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The Oracle and the Soothsayers peered through the fire until the hours of the night come ever closer, begging them to end their sightless gaze and remember that sleep is only going to become their enemy. Thought after the Soothsayers returned to their own places, the Oracle was still very much awake in the dead of night, looking into the embers of the dying flames in his chamber. "There is a darkness" he said to himself, eyes desperately searching the glowing charcoal "and i can sense it claiming more of our sight from us each day..." he turned away, as if he couldn't stand looking at the fire any more.

Coming to a window he looked out at the meadows and mountains surrounding him, Zakernand was his to keep as sanctuary for any and all living things, a safe resting place for all the dead that have passed from our world and gone on to the next. But as the chilling breeze passed through the trees outside he couldn't help but look over the horizon and peer into the stars, worried in case they go out - one by one.

In the distance he could here the rumble of an oncoming storm, far to the north dark clouds were indeed taking the stars ever-so slowly. Thunder trembled quietly above the horizon as he peered further out his open window to get a better look. But returning inside, shaking the storm aside like it was a nuisance to his intense concentration, he found himself standing before the embers once more. Tightening his grip around his staff he hovered the dragon's mouth over the flames and muttered some words of power to himself as the blue light seeped into the charcoal and re-kindled the flames.

But they reacted to his searches, the flames did not want him to see, did not what him to uncover the truth and instead the flames snuffed out suddenly, and the charcoal burst from it's resting place in a screech. The Oracle stumbled back, raising his Yin Yang palm to the sooty explosion with trembling wide eyes.

"Truth is clouded from us" he said quietly under his breath, horror crawling over his face.

Darkness is Coming part 4: Darkness has Fallen

((For more excitement and atmosphere, listen to this whilst reading! If it times well with the lines, then let chills take your spine! :3))

The Lands of Occulas were enjoying an impeccable time of peace, but during this luxurious time small occurrences behind the scenes have risen. Talk of Royalty at Asmodius has thrown a knife into the works of the Guildeam, and The Land of Crows has just overcome its greatest threat for over 400 years. Yet... there is a darkness growing in the north...

There was a great hall, fathoms high and fathoms long, wider than several buses lined up against each other. It was mainly dark with braziers lighting the walls between each high window lined with iron bars. Columns held the ceiling from falling down to ruin, and in the centre of the great hall was a giant well with a bea, of silvery blue light. It was dusty to the touch, but the light living through it seemed unchanged by any interference. This was known as the edge of the world, that the Unbound have cared for for so many years. They were mysterious men that shared little and knew untold knowledge. Several of them, in fact, were standing within the hall, some others outside in the corridors looking after important rooms. They wore pale greeny-yellow robes with a golden stripe on its edge and down it's middle on back and front. The sleeves were long and wider at the ends, the hood hung low to there eye brows and was wide at the bottom.

One of them came from the nearby corridor and said "There has been a distress signal from the Jewel Shrine, brothers". The half-dozen that stood around the Edge of the World looked behind them and stared at Oglen, as he raised up the steps towards the well. One of the younger Unbound then asked quietly "Do you know what the cause is?" with bated breath. Oglen stepped before the well's wall and looked down into the abyssal blackness that sunk deep into the world from the source of the magical tear. For a time that felt like minutes slowly crawling by, Maric thought that maybe Oglen knew something so sinister that he did not want to say. The man shook his head without breaking sight down the well, however, and no one replied to him for some moments. Everyone in the room had the same feeling as Maric, not knowing what had been such a threat to the Jewel Shrine is was far more effective at causing fear. It was like a ghost in the middle of the night, always there, watching you whilst you sleep - and you know it's there too! - but you can't do anything to stop it.

"You have all done well, I think that for know you should all rest" Oglen then said, raising his head to look between each of the Unbound standing before him. They were a group of younger men and women that had shown the morals to learn and prove skill in the hopes of one day caring for Worlds End just as Oglen had done for many years. Maric was one of these young people, and as the others said nothing without queston and began heading for the exit of the room, Maric stopped beside Oglen. "I feel uneasy, Oglen. What happens when the the distress signal is made?" his voice was weary, he felt nervous, something like this happening at the other side of the Lands of Occulas might as well have been a murderer on the road next to your home. Oglen watched with narrowed brows as the others got closer to the glowing archway, dim braziers from down the corridor kept it faintly lit. Giving Maric only a fraction of his attention he answered the young man with "The Guildeam answers - after that. No one knows."
"Why is that?" Maric asked, mouth barely closed with the suspence. Oglen pulled down his hood and looked slightly to Maric's direction and replied "Because it has never happened before".

Maric was unsure how to feel, the enigma surrounding what had happened at the Jewel Shrine was swirling around his mind in a jumbled mess, is someone trying to get the jewels... have they already taken them? What on Magic Earth could happen if someone did? Oglen then said his final goodbyes to the young Unbound students with "Make sure you all rest well tonight... and safely! But most of all you should all -" he stopped talking. Maric's chest suddenly felt tight, something was wrong, the entire time Oglen never stopped staring up that bleak corridor. It was like he really did know something they didn't.

