S
Sorcon Gartius
Guest
Origins of Sorcon
Prologue
“An anomaly hung above the Trinsic swamps on that cool autumn evening.” The elderly gentlemen rocked in his chair sitting on the steps of his log cabin. He lit up his old pipe before continuing to speak. “Some called it a blood moon, but around these parts they call it a Chaos Moon. Have you ever seen a Chaos Moon?” A captive audience of children listened to the old man speak. Surrounding him were children from many generations of the Gartius’ family.
Not one child knew what a Chaos Moon was, and likely they never would. “A Chaos Moon only appears in the skies of Sosaria once every thousand years.” Said the old man before placing the tip of his pipe into his mouth and drawing an oversized portion of tobacco into his mouth, and then exhaling slowly.
As the words of the old man resonated in their heads, a young boy by the name of Reid finally spoke up, “What does it look like?”
The old man smiled before responding. “It is as crimson as the blood in your veins. The sky itself seems to bleed when it appears. I’ve only seen one in my lifetime, and it was the night that Sorcon was born.”
Smoke again rose from his pipe as he chuckled a bit. The children tried to make sense of what he was saying. Every one of them knew the story of Sorcon… He was the most famous Gartius to ever live, and all of their families had talked about him as though he was some sort of deity.
An arrogant boy leaning against the railing quickly grew impatient with the pace of the tale. “Well are you going to tell us the story or not?”
The old man squinted a bit, his white hair glistening in the moonlight. “Of course, of course… Now where was I? Oh yes, the Chaos Moon.”
Chapter 1: Life and Death
The fair haired young woman ran through the Trinsic Swamps, her feet sticking in the mud with each step she took through the muck. In the distance she could see the light of a small cabin, and behind her she could hear the footsteps of the lizardmen. Their breathing was heavy as they clamored through the swamps with iron spears clutched in their razor sharp claws.
“Vek va la Relk” One screamed into the night, ordering his companions forward after the fresh human meat that had wandered into their den.
The young woman clutched her stomach as another contraction gripped her with pain. She turned her attention towards the light as she rushed towards it. “Please just let me get there…”
Her words came hard through heavy breaths as she dug her feet into the mud with all of her might, tired legs and strained muscles resisting as she took each step. She knew the lizardmen were closing in, and as she broke from the edge of the swamp onto the clean grass, she began to scream. “Help! Help me please! Someone!”.
The words echoed into the night and she hoped they alerted someone within that cabin, and had not simply drawn the lizardmen to her location faster. As she approached the cabin, the doors opened and a man stepped out into the night air. “Who goes there?”
The young woman continued to push her tired muscles forward as she answered “Help me, please! Lizardmen!” Her feet finally hit the first step of the cabin and she fell to her knees at his feet. Within moments a half dozen lizardmen rushed into the clearing surrounding the cabin.
“Curses woman, you have brought the whole tribe down on my family!” Reid Gartius was no hero, but he knew his way around a bow string and as he notched the first arrow and listened to it sail into the night, he called for his wife. “Gayle! Get out here!”
The portly woman scurried out of the house as fast as a her pudgy frame would take her, quickly responding to her husbands call. “Reid? What’s going on?”
Reid let another arrow fly, catching his second lizardman victim square in the left eye, tearing the membranes from the impact and imbedding deep into his brain. The lizardmen fell and the four remaining began to retreat. Reid looked to his wife and pointed at the young woman who was still on her knees at his feet, now clutching her ankle.
“Well I declare, what have we here?” Gayle asked, finally noticing the ‘guest’ on their porch. Gayle helped the woman to her feet and into the cabin, balancing the woman’s weight. Gayle immediately notices that the woman is with child. Gayle helps the woman immediately to the first bedroom on the right. “Ok dear, rest on this bed and let me take a look at your ankle.”
The young woman dropped down on the firm mattress and Gayle immediately dropped to a knee and brushed away the already hardening mud from the young woman’s feet. “What’s your name dear girl?”
“Miranda” she replied, before another contraction gripped her and she fell back, clutching her stomach.
Gayle turned her attention away from the swollen and obviously sprained ankle, taking notice of the woman’s other condition. “How far apart are your contractions?”
Miranda tried to remember but she could not, only able to shake her head and breath from the pain.
“You’re in labor” Gayle remarked.
Miranda nodded in agreement hurriedly and Gayle stood to her feet. Gayle moved the legs of Miranda around so that she could be completely flat on the bed. Gayle then propped up the woman’s feet, taking notice of the blood splatter on the women’s undergarments.
“Are you injured?” Gayle quickly tore away the woman’s dress, revealing a puncture wound near her ribs. Gayle screamed for her husband. “Reid! Reid! Come quick!”
