INTERLUDE – JULIA’S HISTORY
After one night of training Johnny asked how Julia had gotten involved with the Radiant Alliance. After she had mentioned to him about her world being overrun by rift eaters, he asked her about it. At first, she was hesitant to talk about it. As if she were reliving a never-ending nightmare. Johnny realized how sensitive the topic must have been, so he tried to apologize. This got her to get herself back together. When she was composed, she first explained she was sorry the others were giving him the cold shoulder. Life had been hard for them and they'd rather forget the past. Instead she was happy to tell Johnny her story.
“Life was so carefree for me then. I was a princess of a major elven kingdom. Things were peaceful, until an incident had occurred with my brother, who was the crowned prince. My parents should have seen the warning signs that something wasn’t right with my brother. I tried to warn them he was getting into shady business, but were blindsided to how everything in the world was going. Everything was peaceful, too peaceful.”
“Which the Loathing One took advantage of. When a world is way too peaceful with no conflicts, the loathing one has the best chance to strike. Order is so high that little chaos exists. This is how the loathing one was easily able to influence people with power. Even if everything in the world is war free and has no problems, The loathing one will find a way. Worlds like these were the first to fall. Mine happened to be one of those.” She continued.
“I had learned all of this when doing research on what the Alliance had told me and reports I had read. Looking at the telltale signs, I was able to piece it together the day my brother did a dungeon run. That is when things started to go bad before the full outbreak. He was running in a dungeon with some friends. His party just happened to clear the boss’s room and were getting their loot. One of the chests was black and dark in nature. The party decided he would get the claim for the chest for the loot rules they had set. Everyone rotated with a big drop.” Julia paused to think back.
“So, my brother approached the ominous looking chest hoping to get some demonic reward. What he found when he opened the chest was anything but an item. He found a dark glowing purple ring. Inside the chest there was also a small fissure.”
“This report was given to us by one of his surviving party members. Before the world was consumed.”
“Anyways after he acquired the ring my brother's behavior began to change slowly. The next few months he was getting himself involved with cults and shady business. My parents didn’t believe any of this until that one fateful night.“
“My mother was planning to step down as queen that day. Her mobility was slowing down. The healers couldn’t figure out why. We guess the loathing one had to do something with it now, but were not one percent sure. Anyways, my mother had me step up to take her place, with my inauguration ceremony being when the world ended.”
“My brother, being the crowned prince, decided before the ceremony to bring in a cult of followers of the loathing one. A few brought the chest he had gotten the ring from with him in, while the others stayed outside waiting. He planned to use the chest to hide a present for me, but that wasn't the chest's true purpose.”
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“The chest he brought inside with him claimed there waa gift for me in there. I was hesitant to open it. My parents and everyone else at the celebration persuaded me to open it. The pressure to open it was too much, and so I did. That when all hell broke loose.”
:Right as I opened the chest, that is when my brother touched the ring on his finger. The chest exploded at the same time as my brother made a statement.”
“Julia, how could you use dark magic on me and everyone else?” He told everyone.
“That was all he said before turning into a mystic rift eater causing everyone to panic and run. Things only escalated with rhe cultists themselves, who turned into rift eaters as they attacked the castle.
The guards tried everything to stop the chaos to no avail. No weapons could stop the beasts as they slaughtered everyone and anything. I stood there helplessly as I was dragged away by guards to flee to safety. I ended up separated from my mother and father.”
“People we passed were panicking and some even blamed me for the cause.” She paused to think of the haunting voices from her past. People she ran by as she fled with the guards.
“I bet you were the one to force your mother to step down.”
“How…, how could this have happened.”
“Using dark magic on people, how could you Julia…”
Julia took a deep breath to continue her story crying at the painful memory.
“The guards were slain one by one, as they held the beasts back for everyone to escape. I was able to escape thanks to their heroic sacrifice.” Julia began to let out even more tears as Johnny was patting her on the back.
“I was still in the castle when one of my brother’s party members found me. The one who I mentioned earlier. Apparently at the time we didn’t know it. A weapon he was using he had gotten from a dungeon run. It turned out to be a radiant weapon. He was able kill the beasts as we fled.
We tried to find my mom and dad, the king and queen. In the end, there wasn’t much we could do as soon as the castle and everything around it was turning into a void. We barely made it out alive. My dress was torn and covered in rift eater essence as we fled the consumed castle.” Julia by this point was totally distressed from the trauma, shaking.
“Soon my brother, who was a class X mystic rift eater, broke from the castle as he opened more void portals. His party member and I both watched in horror as all sorts of rift eaters poured out of the void. We watched the world turn to nothingness while he stood in front of me wanting to protect me. He slayed every beast that had come to us. Fighting until he was covered with wounds. He ended up dropping the radiant weapon he held. It was the only thing that kept us from being consumed by the void as it kept a glowing circle of protection around us. I could only prey for help as he finally collapsed to the ground. Many rift eaters lunged over at us at once. I could only think this was it closing my eyes.
The attack never came due to a blinding white light. I blinked away the light to see Orion with others from the radiant alliance. They were fighting my brother. I just stood theor in shock. Orion ordered one of his subordinates to take us through a portal he opened. I could only look back seeing the portal slowly closing with the beast my brother had become being gutted. That was the last I saw of my brother.” She paused to try to calm herself, before resuming.
“So, that is how we came to the alliance. My brothers solo party member was able to be saved, but was turned into a partial cyborg. Sadly, he died on a solo mission years ago trying to do an infiltration mission. I do not know what has happened to my brother or family either. I just hope they are in a better place now…” Julia finished her tale sobbing as she rocked back and forth.
The story took more out of her than Johnny thought as he tried to comfort Julia. I’ll never experienced anything like she has, but I’ve seen my fair share of death and destruction.
Johnny decided to leave Julia for the evening as she was now totally worn out from her story. She did thank him before he left on hearing her tale as he walked back to his tent.