Also, if I've counted them right, this is the 90th Shacklestone room.

Happy 90th!

Hello! And thanks. Not much longer until the 100th.

I don't see you commenting from your DS very often. XD

Yeah, I type faster from my laptop, but I just woke up and this was closest to me.

I prefer to type on the computer, but our whole family shares one computer, so it's not always available.

Also, I might disappear for short periods today, I think I'm gonna be multitasking quite a lot.

Ok, that's alright.

I think I was the last to post, so you can start whenever you're ready!.

(Okie dokie!)
{Magnus just gives him a mirthless look.}
"Well, what about Jerry, Eliza, and your son? What about me?"

"They must want you around, would they not?"

'Well, Jerry and Eliza are from a family who hunt non-humans. Back when I was still working under Sargon, I killed people. A lot of people.' Armin looked at the ground. 'I find it hard to believe that they'd just ignore that. As for Frederick, he barely knows me. I don't know what he intends to do after this war is over, but I'm sure it doesn't involve me.'

{Magnus puts down his guitar and sits on a low wall.}
Be careful, Armin. The path you are choosing is not one you'll enjoy. You will find no salvation in isolation. Think carefully about your path."

Armin just gave him a shrewd glance. 'Oh, so you're giving me cryptic advice now?' Then he sighed and sat down on the wall beside Magnus. 'I'm not choosing this. I don't /want/ to be alone. But I don't believe that anyone here, except you, genuinely wants me to stick around. I've /murdered/ people.'

{Magnus turns towards Armin, a smirk on his face.}
"Armin, I need you to listen to what I'm about to say very carefully, ok?"

Armin turned to him with a look of exasperation. 'It had better be good, then.'

Magnus: "Heheheh, ok, look. We've /all/ killed people, Armin. Jerry, Eliza, Fred, Wendigo, all twenty or so of Jerry's family, me, everyone. How can anyone hold that against you when we're all guilty of the same thing?"

Armin considered this. 'That's true. We've all done it. And at least I never murdered people because I /wanted/ to.'

Magnus: "Now you're getting it. Jerry's always known about your dark past, and I don't think Eliza's going to hold it against you, especially not when everyone's done what you have."

'Yeah...' said Armin thoughtfully. 'Jerry's known since the beginning, and he doesn't hate me. I guess that's not going to change. Some of his other family might not like me, but they don't like any non-humans, so that's not a surprise. And I don't care what /they/ think.'

{Magnus chuckles.} "Exactly. Screw those guys. If they can't see past appearances, then you're better off without 'em. But Jerry, Eliza, and even Steve seem like nice people. I see no reason to cut all ties with them. And Fred, he's your son, for crying out loud. You should at least keep in touch, if nothing else."

'You're right,' said Armin. 'I should probably stick around. I'd like to keep in contact with Fred, at least - even if we're not exactly close, it'll be nice to know where he is and what he's doing, considering I thought he was dead for about 250 years.'

He then turned to Magnus, smirking slightly. 'Are you planning to give this speech to Dianne as well? Or do you think she has good reasons for leaving?'

{Magnus smirks back.} "Yes, but I'm not going to be so polite about it. I'm sick of watching her willingly suffer as a recluse, and now that I'm moving on to the after life, well, she needs to move on too. Basically, I think she needs friends. She needs to learn that the world she's afraid of doesn't exist anymore."
{Magnus takes a moment, seemingly to think about something.}
"Armin, what has she told you about that locket she carries around, if anything?"

(Huh, I wonder where King's been for the last three weeks?)

'Good luck with that,' Armin said with a short laugh. Then, as Magnus mentioned the locket, he stopped, looking thoughtful. 'Oh, that thing? She mentioned earlier today that she planned to give the locket back to 'who it belonged to' before she leaves Vallis. I don't remember if she's ever said anything more about it.'

(I don't know. I haven't seen him upload art or anything, either. He's probably just busy with college, but I hope he's OK.)

{Magnus nods.}
"Yeah....actually, the one who it belongs to isn't in Vallis. I know where she's going...I'm not surprised she hasn't said more. The story behind that locket is the root of all her problems, and the cause of her behaviors."

Armin waited a moment, to see if Magnus would continue. Then he said, 'Well? Are you going to tell the story? Or is this a secret? If it's something I shouldn't know, then don't feel like you have to tell me. I can respect other peoples' secrets.'

