Thread: Grimoire of Myths

BellaDonna Stalker You are still not sated? You wish to know more of our people? Of course there is more to tell, but I am old, and I have a thirst. Ah, thank you. Very well, gather closer and I shall speak to you of another who came upon our people, who changed how we viewed things, and who changed the borders of our land. So much had to change in so short a time. So many lives had been broken by one of the Song-Sages delving too deeply, and finding that which mortals were not meant to find. And so decrees were made, and the Song-Sages began to at last organize themselves, to become a single group instead of scattered keepers of lore. And amongst the land, the songs that were sung helped the land grow. Within the forests still thick and powerful with age, did dark things move once more. And of these dark things lived one who cared not for the vain ambitions of his people, but instead chose to walk a path all his own. It was this creature, wrapped in the guise of man, that first found that which allowed him to bear the light of day. The Deadly Nightshade, once consumed, would allow him time in the light, and he used this to cross great distances, seeking answers for himself. And mayhaps his peopel as well. At first unnoticed in his passage, this creature found that his consumption of the Nightshade did force upon him a change. For every step he took upon the green lands, rot and decay did follow him. The lands behind him were fading, and he knew that it would not be long before the people did seek him out to end his life. Knowing he had but a single choice, he turned to the West, entering the one place that the people did not dwell. He entered the scorched wastes left behind from the strides of the Dusk Spirit. Within these lands, rot could find no hold in the blasted, dry wastes. Upon his shoulders he felt a weight settle, knowing that somehow, the events that had been an age past had been a part of his own people's origin. Trekking across the lands, he found his Nightshade was beginning to empty, and he would soon face the light of day unguarded. He counted his time before death, and found it fast coming. It was within this blasted wasteland that shadows did stretch across him. As he looked to what was coming, he saw that the nation to the east had sent a great force to sack the lands. The wasteland was thought to be uncrossable by mortals, and thus was unguarded. The dust raised by the horde did blot the sun from the sky. Though his first thought was to follow in their wake, accepting the saving grace of their passage, but something stirred within him. Perhaps a seed of nobility, but he would not turn aside from their coming, he would not allow them to pass untouched. As the horde did march past, the beast slunk amongst the men. The horde had thought itself prepared for infiltrators, but it was prepared for mortals. The beast now amongst them was nothing of the sort, and the savagery it unleashed was beyond the measure of their minds. As the horde tried to cross, the beast stalked the grounds, slaying all that he laid hands upon. The panic that spread led the horde to shatter, and spread across the wastes, allowing sun and sand to do the work of laying them low. Soon, the few that had survived the passage encountered those of the people that had been pursing the beast. The horde begged entry to the nation, pledging their service, and that their homes would be ripe for conquest, with the losses taken from the passage. If only the people would spare them the wrath of the Stalker. As the people did stare into the wastes, the beast did stumble forth. His Nightshade exhausted, the rays of the sun did sear his flesh, and wither his form. He fell to his knees, his tale on his lips, to be told to those who might remember him. The pursuers stared in wonder at this beast whose actions had spared the people an invasion. The pursuers did call to the Great Powers, beseeching them for knowledge, for guidance. What came was a change. The beast that had worn the shape of man did not burn in the sun, but twisted in form, and changed. Where his body had lain, now grew the greatest and largest growth of the Nightshade plant in the lands. And it grew upon the land of the wastes, showing that the land could indeed heal. Given name by the plant that he had become, the Belladonna Stalker had saved our people, and from the knowledge given, the domain of the people did expand to include the lands of the West. And it restored the hope of the people that perhaps, with time, all things that had been scarred in the lands might be renewed some day. So do we sing of the Belladonna Stalker. That we may be reminded of these things. That we may be reminded that nobility is not exclusive to the people.