"THE EARTHSHAKER PLEDGEBORN MADE THEIR OATH TO NEVER SHOW THEIR FORMS AFTER THE 3RD BLEAKNESS WAS OVER. ELARIA PUSHED BOTH THEM AND HERSELF TOO HARD."

* THE HELLFIRE CHRONICLES, HOLY BOOK OF TRAGSXT.

Grimmor Gaias'son awoke with a start. He looked around his lavish bed, pure white with red drapes held up by obsidian rods.

A giant stained glass painting let in rays of colored light to his right. In front was a gate twice as tall and wide as it needed to be, surrounded by a work desk and a personal desk.

Above him stood a sphere of vines spiraling in on itself. A feminine voice came from the vines. "Breakfast." She said while a few purple grapes fell onto Grimmor's face.

He must have had quite a sour look as Linora, his Pledgeborn, couldn't stop giggling.

Grimmor rose from his bed, bones aching; I guess 45 was no longer considered a young man. He thought to himself. Grimmor put on his regal cloak and crown. A guard knocked at his door, "I'm awake, Ors!" A half grunt, half laugh rang through the door.

After getting ready, Grimmor walked through the gate and met his bodyguard. Ors, he'd refused to do anything other than protect Grimmor since The Hour of Tragedy.

"Aren't you needed in war?" Grimmor asked, jokingly.

"I thought you hated the war, Your Majesty," Ors replied. He knew this would through Grimmor on a rant. Linora giggled as he began.

"I do hate the war, it's been sitting at a standstill for 1000 years! Just get on with life and stop focusing on winning it. And don't call me 'Your Majesty'. I'm no king."

Ors nodded grimly.

"When is the meeting?" The king of Sali asked his guard.

"Um.. 5 minutes from now," Ors replied, as Linora started into a full-blown fit of laughter.

Grimmor sighed before running full speed through the stone halls of the castle, streams of rainbow light flickering around him until he burst into a large meeting room. His advisers sat around a sword-shaped table. Some smiled at him, though most sneered; in his two years as king, he hadn't made many allies.

Grimmor sat at the throne-like chair that cast a shadow so large it enveloped the entire room.

"Well, what is it?"

"I'm sure you've heard of the situation at New Learu City, What is your opinion?"

Grimmor's body tensed, his mind flashing back to a single hour two years ago. The day he became king.

The king shook his head, ridding his mind of the event.

Grimmor looked at his supporters who glanced at him with hopeful eyes. He had to disappoint.

"I hate to agree with my... Political rivals, but we can't attack. It would be a waste of soldiers."

"The right thing can never be a waste, Grimmor," Linora whispered in his ear.

If only he wasn't a coward.

His supporters gave him understanding looks and his less than a small number of adversaries looked as if they'd won a great battle until the meeting ended.

An adviser in a white coat got up and walked over to Grimmor, one of his scholars, Lai.

"I just want to make sure that Linora is still going to come to the experiment tomorrow?"

Grimmor chuckled, "Yes, she wouldn't miss it."

Lai raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Yes; she finds it amusing how you scholars keep trying to reveal her true form. They've had their oath since the war began; nobody is ever going to see an Earthsplitter Plegeborn's true form again."

Lai sighed but in more of a joking manner, "Yes, if only we would let ourselves give up."

Grimmer smiled and left the meeting.

The king of Sali didn't know why he wasn't deposed yet. It had to come eventually.

Oddly, Linora stayed quiet as he walked the halls back to his room. "What is it?" He asked his pledgeborn.

"We have to help New Learu City." She replied meekly.

Grimmor's throat tightened; He was often reminded of his inadequacy, but not from Linora. She used to be his brother's but never seemed to expect Grimmor to be like him, unlike everybody else.

"We can't...It's a waste- it doesn't make sense."

"He's waiting for us, even if he doesn't realize it yet. When he comes back, I don't want to keep him unaided; he'll need us."

What?

"Who?" Grimmor asked.

The floating clump of vines turned towards him, and for a second, he thought he could make out the face of a little girl.

"The True King of Hellfire." She responded as if that explained anything.

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"Hellfire is a myth. A fake 5th arcane to explain Jirath's strength and elevate his faith."

Linora chuckled at him as if he was the child not yet understanding the way the world worked.

Grimmor sighed, giving up on understanding.

He walked into his room and paced around his room, allowing himself to think of that night. The Hour of Tragedy.

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.

