Shards of Blood (Plotline)

[Veldrin]

Sitting on a pile of old stolen books, Kormek searched greedily through a large chest filled with sparkling gold, the coins clinking softly as they slid through his fingers and crashed together against the old container’s wooden walls.

The old sub-fort by the side of the main Britain brigand fort had long ago fallen, the one that had formally belonged to Henry Winter and his gang of ruffians before they were driven out by the combined forces of the Yewish Militia and the Covian Army.

Digging his hands in deeper, Kormek furrowed his brow. Something was not quite right; something in the box felt out of place, warm to the touch amidst the trove of cold, precious metal. Cupping his hands around the object, he slowly drew it from the chest. A shower of golden coins cluttered excitedly onto the floor as they slid away to reveal the object hidden inside.

Opening his hands, Kormek gazed upon a fiery red, fist-sized gem. It was amazing, unlike anything he had ever seen. The crystal felt warm in his hands, calming him, even making him feel happy. However, it was not the size of the feeling which made the thief stare in awe, but the flame that flickered in the ruby’s center.

Kormek knew what the gem was, who it belonged to, and long had he and his fellow thieves believed it to be only a legend. ‘Twas not mere legend that sat in the palms of his hands. It was the Gem of Pyros!

To be Continued...

[Veldrin]

The Gem of Pyros.

This large ruby was all that remained of the dead God of Fire. It contained the last remnants of his great power, which reflected the glimmer of lust in Kormek’s eye as he stared into the flame flickering in the gem’s core. Instantly he felt its divine power course through his veins, increasing his own strength, agility, and cunning. With this ruby, Kormek could become a king of thieves. No, the king of all men! With this Gem of Pyros, he could be invincible!

He did not know that he had inadvertently awoken Pyros when he touched the gem. That the dead god yearned to live once again and almost immediately began absorbing the power of Kormek’s soul. With the life force of this human, and many others, the amalgamation of immortal souls trapped within the crystal could fuel the god’s rebirth. The Gem of Pyros possessed Kormek more than Kormek possessed it. A permanent bond was formed with the ruby that could not be broken, until all of Kormek’s soul was absorbed.

But it was Kormek’s death that would come first.

It was not but weeks later, under the quarter moon and an array of stars flickering with ominous rhythm, when Kormek looked upon the hoisted mace of the Covian Templar Sir Hugo, who stood in the entrance of the dilapidated fort. The darkness of the night blanketed their forms, both staring each other down as they itched for the inevitable battle.

“You’ve come for the ruby, haven’t you!” Kormek hissed, clutching a dagger in one hand and a buckler in the other. His leather armor creaked at every slight movement. It felt tighter than before. Restrictive. The thief attempted to hide the fear in his voice. “You can’t have it! I found it! It’s mine!”

“That gem is a thing of evil,” Hugo responded gravely, his voice unnervingly calm. He wielded the war mace expertly, signifying that he had held it this way a thousand times before. How typical, a murderous, greedy Templar, come to execute Kormek and take his treasure! “Avatar is the only true god, and I have come to deliver his will. The Gem of Pyros must be destroyed. If you intend to protect it, then so must you.”

“Never!” Kormek cried. What did the Avatar have to do with this? Nothing! Yes, that had to be right. A cover-up for the Templar’s greed for power and glory! “You’ll never take it from me! I shall die before I give it up!”

“As you wish,” said Hugo as he sneered. His boots kicked up dirt as he charged forward, raising his mace in the attack!

CLANG!

The mace plowed into the thief’s raised buckler, heavily denting its iron surface. Kormek cried out as the force of the blow sent him off his feet. With the agility of a panther he leapt back up, crying out as he swung his dagger at Hugo’s hulking form.

Chink!

“No!”

Hugo laughed maniacally at Kormek as he tried to withdraw his dagger. It had not been able to penetrate his armor, and instead had gotten caught between the metal plates! The thief struggled vainly as he tried to pull his weapon back, but it was no use.

“Fool!” Hugo roared as he struck Kormek with one gauntleted fist on the side of his head. The thief was sent rolling across the floor. “You are no match for the servants of Avatar! Kneel and accept your death, knave!”

Kormek staggered again to his feet, his blood glistening in the dim moonlight as it trickled down the side of his face. He chuckled madly, as if he was completely unharmed. That foolish Templar didn’t understand! Kormek could never be killed!

“You’ll never take it! You’ll never take the gem!” he howled wildly as he charged at Hugo, armed only with his dented buckler. “It’s mine! I’m invincible! Hahaha! HAHAHAHA!”

