The air reeks of burnt mana and rotting corpses. The ground is littered with charred banners of the fallen 150th Wizard Infantry. Commander Darius Vael, cloak torn, wand dragging uselessly at his side, walks through the mist, eyes empty. His soldiers—his brothers—are gone.
---
[Darius enters the clearing. A slow clap echoes. From the mist, the Apostles of the Obsidian Covenant appear, their obsidian insignia glimmering faintly like cracks in glass. The Black Cardinal, Veynar Umbros, steps forward.]
Veynar Umbros (Black Cardinal):
"The mighty Commander Vael… the butchered hero of Limana. Look at you—stripped of purpose, drowning in silence. Tell me, did your glorious kingdom weep for the one hundred and fifty souls you led to their graves?"
Darius (coldly):
"Name yourselves. If you stand in my path, I'll cut you down like the beasts that slaughtered my men."
Noctis (Eclipsed Flame, sneering):
"Cut us down? Ha. You couldn't even protect your own soldiers. Do you think swinging that broken pride will resurrect the dead?"
Selvara (Veil Serpent, voice hissing):
"We know your pain, Commander. Limana devours its own… sends men like you to die while the royals toast their wine. You bled for tyrants who will not remember your name."
Darius (gritting teeth, voice cracking but stern):
"Silence! They were loyal men. Their sacrifice will not be tarnished by your venom."
Veynar (stepping closer, shadows flickering around him):
"Sacrifice? No… they were offerings. Fuel for a kingdom's arrogance. You and your soldiers were nothing but pawns on a board ruled by parasites."
(He circles Darius like a predator, voice soft yet venomous.)
"But you, Darius Vael… you still breathe. That breath is a curse—or it can become a weapon."
---
[The Covenant closes in, forming a half-circle around Darius. Their presence is suffocating, their words seeping into his grief like poison.]
Eira (The Silent Choir, whispering):
"Don't you hear them? The voices of your men… crying for vengeance. They call to you."
Kaelthorn (Soul Butcher, chains rattling as he smirks):
"Join us. We will give you the strength to tear down the kingdom that betrayed you. With us, their deaths will not be in vain… they will be the first bricks in a new world."
Darius (anger faltering, despair surfacing):
"A new world…? Or just another tyranny draped in shadows?"
Veynar (kneels slightly, meeting his gaze):
"Not tyranny. Truth. We are the hand that severs rot. We are the blade that answers betrayal. With us, your men will not be forgotten. Their blood will ignite a revolution."
---
[The forest trembles as Veynar raises a hand, conjuring a dark sigil of obsidian light. The Mana Pact seal pulses with ominous power.]
Veynar (commanding, persuasive):
"Swear upon your broken heart. Forge a pact with us, Darius Vael. Let your grief become your weapon. Together, we will burn kingdoms and birth a new dawn."
(The Apostles chant softly, their voices overlapping like a sinister choir: "Pact… of… Obsidian…")
Darius (knees trembling, eyes shut tight, whispering):
"I… have nothing left. No kingdom. No soldiers. Only ashes."
(His eyes snap open, filled with dark resolve.)
"Very well. I will carve vengeance into the bones of this world. My oath is yours."
---
[The sigil brands itself onto Darius's hand, a burning mark of obsidian light. Shadows coil around him like a second skin. The Apostles bow slightly, as if welcoming a new brother.]
Veynar (smiling faintly):
"Then rise, Darius Vael. Commander no longer… but Reborn Apostle of the Covenant."
Noctis (grinning wickedly):
"Welcome to the shadows. Let's see how many kingdoms will weep before your flame."
Selvara (whispering in his ear):
"Your men live on, Commander… through the blood you will spill."
[The sigil on Darius's hand flares violently, spilling black fire that crawls up his veins like molten obsidian. His body trembles as the Pact consumes him. The Apostles step back, watching with eerie reverence.]
Darius (screaming, voice breaking between agony and rage):
"AAAHH—! The fire… it burns through my soul!"
Veynar (calm, almost priest-like):
"Do not resist, Darius Vael. Let the ashes of your old self scatter. You are not dying… you are ascending."
Eira (The Silent Choir, whispers threading through the mist):
"Listen… hear the chorus of the fallen. They anoint you. They sing not of grief… but of wrath."
[The ground quakes. Shadows erupt from beneath Darius's feet, swirling into a vortex. His torn cloak ignites, reforming into jagged plates of blackened armor. His wand crumbles to dust, reforging itself into a charred, blade-like staff pulsing with obsidian veins.]
Darius (voice distorted, deeper, echoing with two tones):
"My name… no longer Darius… That man lies buried beneath a field of corpses."
[His eyes ignite with burning crimson-black light, veins glowing like cracks in volcanic rock. The sigil on his hand spreads across his chest, forming a black brand shaped like a shattered crown.]
Kaelthorn (grinning, chains rattling):
"Yes… shed the skin of the commander. Become what the kingdoms fear… what the royals cannot leash!"
Selvara (hissing reverently):
"Rise, predator of thrones… Dartivus Vaderius, the Scourge of Crowns."
[The Apostles kneel, their chanting rising louder, a hymn of rebellion and ruin.]
Veynar (raising his arms, voice booming like a sermon):
"Behold, the Reborn Apostle! Not bound to king or creed, but to vengeance! Dartivus Vaderius—harbinger of a new order where corruption burns and the arrogant choke on ash!"
[Black flames explode from Dartivus's body, forming a towering, spectral figure of a knight wreathed in obsidian fire behind him. The forest ignites in a silent blaze, yet the flames do not consume the Apostles—they bow beneath its heat.]
Dartivus Vaderius (calm now, voice dripping with cold finality):
"The kingdoms forged my pain. Now I forge their ruin. The age of crowns ends… the age of fire begins."
Noctis (laughing manically):
"Hear that, brothers and sisters? The world will soon tremble beneath our covenant's flame!"
[The Covenant chants in unison, their voices like a war-drum shaking the night.]
Covenant (chanting):
"Vaderius… Vaderius… Vaderius!"
[To Be Continued]...