The city of Deranel continues to settle after the coming of Yorun and his army, word of what Yorun has done to the Pertaki nobleman has spread however making it so as he walks the streets even if there is a large group of people they all clear the way for him mostly out of fear however there are those amongst them that do so with respect as knowledge of him being Raeknars mortal has spread just as fast. As Yorun continues his simple walk he eventually teleports to Wonakri's office much to the surprise of Wonakri who instinctively grabbed his sword as he shot up from his chair.
"You really shouldn't do that" Wonakri said as he calmed once again
"I'm sorry, I've just come to tell you that for the moment I am heading back to the fortress and that Golanier should still be around should you need to reach me" Yorun said
"Fair enough, I'm sure the High Priest will try and make his way there at some point given his interest but oh well" Wonakri said as he sat back down
"Before I leave though, have your guards outside the walls be more watchful Gaeronaks statue within the temple was watching me, that cannot be a good sign..." Yorun said ominously before teleporting back to the fortress
Yorun walks through the halls of the fortress making his way to the map room where he finds Sunhale.
"Sunhale, I have the new soul and I need you to find out something" Yorun said
"Oh? What's wrong?" Sunhale asked now intrigued
"When I was at the Deranel temple the statue of Gaeronak was staring at me even when I moved it would continue. Being that she is the goddess of war means something is about to happen" Yorun said
"Shit, I'll check in with the spies in Deranel, they'll leave soon and hopefully they won't have taken down the Darkness of Otaper yet" Sunhale said
Sunhale teleported to the Deranel Pira'Kole and is greeted immediately by Fel in the natural elven tongue.
"Hey Sunhale, what brings you back?" Fel asked
"Is the Darkness of Otaper still here?" Sunhale asked quickly and Fel picks up on the fact this is important
"Yes you know where now get there quickly it will be taken away soon" Fel said
Sunhale quickly makes his way to the familiar room and steps up to the platform channelling his magic through the darkness once more.
"In the name of their imperial majesty Isaile and the Necromancer, I request access to the Darkness of Otaper" Sunhale said
"Access... Denied..." The dark mysterious voice from before said
"Wait what?" Sunhale asked confused and slightly scared of what that means
"Find answers... In Otapers embrace..." The voice responded as the darkness grab Sunhale and push him out the room
Fel was outside and saw Sunhale get pushed from the room and she sees the shock on his face.
"Are you alright Sunhale?" Fel asked concerned
"I need a quiet room, is there one here?" Sunhale asked immediately disregarding her question
"Yes just a few rooms down" Fel said
Sunhale walked there at once and when he got to the room he looked inside seeing it was empty and with extra sound proofing within he deems it good and goes in locking the door behind him. He walks to the centre of the room at which point he uses his magic to float as he sits cross legged in the air, he closes his eyes and snuffs out the candles that light the room.
"Great lord of the darkness Otaper, shadowed protector of Woorail, I call to you as a lifetime servant advised to do so by your chosen mortal. Why have I been denied access?" Sunhale asked as his words were cast into the darkness of the room
Sunhale feels a chill from the air as if something had moved fast past him, he cannot feel the presence but knows it's there and knows to keep quiet.
"You call to me and ask the wrong question" Zyrla responds having appeared in the room
"I don't understand" Sunhale said visibly confused
"The ability I gifted your people was gifted to your empire given your strict adherence to the rules I laid out, despite some things your people were most deserving but right now despite your words you are not currently with said people and so you are denied access unless you ask the right question" Zyrla said seriously
Sunhale takes a moment to think on what the right question is but his mind is trying to do it quickly as he doesn't want to chance angering the god before him.
"How do I regain access?" Sunhale asked
"Good enough, I can grant you the magic itself like my chosen unlike the others here you would directly control such things, be able to set up my darkness yourself and give access to others" Zyrla said
"T-that is very generous lord Otaper, what would you want me to do in return for this incredible gift?" Sunhale asked surprised
"Merely continue to aid Raeknars mortal, while Raeknar may believe themself to be alone some of us have long agreed with them, now do you accept?" Zyrla asked
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"Yes lord Otaper, I accept" Sunhale said
"Good but know this, getting a new magic added to your mortal soul is painful" Zyrla said
"That does not matter my lord" Sunhale said
Zyrla then without hesitation changed his right arm to be more of a pointed dark blade and pierced Sunhales soul much to Sunhales shock but the shock is immediately washed away in a tidal wave of pain of which his body begins to react to wanting to curl up into a ball and scream but he is quickly restrained and silenced by the very darkness now being injected into his soul by Zyrla. Sunhales magic has cut off as his soul is tampered with leaving only the darkness controlled by Zyrla to hold him in the air. The dark magical tattoos of which Sunhale has begin to swirl and move across his body guided by Zyrla, the tattoos move across to Sunhales hands and down to his feet but some take their place around his eyes.
"The darkness is taking it's place within you and your soul is being restructured a little to make place for this magic you are not typically meant to have" Zyrla said in an almost uncaring way
Sunhale barely hears Zyrla as the pain is more intense than anything he could possibly experience physically, his vision darkens but it's not due to the pain or the fact he may black out but the darkness introduced to his soul is taking affect in another way. Zyrla then pulls his arm back letting it flow back to its normal barely humanoid form, he sets Sunhale onto the ground.
