Author: Amadaeus
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Quick Recap of Last Episode (the Prologue): Two brothers were exiled from the Circle of the Thorns after mysteriously awakening from the influence of the arcane cult. After narrowly escaping Oranbega with their lives the older brother, Amadaeus, was killed by his younger brother, Gilthanis, as he was lying wounded and dying at the hands of several curses from the Circle.
Chapter 1:
Rebirth
Amadaeus awoke as the morning sun shined through his window. Panic struck as the events of last night came rushing back in full force.
Why aren’t I dead? he wondered. I was blind but now I can see, my pain is gone, I feel better then I ever have in my life. What’s going…? Then it struck him. Gilthanis’s project last night! Could he have..?
He bolted upright in the bed he found himself in and frantically looked around the room for his brother but found no one. He called out for him but no one answered. Then in a flash of bright light, Gilthanis materialized in front of him, looking completely calm and collected, as if the events of last night had never taken place.
Then to his surprise, Amadaeus noticed that his brother wasn’t wearing his robes from the night before. In fact, his new clothes looked to be in perfect condition, if a few sizes too big. Forgetting for a moment the strangeness of the situation, a smile crawled along his lips as he looked at his brother’s childlike appearance. Then the gravity of the situation hit him once more and all that faded away. Then, as if just noticing he was there, Gilthanis looked at him very intently, as if waiting for something. Then his eyes softened and, much to Amadaeus’s relief, he spoke.
“Ah good, you’re finally awake.” And for the first time since they were children, Amadaeus saw his brother smile. Taken aback for a moment, all he found himself able to do was to just stare blankly at him. Then it was back to business.
“Brother, what happened last night? I should be dead and you should be running for your life!” Then he thought for a second more, “What did I feel last night, just before I died? …did you kill me?”
With this last question Gilthanis’s eyes showed a flicker of sadness before returning to normal. Then his smile slowly faded and he sat beside Amadaeus on the bed, looking off into the world beyond their window. Amadaeus could tell his brother was thinking hard, so he didn’t interrupt him. Then he turned to face him and looked him up and down, once again as if seeing him for the first time.
“What are you looking a—” he was about to say, then Gilthanis cut him off.
“Yes,” he answered. “I was the one that killed you. I had to do it to save you.” Again, his eyes flickered with emotion. He had to fight harder this time, but he composed himself again and stood up. “Stay here. All that I can answer will be answered when I get back.” With that he walked to another room. While waiting for his brother, Amadaeus decided to take in his surroundings.
It was an old, brick building. Its conditions were reminiscent of a war zone. The windows had no glass, and when they did it was in shards. There was not a whole wall to be seen, most of them being partially knocked down, leaving mounds of dust and brick and mortar in their stead. The door frames were either empty or held a door hanging on a hinge or two. The bed he was sitting on was a simple metallic frame with springs jutting out of a torn up mattress that lay on top of it. The only other room left standing was the one his brother had just disappeared into. He couldn’t see it clearly, but he guessed it was in no better condition. Then he looked back, and through the windows he could see outside.
Its environment blended perfectly with the condition of the house. Garbage mounds littered the scene, with small fires scattered across the landscape. People were wandering, seemingly with no purpose other then to pick a fight with the other wanderers. After a moment he noticed that the people weren’t normal. Something was wrong with their eyes…
Amadaeus’s concentration was broken when a loud, metallic squeaking sound crept closer and invaded his thoughts. Gilthanis appeared from the other room, pushing something large hidden under a black cloth so covered in dust it looked white at first glance.
“Amadaeus, forgive me. This was the best I could do.” And with that, he whipped off the cloth to reveal a full-length mirror, a fog of dust trailing after the cloth. As Gilthanis wheeled it around to point it at his brother, Amadaeus just sat on his bed and gazed in astonishment.
The reflection he saw in this mirror was not his own. It was the image of a stone man. It had the form and features of a human being, but even those were not his own. It was thickly built and stood at a massive height. It must have been about 8 feet tall, though it was hard to tell while he remained seated. He stood up to judge his new body better and nearly hit his head on the ceiling. Gilthanis shifted its angle to acclimate his brother’s change in position. This new perspective revealed two curved, pointed horns that framed the sides of Amadaeus’s face. Upon closer inspection he noticed the many designs drawn across his body. They were drawn in various colors, but were all dim and difficult to see at first. Finally, he noticed the blood-stain on his chest. It was in the shape of a hand.
