In the dead of night, the sound of horses galloping through the dense fog under the moonlit sky was filling the silence of the hills. Atop those horses was the Warrior King's mighty legion, the knights of Aria, soon approaching the battlefield, leading the charge in the distance was King Ren who had arrived at the top of the hill and had stopped for a short moment to observe the army of Oniros.

Piercing sounds started flying through the air, countless arrows from the enemy were blocking the moon's light from high up in the sky. Without a second thought, Ren pulled his horse's reins and after it stood up on its hind legs for a moment it started charging down before his army had even made it to the top of the hill. Ren unsheathed two swords from his holsters preparing for slaughter, while his horse Ekel maneuvered around any arrows about to land in their way, he was the fastest steed in his kingdom after all, bolting down the hill like a lightning carrying his King into the fray. 

King Ren was a vicious fighter who had been in countless battles, no living soul who knew his name would dare fight him on even terms. Meanwhile his army had just arrived at the top of the hill, many would fall from the arrow storm that was still raining upon them, those who didn't, started to rush down the hill to join their King. Ren had already made his way behind enemy lines, rending flesh left and right with his skilled swordsmanship, his blank expression would soon contort into a twisted smile as he jumped off Ekel in the middle of the enemy forces. The maddening taint of battle called to him like never before, Oniros's knights felt like prey even though they outnumbered the King greatly. Wasting no time the King told Ekel to go back and join his forces to which the steed immediately complied. Ren's knights had just made contact with the enemy frontlines when a growling roar was heard coming from up in the sky.

For a mere moment everyone looked up to see the Everlasting King of Dragons Oniros flying in the cover of darkness, his wings beating with the song of battle, Oniros started firing bolts of thunder, smiting anyone who was unlucky enough to be in its way, be it his own army or the Warrior King's. While panic was surrounding Ren, he remained calm and seized the opportunity to cleave through the terrified soldiers, with each beat of his heart he would strike, when suddenly a sharp pain made his eyes go wide as he noticed a thunder bolt had pierced his left shoulder almost severing his left arm clean off. 

Unable now to hold two swords, he lets his left one slide off his grasp and hit the ground as he turns around to see Oniros descending from the sky, approaching him. The knights along with Oniros forces had been decimated from this intense battle, only few remained who scrambled for cover. 

Warrior King Ren and the Everlasting King of Dragons Oniros, these two were the mightiest to remain and locked horns in combat, but there would be no victor, after that fight both Kings were nowhere to be found, and in that night, shards of the two Kings' souls were spread throughout the Kingdoms, but by whom and why.

With time new Kings and Warriors arose to rule the lands and fight for power and control. The first two of the soul shards had finally found worthy vessels, the first of which found its way to a prisoner in a place where magic was banned, the Kingdom of Oel. That prisoner was the formidable witch Aida who almost destroyed the entire Kingdom in an act of revenge. One day a bright light appeared before her, whispering and drawing her closer. She accepted the lights proposal and as soon as she did a surge of power like nothing she had felt before flowed through her, it was so powerful it gave her the strength to break free of the chains that kept her magic under control and so she became Aida the Unshackled. 

The second shard from the souls traveled to the edges of the lands, in the ruins of an ancient city named Ledora where the legendary knights of the void had fallen in a historic battle against the lesser God Oras. The bright light illuminated the ruins making the earth rumble violently, and from it's depths the once buried bodies of the knights, rose once more brandishing their pitch black full body metal armor that brought fear to the heart of anyone who crossed their path, and now they walked the earth once more as the dreadful knights of the void.

Meanwhile Oniros soul was contained in just one shard, it possessed the body of a young girl from a poor village named Nora, the soul was so powerful it corrupted Nora until madness took over, and ultimately it would result in her burning down her village killing everyone and scorching the entire place to ashes.

Free now from her shackles and with a new unbound power Aida freed all the other prisoners and rounded them up. 

"Oel was not built on a dream" she said, 

"Oel was built on a lie, all those noble ideals and promises of a brighter future, they were never meant for the likes of us" she paused for a moment and saw the pain in everyone's faces that were looking directly at her before continuing. 

"We have been stripped of our freedom, our dignity, our very lives", getting visibly angrier she continued. 

"I see a world without lords or peasants, where every citizen is a king, where those who keep us in chains... Have their power ripped from their grasp”

So rise up! Brothers and sisters, whatever they bring we will match it, crush the oppressors, claim your birthright... And burn their kingdom to the ground!".

Roaring screams echoed through the prison before the once imprisoned mages spilled out on the streets of Oel and finished what Aida started many years ago by turning the kingdom to ashes and dust.

