Hālfān: Short Story Series (The Owl's Archives in the Forgotten Library)
Prologue:
Hālfān - There was once a place where peace and harmony were blasphemy; forgotten truths whispered in shadows of lies. When the four elements fell, tearing the world into sin-filled realms. Souls trapped in fragile vessels, grasping at fractured truths too heavy for mortals to bear; truths the world itself tries to bury. On that fateful day when prophecy speaks; the Red Moon will wane overhead.
® By ƐR3
Part I: The First Chapter of the Book of Not En
In the beginning there was The Age of Nothing, Mother Nothing or Not as she preferred. Here there was Father Eternity. He saw, for she was perfect in her vast everflowing form of knowledge, love, and existence. He as Her witness. Baring the manifestation of a candle to resemble his passion for her.
Together they formed a family, two boys and two girls. For eons, wonders and discoveries engulfed their minds as teachings from both Eternity and Nothing came way with time and effort. As time passed, things always seemed to change; as did their form. Each taking their Elemental shape among eons more.
Nothing was growing weary of her sons’ malice comments towards their Father’s recent teachings over the strengths of graciousness. Speaking to her daughter’s she understood the truth of the matter. Boredom and Envy had seeped into the Realm. One of the Sins had slipped into their dimension.
Mother Not knew it was too late and the rest of the Sins were on their way; she had to act fast. She spoke the truth of the situation to the boys (Cortov the Fire Deity and Cruxious the Earth Deity). They understood and took full responsibility for their negligence. They had left a backdoor open to their thought palaces while they were distracted visiting each other's states of being. Creating new ideas unaware of their own power having responsibility of awareness.
They brought peace through destruction into creation. Each resulting in a physical manifestation greater than ever before of themselves. Their existence permeated into every atom of the space they were destined to create to have full influence, but not this soon.
Each sibling took the role of Immortal Weaver as their respected element of this multiverse; plastering themselves into the perpetual state of our reality. A deal was struck; a burden to bear. Amatra and Alanthra did not agree with how their brothers simply wiped out the last of the mortals their Father entrusted them in their absence.
So, instead of coming to an understanding, each sibling went their separate way to one of their four corners of Father Entirety’s Temple; our dimension of cosmos. Until His and Her return, they wait cloistered in their own realms protecting their Father’s knowledge.
That is how Mother Not chose us. Shielding us with choices of love and peace and to keep the 7 Sins from devouring us whole. As Father En gave us everything from States of Feeling to Being. We are all separate from Eternity but all one with Nothing.
*Last words Nothing spoke to her daughter Alanthra the Water Deity:
A: “Mother Not please don’t there must be a way we can-”
N: “I love you all and would expect the same from all of you. Don’t worry I won't be far and I’ll be waiting here when it is all said and done. Th- Thank you Alanthra for your honesty and
overflowing caring heart.”
*a moment passes
N: “Goodbye, I love you.”
*silence
A: “Mother… Why won’t you let me help.”
*Last words Mother Nothing spoke to her daughter Amatra the Air Deity:
A: “Dou what you must Mother, I trust you. I will do my duty and help Father as you defend. If- If you need help call upon us. Goodbye, love you Mother…”
N: “Love you too, my sweet brave Amatra. Take care of yourself in my absence, these times will only last a moment, please lean on your sister. She needs you most now.”
*silence
The Immortal Weaver’s may now begin their true work.
To teach their mortals with the hands they have been given by their Father.
Part II: Where the Roots Began: Amasir First Contact with the Water Realm
In a time both melded and distant from ours, many years ago, there was a seed of knowledge, grace, and wisdom. Engulfed in a realm of water and sky, nothing more, nothing less. It was found on the ocean floor, blending in among the stones.
The Asamir of the Air Realm. Angelic humanoids reigned among the four planes of existence: Water, Fire, Air, and Earth. They stumbled upon this seed by chance, conducting operational scans for mandatory scientific updates.
The scouts and scientists reported their findings back to the main realm. This artifact of life carried signs of the Essence of Vita in the Water Realm, recorded as the first life form ever found there. Over time, as they continued reporting, many new life forms began to take shape in the depths, eventually surfacing in search of food. Yet none compared to the seed in intelligence.
