Shadows danced in the halls of Agraldin, the realm of those yet to be born and those who have passed. Where Gadrika, the God of Life, nurtured souls and set the dead to task weaving the passage of time.
To some, Agraldin was a place of beauty. A mirror of the realm that is but eternal and majestic. In these places were the halls of Gadrika, where the souls of those who would soon be born were nurtured by his hand.
This part of Agraldin though was dark and full of terrors, imagined by the Vassal of death. Here all iterations of Hell came, and many doomed souls found themselves here, where they toiled under the eyes of Agral, repairing the universe but always to his own end. Many of his followers opened the hall of nurturing and the Vassal of death corrupted souls to do his bidding once they were born with Besan Gretan.
Green fires flickered in great chasms as the Tempter walked paths made from shadow. He had been pulled there, out of Besan Gretan, the realm that is, by the call of Agral. There on Earth he was doomed to wander forever, a creature of temptation, an echo of the curse that had doomed his once pious race.
He came to a structure that appeared out of the shadow. It seemed to the Tempter like a four towered church, covered in gargoyles that stared at him with moving eyes. He soon realised that this was a mockery of a church that really existed. A church that revered Agral. Had they created it from his design, or did he build it, in remembrance of his power over the Ilma. The gargoyles were creatures that had once lived, their eyes moving unceasingly. Human, Graul and other creatures were merged with the shadow, souls who had failed Agral. There were no Ilma though. They were bound now to Besan Gretan and they could no longer return to Agraldin, or rest in splendour in the realm of Livinden. That had been Agral’s first victory over the Ilma, though they saw it not as a defeat but more of an escape from the hold of the Gods.
The Tempter stepped into the structure and came immediately to a study. Agral was sat at a table made of the same shadow as the walls. On the table, Agral held a sculpture of a girl in his blackened hand. She seemed human and the Tempter took notice of her long sweeping hair and sad green eyes.
‘Another one you have been able to touch?’ The Tempter asked.
Agral regarded him with black eyes. He was dressed all in black as well, apart from chain mail around his chest that glowed a faint, sickly green. A broken sword hilt lay on the table and thrown over his shoulder was a cloak that the Tempter knew was white once, but it had been stained by blood that had, in a time long forgotten, flowed through Agral’s body.
Suddenly the Vassal of death laughed, and it was dreadful to hear, “My brother cannot keep me from the sanctuary, and I touch all the realm that is.” A chair appeared and the Tempter was beckoned to sit.
He did reluctantly and stared at the girl, “What scheme will this one do?”
“The Ilma and Graul grow too numerous again. The Light maiden worries this may soon break the balance achieved after the last great war.” Agral seemed to find this amusing, “A new enlightenment is being woven into the tapestry even now. Soon they may learn how to pass out of Besan Gretan and hold a power that only we are meant to hold. A thousand new souls of Ilma and Graul are being prepared in the hall, a war would see that number drop.”
“You must not like that.” The Tempter smiled grimly. Agral had forgotten in his years of service, that he was once of the Ilma.
Death’s eyes became full of malice, “My Curse has played a part but that is not the reason that you linger on Besan Gretan is it? If it were not for your forebear pledging to me, you would be resting in the halls of Livinden right now, serving Livella.”
“Livella no longer cares for things that live.” The Tempter said as an image of perfect light filled his mind. That was what once would have been the fate that awaited all who bore his name before the darkening of the Ilma.
“She does not.” Agral agreed, “She wants another war. She fears the next stage of the Ilma’s advancement.” He studied the girl and stroked at her hair. The sculpture seemed to shiver.
“And what do your brethren make of that? You were sent into the world as Vassal’s to protect the Ilma, to guide them to be the custodians of the universe.”
“The Ilma never earnt that right.” Agral said slowly, his face darkening, losing the white scales that had once shown his heritage, “They have fallen even further from it now.” He looked towards the black abyss above them, “As for my kind, Crio and those twins of the sea, linger too long on Besan Gretan. They care more for the worlds and the seas, than they do for the creatures that live upon them. Krim and his brood nurture life. They even nurture you but to no avail, and Drage. The only one who might save the Ilma. He would serve Livella to whatever end.”
The Tempter studied the girl again, “She is human? Since when has that world been your interest?”
“Since they became yours.” Agral smiled, “Livella is worried about them. They were never foretold in her first tapestry of stars and their path seems to have come only from her meddling. The Ilmgralite experiments are a mockery of the gifts the Ilma were given.” His face grew angry, “Abgdon and Ilmgral for a time live in peace and that peace I must destroy. Humanity and its freaks may just be the kindling I require.”
