The world of Altera has been having some strange happenings over the last few months.
First it was small things, a field going to dust overnight, that homeless man who always sat on the corner, killed himself with a knife to the abdomen while laughing at his toes, a traveling family gone missing. Then things got worse. The river outside of Ravens's Nest turned to blood. The dead started to walk again, like during the great war. Lava has erupted from wells. Entire herds of cattle have drowned on dry land. More recently however, children have been butchering their parents while they sleep. Brother turning on sister and neighbor on neighbor. Looting, infanticide, murder, arson... the world is falling apart.
The kings are not blind to this however, they have seen this before on various worlds. Chaos is spreading. The Corruptors are here. Whether this is the work of Queen Grief sewing chaos into the fabric of this world or if The Corruptors have actually found Hollow World we don't know. All that is known is that hollow world is in serious trouble.
Then The Cataclysm struck! Queen Grief ripped free of her nine dimensional prison. Thousands died, Almost two thirds of the population perished in the first seventy two hours. Queen Grief, who had always been measured, methodical, and restrained was absolute terror and chaos. The nine dimensional prison twisted her soul and warped her mind. Nobody had ever seen anything like it. All ten Kings and Queens rallied and assaulted queen grief head on.
The planet cracked.
First it was small things, a field going to dust overnight, that homeless man who always sat on the corner, killed himself with a knife to the abdomen while laughing at his toes, a traveling family gone missing. Then things got worse. The river outside of Ravens's Nest turned to blood. The dead started to walk again, like during the great war. Lava has erupted from wells. Entire herds of cattle have drowned on dry land. More recently however, children have been butchering their parents while they sleep. Brother turning on sister and neighbor on neighbor. Looting, infanticide, murder, arson... the world is falling apart.
The kings are not blind to this however, they have seen this before on various worlds. Chaos is spreading. The Corruptors are here. Whether this is the work of Queen Grief sewing chaos into the fabric of this world or if The Corruptors have actually found Hollow World we don't know. All that is known is that hollow world is in serious trouble.
Then The Cataclysm struck! Queen Grief ripped free of her nine dimensional prison. Thousands died, Almost two thirds of the population perished in the first seventy two hours. Queen Grief, who had always been measured, methodical, and restrained was absolute terror and chaos. The nine dimensional prison twisted her soul and warped her mind. Nobody had ever seen anything like it. All ten Kings and Queens rallied and assaulted queen grief head on.
The planet cracked.
The sky shattered.
Stars fell, people were consumed by a hungry moon, you removed your own stomach from your body and ate it.
how funny is that?!?!?! it tasted like yellow and a high pitched freckle swimming.
meshini, halgot, scrambolock
kill kill kill die
I love blood and blood loves me
yeaaaaghfarnissssssshhhiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!
darkness.....
You awake in a flat orderly world, your cot is one of hundreds spread out over a perfectly flat field of manicured grass that goes on as far as the eye can see.
"are you ok?" a young woman asks. You recognize her as a member of the sisterhood by her yellow and blue robes.
"Yes, yes, I just had an awful dream... where am I?"
"that was no dream I'm afraid" she seems reluctant to say.
"that happened? no you're a dream as well. Damnit I need to wake up. What in the name of Sallanna's pu" SMACK
The sister smacks you across the face and the pain is very real. " you are not dreaming, this is real, that was mostly real, I am real and I will really hurt you if you finish that sentence the way you intended!"
As you rub your stinging face she continues, "This is merely a holding area for those that survived the cataclysm. It is made to be as orderly and normal as possible in order to weed out those who are truly corrupted by chaos. The Kings and Queens are in the process of communing with the gods and rebuilding our world after Grief and the followers of Jishrim nearly destroyed it."
"All of those who pass the final sanity exam will return to Altera. Right now it is said that the nobility and gods are trapping the Enemy once again in the Nether. There are rumors that we will need every ones help to contain the portal to the Nether as soon as reality solidifies again."
Behind her a little girl sits up, breaks her own little arm to expose a sharp broken bone covered with blood and widow's tears. Laughing, she puts the bone through the sisters neck, spraying you with blood.
From somewhere behind you one of the Knights Radiant flies past and removes the little girls head with a single sweep of his longsword. Other Sisters rush up and tend to the wound of their fellow member.
After a few weeks it is determined that you are indeed sane!
You can still smell octagons and taste happiness dying, from your elbows, but they don't need to know that.
They return you to a fresh new world. One that tremors with potential. You are with a hundred other men and women. A knight of the Northwind hovers in front of your group is explaining the situation to you.