{Magnus laughs.} "I'll tell you if you want to know, but you have to promise never to let Dianne know that I told you. She would kill me. Well, metaphorically speaking. And it's not much of a secret, there's a book out there, written in my native language, that details her entire life story up until about a thousand years ago. Sure, the book's a priceless artifact written in a dead language, but it's still out there. So, would you like to know her story?"

(So do I. He's mentioned a few times in the past, something about 'bad encounters'. I don't know what that means, but I hope everything's ok nevertheless.)

'Huh. She must have been pretty well-known if somebody wrote a book about her,' Armin mused. Then he nodded. 'Go ahead and tell me. I won't let anyone else know.'

(Yeah. I just hope to hear something from him before Christmas. Even if he's too busy to RP right now, I'd like to know that everything's OK.)

(Same.)

(Just a warning, I think I'll have to leave soon. My wifi might be getting switched off early tonight.)

{Magnus leans back and looks up at the stars.}
"It began, three thousand years ago, in a landmass known simply as Ferros. The western region was very volcanically active at the time, known only as The Scorch. That is where Dianne was born....erm, hatched, I mean. Back then, most dragon societies were very primitive, similar to what we saw in the Grey Mountains today. Her birth name was actually Delilah, which she changed for reasons I'll explain later. She grew up with her parents, but at that time, once dragons reached adolescence, they were expected to fend for themselves. Yeah, off to a great start, right?"

(Ok)

'That doesn't come as much of a surprise,' remarked Armin. 'Dragons are pretty ruthless creatures... especially that long ago.' He leaned back against the wall and waited for Magnus to continue.

{Magnus nods.}
"Oh yeah. Well, after that, she grew up as you'd expect. Alone, fighting for every meal, but as she got older, and bigger, it got easier. As you've seen, she's on the larger side. Once she reached full maturity, she met someone. Someone who seemed to challenge everything she thought about her world. She met her life mate, Ogden. He was a strapping young dragon, vibrant colors and full of muscles. He completely swept Delilah off her feet, and the two fell in love. After everything she'd ever seen about the world, Ogden seemed to contradict it all. He was kind, sweet, and seemed to put her well being above his own. Nothing at all like the 'kill or be killed' world she grew up in."
{At that, Magnus looked around.}
"Ivy's not around, is she? I don't want this next part to make her lose all faith in love..."

Armin snorted. 'I don't think /anything/ can make Ivy lose faith in love. But it's OK, she went to bed ages ago.' He grinned. 'So let's hear what happened with this handsome young dragon, Ogden.'

{Magnus chuckles.}
"I hope so, because what happened next sure did for Dianne. Anyway, he was wonderful. He was the epitome of 'Prince Charming'. After a few happy years together, the two had a child together. A daughter. Her name was in dragon tongue, but the closest translation would be, Mirabella, or 'The Most Beautiful Thing in the World'. Yeah, I'm sure you can piece together how much she meant to Dianne. Well, I'm sorry to say that it only goes downhill from here. Down and straight to hell...One day, when Mira was about five, Delilah came home from hunting, only to find that Ogden had already started eating. First, some clarification. Back in those days, in that region especially, dragons were supposed to mate for life. If a dragon was to leave their mate, it was expected that they...destroy everything associated with their previous mate, including the mate and any...offspring..."
{Magnus makes a very uncomfortable face, hoping Armin could piece it together without him having to say more.}

Armin was silent for a while, digesting everything he'd just heard. 'So Dianne came back to find that Ogden had... killed Mira? Because he wanted to leave? And... wait, you said he was already eating something when she came back. Was he... eating his own offspring...?' He looked towards Magnus with a raised eyebrow, to see if he was right.

{Magnus solemnly nods.}
"Yeah....Not a pretty sight...I'm sure you can imagine the shock of thinking everything's ok on second, then coming home and seeing that...Oh, but it gets worse..."

Armin waved a hand. 'Go on. Just don't go into too much detail, please. I'm already going to have trouble getting rid of that image from my mind.'

