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lore for a map

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Alright, first of all, this is an expansion of the previous thread by Lolzaxis, titled 'Back Lore for a Map'. Secondly, I have asked his permission and can provide proof of his positive answer.

Chapter IX: After the Storm

Seven years after the separation, the human kingdoms began to fight once again. Larger territories were split between those with enough power and military force to take them willingly. Many kings ruled with what they called justice, though it was more described as cruel and careless. But a small few still had the will and the trust in the angels, mainly those that had been evident at the departure of both races. Most of humanity thought them dead. Others knew better.

But in the metaphorical air, the angels waited in their 'watch tower'. And they did the namesake and watched as humanity fought. Some of the angels cried tears, others mourned for the lose of their companions. The fourteen angels all waited. Humanity had shown it's trust and power once before, but now they seemed to fall back into their same routine, a different world without angels and demons waiting on the horizon, just out of reach.

Underneath the world, somewhere that should be the world's core, two demons looked over millions of others, lesser though they were. They were training, hitting roughly made targets with weapons of great power. And in another cavern, another greater demon oversaw the creation of millions of weapons. It was easy -- they had all the minerals they needed.

There were two forces that had seen this preparation for war. The Wisdom Angel had had visions of the demonic armies, forging their weapons and training their troops. After detailing this to the angelic council that had been quickly put together, the fourteen angels begun training themselves. But their numbers were minute compared to the millions of forces the demons had.

The other was a strange man in one of the human kingdoms. He had seen the angels battle the demons, and had seen the Skeleton King. He was one of the Ascended, one of the human vessels that allowed the demons and angels to come to the world, though none of them knew it yet. He knew that every other Ascended had been killed -- but the Wisdom Angel, the angel who he was the vessel to, had given up his immortality to protect the Ascended. Nobody knew that the Wisdom Angel, who was practically a human with wings, flight and supernatural strength and combat prowess, was also mortal.

The Ascended lived in one of the human kingdoms -- in fact, he lived supposedly alone in this kingdom, for it was the exact same one the Skeleton King had once been the lord of. The one the first demon had trod through. The last Ascended had remained here, living and breathing. Until he had a vision, a nightmare, of demonic armies forging weapons and preparing to wipe out humanity.

Back in Heaven, the Angels were pondering what to do. They had only one means of producing more soldiers -- reproduction -- since they couldn't return to the world to train more angel/human hybrids. However the demons were doing it, the angels could not. They needed to find allies themselves, and when the Wisdom Angel told them of the Ascended with immortal powers, they quickly oversaw him and visited him in his dreams, telling him to unite the human kingdoms. They also locked the Wisdom Angel in a prison in Heaven, trapping him in magical cuffs and sapping his power from him.

Chapter X: Return of the Dead

The Ascended continued on his path to the closest kingdom, trusting the angels, called Ashon. When he got there, he found out something that would change the entirety of the angels plans. The Skeleton King had been invading humanity for several years now, and had gained the upper hand. Darkness and decay met the Ascended's eyes wherever he looked. And when he looked, so did the Wisdom Angel. But the angel said nothing to the others, for he was locked up deep inside the Heavens.

Once the Ascended came to a town, and there there was only a couple guards and a few farmers, living in fear. Barricades had been set up everywhere, and it seemed that a lone skeleton or zombie would always be trying to force it's way through. Strange, thought the Ascended. There didn't seem to be any leadership in the undead in Ashon.

And this was true. There were four countries on this continent, all with grassy plains, beautiful highlands and mesas, some with thick forests and large mountains. One was once the Skeleton King's country, Travullion, and was ridden with the Dead. Another was the one the Ascended passed through, Ashon, already fallen to the undead, with small pockets of safety like the town. The other two were untouched by death, Pavalle and Anduras, and had large military forces that constantly fought each other across the four countries.

The Skeleton King was in Pavalle in secret. He'd been posing as this King's adviser for three years, meaning the dead all around the other two countries wandered aimless for now. One of his Harbingers were overseeing the dead in Ashon. Another was hiding as a royal guard in the court of Anduras. And the last was posing as another councilman that stood near the disguised Skeleton King at all times.

