The Armor: Chapter 3 Sunday, Nov 25 2007

The moment that the three of them were close to each other in the tavern caused their armor’s energy to radiate out. this was the darkness that they felt and it called to Durkin in his realm. He felt it before when the armor was being taken apart. it took him awhile to figure out where the feeling was coming from and what it was. he was still far too weak to do anything about it. Now he was healed back up and ready to take back his armor and take back power over his kingdom.

It took some time for him to realize the armor was in the central city state. then he had to find a body to possess, preferably if the man has henchmen or a fortune. Durkin will need some cannon fodder to take these men down or distract them enough to take care of them himself.

He settled on a young retired fighter. He had found a great fortune on an adventure and retired for the most part. taking up adventure when he felt like it. not needing to do it for the money allowed him to pick his missions and set conditions as to how he was paid. he developed a group of fighters that would work for him with no questions asked. this man was an ideal pick .

Durkin had to wait till night to attack the man in his sleep when he would be more subset able to the possession. he didn’t sense the armor leaving the city so he had time to do this right. by morning he was fully in control of the man’s body and had pushed the man’s presence to the corner of his mind and locked it there. he was much more difficult, he must have faced mental attacks before so he put up some fight, but not enough to stop an old and powerful demon like Durkin.

Durkin sent out messages calling for his close fighters to come and bring any good help that they know of to his house immediately. while he waited he came up with the mission they would be doing. as they gathered back at his house Durkin explained the men they are going after. he found an old painting of his original body in the magical armor at the library and checked it out to show the fighters.

“This is the Dark Knight from ancient times. notice his armor, his followers wore armor that matched his and some still exist even today. they are trying to bring him back as we speak. I have seen three of them in this city. they are planning to head to the eastern city state. I do not know what there purpose is but we must stop them from reaching that city state or returning to this one. there are rumors that they caused the great fire in the south that wiped the southern city state.” was the speech Durkin gave to the men to get them pumped up to do what he wanted, no questions asked.

the new help was stationed around the central city state to prevent them from doubling back. the veteran fighters went with Durkin after the convoy to attack the men with the magical armor and get it back. Durkin was hoping to reach them when they were bedded down so the could not counter with the armors powers. all of the fighters know to be as quiet as they can when they enter the camp and only the armor wearer’s are to be attacked. personally Durkin didn’t care if others were killed, but wanted to keep the illusion going.

as the convoy started out Spencer asked Hal and Kyle if their armor was enchanted like his was. Hal looked to make sure they were out of ear shot before he answered. “why do you ask” Hal said with a skeptical sound to his voice. “After the fire was out but still smoldering I went in to pick anything good out of the buildings remains quickly in case the owners survived and came back or other scavengers showed up. these gauntlets were cold to the touch yet the armor that it went to was still steaming when the rain was hitting it. So I grabbed the gauntlets and left since this was a good enough find and i didn’t want to lose it digging for something else that may have been petty in comparison. Checking around the town i found out these were part of a unique suit of armor and i realized I would not be able to sell them up there. so i came down to the central city state to sell them. there were no good buyers here. and seeing your armor with matching gauntlets I figured they were the same type of suit of armor and someone from your city state would appreciate these and pay a good price for them.” came Spencers explanation on how he acquired the gauntlets and his reason for joining the convoy.

Hal didn’t like it, even if it was the truth it is still stealing. he could not imagine a thief lying by admitting to stealing something so he accepted his story. If there armor smith could copy the rest of the armor they would have another suit of armor for a worthy knight. Hal thought this was a better place for the gauntlets then some magic collector who would just hang them in their private gallery.

Kyle asked him what it’s enchantment was. when Spencer said it was Ice he realized It wasn’t the cause of the house fire and possible needless deaths from someone using the gauntlets wrong. but he was closer to the truth with his thoughts then Spencer was with his words. Kyle’s thoughts drifted to another fire long time ago. the screams and burning bodies still haunt his dreams and his thoughts whenever Hal has him practice using the armors power to control the fire better. “Kyle!” Hal yelled out interrupting his thoughts causing him to realize the fire in front of them was doubled in size and growing. As he apologized and released the fire down to normal size, Hal thought of his squire’s training.

Hal had been patient with him knowing what he must have faced in that fire. the other knights said there was the cremated remains of someone a few feet from where the boy was. so he must have seen that, no wonder he didn’t want to work with the fire. Kyle seemed to get a panicked look on his face when he started using the armor. it took him almost two years to be able to control a fire and hold a steady flame without being scared of it or having it flare on him. Hal commented to himself ” if only we had those ice gauntlets back then we could have tested Kyle further with the armor without worrying about losing control of the fire if he were to get scared.”

as Hal was getting ready for bed he caught Spencer looking at his helmet sitting on the table and figured it would be not to leave the armor alone with a thief in the encampment. “Kyle, come with me to check on my horse, he seemed to be favoring a leg” Hal called across the fire to his squire. When they were out of hear shot and the light of the camp fire Hal looked back to see if Spencer was looking in there direction. Seeing his back to them he whispered to Kyle “ watch your armor around Spencer, I don’t trust him, and definitely don’t let him know which part is enchanted. From the fire he probably guessed what it controlled.” Kyle hung his head low and replied “ I’m sorry, the house fire Spencer talked about made me think of the fire I was through”. Hal didn’t say anything, he just slapped his hand on Kyle’s shoulder and shook him a little to let it go.