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Grimmor stood at his brother's side, the king, Grithor Gaias'son. The King sat on an impossibly large thrown. Ors kneeled on the other side of the seat. In front of them knelt a young man in bronze armor, two guards standing at the gate behind him.

Grithor, stood from his seat, a smile stretched on his face and Linora hovering around his head.

He held his hand out, and Linora dropped his palm and dissolved into a longsword perfectly tailored for Grillmor.

Grimmor looked at the blade and mouthed, "Cut his arms off." A faint giggle ran through his mind.

Grillmor lightly tapped his Devilblade on the young man's shoulders, knighting him. "I herby prounouce you Protecter of Earths!"

"Um, actually, brother, his name is pronounced Aron!" Grimmor called out.

The king tried to look annoyed, but he was grinning, and so was Aron.

The boy jumped around excitedly when the alarm blazed; Sali was being invaded, but how?

Grimmor glanced through the clear glass window that took up most of the wall.

Through the sprawling city's gates, dozens of black horses ridden by warriors in white armor burst through the city.

He turned to face his brother when the guards standing at the gate stepped forward, removing their helmets to reveal a dark-skinned complexion. They were Yjraith.

The women stepped forward. Grimmor recognized her as the queen of Yjraith, Azia Heith. They came to kill Grillmor.

Azia held her hand outward as a gleaming sword appeared in her hands. She killed Aron so fast Grimmor could barely see it.

Grillmor held his blade outward for a few seconds before it turned back into a clump of vines, which then resolved into a scythe.

Ors rushed to the king's side, but Grimmor just stood there, petrified; he was no warrior, What was he going to do?

The second assassin tried to jump the king, but Ors intercepted him.

Grimmor watched the two battles with awe. His brother fought the queen of Yjraith; a conflict between two Devildealing monarchs.

Sparks and blades flew through the air for close to an hour, Grimmor not daring to rise, lest he alert the assassins of him.

The battle stretched on until all the people fighting looked tired and sweaty.

Azia seemingly fell backward and held her blade towards Grithor, seemingly in a defensive posture.

A cold wind blew through the room.

The king was so exhausted that he took the time to take a breath without question.

Five seconds passed.

Azia's blade dissolved into vines that grew in length and width 10 fold, stabbing Grithor in the chest.

Azia pulled back her blade and threw it on the ground. It shriveled into a pile of dead leaves.

The queen charged with a hand pulled back before using it to slam the King of Sali through his own window.

Ors made the mistake of looking at his liege's passing. The second assassin knocked his blade away, where it landed right next to Grimmor, and held his own the Sali soldier's throat.

Without thinking, Grimmor grabbed the sword that had fallen next to him and charged the two assassins. Using the element of surprise, he managed to knock away the second assassin's blade. The two opponents studied him with a surprised gaze as if they truly didn't notice he existed.

Azia used her bare hand to rip away the blade that Grimmor clutched as if his life depended on it, which it most likely did.

A feminine voice rang inside his head, weakly but sternly. It was Linora. "Say the oath! Become an Earthsplitter!"

Of course, Grimmor had heard the words before; his brother had told him many times, but that was irrelevant. The words etched themselves into his soul; he knew them as true as he knew his name.

"I will do what is required of me. Mental and physical weakness be damned!"

Golden mist exploded around him, filling him with power. In his hands appeared a large black scythe, the very same his brother had used mere moments ago.

He pointed the weapon at the intruders. For a miniature moment, he knew how to use the blade like a master, though it quickly burned away.

The Yjraith assassins cursed softly before the second summoned a pair of clouds to carry them away; a newly born Devildealer was much more powerful than they normally are.

The assassins left the palace, leaving Grimmor to pass out on the floor.

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.

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Grimmor sat on his bed, thinking of the events that led him to bond with Linora and become king.

"We have to help him!" His pledgeborn yelled though he could barely hear.

Grimmor turned to face the window, his back to Linora.

"What's the point? I'm a weak coward of a king. I'd be lucky to get a footnote in the history books. Why try to change reality."

A silence hung in the air until Linora spoke, "Grimmor, look at me."

The new king of Sali turned to face his sphere of vines, but it wasn't there. In its place was a little girl in a dress made of flower petals. She had green skin made of vines and long hair made of leaves.

It was her true form. He'd just seen an Earthsplitter pledgeborn's true form.

"There," Linora said softly, "Now, you have to be in the history books."

Grimmor sat there, jaw dropped until an awareness filled him.

"You're right. He doesn't know it yet, but the king of Hellfire needs our help." He didn't know how he knew. He just did.

That day was going be the last that Grimmor would be called the coward king.