Birathi (No longer accepting)

Taur

Up on a small hill on the town outskirts, away from civilisation and undisturbed, Taur read deep into the night, uncovering more about the Beast King with every passing minute. What he found was impressive. Tomes and tomes, ancient and battered, all pointing to the triumph of the Beast King over his inner demons- both physical and spiritual- and the gathering of all the Shifters into one united body.
But one tome in particular refused to conform. After an hour or so spent decoding the archaic scripture, Taur was finally able to begin to unravel its contents. Revelation came a moment later.
The Beast King would gather all the Shifters. Peace and unity would reign throughout the land for a hundred years. This he had read in other texts; he had contemplated setting it aside and getting some sleep. Still, he had felt urged to press on with his translation, and now he had uncovered an unsettling truth.
The Beast King would lead the Shifters to war.
Against whom, or when or why, Taur could not ascertain. The tome was incomplete, only half a prophecy. Still, it guaranteed one thing: suffering.
At last, Taur reached the end of the prophecy. He sat in silence, parchment rustling slightly in the night breeze, and contemplated how he should proceed.
No answer came. Calmly, Taur gathered up his tomes and parchments and made his way back down into the cesspit that called itself Blackmire, a heavy weight settled uncomfortably across his shoulders.

Wyverus

The mayor of Blackmire had expressed his full support of the travellers cause, and even offered his peoples lives in battle, if the need came. Wyverus accepted this, humbly, before setting off into the outer stretches of the plains; to a graveyard.

It was here he sat, at the foot of a marble pillar, and meditated to regain inner focus; battle disturbed his flow with the dead. The necromancer's aura of darkness pulsated through his body, taking the energy from the spirits around him. A sudden bolt flashed through his mind, golden light, white streaks. A furious voice. A name: The Beast King. Wyverus felt the familiar prescence of three souls. The misunderstood Haven; the wise old Taur; and the soul this necromancer once held dear.

A touch on his shoulder pulled Wyverus from his deep concentration. He stood. A delicate voice echoed through the eerie night air. The last voice Wyverus heard that envoked true feelings. As he turned, he knew the body he had turned to. Flowing golden hair, emerald green eyes, a figure like that of a porcellain doll. Her face was slim and tanned, a single small mole the only imperfection on her fantastic face. Lola Terrae. The only girl Wyverus truly loved; 5 years ago. Before he lost his entire passion to the dead.

No words were spoken, she just looked straight into his eyes. Flashes of light emerged, and picnics in meadows, writings of poetry and romantic moments dominated Wyverus' mind. She offered a warm embrace, and the necromancer met it. At the touch of his skin, her body diffused into particles of dust, the hope in Wyverus' eyes vanishing. It's a trap!

Turning rapidly, Wyverus blocked a blade of shadows with a wall of darkness. The familiar eyes of his master penetrating his trust and memories. He slipped from the lock, and shoved her back. "Betray me, you offend me, you get hurt" he said, anger coating his words. "Target my weakness, you try to kill me, you die" the voice transformed to a hiss, and Wyverus created two blades from the darkness, poised to fight.

Lamika

Lamika's mind spun, Haven still held his arms around her, and one finger gently wiped a new line of blood from her cheek.
"What do you speak of? Haven? Taur?" Lamika bit one lip, still feeling Haven's quick kiss. "Something's happened."
"Yes," Haven was silent for a moment, watching Taur flip through an old book. Lamika glanced at the cover.
"If you wish to know about legends you should speak to Firego, he knows everything there is to know. Please, Haven, what is he looking for? What happened?"
"I've had... a vision. I..."
"What?"
"I am the Beast King." He laughed after speaking, as though saying something ridiculous. However, Firego had told Lamika of the stories, and she immediately realized the implication. "And you, you are my..."
"I can't be. You can't be." Lamika cut him off. "This is ridiculous. That would mean I am an elf, and you would have so much power, and the war..." Her voice faded. "It is impossible, isn't it?"
"No." Taur stood, huge and imposing. "Haven may very likely be the Beast King, and I was almost certain you were an elf. The war is inevetable. All me must think of now is the benefit this poses. We do not even need to continue our quest. We could return now and gather the shifters, overthrow Ranare."
"Firego never told me much, what is the war? Who do you fight? Taur, surely Haven would not lead the shifters against your people?"

Haven

"It is impossible, isn't it?"
I was a little hurt when Lamika cut me off but Taur rose to his full height and boomed.
"No. Haven may very likely be the Beast King, and I was almost certain you were an elf. The war is inevetable. All we must think of now is the benefit this poses. We do not even need to continue our quest. We could return now and gather the shifters, overthrow Ranare."
Lamika stared at him intensely before asking.
"Firego never told me much, what is the war? Who do you fight? Taur, surely Haven would not lead the shifters against your people?"
"What? No! I would never. I ... surely a force of Shifters and handful of Hollow men can't stand against the Legions of Ranare? We need, i don't know. Weapons, food, more men. How we we even gather the Shifters? I wouldn't know where to start." This was all becoming too much. Without the comforting presence of Fenris in my mind the reality of all that would unfold for me to become the Beast King fell on my shoulders with the force of a thousand hurricanes.

