The Land of Helakirtor; Chapter 1

The night was silent and dark in the realm of Darium where the dark lords and their faithful Gaveya women abide for the spirit of the cold had embraced the gloom of the night as a heavy mantle of snow clothed the mountain skirts in white. From the Salaven Cemetery on the snowy slopes that gird the city a strange sound arose which was too dreadful even for the ears of the folk of Darium who dwell in the land of fear yet there were some souls who knew this voice from ancient times. Only the aged and the wise could perceive the meaning of that ominous whisper.

It was naught else but the cry of majesty of the Tanzigot for since the ancient days no ear had hearkened to the voice of this dreadful beast as the Tanzigot raised its voice only when evil had won an absolute triumph. This was a deed most rare in Helakirtor the land of all realms and scarce any among the living had heard this sound before and few among the beings of the realm knew the import of that cry.

In the lands of Darium there abode a few Elders devoted to wisdom who knew this sound and though they were once the most revered of the realm they were now seen as the accursed ones for they had not taken a Gaveya bride nor yielded their souls to the servants of the dark. Their vision pierced beyond the veil of sight for in days of old Darium was a place girded by forests where beasts dwelt in peace and green meadows lay beside the river Mojori whose waters flowed as pure as the nuns of Hennes.

Even in the coldest and darkest days of winter the sun found occasion to glance through the black clouds upon these peerless lands and the warm breath of spring caressed the skin scattering joy across the emerald pastures. The tale of autumn ceased not with the leaves falling from ancient trees nor did the biting storms of winter cast a veil over the eyes even as the Malahirol Mountains were clad in white snows yet suddenly the Gaveya women appeared and a train of strange deeds began in this magnificent realm. First the days of sun grew scarce and in time the dreams of hope began to perish as the merry children who wandered the meadows vanished and the delightful smiles upon all their faces withered away.

The honorable men of Darium raised strongholds to keep their hearths secure and sought the hunt to gather store against the winter season while the women of this realm were renowned for their sacrifice rearing children to bring glory to their homes. When the men went forth to war or the chase the women refrained not from the warding of the land for the fierce and passionate Darium women were as mighty as the men in the flourishing of their kin yet a day came when a sudden decree was proclaimed in the King’s Lands of the south commanding that a band of wizards be banished unto the north.

This judgment fell in a time unforeseen for a dreadful rumour spread from ear to ear across the whole realm. The King upon beholding his sixth child born a daughter commanded the Gaveya women summoned from the town of Tilis in the Old Irinarius Lands to weave their darkest magics and yield him a male heir. The anxious King became the prey of his fleeting passions and though he knew well his desire he saw not the shadow of the doom his wish would birth

The fiendish women of Tilis had awaited this very moment since the day of their creation for this plight of the King was ordained long before it was foreseen. When the King was but newly wed this dark design was forged in Mare Rubrum the most mysterious city of the earth by the most skilled wizards the universe had ever beheld. A gathering of the Council of Chenosa which meets but few times in a hundred years was convened for this black scheme where only the most gifted of all dark wizards might enter and no decree made outside its circle held power in the dark realm yet the final plot devised for the King was of such a hue that it seemed too dark even for that Council.

First the Lady Violariyn whom the King had wed was stolen away and in her stead was set a Gaveya woman clad in her very semblance so that the decrees of the King the sole ruler of all realms might be easily swayed and he be made to serve the dark wizards even against his own will. The design of the Council of Chenosa was to hold the King in thrall and thereby destroy all schemes laid against the servants of the dark yet within Mare Rubrum there remained a faction who deemed this plot of the Council too mild in its severity.

These fiends who called themselves the House of Irinarious were neither as Wise as the dark wizards of the Council nor as void of skill as the other wizards in the dark realm for their gifts were great indeed but their Wisdom was little in measure and this it was that made them the most perilous of all. The lore they had gathered even for the sake of evil had not made Sages of them but turned them into incurable fiends and whence they had learned such dark magic was a wonder for they were outcasts even within the dark realm and many times had judgment been passed against the House of Irinarious in the Council of Chenosa and they had been chastised so it was plain that none in Mare Rubrum would teach them the ancient dark lore and from whom they had gleaned such vast knowledge remained a great mystery.

The most wayward and sinister wizards of the realm were gathered by the House of Irinarious and sent forth unto Darium in the uttermost north of Helakirtor for Lord Morpsulus the founder of this House had consecrated his life and the lives of all his kin to finding an ancient book believed to be hidden somewhere within the Salaven Cemetery in the land of Darium. What was the power of this book that made it so precious that lives were vowed and sacrifices offered and souls taken for its sake and was it worthy of such great tumult? Yea it was worthy indeed and more for this book was written by the very hand of Nymaroth and his seven children.

After Nymaroth was bound within Helakirtor he vowed his whole existence to bring hatred and wrath upon the dwellers of this land and being sent unto Helakirtor as a part of the ancient design he poured forth all the evils dwelling in his mind into a single book and concealed it in the most silent and darksome corner of the north. Every dark word that spilled from his breast was graven upon each page with a poisonous blue to cleave a wound that heals not in the souls of those who read and drag them down to the swamp of Yalensuul where darkness reigns supreme. He sowed seeds of discord in every line in memory of all those foul deeds he had wrought and when he had cast out from his heart and vomited forth the pus of his soul he found a moment of ease and forgot his ancient charge yet he had left behind a dreadful remembrance and those who walked in his path were intent to seek it out for they could no longer endure to dwell in the land of the forsaken.

