curses ➵ schlattbur

prólogo ➵ darkness

it was a dark, dreary night, and the disciples of dream--skeppy, alyssa, callahan, hbomb, and eret--were doing their usual discussions in the depths of the once-crowded mineshafts in the south. they had been dubbed the bloodmines after both opposing factions had almost perished at the same time, fighting for the magnificent ores that flooded the mines. diamonds, emeralds, gold... all of them were lost as opponents turned to using their surroundings as a weapon. lava. it was said that now, anyone who dared stay in the mine overnight had an undeniably dreadful effect on them. it was said that the next time the two factions met there...

something undeniably threatening would strike.

of course, the disciples had nothing to fear--their god would protect them from the oncoming masses, waves even, of terror that could occur. no matter what, they'd stick to their beliefs. dream was the true king of this world... although he rarely ever showed himself. unfortunately, even the two kingdoms of the world were threatened with intense lack of belief. that was why the disciples formed. to protect their faiths together. dream would come one day, and that day... all heaven would break loose.

"meeting agenda, kids!" spoke skeppy, breaking the cold silence that befell the disciples. they turned to him, awaiting his words. no one spoke until their acting leader allowed it. "agenda one: calculate the date of dream's return (for the fifth time). agenda two: discuss the matters of the earthquakes that had befell pogland last week. agenda three: discuss the selling of nether quartz."

"alright," started callahan, before skeppy struck him with his weapon of choice--a book with the words "draem bibble" scribbled crudely on it. callahan jumped, before rubbing his injured, bruised cheek.

"i haven't allowed you to speak yet, bucko." skeppy sharply said. he was grave serious about everything having to do with his fellow disciples. last week, he had a prophecy concerning darkness meeting darkness unless fire combined, and now he wouldn't take anything with humor. it was both irritating and slightly enjoyable to watch him take his beliefs seriously--a little too seriously concerning the situation.

as callahan muttered crude words under his breath, skeppy turned back to his fellow disciples with a cold sigh. "apologies, guys. i've been... really kept up at night because of what's happening. i know this seems common, like something... that normally happens... but i can't help but feel like something bad will happen. im really, really sorry..."

silence.

"...you can talk now."

alyssa was the first to pipe up, her robe slipping off her face and revealing her face. splattered with old blood. she rarely ever cleaned it. "battle scars" she called them. "it's alright, o great leader! i totally understand your worries, aha... i've been a little scared too. regarding agenda one, let's skip that first. you know how long it keeps us waiting. we've been working on it for weeks! as for agenda two... it wasn't just pogland."

"it wasn't?" murmured a quiet, meowing-like voice, as a mysterious man, hbomb, removed his robe. he could easily be mistaken for a cat, one that was a maid, specifically. he shuddered, before sighing loudly. "what happened? was it in emonburg? the neutral territories?"

"emonburg. i saw a fleet of soldiers running from something. something big. one of those tiny little emonburgian bats had grown to gigantic size, and it was growing larger and larger as it attacked them. i've heard rumours that it was never killed, and that it was only chased off, now on the loose in the neutral territories. i can't confirm this, but multiple sources of mine have claimed it only ever touches the borders of pogland, never going into it nor even attacking its citizens."

"if that's true..." skeppy murmured, a cold, empty stare creeping onto his face, "then great forces of magic are at work. forces of magic that even surpass your quick change, hbomb."