At the Edge of Hell

**At the Edge of Hell** is a Story Arc of the the Exteria Multiverse. It takes place in Mantinea and follows the perspective of tyrant Antipaladin Kirshan.

## Main Arc

### Escape from the Dark Continent

Kirshan, a knight living in the dark continent of **Kuthror** and serving as a lieutenant to Dinefr, forms during his training. a pact with Alouka and Nelchaelle, divine visitors of a distant realms and daughters of the mighty Lucifer. Trained as a powerful infernal knight, Kirshan intends to one day overthrow Dinefr and conquer the world for his deities. Before then, however, he is tasked with the assassination of another lieutenant, Birgit Thule.

Kirshan manages to discover beforehand that he and Birgit have been set up to kill each other, with the survivor being hunted by the rest of the guard, due to their personal ambitions. Forced into escaping Kuthror, Kirshan finds help in the person of Sarcelle Delyora, an enigmatic tiefling that helps them with escaping to Mantinea's main continent, under the banner of the country **Altessa**, where they find a refuge.

### Succession of Witches

Things are not as simple though, because Altessa's authority and main religion, devotion to the Arcadian overlords of Mantinea, is undermined by a dangerous, chaotic witch's coven. Kirshan and his peers barely escape alive from the coven's schemes in a coastal town and are forced into a forest, where they encounter Sidisiel, a bandit lord whom Kirshan hopes to recruit alongside him despite their conflicting views on authority and freedom.

Before they can argue anymore, though, Sidisiel's bandits are attacked by an unknown assassin, and as she is now alone, is somewhat forced to join KIrshan. She helps him into investigating enigmatic phenomena regarding her home forest, close to the camp, and they discover the witch circle has corrupted it. After purifying the chaotic corruption, Kirshan also rescues forest nymph Airella from its core and nurses her back to life.

Airella reveals herself to be part of the chaotic coven, alongside Dinefr, as well as members Nair, Azamira and Annie. The five of them once plotted to overthrow the Arcadian civilization, but Airella became disgusted by Azamira's methods, and was quickly expelled from the coven. Searching for revenge, she guides Kirshan towards her next destination, the capital-city of Altessa where Nair rules much like Dinefr rules Kuthror.

### Schemes and Temples

In the city itself, Kirshan is attacked by the same assassin that attacked him once, but this time, he quickly manages to outsmart and subjugate her. Although reluctant and still willing to kill him at first, the assassin grows warm to Kirshan due to his understanding of her situations and willingness to treat her as a human being instead of as a tool, and takes the name he gaves her, Inoke. Soon after, they are brought to Nair.

Nair promises to help Kirshan against her own coven, believing Azamira to have gone too far, and gives Kirshan informations about a temple hidden far below Kuthror, only accessible to those bound to damnation, much like Kirshan himself. The antipaladin accepts and travels to the temple, unlocking the gates of Samael, witnesses of an ancient pact. By triumphing of its trials, Kirshan makes Dinefr divine, while banishing her from the coven and the material plane.

Kirshan learns from the temple that if such a feat would be repeated, the divine power of three such temples would allow to deeply change the world as it is. Seeking to resculpt the world, Kirshan takes Kuthror for himself, conquering it before returning to Altessa. There, he is however surprised to find Sarcelle unconscious, her Soul having left her body. Kirshan rushes to Nair and completes the temple hidden under her palace to make her transcend, however, even a divine Nair cannot heal Sarcelle.

### The Arcadian Inheritance

When Kirshan attempts to access the last temple, he is stopped by Azamira's powers, as the witch claims that she and Annie will bring about true chaos and reshape the world themselves. To defeat the chaotic barrier created by the powerful, dark witch, Kirshan attempts to earn help from Arcadians, but is instead received with contempt. Instead, Arcadians, also succumbing to Annie's manipulations, seek to ravage the land in order to teach humility to mortals, in an act that would cause an all-out war and an end to the Arcadians.

Kirshan however manages to encounter Ulonatip, a pacifistic and esoteric Arcadian woman who believes in his visions and words. With her powers combined with Alouka and Nelchaelle's own, Kirshan breaches the barrier and enters the temple, making Airella transcend and attempting to reshape reality. He is however interrupted by the next phase of Annie's plan, resulting in her hijacking Airella's magic and destroying the upper Arcadian continent.

Kirshan, using the full power of the three deities he awakened, as well as the ample blessings of Alouka and Nelchaelle, manages to prevent the fall of the aerial continent from destroying Mantinea as it is known, but cannot prevent the collapse of the Arcadian civilization. What he can do, however, is access and retrieve Sarcelle's soul from beyond the veil, learning of what happened to her.

### Another World Awaits

As Kirshan finds out, Sarcelle used her powers to impede Annie's influence over Kirshan's journey, and as a result her soul was brought to glimpse life in another world. In such a world, Mantinea is nothing but a fictional continent, inspired by the writings of Ellie Monty and her concept of the Pathfinder. Kirshan himself, as it is found out, is nothing but the central character in the writings of one of Ellie's friends, **Elena**.

Sarcelle - barely recovering from this existential crisis - explains that Elena made a pact with Samael, a demon rival to Lucifer in strength and prestige, in order for her world to become reality, in exchange for Elena's life and soul. By doing so, she sealed Samael within her own creation. Kirshan himself was supposed to be Mantinea's protector paladin, but Samael's influence over the world twisted him into the conquering tyrant he has become. Kirshan himself is deeply shaken by the revelations, but is forced to go on.

### The Last Contract

Sarcelle also tells Kirshan of Annie's true aims : to take advantage of the newfound ascension of the three goddesses in order to take the world for herself and escape from her life as a mere character, even if it means reducing the previous creation to dust. Despite the shock, Kirshan quickly manages to find out Annie's last hideout and attack before she can truly complete the ritual that binds her to Mantinea's Pleroma.

Although Annie, after merging with Azamira, proves herself to be much stronger than Kirshan, even backed up by his companions and deities, the latter still has a back-up plan. By calling upon Samael's very soul and renegociating with her during the battle, the hellknight manages to access full control over the world, arranging for Samael's partial freedom in exchange for defeating Annie, who goes into exile after said defeat. Having fulfilled his destiny both as a conquerer and as Elena's last hope, Kirshan finally claims the world's throne, content.

## Characters

* Kirshan
* Inoke
* Sarcelle Delyora
* Sidisiel
* Ulonatip
* Airella
* Dinefr
* Nair
* Azamira
* Annie
* Samael
* Alouka
* Nelchaelle
* Birgit Thule

## Trivia

* This Storyline follows a Pathfinder narrative.