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Darkness.

Corruption.

Power.

Three things that are associated with the very definition of evil. But those who are defined as "evil" are often misunderstood. There are always two sides to a story, both equally weighted, and both equally judged. Or so it should be. Evil never prevails, but perhaps there is a reason for the deeds that are done. This is a story of one dwarf's journey, and how he became evil. Perhaps within this story, you can now see how crime is very justified.

~~~

Urist, a dwarf with a great heart, was hunting with his fellows one day. He stumbled upon a dark stone Tablet, half concealed by the overgrowth with unknown runes engraved on it. They were purple, glowing and undoubtedly evil, expensive too. The others were unaware that he found the stone tablet, and started looking for him. He greedily grabbed the loot. He was joined by his hunting partner, Vabok, who touched the stone. His eyes turned purple.

His muscles seized up and he started shivering like a leaf caught in a violent storm. Purple-tinged foam flecked the sides of his mouth as he started muttering in a voice fell and terrible. Urist felt an inexplicable terror over come him, as every instinct inside told him to run. Run as far and fast as his stubby legs would take him.

So ran he did. And behind him the woods began turning to rot and ash.

The elves in the forest turned into horrible, misshapen wraiths. Opposites of their former beauty. All the animals within withered, and became skeletal servants of the Black Tome. The once-beautiful forest became naught but a horrible mimicry of it's former magnificence.
Only one other of his hunting fellows survived, a young, strong kobold by the name of Gethor. Gethor and Urist walked the long path back to their home town of Gethorsarvesh, Dirgefurnace.

Until they were seen and ambushed by Elf-wraiths.

Luckily Gethor had a bow with him and with it, shot some of the Elf-wraiths. Urist was brave so he charged into them with his sword. He slashed the Elf-wraiths cutting some of their arms and limbs off. While Urist was busy killing the elves, one of the elves was about to shoot his arrow at Urist though Gethor saved Urist by shooting the elf in the head.

Urist thanked Gethor and they continued their path back to their home town. Unfortunately, what both did not realize was that Gethor had been hit in the back with a poisoned arrow. They would not find it until they got to Dirgefurnace. By then, they only had one day before Gethor became a Kobold-wraith.

At first Urist never cared about Gethor but after Gethor saved his life Urist wanted to become friends with him. Urist looks at Gethor and smiled, saying "Hey Gethor I didn't thank you for saving my life back there so thanks Gethor, I would be dead if you were not here." Gethor looked like he was smiling. They walked more until they saw a house. It was night time. So they checked if anyone was there, they saw no sign of anyone. Gethor looked at Urist and said: "I will guard this place to see if anyone comes, you go in the house and rest. You must be tired." Urist went in the house and collapsed on the bed. He started drifting to sleep when he closed his eyes. Gethor was pretty tired to so he just sat down laying on the wall, sleeping.

Urist panicked. Only one person in the entire city had the power to heal Gethor completely. But, that person had a grudge against him. Even so, he had to try.

He looked for the tonberry Gethor Anguishedpains.

After some searching, he located Gethor. The journey to find him was very exhausting, so he had to make this work. Gethor was a filthy, stupid being, but Urist tried to communicate with him as best he could.

"Gethor is hurt and he requires healing," Urist explained "Please heal him from the poison arrow of the Elves."

Urist tried to convince him, but Gethor showed no care. Gethor remembered what Urist did to him.

Gethor remembered when Urist's brother, Melbil, stole his prized draltha. It was an unforgivable offense- at least for Gethor. Everyone else forgot about it when Melbil returned it, but Gethor didn't forget. No. Not even when Melbil was killed fighting the mighty Earth Titan Cacame Earthfurnaces, he still did not forgive him. Instead, he concentrated his hate on Urist.

Urist had a choice: he could get mad at Gethor and try to kill him or try being nice to him and maybe do some things for him to show it. But Urist knew he had no time for these silly games, he needed to save his friend Gethor from dying. Urist closed his eyes then opened them again "Look Gethor I'm sick of you acting like a little baby, it was a long time ago. I remember too, I don't wanna remember because my brother got killed! At least do something for me! if you don't wanna do it for me, then do it for my dead brother." Urist was mad. Gethor the kobold, did not want to see his friend get mad.

Meanwhile, Gethor the kobold was undergoing the transformation into a wraith. He could see into this world at one time and into the spirit world the next. He could feel his skin thinning to naught but papery covering for his bones. He could feel the poison circulate in his veins. He uttered one word before he lost conciousness.

