Kendov Descent

When wandering around at the foot of the mountain, Solmar had a rather clear sight stretching out across the open ocean. With the cliffs far beneath him, this portion of Fiore seemed to have great natural defenses against any kind of threat that might come in from the water, and most likely had had this for thousands of years. It reminded him of the tale he had been told during his travels when a group of archaeologists along with his own aid, had uncovered something that had been hidden for hundreds of years. The crypt he had uncovered that day had shown him the sight of a strange, grossly oversized weapon that seemed weathered and had likely seen a lot of battle before the wielder eventually perished. The crypt, which had apparently belonged to an ancient chieftain belonging to a group of people known as the Kendov, had launched raiding parties into the lands of Fiore in order to establish a place where his people could continue their existence. Though he had heard from the archaeologists how their own ancestral lands had been destroyed by a dragon, out of a need to not look stupid, he had claimed to know what that was and kept his mouth shut about it.

It hadn't been until an encounter with other travelers on the road leading up to the mountain that he had actually come to figure out what a "Dragon" actually was. As the tale of the chieftain known as Sahlunin would have one believe, the massive slab of metal he wielded as a sword had supposedly been crafted so someone could use it to slay a dragon, a feat Solmar himself considered to not be as probable as the ancient Kendov people might have made it out to be. At the time, when Solmar had taken the hilt of the weapon in his hand, it had disappeared in the blink of an eye, not leaving a single trace as to where it had gone. It went without saying that this had been quite bothersome for the archaeologists who now had much less to go on with their studies and investigative work. That said, he had been able to help them out quite a bit with some translations, seeing as he could somehow read the ancient language of the Kendov as if it were the common tongue. Though this had struck both him and the archaeological team as odd, they decided to shrug it off for the sake of their work.

Since that time though, he had been having dreams that were different from what he had normally been dreaming. Normally, he would either just dream about random things like a place where apples had the size of boulders, hills and even mountains, of strange creatures that no one had ever seen before, or nightmares of Vetis regarding the death of his relatives and everyone he once knew. Now, another dream had been added to the mixture, one in which a strange figure he had never seen before called out to him in a strange language. While strange, he could still make out the words and the intention behind it, knowing it to be the Kendov tongue he had apparently picked up while in the crypt of Sahlunin. Even though he more or less understood the language, it was as if the voice was distorted, making it nearly impossible for him to make out what it meant whenever it beckoned him into doing something. Having had the same dream early that same morning, he had done so with a rather clear thought in mind, thoughts of a specific location near a landmark he had passed when trying to find a lone hunter that had gone missing.

Still reeling a bit after solving his last two jobs and feeling a bit empty with his "victory", he felt like he could use a win right now, or at the very least a distraction from it all. Due to the nature of the recurring dreams, he figured that he might as well have a look and see what was to them, if there was anything to them at all. He had heard stories on his travels of people who could see the future through means of dreams, though he knew that this was not something he could do himself. Still, there was something odd about the dreams as they encompassed a place he had been to before, but showed in greater detail than he could actually remember. Whether this was merely his brain playing tricks on him or not remained to be seen, but considering how close he was to the place shown within his dreams, the very least he could do was to just check and see. It was for that reason that he had come to this portion of the phoenix mountains, the side closest to the sea, as that had been the place from where the Kendov people had always come with their longboats in order to execute their raids upon the ancient Fiorans.

(842)

It did not take Solmar a very long time before he made his way over to the landmark he had seen in his dream, what with it being the place he had passed on the way to the hunter's hut when he first ventured up the mountain. Due to all that had transpired at the time, he would probably never forget the things he had seen there, all of them being burned into his mind to never be forgotten again. Right now though, it seemed like all of that had some positive angles as well as he did not need the map in order to find the place and just keep trekking onward from there on. Moving onward until there was a small gap between the ice, stones and snow, Solmar knew that this was exactly where he needed to be. Rising from the hole was a scent that had some hints of decay, though there was something else to it, something old, really old. It was a scent that felt similar to the one he smelled when he first entered the crypt of Sahlunin where he found the vanishing sword, though this place had a far stronger scent for some unexplained reason. That was, unexplained at this point in time.

