Chapter Twenty-

Mark Upon the World

Wraith straightened the collar of his shirt looking himself over in the mirror. He turned to look at the glowing spark rotating slowly around his core. It would be some time, if ever before Ember was his old self again; the best he could do for his old friend was to continue and amass power to protect him. He looked over his outfit the black leather armor and white shirt as well as the rapier gave him more of the appearance of an Adventurer than a Dungeon but that would suit his purpose very well. He opened the door to his core room and sealed it behind him looking at the pool of water filled with glittering gold objects and the hydra sleeping in it. Bones of goblins, humans, and orcs littered the area evidence that some had tried to come here to loot the golden pool but had failed.

Marith lay sleeping in a massive bed Wraith had created for them, the white linen and silk sheets and blankets sat in rose-wood frame in the center of a white silk pavilion. Aldric and Asma were curled up beside Marith and dozed peacefully. Wraith exited the Pavilion and looked up at the cavernous ceiling above him with its glowing fungi and moss and crystal outcroppings. This place was not suited to war as he had learned, it could be defended and would cost his attackers many lives but that wouldn’t matter to those who would come after him. He would need a citadel above the dungeon something where he could see his attackers before they arrived and obliterate them before they even entered his lair.

He climbed the long passage to the surface and looked at the tents around the ruins of the castle where gremlins and humans busied themselves around cook fires or divided piles of loot. Wraith closed his eyes and extended his magic from his Core expanding outwards farther and farther retaking the original areas of his dungeon; then going farther and farther out beyond the castle into the forest beyond. He could feel creatures come into contact with him as their opposing territories touched, but the raw power he brought to bare caused them to flinch, cower or flee rather than challenge him. After extending his realm nearly a mile in all directions Wraith breathed in sucking the magic out of the land around him.

Raising his hand's Wraith caused the land to shake, as walls rose into the air higher and higher until they blotted out the light of the rising sun. He could hear the cries of alarm from the army around him but ignored them. His magic was disappearing fast, but he continued to suck in and expel it. His core had stockpiled massive amounts of mana while he had been on his adventures but soon it would be empty. Wraith used his mana to create floating platforms of stone carved with runes, building stairways and bridges between them all to the top of the tower. Creating a flat roof, he lined it with battlements and mesticulations. Opening his eyes, he sagged sitting down hard. He looked up and smiled tiredly at his creation, smooth seamless black marble flowed upwards in a menacing spire the whole structure was eight hundred-eighty yards wide and a mile tall.

The tower was everything a dungeon should not aspire to create, according to the Conclave, a display of power that would threaten to reveal their existence to the world. Such a citadel had not been built by any creature since the first age.

“This will be my sign of power, my mark upon the world,” Wraith whispered to himself.

“Well done my servant,” growled a voice.

Wraith turned and bowed. “My master,” he said respectfully. “What do you require of me.”

“I too wish to put my mark on this world. We gods cannot leave our realms once we ascend, did you know that?” Pathaldron asked.

“Yes, the barriers you created when Titan shattered the Astral Plane, you made it so no manifestation could ever enter a plane not directly linked to theirs,” Wraith answered.

“I am tired,” Pathaldron said suddenly his voice growing old and weary. “This war with my brother has gone on for ten-thousand years now. An entire age of our squabble, I miss the feel of leaves under my paws, the call of birds in the trees and the sun warming my fur. I wish this war to end, to become mortal once again and return to Alhren; but I will not surrender or admit defeat.”

“How can I help?” Wraith asked.

“Perhaps you are the only one who can,” Pathaldron said. “We gods cannot speak of your kinds existence, at least not directly, it is forbidden to us; a ward that we dare not even cross set by Alhren himself, or so it is said, but make no mistake we are aware of you and we watch you. You are the closest creatures in likeness to us, with the ability to create life, something that none other than we possess. No mage, sorcerer, warlock or wizard has or ever will do what we can. Oh, they can take existing lifeforce and change it, but to create matter and life out of the raw power of the universe is beyond them. I need you to do something for me that has never been attempted before.”

“What?” asked Wraith intrigued.

“I want you to break the barriers between the planes of existence, to bring light and dark together. My brother and I shall face each other once again as equals, I will end this proxy war and claw and fang will meet. Either we will unite and become mortal again to return to Alhren to live and die as brothers or one of us will die,” Pathaldron said lying down, his head drooping in weariness.

“You would risk yourself like that for your brother?” Wraith asked.

“I love my brother, my power has changed me, but it has not changed that. When Zalladron became the manifestation of light, the power made him forget me, our old friends who had died and those we left behind. He became arrogant, obsessed with being worshipped and spreading his control over others. If I had not become the manifestation of darkness and gone to war with him, I believe he would have spread a crusade over the whole world to make people worship him,” Pathaldron sighed. “You don’t know the things I have done and the strain I am constantly under. I am the lone manifestation of darkness and keeping any others from rising consumes much of my energy but being singular also fuels my strength; it is a delicate balance that others have tried to topple.”

Wraith knelt before Pathaldron bowing his head. “I will find a way to break the barrier between your planes.”

“Thank you,” Pathaldron said, there was a rush of wind and when Wraith looked up Pathaldron was gone.

Furry, Fear and Plague ran up the steps and looked about at the citadel they were inside of in awe.

“What have you done?” Fear asked.

“I have stepped out of the shadows,” Wraith answered. “Come we have work to do.”

“What are we going to do?” Plague asked.

“We will return to Nomm and recover the Asternosis Tome,” Wraith answered. “It is a necessary tool for the task that is set before me.”

“And what task is that?” Fear asked.

Wraith looked back at them from the lip of the descending steps. “To break the world as we know it and usher in one never before seen.”