The scientists wished to extract it, but the council, upon reviewing the facts, declined the request. They instructed the researchers to leave it, wait, let it grow, and protect it.
The Asamir were the only known sentient bipeds. Their gods were Amantra and her States of Emotion and States of Being, entrusted to her by their Father, Eternity. She proclaimed that they were their own gods, since her Father had created them. Amantra left the Asamir with every tool they needed to survive and to supervise the realms with the knowledge granted by Amatra, the Unseen. Her final command was that no temples be built in her name or in the names of her States.
Over time, the seed began to grow. Until a sprout of brown, flesh-like buds emerged, forming into tiny fists. It hovered in the water, eventually floating to the surface, bobbing with the currents of the endless ocean. This was the beginning of Halfan.
In the years that followed, the sprout on the surface grew branches, looking more like wood and less like flesh. They resembled humanoid arms. Its roots extended as long, excavating tendrils, weaving together to form a woodroot-like island around the tree. The Asamir now had a research base for the specimen. Yet the humanoids had no luck uncovering the deeper purpose of its existence. They would learn the truth after their first week on the island.
Scientists and philosophers of the highest prestige came to study this new monstrosity of science, hoping to glean the reason for its being. A Living Island, they called it.
There was one thing everyone agreed on: it was hard to look at. Staring too long made the mind recoil, urging the viewer to look away. They attributed this to its uncanny resemblance to flesh. Even when fully visible, it could only be observed for a few seconds before the eyes would burn with a strange pain. It grew at a grotesque rate, but only at night.
The next day, after making this discovery, the scientists brought climbing equipment through their portal at camp. Their goal was to ascend the tree and retrieve a sample. A team of four scientists prepared for the mission.
They began by wrapping rope around the lowest hanging branches. After climbing 100 meters into the tree, the wind picked up. The moment they pierced the bark with their hooks, the tree began to vibrate violently, releasing a deep, foreboding hum that shook the entire island.
The branches thrashed wildly, knocking two of the scientists from the tree to their deaths. The mission was aborted. The Realm Shift Portal (RSP) was activated to return the bodies to their home realm for burial. When the two surviving scientists returned to retrieve the corpses, they found something horrifying: the roots of the ground, massive maggot-like leeches, had inhaled the bodies. Tubes of flesh gouged into their forms, slowly consuming them until the bodies dissipated, becoming one with the roots of the Living Island.
The moon crept over the horizon; red.
The humming groaned back to an audible frequency, its sound melding with the horror of what had just occurred. Then it quieted again, barely perceptible, but ever-present. Time itself seemed to bear witness.
The remaining scientists scrambled to pack, grabbing only valuables and abandoning the rest. A red glow bled into the RSP tent. The waves hollowed with hunger, and the limbs of the island whispered through the wind with eerie creaks. The pulsation increased, now unbearable.
Then, beneath its branches, a hollow pit opened, revealing a glowing blue eye. Its lids separated slowly.
The eye gazed upon the place where the Asamir corpses had vanished. The scientists froze, uncertain of its intent.
The eye closed again. Stillness. Silence.
Baffled, the scientists could not comprehend what they had witnessed.One of them looked again into the place where the eye had appeared. He began to scream, wild, panicked shrieks, falling to the ground, clutching his face, weeping, writhing. Then, in madness, he tried to pry his own eyes from their sockets.
As the other scientist rushed to restrain him, the maddened man broke free, running to the edge of the island and diving into the sea, never to return to the surface.
The Asamir left Halfan.
And they never returned.
Part III: The Discovery of the Realms, History of Halfan Prologue by Dr. Kiada Essa; Historian and Planeshifter of the Owls
(Kept Safe in the Owl Sanctuary Archive)
This young realm; the Water Realm. Is one of the many dimensions in this universe. Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. These became Planes for life and living organisms to be given purpose and reason from Father to the Immortal Weaver’s; his children. The Water Realm, nothing but water till the Seed arrived.
The Air Realm; floating isles and free falling waterfalls to be evaporated in photosynthesize to rain clouds upon the top of the top of the highest floating isles. All creatures are adapted to air here; even fish.