Letting Fellis out of his coat, the two sat on the edge of the hole for a little while as Solmar explained to the flying feline that he was not to enter in with him. Because this whole thing could be just another trap set up by the demon inside of him who would try to trick him by using these visions against him and draw him somewhere where he would find no aid, he could not risk drawing the exceed down with him. Though this did not go without an initial struggle, he eventually managed to trick the cat into thinking that he was to stay behind on guard duty, making sure no one got in after him. Doing his very best to make the feline believe that if someone snuck in after him, he could be in a great deal of trouble, it seemed that his words managed to wear the exceed down as it ended up nodding in agreement. Flying up into the air and perching on a nearby rock formation that would allow the little cat to oversee most of the surrounding area clearly, Solmar nodded at him before descending down into the hole. Sliding down along a frozen ramp followed up by an almost two meter drop, he landed on his feet in what he could only describe as some sort of catacomb.

Looking around, Solmar saw many things reminding him of the inside of the crypt where he had taken up the vanishing sword, and incidentally learned how to read the language of the Kendov. The architecture was exactly the same, meaning this place had served as one of their settlements most likely, before the mountain reclaimed it after years of being abandoned. To say that it was even colder within the abandoned settlement than outside was quite the understatement, as he felt that even his coat could not protect him from the cold. It was a good thing that he had asked Fellis to stand watch outside, seeing as the poor feline would likely have frozen his tail off down there. On the other hand, he could have had the cat hidden in his coat so the two could share their warmth a bit, though he believed to have made the selfless choice by leaving the cat outside, where it was safe for it to just float about in the usual carefree manner. When during his pondering, he suddenly heard footsteps, he looked around to see where they might be coming from, but found nothing that would suggest there being anything down there.

Leaving the catacomb behind him, he could tell there was a larger and more open space at the end of it, judging by the way the sound echoed back there. Heading towards the origin of the sound, he found nothing except for a great many sealed stone coffins standing in front of an odd wall. Spotting a ghastly figure standing in front of the wall, it reminded him of the shape he had seen in his dreams, beckoning him to this place. Heading down a small stone staircase, he entered into the room that seemed to have several opening in the roof, meaning the place was likely not as solid as it was in the old days. With small amounts of snow dropping down from the ceiling whenever the wind outside picked up, he wandered down the path leading through the center of the room and up to the large wall at the end of it. As he approached the spirit, he did not get the same feeling as when he had been in the haunted guild hall some time ago, though it still seemed too early to tell whether the being had good intentions at heart, or bad ones. At the end of the day though, he did not doubt that it would most likely be self serving, as most of those beings were.

(886)

When he finally got to it, the spirit made a gentle bow before him, to which Solmar nodded in response. It was not long after that that his questions as to why he was brought here were finally being answered, for once the spirit start talking, very little was left to the imagination. Calling himself Sahlunin, it turned out that Solmar had taken his trusty sword into his own magic when he touched the blade, meaning he possessed the Sahrot Thur. This Sahrot Thur, or mighty overlord in the common tongue, was something he considered to be the birthright of those who were direct descendants of the Kendov people. These warrior-like people that he had heard about during an archaeological job were suddenly becoming incredibly real as his doubts about the matter were being cleared up. Though he did not know why, the spirit seemed to know who his parents were and that he grew up in a village who's primary sources of income were hunting and fishing, some of the things the Kendov excelled at and were known for, as well as their fighting capabilities and skill at raiding others for every last penny they possessed. While Solmar had never really thought about these things much, he could not deny that he seemed naturally gifted at these things.

