A good story

Hopes, fears and broken promises.

=================================================================================================================
What was inside the cave was unsettling. They were in a medium size hall with benches and tables. Further down there was a gently burning fire in the fireplace. This is not what an inside of a cave should look like. Clearly there was use of heavy magic. Just how long had this person lived here? How powerful was this man? Legend wondered. The details... the amount of architecture was simply astounding for a mage to create for so long. This... this had to be some physical arcane enchanting...

Beardmaster was having difficulty adjusting to the bright lights that kept illuminating each and every illusion in the cave. Which, in this case, was the almost the whole Goddamned cave. Even the stupid fire was fake. Yet there were variations of illusions at work here; the tables and chairs were usable. Besides the ground, all decorations and effects were purely illusory. But it would all look really grand if only this vision thing had an off switch.

"Its all illusion.", Beardmaster exclaimed.

"There are a set of doors up ahead, we could try opening it.", Legend pointed out.

"In a bit maybe. I think we have earned some rest.", Beardmaster said, realizing him and his companion had been on the go ever since they got to the sewers.

"We can use the tables and chairs, but I don't think that fire will keep us warm.", Legend said, looking around.

"Well, luckily for us we have beards that can provide us with what we need.", Beardmaster announced.

"I have been meaning to try out different things. Let me start the fire.", Legend said.

"It's easy enough, just concentrate on a fire log and reach into your beard. It's same way you make your weapons", he instructed.

Legend nodded and then closed his eyes, concentrating hard. He reached into his beard and caught hold of something solid. With a yank he pulled out a few clumps of hair. That stung. The second try produced a tree bark which was close. A few more failed attempts later, Legend was finally able to gather firewood and have an actual fire going in the fireplace.

Just to test he had gotten hold of the concept, Legend tried to pull out some flask of water and some ale. Beardmaster took a large swig of his Ale and made a strange face as he swallowed it down.

"I take it you haven't had too many drinks during your travels?.", He said opting for water instead.

"No, not really but I remember falling asleep after the second round.", Legend admitted.

"So, why the beard?" He asked.

"Why what?"

"Why does a beard have all this power? Why not a wand or a-a sword or something?"

"I guess a beard was more inconspicuous or maybe it was such a useless feature that someone had to make it special. Either way these are questions left for the Temple of Planets.", Beardmaster mused.

"So can your beard take control of your body?" Legend asked.

"Never had a chance to see that happen."

"Why a sentient beard?"

"I reckon someone had sense enough to realize that full control of something such powerful would be a bad idea. Didn't seem to help them in the least". Beardmaster replied.

"Then how did this Norris fellow managed to corrupt his beard?" Legend asked.

"As far as I can tell the beard feeds off of your personality. Something like an extension of yourself. If the beard can be convinced of your perspective then I believe it can be corrupted." Beardmaster replied.

"You know what I am craving for? That succulent roast boar we saw in the Seven Sorrows in the kitchen." Beardmaster said, suddenly perking up.

"Let me show you what you will be able to do once you are fully experienced like me" Beardmaster said as he reached into his beard, thinking about the roast boar.

For a long time he fiddled around in his beard trying to grab hold of something solid. Eventually he found a solid lump that seemed like a part of a boar's head. There was a lot of resistance pulling the thing out, maybe it was too big for the beard. Then with a might pull, there came a loud ripping sound and Beardmaster looked at Legend proudly.

"Did I deliver or did I deliver.", Beardmaster boasted as he held out a bit lump of bloody hair at Legend.

Hair? The sudden realization of the wet, sticky pain fill the underside of his chin. The pain was excruciating. Legend was too busy choking on his ale, partially from laughing and the rest from the sudden scream Beardmaster let out, wildly thrashing on the floor, which he had only just realized.

"Bloody beard, I ripped my fucking beard off.... arrrrgggh!", He yelled, slowly feeling nauseated.

Nauseated? It must be the poisoning from the eye. It was stale and covered with who knows what from the sewer ride. Curse the man for taking no precautions! Some fearless hero he turned out to be. Poisoned to death in the middle of no where, in a bloody cave full of illusions with his fucking beard ripped off by his own stupidity.

Legend finally crumbled to the floor grasping for air. Yup, it was definitely mirth that got the best of him. With that both of them fell unconscious as the doors at the far end suddenly creaked open.

