Author: Dreamwvr
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The Birth of Shadomancer
By Dreamwvr
My domicile on Nerva Island was cold, dark, and sparsely decorated in spite of the fact that I could easily rectify that after my last bank robbery. However, I little use for useless luxuries that served no purpose and I preferred the dark. There was something pure about the darkness and I detested the habit most people had of hiding it beneath the bright illusion of light.
I quietly sat down at my desk and looked over the message I'd received an hour ago. I had no difficulties reading the message in spite of the fact that my domicile was as dark as Lord Recluse's heart. I had little need of light, thanks to my special skills.
The message was from Vivacious Verandi, requesting me to come and meet with her. It said that she had a job for me, one requiring me to deal with the Circle of Thorns. I hated the Circle of Thorns and took great delight in destroying their plans. A grim smile formed on my lips almost in spite of myself.
I leaned back and considered what exactly this mission might entail. It would be difficult, of that I had no doubt. The Circle of Thorns were too used to dealing with my magic and had developed a resistance to it. However, no amount of resistance would stop me from destroying those foolish mages who impeded my goals.
As I thought about the Circle of Thorns and their powerful magic, I couldn't help but thinking about another order of mages...the Order of Darkness. And when my thoughts touched on the Order of Darkness, I could not help but think of my own dark past.
The name of my birth is unknown, even to myself. What I do know and remember was that I came from what is considered a normal family, from a town somewhere north of Paragon City. My life would probably have been as uneventful and useless as any other pitiful human had it not been for the day my destiny was irrevocably changed.
I was a small child at the time, perhaps three years of age. I have little memory of the time before HE came... I still remember the first time I saw Master Drachus as I later learned he was called. He was a gaunt old man with grayish skin and eyes as black as coal. He wore a black cloak that made him seem as though he'd stepped right from the shadows, but something about him immediately drew my attention.
I remember staring at Master Drachus with fear in my heart while he stared back with those cold dark eyes. He said no word as he raised his hand and gestured at my parents. With a mere gesture, tentacles of living darkness erupted form the ground and swallowed my parents, killing them both right before my eyes.
"You are yet young," the old man told me in a hollow voice, "Yet you will do..." Then he stated, "I am Master Drachus...and you will be my apprentice... From now on, you will be called Chode." He gave me a cold smile as he hissed, "It means the unworthy..."
As a child, I was weak and terrified but this did not bother Master Drachus. His bony hands dug into my arm, giving me just a moment more to look at my parents corpses before the world was torn away. Master Drachus teleported me away from everything I had ever known and brought me to his lair, a cold dark place that the sun had never seen. Once there I was immediately started upon my servitude and my lessons.
Master Drachus, I quickly learned, was a sorcerer belonging to the Order of Darkness, a small group of mages who specialized in the magics of darkness and shadow. He encountered me by chance but immediately recognized within me a strong potential for this darkness magic. My master then followed the ancient tradition of the Order of Darkness...slaying my parents and taking me as an apprentice.
Of course, I learned more of the Order of Darkness to which I now belonged. We had originated long ago as a sect of the Circle of Thorns, though our two groups quickly became rivals for power and then bloody enemies. The Circle has always outnumbered the Order though so over time they decimated our recourses until only a hand full remain.
I grew up in these environs as Chode the apprentice, my existence defined by intense study and harsh discipline. This was tradition for the Order of Darkness, as was the fact that I was the target of my masters twisted perversions and petty cruelties.
As Master Drachus raised me, he fostered in me a hatred of our ancient enemy the Circle of Thorns, though I learned to hate him entirely on my own. It was also during these years that I developed my thirst for power. At first, I merely craved the power to protect myself from him, then came the thirst for power to destroy him and finally the hunger for power merely for the sake of power.
Hatred and a thirst for power are superb motivators which drove me to excel in my studies. As I grew older, my powers of darkness grew faster and faster. I became strong and powerful, in body as well as magic. Then came the day I finally surpassed my master.
I was busy reading a scroll on a new technique, the ability to summon a dark servant to obey my orders. I longed for the day when I would be strong enough to have such a powerful slave. It would take a lot of study and practice, but that was nothing new. Eventually I would master that spell.
My master came up behind me and grasped my shoulder possessively. I showed no sign of the hatred or revulsion that I truly felt. Though it had been years since Master Drachus had been interested in my body, he still liked to remind me of the power he wielded over me, of the fact that I belonged to him. I showed no sign of my true emotions except for a cold smile. This was the day I'd long prepared for.
"I have something I wish to show you," I told my master with a bow.
When Master Drachus came closer, I stared into his eyes and unleashed my new spell. True darkness rushed into him on my gaze, leaving him overwhelmed and paralyzed in terror. It was a spell I had only recently mastered and one I knew was beyond my master. Then while he was helpless, I struck and finished him off. I was shocked at how easy it was. He was so old and frail that I wondered why I had not done this years earlier.
"Chode...," he gasped out, a look of simultaneous fury and pride visible in his eyes.
"Not Chode," I sneered as I watched the light fade from his eyes, "I believe I've just proven that I am no longer unworthy..." I kicked my dead master and turned away, "I need a new name..."
I had always hated the name my master had given me and the insulting meaning behind it. It was a slave collar around my neck, binding me to his service. I had no need of such a thing anymore and was pleased to get rid of it. However, that left the choice of what my new name should be.
I considered long and hard on the issue of a new name, then decided on a title which I thought would be more appropriate. I stared down at the corpse of my former master and calmly stated, "Chode is gone... I am the Shadomancer..."
After two decades of slavery to Master Drachus, I had finally achieved both my freedom and my revenge. Yet it was not enough. My hatred and third for power had not been sated, nor had I been expecting them to be. The truth was, this merely freed me to look to the future and how I might satisfy my thirst for power.
I scowled at myself, annoyed that I'd allowed my mind to wander into such territory. My past was irrelevant and served no purpose at the moment. Instead, I had to focus on the future.
"My meeting with Verandi," I reminded myself coldly, "and the mission I am to run for her."
Even though I was working for the Vivacious Verandi at the moment, she was merely a stepping stone. I had no loyalty to her nor anyone else save myself. Even the attack on the hated Circle of Thorns was little more than a pleasant diversion on the path to my true goal.
"Power," I stated simply.
Even before I killed Master Drachus, my true aspirations and goals went far beyond his death. What I wanted was power, pure and simple. I was slowly getting stronger and more powerful, learning new magics all the time. Verandi and all those who came before her were merely tools to help me get what I truly wanted. Ultimate power.
"One day," I stated as simple fact, "even Lord Recluse will bow before me or be destroyed." Until then, I would be patient, bide my time, and build my power.
With that, I turned my attention to an ancient scroll on my desk which contained a particularly powerful spell I had yet to master. If I was to get the power I craved, it would require great patience and effort, both of which I possessed in quantity. I opened the scroll and continued my studies, knowing that one day the world itself would be covered in my shadow.
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