When Legends Fall

Prologue

10,000 Years Ago

My nine famous words were spoken to a stone-hard face, though I knew it would be trembling soon enough, "My name is Faer, and I am your death."

Revan sneered, greasy face contorting,"You don't know what you're getting yourself into, do you?" He waved a hand, summoning legions of wraiths behind him, beings of flickering shadow from the outskirts of the Netherworld. I stood undaunted, snarling and taking a step forward, "You don't know what you're getting yourself into!" His legions shifted forward, sensing a fight brewing. "I am Faer, Lord of Fire, Conqueror of Darkness, Breaker of the Proud! I toppled the fortress of Da'oul in Glokte, I assasinated the king of Kraet, and I have shattered men greater than you in a heartbeat! I have slain demons, expelled angels, and tread paths others swoon in fright to think of!" I sensed a moment of hesitation, and smiled a wide, maniacal smile and repeated myself, "My name is Faer, and I am your death."

He took a step back, drawing a heavy blade from a short sheath on his hip. There was no valiant call or signal of charge, he merely mentally ordered his wraiths to attack without fanfare. I stood back, admiring the convulsing mass of shadow approaching with a feral hiss, and drew within myself, closing my eyes. Three seconds later and I opened them, perfectly calm and collected. They were a bright, burning orange.

I leapt with a roar, wave upon wave of searing flame rolling off of me into the army. Before it even reached them, the superheated air began to cook them, giving off the sickly smell of burning leather. In one fell swoop, half of the army was taken out.

I was just getting started.

Revan approached, his thick sword probing the air in front of me. I drew one of mine, flaming, from its scabbard, and held it out as if fencing. He came forward swinging, and I tossed my sword to the ground, ducked under his blade and bopped him lightly on the forehead. Angrily, he growled, spine arching in pain as he summoned more wraiths. I took a step back in muted surprise as thousands appeared in front of me, a bare fifty feet away.

Without further response I sent a rush of heat to my left hand, and steam began to seep out of the pores. It glowed a furious white, and I slashed it towards Revan. He raised his sword to block, but my hand cut clean through it, leaving him wielding a worthless heated shard. He gulped, pulling a long knife from his boot and brandishing it like a longsword. He shuffled backward, toward the safety of his legions, but in his stupor fell over a small boulder, dropping his knife and scampering towards what would've been safety... If he would've made it.

"Spare me," he choked, "please." Pitiful, I thought. The last words uttered from the throat of a legend.

I reached down, and grabbed him by his collar, dragging him up to eye level. I spoke to him low, like a lover in the dark, "This isn't a story. Heroes with mercy are quickly choked by the weeds of reality." I held my heated hand up to his face, waving it around a little bit, letting him get a good look at it before plunging it into his skull. It was a quick death, and better than he deserved, but I had more pressing matters at hand. Spinning, I faced the army quickly approaching. Slamming both fists into the ground, I poured my energy into lines around my person. An intricate rune scorched into the ground, magma rising to fill deep crevices, pulling something very dangerous from a dark, dark place. I got a slight headache at the release of so much power, and my arms went painfully numb, but that was the least of my worries. Rising quickly from the ground was a twisting mass of magma and flame. I focused on the contract made with my Summoner's Bane and the pool of heat rose more steadily, warding off the wraiths that were no more than ten feet in front of me. It formed into a thirty-foot-tall hulking golem of fire. I shouted to my army of assailants, "You can call him Death, courtesy of what he will bring to your kind." They were, as typical, silent. I tore back the black hood of my cloak, exposing my bright-red hair. With a chink of metal, I loosed the knives connected to the finely-linked black chain wound around my wrists, letting them hang. I smiled at my assailants. "I can hardly wait to get started."