Continuing up on this story, Sahlunin claimed to know of the demon that resided within Solmar's body, and that he was not everything that he seemed to be. As his eyes widened at the fact that Vetis was still there after all, he compressed his fingers into a fist so hard that it felt like he nearly broke them in the attempt. Bringing up the myth of the children of the eclipse and stating that this was merely superstition, the spirit explained to Solmar how Vetis was, while being a demon, also an aspect of his own being. That while he was incredibly violent, destructive and above all else a threat to everyone around him, he could also become a tool to be used in battle should he wish to develop himself in such a manner. Following it up by stating that doing such a thing might cause him to lose track of his sense of self and become assimilated by the demon instead of the other way around, Solmar was most likely not ready for it yet as it required a greater sense of self and control over their own soul and magicka. By the time Sahlunin claimed that he too had been born with one of his own that he eventually managed to beat before he became one of the greatest chieftains of his time, the black haired mage had some hope restored to him regarding how he might one day be rid of the thing.

As it turned out though, the spirit seemed to not have brought him here for it as he did not want to answer any more direct questions in correlation to Vetis and how he might be rid of it. Instead, it seemed to have brought Solmar to test whether he was truly of Kendov blood, and worth the weapon he had taken from Sahlunin's own gravesite. His weapon, called Sunvaar Kriid, had been used by him to fight the dragon that had destroyed the island where the Kendov once lived, though not before the place had been destroyed to the point of no return. When the place sank into the ocean along with the dragon and the entire Kendov civilization, only about a hundred of them were led away from there by ship by Sahlunin, who then took them to the distant land of Fiore. When Solmar asked the spirit of the ancient chieftain why the sword had disappeared when he touched it, Sahlunin stated that the Sahrot Thur was a type of power that resonated with weapons which were originally made for other Kendov warriors, weapons that were made for them specifically. When one of these warriors passed though, another could take on the weapon and continue their legacy, though this rarely happened during the time in which he was alive.

Back then, everyone had a weapon made specifically for themselves, and many of these weapons either disappeared at the time of their death, got destroyed, was buried with them or simply got taken from the battlefield after a Kendov fell as a result of the fight. Seeing as no Kendovian weapons were created anymore due to the art being lost to the ages, it seemed logical to him that Sunvaar Kriid had chosen Solmar as his new wielder when he touched it, what with his original wielder having been dead for over a thousand years. The way Sahlunin explained it, it seemed that Sunvaar Kriid, the ultra greatsword used to slay dragons and just about anything the blade touched, was a weapon that had been forged for the singular purpose of utterly destroying enemies in battle and striking fear into the hearts of those who looked upon it. Stating that the blade craved battle and bloodshed, the one wielding it had to prove that they were worthy of doing so, and had to start just by bringing it out after it merged into their magicka. To do this, a true test would be in order, a test which would truly probe whether or not Solmar was a worthy heir to the Sahrot Thur and Sunvaar Kriid.

(905)

A test such as this would not just be some kind of written exam or a quick spar against someone who would gradually show him the ropes. During the time of the Kendov warriors, an initiation was a battle that sometimes continued to the death of one of the contestants, which would be the same here. Clapping his hands together, an odd spectral echo resounded throughout the room the two were standing in, which seemed strange as the spirit was an incorporeal being that shouldn't be capable of doing such a thing. Showing that the spirit had some power within this place, it told Solmar that he had sealed away his actual magic so that he would not be able to use the Fioran approach to battle. The only thing he could do now was fight against his temporary enemy and make an attempt at bringing out the weapon he had accidentally taken. Trying to bring out his flames, it seemed that his magic had truly been sealed away, leaving him with only his hands. Frowning at the spirit, it seemed to not care much for his attitude, telling him to step back and get ready for a battle. When Solmar asked who or what he was to be fighting in response, he heard a loud thumping behind him.

As the coffins unsealed and large stone slabs came undone, bodies started rising from them, picking up whatever they had been buried with and standing silently next to their grave. Staring at Solmar with their empty sockets, one of them opened his mouth with a loud crack as his jaws had probably never opened for hundreds or maybe even thousands of years. Speaking with a raspy voice, it spoke in the ancient language of the Kendov, though Solmar could make out the sentence "You are challenged.". When the undead body started moving towards him, the young magus did not expect a whole lot of it, considering the fact that it moved incredibly slowly and seemed to have trouble with every single step just to not fall over and break into pieces. With his magic prohibited within these burial halls, Solmar had to defend himself with his bare hands while the undead wielded the weapons they had wielded in life. Still, he felt like he had a pretty solid chance at winning, at least up until the undead got within range and no longer moved around like an idiot. Having intentionally moved around like that to lull him into a false sense of security, Solmar barely managed to dodge a fatal blow.