Slowly, the Skeleton King drained Pavalle's king of his sanity, and left him a maddened wreck. One night he was fine, if a little deranged and ranting. The next morning, he had several of his guards murdered, and turned on his adviser -- in secret, the Skeleton King.

"You maddened me, Adviser. Ever since you came here, I have been scared, lonely, angry, every damn feeling one could feel. You made me this... monster," he said in court, with several other nobles around. They all stared at the adviser.

"Of course it was me. But I am not your adviser."

The Skeleton King removed his magical disguise, and appeared as himself once again, a crooked gold crown upon his head. The council gasped and the lord of Pavalle began to choke. "But... but you died. You died by the angels."

Suddenly, another of the councilmen changed, into the Harbinger of Death. The wife of the man he was impersonating (the real one lay drained, hollow from the Harbinger which had sucked his soul to feed himself) screamed and feinted. The Skeleton King raised his hand and closed his fist -- that was when the massacre began. In seconds the Harbinger had slain ten of the council, the others retreating to the door. The Skeleton King magically enhanced and locked it, and they couldn't leave.

Slowly, the dead councilmen and women were drained of their souls. Like water, they flowed backwards towards the Harbinger, their screams of torment obvious. Their mortal bodies shrunk, decayed, rotted, crippled, until they were simply husks. Large splashes when the souls reached the Harbinger, and they were gone. The Harbinger raised his scythe to his head and opened his mouth. The souls drizzled from the scythe and he drank, thirsty for death.

The council members watched in silent fear. Even the Skeleton King had doubts of what he had created, but the doubt was erased from a booming sound inside his head. "Finish them!" said the Demon Azrael. "Kill them all and take Paralle!"

The Harbinger must've heard this as well, since he lurched forward and began to rend the other members. There were screams, but soon they were all gone. The same process of the soul drinking left them husks of dead skin. And as if on cue to see the monster Harbinger and the Skeleton King, three guards burst into the room.

"What the...?" said one of them, but he was cut down by the Harbinger. The second and third jumped forward and attacked, but the Harbinger disappeared into black smoke, and reappeared next to the Skeleton King. The two men saw the husks, and ran.

Soon after, the husks began to move again, picking themselves up. They were wrinkled and moved slowly. But they swarmed the court and the throne room. For every enemy that fell, another ally rose for the Skeleton King.

Eventually the city was overrun, and soon the dead and skeletons were overwhelming the countryside. Anduras got this news and their military was readied. They searched their councilmen for magic, and found none. Little did they know that the Harbinger of Torment stood amongst their ranks in the royal guard -- since nobody had thought to check them.

Back in Pavalle, the Skeleton King basked in victory. But the voice in his head from Azrael ceased to be satisfied. "Sacrifice! Sacrifice! Only with the 'blood of our enemies' may we return to the human world. That is what you read to us from the Prophecy, did you not?" and indeed it was what the prophecy had said:

"And if the blood of their enemies is splashed upon the battlefield they were drawn from the world, then the demons may return to the world of humanity."

The Skeleton King ordered the gathering of bodies in Ashon where the battlefield was. It was still tainted, but not wrecked since the world had healed itself there. But when enough bodies were there, the Skeleton King brought in machines of torture, huge nails on large wooden boards that squashed down on the human pile. Soon the grass on the ground was drowned in blood. The bodies that had been sucked lifeless were butchered and stitched together as large monstrosities by the Skeleton King.

The voice boomed again: "Why isn't it working?"

But even as he had said it down in Hell, the Demon Lord of Plague Haelvesto was talking to him.

"And if the blood of their enemies... did it occur to you, Azrael, that our enemies are the angels?"

Kus'runi, the demonic lord of Deception, was called upon and told to search for angels. "Fourteen in the Heavens," he said with a crazed voice. "And one... ooh, one is on the human planet, yes, yes! One lives there where the Skeleton King treads... hehe hehe."

The voice in the Skeleton King's head with orders again. This time, he gathered his armies and spread out across the continent, excluding Anduras, which would have to wait.