Reid rushed into the room, hearing is wife’s screams and fearing the worst. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
Gayle could only point silently at Miranda’s wound as Miranda seemed to slip in and out of consciousness. Reid’s stroked his face with grave concern evident in his eyes. Reid turned away and shook his head silently as he spoke quietly. “If that wound struck the child…”
Reid’s voice trails off… He finally speaks again. “We are not equipped to handle this. We need a doctor.”
Gayle nodded, but deep down she knew that the chances of finding a doctor quick enough to save mother and child would be impossible. Gayle reaches and places her hand on the neck of Miranda and shakes her head sadly. “Her pulse is fading, Reid… She’s dying.”
Deep down, Gayle knew what she had to do. Reid knew it too, but neither of them wanted to vocalize it. “Please leave the room Reid…” said Gayle to her spouse.
Reid closed his eyes and shook his head in disagreement with his wife’s decision, but he knew that he could not bear witness to what was to come. Before the two had married, Gayle had been a practicing adept Necromancer. As soon as he is outside of her view, she immediately begins to incant a spell that will transfer the life force from mother to child. “Ean Monxa Un”.
Reid watches the lightning crackle around his cabin, and he can feel the dread of dark magic. As the sense of dread increased, he stepped outside his cabin and watched with sheer disbelief as the moon itself seemed to become coated in crimson blood. “A Chaos Moon?” he asked quietly to himself.
Inside the house, Gayle’s eyes turned black, coated with the vileness of her former profession. She felt the life drain from Miranda’s body, and as soon as she sucked in her last breath, Miranda began casting a reanimation spell, which would only momentarily bring Miranda back to life. “Seyz Fona Rua”.
Reid felt his own spirit weakening as Gayle sucked the life force out of everything around her. He watched the grass around the cabin die, and suddenly a bat fell dead on the ground, haplessly flying by at the time of the casting and becoming caught up in the web of death. Reid grasped a railing as the entire cabin seemed to shake and the moon violently shook in his vision. “This isn’t right… GAYLE! STOP!”
Reid’s words were unheard as Gayle continued to her ritual, bringing Miranda back to life and mentally commanding her new ghoul to ‘Push’. Miranda pushed with all of her might, obeying only the commands of Gayle, her master in undeath. Miranda pushed without hesitation, pushing so hard that it would have literally killed a living being. Her muscles strained and ripped with the pressure, and the muscles in her birthing canal exploded from the unnatural effort.
“PUSH” Gayle commanded.
Even in death, the ghoul felt pain, screaming out with an unholy, unnatural scream that made the hairs on Reid’s arm stand up. He felt the evil around him subside as he heard crying in the distance and knew the child was born.
Gayle lifted the child up, snipping the umbilical cord with her fingernail which grew into a knife from a simple spell. Gayle stood to her feet, reaching into a nearby closet and pulling a blanket with which to wrap the child. Gayle freed her undead servant, allowing her to once again enter the afterlife.
Miranda felt her life once again slipping away… She reached out desperately for her child, the very reason she was alive. Gayle caught her eye and placed the baby in her arms and Miranda briefly whispered “My baby… Sorcon” before death’s embrace once again carried her into eternity. Gayle retrieved the child from Miranda’s arms before they fell limp.
Reid slowly pushed his way into the room, still staggering from weak knees. His own life force had been partially drained from the spell. One look at the baby boy cradled in his wife’s arms changed his entire perception. “He’s beautiful” Reid remarked.
Gayle nodded, clutching the baby close.
“What shall we call him?” asked Reid.
Gayle pondered the question for a moment before replying. “Before his mother died, she called him… Sorcon.”
Reid nodded. “That is a most peculiar name, but if it was her dying with then Sorcon it is… Sorcon… Gartius?” Reid contemplated giving the child his last name, thinking of the consequences.
Gayle could barely hide her excitement at the prospect. “If you think about it, we don’t get many visitors out this way. Your family hasn’t visited in how many months? We could pull it off… They wouldn’t know it wasn’t a baby of our own. We’ve tried so hard to have children… Maybe this is a gift, Reid.” Gayle smiled, looking at her husband.
“Maybe it is, Gayle” he replied. “Maybe it is. Certainly no one else can look after the child. We would have to take him to an orphanage in Trinsic.”
“Oh that wouldn’t be right” Gayle remarked, shaking her head in disagreement at his comment.
Reid laughed. “No, I guess it wouldn’t be right considering you killed his mother and all.”
Gayle’s expression grows dark, staring at her husband who quickly waves his hands in apology. “I would never have used the dark arts if there was another choice” she fires off.
“I know, my love” says Reid, nodding in agreement. He crosses the room and Gayle places the child in his arms. Reid stares down at the baby’s eyes. “Sorcon Gartius… Our son.”