"Your mind, body and soul will recover shortly, good luck Sunhale" Zyrla said before his body collapsed in on itself to disappear
With Zyrlas disappearance the darkness restraining and silencing him is now gone as well but the screams still cannot be heard due to the soundproofing of the room, an hour of excruciating pain passes as Sunhales soul finishes its alterations and the pain finally recedes. Sunhale gets up his aching body and soul trying to force him back to the ground as he opens the door and shambles out the room, Fel is there and she sees him, she can see the darker features of his hands and eyes with the tattoos around them now and she sees the shadows of the room attached his feet recede back into the room as if they were snipped from his body yet he doesn't even seem to have noticed they were attached or that they are now gone.
"W-what happened in there?" Fel asked confused and concerned
"Otaper gave me a gift... My soul cannot take it right now so do you mind taking me to a room I can rest properly?" Sunhale asked his voice clearly strained from screaming
"Of course" Fel said as she quickly catches him as he falls unconscious
Fel takes Sunhale to a barracks room within the Pira'Kole allowing him to rest properly yet even in his rest his new magic is still active, Fel can see the shadows of the room collecting around the bed he rests on darkening that section of the room. Another hour passes and Sunhale finally wakes again, his body and soul still feeling weak but now he can feel his soul is strong enough again to teleport and so he does teleport back to the fortress forever thankful that he can teleport through the barrier due to him and the others owning the defences. Yorun senses him and goes to him seeing that somethings off he shows concern.
"Sunhale what's wrong?" Yorun asked
"Nothing, I spoke with Otaper and now I have been granted the magic only one other in this world has" Sunhale said clutching his chest
"Welcome to the club" Yorun said jokingly
"I need to get to a spare room, I need to make the Darkness of Otaper here for our use" Sunhale said
"You can do it already?" Yorun asked surprised
"We were all trained on how to do it even if we didn't have the magic necessary as a just in case scenario of Otapers chosen being killed or just dying from age so one of us could take over plus we've seen his chosen do it a lot too" Sunhale said
"Fair enough" Yorun said as he helped Sunhale to a room
Sunhale pushed Yorun back slightly as he snuffed out the lights in the room and though it takes him around 10 minutes darkness covers the room and a perfect platform is created. Sunhale walks up to the platform and reaches his arm out and the shadows grab it, the last time he did this they forcefully grabbed him latching on as if they were animals with their food, this time it gently grasps his arm like a child taking their parents hand. Within the darkness Sunhale can feel recognition and someone watching him.
"Welcome Sunhale" A voice said in the elven tongue and Sunhale recognises it as Zyrlas chosen
"Great Reifal, I hear you so clearly it's unexpected" Sunhale said
"I am Otaper's chosen but giving the ability to access his darkness only gives them enough for the things you are used to but hearing me is not as easy and while I can focus and allow myself to be heard more there are many Pira'koles around the world accessing the darkness I control so I can't speak to everyone clearly even if I needed to" Reifal said
"While I am happy to have this power, I have one question" Sunhale said
"Well go ahead and ask away, I have a feeling it's not about this new magic correct?" Reifal said
"Indeed, I originally sought out the darkness this time because Yorun had seen the human god Gaeronaks statue watching him and given she is the human goddess of war..." Sunhale said cutting himself off at the end
"You don't need to keep up the appearance of multiple pantheons, I more than know this as I have been Otapers chosen for a long time. Anyway if Sareik is watching it would mean something big is about to happen war wise so I'll look into it" Reifal said using the gods elven names as it is still the most familiar between them both
"Knowing about what Sareik knows is all I ask" Sunhale said before pulling his hand back from the darkness disconnecting him
"So, anything?" Yorun asked as he was just sitting there to watching
"I spoke with Otaper or as you'd know him Zyrlas chosen his name is Reifal and he is looking into if there is something going on" Sunhale said
"Good, I heard another name in there too, I think it was Sareik?" Yorun said thinking about it
"The elven equivalent or well as we've come to know just the elven name for Gaeronak" Sunhale said
"Ah fair enough" Yorun said
"I should really give you the tattoos to use this" Sunhale said
"Listen Sunhale this would be a great thing to get access to but you don't need to strain yourself and get everything set up immediately, as it stands you just got this magic and I know how confusing that can be even if these situations are a little different so just go rest but still keep alert for if Reifal tries to contact you" Yorun said
"Right right, thanks Yorun" Sunhale said as he went to go rest again however just as he starts to leave the darkness quickly turns volatile
"Sunhale what's happening!?" Yorun asked confused and worried
"Something bad is happening" Sunhale said as he quickly went up to the platform and extended his arm once more, the darkness calms and grab him again
"Sunhale, it did not take long to find this information Deranel is going to be visited by a part of the Fiernian imperial army as they had been sent to that region to as a result of humans freed from the first battle" Reifal said
"Shit! How large will this force be?" Sunhale asked
"I don't know but it will be large, prepare they will be at Deranel soon" Reifal said
Sunhale disconnected from the darkness and turned to Yorun.
"Get to Deranel with more of the undead reinforce that cities defences, it seems your little intimidation act to the Emperor has caused a large force to be on its way to Deranel" Sunhale said
"Fuck!" Yorun shouted as he quickly left grabbing as many undead as he can and teleports with them to Deranel
Yorun heads to Wonakri's office in a hurry people clearing the way for him once more when Yorun makes his way to the building and into Wonakris office, Wonakri can tell something is wrong.
"What's wrong?" Wonakri asked
"The Emperors forces some of them are coming here and they'll get here soon" Yorun said
The mood dulls as the reality comes down on the both of them, the actual army of the empire is sending some of it's forces here and their only advantage is the fact they likely don't know the city has already fallen...