Landing a deep gash on his shoulder, Solmar moved back while gripping it with his left hand, trying to stop it from bleeding too much. At the same time, he was being assaulted by the undead that clearly wanted to murder him and earn a one way trip into the afterlife and out of the halls. Focusing on evading the attacks, it was a good thing that this warrior had been dead for such a long time. Had he been in his prime, Solmar would likely have been killed by the initial strike or the one that came after it, though the fact that Solmar was in fact in his prime allowed him to at the very least keep evading any strikes aside from the one he had already taken. When the spirit called out to him and told him to take up arms, the young man had no idea what he meant by this as he had no weapon on him. Continuing to evade the attacks, he knew that he would not be able to keep this up forever. And even if he managed to somehow beat this first warrior, there were dozens more waiting to take over for him and beat him once he had been tired out. Something had to be done, that much stood as a rock above water, though he had no idea what.

When the spirit called out to him again and told him to manifest, the undead warrior took this moment of him being distracted and lashed out to him. In the heat of the moment, Solmar held out both of his hands as if he were trying to catch the blade, though in a flash of light, a large and heavy greatsword formed out of nowhere and crushed the warrior beneath it. Slicing it into two clean halves, the blade stood upright in the stonework, as well as the undead remains. Releasing one last gasp, the spirit that inhabited the undead body was forced to leave it and walked back to the coffin he came from. There, the spirit waited and bowed in Solmar's direction before nodding at the next one. As soon as he had done so, the next warrior decided that this was his shot at freedom and redemption, not hesitating even once as he started sprinting towards the black haired male with his axe drawn. Placing his hands around the hilt of the large sword, he pulled it out of the ground and deflected the axeman, though that alone would not be enough to keep him at bay. Coming in with attacks from various angles, he did all that he could to protect himself.

(875)

Using the large slab of metal as a tower shield to hide behind, he waited for the right time to lash out. Moving towards the axeman as he used the blade to shove him away, he tugged at the blade and swung it in horizontally, smashing into the undead with the blunt portion of the weapon. Smacking him away like an oversized fly, Solmar could hear the bones in his body break as the undead got slammed into the wall. When that particular spirit departed from the battered body and returned to his coffin in order to let the next one try, Solmar took a moment to inspect the blade. Finding that it was not nearly as heavy now as the first time he tried to pick it up in the crypts near Cedar, it also felt like the weapon dished out excessive force against those he hit with it, even though he knew for a fact that he had struck his enemies nowhere near as hard as the impact would suggest. As he started slowly figuring out what the weapon was truly capable of, the spirit that brought him to this place just looked down from his pedestal and smiled, though Solmar was too busy to see this much.

Holding the weapon up with both arms, he performed two diagonal swings, he gave himself the chance to better acquaint himself with the thing, figuring that it was the one thing that could get him through this ordeal. Trying to get a better feel of the weapon and how it rested in his hands, the next contestant came down from the coffin area and swung a large two handed axe at him. Switching the position of his left hand from the handle to the actual blade, he held the entire thing over his head and allowed it to take the full brunt of the strike. Managing to do so relatively easy, it felt like the weapon got lighter the more he used it, this likely being the process that Sahlunin had been talking about when he talked about how he would need to prove himself worthy of wielding the weapon and becoming a fit wielder for it. Applying a large amount of force, he pushed the axe back and kicked the axe wielder into the torso, pushing him back as well. Finding that even his body was somehow becoming stronger and faster, he got even more pumped.

Regaining his footing after being kicked back, he clashed his axe with Solmar's blade again as the sparks literally flew off of the iron. Clashing again and again, Sahlunin could tell that the young man was getting more used to the blade as he would normally not have been able to keep up with the two handed axe. This was due to the fact that the axe possessed far greater levels of mobility because it possessed a thin shaft with a heavy head on top of it, though that did not matter if the opponent wielding the greatsword was strong and agile enough to swing the blade at high enough velocity. When the young man noticed an opening, he brought the blade down vertically, slamming down at the undead, who seemed quick enough to step back just far enough to avoid getting cleaved in half. Finding itself rather clever, it did not have the time to enjoy this moment and make the most of it, for the blade had taken so many hits that it had been building up a large amount of kinetic energy, releasing a shockwave the moment it hit the ground that splattered the weakened flesh and bone of the undead warrior into hundreds or even thousands of smaller pieces.

