Losnyr’s Tale
INTRODUCTION: By Andy Cuson aka Mauriac (Andy Cuson has
given me full
permission
to use his intro for my story.)
I
first must explain a bit about Mauriac. First off, he did not originate
in the
Rising Winds, or in the realm of Amtgardia for that matter. He came
from
a world (of my own creation) called Alteria. Secondly, his real name
is
Losnyr Karidyne. Mauriac was a wizard that had dedicated himself to
mastering
water magic in order to protect Alteria from a coming evil that
was
to surface at an unspecified point in the future. But, seeing that this
would
not happen in his lifetime, he sought out a worthy disciple and
trained
him to the best he could. Shortly after the disciple completed his
training,
Mauriac died of old age. The disciple, out of admiration for his
master,
decided to take on the name of Mauriac, and hid his previous
identity
by wearing the same kind of blue robes and keeping the hood low
enough
as to not reveal his face. Losnyr was to be the twelfth to bear this
name,
but until his predecessor retired, he was to wander from dimension to
dimension,
training himself in different magical techniques. Several months
ago,
Losnyr completed his training in Amtgardia, which marked the end of his
wandering.
So, he bid farewells to his newfound friends and teleported back
home
to complete his training with the previous Mauriac. But when he got
back,
something was drastically wrong....
It
was a beautiful day in Crusader's Cove, despite the after effects of the
conjuror's
visits. Now that he was out of the
picture, things were back to
normal...
relatively speaking.
Kaads
had just walked out of the woods when he saw a figure suddenly
materialize
in the middle of the field wearing blue, blood soaked robe.
There
was a huge hole in the man's right arm where it looked as if a spear
had
been shoved through it. As if the blood
loss weren't already bad
enough,
the man began to cough up even more of his life's essence.
"Mauriac...
is th... ARE YOU OKAY??!?!?!"
Kaads ran up to Mauriac to tend
to
his long-time friend.
"Healer!"
Kaads
and one of CC's peasants carried Mauriac to Kai, a resident healer.
As
the words of healing passed through his body, the look of pain on
Mauriac's
face began to fade, and his wounds stopped bleeding.
Still
light-headed, Mauriac managed a weak "Thank you" towards Kai, and
Kaads
helped him towards the old Moonlight Entourage hideout.
"Now,
what the hell happened to you?" said Kaads.
"We're
gonna want to find a comfortable place to sit," said Mauriac. "It's
a
looooong story. By the way... how long
have I been gone?"
Losnyr’s
Tale: By Denny Dombkowski
CHAPTER
1: Discovery of Ruin.
Mauriac arrived in the middle of a
destroyed city. He looked around,
confused. Perhaps he made a slight error in his
teleportation spell and
teleported
to another planet. He tried the spell
again, but he arrived in
the
same place. Bewildered, he noticed a
splintered plank of wood with
writing
on it. On closer inspection, he noticed
that it formerly belonged
to
the magic guild of the main city of Alteria.
"NO!!!" Mauriac screamed. His scream flowed in conjunction with 8
great
pillars
of water, which surrounded him, released by his rage. He collapsed
to
his knees, crying as he tried to use his magic to sense any forms of life
on
the planet. None. Save for one, which was slowly approaching
him.
Mauriac
quickly gained control of his emotions.
He faced the direction of
his approacher,
and charged up a fireball, ready to release it at any
second.
"Losnyr, is that you?" He heard in front of him. Surprise overwhelmed
him. Whoever it was, they had learned his first
name. Mauriac's tense body
eased
a bit, but his fireball remained in hand.
On the horizon, he saw a very, very old
man walking very sluggishly towards
him. He wore faded blue robes, which Mauriac
noticed were much like his
own.
In his right hand, he had what looked like the Oceanoid spear, an
artifact
of great power used only by the great Mauriacs! "How do you know
my
name?!" Mauriac/Losnyr harshly asked the old man.
"Because," said the old man,
"Your predecessor told me, before he gave me
the
title of Mauriac."
"What?!" Asked Losnyr.
CHAPTER
2: Deranral's Tale.
"Where have you been during these
long years?" Asked the old man.
"Don't change the subject old
man!" Losnyr let out. "I want
to know what
happened
t... years?"
"Yes. It has been 1000 years since any trace of you has been seen or
heard
of."
"But I've only been gone for a
year! I was training in the realm of
Amtgardia." Replied Losnyr.
