===( scrolls of serenia :issue #3: -May!- )============================== -An On-Going Anthology- ,a&$$$&a, ,a&$$$&a, ssss. ,a&$$$&a, ,a&$$$&a, $&a, ,a&$$$&a, $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$$'aS$$a. $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $&"' $$$$ $$$' `$$$ $$$ $ $$$$$ `S$$S' $$$ $ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ ,aaa$$$$ $$' `$$ $$$ , $$$$$ $$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$ $ $$$Sa, $$$$$ $$$Sa, $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$Sas. $$$ $$$$$ $$$ . $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ `S$$S$$Ss $$$ $$$$$ $$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$$ $$$ $$$$$ $$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ s `$$$$ $$$ $$$$$ $$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $, `$$$ $$$ ' $$$$$ $$$ ' $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $Ss. `$$ $$$. .aS$ $$$$$ $$$. .aS$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ $$$$ `"&$$$&"' `"&$$$&"' `"ý"' `"&$$$&"' `"&$ $&"' $&"' `"&$$$$$$ -The Scrolls of Serenia- (LFiN.sOs) ú ú -Ä-Ä-ÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄÄúÄ/\/Äú Editorial úÄ\/\ÄúÄÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄ-Ä-Ä-- ú ú Welcome to the third (yup, count em - one, 2, uhm, three!) issue of the Scrolls of Serenia. I'm not sure exactly how many (if any) people have been checking out SoS, but lately I have been getting some replies (which is better than none) about how the zine is definitely a good idea, and how most people aren't sure they've seen anything like it before. That's good... I think... Anyway, I personally think that SoS is proceeding nicely and I would love to hear from anyone out there about what they think. I don't currently have an internet email address, but you can email Belial (his address later) and he will definitely route your comments directly to me. ***Note to first-issue readers*** Well, if you're reading this and are at all interested, you should take the time to look around for the previous releases of SoS (issues #1 and 2) so that you don't get any more lost than you _will_ be after you're done reading this issue. ***Note to first-issue readers*** This month, I handled the ascii (as I did first issue, and Belial donated one for issue #2), which I think came out somewhat nicely. The first issue's ascii plainly sucked, and so I couldn't embarrass myself or SoS by making another punk-ascii for the second issue. Oh, and btw, I have officially changed my handle from "Warlock" to Lord Finesse, so now all o you flaming idi0ts can find out which of the thousands of Warlocks I really am... But... Like I say every time at about this time, eenuff about me, get to tha damned zine! ú ú -Ä-Ä-ÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄúÄ/\/Äú Reyhan úÄ\/\ÄúÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄ-Ä-Ä-- ú ú ú ú -Ä-Ä-ÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄúÄ/\/Äú iii úÄ\/\ÄúÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄ-Ä-Ä-- ú ú _______ |__ __| --+> ThReE è pArt I <+-- | | | | |_|‰lk slept quietly and at peace. He slept all through that night and into the next day. I wondered when and if he would wake up. He seemed to be in a state of madness while he slept, yet his words and conversations stopped in the first night of his sleep. Then, on the third day of his sleep, he woke. His awakening, however, was not nearly as subtle as his sleep. He rose from his bed and greeted me, saying, "Ah! Ray, my man. Hurry! We must be off soon. Pack your trail gear, we must be off!" I asked T‰lk if he had been feeling alright, what with his previous illness and the scene in the square, and he calmed down a bit to "explain" past events to me. "My dear Reyhan, since my, [ehem], `encounter' with the angel in the square, my illness has healed during my sleep..." I accepted that, and I then asked him about this "being off" and the like. "Ah, that. Listen to me Ray, what I'm about to tell you might be a little, eh, hard to believe..." and with that, the event in the forest replayed itself in the back of my mind, "and all I can do is hope that you will believe me and follow me. "You see, while my body slept here, at home, my soul was taken away to meet with Geldrion, of the makers, and I was told that I had to fulfill a destiny and that you were to come with me. Everything that Geldrion told me I can't remember all now, but it slowly makes itself evident to me the longer I'm awake." I looked at him, dumbfounded and confused. "Ray?" "Yo, Ray?" "Raaaay?..." I stood there for a minute, taking all he has just told me in and applying it to the already-past events, and thus coming to the conclusion that I had nothing else to do, so... "aww, ahight. Since I got nothin better to do, and because I need a good workout," I put my hands together and cracked my knuckles, "I think my skills are gettin a little rusty." __ __ --+> ThReE è