The lights in the corridor blew out, Maric could see the cold blue embers giving off the faintest of glows whilst, from deep down the corridor came a tall and slender figure. And then Oglen finished his sentence... "Run". Run? Maric thought quickly, his eyes darting from the corridor and his master beside him He wanted to askw hat he meant, his ehart was beating too fast, was it here?! He wasn't ready for this, they were as ready as any of the other Unbound were... Where are they? he then realised before he saw the figure appear into the dim twilight of the room. The other Unbound students suddenly took a step back and raised their arms to hold an imaginary pole, materialising from golden flecks of light came intricately decorated glaives with round, misty sapphire in the hilt below the blade at it's tip. Maric looked back to Oglen for some sort of sign, something to tell him what he should do but all he saw was his master clutching and materialising his own golden blade with the same misty sapphire crystal in it's hilt.

Maric swiftly followed and brandished his own glaive, the figure was now fully visible, it was grotesque with four arms, a ribcage and skull with demonic horns and a spine that crept down to the ground and replaced it's legs for appendages to move. It was like a ghostly snake put together with blood and pieces of flesh that somehow still functioned beneath a charred outer-layer. There was silence in the room, but Oglen could barely manage to murmer a single word with a jaw-dropping expression across his face. He said "... Lucifial". The skeletal demon then angled its head down slightly as if to acknowledge his name had been spoken, and then unfolded his four arms to reveal nothing else but the Black Jewel embedded in his chest and four fingers to each hand tipped with razor sharp claws.

And then two students who were closest lunged for the demon, but they weren't fast enough. Maric saw as the demon's hands thrust through their throats and the slender claws erupted from the other side with a fountain of blood that splattered behind them onto the floor. Lucifial's other arms then grabbed the dead's heads and flung the bodies across the room like rag dolls. Olgen pushed Maric aside as he almost stumbled down the steps next to him, balanced and looked up with wide eyes as Oglen charged forwards with his sword raised up, but half way Lucifial had already beaten - all of them. Extending his spine to stand taller, like a snake that wanted to scare off unwanted predators, two hands cupped the jewel in his chest and the other two arms reached low to his sides as a burst of energy exploded from within him. Maric felt the burst as Oglen was forced to the ground with a tumble and metallic clang of his sword on the stone floor. At the same time the floor was crawling with a shadowy aura that crawled like hands were attempting to grab at it's victims. Meanwhile all the surviving students dropped their weapons and began to scream in terror as their minds were filled with their worst fears, filled with lies, memories of betrayal and visions of their loved ones dying, visions of themselves dying and being put through their worst possible imagination. Before the darkness could crawl up to Oglen and Maric, the aged master held the sword up with his hand forcing the tip forwards. It was being used as a shield as the crystal glowed and emitted a white aura that leapt from the sword and tried it's ebst to eat the darkness before it coudl reach them. "Maric!" he shouted amongst the screams of Lucifial's victims, "Go" he said, Maric at his side and darting his gaze between Lucifial, his brothers and Oglen. "You must prepare the Oracle!!!" he shouted with gritted teeth as the power thrust upon him got stronger. But Maric was distracted, he dared to look at the gruesome image on the other side of Olgen's magic, and amongst the darkness, between them and the Lord of Betrayal were his then-screaming brothers falling silent. As their heads coward he thoguht perhaps it was over, but then one of them staggered near to him, and with the flick of Lucifial's hand they flung their arms from their ears and their chest erupted with energy. Their screams were now groans of agony as their soul was torn from their bodies, it hovered above them as the darkness crawled up their bodies in an instant. He could still hear them, begging for mercy, wanting to return to their bodies, but the darkness overwhelmed them and like a disease their souls turned black on contact with the shadows - and just as quickly as they lost their souls, they regained them. Through their mouths they were force-fed their own tainted soul and each and every one of them dropped to the floor in a few moments of absolute and utter destruction.

Maric began to tremble, his brothers, he could no longer feel them, not at all, they were dead yet they still reached and scratched at the floors as if they were alive. Lucifial's magic ended and he began to come towards them, but Maric had to grab Oglen's shoulder and pulled him whilt begging "You're coming with me!"
"No! I can't leave the Edge of the World!" he rejected, pushing Maric aside as he tried to step forwards with his sword but Maric pulled him back again whilst ordering "You'll die and you know it!". It only took Oglen one look for the briefest of moments into his student's eyes to know that it was true, and he knew he couldn't follow what must have happened to the other Unbound through out the monastery of World's End. In one final act of defence his thrust his sword down into the ground, and a bright spark of light lit up the room for a moment as a wall of white glowing aura stopped Lucifial and his brainwashed servants from crawling right to the foot of the well as Maric and Oglen ran for their lives before spiralling out of existence in a glimmer of swirling magic that bent the world around their bodies. Lucifial only had to touch the wall after a moments thought to step right through, the aura hissed around his body before it, too, was utterly decimated. The sword Oglen once bared followed suit as it flung across the room into the darker recesses of the hall. Lucifial then hovered up the steps to the Edge of the World and stared into the light that beamed up high and into the magical glass ceiling that stopped the beam reaching up into the skies.

