Chapter 6 – The Forgotten

Marik stroked his gray beard. A large ruby ring hung on his middle finger; it bore the insignia of Fraath, a dragon claw clutching a broken sword. His gray hair draped over his ears, barely touching his shoulders. Marik was one hundred and twenty eight years old, or somewhere thereabouts. He had forgotten exactly how old he was. He served as only the second high priest of Fraath, a title he held for well over 80 years. His green eyes shifted towards the guards and he spoke. “Leave us. This is a private matter.” The guards bowed before him and left the room.

Marik leaned in and cocked an eyebrow at Carrath. “A vampire you say?”

“Indeed, and I fear that that is not the worst of it.” Carrath said. “The boy I found, he seems to be hidden from Suun's eye. Whatever evil is behind this appears to have the power to obscure Suun's vision. I can't imagine what that could be.”

“Uriel would have that power, but I find it hard to believe that she is in league with the undead. Have you considered the possibility that the boy wasn't actually at Stone's Crossing?”

“I have, but his depiction of the events was so precise, and he had Nameless' amulet. Of course, our other priests were unable to see him traveling with me, so its not an isolated incident.”

“Then there is only one other possibility.” Marik sat back and raised a hand to his beard.

“He has no destiny. A soul without direction, absent from Suun's plans.”

“Free from his restrictions is more like it. Think of the power he could attain.” Marik smiled slightly. “You must leave him to Fraath's training, he could become an incredible force in this world.”

“I'll do nothing of the sort. He'll train in the ways of Suun. Fraath would have him out blowing up castles and leading armies on conquest.”

Marik slammed his fist on the table and stood up violently. “So, you'll leave him to the training of the dragon that has forgotten him? What will he do then? Sit in your tower for his entire life meditating? Would you ever even tell him of his potential? Would you tell him of his...unique position?” His eyes were glowing slightly red. That was Fraath's power welling inside of him. It reacted best to strong emotion.

“Calm down Marik. He'll follow whatever path he chooses. I'll not stand in his way, nor will I force him to stay locked in the temple. Neither will I tell him of his situation, it would be too much for him now.”

“Then you'll at least let him know of the other paths. The other dragons. You'll give him a choice as to which one he will serve.” Marik commanded.

“If you wish, but I doubt that he'll serve any of them. He has his own path to follow. I'll teach him about the other dragons, and then I'll take him to the Dragon's Challenge tournament so that he can see each order in action. Only then will I ask him to choose his path.”

“That is satisfactory.” Marik said as he sat back down.

Chapter 5 – The Cursed King

It was a three day ride from the Temple of Suun to Balor, the capitol city Quaal. Carrath made the trip in a day and a half. The city was an impenetrable fortress, designed and built by the first king of Quaal, Morgan Sulis. It was built in the low lands of Quaal, on the banks of the Harfen river. Balor had three distinct sections separated by thick sandstone walls that spanned the circumference of the city. The first wall was its outermost fortification. There were only two gates in the outermost wall. One led to the harbor district on the east side of the city, and the other opened to the Kingdom Highway on the southern side of the city.

Between the outer wall and the secondary wall was a flat field that was a mile wide and spotted with stone guard towers. If an enemy army was able to breach the outer wall, they would have to reckon with archers that would be positioned on the guard towers, as well as the archers that would be stationed on the outer wall and the secondary wall. This section was knows as “the gauntlet”. It was designed to thin invading forces before they were able to breach the secondary wall, and it worked to perfection. Since the construction of the city, it had been under siege several times, but no invading army had ever advanced past the gauntlet.

The secondary wall surrounded the residential and market districts of the city. It had several gates that were spaced evenly. During times of peace, which was most of the time, citizens were allowed to spend time in the gauntlet. It was littered with parks, and other places designed to entertain the city's populace. The city of Balor was enormous, stretching for fifteen miles from the secondary wall to the palace wall. Including the eight miles of land that the palace rested on, it was thirty eight miles in diameter.

As Carrath passed through the secondary wall, he forced his horse to slow down. Out of concern for public safety, one of the kings of Quaal had enacted a law stating that horses could not run inside the city limits. It was tolerated in the gauntlet because of the open space, but the city was usually teaming with activity, and all it took was a momentary lapse of attention to cause a terrible accident.

