The Rising

Across the arid deserts and twisting flourishing jungles of Shucari lied a mountain. The biting frost of the mountaintops warded off any inquisitive adventurers. A stone altar of enigmatic origins sat atop the snow, an aura of forebode surrounding it. Beneath this altar and many layers of millennium old rock were massive hallowed out caverns, contained a beast horrifying to all.

The Old Gods sensed an oncoming calamity, a calamity which if not stopped at Shucari would mark the end of the world. They chose a man named Beneir Avkin who had been blessed to communicate with the Old Gods to create a tribe. This tribe would be called the Paenia Tribe, and they would help in saving Shucari and the world, created on Year 59.

Beneir and his tribespeople were nomadic, travelling across scorching deserts and twisting forests, growing in numbers steadily. The voices of the Old God's still told of a oncoming calamity, one which would ravage the world if not stopped on this continent. Beneir, determined, trained and studied magic.

Despite this, however, when the calamity came the deaths would be boundless. All had been apt up until a certain point which would strike fear into those forever onwards. At the top of the world, the altar faltered. It began to crumble under the numbing cold and test of time, and it crumbled on Year 99.

Beneir and his tribespeople were crossing a scorching desert, Beneir at the head of them all. The sun was at it's apex and blazing in all its blinding glory, although this would not last for long. The Old God's had become silent this day, the silence unwelcoming to Beneir for all 40 years he had spent in this tribe he had heard them constantly.

A darkness fell upon the desert, the air becoming cold. The tribespeople and Beneir were caught off guard, baffled from the sudden drop in temperature and light. This would be the least of their worries though, as they soon realized the sun hadn't vanished. The sun had become black, and with it came a colossal cloud of smog in the horizon which surrounded the desert. Streaks of blood-red lightning lashed at the air, a booming thunder sounding each time.

Pillars of the smog supposedly struck the ground, causing skeletons to rise from the dry sand. Nerves and organs formed around the skeletons, quickly followed by muscle and then rotten olive green skin. The skin already began peeling off in clumps as if they had just been dug out of graves. Bones protruded out some at odd angles, the sight of which would cause most to cringe. Their mouths were agape and eyes widened if they weren't already hollow.

These creatures, no, undead, attacked the tribespeople like rabid animals, clawing and biting to get at them. Few got dragged away and torn apart, their screams becoming drowned out by the sounds of fighting from the more fortunate tribespeople. Meanwhile, within the mind of Beneir, the Old God's voices came back all at once. Their voices were a chorus of unsynchronized chaos, tearing at the edges of Beneir's consciousness.

Most of the undead were slain, however, more rose from the ground in unending waves. More and more tribespeople began getting picked off, until eventually Beneir's eyes lit up a dark green. They struck their spear into the ground, shaking the desert itself. From where the spear struck a tree which reached up to the heavens rose, the force knocking back nearby undead. Hundreds more saplings grew from the ground and into massive trees within a fraction of seconds, the sand turning to dirt and grass rising from the soil. Undead were crushed by growing trees and tendril's of rock, newly formed maggots and insects rising from the undead's corpses.

The undead themselves changed, as once they were vacant of the squirmed maggots which fell out of them in clumps, they began shifting. Hair grew rapidly and wrapped around some, their bones contorting and shrinking with their body as their skin changed and shifted. Within a matter of seconds, the undead were turned into woodland creatures.

These new animals attacked the sparsely remaining undead under the command of the Spruce Twin, ravaging them with teeth and claws until they were no more. All it took to re-create an entire desert into a flourishing forest of gore and blood was a few 2 seconds of being possessed by the Twin Logs, along with a single spear struck into the once dry desert sand.

Beneir and his tribespeople used this to their advantage and ran, fleeing until they found a canyon hidden deep within the newly made forest. They made their way down the canyon and to the base of it, resting there as they cared for their wounds. However, this wasn't the only thing happening in Shucari.

Thick pillars of smoke rose in the distance all around, unfortunate tribes being razed to the ground. Screams rang out as the sun slowly set, legions of undead and hostile inhumans rising from the ground with one purpose. The purpose of destruction.

To one very, very unfortunate tribe, they wouldn't experience an invasion of undead. They would instead witness the face of death in all of it's glory. The already darkened and setting sun became blotted out, the mountain which they lived at the base of crumbling and shaking. A roar which shook the earth and heavens themselves rang out, deafening enough to burst ear drums and shatter glass.

Eyes which burned crimson with animosity and hatred to all life stared forwards to the dark landscape, sending those who gazed into it's eyes into a paralyzing fear. It adorned scales almost vantablack, as if they not only absorbed light but the hope of those it came across. It's shadow loomed supreme over anything below it, sending the land around it into an even further darkness. With wings large enough to blot out the setting sun it's size was unmeasurable, as if a piece of death and fury had been given form. It stared down at the tribe who once lived at the base of the mountain.

Some fled and some prayed, others cowered in silent fear as others screamed, but all would be for naught. It reeled it's mighty head back, it's stomach glowing a bright deep orange from an internal inferno. It brought forth it's head, creating a gust of wind as it opened it's maw and released a torrent of unstoppable flames erupting from within it and out it's maw, akin to a volcano. The mere heat of it melted the houses and skin of the tribespeople before it even reached them, incinerating it all to ash. Years of history, generations, and love turned to ash within a second. The sight blinding and the smell of fire was choking, ash falling from the sky like snow.

Each cycle of 24 hours the days got shorter and shorter as the nights became longer. The draconic beast destroyed and massacred whatever it saw fit, all falling to it's will of destruction before it. Select few undead gained sapience, such as Cevix who would go on to live after The Rising. The Paenia Tribe moved out the canyon after a few 24 hour cycles, moving west towards the direction of the draconic beast. To most, this would have been a mad man's idea, but the Old Gods had told Beneir what to do.