Then one of the half-dead students who resisted the demon's power raised his pale face and said "They will... end this...". To which the demon could only looked over his bony shoulder whilst one of his limbs took the black Jewel from his chest and said "Lies never end". And then one of the other students thrust his glaive into the boy's head as it exploded into fragments across the bloodstained floor, like china plate crashing to the floor. Lucifial lifted the jewel from his hand as it floated into the air and swirled calmly, dark smoke trailing behind it as it got closer and closer to the End of the World, the redness inside of it glowing brighter and brighter until it finally aligned with the beam of light and roared like thunder. In that moment a crash of glass could be heard as a beam of bloody darkness erupted through the ceiling and into the sky, setting off a storm like no other to set-off Lucifial's reign of darkness.

__________________________

Maric and Oglen barely made it to the Temple of dreams, being so weak from what they ahd just experienced. Maric being imperfect in the magic of teleportation, even just being a passenger of the kind Oglen used to transport them, made it so they arrived at the temple a matter of unspeakable hours after the events that occured at World's End. They stumbled to the ground shortly behind the Oracle, who still stood by the double doors to the roof of the temple. He had just closed teh doors as his Soothsayers quickly made way through the entrance of the Oracle's halla nd into the lower levels of the temple to continue their revelations with strict effort. The Oracle was still wet and pale with fear from seeing the vision he summoned of Lucifial, it was his image from the Burning Invasion that few remembered. He hated to think what image he adorned now. "Oracle!" Oglen wheezed as he got to his feet, Maric getting up quickly after him.

"Darkness has fallen."

Well well well, haven't you all surprised yourselves? You managed to spare the world from the burnings Hells... and came out of it alive - well done Occulians.

And so it came to pass that Lucifial and En'radial were defeated by the combined efforts of mortals across the lands of Magic Earth. Darkness has been lifted and the truth has been revealed, leading to a grande, golden sunlight passing through the lands after being concealed by shadows for weeks. Cities have been sieged, many have died but it will take no time to rebuild and mend what has been done! En'radial's assault was countered on the harsh terrain of Bloodholme and the armies of hell have either been destroyed or sent back to their demonic realm before Hell's Gate could be reopened once more. But more importantly, in some beings eyes... the Heavens were spared from being ruled by a tyrant. And on a side note - the Underworld is free once more, the souls of the dead may rest in peace and be governed by the Reaper of Souls again. With En'radial's soul locked within the Crimson Jewel, and Lucifial's locked away within the Black Jewel, the Injustira Syndicate shall rebuild and refortify the Jewel Tower, making it harder than ever to infiltrate to assure not a single Jewel is ever used again, and that the souls of the Greater Demons remain hidden!

And this is not all... With the end of the Darkness came new wonders. Weeks have passed and the guilds have recovered, yet they have a strange NEW ally. Places most affected by Lucifial were burned, incinerated by powerful flames not seen for hundreds and hundreds of years... Dragon Flame. They come from a mystical land known as Otherearth, bringing their masters - the Aether. A mystical and ancient race, the first to walk Magic Earth and the first to flee Occulas before our civilisations took hold. But they are not alone, in their lands they fight their own war against the Verdant, and they have allies of their own... Elves.. Orcs... Therians... But you'll all have to wait for the next Expansion. **chuckles devilishly**

HELLO

Okay, first off, i know at this moment in time we are not a large number of members, but I cannot thank you all enough for being a part of this plot. Particular thanks to the active members including TunaDishcosplayer, Nemo Noctum and Pyrochill! You've all been a part of this,a nd im actually very excited to have finished it (or coming to finish it in some slower threads). As for anyone else readong this, HAZZAR a plot a year in the making is over! World-wide effects will be loosening and smaller plots that only take place between character groups will begin happening. For a long time now i will not be making (or trying not to make) any large plots that incorperate the Guildeam and other large powers of Occulas or Zakernand or the Land of Crows. It will also be some time that we'll ever have Jewels be a main part of the story. I do this in the hopes of character progression and just some nice time to chillax and do smaller, more detailed things in lore-heavy areas or with characters you enjoy, or in teh cities, or just take quests from Valla and kill monsters beyond your dreams! It will make everything a bit generic, but there'll be a long more freedom. However, i know speak of my next exciting update.

THE LANDS OF OCCULAS 2.0: OTHEREARTH

I initially wanted to release this expansion this time alst year would you believe! However, after getting busy, and revamping the guild and creating a timeline and map and filling all kinds of lore-wise things in, it got put behind! But very soon I shall be releasing it, including a new map, a new land, new races and lore and a passive battle going on in the background of Otherearth! Watch this space for me to announce the official release date of Occulas 2.0! I'm very excited and I hope you are too! Please, tell your friends, keep the guild alive!

Many thanks, to everyone

Zylvanness - Guild Captain