The BlackSand Tournament I: Round I, Duel VIII
From Addanc Manace of Scoundrels
Addanc Menace of Scoundrels (4312)
Darkness and pain. Addanc was standing in front of a black metal gate.
Serving and guarding. It was a full moon night, and it was about to happen again.
Violence and void. Since it started, Addanc had never been the same.
Every month for the past twenty years, Addanc’s master Evil Arcanist Nick would wait for the full moon to repay his life-long debt. A debt that Addanc didn’t understand.
Nick had struck a deal with another sorcerer. In exchange of riches he had given away his humanity.
But understanding wasn’t Addanc’s duty. His duty was executing. So he followed Arcanist Nick’s orders without question, carrying out whatever action.
They had slaughtered entire cities, destroyed relics, and stolen runes. Unforgivable, yet it all felt normal.
No regret ever clogged Addanc’s mind nor mercy ever blocked his strikes. Once unleashed, nothing could stop his crimes. Not anymore.
Every full moon Arcanist Nick acted with such savagery and evil that cruelty had become the norm. Addanc would kill, break, and steal. No woman or man able to stop his rage, only few would even dare stand in his way.
He would charge his prey wearing his dominion plated armor and blood horn helm. He would struck them with his massive Blood Sword. He would feed them to Carantix, his loyal obsidian raptor. Again and and again without end.
Today was no different. As soon as Arcanist Nick came out of the metal gate, the two of them jumped on their mounts and rode into the nearest city.
“The heart of a widow” Nick absently requested, in his usual trance-like state. And so they hunt. They hunt almost as if it was a game.
It didn’t take long to find their prey. Addanc hit with a single blow and without second thoughts. Another victim for his blood sword. Another debt repaid for his master.
As quickly as they came to the city, they left to retreat in Nick’s castle. Behind them they left death, screams and pain.
But none of that mattered. Darkness and void, nothing else was left in Addanc’s mind.
From Tisa
Tisa Slasher of Torment Manor (968)
Tisa exhaled and started one last set: Left strike, parry. Right Strike, lunge forward. Dive and strike.
She paused, satisfied. She laid down her heavy Blood Sword on the wooden bench behind here. That was enough training for the day.
It was still early. The sun was barely out and a glimpse of the moon was still visible in the horizon. As part of her routine, Tisa left the training chambers and headed towards the library. There she read up on the latest news from the Syndicate. Afterwards she quickly moved to her room and prepared her bags for her journey to Dread Tower.
She had been on the move very frequently in the past months. She had travelled back and forth between Torment Manor and Dread Tower to carry out missions for the Syndicate. “The Syndicate…” she murmured in awe. She felt so blessed to have found her calling as Agent for that sacred order. Their vision motivated her: To expand the realm of quantum shadow into the living world.
The Syndicate had welcomed her and her swording skills with open arms. As Blood Sword bearer, her fighting was unmatched by the majority of Warriors in the Runiverse. Not only that. She knew the Syndicate especially valued her ability to defeat Wizards.
So many of them had already fell to her sword and so many more had converted to the Syndicate in exchange for her mercy.
She smiled. She loved that feeling of power when a Wizard kneeled in front of her. Begging for their life.
Her next assignment required her to recover a set of golden keys that had been scattered around the Wild. She did not not what those keys were for, but Sorcerer Remus had specifically ordered that she should carry out that mission. What an honor! She was beyond excited.