After they were over at the horses for while they came back to the fire and warmed back up before they bedded down for the night. Each time they walked a good distance from Spencer the darkness that loomed around them faded. Hal wondered if it had to do with the armor. “If it is the armor we should be able to tell if he is approaching from any direction, as long as he has the gauntlets with him” Hal said out loud for no one in particular to hear. He knew that Kyle’s armor would be his first target since he can’t even sleep with just the vambraces on. His instinctually controls his armor so his sub conscience can start a fire as he dreams. Hal wondered if this was a gift for Kyle, or a curse since he has to focus to get a lightning strike of equal strength to the young squire’ s fire. The head mage of the Eastern city state thought this was because the boy was young when he used the armor to protect himself or that the armor somehow bonded to the boy during the fire.

Hal was use to sleeping in his breastplate while leaning up against anything from a tree to a dirt mound when away from the castle. So he would not sleep too deeply as to allow someone to approach him unknowingly. He hoped it would be enough of an edge to keep watch for Spencer when he goes to sleep, if he does have plans to steal their armor. Only time will tell if it will be tonight.

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The Armor: Chapter 2 Sunday, Nov 25 2007

 

Now that you know the legend of the armor, let me tell you the story. it takes place over a millennia since Durkin’s time on this plane of existence. the story centers around four completely different people who are brought together for different reasons.

The first character is Hal Starks. he is a knight from the realms eastern city state being the rulers top knight he was given the Ceremonial armor that the central city state sent to them so long ago. they knew of the armors magical abilities. it came about during a joust competition when a knight wearing the suit of armor was hit square in the chest during a match. Instead of being knocked off his steed, the other knight was thrown back as lightning shot out from the point of contact. the jouster only suffered minor wounds and a burn on his jousting hand. the knight in the magical armor showed no sign of being hit. The local mage Looked at the armor and found it was very powerful but would only allow a small portion of it’s ability to be used. this told him there must be something missing that would unlock it’s full potential. Thus the armor was given to the most worthy knight. to make sure that it would not be abused or cause injuries to innocent people.

the second character is Kyle Parkins. he is currently the squire for Hal Starks. though he once lived in the realms southern city state. ten years ago there was a great fire that killed everyone but him. the realms eastern city state which is up in the mountains saw the heavy smoke that came from Kyle’s home city state and sent a large patrol to see if their neighbors were under attack. by the time they got there the whole land was scorched. the stone castle was a smoldering rubble. as they searched the ruins they heard a slight whimpering. as they went further into the castle’s rubble the entered what would have been the great hall. there they found a young boy in a corner. he was hiding under a suit of armor. the corner he huddled in was the only section in tact. as if a small bubble of protection surrounded him. the patrol leader took off his helmet and called to the boy. the boy looked up at the men. he pushed the armor away from himself. the leader noticed the armor the boy was under looked identical to their magical suit of armor. they packed up the suit of armor and took the boy with them. they made one last futile sweep of the land on there way back home. as they questioned the boy he gave no answers stating he cant remember what happened, but he did remember all too well.

He was sitting in the corner polishing a suit of armor. he was working on the vambraces when his keeper came up yelling at him. he grabbed a poker from the fire and went to swing at the boy. the boy raised his hands in defense and screamed. he heard a difference screamed and looked up when nothing hit him. he saw a man on fire. then he saw the fire spread. the boy was trapped in the corner the more he screamed and waved his arms seemed to make the fire grow. he could feel the warmth of the fire but it stayed a steady distance from him. his only thoughts were full of panic and of pushing the fire away. then all went black till he awoke the next day. the castle was gone and there were smoldering ruins as far as he could see.

he sat in that corner for days as he looked at the pile of ash that was his keeper. his little corner was unmarked. even the stack of wood next to him was not even burned. he was getting cold at night and started a small fire. as he put his hands up to warm the fire grew bigger and he noticed the vambraces that were still on his arms started to glow slightly. he moved his hands away and the fire died back down. raising his hands to it the fire started to roar again. he stared to realize that he was the cause of the fire. that he killed everyone, it was all his fault. it was the two days later when he was found by the knights from the eastern city state. they seemed to recognize the armor and brought it with them when they took the boy. they questioned Kyle but did not push too hard after what he must have witnessed. they figured the armor is what saved him from being consumed by the fire as well.