'Tobul...'

Urist saw Gethor fall down. "No, Gethor! Are you okay!?" Urist screamed as he looked for signs of life. Urist could hear no reply from him though, Gethor looked different from all the other wraiths. Urist would soon know that Gethor would become an Underworld Lord who controlled Undead, and Urist needed to save his friend from this problem. Gethor would destroy the whole world but not now. It would happen after two weeks. Tears started to form in Urist's eyes as he looked at Gethor, focusing all his rage at him for not helping him. "Its your fault! You will pay for what you done!." Urist yelled. He took out his sword and pointed it at Gethor neck.

Which is when a demon- as large as three ballistae stacked on top of each other, smashed the roof open. It then smashed Gethor the tonberry's head like a freshly laid egg before anything could be done. Urist panicked and picked up Gethor, the kobold, and ran. Ran as fast as he could. The demon spat fire at the nearby town square. Urist could see people burning and dying. He could smell ash in the air, and that of death. "This isn't how the day was supposed to go," he muttered to himself.

Urist kept on wondering what the hell was happening. He trudged on but leaving his home town was horrible for him. He had two choices: it was either his life or staying alive. He would rather stay alive.

He looked behind him as he saw the demon destroying the town. He managed to run away but the town was no longer gone, it was destroyed. Gone forever. Urist sighed and sat down, he looked at Gethor and said: "If you can hear me buddy please don't die."

Urist then thought about all that happened. His friends, his family, even this tiny runt he thought was nothing but filth, were dying. Gethor proved him wrong, becoming a needed ally in the harshest of times. Betrayal was ever present in his thoughts, and the presence of a demon gave him fright. 'What was a demon doing in our realm?' He thought as he gathered his wits. He tried to quell his emotions but they were too much to handle.

He could feel a cold tear falling from his eye as he gazed towards the smoldering ashes of the town in the distance, and then back to his dying friend. This could not be happening. He would not let him die like this!

Urist felt a prescence above him, a flash of green, then the last thing he could remember before he lost conciousness was a gremlin standing in front of him with a blowgun, grinning.

Where....ugh....where am I?
Urist was gravely hurt. He had trouble coming to his senses.
"Yes haha Glog has found the pitiful dwarf! Glog will keep him safe."
Glog... the gremlin... he shot me with... a blow..gun...
Urist was running out of time.
"You idiot!" Another voice boomed, "Kill him! Kill that idiot of a dwarf!"

Gethor the kobold got up. He was well again, even though he had been shot with the poisoned wraith-arrow. He felt...odd though. 'What in the name of Asmel is going on here?' he shouted aloud. The gremlins guarding him looked at him with toothy grins, Gethor scowled, and the next moment, the gremlins fell dead, paler than marble. 'What the...'

Urist and Gethor exchanged glances with each other. Both of them seemed very confused about what was going on, and both of them were now very weak. With little strength in their small bones to propel them forward, they fell asleep.

Meanwhile, Glog, the gremlin who had captured them, took aside his goblin commander.
'These people are innocent, you bastard. Why them?' he shouted.
'Glog, your place is not to question me. Your place is to do my bidding.' the goblin commander responded.
'Then, perhaps I should take you out of the equation.'
The goblin commander tried to run, call for help, but Glog slit his neck, then killed the gremlin elite assasins. He took the keys for Urist and Gethor and untied them. He carried them to his quarters, locking the doors and shutting the windows.

Glog tried to look at Urist but he was thinking what they would say,thinking they would kill him. Urist looked at Glog. "Thanks Glog. You did  save us even though you shot us with a blowgun. Iforgive you." Glog smiled at him in relief. Glog then looked at Gethor. "Hmm what happened to him? Is he ok?" Gethor tried to use all his power to speak. It was hard for him "Im...o..k i don..t. need any ..h....." Gethor closed his eyes. Urist screamed. " GETHOR ARE YOU OKAY!?!?!"

Gethor's eyes opened. One was yellow, one was red. He had been healed while asleep, but it was too late for the wraith poison to leave Gethor unscathed. He looked at Glog, who was lifted into the air. 'Die.' Gethor uttered. Urist shouted 'NO!' and Gethor let Glog down.
'Glog saved us!'
'He still captured us. Let me kill the green bastard, and I'll have it over with in no time.'
'Gethor, no. He wants to help us.'