The Fire Realm consists of molten earth, magma lakes, no sky, only more red hot petrified earth as a canopy; a never ending cave. All creatures are adapted to this climate being able to move though the lakes of lava and magma rivers. No intelligible life forms have been met in this realm. Only old monoliths stand. The Language inscribed upon them; lost to antiquity.
The Earth Realm is considered the most hostile; for the size of its creatures will say enough. Colossal Sleeping Giants, first roaming for a millennial until meeting their destination to sleep evermore protecting something beneath them. Nature takes over their exterior shape and makes them one with the hills with moss and trees taking over with time until their next wake. They appear to be protecting something where they sleep. Fighting over these plateaus as they wake to meet other giants in hand to hand combat; no matter their size they fight to the death. The Asamir have not come close to understanding these creatures' means of existence.
*A message in a bottle found in the Known Waters of the Water Realm*
"The only one who knows and was the sole survivor of this story was me, Kaida Essa. Whom this info reaches, know that I have done my duty and I am at peace that the Torch of Truth will burn here forward. I was sent to you by Amatra as a reincarnate from the Void to make sure you were ready for this moment and time has caught up with us. Your family was known as The First Spark, the first humans to learn electric magic, their souls pure in heart brought technology to the Water realm to aid and help many, but others wanted their power and seduced them into horrific experiments and lies of wealth from the Ravens using them as vessels of energy to power cities. You are the last survivor of your family. Whoever you know as your family of this Realm is a lie. No Name has ripped a tear into the Fabric of our Realm making history and timelines bleed into one another into what you convinced of this realm as the truth; leaving your mind dormant. They can’t lie anymore, you now know the truth of my people toying with this sacred seed of a Realm you and your destined companions must wake them as well."
Part IV: The Immortal Sin
Prologue
Baron's life began in shadow.
The bastard son of King Bartal of the Isle of the Old Flame, he grew up nameless and unwanted. His mother, a servant, died young. His father ignored him. Baron became a soldier, fighting for a kingdom that never claimed him. He died in battle against the Ravens, his body left to burn with the Isle of the Old Flame when it was set ablaze.
But death wasn't the end.
The water goddess Alanthra remembered him. She pulled him from the ashes, breathing the name “Menapace” giving life to his charred bones. He awoke cursed, a man who couldn't die, a prophet with no memory of his past. Alanthra loved him, but their bond was forbidden. The gods had already cast him down once for loving her. Now, she hid the truth, fearing his foresight would unravel if he knew too much.
Baron wandered the Water Realm, a Hobo King leading the forgotten. He spoke truths no one wanted to hear. The humans of Hal burned his camp, but Arwin the Half-Elf saved him. Alanthra fused her essence, moosha, into his mind while he slept, dreaming a dream binding him to the Mother Tree. Giving him his essential true name, Menapace.
Now, Baron Menapace fights for a world that hates him. He's funny, blunt, and terrifying. Cursed with cannibalistic urges, he battles delusions and the weight of immortality. His love for Alanthra drives him, but he knows the Holders of the Shadow's Epoch will strike when he is weakest.
Where It Began: Epic of Menapace, the Demigod of Peace
Before the Sins thrashed into the Realm of Nothing by the backdoor of Cruxious and Cortav's Thought Palaces, the gods had servants, Demigods to keep them company. Alanthra held a deep infatuation with Menapace, the Demigod of Peace in the Realm of Nothing. He would speak to her for hours about the beauty of what her parents had done, were doing, and what was to come; showing her what Peace was capable of. Their bond grew into love.
When her brothers discovered this though their own Sins had yet to be noticed they told on her. Mother Nothing questioned why they would be upset that their sister had found something akin to the bond between Mother Nothing and Father Eternity. But love with a lesser deity was forbidden. To pay for their sins and to separate them, Menapace was cast down into the Fire Realm as a fire elf, reborn as a small mortal of Cortav.
Cortav took him as a prisoner when the elements were separated, erasing his memory of godhood. In the Fire Realm, Menapace lived as a fire elf, unaware of the divine past he once held. He protected his tribe and family from the devils and demons of the Abyss, horrors sent by the Eldritch Lords of Fire. Here, to burn the dead was sacred ensuring their souls would not wander restlessly.He became a leader. A strong father in a brutal world of Red, Deceit, Treachery, and Fire, no water, nor sky.