They trekked across mountainous and cold regions, across twisting jungles and forests which hid only the darkest of horrors. Each night the undead's numbers rose and rose, and so did the numbers of the hostile inhumans. Each night they were attacked and each night they dwindled in numbers, children included.

After days of journey and death, they came across a small ruins, hidden deep within a desolate bog surrounded by trees. With each step their boots sunk into mud, footprints left behind being flooded with water and hidden with a new layer of mud and slime as they walked. Clouds of flying insects swarmed overhead, biting at the tribespeople who tried desperately to smack them away.

Beneir approached the ruins, finding the broken shell of a egg centuries old yet never having moved from it's spot in all that time it seemed. It lay atop a stone pillar, coated in dust and filth. Beneir picked up the egg delicately, as if carrying an infant or fragile treasure. They placed it in a bag and entrusted it to the hands of his wife who held it with her for 7 days.

After 7 days, the Old Gods told him to venture forth alone to find the draconic beast and that they will take it from thereon out. And so he did, leading his tribespeople to a safe location and journeying off into the wilds of Shucari in search of this draconic beast with the bag which held the egg. For a creature of such destruction and massive proportions, it's location was hard to pinpoint. It constantly moved, wrecking one place and then onto another. It never slept or rested, forever on a perpetual journey of the end of all life on Shucari.

Beneir found the pattern of how it moved and made a journey to the location in an attempt to get to it before it did. Beneir ran through any hazards or danger, spending no time with taking precautions for himself. He ran and ran, breaking through a tree line and into a plains. In the far, far distance the sky seemed to turn twilight. The moon shone brightly in that pocket area despite Beneir being able to see the sun at it's apex where he was, despite how short the days had become now on Shucari.

A maelstrom of destruction surrounded a tribe in the middle of the pocket area from the sky, rapid streaks of blood-red lightning lashing at the ground and skies. And with it, high in the maelstrom obscured by dark clouds, was the beast itself. Even Beneir, who held witness to the Old God's glory before, felt frozen at the sight of it circling the tribe from above akin to a vulture. The tribespeople were mostly already mindless undead now, however a mage who held incredible powers had created a ward around themselves and the last few survivors.

Beneir suddenly felt as if his entire body would burn at the seams, each nerve in his body screaming in burning pain. A burning sigil formed on their forearm as the Old Gods were called forth. Beneir fell to the ground, unconscious. Chaos erupted within the middle of the maelstrom, mountains formed and crumbled within it out of nothing and chunks of land were lifted and fell apart and crashed to the ground and into the draconic beast like meteors. The ground ruptured as the sky shook, a magnificent array of godly anarchy. Torrents of calamitous flames erupted forth in each and every direction, the draconic beast attempting it's best to fight against the Old Gods who were within the Maelstrom with it.

The surrounding plains was ravaged, torn up and destroyed down to the bedrock. Anything and everything was destroyed, with the exception of the mage and those within their ward and Beneir. A beast formed, one of equal size to the draconic beast itself. It stood on all 4's and held a fury equal to it, although not at life. No, but at it. This was the Enigma Leather's full form, in all of it's furious glory. Vines from the Paladin Flower and God Flower wrapped around it it's forelegs and legs, restraining it back as the Spruce Twin struck a spear through each of it's wings, the wings rotting away until their was nothing but bone. The Oaken Twin caused a massive tree to erupt forth out of it's insides and out it's maw, suffocating it and stopping it from letting loose another torrent of flames.

The Origin Bones forced the crowding undead beneath to tower upon each other and latch onto the draconic beast, tearing at it's scales until they eventually gave way to the force of all the undead. The Origin Powder kept the damage outside the plains to a minimum as the Alpha Diamond created a crystal with a size proportionate to a castle. The crystal fell from the sky and struck into it's back, driving into it as the draconic beast attempted to let out a roar of pain, but found itself to suffocating from the tree.

Finally, the Enigma Leather drove it's teeth into it's neck, tearing at it and driving it's teeth deeper until it's bones audibly cracked and blood fell onto the plains below in a shower of blood. It continued, the pain immense enough that the dragon broke the tree which had grown out of it with it's maw and incinerated the rest after enough effort, afterwards letting out a roar which rang out across Shucari and the surrounding oceans. And finally, with one last show of force, the Enigma Leather's teeth drove through it's neck and decapitated it, falling to the ground itself and de-manifesting.

The vines let go of the draconic beast's body as it dropped to the ground, creating a shockwave upon landing. Ash, soot, and dirt which was kicked up during the fight fell to the ground, the maelstrom finally dispersing into nothing. The few survivors and mage of the tribe below, which had been entirely razed into nothing, would have been crushed if not for being given pity by the Old Gods and transported away.

The Old Gods had all vanished as if they had never been there, except for one. A lady who adorned a red dress and a single poppy in their long ebony hair gently floated to the ground from what had been the center of the Maelstrom. They calmly stepped forward to the massive decapitated head, placing a hand on it and taking forth a glowing circular object. Their presence warped the air around them, each step they took made red flowers of all types grow in their path. Within less then a second they appeared where Beneir was, taking out the egg from the bag on the ground. They simply willed the egg to re-form, as if it had never hatched in the first place. They placed the draconic beast's soul within it, vines coiling around the egg like snakes.

Next they vanished, leaving the egg in the custody of the void, sealing it away for forever onward. Despite the death of the draconic beast, it's effects remained. Shucari forever went on to be home to the undead and hostile inhumans, who would rise from the ground each night and leave at sunrise. Fortunately, however, the 24 hour cycle returned to normal as day rebounded back to it's normal length.