The old man looked surprised. "The planet you were residing on must
have
had a
different concept of time than that of Alteria. You may have stayed
there
for one year, but while you were gone, 1000 years have passed here."
A look of pain crossed Losnyr's face. "Th-that's impossible... this can't
be
happening..."
"Do not blame yourself. The destruction of Alteria.. and the very
reason
why...”
He dropped the Oceanoid Spear to the ground. "...this, once flowing
with
the power of Alteria, is now just a useless trinket, is all my fault."
Rage flowed through Losnyr's body, and he
was having a very hard time
controlling
it. "What happened? Who the hell are you?"
The old man nodded. "My name is Deranral Maltri. 5 years after your
disappearance,
your predecessor, Kaytosi, started looking for another one to
take
on his responsibilities. He did not
want to, but it was necessary for
the
survival of Alteria. Kaytosi, on his
travels on the planet of Flaerie
(Editor's
note: Flaerie is Denny's (who plays
Kaadiart AnaMayn) world.)
encountered
me, a determined adolescent studying on his water magic."
Deranral continued. "He saw my potential, and took me as an
apprentice. I
went
on many adventures with him in 2 years time.
Although retired as a
Mauriac,
Kaytosi still adventured and fought evil on many occasions. He was
in a
group referred to around Flaerie as "The Elements", which contained a
wizard
of every element of magic. They were
known as the most effective
team
of mages in all of Flaerie. But I am
trailing from my point..."
Losnyr interrupted him. "Just get to the part that led to
this!" He waved
his
hand all around him. "I want to
know what happened to my home... my
world! And I want to know NOW!"
Deranral sneered. "Patience. I wanted to know for a thousand years what
happened
to you, and I just found out. I am
getting to what happened...
where
was I? Ah... well Kaytosi deemed me the
next Mauriac. I had enough
training
with him on Flaerie to prove myself worthy, and Alteria at the time
desperately
needed a Mauriac. Well... I thought
that I could be the best
Mauriac
ever. I had plans for Alteria... a way
to eliminate all the evil
forces,
all the monsters. So I set up a world
order... I used my power to
rule
Alteria, not protect it. I thought that
order was what Alteria needed.
But, the very soul of Alteria did not agree
with what I was doing.
Because
of this, the Oceanoid Spear, the sacred artifact that augments the
power
of a Mauriac tenfold, did not agree with what I was doing. Therefore
it
did not work for me. So I created a
magical device that would harness
the
power of the Oceanoid spear so it wouldn't have a CHOICE on who uses its
power."
Losnyr was stunned. How could have Deranral thought that what he
was doing
was
right? He was using the very Oceanoid
Spear against its will. In
essence,
it was the will of the planet he was trying to protect. But what
Losnyr
did not know was that the worst part of Deranral's story was yet to
come.
CHAPTER
3: Losnyr's quest
"I knew that Kaytosi, my former
master, disagreed with my actions,"
Deranral
continued." I knew that he would
eventually stand against me, and
with
his allies he had a strong chance of winning.
So... I had him
assassinated."
"WHAT?!" Shouted Losnyr. He grabbed Deranral by the throat. Kaytosi was
Losnyr's
master, and in many ways, his best friend.
"Ugh..." Deranral gasped, as
Losnyr regained control of his emotions and
let
go of his throat. Deranral then coughed
and said, "My actions were
wrong. I know that now. What happened in the past is all my fault, and I
take
full responsibility. Anyways, I ruled
over Alteria for 2 years, when
one
day the Oceanoid Spear went out of control.
The device I put on it was
finally
weakening. The Oceanoid spear spun
around before my eyes, and
finally
broke free of the device with one gigantic explosion of energy.
Everything
on Alteria except for a small area around the spear was
destroyed. I was in that area."
Tears streamed down Losnyr's face. "So there is nothing left? All of
Alteria...
gone?"
Deranral nodded. "But there is hope... a small hope."
Losnyr grabbed Deranral's shirt, and
yelled in his face, "Hope? The
planet
is
destroyed! Everything is gone! How could there possibly be hope?!"
Deranral wriggled out of Losnyr's grasp,
and stood up. "True time magic is
very
hard to come by. In order to actually
go to another time period, a
spell
must be worked upon for several centuries.
A spell that I happened to
have
finished 50 years ago. That is why I
kept myself alive with magic, in
hopes
that someone would come. Someone like
you."
Losnyr was confused. "Time magic?"