Carrath had elected not to wear his priest's robes into the city. He was here on urgent matters, and could not spare the time to explain that to each and every citizen who would trouble him to read their futures. He wore a plain gray cloak, with the hood drawn over his face, as was customary of priests of Suun. Carrath did not think of the disguise as deception, for it was always the position of the Order of Suun that priests would only seek to reveal a person's destiny within the Temple of Suun. Still, when a person saw a Suun Priest, or even a monk for that matter they ran begging to have their destiny revealed. The disguise allowed Carrath to avoid all of that.

He passed through the busy streets of the city, making his way to the palace gate. The city was a bustling place, with bazaars on each corner and entertainers dancing and singing in the streets. Jugglers, fire blowers, acrobats, magicians and animal charmers practiced their craft in the city streets, each hoping to make a coin or two from the shoppers. The city was truly amazing. Carrath arrived at the palace gate and was met by a guard.

“Halt! The royal court is closed for the day. None can enter without permission from the king.” The guard said.

“Tell the king that Carrath of Suun is here to see him.” Carrath drew back his hood a bit so the guard could get a clear look at his face and smiled gently.

“Aye. Yes sir lord Carrath! Sorry to have troubled you. I'll see to your horse sir, the guard inside will escort you to the king.” The guard motioned towards the gate and allowed Carrath to pass.

The guard inside the gate escorted Carrath into the palace and took him to a large room that was ornately decorated. In the center of the room sat a marble table, surrounded by elaborately carved oak chairs with cushions made of red satin. Carrath had been here before. It was the room that the king used to entertain nobles from other countries, and other important folk. Carrath qualified as important folk, although he didn't see it that way. He believed that he was a humble servant of Suun, merely playing out his destiny as Suun dictated.

The king did not leave Carrath waiting for long. He arrived in the room mere seconds after Carrath. The guard that escorted Carrath, and the two guards stationed in the meeting room bowed before the king. Carrath did not. The king was a symbol of man's law. Perhaps the most powerful man within his own space, but certainly not in the world, and even less so in the universe. Carrath answered to Suun, and owed no allegiance, nor loyalty to a king of men. His destiny forced him to do the king's bidding for a time, but it was not the king's authority that compelled him to do so. He did his part in spite of the king, not because of him.

“Lord Enus Jovan Sulis, the king of Quaal has arrived!” One of the guards announced as the king took a seat at the table.

“Carrath, its good to see you've returned. What news of your journey? Has my son arrived safely?” The king asked.

“Jovan, your son arrived in San Rael safely. I left him with the priests of Uriel as directed. He was a bit upset at his exile, but I suppose that he'll come to understand the situation in time.”

“He sees it as exile? Doesn't he understand the opportunity that he has? He's been given the chance to train with the great dragon Uriel. Uriel will make him a strong leader. This kingdom needs a strong leader, there are dark times ahead. We can all feel it.” The king said.

“Dark times indeed. I fear that they have come, even sooner than we expected.” Carrath responded.

The king raised his brow and and looked across the table at Carrath. “How do you mean?”

Carrath told the king what he knew of the events at Stone's Crossing. He left out the details of Suun's clouded vision. He didn't need the king questioning Suun's abilities.

“What would a vampire have to gain by taking over Stone's Crossing? Werewolves have been appearing in the north, and there have been reports of pirate ships in the ocean to the east that are manned by ghastly crews. Now this? A vampire has organized an army of skeletons and solidified a position from which he can launch raids on our farmlands. Tell me Carrath, what future does Suun have for this country? What destiny belies us all?”

“You know I can't tell you that Jovan. Suun would not ally himself with any one nation, and certainly, information pertaining to the fortune, or demise of your country would be the equivalent of giving your kingdom an advantage that other kingdoms do not have. You are blessed to be a leader of men, but the price of that blessing is that you must live out your destiny, to whatever end it leads.” Carrath responded.

“To whatever end it leads.” The king repeated. “I wish Suun could be more like Fraath, but I understand his position. Thank you for informing me of the situation at Stone's Crossing, and thank you for your help transporting my son, although I don't know how that matter doesn't fall into the category of helping my nation.”

“That was a special request from Uriel herself. Even Suun must answer to someone.”

“I see. I'll dispatch a legion to search for survivors immediately, and send scouts to assess the situation at Stone's Crossing. I'll...” Carrath cut him off.

“I'm glad that you have the situation in hand. If you can tell me where to find Marik, I'll leave you to make your plans in peace.”