the ruler of the Realm’s eastern city state decided the armor will be saved for the boy since it he is the last survivor of the southern city state to whom that suit of armor was given. he was put to work in the stables and grew up being trained as a squire, when he was old enough, he was given the suit of armor back and assigned to Hal. They told him about the magical properties and explained that is how he survived the wild fire that destroyed his land. they also told him that the knight he is assigned to has a suit of armor similar to his except it controls lightning. he accepted this as new knowledge to him so they would not think that he was the cause of the fire, so that they would think it was purely an accident as it was. even though he knew he wanted his old master to feel the burn of the poker as he did many times before.

the third individual is far from an honest or noble individual, he is a thief . he does have some standards though, as twisted as they are he does not steal from those who can not truly afford it. unlike some of his fellow thieves from his guild, he would never steal the food from a poor families mouth. he targets the ones who have the money to flaunt it around. his last target that he planned to rob has caused him to flee his home city state.

He went into a noble’s house and saw a suit of armor. the gauntlets had a slight blue glow to them and were cold to the touch. the armor by itself was expensive looking, but enchanted Items jack the price up even more. as he started taking the armor apart and bagging it he was interrupted by the nobles guards. as he was running through the house he put on the gauntlets.

As he came up to a corner there was a vase of flowers on a table. he grabbed the vase and dumped the water behind him as he rounded the turn. the then extended the gauntlets at the water puddle and froze it solid. this would give him enough time to get out and the noise would draw attention to that corner of the house.

As he reached the stairway to get down to the floor level he heard the two men curse as they started sliding. what he didn’t count on was the window at the end of that corridor corner. he heard the shattering of glass followed by the men yelling followed by the sound of the two men hitting the stone walkway. as he got out side he saw all the blood around the bodies. he ran for the front gate and heard the guard that was on top start moaning and coughing. He now was facing a charge of murder. the guild will not be able to protect him from this so he will have to leave the city state completely or face a most unpleasant death.

the last person is the daughter of the western city state’s tavern owner. her name is Gwendolyn Rose, she is now the owner and the waitress. being his only child he left the tavern to her on his death bed. he told her what generations before have been told. that no mater what, the armor must never be sold. it has been entrusted to the family and is an emblem of their house in the city state.

the story starts with Hal and his new squire. they are traveling to the central city state as escorts for a caravan of trade goods. the trip there was uneventful. as they waited for the caravan to be unloaded and restocked with goods for the eastern city state Hal decided to get a drink at the tavern. as they sat at the bar a shady character came in and sat two stools down from them.

Hal and Kyle felt a darkness surround them in the tavern. they looked around and saw everyone was feeling the same way and were all clearing away from the bar. Hal looked at the man he noticed earlier and looked him over. as his eyes drifted down to the bag the man was carrying he spied part of a gauntlet. Looking at his own gauntlet he realized what it was from. walking over he inquired as to where he got those and where the rest of the suit of armor was.

“I scavenged these from a house fire up in the northern city state. the gauntlets were the only part of the armor that i could have salvaged.” came Spencer’s response. Hal felt this man was being dishonest, but what bothered him was the dark feeling that loomed around them. it seemed to come from all three of them. As Hal and Kyle were preparing to leave, Spencer inquired as to where they were heading. Spencer decided to go with them back to their city state. his excuse was to see the eastern city state, but he could not pass up on a caravan of goods and a chance at Hal and Kyle’s armor if it was like his.

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The Armor: Chapter 1 Saturday, Nov 10 2007

In this realm and all the realms like it history tells of great hero’s in search of adventure. whose acts were so pure and selfless it inspired nations. their skills and bravery kept evil at bay by the shear mention of their name. The one thing History never mentions is that the greatest hero’s never really searched for their memorable adventure, But that it was forced upon them. But like the times themselves, the facts strayed to fiction, history became stories too amazing to believe. there are a series of stories surrounding a mythical suit of armor. One such story has been passed down through my family by parchment to keep itself as true as possible. But in order to tell you my family’s story I must tell you about how the armor was first created.

Long ago when magic and it’s users were more powerful, on the verge of being out of control as well as out of their minds because of it. there were four mages that each had there own magical focus that no one could match or achieve before.

Myron Baker Was the oldest of the four. His Magic focused around the elemental power of fire. Just like his magic, his temper can burn extremely hot From his short fuse.

Next is Grayson Frost. His magical focus was on Ice magic. Grayson was from noble blood, so it was a fitting magical trait since he has given the cold shoulder to so many through his life. Grayson worked with Myron but they were as compatible as there elemental magic was to each other.

Then there was Irene Frye who was the only female of the group, ever though she never acted too feminine. Her personality was always so bold and energetic which is why Lightning interested her and it’s magic came so naturally to her.

Finally there is Casper McGovern. Unlike he fellow mages, his power was not destructive of flashy, but just the opposite. He developed the ability to turn invisible as well as project a shield of invisibility around objects to hide them from view.