Another figure appeared on the table. He was rough and a Graul by the look of the red scales that dotted his face. Agral licked his lips, “This one has found my gift. It will lead him to another.” A third figure appeared. A tall and strong member of the Ilma, with a face of almost perfect white scales. His red scales on his arms were rough like stone. The Tempter knew him well. He had even helped imprison him upon earth.
“You will release Cirtroug on the humans?” The Tempter asked in disgust.
“Already I have gathered him an army and matured his powers. Enough of my gift lingered in his spirit to do it.” Agral smiled and it was an ugly sight, “Urgarak will use the girl to release him and the girl shall be his servant and the path to victory on earth. Once Cirtroug has wiped out that pathetic race and turned their…” Agral paused and looked at the Tempter, “What do you call them, Halves?” He nodded, “Turned their Halves to his path, then Urgarak will gift him a fleet from Uralese and the war can begin.”
The Tempter ran a blue tongue over his cracked lips and stared at his hands that were pressed against the table, “Why do you tell me these things?”
The Graul and the Ilmgralite faded but another took its place. A boy he seemed and maybe human but inside him was a flame, “I know what you want with him.” Agral said darkly, “I touched his father before he entered Besan Gretan and he was sent on a deadly mission because of my touch. Then suddenly the child was hidden from me. Gadrika will choose a champion every so often to work against me but this one I think is yours.” Four more figures now surrounded Thomas Lita, three girls and one boy, “Here are your knights of Earth. I know what you have been doing, creature of temptation. You have put the foretelling in the minds of the Ilmgralite’s. They whisper of the Knights of Earth, who will save the universe from war.” Agral’s eyes burned into the Tempter and they wanted to kill, “You are not a true Vassal. You are a thing, a mutation of my curse and the love that Gadrika bears your kind. You cannot hope to stop this course of events with such meagre things.”
The Tempter nodded; he did not expect to change the event just the outcome. His knights of Earth were not a tool to stop a war, they were a tool to win it, to create a united front that would not let the war descend into two forces, using the Darkness to rip themselves apart until the Ilma are beyond any form of salvation.
“I know that you intend to send Thomas Lita to Curamber.” Agral said, “If the Human’s defeat Cirtroug then war may be delayed a little while but then you would bring a far greater doom upon them. One by one my hand will reach out to your knights of Earth.” One of the figures surrounding Thomas Lita, a girl with curly blonde hair, faded from the table, “And when I take each of them.” The boy faded and another girl collapsed to the table, eyes moving but body motionless, “He will become another puppet of mine and will succumb to a darkness that will give the God’s their greatest weapon.”
“Yet the universe may flourish.” The Tempter retorted, “And in that time the Ilma may find a way to stop the scheming’s of Livella.”
“You will use them and create a future worse than any foretold in the tapestry.” Agral reached out and touched the Tempter’s arm and for the first time in hundreds of years, he felt pain, “The Ilma have had their time. Let Cirtroug be released, let the Ilma die and the gift fade from the universe. Livella will then let all things come to a natural end.” He released the Tempter, and his eyes were like stone, “This is the way things must be or Thomas Lita will become the greatest threat the universe has ever seen.”
The Tempter watched as all the figures were devoured in a sudden storm. He looked up into the face of death, “I am as you say, just a lesser Vassal. I cannot hope to stop the majesty of the Gods.”
He stood and walked from the church. A door appeared in Agraldin and he stepped through into a bright classroom on Earth. The planet was such a pretty world, treasured by Thera, the God of the seas. A world that could not be allowed to come to war. Agral thought he saw all things and maybe the Knights of Earth would create something worse in the end but if the Ilma were destroyed. If the gift was allowed to be broken, then the universe itself would succumb to tyranny, ruled by a mistress of light who cares only for her own creations.
Not truly present, the Tempter walked over to a desk, where a short woman with mousey brown hair studied her computer intently.
“What are you doing?” The Tempter asked but not with his mouth. His voice echoed in Mrs Smith’s mind, a part of her subconscious.
“Finding a trip for my year eight students.” She replied, unsure why she did.
The Tempter weighed up the consequences. The fate for Thomas Lita and his friends would be dire, for that poor girl as well but it was a small price to pay for what else could happen, “Curamber.” He whispered in her ear before he slowly faded.
Knights of Earth Publications 