To be Continued...

[Veldrin]

"Invincible indeed," Hugo mused, standing over Kormek's broken body. The thief died in a fetal position, an expression of insane greed frozen on his lifeless face. Using one metal boot, Hugo rolled the corpse onto its back, then bent over to search through the theif's clothing for the ruby.

At last, fumbling in one of Kormek's pockets, Hugo lifted the fist-sized Gem of Pyros into view. The moonlight reflected across its many-faceted surface, glittering brilliantly in the Templar's eyes. Safe from its vampiric touch in his gauntleted hands, he could still feel its power and its thirst burning inside. Perhaps it could be used to increase Hugo's own power, using it to finally crush those Kaldorian heretics, and exterminate the drow in Trinsic once and for all.

Hugo placed the gem on the floor, and lifted his mace. The Gem of Pyros was evil beyond doubt, and threatened to destroy all that the Avatar stood for, merely by existing. It had to be destroyed; there was no other feasible option. He raised his mace high in the air, then with a grunt, used all his strength to swing down with full force to shatter the ruby.

Clish!

"Agh!"

A surprisingly bright flash of light assaulted Hugo's eyes as his weapon came down on the gem. He raised an arm to shield his visor, although it had been too late. Temporarily blinded, the templar stumbled backwards. He heard the clinking and distantly felt the shrapnel from the gem bounce off his platemail armor. He lowered his arm and shook his head furiously. He squinted in the darkness and waited for his eyes to recover and adjust once again to the night's shadows.

It worked! The head of Hugo's mace was buried amongst the wooden boards where the gem had been. But something wasn't right. That light had been strange, and there was no trace of the ruby where it had once been. But there had been shrapnel! Pieces of the gem must be nearby! Hugo slowly pulled off his helm, looking around the darkened room to see where the shards of the gem had landed.

There in a shady corner stood Kormek, wearing a wicked grin.

But Hugo had killed him! He whirled around to see that the theif's corpse was still where it had fallen. It was. Bruised and shattered, a pool of blood had even begun grow under him. But as he looked again, the image of smiling Kormek still stood there, swaying ever so slightly.

But wait. There wasn't just one.

To Hugo's shock and horror, he slowly moved his gaze across the room. Nigh a dozen identical images of Kormek, grimly illuminated in the moon's weak light, surrounded Hugo in the dark room. Did his eyes deceive him? What witchery was this?! Was this the heathenous magic of the Tokunese? Or were they all undead corpses?

"Phantoms! No doubt you serve the Guardian! Attack me if you will, thou dost not stand a stance!"

The different images of Kormek all looked down, as if there were something at their feet. All of them then stooped in tandem, reaching on the floor to pick up a glittering object. Shards of the gem! They each possessed a piece of the Gem of Pyros!

"I understand now," the Templar said lowly. "You have possessed the gem for too long. Just as it has been shattered, your soul has--Stop!"

All of the Kormek phantoms suddenly dashed out of the fort, taking the gem shards with them. Hugo growled as he barreled after them, but as he exited the structure and entered the open night air, he saw the last of them flee into the darkness, all in different directions. It would be futile to chase them now.

Hugo placed his metal helmet back on his head, staring off into the darkness for several moments before walking to his warhorse, tied outside the fort.

"Fools. You cannot escape for long."

[Mela Arkay]

The guardsmen lined up outside of the Covian barracks, their weapons at arms their gaze held forward as Officer Cadet Mela Arkay paced the line her arms folded calmly behind her back. Veldrin Niharel stood close by her trademark sneer marked across her lips and her eyes ever narrowed.

Abruptly turning on her heels Mela gazed over the line up and told them of what they were going to do. Herself and Veldrin had been set a task to find a thief that goes by the name of Kormek as he 'stole' a Gem which was rather valuable to the church. The gem had formally belonged to the God Pyros, however when he had fallen it fell in the hands of man and after being hidden away it became nothing but a legend a story told to grandchildren.

After Kormek a thief known for his sloth and gluttony managed to find the gem, Hugo of the Covian church soon caught up with Kormek and after a small fight shattered the Ruby, when the ruby shattered Kormek himself was split and planted within each shard, a different emotion within each.

Nodding a signal to Veldrin she stepped beside Mela and began chanting under her breath and once the spell was done everyone dived within the glimmering blue gate which had appeared before them. The gate had lead to the brigand fort near Britian, Skara Brae and Yew - A good place to look. The brave Covians searched in the fort however it was in vane as nothing was found not a trace of Kormek or the giant Ruby.