It was now time for her to set off on a journey to do what she promised to the light. Her quest was to find a strong enough vessel for Ren’s soul, and then she would aid him in his efforts to put an end to Oniros. And in return Ren would bring back her husband who was brutally tortured and killed for practicing magic, by the people of Oel. 

As for the knights of the void, brutal and war hungry as they were, they lived by their own code of honor and pledged their loyalty to the light to assist in the war that had yet to come, in the meanwhile though, their deal with the light was another priority, which they were more than happy to take, oh and what a deal it was. They were to hunt down the lesser God who once bested them in combat and take away his shard from the rune of death, only this time with the light’s power they were sure to win.

Guided by the light Aida found herself at the outskirts of a scorched village, the same village Nora burned down. She discovered traces of the magic that was used to incinerate that place, but something felt wrong, that magic... It was familiar, with nothing else to go on she continued investigating and when there was nothing else left, Aida left the village with a concerned expression on her face, following the residuals of magic left behind, she had to find out who was responsible for that desolation.

Under a tree far away from the village, laying down in its shade was Nora, now woken up by the resonating sounds of wild animals through the forest, she rubbed her eyes and looked around feeling confused. She had regained her senses and was wondering if what happened the previous night was a dream, interrupted by a whisper that could only be coming from inside her own head, she heard "They will call me villain…Come… Let me earn their hatred… Again… And forever…".

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On the other side of the land, the knights of the void had found their way before a temple that was festering with tiny creatures called Herins. They had a small wooden torso and long wooden limbs with sharp thorns that appeared deceptively weak but could pierce through bone and flesh like butter. The painful reality though was that they couldn't even scratch the armor of the knights and would fall without any effort to their bloodthirsty anger for revenge. 

Those armors were crafted by the brilliant dwarf blacksmith Sepos thousands of years ago from a strange meteorite that had landed in their home, Ledora. Anyone who wore that armor gained eternal youth. Though still mortal, the armor was indestructible, preventing their host from taking any damage from physical blows, rumor has it though that whoever puts it on, will be consumed by the emptiness of the void and become a empty shell of their former selves. 

In that fateful night the lesser God Oras would draw his last breath after being defeated and humiliated by the legion of the void. With the lights power whenever a knight would fall in combat it would only be temporary, for he would rise back up, overwhelming Oras's power with their brute force. The lesser God's final words were "Thy kind are all of piece, mindless pillagers, you have no idea who the person you are serving really is”, but this would fall on deaf ears. 

The shard of the rune of death was now in their possession, torn away from the Elders God's body, and with that they got what they wanted out of their deal, and it was time to keep their end of the bargain. Satisfied and guided by the light they headed towards the witch's current whereabouts.

Aida stood in front of 2 huge open gate doors, "They lead here" she whispered to herself, as if talking to the light before making her way inside the city gates, everything seemed oddly quiet, there were obvious signs that people lived there like carts full of fruit and vegetables and taverns with lights on, but there was no one out in the streets. Starting to feel uneasy she tried to calm herself down and paced around calling out "Is anyone here!". Aida hadn't realized but a thick fog had enveloped her feet that was quickly rising up, panicking as she ran towards a tower and started going up the stairs leading to the top. The light's usual guidance was awfully quiet since she entered the city, she thought to herself, "This can't be a good sign". 

When she arrived at the top of the tower she noticed a little kid whimpering on the far wall, she started rushing to see if it was hurt when she froze midway and her eyes almost bulged out of her sockets. "It's you" Aida said, "You are the one who burned down the village".

Nora weeping turned around and got up to face Aida, "Please, stop us" she said before letting out a blood curdling scream that made the witch cover her ears with both her hands and fall to her knees. From the body of the young girl a deep guttural voice started talking. 

"You are here".

"Leave her alone!" Aida screamed .

"Why don't you stop pretending now Ren and come out... last time we were interrupted".

The witch's expression became blank as she stood up before a different voice started saying "I'm not like you". 

Oniros laughed loudly, "You can't pretend, brother, don’t you remember the story of Death".

"There was once a pale man with dark hair who was very lonely. All things must meet this man, so they shunned him. Instead of hurting them, one day he took an axe and split himself in two, right, down, the middle, that way he would always have a friend. Does this ring any bells, Ren? Or are part of those memories carried by Ekel. I understand that after I left, you took a shard from the rune of Death, the same one the axe was made of and repeated the same mistake".

"Oniros, the only mistake here is you, once Ekel arrives this will be the last time we meet".

"I am as much a part of you as you are a part of me dear brother, it is not my fault for being the way I am, If I have no goodness left it is because it was taken from me, stolen. I am an unholy copy of life, unlike you and Ekel. He is not here to protect you now, that little trick he pulled back there was unexpected, moments away from ending you he intervened with his foolish spells, even he knew you were about to die so he chose to sacrifice his body and free his soul and since all three of us are the one and the same, the spell had an interesting outcome I must say".

