The End of all
Beginnings
by John Kell
Far below the churning maelstrom known
as the ”Eye of Entropy” where the threads of creation are loosely woven
and reality is consumed by its own illusions, a ripple spreads outwards
from the void. Deep beneath the “Seat of Caliban” whose citadel stands
atop the deadly twisting peak known only as the “Finger of Chaos” that
resides atop the dreaded “Mountains of Madness” that split the jungles
of the “Green Hell” from the Deserts of the “Great Burn”. Deeper still
into the very bowels of “Wyrm Hole” and past its outlet into the “Great
Wurm Road”, deep into the crust beneath the road in the middle of an
immense cavern, a light appears.
It is a singularity of dark and ever shifting shadows pulsating its
darkness out into the empty cavern. With each pulse it stretches streaks
of deep blue and specks of silver become more visible as it increases in
size. Each pulse crackles with tremendous amounts of arcane energy,
fusing the walls of the cave to an obsidian-like sheen. With the last
pulse, the newly formed portal of darkness stretches to become the size
of an ancient oak.
Through the portal of night a figure dressed in the shadows of darkness
steps out. The cowed figure floats several feet away from the gate and
peers deep into the cavern and smiles. It gestures with a crimson talon
and 4 others dressed in the shadows of night glide to await behind the
master. The master raises a staff of smoking shadows and brings it
sharply to the cavern floor. A great shaking arises that's felt
throughout the land and through the cavern floor rises a black and
sinister castle made of Adamantium. The figures all smile and as one fly
to highest central tower. The Master gestures once more and the mists of
darkness are drawn back into the staff that hisses and steam. The master
and his four generals describe differently, yet they act as one for the
destiny in which they seek.
The first being must be 7' if an inch, with the broad shoulders, thick
arms and chest, and narrow waist of a prime warrior. He is armored in
scarlet and crimson plate with black spiked gauntlets and full helm.
Twin swords of green fire smoke and hiss across his back and his eyes
burn like twin lakes of fire. All who would battle him must perish under
his blades for he is the weapon of Haavouk. He is the first horseman. He
is war.
Next, aside the first, stands a being some 8' tall and whipcord lean. He
wears cowed robes as black as night and deep within the hood are twin
pools of sapphire flames. In his talon hands rests a scythe made of
Siveel the black steel and it glows with the greenish light of the power
of the void. To seek him out is to seek out death for he is the second
horseman Death, and he is the body of Haavouk.
The third horseman is a huge obese thing, naked for but a simple
loincloth and covered in scabs, filth, and open sores that ooze green
pus. His own filth encases him except for his immaculate manicured
pristine hands that radiate a pale luminous green, and his eyes of
flaming molten gold. He is the soul of Haavouk and his power is only
matched by his cruelty. He is the third horseman, Disease.
The 4th and final being is tall and gaunt, as if a patchwork of skin was
pasted upon the dried bones of a dead man. He dresses in the tattered
remains of ripped skins from all races. In his clawed hands resides a
staff of emerald fire that matches his own flaming eyes. His is the mind
of Haavouk and his mind contains the foundations of creation and entropy
warped by chaos. He is the 4th horseman. He is Famine.
All the horsemen bow to the 5th, their master, Haavouk. He is the final
horseman. He is entropy and all must bow to him with time. He is dressed
in robes of crimson shadows and in his talon hands he holds the
Shadowstaff of Entropy, upon his head is the Helm of Entropy. Twin orbs
of the blackest fire gaze upon his generals and he nods.
With but a thought and a gesture of his staff, he summons the hordes of
chaos.
And they came.
By the scores, then tens of scores, and still they came, pouring through
the portal and filling up the massive cavern in one black wave of
endless chaos. Creatures and minions of dark chaos came streaming out by
the thousands with their Shifting forms and crackling energies abound to
wait, wait for that thought which would send them ripping and tearing
into the last bastion of creation, shredding those chattel that believe
so much in their precious harmony, they wait. And they did not have to
wait for long.
The Master, high in his tower gestured once and all was silence as the
void itself. In a voice that had not been used in eons, the Master
rasped with power unimaginable, "The time draws near and the hour is
upon us to claim that which is rightfully ours. Too long have we
bickered and quarreled amongst ourselves. Too long have we watched our
brethren fall to our foes because of it. No more shall we watch our
brothers and sisters be succumbed by these interlopers who seek nothing
less than too obliterate us back into void. Too long has it been since
we could claim victory to ours, and I say it ends HERE!
The line is drawn. Never before have they had to deal with us united,
nor never again afterwards. For it is we that shall become the hunters,
we who shall obliterate Creation's Edge and all who reside into the
depths of the void where we can feast upon their very soul at out
leisure.
It is time to end Creation's hopes and rebuild the multiverse as we
would have it!"
And with a single gesture of the Master's staff, a great tear into the
cavern’s ceiling splits open and the debris settles into a solid rampart
where it lands forming a entrance into the Great Wurm Road above.
"Go my children of the shadows and wreck death and destruction in my
name and secure all within the great maelstrom above as our domain. Be
swift and sure and let none live to venture out of our hold to warn the
cattle the butchers have arrived. Secure the "Eye of Entropy" first and
creation shall then learn of the meaning of fear. It shall know of the
final horseman of Entropy, Haavouk. It shall know of me!"
His staff strikes again on the floor, sending flashes of entropedic
energies exploding outwards and sending a tremor through the world once
again but this time fear is in the winds as the Horde flows outward to
consume all within the “Eye of Entropy” for themselves; while 5 beings
of unimaginable power and evil begin the plotting of the Destruction of
Creation's Edge and with it the, the ends of all beginnings.