Tales of the Ulendra, part 1

Page 2

The End of the World
The great battle against the Ithirji was seemingly going well although many a warrior was slain.
“Surely we shall be victorious,” Hibaldru exclaimed after severing a skilled pikeman’s head.

It was then that a mighty quake shook the earth. Homes fell apart and in the distance Alfibel could see smoke emerging from their Great Temple. It was as if the smoke joined the sky and darkened it, blocking out the light of the sun. Alfibel turned to Hibaldru at her side, said:
“Oh Great one, look! Darkness is emanating from the temple. I shall investigate!”

“Aye, and I shall join you for our work on this battlefield is surely done!”


It did not take long for them to reach their destination and when they did a sight of darkness, destruction, death and evil reached was what they saw. And in the middle of it all stood Ormydian, laughing sinisterly as he noticed who it was that had joined him.
“Welcome, my friends, to a New World. My world!” he said to them.

“What is this, Ormydian the Wise? What has become of the Temple?” asked Hibaldru.

“And what of Nautiriel?” Alfibel wondered.

Ormydian looked up, straight at her and said:
“She is gone! To ashes and dust did Nautiriel turn and I miss her not! She was… weak, helpless…”

He raised his arms towards the now black sky and summoned a powerful strike of lightning.
“… And she cried…”


To Alfibel it sounded like he said those last words with utter contempt, as if Nautiriel’s last moments were all too long for him.
“And was it you who brought that fate upon her, Ormydian whose wisdom I now question,” she asked him.

At first Ormydian did not seem to answer. Hibaldru told Alfibel:
“Surely he would never…”

“Certainly, Hibaldru the Great,” said Ormydian, “certainly that is what you would say. Aye, friend Alfibel, it was I who brought her doom! But surely you would lie if you said you did not secretly wish to do the same!”

“Fiend! Dare you accuse me of having your own twisted mind? I shall put an end to whatever miserable plans you are brewing at this very moment!”


Alfibel drew her sword and ran at him, but before she even reached him, he brushed her aside into a pillar that sequentially collapsed. He lunged himself after her but Hibaldru threw a flurry of punches at him, which sent Ormydian flying through the air. Alfibel arose from under the pile of stones and flung some pieces of former pillar in Ormydian’s general direction.
“Stop this madness!” shouted Hibaldru to Ormydian.

Ormydian got up on his feet again.
“This madness will stop with your death!”

He threw the stones back at Alfibel and let a part of the ceiling fall at Hibaldru. Not bothering to see if his attacks succeeded, he fled up to the temple’s roof where he altered his shape to allow him to channel more power. The dark clouds started spewing fire and thunder over the whole city. No rain fell from the clouds to stop the fires, and with their houses gone in the earthquake the people had nowhere to take shelter. Almost every single one of them perished in the searing flames.

Hibaldru and Alfibel saw what happened and who caused it. They went up to the destroyer and he told them:
“First this city, and then… the World!”

Another wave of fire and death washed from the skies over the city. Ormydian laughed again.
“We can bring him down!” said Alfibel to her leader.

“Perhaps, but at what cost?” said he. “Surely he would then destroy even more of this world to spite us. Sadly, our mission here is now finished and it is time for us to leave. The chaos we cleansed away is now back. Perhaps it is the true state of things…”

Ormydian heard them but cared not for their words. Not even when his once-was friends ascended back to where they once came from was there anything in his face to be seen other than hatred and madness, and his laughter echoed across the burning wasteland that was once a city.

Ormydian’s Travels
The only place the great fires did not reach was the once so proud temple. Ormydian, done with his fit of total destruction, went back inside to reform the remains of the Order. The loyal followers where now his minions. Those who once brought peace and knowledge wherever they would go where now Ormydian’s personal dark monks. At first, they were weak, but he made them multiply, and then Ormydian set out to get revenge on the Ithirji tribe as well as claim the source of their power. No matches for a higher being of his calibre, the remnants of the tribe were massacred. Deep within a cave, Ormydian found the sought thing and he brought it to his temple. He put it in the dark shrine and let the monks draw on its power, enabling them to do deeds of great evil for their master.

But with all other creatures in the world now dead, Ormydian grew more and more tired of the place. He prepared to take his leave. First he made sure the darkness he had started that day all those years ago would stay forever and cover the entire world. Then he infused one of his monks with some of his own power, so they would have a leader who would not forget him while he was away. Ormydian also made arrangements so that wherever he went, he would always have a link to his temple and his dark monks.

Ormydian left the world on which he had spent the last few thousand years and travelled far across the universe. He visited many and strange worlds. At first, he would bring destruction and terror to the inhabitants but he tired quickly of that game. His sheer bloodlust was slowly replaced with a twisted curiosity and he started taking great pride in making the people of the worlds bring misery to each other, through clever manipulations from his side. Later, as he grew more and more experienced, he would have even more terrible and intricate designs.

Through taking the shapes of the local races, he was able to bring new and terrifying beings into existence. One type of being in particular was especially bloodthirsty and it seems he infused it with more of his own dark essence than he did with any other, for they too had the ability to change into horrible things and monsters. They struck fear into the people of that world and would occasionally try to repeat their creator’s destructive schemes of world domination, although they turned out to be not quite as capable, nor as evil, as Ormydian himself. But the story of them is for another time and it involves the valiant Dragon-son.

Much time had passed since Ormydian first left his old chaotic world when he secretly descended upon a new one. He had the intent to once again bring about suffering and ruin to all those who lived there. He knew not yet the details of this grand scheme, but he felt confident it would be ghastly, and bring him much joy. As he had done with all those other worlds, he began by learning about the people of the world; about their ways, their powers, their desires and their fears.

Last modified 2006-07-23 22:08:54

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