"Kill the Ascended. And bring his body back to me."

Chapter XI: The War of a Lord

King Shaston the Third, ruler of Anduras, and possibly humanity's greatest warrior, had set out to find the last Ascended living in Ashon. He had visions of the angels, ordering him to find humanity's last hope, for they had seen the demonic Lord of Deception uncover the Ascended's position and had seen the Skeleton King spread his forces to find him.

When Shaston and his army of fifty reached Ashon, all they saw was death and decay, and all they fought was the dead itself, until they reached a small town.

"Have you seen a man through here? Possibly unaffected by the country's ailment?" asked Shaston to the first guard he met.

"Yes sir," said the guard, seeing the man as a noble. "He's living at the inn now, in fact. Grubby little place, not fit for a lord. Why not sleep in my house tonight? I'll rent at the inn." For the guard's true intentions were to kill the King and steal his armor and weapons and gold. But he saw the battalion of fifty men (seven injured from fighting the dead) and thought against it. "Perhaps not, then."

Shaston entered the inn and found the Ascended. He could tell from the look in his eyes. In the Ascended's eyes, he saw a man trusted by the angels. The Wisdom Angel told him to trust Shaston.

"You must come with me back to Anduras for safety." But as soon as he said Anduras, there was a ringing call from outside. Then a roar. Shouts. And, "The Skeleton King is here! To arms!"

Shaston ran outside with the Ascended and saw the Skeleton King looming in the air, floating with his staff and flail. The fifty of Shaston's guards and the town guards were fighting masses of skeletons and large, disgusting monstrosities. "Come with me," Shaston said to the Ascended.

But the Skeleton King saw them running through the back of the town. He had five other soldiers with him, along with the Ascended. And in a burst of black smoke, the Skeleton King disappeared, and the attack on the town slowed but didn't diminish.

Shaston, the five guards and the Ascended ran through the forest for a day and a night, until they reached a grotesque sight. It scared them, and almost forced them to turn around, though there was nobody as a threat there. Instead, there was a large machine with blood on it's spikes, a large pile of bodies and a huge pool of blood. And then a laugh. They turned and there stood the Skeleton King.

Beside him, two beings dressed in black smoke and wielding scythes. "The Harbinger of Pestilence," said the Skeleton King. "And the Harbinger of Death. Kill them."

The five guards moved forward, but in one slash of his scythe three of them died to the Harbinger of Death. And their souls were sucked while the others stood frozen. The Harbinger moved back, and the second Harbinger moved forward. The two guards shook their heads, took one look at the dead husks, and jumped at the Harbinger of Pestilence. They were about to attack when they threw their hands up to their faces and scratched. They turned and Shaston and the Ascended saw what made them fear the Harbinger of Pestilence. The mens' faces were bubbling, turning green. And then, the bubbles burst and acid ran out, along with hundreds of tiny spiders. They sunk to their knees, screaming, until they died.

The Harbinger of Pestilence moved backwards and the Skeleton King stepped forward. Shaston protected the Ascended until his dying breath, but the Skeleton King was a tough opponent. Shaston fell, not dead but breathing slowly and wounded beyond hope. The Skeleton King turned to the Ascended. With a large shout, the Ascended was flung backwards and smashed into the pile of corpses above the battlefield of legends. His back ached. The Wisdom Angel urged him to run, to not bleed. But the Harbinger of Pestilence was above him now, a skeletal foot pressing against his chest. And it opened it's mouth, breathing hundreds of tiny locusts that bit at the Ascended. He screamed and wreathed, but blood ran down the corpses and splashed the ground.

Chaos. The two Harbingers disappeared. Shaston had jumped up and pierced the Skeleton King through the chest, killing him instantly. His wounds were severe and he would've died even if the two Harbingers didn't repeatedly kill him and torture him a thousand different ways.

The Ascended was dead. And in his place stood Azrael, breathing the fresh air, and then tainting it with his demonic breath.