pArt II <+-- | |_| | | | | | \_____/hile I chose to sleep and gather my strength that night, T‰lk stayed up for what I gathered to be all night, mapping routes and making plans for people to meet, places to stay, and other little odds and ends that we had to take care of during this quest which we were ready to set off upon. The next morning, T‰lk and I went to the town gates with our packs, threw them over, and we clambered over ourselves. Once outside the town, we began our trek, heading north. Soon after our leave of Andrion, we encountered the first of those "little" odds and ends I had anticipated. We traveled through the forest of Andrion, and when we came to the clearing, T‰lk pushed me into a bush and pulled me down. I began to speak and he made a quick gesture motiononing for me to shut up. I noticed he was intently watching something in the clearing, and as my sight followed his, I noticed a man, a bounty hunter-like character, kneeling down sniffing the ground and running his hands over foot tracks. T‰lk, eyes still fixed on the hunter, wispered, "Friend of yours?" I, somehow unnerved by his question, then looked at the man again and found that I did, in fact, know him. Of all the other rival hunters I had, Danno had been the largest pain in my ass for the longest time. They called him `The Relentless'; I mean, damn, where he came from, his _name_ meant damage. "shit." "Heh. I thought so. But you can handle him, right?" T‰lk said, looking at me with a weak smirk on his face. "Handle? Why, whatever do you mean my good man?" I said mockingly in return, knowing what response was coming. "To tell you the truth, he is in possession of something we need." "And what would that be T‰lken, hm? Maybe a magic wand, or a golden scepter? What could it possibly be?" "No. It's a Pentagram." "A Penta-what!@? You want me to just outright take this guy for a Pentagram? Maybe you don't realize who this is. This is Danno The Rel-" "...you sound intimidated..." "I am NOT intimidated, I mean, god-damn T‰lk, the guy's name means damage!" I shouted, forgetting the devil I spoke of which stood in the clearing but a few paces from where we stood. At that point, T‰lk looked back into the clearing and frantically stood up. I spun my head toward the clearing and then I knew why. Danno was gone. This was bad. "Gone?" T‰lk said, dumbfounded. "Nah, he's hangin around here somewhere." I came up behind T‰lk, who was now standing in the middle of the clearing, and motioned for him to shut up. I opened my cloak, and handled the short sword with my left, putting my right hand in my small satchel and pulling a dagger. Danno himself wasn't the smallest or the lightest of hunters, but he was good. Not good enough, however, to move through the trees unnoticed by, say, another hunter. Danno himself was half Dwarf and half Man. No dwarf by himself could be a hunter, they're not at all gifted with stealth. Me, well, I'm mostly human, but I got just enough elven blood in me to get by. I strained to listen, but I could hear nothing. As a hunter, it would seem that Danno is sitting still. It was worse than I thought. No hunter sits still in a tree unless either he's sleeping, he's watching, or he's got backup. I doubted the first two and the latter was the only option left. I looked around slowly, completely calm. Gettin' hyped up before little rumble has been the death of many good fighters. Then I heard a small wisper from the trees, "ugh. ray?" the voice said in light disbelief. Danno dropped from the tree and drew his sword. "Ah my good friend Reyhan; the Royal Assassin! har- har!" His men dropped shortly after and he waved them off. Turning only his head around toward them, he said, "This is nothing I cannot handle. Go twiddle your fingers ar something." Then he turned back towards me, glaring intently and grinning slightly, expecting a battle. I presently motioned for T‰lk to back off and he, unlike Danno's peons, he silently understood and retreated to the edge of the clearing. "Nothing would please me more, and nothing would make my day more complete than to relieve you of the useless mass upon your shoulders, but my companion and I need something from you." And then Danno stopped his glaring, sheathed his sword, and spread his cheeks with a wicked smile. "And what would that be, my fine fighter?" "Professional." "Oh, well then, I apologize. Maybe you should not be so forward when it is you who wants from me, eh, 'professional'?" "A, , a Pentagram." I said. "Ah," and his eyes lit up an illustrious and wicked red, "_my_ pentagram. Well then, my good man, I will be needing something in return then, won't I now?" I knew he had a high asking price for his services, but I knew Danno wasn't greedy, and that he wasn't wanting money... <+--| Reyhan :4: Next Issue! |--+> ú ú -Ä-Ä-ÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄúÄ/\/Äú Natural Wonders úÄ\/\ÄúÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄ-Ä-Ä-- ú