Lore/Story A flash of darkness

Paid commission by @Special70

It had been 300 years since the player had failed to cleanse the parasite from Orphion. This had been the longest 300 years in history for the people of Gavel, but there was still hope in the heart of one elf. She knew that given enough time, she could eventually make right the wrong she had committed. She knew that eventually, her time to rise would come up.

Today was a day like any other, she began her search for anything that even resembled light in what could have once been called light forest. After another tedious day of searching, she discovered something that was rather unexpected- evidence of life that was not corrupted. Small bits of fairy dust that clearly belonged to the fairies that once inhabited this forest so plentifully.

She followed the tracks, hoping to find something. The last 10 years of searching have been rather unfruitful, and this was her first break resembling anything close to a lead. As she found more and more signs, she felt something dark watching her. She began evasive maneuvers, something she had grown all too accustomed to. She dipped in and out of the treelines until eventually whatever was following her either lost interest or lost her.

She made her way back to the trail, and eventually, she stumbled upon a small fairy. “Please, don’t hurt me! I don’t know where the fairy village is, I swear” the fairy pleaded. “Do not fear, I am a creature of light as well, I can tend to your wounds” The elf replied, “My name is lari”. “Lari, as in Orphions former messenger of light” the fairy inquired? “One and the same” lari calmly said.

Out of nowhere, the fairy broke into a full-scale panic and fled with all the might its tiny body could conjure up. Lari was surprised when she actually lost the small creature, somewhere in the dense foliage of thorns, brambles, and spines. But this confirmed something she long had believed, that there were still creatures of light somewhere in this husk of a forest. She had something she did not have in the past hundred years, hope.

She had watched this forest fall apart, its once nourishing meals it provided the local fauna turn into fruits that were strange and foreign, that instead of filling you with nutrients made you feel empty and sad. She watched as the creatures that once enjoyed the protection of the light turned into monsters that she could not, did not, want to understand. The worst part was, she knew this wasn’t the worst it could possibly get, she knew after all this time it only got worse. She wished she had stopped this before it got too far, but it was far too late for that now. Now all that was left was hope she could minimize the effects to buy time for some sort of miracle.

She needed to begin her search for this fairy village that supposedly existed, but first, she needed supplies. She had been making do with what she had, but at this moment it appeared she had less than three days worth of supplies left. She had exhausted all the remaining resource caches, she needed the help of something external. Dread it as she may, she needed the help of the villagers, who had begun fortifying their settlements to counter the raids from the light forest.

She knew Cinfras was out of the question, it had long turned its back on any requests coming from beyond the light forest Llevigar was her best bet, the only city in the region that had yet to have fallen, although from what she understood it too was on the brink of collapse. Its trade with wynn had almost entirely been cut off due to the encroaching darkness, and Jofash had instead been favored as the port to trade with. She began her journey to Llevigar, hoping the city that had once been the pride of villager technology would accommodate her needs.

She reached the massive gate that while once always open, was now closed to anybody without the request of the gate attendant. As she approached the gate, the attendant said “Halt in your place, or I will send a volley of arrows directly at you”. Lari paused, and as the attendant recognized her as an elf he said “Oh, so the elves have finally decided to come down from their high towers and interact with the rest of the world? It’s 300 years too late, we have no interest in helping you” he said, spitting in her direction.

“I am not a representative of the elves, I represent the light, or what is left of it,” Lari said, understanding the villager's suspicion. “The light is gone, it does not exist. It abandoned us long ago, why are you really here” the villager asked in a hostile tone. “I am lari, the former high servant to Orphion, the lord of light. I have come to request supplies in my fight against the darkness” Lari calmly stated, though judging by the look on the villager's face he did not believe her. Someone shouted something in a language she did not understand from above the gate, and the villager simply waved his hand in response.