{Magnus shifts his gaze back to the sky.}
"I don't blame you. Even she still has nightmares about it. Well, I mentioned that this was done as a type of 'divorce'. As Delilah stood there, completely traumatized and in shock, he explained that she had been replaced by another. One younger and more beautiful, and that Delilah was really nothing more than a 'trophy', so to speak. An accessory to his good looks, and now he had found someone better. Apparently, the nice guy act was just an act to keep her around, and he never really cared for her. Well, I have some theories about this, but, I'll get into that later. Anyway, about that time, her, 'replacement', jumped on her from the ceiling and tried to kill her. Her name was never recorded. The book refers to her only as 'The Harlot who must not be Named'. There was a scuffle between the three, but Delilah managed to escape with her daughter and flee. Miles from her former home, she stopped, and discovered that Mira was somehow still alive. She died in her arms that night."

'...Damn,' said Armin in a low voice. 'This is... a really horrible story.' He looked up, his expression grim and slightly sickened. 'What did she do after that?'

(I have to go, sorry! I'll reply as soon as I'm next online.
See you.)

(Lol, it's all good. I kinda exploded after that. XD)

{Magnus looked over at Armin, also bearing a grim expression.}
"This story isn't a happy one. How could it be? Look at the person it molded. You've seen Dianne, seen her rage, her hatred, her mistrust of the world. What I've already told you accounts for her personality. What happened next will explain her power and her willingness to take life. But, before I get to that, I need to explain the significance of the locket. Dianne made that locket for Mirabella, as a symbol of her love. It was on her the night she died, but was lost in the fight. Lucci must have found it somehow, or replicated it, and gave it to Jeremiah, to prove that he wanted her to have an active part in Sargon's downfall. To anyone else, that locket would mean nothing, but to her, it's a grim reminder of what was, and what could have been."

(Nooooooo don't explode)

Armin nodded slowly. 'I remember seeing Jerry give her that locket. I don't remember much - I think I was being blockaded out of the area by a draugr at the time - but I remember him giving it to her. She seemed pretty shocked. She demanded to know how he'd gotten it.'

{Magnus nods as well.}
"Yeah, I was there, as a spirit. As I recall, she actually fell to her knees as a response. And she wasn't happy to hear how he had gotten it. She still can't believe it survived all this time. If anything were to happen to it now, well...It wouldn't be good. Anyway, are you ready to hear the rest, or have you had enough depressing stories for one day?"

'No, go on,' said Armin. 'I've heard this much, so I ought to hear the rest of it. Besides, we probably won't get another chance.'

(Phew, busy day.)
{Magnus leaned back an continued.}
"Very well. After watching helplessly as her daughter died right in front of her, she was completely broken. She had no will to live anymore, and after burying Mira, she planned on lying down with her, to be with her forever. However, that was when, 'he' showed up. Not Ogden, no. The foul Serpent of Death, Dolorus. He appeared before her, and after learning of her tragic circumstances, saw his opportunity to induct a new 'sheep' to his 'fold'. He offered her the power to enact justice upon those who wronged her, in exchange for her undying loyalty. She accepted the deal, of course. What else could she do? In a moment, she had lost everything, her home, her daughter; all at once, stripped of everything. It was then, I believe, that she turned her back on the world. At that moment, she ceased to see the world as a place of love and hope, and saw it from that point on, as a loathsome place full of miserable, irredeemable creatures. She ceased to be Delilah, caring mother and loving wife. That woman had died with Mirabella. Now, she was...unbridled hatred and rage, given form. OrphanMaker.

'Hmm...' said Armin thoughtfully. 'So, is that the reason why she always refused to kill kids? Because of what happened with Ogden and Mira?'

"Pretty much." {Magnus replied.}
"She could never bring herself to do it. When she sees them, all she can see is her own child. But, it's also why she's disgusted with open displays of affection, shipping, intimate relationships, and handsome, attractive men, which is probably why she was so mean to you. "

Armin laughed. 'Well, I understand why she'd hate things like that, after what that bastard Ogden did to her. And I don't really care about her being rude to me anymore - at least she had a good reason. By the way, where's Ogden now? Did she go back and kill him later or something?'

