Chapter Twenty-Two

Two Brothers

In ancient days, at the end of the first age, there were two brothers, wolves. Born of a litter of two they were the only survivors of an epidemic that swept through their pack. It was fate that saved them when a druid stumbled upon them and nursed them back to health when they were old enough he gifted them with the greatest gift he could, sentience. He awakened their minds and they accompanied him for several seasons before setting off on their own.

The two brothers had coats of white and black, Zizula had a pitch-black coat and Pathaldron fur was white as bone. They came across two dwarfs and a human captured by trolls and about to be eaten. They gnawed the ropes and freed the humanoids and that is how they joined that group of adventures and set out on epic quest to destroy the Ka-Ra, the manifestation of light and the Scouring Light, who had ordered his followers to turn their kingdom into a desert.

Zizula and Pathaldron and the band of heroes fought in many skirmishes and battles against the clerics and sun-guards of Ka-Ra, they traveled across the world and met with kings and emperors until they finally entered into the Fey-Wild and crossed that fairy ever lit plane to the Palace of the Sun.

During their battle with Ka-Ra the humanoid members of the party were all slain but, in the end, Zizula teeth cut into the form of radiant hateful light and Ka-Ra was destroyed and Zizula took on the burden that all slayers of the gods must take, he became the manifestation of light. Pathaldron stayed with his brother and as the weeks went by Zizula’s pitch black coat turned bone white till both brothers were mirror images of each other, but Zizula continued to change. Zizula sprouted the wings of an eagle and his temperament changed become harsher, more judgmental, and also given the sense of benevolence. Pathaldron was concerned with the changes in his brother and he begged his brother to give his power to another and to come away with him and return to the mortal plane, but his brother refused. Zizula grew irritated over Pathaldron constant pleading and finally in a fit of rage drove his brother from the Fey-Wild and Pathaldon’s heart was driven to anger.

Swearing revenge for this betravel Pathaldron entered into the Shadowfell and then at that hour of night in the Mortal Plane all portals to the Shadowfell were closed for four hours. When the portals opened again Pathaldron was the manifestation of darkness his fur pitch black and all the other minor manifestations of darkness were gone with no replacement and to this day those four hours of the night are known as the Hours of the Black Gods.

Despite his turn to darkness Pathaldron tried to rejoin his brother, “Today Zizula we are both immortal, let us run forever in the fields along the Fey-Wild and Shadowfell” but Zizula turned away from his brother. “No brother of mine would ever join the darkness and it is my duty to protect the world from the monster that wears his skin,” was his brother’s reply and Pathaldon’s heart was filled with rage and that is when he swore the oath that to this day strikes terror into the hearts of men.

“If my brother will abandon and betray his family for the sake of man

then I we will see if his mortal agents can protect them from my wrath.

I will bring down ten plagues wrought by mortal hand on the races of the world

They will steal the souls of any man or elf whose name is known to the darkness.”

And so, to Turashen came to be, ten mortals sold their souls to him and were given artifacts of power and set loose bring chaos and destruction to the world. Zizula sent his clerics out but they were killed, and their souls trapped in small black gems the size of pearls and sacrificed to Pathaldron where they disappeared into the Shadowfell. It came a practice of clerics of Zizula to only take the orphans of those with only one child as potential clerics to be trained and their true name erased from the minds of neighbors and written down only in one place for if one’s true name is completely forgotten it ceases to be ones true identity.

This war between the Ten and the clerics of light has continued even to today and this is where our story begins at the one place where the Shadowfell and Fey-Wild touch.

Zizula snapped his wings the wind gusting under his feathers as he landed of the Bridge of Cazara that crosses over the Grey Meadows. He looked into the dark shadows that began in a straight line in the middle of the bridge marking the line between light and darkness.

“Where are you brother?” Zizula asked.

There was a chuckled and out of the narrow shadow of the bridge emerged a massive wolf whose head was level with the tops of the bare limbed pines and black acidic saliva dripped from his jaw falling to the ground withering the few plants that managed to eke out an existence in the lightless Shadowfell. “You have kept me waiting for a while, what’s the matter had to deal with the loss of another dozen clerics?” Pathaldron asked.

“And have you found a replacement for your two mortals who have been taken over by your insidious promises? And what of there armies has another misbegotten tribe of orcs sworn allegiance only to be destroyed? You know that all the races of darkness are quelling in the face of my servants and refusing to join forces with your servants,” Zizula asked.

“Ah yes, my servant’s servants, that is the matter I came to speak with you about. The rules are about to change I have created a group of servants for my taken, as you call them. These servants will not be like their past servants you will never be able to destroy them,” Pathaldron laughed. “You may be able to hold them in bondage for a while, but they will always return and when combined with the might of my Taken the world will quake and the races of men will know that you are not able to defend them from my wrath. This is yet another warning brother let go of your power with me and together you and I will run as mortals once again through the forest of our homeland,” Pathaldron implored.

“You would never abandon your power,” Zizula scoffed.

“Of the two of us it appears I have been the only one ever willing to do so,” Pathaldron said.

“Very well if you will not submit to me willingly than my servants will exact my revenge on your followers and the world, farewell brother,” Pathaldron said and departed into the shadows.