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6/25/2018

Episode 6: The Man Behind The Mask - Part 5

Year of the Ram – First Entry

           I must admit that my use of the Pandemonium calendar would displease my lord greatly, but I have difficulty keeping accounts that are not in accordance with the traditions set by the Zodiac Ministry. It has been only a month since fate has returned my lord to me and we have set out on a journey to reclaim his title and place among the other dragons. It is my lord’s will that I record his rise to power beginning with, in his words, his most “pitiful” and “desperate” experience. I, Takai of the fox tribe, have taken on this duty to preserve the experiences of my lord and master, the Primeran known to many as “The Monster Without A Name.” My lord has made it explicit that I refrain from documenting anything about one of his cohorts, Animal. Why he would ask this I have not the slightest idea. In the short time I have known Animal I would say that he is quite enjoyable to be around. His attitude is always positive and it was a pleasure spending time in his company. I can only assume that my lord still harbors negativity towards him as he was defeated by Animal before. Regardless, I feel as though I may be getting distracted.
My lord has asked me to document the lowest point of his existence, I shall start with the months following his defeat at the hands of Animal. My lord claims that Animal defeated him using a technique that he prefers not to reveal to me, claiming that such knowledge would put me into harm’s way. Though heavily damaged, my lord managed to crawl away from the battle to allow his body time to heal. The damage may have healed in a matter of days if he had returned to our home world of Ferus Mundus, but unfortunately this was not the case. Primeran wounds do heal fast, but not quite as fast on Earth. With no way to fend for himself, my lord was quickly dying without that most precious of resources, fresh water. Primerans as a species are diverse, strong, and hearty. But despite all this we are not invincible. We can do without solid food, but fresh water is the key to our survival. Without it, our bodies would shrivel up into little more than dust. Life on Earth’s landmasses is completely dependent on this precious resource, and so too is it here in the lands of our home world. Fortunately, as fate would have it, a young human girl clothed in red appeared before him. But instead of displaying fear, she presented to him an expression of child-like awe and fascination. She has been described to me as a bright child named Meryle. Meryle was kind enough to supply my lord with fresh water from a nearby stream for several days. Eventually, the girl stopped coming and my lord was left to fend for himself.
Though still very weak, my lord was capable of moving on his own and managed to relocate himself near the stream that Meryle had been fetching water for him. When night had fallen, he took notice of a strange emerald glow that pulsed ever so gently in the deep reaches of the forest. Drawn to it, he made his way deeper into the wilderness, his leathery hide being scrapped and scratched ceaselessly by the increasingly dying and decayed plant life that seemed to desperately deter him from his quest to investigate the light’s source. Inquisitiveness quickly turned to desperation in his heart, for he began to suspect that this unearthly glow was perhaps the final piece in reclaiming his birthright. To further explain, you must allow me time to clarify to you the intricacies of my lord’s history. There is much that he wishes for me to not reveal, but it would be foolish of me to not continue if you were not given an accurate depiction of the tribulations that he has suffered.
The word of Ferus Mundus is vast, so vast that no Primeran has ever explored even half of its true size. The land that lies in the center of what has been explored the most is known as Pandemonium, a city state that is ruled by ten of some of the most powerful Primerans currently alive. They have dubbed themselves the Zodiac Ministry. Each ruler is the head of one of the ten most populous clans in all of Ferus Mundus. I write of this to inform those who read it that it was these awful and despicable Primerans who dubbed my lord as “The Monster Without A Name,” or more apathetically, “Monster”. My lord was banished from his clan due to no more than simply being the son of Agrond. Agrond, was formally a member of the Zodiac Ministry. He committed a terrible sin in the eyes of all Primerans, and it was my lord who continued to suffer even after his father had paid for his crimes with banishment, isolation, and then death. My lord revealed to me that after the death of his father, he sought to reclaim his father’s strength by assimilating all remnants of his life force back into himself. Agrond had once informed my lord of a human warlord with whom he had established a friendship during the great feudal eras of Earth’s past, when humans and Primerans crossed paths frequently. The human had continued to live, far longer than any average human, due to being linked to Agrond’s own life, a parting gift to a dear friend when all Primerans left Earth fearing the changes that humans were heading towards.
My lord used the assistance of a ghost Primeran named Wraith to travel to Earth and search for the man who shared his father’s essence. The human was revealed to me as Jacob Cain, a man who had used his long life to repay Agrond’s aid by attempting to find Agrond’s first son, a fact that was kept hidden from my lord for his entire life. I must also mention that my lord inherited the pact made between his father and this Jacob Cain. Upon a Primeran’s death, had that Primeran sired children alone without the aid of a mate, as was the case of my lord, then they will inherit a fraction of their sire and all contracts. When this Cain was on the verge of death, my lord disabled the pact and drew into himself the energy of his father. My lord was cunning and patient throughout this ordeal, as removing such a pact is difficult. He required Cain to be in both close vicinity and weak enough to remove the strand of essence that had bound them. Cain’s weakened state after battling Animal and his friends made it easier for my lord to overpower him, or so I am told. My lord was also incapable of attacking Cain; such was the nature of the pact established by Agrond. In his final moments, Cain revealed all that he had strived for in his long existence and divulged the existence of Agrond’s first son, who’s birth was hidden in secret. He eventually came to Earth for reasons unknown and has been in a state of hibernation for over a century.
My lord continued his path towards the strange glow and came upon a decayed grove littered with death. At its center, was a pulsating crystalline structure, emerald green, with a golden aura beating like a heart deep within its confines. Knowing that he had no strength to subdue this long lost brother, he resigned himself to the role of a rescuer, one who had traveled far to return his wayward sibling home. The ruse was set, and my lord placed his hand upon the stone, an act that he immediately regretted. The golden glow within the structure expanded to my lord’s touch and flung him far into the sky above. With no strength to fly, he crashed into the decayed earth below as old wounds reemerged and precious blood oozed from his broken body. From the emerald construct a black shadow rose like a creeping nightmare, slowly taking the form of a robbed figure with piercing green eyes and a voice decayed by time. There was no doubt in his mind who this was. At first, he was surprised to see this rodent-like figure and not a dragon. My lord quickly groveled at the feet of this most insidious individual and announced himself as the son of Agrond. He then claimed it was he who revived this creature from its slumber. With a voice my lord only describes as “rotten” the figure spoke. My lord’s fears were realized, as the being announced itself as Ghast, apprentice to Mammon, the Black Heart of Greed. Ghast gazed down on my master with apparent pity and spoke these words, “You tell me you are Agrond’s son, this I sense is true, but your intention for releasing me is false... You do have my thanks for waking me. It would seem that a small amount of our father was needed to give me enough strength to awaken. For this, you will be spared, little brother. But I must finish what I started so long ago... I sense him, he’s close. Stay out of my way, and you will bear witness to the death of the one responsible for our father's sorrow and demise.” My lord quickly questioned what Ghast was planning, to which Ghast replied, “Why, the end of the traitor, the death of that crimson wolf. The utter destruction of that loathsome coward! ...Styx!”


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