One fateful morning, the air was thick with smog and the scent of blood. A red fog rolled in, and through it came silhouettes, soldiers from another realm, red-eyed, limbs jerking in unison. The drum beat out the cadence of the Harvest of Souls. But Menapace's village of Peace was ready.
Before rest, he had laid stones of protection around the village. But the red fog seeped past them, into their lungs. They were ready too. He had to make a deal, his life, or everyone else's. Unprepared, yet with no alternative, he chose to pay the Price.
Before the transaction was complete, he found his son and said:
"Find Alanthra. You will see great oceans as far as the eye can see, green grass fields with shade and peace. This is where you'll find home."
He gave his son his sword and spellbook to complete what he had been training for.
"The Price to make something new, something old must be given," he whispered, bowing beneath a single candle in the corner. He gazed down at his right arm.
"Strength to be given."
He pressed his molars and canines into his own flesh, biting through tendon and muscle until the pressure burst his veins like frozen water pipes.
"And the rest of me to give them hope!"
The spell devoured him whole. Behind his fleeing son, the village witnessed only a massive purple explosion. A portal opened ahead and Menapace had saved his people. The portal led to the Earth Realm. Grass fields and vast plateaus stretched for days. But there was no water. Mountains loomed like heads with eyes closed.
On the 44th year of what they would later call the Age of Dark and Light, a strange fracture appeared—an air fissure hovering at chest height, shimmering with iridescent glitches and fractals. Menapace tossed in a stone, nothing. Then a tool tied to a rope, it returned coated in a cool, strange liquid substance.
They tasted salt and by the intuition of Eternity his son knew. Ocean water. Menapace led his people through the portal once more. Thus, the once-slaves of Cortav's Fire Eldritch Lords found refuge in the Air Realm of Amatra, Alanthra's sister. She welcomed them silently, through action and wind.
Beyond the portal, they saw a floating waterfall and lands suspended in the sky. There they met the Asamir, and their bloodlines mingled Asamir and Fire Elf traits blending. This was Amatra's final wish: to make them family. "We are all part of Father Eternity," she said. Then she vanished. Some say she went to aid Father Eternity. Others believe she vanished in sorrow, believing their bloodline had been defiled.
In time, diplomacy failed the Asamir. They were put on trial for crimes they did not commit. Generations passed. Menapace's great-grandson, Bartal, was exiled along with all those deemed impure. Their wings were plucked being cast into the watery abyss of Alanthra's realm. Amatra's grace forgotten.
Thus began the Humans of the Old Flame.
King Bartal the father of Menapace the Unworthy (now known as No Name), the bastard son Baron - Hobo King - Menapace, and Timon of the Old Flame built the capital Hal of Hālfān in their own way you could say. The rest is known history.
But Baron Menapace doesn't remember; only when he eats. So many vessels. So many lives. Baron was technically the first son, born before Menapace the Unworthy, before Timon, a bastard born of a concubine who became a servant of King Bartal. She named him Baron.
He grew up nameless and unwanted. He became a soldier, fighting for a kingdom that never claimed him. He died in battle against the Ravens, his body left to burn when Duluram's influence ignited the city in flames. But death is never the end, only the beginning. If he remembers… the Holders of the Shadow's Epoch will strike his weakest point, the truth will return. It is prophesied. Everything will be restored.
Part V: History of Hālfān - Protected by the Owls
Timeline of Halfan
As calculated by the Calendar of Not En’s Star
(CR 1st Year) - Alanthra's Seed is planted in the Water Realm.
(CR 100th Year) - The Asamir of the Air Realm discover Alanthra's Seed.
(CR 160th Year) - The Asamir abandon the project.
(CR 180th Year) - The first tribe of Animal Folk is established at the base of the Mother Tree Alanthra.
(CR 200th Year) - Halflings arrive to assist in raising and educating the Animal Folk.
(CR 225th Year) - Giants arrive and help restore the Mother Tree Alanthra, gifting her new lands and strengthening her roots with living timbers.
(CR 250th Year) - Exiled Asamir are cast down into the Water Realm, becoming the first Humans.
(CR 260th Year) - Humans establish towns and cities. Divided in their understanding of worship and unworthy in their own eyes, they develop various religions and political systems based on the four elements, spreading across the Known Waters of the Water Realm.
