The Punishment Of The Gods (Omnibus 1-5)

by Jake Yaniak

  'Whatever mankind believes about his own origins and his own nature is derived ultimately from the doctrines of the elves. Far be it for mere mortals to question the opinions and assertions of those who have lived for so many ages of the world. Mankind is fleeting, and with each life his history is obscured. No man can perfectly pass on his wisdom or his knowledge to his children, and so by necessity his history turns into mythology. But it was not so for the Elves. Or at least, it was not believed to be so. It was presumed that they could at least verify the events of the distant past that had passed before their own eyes.

  'But no creature should be trusted with such credulity, whether man or elf. Eventually the history of the elves became corrupted, not by nature as was the case with mankind, but rather by their own design.

  'They hid from mankind, indeed even from themselves, the truth about many things. So much was hidden that even their own sons could not but with great difficulty reconstruct the truth out of their fathers' riddles and myths. A clever lie was woven, and all of mankind has since then been ensnared.

  'In part, it was this that caused the great wars that drove the elves out of Olgrost and Weldera. Some passionate members of the human race saw fit to punish them for their deceit and to overthrow their ascendancy once and for all. Now the elves live, if the reports can be believed, only in the shattered palace of Lumani and the frozen forests of Cebrost. Some say there is a remnant in Solsis, but who knows? The elves are gone, and they have none to blame but themselves.

  'But among the many things they kept hidden was a powerful artifact from the northern world. It was a stone upon which was engraved the very name of the Immortal King. The man who held this stone held within his hands the essence of the Almighty and could command not only all men, but the Immortal King himself.

  Volthamir sat up and gazed at Lord Havoc with a look of astonishment. His jaw dropped as he began to speak, but no words came out. He was struck silent, not knowing whether to laugh or to believe. Lord Havoc continued:

  'I know what passes through your mind at this very instant. You are asking yourself, "Has he gone mad?" But I assure you, my prince, I have not gone mad. There is such a stone, and its location was well known in the older days. I have in my possession many proofs, which I will show to you in due time, that such a stone exists.'

  After those words Volthamir settled back in his seat and put his hand to his chin. The room suddenly seemed to grow cold, his eyes dimmed and his limbs felt numb. Lord Havoc words seemed to come to life as they left his mouth.

  'This stone was so brilliant, they say, that it made even the whitest silk appear dirty and gray by comparison. The letters were carved with such care and precision as the ancients alone were capable. It was imbued with all the power that the elves had gained through their long ages of labor. When the Northern World was buried under water, the elves sailed across the ocean and settled Weldera and Illmaria. With them they brought many treasures and secrets. It is said that the Naming Stone was carried by the Lord of the Argent Elves, who men call Falruvis.

  'But what became of this stone when Falruvis fell, and when his kingdom was destroyed is unknown. What is certain, however, is that the desire for the Naming Stone was the second reason the Elves were conquered; pure vengeance being the first. But no mortal has set their eyes upon it, nor has any even heard of its whereabouts. Some believe that it was carried to Bralahi, the Gray Elf King, whose kingdom lies in the midst of a labyrinth of poisonous rocks and cliffs.

  'But these reports are worthless, as they are founded only on speculation. Yet it remains that although Dadron was taken, the Naming Stone was never found, nor was any record of it discovered. This gave rise to the most common opinion: That the Naming Stone was yet another elven myth.

  'And who can blame men for believing that liars lie? The elves buried the truth so regularly and consistently that it was very easy for their enemies to believe that they had invented the Naming Stone as well. The ancient people trusted every word of the elves as though it were divine, and what better lie for them to tell than that they possessed such an incomparable power? Their rule over mankind was then made complete. So when the armies of Olgrost and Lapulia plundered the fortress of Dadron, they were not surprised in the least to find no such stone - though they were perhaps a bit disappointed.

  'The enemies of Falruvis made it appear as though this was what they had expected, and that they fought for liberty alone, rather than for power. But the truth of the matter is that these very men sought the mysterious stone in secret for many generations. When at last their wisdom failed them they declared the object a myth, being unwilling to admit that they were not capable of discerning the secrets of the elves.'

