By Samantha Gendi and Hill Snover
It was in the days of the Seperation. The Ombra were devastating the race of living men; all lived in fear of the Abdima; the mention of Lord Verdorben caused the strongest of men to tremble.
Verdorben had once been a wise prince, son of the great King Amatus of Aegis. Amatus loved his son and gave him all he needed. Only one thing did the king keep away from his son’s reach: his great blade, Erasmus.
Erasmus was a blade too pure for any wicked man to touch. And though Amatus loved his son dearly, he knew his heart was blackened by greed. Only the pure hearted could wield this sword and experience its power.
It was known throughout the kingdom that Erasmus had the power to give unending life to any man to whom the king gave the right to hold the sword. Each day multitudes would beg the king for a chance to hold the sword, if only for a moment. The king would never refuse anyone who believed.
Verdorben did not believe. As a child, he had an unexplainable fear of Erasmus. No matter how many times his father explained that the sword’s power was one of love, Verdorben refused to go anywhere near the blade. By the time Verdorben was a young man, his fear of Erasmus had become an intense hatred. He knew of another blade his father kept, Vega, and he strove desperately to gain control of the dark sword.
Unlike Erasmus, Vega promised unending life to any man whom it should strike. But it offered a life without rest, a life of wandering. This sword the king gave to his son, knowing that if any believed in Erasmus’ power, Vega’s sting could not bring them eternal unrest.
Thus it was that Verdorben’s greed and envy grew with each passing day. He saw the crowds coming for Erasmus’ blessing while all avoided Vega’s curse. And so it was that he sent men to slay those journeying to his father’s court before they reached his gates.
With a heavy heart, the king summoned his son into his presence. Verdorben refused to come and sent his father a message: “The slaughter of your faithful subjects will not cease until Erasmus is within my grasp.”
After Verdorben refused the kings plead to reconsider, Amatus was forced to banish his son. But Verdorben would not leave alone. He sent followers into every town calling for anyone who wished to leave his father’s rule and experience Vega’s might. Nearly half the kingdom followed.
After the banishment, Verdorben drove Vega through the heart of each of his men. As it penetrated their flesh, a black mist poured out from the wound. The shadows were opaque, yet had no shadow of their own. Though like men in their original form, they had no distinct shape.
The Ombra. That was what Verdorben named the shadows once his own heart had been pierced. These vicious spectres would attack the helpless people of Aegis, draining their strength by stealing their shadows.
Soon after came the first attack of the Abdima. Nobody knew where these reptiles came from, only that they were vicious killers who preyed upon the innocent.
The first victim of the Abdima was a young man named Geoffrey. He and his friend Jonathan had gone fishing together on a small river. It wasn’t long before their small vessel drifted into a swampy marshland. They slowly steered their boat to the soggy shore. As Geoffrey tied their boat down to a nearby rock, Jonathan walked ahead until he heard a shrill scream.
He turned around to see his friend’s body covered by two large black masses. A sharp tongue flashed out of each of the beasts and slashed Geoffrey’s flesh: one sliced through the back of his neck, the other down his spine. Jonathan watched Geoffrey collapse to the ground and heard his last moans as the two reptiles sucked out his organs. His stare was fixed on the gruesome sight: his friend’s entrails slurped by these monsters. He saw his friend’s brain drawn out with a claw and unraveled before one of the Abdima devoured it.
Then, as quickly as they’d come the Abdima ran away from the scene. Jonathan could come no closer to Geoffrey’s mutilated body. He collapsed to his knees and vomited. Then after one last look, he ran all the way to the nearest town where he fell to the ground sobbing like a child and vomiting over and over again.
Jonathan was never the same again. His sleep was filled with haunting visions. And his waking hours were spent screaming in fear at the invisible monsters which clawed at his flesh. Because of his constant delirium, most people thought he had gone crazy and didn’t believe a word he said about the Abdima. In fact, most people believed he’d killed Geoffrey himself. A few weeks later Jonathan killed himself.
Just days after Jonathan’s death there was another report of an Abdima attack. This time a man saw clearly what the beasts looked like. They were the size of a large dog. They were covered in cold black scales. But along their spines and joints the scales burned with an eerie red glow. They had tongues with tips as sharp and strong as steel. The attack was described as brutally as Jonathan had said.
Aegis had yet another enemy. Just north of them was a country by the name of Ganon. The subjects of Ganon had cruel, dark, and twisted hearts. Their lifestyles were based on slavery and witchcraft.
Ages past, they had worshiped the legendary Vega. When they learned that Verdorben had acquired the sword, they quickly made an alliance with him. Most of the people, however, wished to keep their physical bodies. And so, instead of giving their souls through Vega, they gave their lives through sorcery.
The Ganonans were a constant threat to the Aegeans. Often bandits from Ganon would sneak into Aegis, kidnapping children to sell into slavery, or worse. And should there ever be a battle with Verdorben you could be sure the Ganonans would fight with him. In fact, many of them had either sold themselves, or been sold, into Verdorben’s service.
And so it was in the time of the Seperation. The people of Aegis lived in fear of the Ombra, the Abdima, and the Ganonans. No known thing could protect living man from the Abdima, and children went missing so often that nobody knew how they could defend themselves and their families from Ganon.
The blessing of Erasmus’ was the people’s only hope, and even this could only protect them from the Ombra and from Vega’s death. Every man sought for the blessing for himself and his family, but Verdorben sought it to destroy it.
For this reason, centuries after the death of Amatus, his descendant, Arulaen, hid the sword among the common men. The task of protecting the blade was given to one Charles Gaynesford. It is to his family that Verdorben at last tracked the blade. And it is through his family’s eyes that we witness the tragedies that shall soon ensue.
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