******************************************************************************************

Beardmaster woke to hot and humid air full of sulphur. As he coughed to clear his lungs he saw that the place was no longer the cozy mess hall they were in. What lay ahead was a vast sea of molten rock with small solid footings leading to a larger solid ground much like the one they were on. Everything seemed to be in tact. The pain was gone and his beard was fully restored. There was no longer a huge ridiculous hole exposing his skinless chin. But the beard was still inert. He did dare not try anything just yet. Whatever did this, he was at least thankful for this.

Legend was there too, he had just woken up and had been rubbing his eyes constantly to try to wake up. Where was this place? This looked more like hell. On a sea of lava there were a few formation of solid rocky ground that can be crossed to. It seemed that there was no other choice but to follow the small footings to the next floating island.

The two started crossing the burning sea without a word. This patch of rock ground had a large symbol carved into it. A cold bluish aura emanated from the carving. Legend recognized immediately as the pentagram they had seen in the cube room in the sewers. Only there were no enchanted hog eyes.

Suddenly a booming female voice echoes throughout the cooridore, "I warned you Jabroni's to stay away. All I wanted to do was finish my work in peace, but you had to push it. Now you leave me in a trying situation. If I let you go then I send the message that you people can fuck around without consequence, but if I destroy you then I will inevitably have to face the rest of your clan. You leave me in a precarious spot. What would you have me do?"

Beardmaster looked around quickly but could not acertain the source of the voice.

"You have it wrong", Legend shouted, "We aren't Jabroni's!"

"Ha ha", came the voice, "A likely story. Who else would be fool enough to traverse these lands, let alone tresspass in my domain?"

"Ponder the answer yourself", Legend shouted, his temper beginning to exceed his senses, "And you may discover we are not to be fucked with!"

She laughed again from places unknown, "The two of you are hardly in a position to be making threats. Do you like what I've done with the place?"

"You could use a bit less red", Beardmaster spoke flatly, "Who are you?"

"As if you don't know."

"No seriously", Beardmaster retained his even tone, "We have no idea who you are, we are not Jabroni's, and we are just passing through!"

"People who are just passing through don't go poking their noses where they don't belong."

"Well we aren't most people", Beardmaster exclaimed, "Push me further and you will come to know why."

More laughter, "Whatever tricks are up your sleeve, they won't work in this place."

"Oh?", Beardmaster replied, "I highly doubt you've seen tricks like mine before."

"It doesn't matter", came the voice, "No doubt you saw the reddish hue to my illusion? Within the confines of this enchantment only my magic can function. It is a very old enchantment, one passed down from my anscestors."

And suddenly Legend remembered a crutial point of his childhood teachings, suddenly he understood where he knew that voice from, "Cathina, my sister? It can't be! I thought you were dead!"

Her voice halted and was silent for an abnormally long time before she gave her reply.

"How do you know that name?"

"Cat! It's me, Legend!"

"You lie!", scoffed Cathina, "Had you done your homework, Jabroni, you would know that none of my lineage can grow a beard to save their lives!"

"Indeed, Cat, I know this well. It is the very reason I set out to claim this beard as my own, but it does not belong to me. This beard belongs to my friend. You should know the legendary Beardmaster!"

Another pause, "That's impossible."

There was a long silence after.

"Surely", Legend laughed, "In your new found omnipotence, you can sense the mystic energies in these beards, can't you sense they are of the same magical source?"

Still more silence, It seemed to go on for several minutes.

Finally Beardmaster grew impatient, "Your brother speaks the truth! He jacked a part of my beard long ago, and for a time I cursed him as my worst foe, but now, I undwrstand. What is more important, in his quest to make my beard his own he stumbled upon the answers I have sought from birth. We journey now to the fortress of the ancient Beardmasters. We seek learn secrets more ancient than even your ancient lineage!"

A few more moments passed and the, "That beard... Why didn't I see it before.. forgive me, Beardmaster."

There was a flash, and they were back in the illusorilly decked out cave, only this time there stood with them a female mage in the whitest of robes and sporting the sweetest of tits.

"Why Cathina", Legend commented, "You've enhanced yourself."

"Of course I have", Cathina spat, "I was twelve last time you saw me! Plus I could say the same of you!"

Legend walked over to his sister slowly and put his hands on her shoulders, "My god, Cat, is it really you? When the Godstalker took you.. I wanted to come after it.. I wanted to devour its very soul, but father would have none of it, not after the incident with Beardmaster."

Beardmaster hung his head, "Again, Legend, I'm sorry."