{Magnus laughed as well.} "Yeah, I'm getting to that part. After she accepted Dolorus' deal, he took her back to his place of residence, a hollowed out mountain called Osseous. This was the mountain fortress of a cult called The Will of Death. It was here that she learned the Dark Magic and Necromancy she uses now. However, she was never this magically potent. First, she had to undergo a ritual known as The Dark Blessing. What this essentially does is it allows a small part of Death's power to inhabit a host, allowing the host to use its power and domain over the next life. Oh, and when I say death, I mean the actual deity, not the abstract concept. Anyway, this is why she's a more powerful Necromancer than anything Sargon could ever have recruited to his side. Death itself is on her side. After years of training and learning to master this magic, she finally journeyed back to her former home."
{Magnus gives a dark chuckle.}
"Now, I never saw it, because I wasn't born yet, but the book describes in great detail, the terrible things she did to that couple. But, after what they did, I can't really argue that they didn't deserve it..."

'They did deserve it,' said Armin darkly. 'Though, I bet it came as a big shock to Ogden and his mate when she suddenly came back all those years later.' He grinned. 'I hope he regretted what he'd done.'

Oh, it was a massive shock. I've heard her recount that event. She said the look of sheer shock on their faces when she showed up backed by a dozen Hydras was almost...abstract, like a painting by a surrealist. As she set upon them, much to her enragement, the only thing Ogden would do was beg that she take his life, but spare the life of his mate. I'm sure you can imagine how well that went over..."

'I almost wish I could read this book,' Armin chuckled. 'I'd like to know just what she did to those two slimy lizards. Then again, maybe not. It's probably really gory.' He shook his head. 'Probably better left to the imagination...'

"Oh, trust me, it's bad." {Magnus says with a chuckle.}
"It's definitely better left to the imagination. Anyway, after exacting her long overdue revenge, well, she kinda had no purpose anymore. So, she just stayed with Dolorus and his cult. Now, under him, she continued to do terrible things. Her whole experience left her numb to empathy and compassion, and without a purpose, she just...gave into the rage. But, despite all this, some semblance of her original self was in there somewhere. Dolorus just did a good job suppressing it. "

'And at some point, she left the cult?' said Armin, watching Magnus out of the corner of his eye to see if he was right. 'Or somebody killed Dolorus? /Something/ must have happened to end it all, or she wouldn't have ended up here.'

(-RR)

(Ignore the signature, I thought I was still on Draco's account.)

{Magnus gives a troubled look. } "Yeah. The events that caused that are...complicated. Fast forward about a thousand years, to the first time we met. I was a freelance mercenary, sent by a king to investigate the rumors of a Necromancer attack on a remote agricultural village. I showed up, a little skeptical at first, but when I saw the state of the place, well...let's just say from that point on, I always gave my employers the benefit of the doubt when they would say some legend or myth showed up to attack them. There were draugrs everywhere. Abominations, centaurs, even a couple of hydras. And the place was completely trashed, bodies littered everywhere."

'What a beautiful picture you're painting,' said Armin sarcastically, before falling silent and waiting for Magnus to continue.

{Magnus chuckles.} "Heheheh, real pretty, right? This was my first introduction to the cult as a whole, and it was the first time they had really revealed themselves to the world. You see, Delilah was sent to attack that village to decimate the kingdom's food supply. Sound familiar? From there, Delilah released that curse of hers upon the surrounding kingdoms. Now, they had no idea what this curse was, and before anyone could figure it out, thousands had died, including all the royalty and old power. Most kingdoms collapsed entirely overnight while others scrambled to keep order over the following weeks. If not for the appearance of the Akhetians, all life in Ferros would have likely been eradicated entirely. At some point, amidst the draugr raids and plagues, we started seeing these...automaton looking things, scouring the land, and fighting with the cult at different places. And with their appearance came the Akhetian Light Weapons, later known as the Sacred Lamps. Those lamps single handedly saved us from extinction; a true godsend."

'So, you never asked the Akhetians for help? They just showed up?' said Armin. 'Well, I guess they wouldn't have wanted the entire land wiped out.'

{Magnus gives a nervous laugh.} "Yeeaaaaahhh,.....Not exactly. Well at first we were all like, 'yeah, we're gonna win!', but then someone went to ask the Akhetians for a formal alliance, and we found out...they're more prejudiced towards organics than humans are to non-humans...They were only there looking for one of their own who apparently left their world to be here, and his...sister? I think that's what he said, but...it's complicated. Anyway, her name is Akhet and she came with all these other Akhetians to find him and bring him home, not save us all. They could give a damn what happened to us, so we all collectively said, 'screw it, those weapons are our best shot at survival' and we devised a plan to steal a good number of these weapons to help us win the war."

