Chapter 1 – New Arrivals

“Aetex! Watch out!” Knox called as a dark figure blurred and appeared before him. He didn’t seem to notice or care, instead he began speaking with the figure and neither attacked.

“Freddrick, see to Ramses and keep him safe,” he said, jumping from the wall and using Ethereal Step to appear on the ground unharmed from the fall. He needed to know what was being said and why a new army had appeared.

Was this the cumulation of the dark oozes and the attacks of the darkness infused girl? There was no telling, so he would get his answers. He felt confident approaching, despite the ever growing mass of troops, because Aetex left off a power that trumped any of the dark figures own.

Knox’s sense had been confused at first, taking in the mass of energy from them all and assuming that it was an individual power level, but as he got closer he felt that these people weren’t as powerful as he’d first assumed. The one speaking with Aetex had power, that much was for sure, but she was more around Knox’s level and not quite Aetex’s own.

“And here he is now, allow him to speak for himself, but I can assure you he is a man of honor,” Aetex was saying as I approached. Knox truly saw her for the first time as he approached and his jaw hung open a measure.

As the first light of dawn began to paint the horizon with hues of gold and crimson, the figure of a female stood in stark contrast to any other elf Knox had encountered. Her obsidian skin caught the early light, creating an ethereal shimmer that contrasted sharply with the darkness from which she stepped. The sun's nascent rays played upon her white hair, turning it into a radiant halo around her, while her striking purple eyes absorbed the burgeoning light, reflecting it back with a luminous intensity that seemed almost otherworldly.

She stood for a moment considering Knox and allowing the first touch of sunlight to caress her face—a rarity for one of her kind he assumed as she’d literally come from under the ground. The rising sun cast long shadows that danced around her, mirroring the complex interplay of darkness and light that defined her existence. With a grace that belied her formidable presence, she stepped fully into the light, her gaze fixed on Knox, a regal power seeming to surge within her.

“You speak for your people?” She asked, her words were understandable, but she had an odd ascent that Knox hadn’t encountered before.

“I do,” Knox said, his own Mystic Armor shining blue light in contrast to her own armor that seemed to pull the very light around her into itself.

“I seek audience with a Titan and have brought my people here to ask for asylum against the dark one,” she said, then seeming to remember something she added, “My name is Sintra’reah T’sarran, but please call me Sintra.”

“I am Knox Trelling, Titan of the Light, are you telling me you are here for asylum and not to attack us?” I asked, a weight ready to release upon hearing her words.

“We’ve risked life and limb to find one such as you, our home is no longer safe for our kind, the dark one, the Titan of Darkness, seeks to subjugate not only our kingdom but the surface as well. I come for asylum, but also with a warning. Her influence has reached the surface and even now she plays for power. Will you aid us in throwing her down and ending her reign of evil?”

“Of course we will,” Aetex answered before Knox even had time to fully process what had been said.

“I’m willing to hear you out, but if you aren’t attacking, then I suggest you gather your people together and come inside,” Knox said, far less worried about them as he scanned them individually with his sense. There were injured and weak among them as much as our own.

“Very well,” Sintra said, she turned and signaled to her people, some two or three hundred if Knox had to guess.

Knox walked ahead of the group with Aetex at his side.

“You missed the entire battle,” Knox said, eyeing the large man and wondering where he’d been.

“I had my own role to play,” Aetex said as if that settled the matter. “Besides, you defeated your foe and drove out the undead, the last bit was a mystery to me, I was on my way to aid you with them, but our visitors arrived the moment I did.”

“Where were you?” Knox asked, not wanting to let him out of it so easily. “I needed you.”

“These folk needed me more,” Aetex said. “They’d found a few enemies below that they couldn’t handle, so I intervened.”

“Did you know they were friendly?” Knox asked, shutting his eyes in frustration for a moment.

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Aetex smiled down at him. “I’d hoped, and speeding along their surfacing would have brought them here in time to help deal with the army we fought, it is my great pleasure that they did not need to fight, as they are much weakened from the magics they had to employ and their long journey.”

“We will talk about this more later,” Knox said as they made it to the broken gate and entered Luminar, the Titan Complex.

***

Knox spoke with Ahtora King, who left in peace and the promise of trade, his people had received minimal losses and they took their dead with them. He tried to get them to stay longer, but they insisted that they must withdraw back to the waters from whence they came. It was all for the better, as Knox had his own dead to deal with, they’d lost dozens of men and women in the fight, perhaps even a hundred, but it was hard to tell with so many undead corpses to worry about.

Knox gathered together all those he felt should have a say in the matter and summoned forth the dark elf Sintra.

