To have a quill in my hand, inking a page... it feels good to be writing once again.
Recent events have proven that unlike a written record, one's memories cannot be wholly trusted, and so I turn once again to my record-keeping for protection, safety. Much has happened - much is still happening - that deserves rememberance, and perhaps by writing it all down, I can look upon it and gain a greater understanding of it all.
Many centuries ago now, I first came to Korth with little memory of who I was, and no name by which to call myself. I simply adopted the designation which was most defining of me - that I wore a mask because of a curse, and thus was known as the Masked One. Over the years of my time in Korth, I began to learn things about myself, my history, which my father, Meta Ike, had not been able to tell me. I learnt of an oncoming event - the Convergence - and that I was to play a critical role in its undoing.
I was a coward. I fled.
I cannot wholly recall to where I fled, nor for how long; but I know that it has been many, many hundreds of years, for even the ground itself has changed shape and moved. Something happened, somewhere - as I say, I cannot recall it clearly - that brought to mind the lands of Korth once again, and evoked a nagging urge to return, a calling. Little over two months ago, I arrived back on these shores to find them vastly different to what I remember.
Those who I knew in that lifetime, so long ago... very, very few of them remain, most as mere echoes of legends. Imperator Seran Adams, Cala Stayjit, ArchSpirit Father... all legends, rumours. I never was terribly proactive about these lands (I'll admit, I was horribly reclusive to my home), so in hindsight it is little surprise that nothing of myself persisted; but to find that my abode, the School of History, has been wholly erased too... I had hoped someone had been inspired to further it, and that perhaps I would return to find it rivalling the University of Korth itself. But instead, not even its foundations remain; where it once stood is now nothing more than a footpath beside a Prolixian shop. But I digress.
Those that I do find remaining; Reddragon, my old friend, and Garrick, my enemy. It seems my absence had nagged at him immensely - whether his increased madness is related, I shan't indulge. Regardless, he had been researching, and in seeking confirmation on whether I was the Masked One, divulged some of it to me. Foremost, he believes that I am to be the one that shall slay him; secondly, he believes that should I remove my mask, the world will end (though, such is disproven now, I think). He recited a prophecy from the First Fall of Tir'an, going so:
- Quote :
- On an island of Aspreith, the Elder Priest fell from the high lighthouse tower.
From the cloud above, the Man from Heaven wept for the Elder Priest.
From the Crystal Vase, the Lightning-Struck Prophet stirred.
From the stony bridge, the Masked One removed his mask... and the Sun exploded.
Garrick believes that the four individuals named - the Elder Priest, the Man from Heaven, the Lightning-Struck Prophet and the Masked One - are all the same person (again, now disproven). He claimed his family had been slain by each, too; his brothers, a sorcerer and a werewolf, by the Prophet and the Man; his sister, a sea-serpent, by the Priest. He was destined to die by the Masked One.
But at the time, he wasn't wholly sure it was me; a suspicion, but unconfirmed. Along my travels away, I had adopted a name, Shiosai Ike - I found it far easier to give a true name when queried rather than a vague description. He was driven to know the truth, and I took the opportunity to gain some of my own from him. Secret for secret, though we both ended up giving two; he wished to know what is beneath my mask, and who I was. In turn, I asked for where I might find an item he had mentioned, the Siren's Ankh, and of a spear. For the first, he told me that the owner of the Siren's Ankh lived beneath the Doma of La'rolk; for the second...
When I asked of a spear, I was intending to learn of the Spear of Torrix, which in its vague mention I believed had reportedly killed Garrick. He, however, told me of a 'Shadow Spear', a weapon that had slain some powerful being (of which I still do not know), wielded by the giantess Kha'ryb. A spear, he said, that was a mountain's peak.
I honoured our deal, and gave him what information he sought, as best I could issue it.
I can write no more now, though I have far, far more to say. My mind is sore from a vampire attack, and no further can I bear the pain of thinking, though it pales in comparison to a now-alleviated hunger. I must rest; perhaps in the morning I will feel better, and write more.
- Shiosai Ike, the Masked One.
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