Prologue
“An anomaly hung above the Trinsic swamps on that cool autumn evening.” The elderly gentlemen rocked in his chair sitting on the steps of his log cabin. He lit up his old pipe before continuing to speak. “Some called it a blood moon, but around these parts they call it a Chaos Moon. Have you ever seen a Chaos Moon?” A captive audience of children listened to the old man speak. Surrounding him were children from many generations of the Gartius’ family.
Not one child knew what a Chaos Moon was, and likely they never would. “A Chaos Moon only appears in the skies of Sosaria once every thousand years.” Said the old man before placing the tip of his pipe into his mouth and drawing an oversized portion of tobacco into his mouth, and then exhaling slowly.
As the words of the old man resonated in their heads, a young boy by the name of Reid finally spoke up, “What does it look like?”
The old man smiled before responding. “It is as crimson as the blood in your veins. The sky itself seems to bleed when it appears. I’ve only seen one in my lifetime, and it was the night that Sorcon was born.”
Smoke again rose from his pipe as he chuckled a bit. The children tried to make sense of what he was saying. Every one of them knew the story of Sorcon… He was the most famous Gartius to ever live, and all of their families had talked about him as though he was some sort of deity.
An arrogant boy leaning against the railing quickly grew impatient with the pace of the tale. “Well are you going to tell us the story or not?”
The old man squinted a bit, his white hair glistening in the moonlight. “Of course, of course… Now where was I? Oh yes, the Chaos Moon.”
Chapter 1: Life and Death
The fair haired young woman ran through the Trinsic Swamps, her feet sticking in the mud with each step she took through the muck. In the distance she could see the light of a small cabin, and behind her she could hear the footsteps of the lizardmen. Their breathing was heavy as they clamored through the swamps with iron spears clutched in their razor sharp claws.
“Vek va la Relk” One screamed into the night, ordering his companions forward after the fresh human meat that had wandered into their den.
The young woman clutched her stomach as another contraction gripped her with pain. She turned her attention towards the light as she rushed towards it. “Please just let me get there…”
Her words came hard through heavy breaths as she dug her feet into the mud with all of her might, tired legs and strained muscles resisting as she took each step. She knew the lizardmen were closing in, and as she broke from the edge of the swamp onto the clean grass, she began to scream. “Help! Help me please! Someone!”.
The words echoed into the night and she hoped they alerted someone within that cabin, and had not simply drawn the lizardmen to her location faster. As she approached the cabin, the doors opened and a man stepped out into the night air. “Who goes there?”
The young woman continued to push her tired muscles forward as she answered “Help me, please! Lizardmen!” Her feet finally hit the first step of the cabin and she fell to her knees at his feet. Within moments a half dozen lizardmen rushed into the clearing surrounding the cabin.
“Curses woman, you have brought the whole tribe down on my family!” Reid Gartius was no hero, but he knew his way around a bow string and as he notched the first arrow and listened to it sail into the night, he called for his wife. “Gayle! Get out here!”
The portly woman scurried out of the house as fast as a her pudgy frame would take her, quickly responding to her husbands call. “Reid? What’s going on?”
Reid let another arrow fly, catching his second lizardman victim square in the left eye, tearing the membranes from the impact and imbedding deep into his brain. The lizardmen fell and the four remaining began to retreat. Reid looked to his wife and pointed at the young woman who was still on her knees at his feet, now clutching her ankle.
“Well I declare, what have we here?” Gayle asked, finally noticing the ‘guest’ on their porch. Gayle helped the woman to her feet and into the cabin, balancing the woman’s weight. Gayle immediately notices that the woman is with child. Gayle helps the woman immediately to the first bedroom on the right. “Ok dear, rest on this bed and let me take a look at your ankle.”
The young woman dropped down on the firm mattress and Gayle immediately dropped to a knee and brushed away the already hardening mud from the young woman’s feet. “What’s your name dear girl?”
“Miranda” she replied, before another contraction gripped her and she fell back, clutching her stomach.
Gayle turned her attention away from the swollen and obviously sprained ankle, taking notice of the woman’s other condition. “How far apart are your contractions?”
Miranda tried to remember but she could not, only able to shake her head and breath from the pain.
“You’re in labor” Gayle remarked.
Miranda nodded in agreement hurriedly and Gayle stood to her feet. Gayle moved the legs of Miranda around so that she could be completely flat on the bed. Gayle then propped up the woman’s feet, taking notice of the blood splatter on the women’s undergarments.
“Are you injured?” Gayle quickly tore away the woman’s dress, revealing a puncture wound near her ribs. Gayle screamed for her husband. “Reid! Reid! Come quick!”