Armin shook his head. 'Somehow, stealing magic weapons from a powerful race of automaton-like creatures doesn't sound like a very safe idea to me.'

"It wasn't, but we were on the brink. It was do this or die. So, it succeeded, we got the weapons, but it did piss off the Akhetians, so now, we were intermittently fighting off both factions. We knew we wouldn't last long against both, so we made a desperate push with everything we had left for the Necromancer's mountain. The Akhetians were jerks, but we also knew they were very...indifferent. If we could take those weapons, push up to the Necromancer's mountain fortress and destroy them once and for all, we could return the weapons with no hard feelings. The Akhetians didn't care about us, or revenge, so long as they got their weapons back, we could get off scott free. Back to Dianne, on our way there, something...unexpected happened. Some of our forward scouting parties came back, completely overjoyed. They had captured Delilah and Dolorus' other top commander, Ardens. We were kinda dumbstruck.

Armin turned to eye Magnus. 'Uhm, how? Just who were those scouts?'

(- RR)

"They were just standard scouts. Of course, we had given them light weapons, but there really wasn't anything special about them. Apparently, they had caught them off guard, escorting prisoners somewhere. Or, so we thought. It turned out that they had just defected from the cult, and were bringing their own prisoners to us, to save them from Dolorus. Crazy, right? None of us were willing to believe it, until the prisoners themselves kept telling us exactly that."

'Wait, /Ardens and Delilah/ deserted the cult?'

( Fun fact, due to their back stories being intertwined, some version of Ardens technically exists in this world. But, you'll never see him. Two Necromancers is a little too busted. XD)

"Yeah, we were surprised too. Despite this, some of my men were all like, "Who cares if they switched sides, they're horrible people! We're going to execute them!" Aaaand, que Lucci. So, as it turns out, Lucci is the only Akhetian Royal Ultra powerful enough to create living tissue. Some clarification, Akhetians in general are hyperdimensional beings who create physical forms out of the matter of the universe. Most can only build inorganic forms, hence their automaton-like appearance. Lucci, however, could create a living frame, so he looked just like one of us. So, I'm not sure if anyone's told you this, but this guy is a powerful telepath. Well, he went around, slapping us all on the forehead, transferring memories to all our noggins. Just, they weren't his memories, they were Delilah and Ardens' tragic lives. Well Ardens' wasn't nearly as bad, but we got the point. We discovered that Dolorus would seek out those who were so greatly wronged, and manipulates them to be his pawns. Well, after that, we finally understood the motives of our two worst enemies. I can't speak for the others, but after seeing

*"the sheer look of horror on Mira's face that night, and the pain Delilah felt in the aftermath, I couldn't help but pity her, despite all she's done."

(Yeah, I think having him around would cause a few too many problems. XD)

Armin tilted his head. 'So you forgave her?' he said quietly. 'And this is the reason why Dianne owed Lucci a favour?'

{Magnus screws up his face} "Well...yeah. I don't know exactly how he did it, but Lucci seemed to have completely turned their hearts. If he hadn't, we would have killed them both when we finally made it to the mountain. In the end, it was better this way. I'm not sure we could have pulled it off without their help. But, I digress. Lucci basically not only saved them both, but he also woke them up, in a sense. Made them aware of what they were doing. Those two owe him far more than you and I could really imagine."

'I'm thankful for what he did, then,' said Armin with a hint of amusement. 'Because if Dianne hadn't owed him, she probably wouldn't have helped us beat Sargon's army. It's strange sometimes how one action can lead to so many more things happening.'

{Magnus chuckles.}
"He definitely had that in mind. He's clairvoyant, you know. He can see potential futures, and has likely subtly influenced certain other events throughout history. But, we may never know where he's been and what he's done. Hell, he could have been around here, watching the whole time, and we would never know."

'How long do these Akhetians live, anyway?' said Armin curiously. 'I mean, if Lucci is still around today, then he must be ancient. Or do they never die?'

"Akhetians are...complicated. They're beings of pure energy, similar to spirits, but with vastly different qualities. Any form they take here isn't actually them, it's really just an avatar. So no, they don't have a life span, they can stick around as long as they want. Yes, Lucci is ancient."

