Within the halls of the dark lord's palace panic and mayhem was in full swing, "The dark lord is Missing!" seared orc guards on full alert searching up and down the fortress for their master. Meanwhile in the throne room two women, one cald in dark platemail and a black cloak and the other wearing a black mage's dress with dark fur lining stood worried but not visibly panicking, "You're sure you can't locate him?" demanded the woman in platemail.

"I've told you before; there's some kind of high level anti divination magic place over the whole palace, this was clearly planned." snapped the elegant witch, "And aren't you head of the royal guard? Shouldn't you be searching for Maou-sama-"

"Stop calling him that! And I already alerted palace guards and checked those strange metal scrying stones you had installed." The two women continued arguing until they were interrupted by the sound of an armor stand falling over they looked over to see a cloth wrapped man crouching down to pick up a piece of bread he dropped, the man was carrying a large burlap sack over his shoulder and more notable, the dark lord's ornate helmet was tied to his waist.

"Intruder in throne room, they've captured the dark lord!" shouted the captain of the royal guard through a sending stone connected to the whole fortress, the masked man grabbed his bread and ran as the captain gave chase with fury in her eyes. The masked man dodged and weaved past the seared orc soldiers sprinting down the hall, his blood rushing through him, he was almost there, he was almost out of there! As he turned a corner he saw a dead end with one of the few windows in the whole palace, with the horde and the captain right on his tail- oh my, he had never seen her that angry before. Realization and fear moved the masked man back into motion as he ducked the sword swing and dashed for the window, and with one clean jump, he launched himself through the glass pane.

"NO! WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING STANDING AROUND HE'S ESCAPING WITH THE DARK LORD!" the masked man could feel the fury in her voice, it was mixed with a tinge of fear.

Although the masked man had escaped the palace halls, he had forgotten about the dragon and squadrons of imps stationed around the castle. He had also flung himself out the top floor of the castle and was now falling towards the ground rapidly but he had a plan for this. As he dodged and weaved through the imp attacks, even clotheslining them as he was falling, he took out his spell book and as the red dragon blew a gout of flame at him, the masked man cast misty step cleaning avoiding the red hot cloud of death. As he approached the ground he cast feather fall to stop him from crashing into the earth while also putting himself just out the border of the fortress.

As the masked man ran into the decayed forest bordering the palace he looked over his shoulder to see the dragon and the court mage chasing however the combination of casting Haste and Longstrider gave him the speed he need out run their assault. He ran a swiftly as his magic allowed but he couldn’t for long, he could feel the Haste spell wearing off and the mage and dragon were catching up. So the little magic he had left, he cast a spell and for 30 full seconds, the world stopped.

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- - -

As the mage chased the arcane rogue atop her broom she prepared to cast Hold Person on this interloper but right when she began the somatic component of the spell, the masked man vanished. She slowly descended to the ground, her face pale and sunken, as her comrades caught up they collapsed on her knees weeping hands covering her face, the captain hopped off her horse and rushed over to the crestfallen mage ripping her hands away her from her face in angry but her temper softened as she met her eyes. The captain let go of her hands and turned to her soldiers, "Comb the area, find them! Send riders out to all nearby villages to intercept them, we'll rescue our master yet!" As her forces dispersed, she turned back to the weeping mage getting down on one knee, "What happened?"

Through sobbing and sniffles, the mage spoke hoarsely, "th-they were right there, I-I-I was about to c-cast Hold Person, b-but he just vanished, right be-before my eyes." she continued to weep.

The Red Dragon stood there looking down on the two of them, "With the presumed death of my contract holder, I see little reason for my continued stay here. I will be taking my leave now, if you wish to renegotiate, you know how to contact me." With that the great red dragon took to the sky leaving just the two women.

Unable and unwilling to hold it in any longer, collapsing beside her friend and comrade the captain began to weep. The two women wept together mourning the loss of a shared love.

- - -

Breathing heavily and finally safe, the masked man opened the large burlap sack full of food he swiped from the kitchen right before his escape then unwrapped his head revealing a pale skinned elven man with blonde hair and magic tattoo on his forehead, the visage of the dark lord. As Magellan took out an apple and took a bite, he tasted something besides the fruit, the taste of freedom, he savored it despite having no need to. Finishing his victory apple, Magellan emerged from his hiding spot with a sack of food and began moving towards the southwest border where the guild, the last pocket of resistance against the dark empire, took residence.

Snapping back from his emotional high, Magellan heard the approach of a patrol looking for him and his imaginary captor. A quick cast of Invisibility and distracting stone throws allowed him to slip pass toward his destination, pass other patrols in similar fashion by the time his spell ran out he had escaped the majority of patrols but he could easily reach the border before they caught up with them. Reinvigorated by the thought of his new found freedom, Magellan broke into full on sprint towards his objective. He was finally free...

- - - - -

Before the Dark Empire there was The Scion Succession, an empire who kept control not through force of armies but through the direct transfer of knowledge and wisdom from ruler to ruler.

When the current Scion was on their deathbed their heir would use the lost and true version of Life Transference to absorb the thoughts and memories of the target.

It was during the Traitor King's rise and his corruption of the spell that formed that dark empire and brought forth an age of darkness.