Getting to know this new blade very quickly as he adapted to it, it became clear to Sahlunin that the young man was in fact a viable heir to the blade and to the Sahrot Thur. In time, he crushed every single body of the undead that were sent against him, thus releasing the spirits that were trapped inside while awaiting the time of a new heir. In so doing, he actually managed to reactivate his white flame magic through his sword, using it as a catalyst and enveloping the blade itself in flame. While he had seemed rather in control of the entire situation up until now, even Sahlunin did not know why Solmar was capable of using his sealed magic now, believing that it might have been because the sword had adjusted itself to the wielder just as much as Solmar had adjusted himself to it. Making them a far deadlier combo, every last one of the undead warriors inevitably laid dead at his feet, every last one being slaughtered and cleaved by the monster slaying blade. Taking a deep breath, he allowed the weapon to dissipate, returning to where it would rest until Solmar called upon it again. Witnessing firsthand the damage he could do with it in very little time, he most certainly would end up calling upon it again, that much was certain.

(848)

What bothered him the most was that he was not aware of how to do this, of how to bring out the weapon and use it to utterly destroy his enemies in battle. Had he known how to do this earlier, he could have even used it to fight the threats the Phoenix Mountain had posed on him, and he might have been able to save those that he could not. In a way, this actually made him mad, mad at his own lack of understanding of magic and magical weaponry such as the sword that was apparently just waiting for him to bring it out. As he wallowed in his own loathing, he got called out of it by Sahlunin, who was now joined by all of the spirits he had released from their rotting prisons they had once called a body in life. With all of them looking down on him, he could not help but feel out of place here, what with him being the only thing that was actually alive down here. That fact became abundantly clear when he looked around and saw only the dead bodies that now littered the place, some still smoldering by remnants of the white flame.

Wandering up to the pedestal that the spirits had all resigned to, he tried speaking, though he was cut short by Sahlunin who had something to say to him as well. Claiming that he had proven himself worthy of the sword, had set all of the Kendov free that had been buried here after dying of old age and having been able to die in battle, it was now time for him to head back out into the world as the new wielder of the Sahrot Thur. Telling him that there were still other places that contained weapons of great power or scrolls explaining how to use the Sahrot Thur in different manners, he placed his hand on Solmar's forehead, implanting the locations of these crypts within his mind along with his memories of the place. As they were both bound by the Sahrot Thur, the spirit was capable of doing such things for him, things he could not have done to just any mortal that ventured into these burial halls. Shaking his head a bit as the implanting of memories was an incredibly odd thing to experience, he was quiet for a few moments, though Sahlunin did not waste this momentary silence as there was still more left to be said.

Telling Solmar that, after all of these spirits departed, there would be no more purpose to the burial halls, he would only have so much time to drag himself out of there before the entire place would be coming down, thus burying it under rock, ice and snow. Not entirely happy about this, he imagined that he would probably manage to get out as the way back to the entrance was relatively short, and he did not think that Sahlunin would make an attempt at killing their only heir by burying him under rubble. When the spirit was silent for a bit, Solmar asked him as to why he was asked to kill all of those undead warriors, to which he was initially given the response that it was what Sahlunin wanted. Raising an eyebrow at him, the spirit then continued explaining how, in the Kendov religion, those that did not die in battle with a weapon in hand were not accepted into the afterlife they desired, instead going to another place where the dead did not have it good. As such, the spirits of these warriors had remained within their coffins, trapped in their rotting bodies for hundreds of years as they awaited a new heir of the Sahrot Thur to prove himself in battle and set them all free by a trial of combat.