Grayson was studying his family’s history in castles Private library one day. as he was reading about the different amulets and rings attributed to his great ancestors there was a loud thump. He was starting to drift off to sleep when it happened so his reaction caused him to fall out of his chair as he screamed for help. as he looked up from the ground he saw what had scared him so much. A large and ancient book was laying on the floor right in front of him. Grayson looked up to see where the book fell from. He could not see any open spot on the book shelf for it to have come from. “It must have been setting on the top of he book case.” he told himself. the book had no title on it binding or on the cover. the cover felt so strange. It was some form of leather but he couldn’t place the creature it was made from. was it some long forgotten species or the method used to preserve. as he flipped thought the pages he saw spells and rituals not familiar to him. his finger stopped on one subject in the index “Full Magical Enchantment”.

As he read this a servant came barging in startling Grayson . “How many times have I told you to knock before you enter a room.” Grayson howled at the man. “my apologies sir, I heard you call out for help” the servant stated. “You took your time getting here, it’s a good thing it was not life threatening or I would have already been dead, now leave my sight at once” Grayson ordered. after Grayson calmed down he flipped through the pages of the old book till he came upon the chapter for enchantments. some of the parts of the ritual confused him to their meaning. “I’ll have to show this to the others and see if they would be interested in this” he said to himself confidently thinking of how people will be talking about his enchantment for years to come.

Early the next morning Grayson went over to the mages library where he Knew Myron would surly be. as he entered he heard an argument going on in what is normally a quiet room. He didn’t even have to recognize the voices, It was Myron and Irene again. How does she always find a way to stir Myron up so early in the morning. Usually by the end of the argument she is laughing an Myron is Red in the face about ready to pass out or explode. As Grayson approached the pair Myron turned to him and started to explain what they were arguing about. Grayson held up his hand to quiet Myron and stated”I do not know and honestly I do not care because it’s the same thing every day, just the subject changes, It’s as though you two were married or something”. He received a bad look from the both of them from that comment.

Before Myron could start up again Grayson put the book down in front of the group and started flipping to the section he wanted to show them. Myron glanced at the book to see what the deal was. as he read on about the ritual he pulled the book closer to make sure he was reading what he thought he read. “where in the world did you find this book, the terminology place it with the oldest of recorded knowledge. It can not be, the only evidence of magical spells or rituals date back only half as far” Myron blurted out as he studied the book, it’s pages and the writing itself. So Grayson relayed how he was in his library when the book fell seemingly from the top of a book case,

He made sure to not to let them know how he was scared like a little girl by the noise it made as it hit the ground. Myron would only laugh and probably never bring it back up, but Irene would use it every chance she got and would not forget it for years which is one thing he will try to avoid at all costs.

Suddenly remembering why he showed them the book in the first place he turned back to the chapter on enchantments and proceeded to ask his questions to the group. his first question was answered from a voice that came from out of nowhere. “Well if it isn’t our friendly little ghost, Casper” Irene stated after she recognized the voice.

“Would you stop calling me that, I am not little or a ghost” Casper said as he came into view of the three mages. “You may become one sooner then you think if you continue to sneak up on people like that” Myron snorted at the now visible man standing before them. As Casper looked at the chapter he was very intrigued. this is the strongest spell for enchantments I have ever seen before. Imagine how powerful something could be if it had anyone of our ability’s fused with it, or all of them for that fact.

Casper stopped as an idea crossed his face. it was the same idea that everyone else came upon. The question is, what item will be used for this. For hours the argued about the proper vessel to hold there power within. There were far too many rings and amulets that flood in the realms history. their’s would fall to the side no mater how powerful they could turn out to be. suddenly there was a loud noise of clanging metal. Myron didn’t ever turn to look and said it was only the old suit of armor displayed in the corner, someone always hits it to draw attention. ” that’s it” Casper shouted “we can enchant different pieces of a suit of armor.

After much further debate it was decided that the armor would be the best object to use. they headed over to the Armor smith to commission a suit of armor. as the entered the shop they heard the owner in back talking with someone. When he came out he was flustered and mumbling to himself.

Grayson approached the smith and requested a suit if armor to be made for them. “do you at least plan to pay for it when it is done” the smith said apparently upset with his previous customer. realizing he said that out loud he apologized and told them about his last armor project. The man I was talking with came in with a design in mind for a suit of armor. it took me twice as long due to the detail I had to put into it, but it looked better than I ever imagined it would be. he showed up shortly before you did and now claims it will not work for him and left me with the suit of armor that I can not possibly sell to anyone around here. It is far too much for a fighter or knight to afford. Only royalty could afford it but they want armor design for them and not even look at second hand designs. At least He paid for materials up front so i only lost out on my time.

“May we look at the armor in question” Casper asked stepping forward with curiosity. as the smith laid the armor out they were looking back and forth between each other and the armor. it was far better then average armor and each felt it looked better then the design they partially came up with.

