill. . . .and lost, and that, is where Rashk died.
And every dwarf, even with his ways, in the Dwarven Lands, look up to Rashk as a hero. So on the day of his death, it is known to the Dwarves as Rashk Remembrance Day.
That. Is today. And I'm here to celebrate it....my way.
These are the closing Days of War.
You can always taste defeat when it comes. And that is the taste I have. Never will I give up though.
Eastwood have no right to take away our culture. Our freedom......our honor.
I lead what my kin call 'The Last Legion'. We used to be called the 'Defenders of the Hammer'. But that was the past, before Eastwood destroyed our kin.
As a Dwarven Lord, it is my job to protect and lead my Dwarven brothers. But now, I am leading the Last Legion. The last attack on Eastwood, they say...
If we win this, we go home as heroes. If we lose, we go home in coffins and ash.
"Sire."
My loyal brother. I could never part from him because he won't leave me alone, not even in the face of death. "Are we ready?"
His name is Galax. But people just call him Spud, for his round head. This may be the last joke he ever hears....hm. I shouldn't be so morbid. We can...we have to...win this war.
I look over my men, my kin, my brothers, all on horse-back....there must be around a thousand of them. At least. Not including the ones without horses...because there is certainly a thousand more.
These people used to defend the Great Fortress, the Dwarven Lands, but now we got nothing to protect. We only have to fight. Fighting is our life now.
Hm.
I raise my war-axe. And make a speech. Wasn't the best speech. My army didn't seem too bothered though.
Hm.
'My army'. Never thought I'd say that. 'My army. . .my brothers. . . .my kin. . .today we march across Scorched Hill. We are called 'ta Last Legion....because all other attacks on 'ta murderers 'ave failed in vain. But now. . .we charge at 'ta city of Eastwood, and we Will win. . .because we must.'
For what I thought was a petty and rather small speech, the...my...army roared and cheered.
They are full of ambition. Ready for war. Ready to die. Ready for whatever faces them.
I am not?
Of course I am. Because I must be. But a dwarf without fear is no dwarf at all.
Hours pass.
We reach closer and closer to the hill where the first of our kin fought. Until we finally do reach the Scorched Hill...full of heavy ambition, ready. . . .
. . .and good thing too....the Kingdom of Light are waiting for us on the bottom of the hill.
They yell. Something foolish. Like 'Give up' or 'Go home'.
Of course, we ignore them. And we never counted how many foes we are against. So we charge...with all the might and will in our hearts. The cowards fire their arrows from afar, taking down many of our men, but not all. My kin are strong, and press on.
I, along with my brothers, charge forward, getting ever so close to the tall human and goblin scum.
Until the first axe hits their flesh, we roar. For Dwarven Glory.
We battled. Axe verse swords. Arrows verse bolts. Horse verse Gnoll. Dwarves verse Light.
For countless minutes, maybe hours, we fought. I never was hit. And we rolled through the Eastwood people like they were worms.
I never saw Galax through the entire battle. It puts sorrow to say, that all I cared about as I thought was glory and the pleasure of slaughtering them fools.
Until...
...until it came...
...it rose up from the ground, separating my kin from the worms.
It looked like black floating stone at first...until all the stone connected. We first thought that Eastwood made something impossible...but I saw the confusion in their eyes. It wasn't theirs, nor ours.
Someone somewhere is stopping our battle. The stone connect, then a dark cloud swarms us all, making us blind, unable to see. We stumble, yet stay strong in numbers.
It's hard to describe. Something out of a nightmare.....
...it was dark. Black. Nothing else was it. Just a large portal to nothingness.
Then it came out...the darkness....we have no idea what it was, but it took the form of shadows, something horrific, the shadows chopping through both us and the Eastwood.
It was not a race. It was not a god. This was something Katorin has never seen before!
A dwarf without fear is no dwarf at all....
...and at this point, the whole Last Legion was full of fear. We ran.
Our strong Dwarven feet ran. I did not look back. I couldn't.
We were blinded by the dark unnatural fog. But we could hear the screams of both sides....the death....the noise....something right out of a nightmare....the worst nightmare.
I don't remember much after that.
All I do remember is waking up....I woke up to ash and dust, and darkness. Took me a great deal of force to get the dead corpses off my back. And as I stood, on the top of Scourged Hill, I took a large glance at the Portal.
The darkness. . . .it swarms around it. . . .playing with the shadows.
I watched as three men try to attack it, then are reduced to bone and marrow.