  When Lord Havoc paused, Volthamir lifted his hand to stop him. 'Say no more, Lord Havoc, until you have first explained yourself. I have studied history, and none of this is taught in the schools of Amlaman or Ramlos. I do not doubt you,' Volthamir assured him, 'but you cannot overturn the whole world's history, making sages into fools and heroes into villains without any explanation. I would have you begin your account anew; this time starting at the very beginning of the tale. Tell me what you know about the elves, for I have heard only the history of the Royal Palace.'

  'Very well,' Lord Havoc said smiling. 'I was trying to be brief, but I see that it is not possible. When four-thousand years of darkness are removed, we must allow our eyes some time to acquaint themselves with the light.'

  From the Beginning of the Age

  'I do not pretend to trust the elvish accounts any further than their coming to Tel Arie. According to their stories, there were six elf lords that sailed across the northern sea in roughly made vessels of wood. They did this to flee the dark powers of the gods who had, in jealousy, decreed their destruction.

  'Whatever it was that happened in the Northern World of Bel Albor, the effect was the coming of the elves to Illmaria, the land that lies beyond the southern border of Amlaman. This event marks the beginning of our history. According to the elves, mankind was in such disarray and savage simplicity in those days that they did not record their history except through songs and myths. The elves on the other hand claimed to have very carefully documented the events from their arrival in the world of Tel Arie until their ascendancy. And since the lives and memories of men are short, there was no good reason to question their accounts. The day of their arrival they named the first day of Primus, which is to say, the 'starting month'. From there they supposedly counted the days and years faithfully and accurately, until at last their wisdom passed on to mankind who had finally attained such sagacity as was necessary to transcribe accurately the events they had witnessed. According to the system of the elves, it has been some four thousand and twenty eight years since they landed on the northern shores of the island of Cebrost, which they have regarded to be sacred ever since the 'Father Elves' first discovered it.

  'The Father Elves were divided into three families: There were the Light Elves, who were called Argent, the Dark Elves, who were called Malent, and the Gray Elves, who were called the Verdent.

  'The Argent elves were led by Lord Falruvis and his brother Lord Solruvis. Of all the elves, the Argent were the wisest. The greatest sages and historians arose from among their numbers, not the least of whom were Lord Falruvis and his brother.

  'Lord Morta and Dalta ruled the Malent elves. They were by far the most powerful of the elves, surpassing all their brethren in every art of war. We shall see what became of this later.

  'The Verdent elves were led by Bralahi and his brother Kolohi. The Gray elves were the most clever and cunning. They were not wiser than the Argent, nor were they stronger than the Malent. But stronger than than the Argent and wiser than the Malent, and so their advantages held the balance to their disadvantages. But this is perhaps enough about the types and kinds of elves, though others divide their races even further. There are of course the Kindent, but they are really just another kind of Malent, so I will say no more of them her
e.

  'It was believed that at their departure from the Northern World of Bel Albor, some of the kinder gods gave to the Elf Lord six holy swords. In addition, each elf kindred was given a single seed from a kind of tree that grew in the northern world. From these seeds would grow the Holy Trees of the elves, over which so many dreadful battles were fought.

  'The elves spread themselves all throughout the continent of Illmaria. The Verdent passed far to the south, wandering through the strange paths of Gilwela and coming at last to the Malgier Mountains, where Bralahi's impenetrable kingdom was established. The Malent elves settled in the Mortara Woods, so named after Morta, their first lord. Falruvis and his brother settled in Illmaria, Solruvis in the north where their Sacred Tree was planted, and Falruvis in the central portion of the continent, where they built Luma and the legendary Crystal Palace.

  'According to their histories, the elves grew in peace and wisdom for nearly five hundred years, untroubled by strife and war. According to their accounts, they did not even know of mankind until after that time. This idea, however, is a total fiction of the elves. It was proven without a doubt that the elves were masters of warfare when they obliterated their enemies during the Foreign Wars. Such strength of arms cannot be created overnight, and skill of such magnitude must be honed in practice, not in mere theory. A sword cannot cut until it is first ground against a whetting stone, and are we to believe that these elven armies became such capable warriors without any preparation? No, even the elves must have something upon which to sharpen their skills.