Chapter XII: Dawning of a New Era

The following days resulted in chaos. To begin with, Ashon was doomed to Azrael's demonic and skeletal armies. The death of the Skeleton King had a significant impact on his ranks. But Azrael soon found a replacement -- in fact, the dead body of Shaston, the King of Anduras. Shaston took the form of the old Skeleton King, using his weapons and gaining his abilities. But the lose of Shaston had the heaviest impact on Anduras. The King had only one heir, who was currently overseeing a small fort in Pavalle (which would have been attacked if not for the Skeleton King's death. Now, the Dead roam by Shaston's command, and some deep part of his heart is preventing him from sending his armies towards the fort in which his son lives). Thus the council would be ruling in his absence.

Secondly, the Wisdom Angel had began ranting mad thoughts, and turned into a crazed wreck. His shackles were removed and he was tended to by one of the angel/human hybrids who had knowledge of healing magic. He said the Wisdom Angel's condition could not be reversed, unless the last remaining Ascended was to be revived, which was impossible because of the dark taint of Azrael that prevented just that from happening.

Third, the continent went to war. Lord Haze, the son of the dead King of Pavalle and thus the new King, had already gathered what remained of the Pavalle military and sought to retake their mighty palace. It was an epic battle, and humanity beat down the skeletal warriors. When they reached the throne room they saw Lord Haze's father's dead body laying in front of the Harbinger of Pestilence. Though the warriors were great, many fell before the Harbinger was brought down, and even then he managed to teleport away and get out of immediate harm and death.

Ashon was doomed. Pavalle was slowly retaking their country. Anduras was the last remaining human bastion and many precautions had been set up, such as extra guards in towns, large walls and barricades built across the country, to prevent the Dead from attacking. Travullion was empty except for a few dead roaming around, and the legendary Anduras Iron Guard had been sent to secure the area. But after a few months the Iron Guard returned, most dead and everybody else injured. Those alive spoke of a greater evil living in the ruins. The Demonic Lord of War, Aranick, had set up his armies there, and Aranick had the greatest armies of all the greater demons.

But there was also two sides of the bargain. Since the demons had been allowed into the world, it was only fair that the angels should be the same way. By spilling the blood of their enemies, the greater demons. And Aranick knew this. His thirst for blood and war, and not from petty, easy-prey mortals, led him to the first battlefield between demons and angels in Ashon. He and Kus'runi, Demonic Lord of Deception, splashed their own blood on the battlefield with the Ascended's dagger. The dagger belonged to the Ascended, and the Ascended had angelic power in him from the Wisdom Angel. When the first drop hit, light and hope filled the hearts of humanity.

Though they knew it was a trap, the two remaining pure angels, the Guardian and the Champion Angels, led the other human/angel hybrids into the world, leaving the Wisdom Angel alone in Heaven, for he was too weak to pull himself from the grasp of both Heaven and his own mind of crazy rage.

Chapter XIII: The Immortal Clash, and Humanity's Hope

Landing on the soft earth of the human world, the Champion, Guardian and hybrid angels all discuss what to do next. They knew that the armies of hell were much stronger then theirs, and surpassed theirs in literally a million to one. It was the Champion Angel, naturally, that had the idea of war first.

"The Guardian Angel and I will find Azrael and destroy his soul. The rest of you must find Lord Haze, the new King of Pavalle, and unite him with the Council of Anduras acting in the absence of a leader."

"But what about you?" asked one of the hybrids. "Surely you cannot take down Azrael?"

So the two pure angels went to Ashon to seek out the demon lord of power, while the hybrids sought out Pavalle to find Lord Haze. He would be travelling through the country towards his city, possibly even already had it under his control, and that would make everything easier. But as they flew, they felt fear in their hearts -- there was something else seeking Lord Haze.

The two angels found Azrael breaking down a small town. One wall at a time, ripping it off and roaring at the inhabitants, then sending demons to eat them. He was enjoying himself. And the angels had no hesitation. They attacked Azrael before he knew it, and they were soon in a close quarter fight. Until Azrael jumped back and laughed.

"You fools! Do you not know you shouldn't rush blindly into a battle?"