When I turn, a shadow was upon me, a dark figure, with a shady silhouette of a sword. Somehow, I live. With a thrust of my axe, the shadow is cut into two, reducing itself to air.
Then I dropped the axe and ran...and ran...and ran...
Care not, did I, how long I ran for. I cared not how many people saw me run. All I did, was use every last part of life within me, to run back to the Dwarven Lands, to the Great Fortress, to the other Dwarven Lords.
Once I saw the gates, they opened the gates, expecting me almost. But they looked shocked.
Quickly. I ran to the fortress, and within, the Lords waited for me. They also looked surprised. And I breathed out.....gasping for sweet Dwarven air...
"Brother" one Lord said. I forget their names, my mind rushes...
I gasped. "The Darkness......it killed them....the Last Legion...destroyed by the unholy force...!"
"Brother" he repeated. "Brother Johhan....your...eyes..."
I looked up. Confused. Out of energy.
But as the Lord addressees me with such concern, I run to the nearest mirror, just in the corner of the hall...
...my eyes....the color of the foe. Darkness.
I stare.
Anger. Grows inside of me. I know not what this means, but I am so angry....
...the anger....
...it grows inside of me, I feel it, bigger then my heart.
I turn, grabbing the mirror in one hand and I throw it with all my Dwarven strength. Whatever is inside of me has taken control. Now. . . .Darkness shall spread...
'Lords and Cowards' I command. My strong and changed voice echoes in the halls. 'My forces are now in your world...my children are on their way....'
With this, with my godly hands, I summoned my children from my world, and darkness plagues the lands, destroying everything inn Thar Roths. Zussly Mgts, Fling Ta Jill Theeus.
Zes Plaet Ta Mne. Darkness...Blackness....We Shall Shroud The Lands In Darkness.
Forever.
- - - -
And so it was known.
On the Lord Rashk Remembrance Day...where war began on Scorched Hill, is where the the Darkness flooded in...where the war begins is where the war ends.
Lord Rashk Remembrance Day.
The Beginning of the End.
Let it be said, let the word spread, may tears be shred, for Rashk is dead.
These were the words that were carved into the wall of the Great Fortress, Dwarven Lands.
Though it was not new news. And not many shred tears over it anymore, let that be also known. For the Dwarven Lord Rashk has been dead for almost 300 years.
But he was never forgot. Lord Rashk was one of the many few who have the honor to be a Dwarven Lord, and he lived his life making every dwarf's life better. And unlike the words of other Lords, Rashk did this, in the name of Dwarves. The things he did for his race were unspeakable.
But sometimes honor comes with a price. And ignorance.
He marched the Dwarves to Scorched Hill, just north of the Eastwood City, and fought the Human's on that hill. . . .and lost, and that, is where Rashk died.
And every dwarf, even with his ways, in the Dwarven Lands, look up to Rashk as a hero. So on the day of his death, it is known to the Dwarves as Rashk Remembrance Day.
That. Is today. And I'm here to celebrate it....my way.
These are the closing Days of War.
You can always taste defeat when it comes. And that is the taste I have. Never will I give up though.
Eastwood have no right to take away our culture. Our freedom......our honor.
I lead what my kin call 'The Last Legion'. We used to be called the 'Defenders of the Hammer'. But that was the past, before Eastwood destroyed our kin.
As a Dwarven Lord, it is my job to protect and lead my Dwarven brothers. But now, I am leading the Last Legion. The last attack on Eastwood, they say...
If we win this, we go home as heroes. If we lose, we go home in coffins and ash.
"Sire."
My loyal brother. I could never part from him because he won't leave me alone, not even in the face of death. "Are we ready?"
His name is Galax. But people just call him Spud, for his round head. This may be the last joke he ever hears....hm. I shouldn't be so morbid. We can...we have to...win this war.
I look over my men, my kin, my brothers, all on horse-back....there must be around a thousand of them. At least. Not including the ones without horses...because there is certainly a thousand more.
These people used to defend the Great Fortress, the Dwarven Lands, but now we got nothing to protect. We only have to fight. Fighting is our life now.
Hm.
I raise my war-axe. And make a speech. Wasn't the best speech. My army didn't seem too bothered though.
Hm.
'My army'. Never thought I'd say that. 'My army. . .my brothers. . . .my kin. . .today we march across Scorched Hill. We are called 'ta Last Legion....because all other attacks on 'ta murderers 'ave failed in vain. But now. . .we charge at 'ta city of Eastwood, and we Will win. . .because we must.'
For what I thought was a petty and rather small speech, the...my...army roared and cheered.
They are full of ambition. Ready for war. Ready to die. Ready for whatever faces them.