“Gil…what am I looking at here? Are these resurrection markings? No…transport glyphs?” He fell back onto the bed and with a loud crash, the heavily rusted frame snapped in two. He tried for a moment to understand what was happening as his brother watched him. A feeling of great relief seemed to overcome him as he heard Amadaeus speak.
“Alright, stop me if I’m wrong,” he started. “When I was lying on that tree dying last night, you were making this body. That must have been that “little” project I half-saw you working on. This bloodstain, if I’m not mistaken, is my own blood and palm print. But one thing still bugs me. Well, actually two things.”
“First: how did you know how to do all this? Not even father dared to tamper with such advanced arts and the Circle sure as hell didn’t teach us something like this.” He seemed almost amused by the question and fished in one of his many pockets from his oversized jeans. He pulled out a small, old book and tossed it on the bed. The depiction of the scythed Death was on its cover, headed by the word that roughly translated simply into Death in the dead language of the text. Then a pouch full of colored paints and brushes landed next to it, and he looked back at Gilthanis questioningly. With a sigh, Gilthanis began to explain.
“Let’s just say I did a little independent study. That book contains various ways to inflict, stop, or otherwise manipulate death. I used a method of Spirit Binding to move your soul into this body I made last night. The vessel itself is in the likeness of the old god, Ganeon. You have been granted a fraction of his powers, as I have turned you into an avatar of sorts.”
“Alright, I guess that makes sense for the most part. Though, don’t avatars normally exist without souls of their own? I thought they shared a fraction of their patron god’s soul.”
“You’re quite right, my brother. I considered this as well and was admittedly afraid of the result of transferring your soul into this body. Much to my relief, and I’m sure yours as well, the ritual seems to have been a success. I will warn you, however, that as a price of this ritual we both have lost all recollection of prior spells we learned up to this point. I’ve been up all night learning what I know now so I could protect us from those contaminated thugs outside. As it turns out, however, that wasn’t needed in the end.” Once he said this Amadaeus noticed the bags under his brother’s eyes and the overall signs of exhaustion exhibited from his entire body.
“So, what does this mean for my powers, then? You mentioned that I got a fraction of my god’s powers so…what did I get?
“To put it simply, your patron god is nearly invulnerable, his physical strength is tremendous, and he has unmatched control over earth. Some accounts even mentioned him taking on the attributes of his surroundings. You have but a fraction of these powers, but even incomplete these are powerful assets. I believe, putting your acts of last night into consideration, that I chose suitable abilities for you.” His lips cracked into a smirk at this remark. Memories of using his body as a shield for his brother flooded into Amadaeus’s mind. He returned his brothers smirk and nodded approvingly. Then something came to him.
“Brother, I have another question for you.” He didn’t reply, but Amadaeus knew by the way his brother was looking at him that he was listening. “Did you really have to kill me?” And with that, an awkward silence fell over the brothers.
After a few moments, a sound Amadaeus hadn’t heard since his childhood flooded his ears and made him jump in surprise: He was laughing. Gilthanis, his brother, was laughing for the first time since before their fathers tutelage began. At this Amadaeus couldn’t help but join in. For what felt like forever they kept laughing out all the pains, worries, and confusion of recent events in a fit of dark humor.
Once their laughing finally subsided, Amadaeus posed one last question to his brother.
“What did you mean before, when you said that your new abilities weren’t needed to keep us safe?”
At this Gilthanis merely pointed behind his back, through a window. Beyond the nearly empty window frame, Amadaeus noticed a woman standing there, keeping watch. She had short, red hair and wore a partly transparent costume with bands of solid green stretching across like a spider web, offering what little barrier between her and the world that the costume provided. At this sight Amadaeus heaved a great, exaggerated sigh and flung himself backwards onto the bed. More snaps were heard and a loud bang signaled the bed’s submission underneath the bulk of his massive stone body. At the sound, the woman turned around and looked in the room. She turned to Gilthanis and he nodded to her, then her gaze turned back to Amadaeus and she smiled widely. At this, Amadaeus immediately sat back up.
“Gil, you do realize how utterly ridiculous this all is, right? Just in case you don’t, let me recap, shall I?”
“In a fraction of a second last night our world was turned upside down. Right became wrong and lord knows what right is now. We both nearly died at the hands of our former brothers-in-arms. I actually did die, and by your hands no less, but that was just so I can live. But not in my own body, naturally, but as an avatar for an old war god who reigns over dirt. And you’d think it would stop there but oh no, not with us. Now that morning has come I’m not dead, you’re not hurt, and we both have new powers, but not before losing our old ones. And on top of all that, we’re now being watched over by Sister Psyche, whom before we would have considered one of our greatest adversaries, and not out of hostility, but out of protection. Oh, and let’s not forget that we still have no idea what the hell caused all this in the first place!” After a frustrated sigh Amadaeus flung himself back onto the broken bed.