“Tell you what , if you take one hundred pieces of silver off of the cost of your time involved I’ll buy it from you” Grayson said. “I’ll only take seventy pieces of silver off, so if you want it you will have to pay that price” the smith countered. Grayson accepted his offer with a little smile showing, he knew a custom suit of armor would have run them much more then this armor sold for. Grayson told the apprentice how to get to his house and warned him what would happen if it arrived damaged.

After everyone left and the armor was on it’s way to the Frost estate the smith went back to his office. as he entered he found a small pouch of gold and a note. he looked around as he opened the piece of parchment. all it said on the folded paper was “forget today ever happened”.

The armor sat in in Grayson’s private practice room for two weeks while the group of mages waited for the proper moon phase. they had much to prepare in the mean time for the spell to go correctly. they all understand how important and dangerous old magic can be without previous knowledge in the spell being cast.

The night has come to see if their patience has paid off. Myron has been at Grayson’s since the day before making sure everything is set and constantly reading the ritual making sure he has the information correct and they way it needs to be performed practically memorized. the sun is starting to set, this means that they will have 3 hours to start the ritual. Casper and Irene arrived with an hour to go before the ritual starts. Grayson leads them down to the prepared room for the ritual to take place in.

With about a half an hour to go they each put on a robe that was maid specifically made for them. Myron has a crimson red robe to represent his fire magic he will infuse into the armor. Grayson Has a gray tinted blue robe to represent his ice magic. Irene has a shear white robe to represent lightning and Casper is wearing a black robe for invisibility and stealth.

Instead of everyone infusing the armor at once. they decided to infuse separate pieces to insure nothing is crossed or neutralized. Myron chose the vambraces to infuse them with fire. Grayson is going to infuse the gauntlets with ice. Irene, having only the helmet and the breast plate to choose from took the breast plate to bond her energy to. This left the helmet for Casper to use, which was fine by him.

As the last incantations were being spoken a noise was heard down where the group is from somewhere in the house. not wanting to ruin the work they almost have done the paid no attention to it. as they spoke the last words in unison with one another the pieces of armor they held flared up in a bright colorful aura that matched their robes. they noticed that they too were glowing, but as the armor seemed to become brighter, their color dimmed. they all started to feel weak and tried to set the pieces of armor down but they couldn’t let go no matter how they tried. “What is happening, Myron, was there any mention of this in the book” came the panicked question from Grayson.

“No, I made sure to remove that portion of the spell from the pages before I Put the book in this house” came the distorted voice from the door way. as they turned they saw what appears to be a paladin , but there was something wrong with him, they could feel a dark presence around him. “You are all fools, magic is apart of everything , so what do you think would happen if you infuse all of your magic in another object. I knew you would never pass a chance to make yourself part of history” the paladin said with a slight smile showing. “But before your soul is ripped from your body into the armor for all eternity I want you to know that you will be making history, as I use this armor to tear apart this realm and carve my own out in it’s wake” came the response from the paladin which was followed by a methodical laugh. “How can you do this, you, a paladin” came Myron’s weak question. he never heard a response as everything went black, he faintly heard the others falling on the ground and footsteps coming towards him.

I will stop here to explain paladin’s and this one’s fateful past . their kind it too noble and self sacrificing to have their name tainted without explaining why this one is different. they are what some call ” holy knights” in they way the fight evil in it’s purest form to protect the innocent. they do not force they ways on others unless it is their moral duty to do so. they have limited magical abilities to battle the evil and the undead.

This paladin had a name once it was Lucian, But History will remember him for the name he was given later. Lucian was raised by the church to battle demons and other evil spirits that invade the innocent as a paladin with enhanced holy powers. Paladins normally do not preform exorcise demons out of people, but the church felt it was time to train a paladin to do just that. they have lost two clergy to demons that after being removed from the human body took physical form and killed the clergy man as well as the victim. it is as though they are setting traps to remove those that stand in there way of preforming there tasks on this plane of existence.

When he was ready they sent him with his mentor to the village that was plagued by this wretched spirit. as they entered the village all of the inhabitants ran into their homes and closed the doors and windows. “Why do hey hide from us sir, don’t they know we are here to save them from the evil that plagues their land?” inquired Lucian to his mentor about the peoples reaction to their presents. ” Do not take it personally my son, all that we have tried to save from this spirit have been killed and another one of them has been possessed. they only fear being the next one attacked if we fail as our brothers before us have” came the calm answer from Joseph, Lucian’s mentor. they were confidant they will win this time because they are now prepared to battle this demon on the spiritual as well as the physical plane now.

What they never accounted on was that this was no mere demon and that he was not only expecting this tactic, but was performing these attacks to bring a young holy knight to himself. In order to survive he would not only need the holy knowledge to defend himself from it but the body and fighting style of a warrior.