I am not?
Of course I am. Because I must be. But a dwarf without fear is no dwarf at all.
Hours pass.
We reach closer and closer to the hill where the first of our kin fought. Until we finally do reach the Scorched Hill...full of heavy ambition, ready. . . .
. . .and good thing too....the Kingdom of Light are waiting for us on the bottom of the hill.
They yell. Something foolish. Like 'Give up' or 'Go home'.
Of course, we ignore them. And we never counted how many foes we are against. So we charge...with all the might and will in our hearts. The cowards fire their arrows from afar, taking down many of our men, but not all. My kin are strong, and press on.
I, along with my brothers, charge forward, getting ever so close to the tall human and goblin scum.
Until the first axe hits their flesh, we roar. For Dwarven Glory.
We battled. Axe verse swords. Arrows verse bolts. Horse verse Gnoll. Dwarves verse Light.
For countless minutes, maybe hours, we fought. I never was hit. And we rolled through the Eastwood people like they were worms.
I never saw Galax through the entire battle. It puts sorrow to say, that all I cared about as I thought was glory and the pleasure of slaughtering them fools.
Until...
...until it came...
...it rose up from the ground, separating my kin from the worms.
It looked like black floating stone at first...until all the stone connected. We first thought that Eastwood made something impossible...but I saw the confusion in their eyes. It wasn't theirs, nor ours.
Someone somewhere is stopping our battle. The stone connect, then a dark cloud swarms us all, making us blind, unable to see. We stumble, yet stay strong in numbers.
It's hard to describe. Something out of a nightmare.....
...it was dark. Black. Nothing else was it. Just a large portal to nothingness.
Then it came out...the darkness....we have no idea what it was, but it took the form of shadows, something horrific, the shadows chopping through both us and the Eastwood.
It was not a race. It was not a god. This was something Katorin has never seen before!
A dwarf without fear is no dwarf at all....
...and at this point, the whole Last Legion was full of fear. We ran.
Our strong Dwarven feet ran. I did not look back. I couldn't.
We were blinded by the dark unnatural fog. But we could hear the screams of both sides....the death....the noise....something right out of a nightmare....the worst nightmare.
I don't remember much after that.
All I do remember is waking up....I woke up to ash and dust, and darkness. Took me a great deal of force to get the dead corpses off my back. And as I stood, on the top of Scourged Hill, I took a large glance at the Portal.
The darkness. . . .it swarms around it. . . .playing with the shadows.
I watched as three men try to attack it, then are reduced to bone and marrow.
When I turn, a shadow was upon me, a dark figure, with a shady silhouette of a sword. Somehow, I live. With a thrust of my axe, the shadow is cut into two, reducing itself to air.
Then I dropped the axe and ran...and ran...and ran...
Care not, did I, how long I ran for. I cared not how many people saw me run. All I did, was use every last part of life within me, to run back to the Dwarven Lands, to the Great Fortress, to the other Dwarven Lords.
Once I saw the gates, they opened the gates, expecting me almost. But they looked shocked.
Quickly. I ran to the fortress, and within, the Lords waited for me. They also looked surprised. And I breathed out.....gasping for sweet Dwarven air...
"Brother" one Lord said. I forget their names, my mind rushes...
I gasped. "The Darkness......it killed them....the Last Legion...destroyed by the unholy force...!"
"Brother" he repeated. "Brother Johhan....your...eyes..."
I looked up. Confused. Out of energy.
But as the Lord addressees me with such concern, I run to the nearest mirror, just in the corner of the hall...
...my eyes....the color of the foe. Darkness.
I stare.
Anger. Grows inside of me. I know not what this means, but I am so angry....
...the anger....
...it grows inside of me, I feel it, bigger then my heart.
I turn, grabbing the mirror in one hand and I throw it with all my Dwarven strength. Whatever is inside of me has taken control. Now. . . .Darkness shall spread...
'Lords and Cowards' I command. My strong and changed voice echoes in the halls. 'My forces are now in your world...my children are on their way....'
With this, with my godly hands, I summoned my children from my world, and darkness plagues the lands, destroying everything inn Thar Roths. Zussly Mgts, Fling Ta Jill Theeus.
Zes Plaet Ta Mne. Darkness...Blackness....We Shall Shroud The Lands In Darkness.
Forever.
- - - -
And so it was known.
On the Lord Rashk Remembrance Day...where war began on Scorched Hill, is where the the Darkness flooded in...where the war begins is where the war ends.
Lord Rashk Remembrance Day.
The Beginning of the End.