“Yes indeed. No need to bore you with this matter. You already know what I'm going to do anyway. Wait here, I'll send Marik to you. I need to meet with Thilesred about these matters anyway.” The king wished Carrath farewell and left the meeting room, leaving Carrath time to think while he waited for Marik.

Carrath did not know the future of Quaal. On matters of principal, he refused to seek that knowledge. In his heart, Carrath knew that he would be compelled to inform the king of any ill tidings that he knew about the future of Quaal. He had lived in the country his entire life, and although he felt no allegiance to Jovan Sulis, he did feel a connection to the land itself. For that reason, he knew that he should avoid looking into the future of Quaal, or Jovan Sulis. He also maintained the same attitude towards his own future. He would never reveal his own destiny to himself because doing so might tempt him to change his fate, and who was he to think that he could meddle in the grand scheme of a dragon?

Chapter 4 – On Monks and Priests

The trip was only 2 days old and Yu felt like the horse had been riding him instead of the other way around. Who knew traveling would be so difficult? Yu had dreamed about getting out of Stone's Crossing and traveling all over the world, but his dreams were always more glamorous. He always saw himself as a hero vanquishing a line of mighty beasts that stood between himself and a helpless princess. The reality was far different than the dream. He found himself beaten, scared and tired. Everything he had ever known had changed. He couldn't be sure if there were other survivors at Stone's Crossing or not. It was possible, after all, he had somehow been saved, and by Carrath's admission, it wasn't Nameless' amulet that had saved him. What then? He held back hope that his mother and father had lived, but deep inside he felt that the chances of that were slim.

Carrath was good company. His cheery manner didn't really befit a man bearing the title “High Priest of Suun”. Yu would have expected him to be much different, but what did Yu know? He had never left the mountains prior to a week ago. The first 2 days of the journey were spent talking about the Ulmach mountains and Stone's Crossing. Carrath tried his best to avoid the subject of the attack, but it came up now and again. He was more interested in the tales of the traders that passed through. Such men always had incredible stories to tell and being that contact with San Rael was so limited these days, any stories from south of the mountains were cherished.

“We'll stop here, and rest for a day. Its peaceful here, and safe. You look like you could use a break.” Carrath said, breaking the silence.

“I'm ok, we can go on.” Yu said. He wasn't ok. He needed the break badly and was thankful when Carrath said the words, but he didn't want Carrath to think he was weak.

“Perhaps you're fine, but that horse of yours looks like he's going to fall over. We'll rest, for the horse's sake.” Carrath said.

“Well, if its for the horse, I suppose we can stop.” Yu responded. Yu knew that Carrath was just sparing his pride. Any fool could see that he was wincing each time that his horse took a step. He was grateful of that. He had learned a lot about the beliefs of the Order of Suun over the last couple days.

“Lets get these tents set up.” Carrath said, as he dismounted his horse.

The two found a nice spot to set up the tents next to the river. Yu finished his tent first this time. That wasn't the case the last two times that they set up the tents. The first day, Yu struggled with his tent for 3 hours as Carrath sat on a rock and watched. Yu was embarrassed at his ineptness, but he refused to beg Carrath for his help. Eventually, Yu decided that he would examine Carrath's structure and try his best to mimic it. After another hour of struggling, Yu finally finished his tent. Carrath smiled and simply said “Good Work.”

On the second day, Yu was determined to finish his tent without using Carrath's as a guide. It took him two hours, but he was able to complete it this time. Again, Carrath sat and watched Yu work. After he was done, he asked Carrath why he didn't help him. “Two reasons.” He replied. “How will you ever learn anything if everyone does everything for you? More importantly, you never asked for my help.”

When the tents were finished, the two light a fire and began to prepare dinner. Again, Carrath prepared his own food and left Yu to prepare his. When the two had finished eating, they sat back and stared at the fire. Yu was the first to speak.

“What's the difference?” He asked.

“Eh?” Carrath said.

“Monks, and priests. You said you weren't a monk. You said you were a priest. What's the difference?”

“In our order, there are two disciplines that one can follow. Monks train their entire lives to master their physical bodies.”

“To fight better!” Yu exclaimed.

