Tales of the Ulendra, part 1

A prose compilation of assorted poems, songs and legends about the Ulendra and their kind, by Trey Grausslaird.

Beginning
A long time ago, four powerful beings descended to our world, which then was a place of chaos. Where they came from is unknown and their purpose the same. They took the shapes of men and women, and brought knowledge, peace, prosperity and order. Their leader was Hibaldru and the others were Nautiriel, Ormydian and Alfibel. Amongst the people they were known as the Ulendra and together with their followers they were the Order of the Ulendra. Many and great were their accomplishments.

Although most of the common people held the Ulendra and their followers in great admiration, some were jealous of their powers and secretly yearned for the chaos of old. Darkness and sorrow filled their thoughts. All too often did they start quarrels, but always with only the followers, for they dared not cross the Ulendra themselves directly. Nautiriel, who was always light-hearted and kind to everyone, would solve the quarrels merely through her presence. When the Fair One was around no one, not even the languishers whose quarrelling made her presence necessary could feel any anger. They dispersed, but when they returned to their homes, the sorrow would soon once again come creeping and their hearts be blackened by the thought of being outcast from the great ones’ glory. A thought that was imagined, for the Ulendra would have surely let them stay at their temples and cities.

After several years of the cycle repeating itself, the languishers moved to a far-away land. The Order hoped that they would find peace there, but they did not. Instead they found a dark force that, while it increased their own power, it also increased the darkness in their minds and their desire to restore the old chaos. For generations they let themselves be affected by the force, all while the Order and the other people would forget about them, thinking that since they never heard from them again, that they probably had indeed found their sought peace. It was the wise Ormydian that would discover the truth during one of his travels throughout the world.

The Fall of Ormydian
Many years had passed since the Ulendra first came and the people of most of the world had now united. The leaders of the people often sought the Order’s advice. Hibaldru sent out Ormydian to see what state the rest of world was in and if anyone lived there. Ormydian set out on this quest and soon he found the old languishers who had now became a race of their own. Being wise, he recognised them for what they used to be but also their new desires and he asked them:
“Your ancestors left our side to find peace, but where has that desire now gone? I sense that all you now wish for is the ruin of everything.”

Then answered the people:
“Our ancestors were fools to want peace. We now only desire the peace to be found in total chaos!”


Saddened but intrigued, Ormydian decided that it was time for him to go back the Great City and report all of this to Hibadru and his fellow Ulendra. But a dark warlock stepped forward and spoke to him:
“I know you. You are Ormydian. The Wise they call you. Seers prophesised about your coming and now you are come. It is time for the Ithirji tribe to rise!”


The Ithirji warlock used all his powers to cast a powerful curse upon Ormydian, a curse so powerful it killed its caster. However, the great power of Ormydian’s mind managed to mostly suppress the curse and the thoughts it created in his mind. In a state of disarray, and too confused to notice that the Ithirji tribe’s warriors were following, he made it back to the Great City and the Order of the Ulendra.

To Hibaldru Ormydian told of the Ithirji people and what he had found, but he revealed nothing about the curse for he did not yet know what to make of it. Alfibel soon joined them with reports of fire and death from the outskirts of the city. It seemed like an invading army, she said. Ormydian realised quickly that this must be the Ithirji uprising the warlock had spoken of, and it was his own carelessness that was to blame for their success. While Alfibel and Hibaldru the Great prepared for battle Ormydian retreated to his own chambers.
“To meditate on the matter” he told the others.

But he was having unfamiliar feelings of shame and fear, which he could not understand.

He met Nautiriel on his way through the temple. She was cheerful, but less so than usual for she too had heard the news of a great enemy. Concerned, she asked Ormydian of the reasons as to why he was not also preparing to fight, but he would not say. Instead he said that he needed time to think things through. Nautiriel who understood feelings better than anyone saw that some other thing than an impending war was troubling him. He could not hide anything from her and thus transpired to her the events that really took place at the Ithirji tribe.
“Alas my friend, I fear for you,” said Nautiriel.

“Fear not, fair one. I have power still to overcome the spell and we will surely prevail.”


The Valorous one and Hibaldru had set out with those of the Order that were trained in combat, to counter the Ithirji enemy leaving the temple largely unguarded. A small band of warlock assassins moved secretly to the Ulendran shrine and entered. Soon they found their target and sacrificed themselves to their mission by casting the powerful magic needed to affect the essence of an Ulendra.

Ormydian embraced Nautiriel assuring her that he was surely cursed by a weak amateur. As he opened his eyes he saw a blinding light coming from seven warlocks of the Ithirji tribe. The light vanished quickly only to suddenly radiate from Nautiriel’s body. She was as if petrified, and so was Ormydian out of a feeling of despair so tremendously unlike any he had ever experienced before.
“Nautiriel?”

He looked at her face. She was looking back at him with much fear but also sorrow, something that she had never quite shown before. Her body began to quiver and she was unable to stand on her own. Ormydian tried to hold her in his arms but had to lay her down on the floor.
“Ormydian…” she said in a trembling and weak voice.

A lone tear fell from her eye, and he took her hand, but at that same moment she began to dissolve, first into a glowing mist and then into nothing. In the state of devastation that Ormydian was, there was nothing to hinder the curse from achieving its vile goal. It irreversibly transformed his essence, turning his good will and wisdom into evil and insanity.

Last modified 2006-07-23 21:58:41

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