At that point, he started understanding some of the reasoning behind it, though he did not enjoy the fact that he could have been killed in the process of understanding his weapon and learning how to wield it properly. However, since this seemed to be somewhat normal for these people, he figured that the best he could do was just accept that it was behind him now and that he could continue on stronger than he was when he came here. Nodding at Sahlunin as if stating that he understood what he was trying to say, all of the other spirits bowed at him as a means of thanking him for setting them free before gradually disappearing one by one. Heading to the afterlife they desired as they had all technically fallen in battle, eventually only Solmar and Sahlunin were left. Knowing that this meant the whole place would be coming down sooner rather than later, he still felt that he needed to ask about Vetis, and how he could potentially do what Sahlunin described by turning the demon into a source of power instead of a constant source of annoyance and being a looming threat that hovered over him at all times.

(846)

Telling the young man that there would come a time when he would know that the time had come for him to confront it, one of Sahlunin's memories would tell him where to go and what he would need to do in order to face it himself. With that, the spirit bowed and told him to get a move on if he did not want to end up buried alive along with the rest of the burial halls. With that, it too disappeared, along with a loud rumbling noise above him, telling Solmar that it was now truly the time for him to go. Starting to make a run for it as more snow came falling down, he figured that he'd need about two minutes to get back topside. However, as large chunks of rock also started raining down around, he came to believe that two minutes just might be too much for him. In spite of that, he continued running, doing his best to avoid falling rubble by relying on his enhanced hearing to figure out from which portion of the ceiling the next rocks would fall. As light started breaking through the ceiling, he saw just how deep down he was at this point.

Coming to realize that two minutes had been quite a royal estimate, he stopped running and started looking for another way out. Using his fire magic enhanced fists to strike the smaller boulders that were in his way and keeping some from crushing him, he noticed that the larger chunk of the ceiling was coming down right on top of him, and that he did not have the fire power to take it out in one go. As things started looking bleak, a white flash dashed down from the opening in the ceiling and hit him in the back, picking him up as he started taking flight. Noticing that Fellis had flown down and latched onto his back, the feline was now starting to climb higher and higher into the air as he tried getting them both to safety. Feeling reaffirmed in the fact that they just might make it out of their predicament now, he used his fire magic to blow upon a hole in the ceiling that was big enough for the both of them to fly through. As the chunk he penetrated with his magic started coming apart, he had to keep punching at rocks just to keep the two of them from getting crushed to death.

Mere moments later, both Solmar and Fellis came flying up from the ceiling and watched how the entire place beneath them came apart with a loud rumbling crash. Simply hovering in the air for a moment, the two of them just looked down and wondered what could have been, had the exceed not intervened when he did. Setting Solmar down in the snow a short distance away from the now buried burial halls, they both collapsed into the snow and looked up at the sky. They had both come very close to never seeing it, or anything else ever again. Picking up the cat with one hand, he gripped him into a tight hug as a means of showing his appreciation, realizing that he would never have made it out on his own. Claiming that it had come rushing in the moment it heard the rumbling and saw the ground coming down, it had gone in in search of Solmar, and due to the place not being overly big, had managed to find him rather quickly. What with Solmar violently trying to survive by smashing boulders, it had only made it that much easier for the flying feline to just fly towards the white flames.

When he released the cat from his grip, he got back up into a seated position and looked out across the mountain ahead of them. It made him wonder why they never flew anything, though he came back on this thought rather quickly by seeing how tuckered out the exceed was just from flying the both of them for such a short distance. Besides, he had become rather used to wandering about on his own two feet, and would continue doing so for the time being. As the two of them just sat there, he talked Fellis through all of the things that had happened down there, how he had learned a bit more about his background, about the demon inside of him and about the vanishing sword. Telling the story of how he had smashed dozens of demon warriors with his new weapon, he called it into being and showed the blade to the feline. Shooting up from his seat, it flew in circles around it as he inspected the oversized slab of metal in awe. Approving of this weapon choice for his friend, Solmar called the weapon back as he got up from his seat in the snow. Brushing off some of it, he nodded at Fellis that they should get going as they still had news to share with the Mountain Village inhabitants.

-End of Thread-

(850 // 6052)