Reid rushed into the room, hearing is wife’s screams and fearing the worst. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
Gayle could only point silently at Miranda’s wound as Miranda seemed to slip in and out of consciousness. Reid’s stroked his face with grave concern evident in his eyes. Reid turned away and shook his head silently as he spoke quietly. “If that wound struck the child…”
Reid’s voice trails off… He finally speaks again. “We are not equipped to handle this. We need a doctor.”
Gayle nodded, but deep down she knew that the chances of finding a doctor quick enough to save mother and child would be impossible. Gayle reaches and places her hand on the neck of Miranda and shakes her head sadly. “Her pulse is fading, Reid… She’s dying.”
Deep down, Gayle knew what she had to do. Reid knew it too, but neither of them wanted to vocalize it. “Please leave the room Reid…” said Gayle to her spouse.
Reid closed his eyes and shook his head in disagreement with his wife’s decision, but he knew that he could not bear witness to what was to come. Before the two had married, Gayle had been a practicing adept Necromancer. As soon as he is outside of her view, she immediately begins to incant a spell that will transfer the life force from mother to child. “Ean Monxa Un”.
Reid watches the lightning crackle around his cabin, and he can feel the dread of dark magic. As the sense of dread increased, he stepped outside his cabin and watched with sheer disbelief as the moon itself seemed to become coated in crimson blood. “A Chaos Moon?” he asked quietly to himself.
Inside the house, Gayle’s eyes turned black, coated with the vileness of her former profession. She felt the life drain from Miranda’s body, and as soon as she sucked in her last breath, Miranda began casting a reanimation spell, which would only momentarily bring Miranda back to life. “Seyz Fona Rua”.
Reid felt his own spirit weakening as Gayle sucked the life force out of everything around her. He watched the grass around the cabin die, and suddenly a bat fell dead on the ground, haplessly flying by at the time of the casting and becoming caught up in the web of death. Reid grasped a railing as the entire cabin seemed to shake and the moon violently shook in his vision. “This isn’t right… GAYLE! STOP!”
Reid’s words were unheard as Gayle continued to her ritual, bringing Miranda back to life and mentally commanding her new ghoul to ‘Push’. Miranda pushed with all of her might, obeying only the commands of Gayle, her master in undeath. Miranda pushed without hesitation, pushing so hard that it would have literally killed a living being. Her muscles strained and ripped with the pressure, and the muscles in her birthing canal exploded from the unnatural effort.
“PUSH” Gayle commanded.
Even in death, the ghoul felt pain, screaming out with an unholy, unnatural scream that made the hairs on Reid’s arm stand up. He felt the evil around him subside as he heard crying in the distance and knew the child was born.
Gayle lifted the child up, snipping the umbilical cord with her fingernail which grew into a knife from a simple spell. Gayle stood to her feet, reaching into a nearby closet and pulling a blanket with which to wrap the child. Gayle freed her undead servant, allowing her to once again enter the afterlife.
Miranda felt her life once again slipping away… She reached out desperately for her child, the very reason she was alive. Gayle caught her eye and placed the baby in her arms and Miranda briefly whispered “My baby… Sorcon” before death’s embrace once again carried her into eternity. Gayle retrieved the child from Miranda’s arms before they fell limp.
Reid slowly pushed his way into the room, still staggering from weak knees. His own life force had been partially drained from the spell. One look at the baby boy cradled in his wife’s arms changed his entire perception. “He’s beautiful” Reid remarked.
Gayle nodded, clutching the baby close.
“What shall we call him?” asked Reid.
Gayle pondered the question for a moment before replying. “Before his mother died, she called him… Sorcon.”
Reid nodded. “That is a most peculiar name, but if it was her dying with then Sorcon it is… Sorcon… Gartius?” Reid contemplated giving the child his last name, thinking of the consequences.
Gayle could barely hide her excitement at the prospect. “If you think about it, we don’t get many visitors out this way. Your family hasn’t visited in how many months? We could pull it off… They wouldn’t know it wasn’t a baby of our own. We’ve tried so hard to have children… Maybe this is a gift, Reid.” Gayle smiled, looking at her husband.
“Maybe it is, Gayle” he replied. “Maybe it is. Certainly no one else can look after the child. We would have to take him to an orphanage in Trinsic.”
“Oh that wouldn’t be right” Gayle remarked, shaking her head in disagreement at his comment.
Reid laughed. “No, I guess it wouldn’t be right considering you killed his mother and all.”
Gayle’s expression grows dark, staring at her husband who quickly waves his hands in apology. “I would never have used the dark arts if there was another choice” she fires off.
“I know, my love” says Reid, nodding in agreement. He crosses the room and Gayle places the child in his arms. Reid stares down at the baby’s eyes. “Sorcon Gartius… Our son.”
Stupid automatic editing.
