Posted by This Bud's for You on August 3, 2000 at 19:03:09:
His first thoughts were of the cold and the darkness, and anger so great he would shake with the effort of keeping it in... Many years ago, a powerful magician named Malrou sought to unlock the magic of a wish. He became obsessed with his search, for decades he poured through ancient arcane volumes. Finally, bent and gnarled with age he stumbled upon a text describing a creature called a Djinn. A powerful being from another plane that was able to grant wishes to whomever controlled it! However, the long years and his obsessive quest had brought Malrou to the brink of madness. He was a gaunt, twisted shadow of the mighty mage he once was. With reckless abandon, he began his preparations to bring a Djinn into his tower, scrawling circles of protection with a shaky gnarled hand. For days he mumbled through the incantations gripped in delirium. And at last, whispering the final phrases a gateway yawned open from which a wind as cold as death roared out. Malrou laughed in insane glee as he danced about his hall, only to stop in awe and horror as the giant form of the creature was pulled through the portal. Malrou had never felt such power, energy as ancient as time rolled of this being in waves, and a darkness swirled all about him. He had summoned Halianthar, a Dao from the plane of Earth. The Djinn howled in anger! Enraged by the insolence of this mortal for summoning him, savagely beating against his prison. The wards crumbled and blew away in the roaring winds. It was said that the battle that ensued lit the skies for miles around... ...and nearby a young woman burdened with child stared in wonder at the pyrotechnics in the heavens... When the dust cleared, Halianthar, bloodied yet triumphant stood over Malrou. The mage was somehow still alive, yet a withered husk of flesh, only the madness in his eyes burned fervently. Yet, choked with blood Malrou still claimed his wish with his last breath, "I wish us to be one, Forever...". Halianthar's grin turned to wide-eyed disgust and then terror as he realized what was happening. His life force was melding with the dying mage's! He could feel himself unraveling, his mind drifting as images of Malrou's life blurred into his. Burning away the last of his magic, he sought a vessel for himself in desperation, yet bound by a wish, the essence of Malrou followed... ...a sudden pain seized Maurelia as she gazed into the lights, and suddenly a hot flash exploded in her. Hotter than any flame, yet colder than the grave, the pain wracked her body as she gripped her belly trying to protect her unborn child. She felt the change happen inside her, the weight of the energies becoming one in the baby. That night Maurelia journeyed far into the wilderness, abandoning home and husband. She traveled with a sense of urgency. Her child was growing rapidly, somehow "wanting" to be born. Three days later she stumbled to the steps of the Midwife's dwelling. The next morning she gazed at her child: a giant for a baby, with skin the color of ashen stone. Her last thoughts were of pride and madness yet love as well, as she held her baby and she breathed her last breath. ** I'm guessing I can take it pretty much anywhere from here, but most likely spin it towards Battleragers..maybe**