"It doesn't have to end like this, but you are giving us no choice, you broke the balance after you joined the Void. Death has no master".

"Once in noble battle, we screamed against the silence, we stood as light against the darkness. Now... I serve a new master. Whether you like it or not, we are not Death anymore and I am not coming back"

The witch came back to her senses and quickly looked around, she had heard the entire conversation, she couldn't do anything but listen and watch when Ren was in control, but now she couldn't feel his presence inside her anymore, instead it was coming from the stairs of the tower. Slow heavy metallic footsteps made their way out in the open. Arriving up the stairs were the knights of the void, now possessed by both Ekel and Ren.

"Hypocrite" Oniros mumbled under his breath

"You plan to use the void to defeat me, you are even worse than I thought", the young girl's body started shaking as she raised up her arms and with a violent scream weaved a great fireball that turned the tower to rubble. 

Aida, heavily injured, was freed from the rubble by the knights, as they were regrouping, a scream burst through the air from far away.

"Destiny awaits, I am Oniros, I am the world ender! Follow me into destruction, insects. The world has come! I will hack and chop and cleave and sunder the filth of your forms".

And from every house and building in the city, men, women and children with bloodshot eyes rushed out into the streets screaming and going for the witch and the knights.

"There are no humans left, they are all, flesh hungry beasts now" Ekel's voice whispered from one of the knights armors.

The knights wasted not a single moment and launched into battle without hesitation, hacking away at the bodies of the innocent people while Aida stood behind watching it unravel, even though she knew they were not human, even though she had killed before, this just felt wrong. Seeing them playing with the lives of others who had nothing to do with any of it, she couldn't be a part of that, she had to find a way to stop it.

The witch looked at her injuries and understood she wasn't long for this world, she gathered what strength she had and right before she started chanting she felt a presence, so familiar, so comfortable and full of love, she whispered, "You were at my side all along... We will be reunited soon enough..."  

Before Aida had the chance to continue, a pleasing warm air breezed through her and into the battlefield, it filled her with strength and it stopped the knights slaughter, for now the people that remained regained their senses and started fleeing away, leaving only Oniros and the knights in a pile of bodies.

"Whether I live or die, I will make sure to end you" said Oniros directed at Aida.

"You are not gonna touch her" said Ren's voice from one of the knight's armor as they started clashing with Oniros. 

As fate would have it, unfortunately the fight was in favor of Oniros as he could quickly deal away with the knights, knocking them down one by one without effort, even if they got up again it didn't matter much, the magic cracked through their armor and slowly one by one they started falling, never to get up again.

Soon only two knights remained, the ones possessed by Ekel and Ren, worn down and tired, they had no choice but to keep fighting. 

The reason Oniros possessed Nora and the reason Ren guided Aida to that village was because they both knew that that child was a descendant of Argo, a maiden who was beloved by the Sun and Nora had inherited the most powerful magic in the world, Sunfire.

Oniros knocked down Ekel for a moment and quickly fired a piercing ray of Sunshine right in the middle of his chest to finish him off. Crying out for his brother Ren lost all composure and he too got knocked down by Oniros, now crawling towards his brother, not paying attention to the rain of sun bolts coming down on him, completely shredding his armor and piercing his body. He did not care whether he lived or died anymore, his only wish was to hold Ekel one last time.

From the cold dead ground beneath Nora, suddenly dark chains sprouted and entombed her body restricting all movement, for this was responsible none other than Aida, those chains were enhanced with her life force, making them extremely potent for she was a very powerful witch herself, but if they broke… she would die. 

"Now!" cried out the witch as she was struggling to stay conscious from the great strain this spell was putting on her, and with this, Ren used all of his strength to stand up and equipped with nothing but the rune of death in his hand he rushed to Nora and just before the chains that held her body restrained broke, he managed to get a drop of her blood on the runeshard.

After all was said and done, the people of that city slowly started coming out of hiding to see if the fighting really ended. Surrounded by the countless bodies only one remained alive, Nora, and in her hand she held the rune of death and in that rune of death Oniros, Ren and the soul of their brother Ekel had finally reunited as one. Nora kept staring intently at the shard, and she thought to herself "You made yourself a weapon so you do not have to feel, but you are not a weapon. I will be your friend, Death".

Nora walked over to Aida's lifeless body, "I wish to thank Aida for her sacrifice but she is not with us anymore, she is finally reunited with her husband too". 

"I hope she is at peace now…".

"It's all finally over…".

Nora turned around looking at the city, and then looked up in the sky "Do me a favor will you".

"All I ask for is..."

THE END