'That's pretty interesting,' said Armin. 'Kind of makes me wonder, if they're so powerful, and they have their own world, why do they even care about anything that happens in this world?'

"For the most part, no. Lucci is one of the exceptions. Most of them really don't care about us at all, and look down on us for being mortal. Lucci, on the other hand, seems fond of our world, and will take measures against anything that seeks to end it. Or, in this case, indirectly prevent a catastrophe that isn't an E.L.E., but would have been unfortunate anyway."

'I wonder why,' said Armin thoughtfully. 'If Akhetians in general don't care about us, it seems odd that the most powerful of them all would care.' He leaned back and glanced up at the starry sky, watching an owl flying silently over the city. 'What was this story about, again...? Oh, yeah. We were talking about Dianne's - or Mira's - locket. Is there more to the story?'

"Not really."
{Magnus says while shrugging.}
"The locket belong to her long deceased daughter, who she considers to be her only real family. When this is over, she's going to go visit her crypt to return it, then look for somewhere new to live. Do you have any other questions?"

Armin considered. 'No, I don't think so,' he said after a while. 'But thanks for telling me all of that. It was interesting. And it's nice to know more about why Dianne is, well, Dianne.' He stood up from the wall, and looked around to see if anyone had been listening to their conversation. But it was late at night and the streets were deserted.

{Magnus nods and stands as well.}
"Yeah, no problem. Honestly, if we're going to be a team, I thought we ought to know more about each other. It makes the unit more cohesive. She would have never told anyone that, leaving her behavior to be left to speculation. This way, you at least know why she's so ruthless."

'It's better to know,' Armin agreed. 'And she seems to have gotten better at not killing people. By all rights, she should have destroyed Crowley earlier. And she didn't kill Sargon as soon as we found him - in fact, she wanted to take him back, and /I/ was the one who wanted to kill him there and then.'

{Magnus picks up his guitar and faces Armin again.}
"Yeah, but she has to be careful. If she becomes too angry or emotionally distraught, she starts to slip back into her old way of thinking. Y'know, the whole 'the world sucks and so does everyone in it' mindset. That's what you saw right after she absorbed the curse and went after that werewolf's girlfriend."

'Hopefully that won't happen again,' said Armin. 'The thing with the werewolf's girlfriend was just one incident, and I think she's been being careful not to let that repeat itself.' He glanced around, then started to wander up the street. 'C'mon, let's walk. It's boring sitting in the same spot for hours.'

"Let's."
{Getting up, Magnus follows and plays a gentle tune on his guitar.}
"It's a nice night out, isn't it? And yeah, it seems like she's really trying. I only hope she can keep it together once I'm gone."

'Yeah,' said Armin. He turned a corner and they started to walk down a street lined with small shops on either side. It looked like the kind of place that would be very busy, if only the citizens hadn't all left.

'Do you have any family?' he said curiously after a few moments. 'Anyone waiting for you when you move on to the afterlife?'

"Yeah, actually." {Magnus says, weather a fond smile.}
"My wife, Morgana, and our two kids. Haven't seen them in a very long time. All the more reason to kill Sargon tomorrow. "

'You must be looking forward to reuniting with them all,' said Armin. 'Heh, so you have two kids as well? What were their names?'

"I am. Very much so. My oldest is named Anthony, and his sister, Astrid. They're adults, with families of their own, but I'm sure they'll be happy to see their old man again."

'If you were a good dad, then they will,' said Armin with a slight grin. 'If I die someday, maybe I'll get to see my family again, too. I don't think my daughter remembers me very well; she was only 6 when I... disappeared. But I'm sure it'll be nice for us all to see each other again.'

"I'm certain they would be overjoyed to see you again. That being said, however, life is precious. Don't throw it away without good cause. And yes, I was the best dad."
{Magnus strikes a heroic pose.}
"Sweet rolls all around! Hahaha!"

Armin snorted. 'I'm sure you and your family will have an amazing 'welcome to the afterlife' party when you get there. And no, I wouldn't throw my life away like that. I might see my family again someday, but not yet.'

{Magnus nods.} "Yeah, I'm sure they will. But, until then, I have to make sure Sargon faces his fate. It'll be easy, right?"

(Hey, I have to go somewhere this evening, so the Shacklestone room might be late. I'll still be posted, though.)

(Ok)