Lamika

"I wouldn't know where to start!" Haven's voice sounded almost panicked.
"We could do it. We have to! What if, I mean, when we set out we were kind of headed towards the elves. We were almost certain they would not help us, but if we have the Beast King pleading. Surely they would not deny us aid? What other option do we have but to defeat Ranare. We can't live under his reign any longer. Birathi will collapse if change does not come. And if we are the ones to bring that change than we have no choice.
"Haven, please, sit down. Let Taur and Jenko and Wyverus... Where is Wyverus? Anyway, let them figure it out. You need to rest."
"No," Haven tried to pull away. Suddenly a cry came from somewhere in the woods. The voice was that of Wyverus, and it held a ferocity that none of them could have imagined. This was no group of soldiers attacking him. Something far worse was happening to the necromancer.

Wyverus

Shadows collided in the darkness, evil and betrayal against fury and redemption. Satina's blonde hair whipped violently across her face, as she battled against her student, no remorse from her soul.
Wyverus gritted his teeth, his master was powerful, and Wyverus was only an apprentice. He countered a focused blow and delivered a slash to Satina's hip, and she blocked his following strike almost naturally. Wishing for this test of mental strength to end soon, Wyverus decided to finish it. He charged his power into a single, violent jumping swipe. Satina dodged, and delivered a fatal blow to Wyverus' back. He landed hard on the moist, dark grass. The skies dimmed, and his conscience began to slip away. "No" a voice yelled through the darkness "this is not the end. You are no longer the apprentice! You are the master now!"

"How pathetic" Satina cackled, standing over her dying pupil.

"Why?" Wyverus coughed.

"Oh Wyverus, ignorant young Wyverus. As if I'd tell you..."

She stumbled as Wyverus expelled two tendrills from his hands. Blocking his last ditch attempt, Satina cackled an evil, gereatric laugh. Wyverus slashed at her stomach, and she fell back in surprise. Wyverus looked on, as her body was elevated into the air, lifted by steel, lifted by brown haired arms. The last defiant breath of Satina brought peace to the necromancers mind, as he slipped into the comforting arms of death.

Taur

Taur stared down at the two necromancers, pulse hammering, breath ragged. He had run faster than he had thought possible, dispatched the woman in a single swipe. Any pleasure he might have felt in such a decisive victory left him at the sight of Wyverus lying face-down on the ground. Taur needed not test for a heartbeat; he knew already that Wyverus had passed.
He found himself conflicted. The necromancer was a vital component of the group, and he had fallen at a crucial moment. Yet the old Oxman could not reconcile that with what would be needed to bring him back.
'The past must remain past' He told himself, already feeling his resolve crumble. He well knew what he had done in the past, the arts he had dabbled in as a foolish, misguided young Ox. What he was capable of.
"Will he be alright?" At the sound of Lamika's plaintive voice, Taur's resolve left him entirely. He reached deep into his satchel, deep into the stratification of his own history, and took out a battered, leather-bound tome.
Kneeling, he drew in a deep breath, and opened it. His nostrils were met with the smell of decay, and he wrinkled his nose absently. Huffing the sensation away, he turned page after page until he found what he was looking for.
Long, jagged runes spelled out archaic passages about death and resurrection. He began to intone, taking care to pronounce each word with perfect clarity, lest the spell go wildly awry.
Time ceased. Taur read aloud, page after page of arcane writings. All feeling seemed to leave him; he felt released from his own body, as though the line between material and spiritual had been blurred beyond all recognition.
The last word rolled off his tongue, harsh and biting, leaving him with a sour taste in his mouth. He inhaled deeply, returning to the present.
A powder layer of snow covered him, interspersed with his matted fur. Around him, the world was a picturesque sheet of white.
Beneath it all, Wyverus stirred.
Taur stood, unfurling stiff limbs. Beside him, a tentative Wyverus did the same, wobbling on unsteady feet. Taur gestured to a small column of smoke spiralling into the sky nearby- the others had made a campfire to stave off the cold. Together, the two made their way up the hill towards the group, trudging through the snow on uncertain limbs.

Lamika

She had no idea what was going on. It was through a dream that Haven pulled her away from the chanting minotaur and towards the campfire that Jenko had made. Wyverus, gone? It gone not be. Surely Taur's spell would work. It had to.

She lay down on a ragged blanket and ignored the voices around. Even Haven's words could not penetrate her thoughts. The other necromancer, the one who had killed Wyberus, she was the woman who had kept her captive. And she was the one who had chanted strange words over Lamika's tied body. The words had left a scar on her shoulder, one she had been careful to hide from the other travelers. Now it burned and she groaned and gripped the skin with a cry that disappeared into the snowy night.