The young paladin stopped in the middle of town with a slight look of pain on his face. Joseph turned to him with a concerned look on his face. “I have never felt evil this strong before and from so far away, give me a second to block it from my mind” came the painful response from Lucian as he closed his eyes and pushed the sensation to the back of his mind so he may focus at the task at hand. “This will be your first time experiencing pure evil like this and it can be intense, you will be able to control how much you will feel it over time.” came supporting words of advice from his mentor “when you are ready we will face this evil together and cleanse this land once and for all.

as they entered the towns central lodge they saw the poor soul laying on a cot. this time it has infected a young lady. she was writhing in pain speaking a language he has never heard before. the only other person in the room with them was the town elder. Joseph Placed his hand on the poor girls head. she had a fever and her skin discolored were his had was. he turned quick to Lucian and said “The spirit is causing her physical harm, we must work quick or the exorcism will take her life, ready yourself if he should leave her body”. as Lucian pulled his sword the young woman reached up from behind Joseph and snapped his neck. she then grabbed his dagger from the belt sheath and slashed the town elder across his wrist before he could pin her down. Lucian pinned her legs down and started the exorcism as he was taught by his now dead mentor who is now lying at his feet belly down with his head facing straight up with a look of surprise and pain frozen on his face. as he finished the exorcism the womans body was expelling what looked like steam from all of her exposed skin as her body shriveled to a mummified state. His poor Mentor is Dead as is the woman they tried to save. the Demon appears to have been destroyed yet he still feels a dark presence near by.

Lucian’s attention was drawn to the town elder as he fell to the ground holding his wrist. he lost a lot of blood from his would as he struggled to hold the girl down. Lucian was not about to lose him as well. he wrapped the elders wrist in a piece of the blanket that lay near by. he started his incantation to cure the man’s wound before he would bleed to death.

As he focused and connected his aura to the elder he felt a sharp pain in his head. By then it was too late, the true demon they were after entered his body through their connection. A lesser demon was in the woman as bait for the trap and to cover his own presence. Lucian’s soul was shattered by the strong evil force that corrupted and swept through every bit of his being. After that happened he was known as Lucian no longer, from now on he will be known as Durkin. Absorbing all that Lucian knows before his soul no longer exists in his body.

Now, in a new body he set forth to find a way to rule this realm as his father rules his home realm, where fire and brimstone are what makes up it’s landscape. but to do this he will need another edge to secure his plans of a demonic kingdom on these holy lands. He knows of an ancient book that holds the lost spells of his his realm. no evil creature can ever reach the book in it’s resting place, but as pure as Lucian’s body is he may be able to reach it. He will have to hurry before his new body is corrupted beyond it’s use.

His kind always knew of the book’s location. they also knew there was no way to reach the book. The only question is if it still remained there, a tribe of early humans found this book once. it took a century before they could read the words and understand them. Few members of this tribe went forth to spread the basic teachings. Others saw the potential of power and were driven mad but their hunger. most of them perished during the battles for power over the tribe and the book.. The poor souls that survived took the book and hid it using one of it’s own spells to protect it from being retrieved by evil creatures. this brought about a dark age for magic and technology. Little was kept in there records of how they learned to read and write. It was mandatory that the book and all magical accounts learned by it were banned from being published or spoken of to prevent a future occurrence of this from happening again.

As he entered the cave in which the book has been resting since almost the beginning of man on this realm. He could feel a pain all over his body that seemed to have no focal point. “I must hurry and be out of here, I am corrupting this body faster then I had planned on”. As he knocked down the false cave wall that hid the book his skin started to expel a slight mist of steam. reaching in the opening he found the book. Flipping through the pages frantically he found the spell he needed to remove the repelling enchantment on the cave, he knew there was no way he could make it out of the cave with the body in passable shape for a normal person. He felt the pain go away and he spoke the final words of the spell. His hands that were swelling up red as steam poured out of them were turning back to normal. As he looked at the book the spell he finished using disappeared from the pages.

“This can’t be” he said in shock as he flipped through the pages to find many more blank sections where there should have been spells. not wanting this to happen again he copied a lesser spell that he would not need on a blank piece of parchment and used the spell to see what would happen. as it erased from the book the parchment also lost what was written on it. He learned then that each spell can only be used once, so he must use them to there fullest potential or risk wasting what he has spent decades searching for.

As he flipped through the pages he thought to himself what he needed most from it to start his domination of this realm. a great weapon or armor with limitless possibilities. as he came upon the spell for enchantments he thought to himself “why not a suit of armor that can fulfill both needs”. The spell was perfect except that the magic user or users who cast the spell will have their very soul drained from their body and bonded with the enchanted item. He would need to find a gifted individual mage or a small group of mages who are driven by their ego or a quest to become famous so that they will look past any possible dangers the spell may hold. to help this he will remove the caution text explaining what happens as a side effect of the spell being cast.