"Yes," replied Deranral. "The only time period I could work on a
spell for
with
my limited resources was the period right after Kaytosi's assassination
and 3
months before Alteria was destroyed."
Losnyr's face brightened a bit. "Are
you saying we could go back and stop
this
all from happening?"
Deranral shook his head. "Unfortunately, I have only enough
power left to
cast
this one spell. After that, I will
die. You can go back, but it will
be
quite dangerous for you. My past self
will try to kill you, as will most
likely
the assassin of Kaytosi. Chances are
you will not survive."
Losnyr stood firm. "It is my duty to protect Alteria with
my life. It is
my
home. To not do this would be
hypocritical to every belief I've ever
had."
Suddenly Losnyr noticed a gleam in the
corner of his eye. When he glanced
in
the direction, he saw what looked like two glowing blue blips shaped like
eyes. He did not see them for a second when he saw
them go out, as if
whomever
he saw closed their eyes. He did not
sense any life around that
area.
CHAPTER
4: Losnyr's Departure
Losnyr quickly deduced that either the
eyes were an illusion, someone was
astrally
projecting himself or herself to spy on him, or he was going crazy.
And considering what was happening to him,
the latter theory wasn't far
off.
"So what can I do? Your past self is so much more powerful than
me.
Kaytosi
is dead. What allies will I have?"
Losnyr asked Deranral.
Deranral nodded. "There is a way to revive Kaytosi. I am sure you have
heard
of artifacts known as "Orbs of the Will o' Wisp?"
"I have. All I know is they can restore life, they appear when certain
people
die, and that their appearance is very rare."
Deranral shook his head. "They are not as rare as you
think. They will
almost
always appear when someone dies who really shouldn't have, or who has
a lot
to do with fate. In this case, a twist
of fate killed Kaytosi, and he
has a
lot to do with the fate of Alteria."
Losnyr thought for a moment. "Yes, but I've heard those orbs will
only
appear
on the planet of Flaerie."
Deranral nodded again. "You are correct, and that is exactly
where my
spell
will take you. In short, what you have
to do is find the orb while at
the
same time avoid my past self. You must
find someone who can cast holy
magic,
so they can charge the orb with it.
Then Kaytosi will be revived."
"But those orbs are very
specific! Each one can only revive the
person it
is
meant to, and they all appear in completely random locations! It could
be
anywhere on the planet, and I only have 3 months to look for it!" said
Losnyr,
with a hint of panic to his voice.
"You must seek out a man named
Mortimer Nightingale. Around Flaerie,
he
his
known simply as "The Lord of the Night." He lives in a tower which acts
as
one giant magical satellite. He has
helped those bearing the title of
Mauriac
many a time. Despite his...
eccentricity, he is a good and
honourable
man, and will be able to find Kaytosi's Orb instantly with his
magic. If you are not familiar with the geography
of Flaerie, his tower is
directly
to the east of where I will send you. I
am going to send you to
the
campground in which Kaytosi was murdered on a previous night..."
Losnyr interrupted, "But what about
Kaytosi's assassin? Will he still be
around
there?"
"I doubt it. And even if he were, he wouldn't be after
you, yet. He would
only
go after whom he was contracted to go after...
And at the time I did
not
send any contract after you. I almost
forgot. Here is a picture of the
assassin."
Deranral handed him a faded picture. The picture was of a strong-faced man
with
slicked back jet-black hair, with pale skin and blue eyes. An
interesting
aspect of his hair was that he had 4 large bangs hanging down in
front
of his face. The man looked very
strong, and very maniacal.
Losnyr nodded. "Well, I am ready to go back."
Deranral stood firm. He pulled out a large, black scroll with
white
markings
on it. He started to concentrate. "Good luck to you. My biggest
regret
is that I am sending you to right my wrongs, and that I cannot go
back
myself."
"You survived for 1000 years waiting
for me. It must have been painful
living
alone all this time, knowing you were responsible for the destruction
of
Alteria. That is redemption enough, and
I do not hate you, Deranral."
"Thank you..." said Deranral, as
he completed the spell. Losnyr
disappeared.
With the last of his power used up, and a
smile of hope on his face,
Deranral
closed his eyes, and failed to open them again.
As he was teleporting, Losnyr swore he
heard two voices conversing with
each
other.
"There he goes! You say he's coming to our time
period?" said a
flamboyant,
sarcastic voice.
"Yes, that's what it seems."
Said a low, wise voice.
"When did he arrive?"
"He arrives two days from now."
"I'm
on it! This should be fun."