(CR 261st-399th Year) - Age of Peace: Harmony exists among all peoples under the care of the Mother Tree Alanthra.
(CR 399th Year) - Humans from the Earth and Water Isles deceive the Isle of the Mother Tree, stealing the strongest Animal Folk, Giants, and Halfling men under the guise of returning them-but never do. This betrayal ends the Age of Peace.
(CR 400th Year) - The Humans of the Isle of the Old Flame arrive at the Isle of the Mother Tree Alanthra.
(CR 400th Year) - Menapace, older brother of Timon and son of Queen Rivia and King Bartal, is given the Gift of the "Sight of the Mother" at Timon's request to help protect Halfan from further human enslavers.
(CR 400th-410th Year) - Menapace's prophecies help guide the Isle. His brother Timon officially names the land "Halfan" and establishes Hal as the capital.
(CR 420th Year) - Menapace issues a dire prophecy: "Red skies will come with black wings." The people of Halfan grow skeptical and dismissive.
(CR 420th Year) - Elves are abducted from their native plane and registered as slaves by the Ravens.
(CR 421st Year) - The Red War begins, as the Ravens invade from the coastal regions.
(CR 422nd Year) - Amatra returns, furious at the Asamir, demanding they protect her sister Alanthra and the Isle of Halfan.
(CR 425th Year) - Menapace uncovers a dagger forged by the Asamir, shaped like a candlestick and imbued with immense elemental power. He accuses the Asamir of plotting to assassinate King Timon I. His words spark accusations that the Asamir intend to wipe out humanity and reclaim their dumping ground. The trial nearly ends in riot. Though King Timon disagrees with the accusations, the court proceeds. After the trial, Timon takes Menapace aside-Menapace vanishes thereafter.
(CR 427th Year) - Menapace is missing for two years. Whispers claim he assassinated Ruskus Talmor, leader of the Ravens.
(CR 430th Year) - Menapace returns to perform a ritual, cursing Alanthra into an eternal slumber. During this, Baron M. is tricked into devouring Menapace, completing the curse.
(CR 430th Year) - Simultaneously, the sky turns red. A blood moon rises as a great battle rages against the Ravens. Madness takes hold. Gnomes, Halflings, Giants, and Animal Folk turn on each other. The humans of Hal claim those afflicted must be enslaved to prevent further bloodshed. Thus begins the Red Madness.
(CR 440th Year) - The Red War continues until the Ravens offer peace. King Timon agrees, citing the spreading madness and dwindling allied strength. Under the peace, Ravens gain a portion of the Isle and begin experimenting on slaves, seeking to cure the madness and extend their lives. The Red War ends.
(CR 441st Year) - The Red Madness spreads like a virus to all living things. This marks the beginning of the Red Ages.
(CR 451st Year) - King Timon I dies of a heart attack, brought on by long-term alcoholism, at age 59. His son, King Timon II, ascends at age 21 and proclaims a New Age of Knowledge, introducing new technologies from neighboring Isles and opening Hal's borders to trade.
(CR 459th Year) - King Timon II commits public suicide. In a drunken stupor, he strips naked and hurls himself from the palace balcony as the red moon rises.
(CR 459th Year) - Timon III becomes king at age 13.
(CR 516th Year) - Nothing has changed-only the king's age. Timon III now rules at 70 years old.
Part VI: Duluram, Devourer of Planes
Truth Discovered of No Name by The Owls.
(Father Unknown, born of Queen Rivia-Talor of the Old Flame)
He is not the son of King Bartal of the Old Flame. He was born out of wedlock, his father unknown. It happened on a cold winter night. Queen Rivia-Talor was awoken by a comforting arousal, assuming it was King Bartal by his scent and familiar mannerisms. He often entered her chambers in the middle of the night; moments of passion in the late hours were a normal part of their routine. He would stay afterward and hold her in peace. But this time was different. He was more passionate, yet he left without a word.
After King Bartal named him Menapace at his birth, Rivia asked why Bartal hadn’t stayed that night. Bartal insisted that he had. Confusion spread between them. They questioned the servants, but no one would speak. In a fit of royal rage and desperation, all the servants were executed, as not one gave even an ounce of evidence about what had occurred during that winter night. A night when Air Isle Regimes and Earth Isle Pirates were seen creeping through the city in shadows. It was then they began to understand what might have happened. Menapace could not be king. He bore the name, but not the blood.