Herein the design of the House of Irinarious entered its hour and unto Darium known as the land of peace and bounty were sent the Gaveya women reared by the very hand of that House who ensnared the men of the realm with their charms and their sorceries to fulfill the purpose for which they had been trained for many years. Darkness began to spread in Darium like a mist suddenly descending upon a desolate valley in the deepest moment of the cooling night following a hot day and all the men save the aged and the wise succumbed to the allure of the Gaveya women and sundered their families. Suddenly grief and darkness began to roam this realm of peace and the children playing with laughter in the green fields and the faithful wives whose love defied the years gave place to weeping women and orphaned babes.

The schemes of the House of Irinarious advanced exactly as they had desired for the Gaveya women reared in Tilis by that House were sent forth unto Darium by the command of the King and with this decree no soul in the realm dared even to touch the Gaveya women. Moreover the wills of those who possessed such courage within them were imprisoned by dark spells and to constrain the King to issue such a command the House of Irinarious had stolen away the Queen when the King was but newly wed and set in her place one of their own kin.

Thus by the use of dark spells it was ordained that the first six children of the King should be daughters for the House of Irinarious knew that the King seized by dread at this state would turn to the dark wizards and yield unto them whatsoever they desired in exchange for a male son to continue his lineage. And the event unfolded in every part as it was plotted so that the Gaveya women were sent unto Darium by the King’s command for it was well known that without such a decree the Gaveya women would find no abode in the land of Darium.

Thus the House of Irinarious had achieved dominion over the land of Darium through the agency of the Gaveya women and this deed greatly fortified the hand of the House to seek out the ancient book Lachtia which lay buried within the Salaven Cemetery yet though the rein of Darium had passed unto the Gaveya women a great stumbling block still stood before the Irinarious for indeed the Elders of the realm those Aged Sages had known no woman in their youth let alone the Gaveya women but had embraced a life of solitude and verily there were many in the land who held the faith that they were good wizards.

These Sages known as the Henmers abode upon the mysterious hills where desolation and cold and darkness reigned in the land of Darium even around the Salaven Cemetery and this was surely no chance for the Henmers had dwelt upon the same hills for hundreds nay thousands of years. These Sages beheld themselves as the appointed ones of God and had consecrated their lives to the warding of the Salaven Cemetery and without doubt these Wise Ancients were far more than they appeared to the eye yet for the present to describe them most truly it sufficed to say they were envoys of goodness charged to hinder the book Lachtia from falling into the hands of dark wizards and while no soul in the realm was yet aware of this dreadful design of the Irinarious the Henmers were fully aware of all things.

But were their tidings and the measures they took sufficient? Nay indeed for the wayward fiends of the dark realm had now secured the support of the King yet the Henmers were intent to make the task of the Irinarious hard and grievous. From the day they perceived that the land of Darium began to drift into darkness each Aged Sage prepared copies bearing the semblance of Lachtia and began to bury them in random parts of the cemetery and at the head of every buried copy they kindled a green and feeble fire visible only during the eclipse of the moon for in all sources found concerning Lachtia the same words were written saying When the cold pierced the spirit of the night and the moon was shut a green fire appeared in the eyes of the fiend and a great cry rose up from all the realm. In these words there were signs plain enough for those who had eyes to see and the Henmers had laid their designs resting upon these very words.

As the season of the lunar eclipse began to draw nigh those dark women of Tilis framed a plot by the behest of the House of Irinarious. A few hours before the eclipse the ravens were to wing their way over the land of Darium so that the Gaveya women might perceive the advent of the obscuring and congregate together and these ravens being the servants of the dark realm were also to show the place of Lachtia in the cemetery unto these fiends of Tilis.

Yet all the schemes of the dark realm were not destined to proceed as they had thought for the dominion of the spell upon the ravens vanished when the light of the moon was severed and those poor creatures began to flutter their wings toward the depths of the forest leaving the Gaveya women suddenly desolate upon the dark hills of Darium. For those who set out to seek Lachtia there remained now neither a guiding sign nor a prophecy to illuminate the truth and from the moment the eclipse was fulfilled green flames began to rise from the four corners of the cemetery so that it was a task of much difficulty to discern which was the semblance and which the fire ascending from the abode of the true book.

Lady Dyamatlis who held charge over the Gaveya women in the land of Darium cried out suddenly Luna auxilium and amidst the semblances Lachtia was revealed unto her sight. Dyamatlis began to advance cleaving through the clouds of dark blue mist in the coldest and most darksome and mysterious night that Salaven had ever beheld. At last she had attained the side of that treasure sought for many years and the eyes of Dyamatlis became deep green with the emerald flame of Lachtia. She seized at once the small spade that hung upon her back and began to delve and the other Gaveya women beholding her hastened to her aid. At this season of the year the earth should have been frozen hard yet the green flames gushing from the soil had melted even the snows upon the surface where Lachtia lay buried and finally the women of the dark realm with united hands brought forth the book from the place of its interment.

The striving of the Henmers to hinder the deed had proved vain and a dreadful voice was heard which those who hearkened could nevermore forget. Every ear in the realm caught the sound yet only those sufficiently wicked and sufficiently Wise perceived the nature of that relentless cry. Not in the land of Darium alone but throughout all the known lands of Helakirtor was this dire whisper heard. This foul sound bringing darkness into the hearts of the hearers was of a tone most high and yet of a timbre most low even like unto the dominion of darkness itself majestic in aspect but void of true strength.