Carrath sighed. “You've a lot to learn boy. You can start by learning not to interrupt your teachers. Now, as I was saying. Monks are masters of the physical arts. They infuse their bodies with the power of Suun. It grants them great power and speed, and even a few telekinetic abilities. They can control some things as if they were extensions of their own bodies, like the swords that you saw Nameless use. They were linked to him through the glyphs inscribed on them.

“You also described a few other of the abilities of a monk. They can enact a physical force on an object, pushing it away, or pulling it towards them. Sure, all of these abilities make them amazing fighters, but a true Suun monk would avoid fighting unless it was the last possible option, and even then, they would have to choose their enemies carefully. A monk's body is the channel through which the power of Suun flows. The stronger that they are able to make their bodies, the more power they can attain.”

“That's amazing! With all that power awaiting one, why would anyone choose to become a priest? ” Yu asked.

“Because priests have far greater power than that. Priests spend countless hours meditating, clearing their minds and attempting to form a connection with Suun. If a priest is successful in connecting with Suun, then he will be filled with all of Suun's knowledge at that moment. Suun knows the destiny of every living thing, so you can imagine the power that such a connection could offer.

“A master priest would be able to discern the future, or past of the entire world. Unfortunately, a priest that is not fully trained can only grab at bits and pieces of information. He must learn to interpret the information that he can retrieve, and become more efficient at retrieving information to advance his training.”

“The power to see the future...that's incredible. I could have prevented everything that happened in Stone's Crossing if I had that kind of power. Even with his great fighting skill, Nameless couldn't save us all, but if he knew that it was going to happen, he could have saved everyone.” Yu said.

“Perhaps, but you must know what information you're looking for before you can retrieve it. For example, a person that wanted to stop the destruction at Stone's Crossing would have had to have had some reason to suspect that it would happen in the first place, and by your own account, the attack came out of nowhere. Even if someone had some information that something terrible would happen, they might still not be pointed towards Stone's Crossing.” Carrath said sadly.

“You knew something didn't you?”

“I don't know what I knew yet. Things are still playing out. All of the pieces are still falling into place. I don't understand the whole puzzle just yet. I can assure you that I didn't know anything about what was going to happen at Stone's Crossing.”

“Then what did you know?” Yu pushed harder for answers.

“That's a conversation for a different day. We should get some rest.” It was clear that Carrath wanted the conversation to end.

“Well, you can at least look back and find out how I was spared, can't you?”

“No. For some reason, I can't see anything about it. I can see the attack, and its just as you explained. Everything, every last detail is the same, except for one.”

“What do you mean?” Yu said.

“You. In all of my visions, you aren't there. Nameless kneels down beside a stack of boxes and drops his amulet on the ground. The boy that you said you played with outside of the gates spars alone, swinging his stick in the air at nothing. The merchant that you said picked you up off of the ground, walks out of the in, drops his coin purse and bends over and picks it up. Its all the same as you described, but you're not there.”

“I certainly was there. I certainly had Nameless' amulet in my hand. I certainly remember it all!” Yu shouted at Carrath.

“Calm down. I told you, this is a puzzle that is not yet finished. By its end, we shall know what it means.”

Yu turned and looked into the fire. “By what end though?” He said. He got up and walked to his tent and went inside. “I'm tired. I don't want to talk about this anymore. It doesn't make any sense.”

“Indeed. Rest well.” Carrath said.

Yu could not sleep. Thoughts raced through his mind, sorrow was mixed with fear, and there was a hint of hatred towards the creatures that attacked his home. He had been able to hold his emotions when Carrath was around, but each night, when he was alone and all of the thoughts came back to him, he cried himself to sleep. Tonight was no different. Yu had no idea how long he had been sleeping before Carrath woke him.

“Hurry up boy, we need to get on the road.” Carrath said hurriedly.

“What, what's going on?” Yu asked? It was still pitch black outside.

“Something is coming. We need to go, now! I saw it in a vision, its not safe here.”

Yu sprang to his feet and began to pack his things. “Why don't you just kill whatever it is that's coming? Why do we need to run?”

“I'm not a fighter boy, I'm no match for wild beast, undead, or men with bad intentions, and whatever is coming is worse than any of those.”

Yu stepped outside of his tent and kicked at the supports that were holding it in place. It wasn't the most graceful method of disassembly, but he found it to be the most efficient. The tent collapsed on itself and Yu rolled it up, tying a leather strap around it to secure it. He found his horse tied to a tree and secured his belongings behind the saddle. “What is coming?” He asked.