"No", Legend turned to Beardmaster, "We are past appogies, you and I. But while we're on the topic, I'm sorry I was such a cunt about it."

"If it's any consolation", Cat smiled as she spoke, "That Godstalker has long since rued the day he fucked with the Legend family. Oh he rued it hard. It was the first time I realized my true potential."

"You killed it?", Legend turned back to his sister.

"Killed", a black fire came to her eyes, "Is the ultimate understatement."

"Oh Cat", Legend smiled before embracing her in an epic hug, "I've missed you so much! Words can't explain!"

He pulled back and looked her seriously in the eyes again, "Cat... Why didn't you come home? Why didn't you ever let us know you were ok?"

"Because, Legend, I wasn't ok... I'm not ok. After that night.. I don't know if I'll ever be ok again."

It was that moment that Beardmaster saw a look on Legends face more serious than he had ever seen before, it was a level of concern that dwarfed the moment they were attacked by Legends wife, or when they were captured by the Jabroni's. He could clearly sense the seriousness in what his sister had said.

"Wh.. what happened that night sis?"

She sat down in an illusionary chair, looked down and cupper her hands nervously, her dark black hair all but completely concealing her face while she spoke.

"That thing.. it came for me for a reason", she paused and then looked up at Legend, "All the children it took.. it took them because they were.. special. I saw what it did to the others. I saw things I can never unsee. I heard the screams in the darkness. I.. I saw what they became afterwards. The only reason I made it out was because I was the one it came for last."

Beardmaster stepped forth, his interest peaked, "What did it do to them?"

She looked up and shifted her eyes to Beardmasters, then back to her brothers.

"It tortured them in ways that should have killed them, almost instantly, but somehow it wouldn't let them die", he began to sob as she burried her face in her hands and for a moment the story stopped, "These were my friends, Legend. These were people we both grew up with. Chad, Rystok, Allison. I couldn't take it. There were times when I couldn't distinguish their screams from my own. But I couldn't do anything. I couldn't help them."

Legend moved up beside his sister as she wept, "Sis.. you were just a kid.. it's not your fault."

"It gets worse", she said as she locked eyes with her brother again, "With every single one of them.. there was a point where the screams turned, slowly at first, but with increasing frequency, into laughter; as if they somehow started to enjoy what it was doing to them. When the laughter finally died down, I saw every one of them, one by one, march out the door of their own volition. Legend, they were DIFFERENT. Not just the way they looked, but their very soul. I could see it in their eyes. It was the most horrifying evil I had ever seen. There was nothing left of who they once were. I coul.. I couldn't let it do that to me."

A fire fueled by determination had sparked in her eyes as she drew near the end of her story, "I wouldn't let it do that to me. Somehow as I watched all my friends destroyed by that beast, something snapped inside me. Everything mom and dad had been trying to teach us over the years suddenly made sense.. maybe more to me than it ever did to them. I could feel it burning in my soul. Somehow, I think, I had to experience that horror to really understand what I am.... what we are"

Legend was silent, simply staring at his sister, silently ushering her to continue.

"When finally there were no others left, it came for me. I was ready."

"What did you do?", Beardmaster asked.

She turned away from Beardmaster and glared at a spot on the wall behind him, "Why don't you ask it yourself?"

Beardmaster and Legend both gulped simultaneously and then turned around. Their hearts skipped a beat as they realized that standing not six feet behind them, so shrouded in shadow that it almost appeared to be a shadow itself, was one of the most horrifying creatures on Planet.

"What do you think knocked you guys out so easily", Cathina said coldly.

"My god", Legend cursed, "Cathina, what did you do."

"It broke my friends", she said, "So I broke it."

"What do you mean?"

She drew a deep breath and stood up to stand beside them, looking at the creature which stood as black as the blackest black.

"I found that fire within me that mom and dad were always talking about. I found it, and I used it. Before it could lay a hand on me I touched its mind with mine and unleashed every last bit of rage that had been building within me the entire time. I could have killed it then, but what kind of justice would that have been? No. I made it suffer, for all the suffering such a creature is capable of, and it suffers still. It suffers, and it does my bidding, for the suffering I have cast upon it is but a fraction of what it deserves, and I made sure it knows that."

"Cat", Legend looked at his sister, who was still staring coldly at the creature, "You can't just keep a Godstalker as a pet. No mortal can control a creature like this!"

"Why the fuck", Cathina did not move her gaze from the creature, "Do you think they call it a Godstalker? Why do you think it targets specific people. Why did you mom and dad keep you from coming after me? The same goes for Beardmasters parents. They knew. They knew exactly why it hunted us."