As he traveled to the central city of the realm he heard tales of four student mages. each of which naturally developed a strong magical ability for one magical focus. As he arrived at the local tavern near the school he inquired the locals for information on these students. the more he heard, the clearer his plans were coming to being a reality. He paid the most attention to Grayson Frost.

A noble blooded individual would never miss an opportunity to have his superior ability remembered throughout history. He may even choose a suit of armor to enchant. I will have to contact the local armor smith to have a suit made that a noble would choose for himself and that I will be able to use afterwards to guarantee history will never forget them or their armor.

When the armor was nearly complete, Durkin went over to the Frost estate to implant the book for Grayson to find later in the day. Grayson had a routine of visiting his family’s private library after school so Durkin knew he would be there within the next hour or so. he rigged the book on the top shelf to fall at his command as he lay in waiting on the balcony outside the Library’s grand window. He waited till Grayson was starting to dose off to trigger the books fall to the ground to draw his full attention and allow Durkin to exit without notice.

As he saw Grayson leaving his home early the next morning he followed from a distance to see how his plan was going. he watched as Grayson showed the book to Myron and Irene. Out of nowhere Casper appeared near them, this caught Durkin by surprise yet pleased him also. Now he could not wait for his plan to go through to the fullest extent as he hoped it would. he heard them talking as they were trying to come up with a proper item to enchant. seeing the armor displayed in the library he walked over and bumped it on his way past it causing it to fall as he went behind a book shelf near by the group to here them better. as they decided that the suit of armor would be a good vessel to carry there power he went out the back of the library to get his next portion of his plan ready.

The armor smith saw no harm in what Durkin was planning by having them buy the armor. he was already paid what he asked for and was promised he could keep what they offered to pay for the armor plus a bonus after everything went according to plan. He could not see what angle Durkin was playing on and he did not care for mages all too much. they think themselves far to superior to normal people.

Now all he had to do was wait as they did for the right conditions. He knew they would all go through with this if they had the time to go over everything and think it was all safe. as he waited outside the frost estate he saw Casper and Irene approach with their robes in hand for the ceremony. He worried Myron decided against it till Durkin saw his figure was up in the library window.

When they were nearing the end of the spell Durkin entered the house. Grayson’s servant came up from behind him asking what he was doing there. Durkin explained he was a paladin tracking down a demon and felt his presence was in the house. as the servant turned to lead him to where the others were Durkin snapped his neck and let his lifeless body drop to the floor.

As Durkin looked into the room where they were at he saw their souls being absorbed into the armor. when he felt they were too weak to do anything he entered the room. Durkin wanted to see the look on their faces when they realized they were tricked. that they will lose their lives and the people of this realm will suffer for it. this was not what they wanted to be remembered for, but it is too late for that to change now.

So this is why when people go out in search of adventure and fame they tend to be too careless. this is all the dark people and places on is world need for an advantage there is hope though, because what holds true for the light also holds true for the dark. if not, the Dark Knight would still have rule over this realm and control of his own home realm.

Durkin traveled to all the major schools of magic . there he would kill the head mage and all of their teachers. then the school it self would be wiped out of existence after he raided them for any knowledge that he thought would be useful later. after the main magical burden was cleared he went forth to conquer the land. what magic users were left posed no match for Durkin. even when accompanied by vast armies that were raised to stop this menace from spreading. he left very few alive to tell of what they have witnessed so they would see the futile effort and succumb to his rule.

He ruled with an icy fist. taking all the riches for himself and leaving everyone on the brink of starvation and economic collapse.

10 years after he took power over the realm he sought out a craftsman to make a throne more fitting of his inflating ego. the man he chose was the very man that created his armor. the armor smith wanting to end his reign added a special feature to his chair. a tiny hollow needle attacher to a vile on a plunger was concealed in the back of the chair. it was hooked to a leaver mounted in the seat so as someone sat down the needle would come through the back of the chair at neck height and inject the vial of fluid into the individual before they could pull away from it. the armor smith filled a vial with a combination of holy water and a strong poison to kill whatever he is.

When the throne was delivered to Durkin, he Inspected it to make sure there were no spells bound to it. The armor smith may not have known it but the purity of the holy water canceled out the darkness that surrounded the poison. and the whole set up being mechanical gave off no indications to it’s purpose.

Sensing nothing he sat hardily down in the throne. just as it was suppose to work the full contents pumped right into Durkin’s neck and spread quickly through his veins. he felt the numbing of the poison spreading through his veins killing off his body. the thing that truly frightened him was the burning of holy water that was mixed with it he suffered so much damage from the holy water he could not stay on this plane of existence and had to return home before there was nothing left of him.

As the armor smith looked into the room he saw a black steam come of the dark knight. then the demon himself appeared and dove into the ground to go back to his realm. he looked back at what was Durkin’s body to see his eye’s go from black to blue.