Under the command of Mela the guardsmen head out from the fort and down to an outpost to rest though what they found wasn't so disappointing as rummaging carelessly in a large chest of gold as a thief. After a while of interrogation they found out her wasn't Kormek and draining all the information from him that they could they left the thief to rummage through his chest of gold and goods.

One of the Kormek's had run towards Skara Brae so that would probably be the best place to search next.

[Mela Arkay]

Anger

When Hugo shattered the gem he shattered Kormek, each piece of the gem containing a fragment of his soul. Fear, Hatred, Anger, Love, Happiness and even Kormek's cunning. Whoever touches these rubies is controlled by the emotion that lingers inside..
Kormeks temper was never easily controlled his anger often influenced decisions he made making him a merciless fighter and thief without conscience, there are not many who survived his wrath.

[Veldrin]

Veldrin let out an impatient sigh as she paced through the Barracks library. The books stacked on the shelves were almost ominously illuminated by the dim, flickering lantern light from the table. The bookshelves cast deep shadows across the floor, which the drow guardsman moved in and out of. The rest of the guardsmen were either sleeping or on patrol. Veldrin had nothing to do but wait, pace, and mutter dark curses in her native tongue.

Suddenly she paused, hearing light footsteps on the stone stairway outside. Folding her arms, she stared at the doorway. A bald man stepped timidly into the warmly lit room, clothed in an oversized brown robe. He offered no of the usual niceties such as a polite smile or a friendly hello. That was good. Veldrin hated the social etiquette that so many mindless idiots followed like a religion.

"You're late," she growled, her drowish accent twisting her words. "I called for you days ago. And now you arrive at zhis late hour."

"I apologize," the man replied. "I imagine it may surprise you that my life involves other important matters beside meeting with drow to answer their tedious questions."

Veldrin bared her teeth briefly in response, although she was amused and impressed by his straight forward attitude. At least he wasn't a moronic imbecile like all the others. The drow moved to the table against the wall, drawing out a chair and sitting down. The man remained standing, folding his arms behind his back and observing her quietly.

"I have been issued a duty by the Church to locate a particular ruby," she opened, leaning back. "I have come to learn zhat zhis ruby is called zhe Gem of Pyros. Vhat I do not understand is zhat I have found two of zhese gems. I can only assume zhey are pieces of the original gem."

A kindled interest appeared like a newly lit flame in the man's eyes. He was known as Lionel the Lorekeeper, and quite possibly knew much more about this matter than Veldrin did. And judging by the intrigue on his face, he knew enough about this gem to give her a good idea of what she was looking for. Well thank Lolth. She couldn't stand to work with that incompetent scout Mela any longer than she had to.

"The Gem of Pyros, well," Lionel smiled, pulling out the other chair and sitting as well. "I can see why the Church would want that. I had heard that it had been found again."

"By Kormek, a thief. He is vhat confuses me more zhan zhe Gem." Veldrin brushed a tuft of her white hair behind her pointed ear. "You see I met him. He seemed aggressive and hostile, and zhen surprised everyone vhen he turned into a balron, vhich we killed. We took his Gem."

She waited for Lionel to speak, but he didn't. He apparently wanted to hear more, so Veldrin continued.

"Zhose who held zhe gem began acting strange. Zhey became angry, and hostile just like Kormek. Zhis effect lasted until zhey let go of zhe gem, and zhe next person who picked it up also became affected." Veldrin watch the flickering lantern light dance across Lionel's face.

"Really! How fascinating!" The man rubbed his chin, suppressing a grin. "Those who held the Gem became possessed by Kormek's anger! It was not their own emotions they felt, but the thief's."

"Yes vell, zhere is more. We killed Kormek. But a veek later, another man identical to him, who called himself Kormek, arrived at zhe Barracks to offer us anozher piece of zhe Gem. But he vas different. Sorrowful, depressed, irritating. Vunce ve retrieved his piece of zhe gem, zhe same zhing happened as vizh zhe last. Except zhis time everyone who held it became hopeless, suicidally sad, depressed just as Kormek."

"Intriguing," Lionel mused, his brow creasing as he screwed his eyebrows together in contemplation. "This is all very interesting, but let me tell you a bit about the Gem. You are a drow and I understand your kind acknowledge many gods. Other religions worship a single god. Since the beginning of this world, there have existed many gods. While they are immortal, it is possible for them to die. Such happened to Pyros, the former God of Fire."