“Tell us of your journey and why you left to the surface?” Knox asked. He was more curious to learn about a civilization that lived within the ground and obviously had access to levels and such, but he would take things slow and for the benefit of everyone, start from the beginning.

“I will tell my tale, and in return I hope you will assist me in my quest,” Sintra said, launching into her story from the beginning.

They called themselves Noctrae, which she said roughly meant ‘walkers of the night’. They lived deep within the caverns of the dark underground and there she ruled as a princess to her people. However some two hundred years ago, her people were very long lived, a force known as the dark one began to influence the people of the Noctrae into worshiping her. She told them she was a Titan of old and their sacrifices were necessary to grow her power.

Her people took this in stride, giving this powerful being much of what it asked for, until the Queen of her people was requested as sacrifice some ten years back. This caused a civil war between those loyal to the crown and those loyal to the Titan of Darkness. It ended with the Queens death and a small force of her loyal followers fleeing to the surface for help. They’d heard word of an ancient Artifact that could magnify power beyond that of its wielders wildest dreams, however it is said to only be able to be wielded by another Titan. So they followed the signs towards the surface and for some ten years they’d searched.

Now they’d found Knox and wanted his help to find this device which they called, the Aura Prism.

“I’ve heard of such a device,” Draven said, interrupting the tale. “How you know of it is beyond me, this is a matter I should speak to you privately.” He said, narrowing his gaze on Knox.

“Follow me,” Knox said, grabbing the man by the shoulder and taking him to a side room. “Speak quickly, what is so secretive that you can’t say in front of everyone.”

Draven looked conflicted suddenly, as if perhaps he should have said anything to begin with. “I’ve said too much already,” he said, rubbing at the back of his neck. “But if my guess is right you’ve a right to know.”

“Then tell me,” Knox said.

“The device she calls the Aura Prism, we call the Aurorapex,” he said. “It has been guarded by my family for many generations. My family holds the seat of power in Lumisar, the city state in which your mother is our High Magi. I know more than I ought to, but in this situation my prying ears have done you a favor.”

“I know all this, well most of it,” Knox said, shaking his head.

“What you don’t know is that your mother is key in suppressing the power of the Aurorapex. We fear the day our true ruler would return, so we hide the power. You see, once the Aurorapex is claimed, with it comes the throne of Lumisar. Though we exist within another kingdom, our city-state has always been separate. Should we crown a new king it would most certainly mean war.”

“I’m going to share all this information with the others,” Knox said flatly. Draven sighed but seemed resigned to the information getting out.

I returned and shared what I’d learned, Draven left the meeting, offering no new information.

“And we are to just trust these new comers and get aboard with their quest?” One of the Elder’s asked, voicing a concern Knox already shared.

“We will consider it, but the safety and rebuilding of Luminar comes first, before all other considerations,” Knox said. “With that in mind, let us speak of supplies.”

The meeting turned to more pressing matters and Sintra listened without interrupting.

***

“We need to talk,” Dernal said, pulling Knox aside at the end of the meeting. Everyone knew what they needed to do, much of it involved cleaning and repairing work along with the maintenance golems, but Knox had no specific task assigned to him, besides caring for Ramses.

“About what?” Knox asked, walking to the guest cabin that had been set aside for Ramses. Dernal walked along with him, seemingly uncaring in what direction they went.

“Your mother hired me to protect you, you should not return to Lumisar, for you will share her fate if you do,” Dernal said.

His words stopped Knox dead in his tracks, and he looked at him with steel in his eyes. Did he just admit to being hired by his mother?

“You knew how much I yearned to know of her, you knew how much I wanted to be like her,” Knox said, his words much quieter than he meant them to be, but so fierce were the tangle of emotions going through him that he couldn’t even.

“I went against her wishes after I got to know you, she implored me to keep you out of the life, but I knew how much it meant to you,” Dernal said, clearly disclosing this was having an effect on him, but Knox didn’t care.

“You,” Knox said, tears coming to his eyes as he regarded his old friend. “How could you?”

“Without me you’d never had walked this path and taken on the power you have now,” Dernal said, heat entering his voice. “I wish now that I’d followed your mother’s warnings. You’d be safe, we’d all likely be safe.”

His words stung and suddenly Knox felt himself withdrawing. He could do whatever he pleased, what did it matter to Knox anymore? He had a greater mission to accomplish now and he would see it through to the end. His people would be safe, even if that meant he had to go to Lumisar and put himself in harms way.

“I can’t right now,” Knox said, turning and dismissing Dernal with a look. The short man didn’t resist, instead he hung his head and turned to walk the other direction.

Of all the people Knox thought might betray him, never had it occurred to him that Dernal could be the one.