What was left of Lucian came back in control of his body. “I am free at last, thank you” Lucian said before his heart stopped. he was too far gone from the poison to heal himself if he wanted to. but his will to live died a long time ago as he saw what Durkin did with his body. he saw fellow paladin’s and friends from the church he was mentored through die at his hands. they all seemed to ask him “why, what has happened to you”. how he wished he could answer them, telling them it wasn’t him at all that was doing this to them and their home land.

His struggle and torment are now over, he hopes that his god will be forgiving and understanding. and that his friends will be there on the other side waiting for him and also very understanding. this alone only he now knows if this became true.

All was now quiet in the throne room as the armor smith approached the former rulers body. as he looked at his armor which was almost black it slowly lightened in color till it was a light gray it never fully turned back to it’s normal silver color. but certain pieces seemed to give a slight glow in different colors. he finally realized what had happened to the mages and how Durkin gained so much power and protection. he had to remove the armor from the city before another found out what he had and became another unjust ruler of the lands. he put the armor on to get by Durkin’s few loyal guards.

It was going better then he hoped for. no one was even paying him any attention. as he passed by a mirror he realized why. he was completely invisible. he hurried out of the castle towards his shop to figure out what he was going to do with the armor.

As soon as he was back at his shop he heated the forge as hot as he could to see if he could simply melt them down or deform them so no one could use them. He grabbed one of the gauntlets with his tongs and as he put them on the coals, his forge went ice cold. throwing the gauntlets and tongs down he grabbed his largest hammer and swung as hard as he could at the breast plate. A massive bolt of lightning spawned from the strike, throwing his hammer away. the flash blinded him for a bit, but after he could see he grabbed his hammer and found the head was split in half and the handle was in splinters. as he looked at the breast plate there was no mark on it.

He was hoping that since his forge made the suit of armor that it could destroy it. Since there was no forcible school of magic or a mage with any real knowledge of old magic. He would have to hide the armor. if it was buried it could be discovered in time so he would have to hide it in plain sight. he could not trust it in one piece either. he made four suits of armor for each of the sections of the magical armor to be separated into.

He took them to the four distant city states and presented them to the local rulers as a gift of good will and to deliver the news of the dark knight’s death. He took the Ice gauntlets to the northern city state, there the weather was always cold so this would mask the gauntlet’s traits well.

He noticed when he reached the distant city state that the armor failed to glow as it did near the other pieces of the magical suit of armor. he put it on to see what it did now. it produced a sharp cold beam that froze the top of a puddle. so it worked but was very limited to what it was as a full suit. this pleased him as people will see this as a normal enchantment and not realized it was a piece of the dark knight’s armor. He hoped the other pieces will react the same way. by the time he got back to the shop a dark feeling loomed around his building. people that surround him were suddenly not feeling well and plants all seemed to be dying within a close proximity to his building

Next he took the suit of armor that contained the magical vambraces to the southern city state. as he left the darkness that loomed dissipated. there in the southern city state the temperatures are always high so it will be masked similar to how the gauntlets are being masked.

When he got back to his shop the last two pieces were not glowing at all. he put on the helmet and then the breast plate and neither worked. he took the armor that contained the magical breast plate to the mountainous eastern city state where the high elevations always had lightning storms making it the perfect place to hide this piece of armor.

As he left his city state the armor faintly glowed and then it faded. he put on the breast plate and was able to create slight arcs of lightning. he now realized the armor has side effects if they are separated. the western city state was mostly farm land with a small central town that contained the auction building that is also the town hall, a tavern with a hotel attached to it and a small school that was used on Sunday for church. The suit of armor containing the magic helmet could have gone anywhere since it’s stealth nature would hide it self, so he made sure to leave that suit of armor for last.

The trouble with this city state is that there is no real ruler to speak of to give the armor to. not to mention the fact any suit of armor, especially one of this quality, would stand out to travelers. the helmets magic may be able to mask it but he could not count on that. he figured the tavern was the best place to have it. for them to put somewhere as decoration. after he talked with the owner and determined that he would be a trusted individual to keep the armor and not sell it he gave him the suit of armor and asked that he not sell it, but to keep it in the city state as a family heirloom. a community like this takes tradition and history serious so the armor smith new the suit of armor would be well taken care of here.

Things were getting worse after Durkin’s fall from power. there was no focal point of power for people to obey so crime rose swiftly. it was thirty five years before there was order returning to the realm. it took over two centuries for the realm to get back to what it was before Durkin’s reign of power.

with the magical suit of armor divided up the realm was safe, for now. it was only a matter if time before history would repeat itself. the armor smith knew this. he always kept an attentive ear for stories of enchanted pieces of armor or the missing suit of armor that belonged to the dark knight. the armor smith lived out his life grateful for each day the armor stayed hidden. he would not know it, but it was such a long time from the Durkin’s reign of power that his accounts had become thought of as myths. the knowledge was all but lost except for the monks who keep the old history from turning to dust and being lost forever

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