"Mhm," Veldrin replied unenthusiastically, feeling her eyelids droop as he droned on. She suppressed a smirk of her own when obvious annoyance at her lack of interest appeared on Lionel's face.

"The last remnants of Pyros and his power remained dormant in that gem. That is, until Kormek touched it. You see, that gem is the key to Pyros' rebirth. It's designed to absorb the soul and life essence of humans who come in contact with it. With enough souls, Pyros can rise and live again. Gods do not succumb to death so permanently as humans."

"So vhy are zhere two Kormeks?"

"If the gem was shattered... Kormek must have been the only one to touch the gem while it was whole. It must have begun absorbing his soul..." Lionel's eyes were alive, like an exciting drow watching a death match between a deurgar slaves. "The original Kormek must have been killed... and as the jewel was shattered, so was his soul broken into pieces. Fascinating!"

"Very," Veldrin said dully. The man glared shrewdly at her but continued.

"It sounds as if each piece of his soul embodies a particular emotion. Anger and sorrow, as you've encountered, but... I believe there are more. And if there were two Kormeks... each piece of his soul must have taken a physical form."

Veldrin sat up in her chair. "Are you saying zhere are more Kormeks out zhere?"

"I would bet on it," Lionel nodded.

The drow groaned, rubbing her temple. Terrific, and just when she thought her hunt was nearly over. "How many?"

"It is hard to say. I would imagine there are as many Kormeks are there are shards of the Gem."

Veldrin placed her hands in her lap. "And each piece of Kormek's soul holds one of the gem shards?"

"I believe that's a safe assumption. Each one will embody a different emotion, as will the shards..."

Veldrin stood up from her seat. "Zhen my mission is clear. I vill have to find all zhese Kormeks and take zheir pieces of the gem. Your information has been helpful." She narrowed her eyes. "Zhank you. Now get out."

Lionel smiled in amusement, then slowly made his way to the exit in the corner.

[Mela Arkay]

Sadness

When Hugo shattered the gem he shattered Kormek, each piece of the gem containing a fragment of his soul. Fear, Hatred, Anger, Love, Happiness and even Kormek's cunning. Whoever touches these rubies is controlled by the emotion that lingers inside..
Although Kormek was a thief and a murderer he had a close accomplish, a best friend whom he held close to his heart. Sadness and depression struck when this friend vanished on a trip through the ant mines and he had no other places to turn than his 'friends' in Cove.

Love

When Hugo shattered the gem he shattered Kormek, each piece of the gem containing a fragment of his soul. Fear, Hatred, Anger, Love, Happiness and even Kormek's cunning. Whoever touches these rubies is controlled by the emotion that lingers inside..
The love that he held for his dearest ever blooms and to her he gave a piece of himself. The Shard of love.

[Mela Arkay]

Her charcoal cloak flapped lightly in the wind as she crouched on a large tree branch her left arm outstretched and gripping the branch above for balance. The window she sat opposite had been open for three days straight and not a single candle lit in the room. A family still occupied the house, a husband and wife, Clara and Jones with their two daughters Maxine and Jasmine but they never ventured into the room, nor did they seem to notice Mela sitting in the leafless tree every morning for the last three days.

Not that Mela cared, it made her job easier for when the slightly antisocial family finally did leave the place unguarded. Jasmine and Maxine skipped around the garden happily chattering to each other as Mela leaned back against the tree trunk, boredom overwhelming her. The reason she was there was Jones had once been a distant friend to Kormek, he had taken months to find.. but she finally had.

Slowly Mela looked up, after days of waiting they finally were leaving the house to go to a market. "Only a few moments longer and I'll go" Mela mumbled to herself as she watched the family walking through the fields to a village in the distance before suddenly pushing off the large tree branch and through the large open window. Landing in a forward roll Mela quickly shuffled into a crouch and gazed around the darkened room. Nothing too suspicious the usual, an old dusty spinning wheel.. plenty of books.. some covered up furniture. Pushing the books off a stack one by one she gazed over the covers.

"Regarding llamas... How to keep a pet llama," she mumbled on as she went through the books "Pirates tales..OOooh." she took the book up and slipped it under her arm her interest peeked. Sighing she flicked through the rest of her books until she came to a small book with a leather casing. "A diary.." she murmured and slipped it under her arm. It was exactly what she had come for. Easing back into a covered chair she rested the book on her lap and flicked it open.. it was Kormeks diary, maybe it would help in finding the next gem shard?