Haven

It happened so quickly even my heightened sense had trouble keeping up. Wyverus cry, the familiar stench of death, Taurs stampede and the increasingly familiar whistle of his axe sailing through the air. Then all was still. The silence and confusion were shattered by Lamikas voice. Her words weighed down with desperate hope.
"Will he be alright?"
I watched quietly as Taur sat and drew a musty tome from the depths of his enormous satchel. He sat quietly, centering himself before he began to read in an unfamiliar tongue. Lamika, lost in thought had to be pulled away from the scene toward the campfire her brothers had constructed.

Taur

Taur collapsed to the ground by the campfire, utterly spent. He felt as if he might faint, drained of his usual Oxen power by the days of intense magic.
And he certainly felt as if the magic had left something when it took his strength.
He felt a darkness inside of him, a scar reopened. It had been a long time since Taur had used witchcraft such as this, and he had not missed it. It left a bitter taste on his tongue.
Wyverus eyed him with a mixture of relief and suspicion. In time, he would talk to the necromancer, educate him on arts other than his own, but not now. Now was a time for recuperation for both of them. Now was a time for sleep.

Lamika

She awoke alone, and all around the world was silence. Carefully Lamika stood and went to the entrance of her tent, peering at the snow covered world. Only Taur sat on a fallen tree, his eyes glazed over with thoughts that no doubt were far beyond Lamika's knowledge. She made her way over to him, and the bits of snow cut into her bare feet like needles. Slowly she reached his log and sat, letting her dress melt a hole in the white blanket that covered the log. For a long time neither said anything, and Lamika let herself instead be taught by the expression on Taur's face. It was one that held many emotions, strength, sadness, worry. Yet though it seemed enough, when she turned to his eyes there was so much more, feelings and thoughts that she herself could not explain. Perhaps even Taur knew not what all he was thinking.
"Taur," she whispered finally, letting her words destroy the silence. "What will happen to now? To Wyverus, to Haven, to all of us? What will happen to Birathi?"
"Why do you ask me, child?" Taur answered, still staring ahead into nothing.
"Because," Lamika paused, "because I don't know, and you..." her voice faded. Taur glanced at her, and for a moment his eyes focused on reality.
"You're afraid?"
"Yes. I don't know what to expect, I don't know... yes, Taur, I am afraid."

Taur

Taur stared straight ahead, unwilling to contemplate Lamika's questions. It seemed as though decades had passed since the quest had begun, as if everything had changed, yet they were no closer to achieving their goal- perhaps they were even further from it. And in that time, that short time which felt so long, Taur knew that each one of them had been forced to do things they regretted in the name of freedom. Where did that leave them? Were they any better than the men they killed?
For the first time on this quest, Taur didn't know the answers.

Lamika

Lamika waited for what felt like eternity for an answer. Taur stared ahead, ignoring her, or perhaps so deep in thought that he could not answer. Then suddenly she realized. He did not know. None of them did.
"What if we don't make it?" She whispered, feeling dread creep into her skin, which was beginning to go numb from the cold. A new silence followed, and finally Lamika was forced to stand and return to a tent. She let her feet carry her, as her eyes were blinded by tears and swirling snow. When she entered a tent she found not her own, but Wyverus'.
"I'm sorry, I..." she stopped, noticing the way Wyverus motioned for her to sit. She did, and he covered her with a blanket. It was the first time they had spoken since his fight, and Lamika was not sure how to begin or what to say.
"Haven... have you heard?" The words came out between chattering teeth and breathy pauses. "She's dead, the one you were fighting with. Do you think, without her, we can win? Will Haven's discovery help us?" A silence met her. Frustrated, Lamika ran from the tent, and found Haven's. She collapsed on his bed and leaned against his shoulder.
"Haven, say something, please. I need to hear someone's voice. Not silence, not uncertainty. Tell me something, Haven, please!" The desperation in her voice was obvious, but she could not help it. Haven said nothing, but gripped her more tightly and planted a kiss on her forehead.
"What shall I say, Lamika?" he whispered.

Haven

"What shall i say, Lamika?" I whispered. "So much has changed in such a short time. I think everyone is reeling at the minute."
"But what do we do? Someone must have some idea!" She sighed in frustration and buried her head in my chest. I lay thinking for a moment.
"I will not kill any more than I need to."
The reply was a slight turn to look into my eyes.
"I won't. I can't. I don't want to kill Taurs people, Ranares men, anyone really. Yet I am destined to lead a species to war with you at my side."
"That is a very noble thought." She smiled.
"Haha. Indeed it is. Well I suppose we need to gather the shifters before we can even think of this. Perhaps Taurs legends will give us a clue."