• Chapter 1
    Dark hour
    “Search for any survivors and if any are found, show no mercy!” ordered General Thzou. Buildings burn around him as he looks about the carnage in merciless glee. No one notices a single, cloaked figure walking through the flames toward General Thzou.
    “Sir, we’ve found a newborn in a cottage we had yet to set aflame! What should we do!?” asked one of Thzou’s many underlings.
    A sinister smile appears on Thzou’s face, “Bring me the child. And bring the rest of the villagers to the center of the village.” The underling does as he is commanded. The flame walker stalks after Thzou as he proceeds to the village center.
    Thzou’s malevolent eyes gaze upon the terrified villagers as the infant is placed on the ground in front of him. “People of this village, hear ye! If you do not disclose the position of the one called Aster this child’s life will be cut short!” The flame walker, Aster, steps out from the flames, unscathed and places a hand upon Thzou’s shoulder.
    “I am here, you blasphemous coward. And you will spare yonder infant’s life or die,” commands Aster. Thzou cackles and swings his black metal sword at Aster. The blade cuts through the air for Aster is not there. A pale, scarred hand grips Thzou’s throat. Mouths gape in amazement at Aster’s great speed.
    “Let’s finish this.”

    The child was born on a day of rain and gloom to parents who knew not of the child’s destiny. They ignored the signs of the future and they raised the child as they would. If they had listened to the signs they would have survived.


    Chapter 2
    Legacy
    Thzou breaks Aster’s grip upon his throat only to be knocked to the ground, winded and gasping for breath.
    Aster quickly picks Thzou off the ground before he can fully recuperate. Coming out of their shock some of Thzou’s men come forth to assist their general. When they are naught ten feet away, a wall of blue flame appears blocking them from their general. They here a crash and a thud then silence except that of fire crackling. The wall of blue flame diminishes and neither Aster nor Thzou are there.
    “Where di’ they go?” ponders one of the underlings aloud while searching for the combatants along with his allies. They all had forgotten about the villagers who took the opportunity to seize any dropped weaponry.
    “Hey, Fear Tribe, come an’ get us now!” a brave villager shouts at the underlings. The Fear Tribesmen turn and are frightened when they find that their weapons are not at their sides.
    “Oh bloody hell”

    Thzou awakens in a darkened room, tied to a chair, and his face caked with mud and his own blood. His vision, now dull and blurry, is able to make out the shape of a human sitting cross legged on the floor in front of him. Thzou blinks a few times to clear his vision. It is not a human sitting cross legged in front of him. Instead it is a large statue of bronze that would look similar to a Buddha statue in our world if it were not so heavily scratched.
    “Where am I!?” he yells into the shadows about him, hearing only his echoes. After a few minutes he asks the question yet again only this time the Buddha-like statue seems to begin laughing. The laughing rises in loudness and pitch as Thzou begins to struggle against his bonds. Thzou stops and looks down in frustration. He grins at the knife on the floor in front of him. Carefully, Thzou picks up the knife with his feet and slowly begins to work it up into his right hand.
    The bonds are cut and, unfortunately for Thzou, activate a trap door beneath him. He crashes onto the dirt floor below and quickly stands. Thzou begins to stumble forward in hopes of finding a way out. Unbeknownst to him, a great scorpion like creature descends on a thick thread of web behind him from the ceiling.
    “Where do you think you are going, General Thzou?”Asks the horrific creature behind Thzou. Thzou glances behind him and begins to run and scream. Despite its gargantuan size, the scorpion beast follows Thzou swiftly and with ease. Thzou stumbles over what appears to be a decomposing corpse and bites the dirt face first. Always swift, the beast quickly descends upon the dazed Thzou.
    A strong voice rings out, “Gíroún, leave him to me!” The beast, Giroun, shudders and backs away on its black legs. Aster places his boot upon Thzou’s throat and continues, “Giroun, do you remember the tales I told you of the man who murdered my family?”
    “Hmmm… This is the man?” replies Gíroún.
    “Indeed, tis him and he have better know what I’ve got planned for him!” Aster’s face is engulfed by a red glow as he begins to drag Thzou.

    At the age of a tender two years old, a terrible sickness come to the child that many other parents feared that would befall upon their own children. This sickness can be both a gift and a curse. A gift for it gives one great strength, endurance, and vitality. A curse for it gives you immortality.

    Chapter 3
    Eye of the Storm
    Aster throws Thzou down on the ground after reaching the edge of the underground lake. Aster draws mysterious symbols on the ground and a tremendous rumbling follows the completion of the symbols. In the center of the lake a great obsidian spire rises from the murky depths, and a path splits the water. Aster picks Thzou back up and continues on to the spire.
    “Enoch told me about you, Thzou. He says you are the one who murdered my family and left me to suffer,” said Aster to Thzou while the great iron door opened and shut behind them. “Now it’s my turn to make you suffer.”

    Soon the villagers had either wounded or killed their fleeing attackers in a flurry of stones, swords, and fists. They all now went back to fixing their nearly destroyed village. Inside the newly rebuilt village headquarters the village leader and elder discussed dire matters.
    “That’s the third attack they’ve set against us in the past two months! Is it possible they know that we hold the Bane Sword, Enoch?” asks the village leader, Chîko.
    “It could be, but not likely so. Even then we must not move the Sword from its place for if Aster lays his accursed hands upon it, all is lost.”
    “If we must keep it from him then why does he protect us from the Fear Tribe?”
    “Because that sword if what controls him. So if he were to have it he would have complete free will. He also can’t get it because of a sacred guard placed around the Bane Sword that repels all foul spirits. Now let us be gone and help with the repairs.” And with that they left.

    The little boy grew to the age of eighteen and appeared to die as soon as the sun was at high noon. All though he appeared dead he was not and only one of the villagers knew it. That villager took special precautions to make sure his body was not harmed in his slumber that when he would awake, would make him the Aster.