The angels turned and saw Aranick, the Demonic Lord of War, standing behind them, two massive cleavers in his hands. He swung and the Guardian Angel went down. With a roar, Azrael lifted his foot and stomped down onto the angel. The Champion Angel, meanwhile, was dealing with Aranick, but soon Azrael joined the fight and the two angels were flying back to Anduras. The demons sensed this and Aranick barked out laughter.

"Hah! Retreat to Anduras, then, the last human bastion. By the time you settle down and recover your wounds, my armies will already be on the move. The last of humanity will buckle underneath my great power!"

When the angels returned, they sought the council. The council, wide-eyed to see angels marching into the meeting room, listened to everything they had to say. And that wasn't much: "Aranick, Demon Lord of War, seeks to destroy Anduras. You will not stand a chance against the full might of his armies. Flee."

Chapter XIV: Lord Haze

Lord Haze and his seven knights riding beside him were going towards a small fort on the border of Pavalle. It was rumored that the fort stood inside Pavalle fields, but was of Anduras control, and the two countries had been fighting for many years. Lord Haze was not about to give up the banner to Anduras because his country was slightly set back.

Until a host of angels showed up. Each looked like a man, though were obviously angels with their wings, armor and weapons. "We have come to warn you. Aranick seeks to destroy Anduras. You must raise your hatred and forge an alliance with the Anduras Council."

"Never," said Lord Haze. "I will never disobey my father's will..." he was cut by one of the angels.

"Take arms! Something seeks our blood!"

And suddenly, before the angels or knights could react, a beast burst forth from the bushes. It wasn't large, slightly larger then a human, but it was disgusting and crazy. It slashed at one of the hybrids chest, splitting it clean open and spilling purple blood. The angel crippled and fell to the ground, dead.

This was no ordinary demon.

It struck again, but this time the angels were ready, and instead the demon killed two of the knights. The claws practically rended through the knights armor and bone. The remaining knights and angels formed a circle around Lord Haze.

"Hehe hehe," said the demon. "Ooh, you are in trouble, aren't you, angels?"

"Who are you? We demand to know," said Lord Haze.

"Hehe, who am I? Who am I? I don't know."

And then the demon jumped forward again, with such blinding speed, taking down another angel and two knights. This demon was dangerous, deadly and cunning.

Suddenly one of the angels spoke up. "You are Kas'runi, aren't you?"

"Ooh, that is my name, yes, yes."

"Then you are crazy?"

The demon jumped forward, grabbed on of the knight's and slowly ripped it to pieces, starting with hands and feet and ending with the end. Some sort of demonic power kept the knight alive, so he felt all the pain. "Hehe, you tell me, angel."

The fight began. The angels jumped forward, the knights stayed near Lord Haze. The fight was swift, literally, since the demon constantly teleported and moved. Another angel went down. The last knights went down. And suddenly, Kas'runi split into several others exactly like him. They all looked the same, and some ran towards the angels. But when an angelic weapon passed through them they disappeared.

"Hehe. Which one am I? Where am I? I don't even know, hehe."

But the attacks of the Kas'runis were doing nothing to the angels. And they turned to see the real Kas'runi taking his claws out of Lord Haze. "Ooh, what've I done?"

And out of nowhere a polearm was flying towards Kas'runi. It struck him in the chest, the force sending him backwards and pinning him into the ground. He screamed from the pain, and the Champion Angel landed on the ground near him. The hybrids saw the wounds all over the Champion Angel and realised that he and the Guardian failed in bringing down Azrael. The Champion Angel withdrew the polearm and stabbed the demon again. And again. Until the demon melted into the ground and his soul flew up then sunk into the ground along with his body.

The Champion Angel turned to see the dead Lord Haze, the three dead and the rest wounded angels. He turned to the hybrids.

"Seek out the armies of Pavalle. Tell them their leader is dead. Tell them Anduras is their last hope to survive. Aranick's armies march towards us now. I must return to Anduras and help fight. You must bring in the reinforcements swiftly."

And at that, he flew off towards Anduras, while the hybrids buried their brethren in Heaven and then sought out the armies of Pavalle.


That's what I've got now. Three chapters (if I recall correctly) on top of Lolzaxis' chapters. Hope you like it!
 
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