She turned suddenly and focused her gaze on Legends beard, "Why, dear brother, do you think you are capable of mastering a beard like that?"

Legend paused for a moment too long.

"Because we are fucking awesome", Beardmaster said most nonchalantly.

"Exactly", Cat agreed, "Your dps is well over 9000. Godstalker may be a bit of an exageration, but what these things are created for is to find and overwhelm the most powerful beings on the planet. And I know why."

"Because your little pet told you."

"My little pet tells me everything", Cat smiled, staring straight at the Godstalker, "It knows what happens if it doesn't, don't you."

"Cat you are sort of freaking me out", Legend insisted.

"I freak myself out every single day", Can smiled so hard she bit her lip.

"What scares me most, is I think you like it"

"After all I've been through, brother", She couldn't break that smile, "This is the best moment of my life."

Legend didn't take long to understand, nor did Beardmaster.

"You've been alone for a long time, haven't you child?"

"Do NOT call me a child", Cat lashed at Beardmaster with her fairly overgrown fingernails.

"You are no more a child than I", Beardmaster insisted, "But it is fair I would call you such, as I know nothing about you."

"Hmmmm", Cat thought about it, "If you are implying I am inexperienced, I should kill you all the same."

"Not even close", Beardmaster laughed, "But would you not view one you do not know as a child?"

"Were I a fool!", Cat suddenly tackled Beardmaster and held her knife to his throat. Beardmaster knew he was done.

"I am done", Beardmaster smiled at her.

"Why would you smile?", She asked, most confused.

"Because I know what you are"

She paused a moment, and then withdrew the blade.

"How can you be so confident?"

"I am confident in you, my dear", Beardmaster moved close to the shuddering figure of Cat Legend.

"I could have killed you", the woman shuddered, holding the knife close to herself.

"But you didnt", Beardmaster looked her in the eyes, closer to her face than she had ever been faced, "Because you understand.."

She stared at him a little longer, a confused look i her eyes, "Understand...?"

He pushed her a little way away and continued, "There aren't a lot of us left - people who will be able to stand against what's coming. You know what's coming, don't you?"

"Yes.."

"Then, I apologize if this is premature, I think it's time you let us in on the secret."

Cathina looked at the two men for a few more seconds and then got up quickly and moved to a very non-illusionary bookshelf. She started fingering through pages in one specifically large book.

"You're right", she said as she zero'd in on a specific chapter and then looked back to Beardmaster, "But how did you know?"

"This is more than just an awesome beard. It can sense the subtle changes in this world. The energies of Planet have been culminating as of late, building towards something very dark. Until I heard your story it was just a feeling, but after what you told us, it explains a lot. I have faced people like you describe - villains that pull their power from a place so black. I've seen those cold, dead, evil eyes, rarely at first, but more frequently as of late. It is no coincidence - those I have slain, they came at me quite specifically"

"I understand. Take a look at this book, I believe it to be from before the sundering."

"Where did you find this?", Legend asked as she brought a large brown book over to the two of them and dropped it on a table.

"I didn't", she answered and looked back at the Godstalker, "It did"

Beardmaster shivered a little as he looked at the creature, "Can you send that thing somewhere else, it's really creeping me out."

She nodded to Beardmaster, then looked at the thing and pointed at it and said, "Leave us"

The shadow creature simply moved back towards the wall, a spot with no clear exit, and dissipated into the darkness. Moments later there was no trace of it in that spot.

Cat continued while pointing out a few specific pictures, "Look at this drawing. What do you see?"

Beardmaster studied the artistry, "These people aren't fighting anyth... holy fuck"

"Godstalkers, dozens of them. Those aren't shadows at all!"

"Exactly", Cat looked at the two men most seriously, "Mankind standing it's last stand against an organized, tactical assault. It get's worse. The one who led them.. I have reason to believe he's still alive."

Legend raised his eyebrows, "Why?"

"Because that thing was working for him."

"Who?"

"The few references I have found only call him by one name - Norris."

THE PLOT THICKENS!!!! ^^

May i suggest some epic monsternames,

Oojimaflip, whatjamahcallit, thingymajigs and orcorse the legendary "whatthefuqisthat"!!!! ;P

I cant help but wait with such antisipation for the next installment, never since XMen the animated series (as a kid) have i been so eager to catch the next installment!

Whatever will happen next!!!!! ^^