Still, they raised him as their own. Rivia fell into a deep depression, and Bartal grew cold, his emotions locked behind silence. He could not stand the looks from his new council. The unspoken questions in their eyes as he passed.
It needed a vessel. A scapegoat. Someone mortal to walk the path of destruction in the realm of men. Someone to open the Gate of Space and Time, allowing it to feed once more. The Mimic of a familiar voice of comfort, whispering, it was Alanthra or was it? -“Do it.”
Only through them are visions revealed; his truth, twisted and terrible. Menapace, now granted the demi-god title, Nobody No Name, successfully summoned the Red Moon at the Temple of Urok, putting the Mother Tree to eternal rest. His purpose was fulfilled.
In the final act of the ritual, Menapace (Baron) was forced to devour Menapace (No Name), completing the unholy rite. And so the Mother Tree slept, bound in never-ending slumber. And No Name not bound to a mortal vessel evermore.
Part VII: Before the Fire, Beneath the Sea
They are unsure how the elves arrived in Hālfān as slaves, this is a secret kept by the Raven. But to cut back years earlier, before the humans of the Old Flame saw fire upon their rooftops and were forced to flee, eventually finding Hālfān, many miles away across the sea in the Water Realm, beyond the Known Water’s Edge, lies the island of Par.
Par is an island formed around a floating stone, inhabited by Gnomes and Halflings; folk of great skill in technology, mechanics, alchemy, and craftsmanship. It is one of many isles in the Water Realm, positioned just before the Known Water’s Edge, where the Five Pillars of Balance stand like ancient sentinels.
The Gnomes and Halflings were searching for minerals in the caves scattered throughout the isles and islets. What they uncovered was at first considered a monstrosity. An amalgamation of what appeared to be small, wooden statues shaped like animal-sized humanoids. Though they had normal appendages, their shoulders and heads were disturbingly unnatural. One of the three statues even had wings instead of arms. They were tethered to the veins of the cave floor beneath their feet. The roots of the tree-like forms floated with the current, seeming to pulse with the breath of the wind; if one didn’t blink too long.
Knowing erosion was at play, they began excavating. Down, down, and down they went. But the descent never seemed to end; roots upon roots upon roots.
"It's no use. We need a heavy drill,” one said.
Diedrick, the smallest among them—a Halfling with a brain bigger than any crystal or mineral—suggested, "Why not grab the submarine?" And so they did.
Diedrick manned the submersible. He dove deeper than light could reach, into a darkness untouched by surface knowledge. This was why he was here: to witness and study natural causes of unnatural things.
Part VIII: Continuing Deeper
Deeper It Goes. Down, down, down he and his crew of two went. The roots were still tangling till, something was different, misconstrued, you could say. Somehow the tree's roots were turning to stone with coral and life attached to them, as its tendrils dove deeper still; into the void of nothingness.
"There, an opening!"
Jarred the Halfling Mechanic announced, pointing a soot leather-gloved finger at a slit ajar through the glass toward a thin shadow illuminated by the spotlight of the sub. Slowing the vessel to a drift, Diedrick eased the sub into the tube-like hole opening just big enough for steady motion. Then, quickly with an upward shift, they submerged.
An air pocket opening into a cavern of petrified earth, leading to other hallowed root tunnels; the sound of running water just out of reach of mortal ear echoes in its decayed limbs. Tera entered the main room, slamming the porthole door to the back room of the sub.
"Well, this is my stop."
A Gnome Natural Artificer tuned to these sorts of phenomena in her daily work life.
"Regardless, we are coming with you."
Diedrick proclaimed smirking as she unlatched the exit port above and hopped out.
The air was damp and still, yet with the acute curvature of breath rolling back and forth through the tunnels, causing a pulsating hum almost felt.
Tera froze.
"We aren't alone, I feel something... Diedrick hit the scanner."
Radar screen check.
"Nothing here. We are coming out to join you."
"Let me have a look",
Jarred steps in front of the monitor, taps it a couple of times.
"Are you sure Tera."
"Positive, something big, it's -"
"Check your head, Tera; I checked the machine."