ú ú ú -Ä-Ä-ÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄúÄ/\/Äú iii úÄ\/\ÄúÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄ-Ä-Ä-- ú ú So there I was. Laying close to madness in a foreign place that I've never seen before. Oh yeah, and there was this guy standing there. It was that old guy from the last dream I had. I looked up at him with a confused look. He stood there, hands behind his back, and hunched over to a small extent. "I have brought you here because there are forces working against that which you must do. They attempt to rob you of your possession and use it to their advantage..." "Forces?...they?...uh...possession?" I was completely jumbled by the move from where, eh, from wherever I was, to, eh, wherever I am now. "All will be explained in due time. Hmm. Perhaps you do not understand the, eh, magnitude of your situation. The "forces" which act against you are that of an evil demi- god, Neim. "They" are his minions and servants, the shadows and all things of dark Serenia, which Neim named the Dark Sovereigns. Unfortunately, they've already found you and now you must confront them or your mission will fail." "soff-er-ins?" I replied again, still feeling displaced. The man sighed, and kneeled down to me, looking me in the eyes. He mumbled to himself, "it's the only way we ever get anything understood ... these mortals just can't handle the jump." And with that he softly put his hands on my head. He had one over each ear, holding the side of my head and he was looking deep into my eyes, and then, without warning, I knew. I knew everything. For atleast one split second, I had a complete realization of everything everywhere. I knew of the nothing that existed before the Makers, I knew of Ll„n, of the other Makers, and at last, I knew of my mission. Clearly note that I still wasn't all too thrilled about it, but I did know. Then the man released his hands and looked away, giving my mind a rest so that it wouldn't burst. I looked up at him and, at that point, I had had a "moment of clarity" as some drunkards call it. I knew that this man was no man at all, that he was Geldrion, the Lord of the Makers, and now, if Serenia was to be saved, I had to obey him. Geldrion stood up again and said to me, "You now hold a part of me inside you. Not only do you possess the knowledge I have given you, but other gifts as well. Use these to help you in your mission, and save you and those with you. These I give to you in the name of Ll„n and all the Makers. May godspeed be with you." Once again, like it had before, reality began to blur and a maddening howl came from every direction, until I was back in the alley, surrounded by the Dark Sovereigns. Damnitall! I put my face in my hands and hoped this was all a dream; though I doubted it... <+--| natural wonders :4: Next issue! |--+> ú ú -Ä-Ä-ÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄúÄ/\/Äú Outro úÄ\/\ÄúÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄÄ-ÄÄÄ-Ä-Ä-- ú ú Whelp, there ya go. Another issue of SoS for the books. Oh yeah, that reminds me, once we get to the fifth (5th) issue, SoS will be releasing a 5-issue "compilation", which will include all of the first five issues. We will attempt to do one of these for every five issues so that those of you who have the tendancy to miss an issue or two here and there will still be able to catch up and not miss a thing. *** Special Note *** Included in the next issue we'll be starting a seperate part of the Scrolls, which will be called "Dark Legends". As you may have gathered by now, these current stories are from what is called the "First Age", in which the creation of the Serenia reality and its first encounters with godly evil are explained. The Dark Legends side-stories are the explanation of what happens after the First Age into the Second Age, and how Serenia has the strange tendancy not to be all that serene. My friend and part-time writer, LathSpell, will be doing a lot of the writing for DL and some of the editing for SoS as well. Why will this be seperate from the main Scrolls issue? Well, it will be included in the archive, but it will be a different file, but I think it will make SoS a lot more simpler to keep the storyline if we keep the past (where Scrolls is now) in the past, and the future (where Legends is) in the future. It's just the natural order of things =) What'll be so different between the First Age and the Second Age storylines? In the First Age storyline, there are 3 main stories: creation, which is the "narration" of what is happening throughout the other stories, Reyhan, which is one man's account of the *** Special Note *** btw - should you feel fit to get in contact with SoS, (interested in writing, donating ascii, donations in general, etc.) you can either email myself or LathSpell on any board you might see us around on... (Including alderAAn or Avalon) ÕÄÍÄÍÄÍÄÍÄÍÄÍĸ ÃÄú eof!@#$ úÄ´ ÔÄÍÄÍÄÍÄÍÄÍÄÍľ