“You are allowed in, you better behave yourself, we will be watching you,” the villager said. As the gate opened, she realized how much disrepair it was in, and the only thing really stopping an invading army was how imposing it looked. She looked above and noticed there were only around 20 archers on top of the walls, with bows that surely had seen their best days years ago. This city, despite its impressive looks, had long ago fallen and was just on its last breath before the darkness took control of it too.

A villager in what must have once been formal clothes approached her and said “I understand you claim to be a former servant of light. I do not believe you, but if it's true, your actions could buy us more time, so we will grant you your supplies and ask you never return”. She carefully selected the worst of the supplies offered to her, knowing that this was not a people who had a lot to give. As she managed to get about a week's worth of supplies, she felt taking more would be an unwise idea. These people were starving, and as she was leaving she used a small amount of her remaining light power to bless the crops, in a subtle manner so as to not attract attention.

She began her march back to the light forest and began searching for the fairy village. She knew she was on limited time, so she used her light magic as a sort of radar, to try and see if there were any other creatures of light in the nearby area. Then she felt it, something else reacted to her magic, not a creature of darkness but something with some trace of light left in it.

She made her way to this beacon of light she had felt, but once again something was watching her. Whatever this was, it was close, and she suspected it knew what she was looking for. Instead of running, she carefully led it to the trail of the fairy she had lost, knowing it would pick up the sense of light and hopefully go after this rather than the village she was looking for.

As she looked for the village, it became apparently clear that wherever it was it did not want to be found. She found no evidence of this village existing, other than the single trace of the magic she got back after expending some of her light magic. She searched for 2 days before something occurred to her. There was an old temple underground that was long forgotten about, she had visited it as a child, but a sinkhole had swallowed it and it had been abandoned for a newer temple.

She made her way to the area where the temple had once been, and eventually found an entrance covered up by some bramble. She began her descent underground and narrowly avoided a rather nasty trap. As she made her way through the tunnel, it began splitting up into different tunnels and she realized the wrong turn would leave her likely facing a trap that would cost her her life.

She then noticed runes, carved onto the wall, in high Gavellian. Each one was subtly hidden so as to not draw attention, but said “safe” or “trap”. She began taking the safe passageways, until eventually a small village, hidden underground, was made evident to her. Gathered around small springs of light were fairies, and most notably, in the center, was a unicorn. She had not even considered the possibility a creature of light as powerful as a Unicorn still existed.

“Lari. You are not wanted here, leave this place of survivors and carry on your search elsewhere. You bring only death where you walk, and I am prepared to use whatever strength I have left to fight should you not leave” the Unicorn boldly stated. “Please, I just need something to help me fight the darkness-” Lari said, before blacking out rather suddenly.

As lari awoke, she was surrounded by the bodies of the fairies and the unicorn she had seen only moments ago. Something dark, something savage, had attacked them and it had no intention of leaving any left alive. She took a moment to collect herself and began to weep. She had been this close, this close to finding something to help her fight the darkness. She realized there was nothing left to do other than bury the bodies, and left shortly after doing so.

As she exited the cave, she saw smoke in the distance. Coming from the direction of Llevigar, she quickly rushed as quickly as she could towards the city to hopefully help them in the fight. But it was too late, the gate had been torn off its rusty hinges, and the city had fallen. As she saw the attendant who had let her in, he looked at her and said “You… Traitor” before expiring. Confused about what he meant, suddenly shock came to her.

Those crops she had blessed, the ones she thought she was helping, were now corrupted. Not just slightly corrupted, fully turned into the bramble she had seen in the light forest. Did her magic do this? It couldn’t have, she was a creature of light. She was, wasn’t she? She made her way to the bank, and that’s when she saw it. Her reflection in the water.

Spoiler: Her reflection

 

i love this so much! i love the idea of lari unknowingly spreading the corruption and dern in her attempts to help others, keep up the good work!

 

called the decay corruption, I cannot stand for this

 

the corruption serves dern

 

well, thats interesting