Gilthanis only smirked at this. “I guess we now know who our true friends are.”
“Heh, guess so.”
“Uh, sorry to break up this tender moment here guys, but just because you don’t have orders to follow anymore doesn’t mean I don’t. I was asked by Statesman to bring you two to see him immediately after you woke up…Amadaeus, was it?” It was Sister Psyche. She floated through the window and was now standing at Amadaeus’s bedside.
“Yeah, that’s me. But…how exactly does he know about this already?”
“Err…yeah…I’ll explain on the way. So if you boys wouldn’t mind, you were sleeping for quite a while and States is getting impatient.” She wore an apologetic look and motioned to the empty door frame.
“Yes, I apologize for the delay.” Gilthanis, standing by the door frame, motioned for his brother to hurry up. Amadaeus hurriedly stood up and made it outside, but not without making a few holes in the rotting wood floor of the broken house.
“This is going to take some getting used to,” he said still wearing a slightly confused look, as if he was still letting it all sink in.
“Alright boys, you ready?” Last came Sister Psyche, holding her nose and waving the air in front of her.
“It’s a shame the Contaminated are so easy to deal with, this place stinks. I’d have preferred to stick you guys somewhere else, but Statesman said Outbreak would be the safest place since not much happens here. Can’t really argue with that, so I didn’t have much choice. Anyway, 3, 2, 1…and we’re off!”
With that the three of them lifted into the air and were propelled by unseen forces on their way to a location unknown to the brother.
Amadaeus turned his head to look at the heroine. “Sounds to me like this Statesman of yours keeps you guys on a pretty tight leash.”
At this Gilthanis heaved a sigh. “Brother, why do you have to do that? However, he does have a point,” he turned to face Sister Psyche as well, “ For being the Champion of Freedom, Statesman doesn’t seem like he acknowledges viewpoints that oppose his own. From what I overheard of your conversation, you weren’t very willing to read my mind last night, but he told you to do it regardless.”
She was taken aback by this, looking at the brothers with an embarrassed expression on her face. “So you heard that last night, huh?”
“The room was right across the hall. I heard every word.”
Her face turned red at this comment and she became slightly flustered. Amadaeus on the other hand, looked very confused and kept looking back and forth between his brother and the heroine.
“Statesman can be a little…overbearing at times, yes. But I trust his judgment. He’s older then he looks, ya know.” This was a lackluster attempt to defend Statesman’s ego and the brothers knew it. Despite their obvious differences, the brothers were actually more similar then most siblings, normal or super-powered. They exchanged unconvinced looks between each other, and then something occurred to Amadaeus.
“Speaking of last night, is anyone going to tell me what happened or do I have to keep guessing about it?”
Glad to change the subject, Sister Psyche answered his question without hesitation.
“Alright, alright. I’ll explain everything. Stop me if you get confused.”
“Last night me and the rest of the Freedom Phalanx was tipped off that the Circle of the Thorns had something big planned for sometime in the near future. To try and keep as ahead of the game as possible, I tried scanning the minds of any members of the Circle outside of Oranbega that could tell me something about it. Positron recently made a device to amplify my psychic energies, so we figured that was the perfect time to test it. Problem is, it boosted me too much and I lost control for a sec. So when I did what was planned as a mind sweep of the area over Oranbega, what I ended up doing was more of a widespread mindwipe over, and apparently under, that entire area. Because I was concentrating on finding the information about their plans, I guess that’s what got wiped from their memories, because I couldn’t find anything even remotely relating to it after the fact. To be honest, we’re not really sure why you two got off so easily. Must have just been lucky I guess.”
At this she smiled an awkward smile and shrugged, then continued.
“Anyway, after all that happened they must have blamed it on you two since you weren’t as effected, because when I went to survey the area for damages, I stumbled across you two lying unconscious. I brought you two to the hospital, and waited for the PPD to arrive. Once your brother woke up, he explained everything to me and I relayed the message to the others. To make sure he was telling the truth, Statesman made…I read his mind. Once that was over with I moved you both to that house back in Outbreak. Your brother and I were trying to make sense of the whole thing, but I had to leave for a while to help the Phalanx with other troubles in the city. He must have worked pretty hard to protect you while I was gone though, because he was up all night watching over you and teaching himself new spells. I brought him a change of clothes and guarded you two all night.”
“Let’s see…that’s about it. Oh look, we’re here!”
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