  'This object was found in the goblins, who it turns out, are more ancient than even the elves. It is commonly taught that the powers of evil wizards in Lapulia created the orcs and goblins. But this is an absolute lie. The Conjurers of the east merely learned the art of controlling these brutes, not creating them. I'm afraid that creating new life is beyond the art even of the elves. The goblins, who write no history, are older than the humans, older than the delvers, whom men call dwarves, certainly older than the elves.

  'It was against these brutes that the elves struggled for their new home. They found them in Desset and in the Daunrys, and in the forests of Illmaria and Gelantis. They annihilated them from Mortara, as no creature can long withstand the swords of the Malent.

  'The dwarves proved to be another anvil against which the elves would temper their blades and hone their strategies. They attempted to exterminate them from their lands altogether, but in the end they could not descend into their caverns, where the fumes are too strong and venomous for anything other than a dwarf. This is why men say that there are 'Gaians' or Earth spirits that lurk the dark halls of the earth's belly. For the moment a man descends to their realm, he is overcome by the stench and passes into fits of madness and swiftly comes to ruin. Thus the dwarves survived in great numbers in the Laurel mountains in central Illmaria, despite the violence of their new neighbors.

  'But according to the histories of the elves, they had no need for war for all those five hundred years. And as they have left no record of their conquests, and as their opponents, lying dead under heaps of earth, were equally unwilling to write out their histories, we are left with no means to discount their records. Thus we have the Golden Age of Peace, as the elves call it. Peace indeed!

  'In the third month of the five hundred and seventh year, a fleet of ships cast anchor in the land of Weldera. They were settlers from a land they called Olgrost, which lay across what is now called the Kollun Sea. They were simple folk, not violent or unpleasant, but not very advanced in wisdom either. They were permitted to dwell in what we now call Falsis, and thus began the dealings between elves and men. Soon other settlers followed until almost the entire northern peninsula, from the shores of the eastern sea to the depths of the Zyprion woods, was inhabited by humans.

  'Whenever men of different origins, ideas and needs collide, war will follow. And the passions of the humans soon drew the elves into a great war. This was called the Foreign War, as it was fought on strange lands, which the elves had not yet seen. In the end, the Elves proved their might and subjugated all of Weldera and the whole northern region of Olgrost.

  'Kolohi and Dalta departed from their ancient home in Illmaria and passed over the sea to Olgrost with their armies to force a truce. There they set up two kingdoms: The Kingom of Dalta in the west and the Verder Kingdom in the eastern forest, which lay on the eaves of the Veste Mountains. From there they ruled over every living creature, whether human, elf or dwarf.

  'Ultimately, however, the Great Conjurer Xanthur appeared and brought war once more to both elf and man. Xanthur came to rule over Lapulia, the greatest of all human cities. At first, Xanthur seemed to be interested only in peace. But soon he came to understand that peace comes by power. So he began to seek power. But since power corrupts men so easily, he soon became corrupted. That is how the elves record it at least. But this is yet another of their fictions.

  'The elves created the stories of their origins to give themselves a lofty advantage over mankind. And since humans cannot trace back their roots past their own parents with much certainty, the elves likewise created stories about the origins of men. According to the elves, humans were born of the earth, but the elves came from heaven, that is, from Bel Albor beyond the Frozen Sea. And for what reason would the elves be sent from heaven to earth but to rule over the brutish men and lead them into wisdom?

  'Now having set themselves up as holy and heavenly, ordained to rule over mankind by virtue of their origins, the elves could not allow anything to contradict their fiction. So they created the story about Evil Lord Xanthur the Conjurer of Lapulia, who hungered for power and sought to slay the elves and burn their trees to the ground. They recorded it in their histories, that Xanthur slew the Elf Father Morta and consumed his heart, thus becoming immortal himself. Then he used his powers to bring all of Dominas under his authority. It was he, they claim, who created the goblins and their cousins the dwarves.