They join her outside the ship, stepping on the land's woodstone edge. She wasn't kidding; the feeling was imminent once you exited the sub. A permeating feeling of not seeing but knowing you're being watched. A pit in the stomach that is hard to ignore; this isn't coincidental for them to find this opening. Almost feeling suggested. Diedrick's mind was filled with these intrusions of thought while going through his bag of equipment. Jarred and Tera are arguing on which route to take first to search for minerals off this poor, dilapidated Tree of an Isle.
"Tera, you sure you're not just realizing you're in an old ass tree?"
Jarred slaps his knee as his remark.
"Stop fooling around, you bolt brain. This tree doesn't seem young if you ask me. Something caused its decline."
"Maybe so, but you're overthinking it. Time has taken over; there's your reason."
"Shut up and let me think of a path to choose, Jarred."
Tera was fuming with her brow furrowed at his rude pokes, wasting their time.
"Okay, okay, I know. You have your talents, and I have mine, but calm down. It's a super old tree; nothing more. We got materials to find."
They split ways down different tunnels with Iron torch lamps lighting their way. Once Diedrick tied down the sub. He chose the center path between the others. Since they have com orbs, they will be fine and cover more ground as long as they leave a trail of Glow Phials along the way. The spotlight from the sub fades. A moment passes in the darkness of a never-ending straight.
Diedrick touches the com orb:
"Hey, anything so far from y'all's end?"
"J. here, nothing so far, more petrified tunnels"
"T. here, nothing either, straight and narrow. No signs."
"Do you guys hear that running water sound when we came in? It's like a facet trickling..."
"Never heard that coming in."
"Maybe you should get your head checked, Diedrick."
Tera joked playfully.
Diedrick didn't respond.
This isn't right...
Part IX "The Hobo King"
The orphans and widows tell a tale as old as time in the walls of the city of Hal.
There was once a king with no belongings, no army, no riches. He came to Halfan, prophesying in the streets of its capital, Hal. He told them his truth. He told them their truth. He embodied the truth. Calling out the holders of power in the realm, they wanted his head. So he fled the city and his followers joined him, traversing the land of Halfan, uncovering the truth behind all its madness. His followers said it took him five years to travel to Halfan on a plank of cedar. Claiming he was the true king of Halfan. And those who believed him, all races followed his teachings of Not En. He told them he rose from the ashes with the breath of Alanthra from the Isle of the Old Flame in the year 400, a year after a great fire took over the Isle of the Old Flame.
Many scoffed, and many detested him. When he spoke in esoteric terms of what eternity and nothing held for them. The common people turned away, but others stayed. The rejects, the mocked, the ill, and the broken. Stood with a new hope, found in them a candlelight that could not go out. He kept mentioning the Age of Peace, which the Hal civilians were not privy to about the history of the land they sucked dry years ago.
King Timon called him a madman and was not to be trusted with a job or residency in Halfan. And if found, brought to him dead or alive. Menapace, his older brother and commander, would get a strange vision after first encountering one of the Hobo King’s sermons in the market quarters; he immediately tipped off Timon. Menapace became curious about him. Did all he could to find anything on him, asking his army to keep an eavesdrop on his following. Nothing. Like the guy was the air itself. People kept talking of him but not where of him. It was an endless loop of two steps behind after two steps forward. Driving him mad at the blasphemy against his family name.
Obsession took over Menapace to find him. Many against the Hobo King believed him to be a spy of bardic heritage from the Raven’s Isle, attempting to convert the masses. All evidence came up to an empty lead to nothing but all hearsay. Every follower not folding and every man not answering even if tortured did not utter a word only saying, "Hark, we wait." He vanished in the crowd after exposing the truth of vampires running Hal.
After all this and the Hobo King had disappeared, a riot broke out. This was the tip of the pendulum to swing into the beginning of the Red War.
The chant of the broken in the streets of Hal:
"The Rebuker in Rags.
The Master in Mud.
The Reaper of the Rich.
The Peace of the Poor.
Our Leader,
Our King,
We serve Thee with what we may share.
Our Copper and branches unto Thee;
To serve Thee as He has shared.
In times of ease and wake.
Hark, we wait.
Hark, we wait."
(CR 419th Year of the Water Realm)