“I don't know for sure, its mired in fog, but I can be sure that it has ill intentions, as most things that hide in the shadows do.”

Yu followed Carrath's lead and mounted his horse. The two of them set off on the path at full speed. Carrath had taught Yu much about riding over the last couple days, and it really was a lot easier than it seemed at first. Carrath assured Yu that his muscles would get used to the stress that riding caused and the pain would become a thing of the past.

“What good is this power of yours if you can't see anything of any use?” Yu asked.

“What's of use to one man is of no use to another, who are you to determine its use? I saw enough to be of use, there is something bad out there and its tracking us.” Carrath said. “No, not tracking us, its tracking you.”

“Tracking me? For what purpose?”

“I don't know, perhaps to finish what it started, whatever that may be. It is something with the power to obscure itself from Suun's conscious, and that is a great power.”

“What do you mean? What could do such a thing?”

“I don't know, I've never encountered anything that Suun did not know about, until I encountered you that is. This is all new, and I'm struggling to understand it. For now it would be best to get to the temple quickly. We should be there in the morning.”

“In the morning? You said that it was at least 3 more days travel.”

“No, I said Balor is at least 3 more days travel. The temple is closer than Balor. I'm taking you there where it is safe. I'll go on to Balor to speak with the king from there.”


The two rode along the river for most of the night. Yu realized that he had not slept long, for after the adrenaline dissipated, exhaustion set in. After a few hours, they took a road that veered away from the river to the east. Carrath remarked that it was called “Temple Road West” because it was one of four roads that lead away from the Temple of Suun, and it happened to head in a westward direction. The other roads were similarly named. When the sun began to rise and the darkness retreated from the land, Yu was able to see a boxy structure in the distance. It was tall and mostly square, but it was slightly wider at the base than it was at the peak giving it sloped architecture. At that distance, most of its features were obscured.

It took another three hours to reach the temple. As they got closer, Yu found himself continually impressed with its size. It was an immense building that seemed to loom in the background like a giant stone guardian against the sky. Yu was able to make out the crest of Suun etched in marble towards the top of the tower. The crest of Suun was a fiery golden sun, surrounded by a silver ring. It matched the emblem on Nameless' amulet, and Carrath's cloak. They finally drew close enough for Yu to make out the details of the building. Aside from the crest at the top of the building, there was little decoration. It seemed to just be a giant marble building surrounded by a circular wall.

As they passed through the west gate of the wall, Yu heard a loud trumpet sound. He assumed that that was a signal of their arrival. The road leading up to the temple's entrance was lined with statues of priests and monks. Some were in battle stances, and others seemed to be blessing the travelers as they passed by. The door to the temple itself had a statue of a dragon on either side of it, and was guarded by two Suun monks in full battle armor, identical to the armor that Nameless wore during the fight at Stone's Crossing.

“Lord Carrath, welcome home. We're glad to see that you're safe. You've brought a friend?” One of the guards said as they approached.

“A recruit. He'll be training with us. I won't be staying long. I plan on resting here for a few hours and then I need to travel to Balor to see the king as quickly as possible.”

“A recruit?” One of the guards questioned. “Isn't he a little old to start training?”

“Yes, he is, but I'm making an exception for this one. He has no other place to go.” Carrath said.

A priest had walked through the doorway to meet them. He was dressed similarly to Carrath, but his cloak was less elaborate, and his hood was not drawn over his face. He had matching black tattoos that resembled fangs under each of his eyes. “Lord Carrath. You've been gone long. I searched Suun for your whereabouts and saw that you were traveling, but it seemed that you were traveling alone.”

“Aye, nothing is as it seems these days Brandt. Its good to be back. Ready a room for this boy, he'll be training with us. His name, is Yu.” Carrath said.

“I trust your journey went well?” Brandt replied.

“The better part of it did, the return home brought troubling news. Nameless has been killed, and a vampire has taken residence at Stone's Crossing. Seems he's raised an army of undead. We'll talk about that later. I'm sure Yu needs to rest, I know I do.”

“That's troubling news indeed. I'll take care of the boy from here and have a fresh horse prepared for you.” Brandt said.

“You're safe here Yu. Go with Brandt and rest. You'll start your training soon. I'll try to visit when I can, but you might not see much of me during your training.”

Carrath threw back his hood and walked into the temple.