  'But this is all a fiction. Invented to hide their own corruption. Xanthur didn't slay Morta. Xanthur WAS Morta. Tired of watching his brethren trod down the mortals as though they were worthless chattel, and tired of having his pleas on their behalves ignored in council, Morta departed from them, swearing off all allegiance. He went to Lapulia and the rule of that land was quickly surrendered to him. There in the great Tower of the Magi, Morta, that is, Xanthur, did many of the evil things of which he is accused. But they were only evil to his enemies, in the same fashion that the deeds of the other elves were evil to their foes. And the motives he was assigned by the other Elf Lords are as incredible as they are untrue. "It was to gain immortality for humans that he railed so hard against the elves," they say. Nay. It was for freedom to live what short lives they had without the shackles of the immortals that Xanthur fought.

  'By the fifteen hundredth year after the coming of the Elf Fathers, Xanthur had become more powerful than any of his peers. This he concealed until all of his preparations were completed. On the tenth day of Ninus, in the fifteen hundred and twentieth year of this age, Xanthur unleashed his might against the Verdar Kingdom. He had seduced Lady Wellin, the wife of Kolohi to betray her husband, and thereby ripped the leadership of the kingdom in two. It fell fast and without warning, for Xanthur commanded not only the men of Lapulia, but also the many humans of Olgrost who were discontented and vengeful after being under the subjection of the elves for so many centuries. During the final battle, Kolohi and his two sons vanished, never to be heard from to this day. For some time it was believed that they lay hidden, awaiting the day of their revenge. But as time passed it seemed more likely to historians that they were slain in the battle. Dalia, the beautiful daughter of Dalta was captured and abused by Vantu, Xanthur' most cruel general. This act of barbarism drew upon him the ire of Thuruvis, an Elf Lord of Falruvis' house who was her beloved. He marched against Vantu with his brethren and drove him out of Verdar. Thuruvis made a pact with the dwarves of Zoor in those days and pinned Vantu's
army between the Veste and the Zoor mountains. There Thuruvis shattered the golden blade of Vantu and took his revenge. Thus the Verdar Kingdom fell, leaving a vacuum of power in its absence. With the defeat of Vantu, Xanthur' arm in Olgrost was broken, if only for a season.

  'The next strike was against the Malent. Upon his own kin Xanthur released the fell monster Galmod, whose origin is unknown. Galmod was longer than a ship, with many thousands of legs. At his mouth he had two piercing claw-like teeth, sharper than the finest elven blade. His skin was like armor, and upon him no weakness could be discovered. He slew every man and woman in Mortara, leaving only the children, who were so cleverly hidden by their parents in the deep places that even the great hunting beast could not discover them. This is the origin, according to the elves, of those legendary Kindent elves, who do not appear to be older than twelve years of age, though they may be older than some of the more venerable elves of other kinds. It was believed that the trauma of the ravages of Galmod had so affected them as to leave them incapable of growth. But whether the elves are right in this or not, I am not now concerned. The son of Morta escaped to the north, according to some legends, and made his way to Cebrost.

  'It was in Mortara that Xanthur left his first scar on the Elvish world. He burned the Sacred Tree of the Malent elves to the ground, leaving nothing but it's charred stump. To this day the forest is black and evil in the area where the holy tree once stood.

  'About forty years later, Xanthur began his invasion of Illmaria. But Lord Falruvis and his brother had not been idle. They built up the Twin-Kingdoms of Falsis and Solsis, one hidden in the strange valley south of Falsis and the other in the center of Falsis itself, where two great rivers join one another. This Fortress they named Dadron the Great. It was the culmination of nearly a thousand years of wisdom. It had five gates, which were so thick and mighty that the greatest battering ram would bend against them like a blade of grass. The walls were so high that in the lower part of the hill, the sun could scarcely reach the soil. The lowest section of the city was called 'Dusk-town' for it is almost always in shadow, save for a few hours in the afternoon. In the winter the residents of Dusk-town cannot see the sun at all. Dadron was prepared to be the last refuge of the elves against Xanthur.