Glog uttered weakly 'Indeed. I know a way out. I'm too weak from the strangling, so Gethor, you're going to have to cover us three'. 'And why should I do that?' Gethor snapped. Glog lifted the head of the goblin commander from his satchel. 'I'm a traitor.'
'Shall we go then?' Urist asked.

'Gethor, are you ok?' Urist asked. 'Never felt better in my life,' he answered. He kicked the door open and the first two goblins he saw EXPLODED at the mere sight of Gethor. Their death screams could be heard down the tunnel, but nobody could hear them: Gethor had killed their own guards already, in addition to these, and Glog had assassinated the commander and the gremlin assasins.

Urist was surprised to see this kind of power from the kobold who was sick just moments ago. Gethor looked at him. "What? Surprised at what I can do?" Gethor was getting more and more mean by each minute. Urist walked by Glog and whispered to him "Glog, let's watch Gethor. He might get out of control if he keeps on doing this." Glog nodded in assent.

Gethor was hiding something under his mean exterior. He feared for his lover, the fire imp Tobul, who had been captured a while back by the bandits of this base. He explained the situation to Urist and Glog.
'So, your lover's here, Gethor?' Urist inquired.
'Yes. We need to free her, though I fear she maybe dead...'
'Whoa, even I don't know where she is.' This was Glog.
'Only one way to find out...'

Which was when Tobul ran to them and fell into Gethor's arm. Following her was a dimetrodon with spikes protuding from his sides and deadly spittle. 'Oh for the love of Armok...' muttered Urist.

Urist took out his sword and charged ,but Tobul stopped Urist. She looked at him and then the dimetrodon. "This is my friend, Astral. He kept me company when I was alone..." She looked at Gethor and started to cry. "I miss you so much Gethor. I was worried something happened to you." She looked at Gethor's face and moved back a little. She knew something was different with Gethor.

Tobul asked Gethor, 'What happened to you?' Gethor responded. 'I got poisoned.' and smirked. Tobul had loved that about Gethor, how he could joke about something so dire. Astral smelt something, and the next moment his head was gone, pinned to the cavern wall by a ballista arrow. 'ASTRAL!!!' Tobul screamed, and threw a fireball at the ballista that had done this to her erstwhile friend. It set ablaze and the operators ran. Urist and Glog looked at her, dumbstruck.

Tobul started to cry again. "I'm losing all my friends by each minute...." Urist whispered to Glog " That sucks. I know I would cry if Astral was my pet but I just met him and was about to kill him." Glog nodded and started to walk " Come on everybody! We don't have time to waste we have to leave now!"

Everything went in a flash for Urist. A whirl of light, a orange flash, and suddenly they were in the forest outside the blazing hideout. 'What the hell just happened?' asked Urist.
'Tobul got mad at the gremlins and set the place on fire. Gethor did something and shot light at a stupid gremlin, and he just turned to dust, just like that.' responded Glog.
Urist was dumbstruck , for the second time in 2 minutes. They were surrounded then by 5 kobolds, all wearing a strange emblem :a bluejay, he noticed. 'Freeze! You are in Resistance territory!' they barked.
'Armok's sake...' Urist muttered.

Gethor smiled at Urist. "I got this Urist." "Everybody I'm a kobold too. Join me and if anyone does not join me, you die. I will show you all my power." Urist saw the 5 kobolds gather around whispering. One of the kobolds, named Kastro walked closer to Urist ,Gethor ,and the others. "We decided if you fight me ,and win, all of us join you." Gethor smiled. "We will all miss you, Kastro." He raised his hand up and Kastro's head exploded. His blood went all over the floor. Gethor looked at the other kobolds " You can join me now, unless you want to be like your friend." They agree and told them their names.

Urist loked at Gethor. If anything, he looked paler than before. 'This power is draining him...' he thought. The kobolds escorted them back to the resistance camp, Daggerfurnace. There, they could see all manner of peoples, humans, goblins, lizardmen, elves, dwarves, gremlins, even gnomes. The leader, a large gnome named Ferric, explained.
'For many years, us outcasts have been making camps in the wilderness to base our rebellion. You see, centuries ago, the founding fathers of civilization released a great evil into the world.
'Demons.' Urist responded.
'Aye, dwarf. These creatures rule most civilizations. Only the gremlins and gnomes are free of them.'
'Even the elves have demon rulers?'
'Aye. Why do you think they eat corpses?'#
Urist let him continue.
'But, 50 years ago, a gnomish scholar, Cobalt Ironguard, discovered that the demons of the world were planning a massacre of all the civilizations they ruled. Some believed him and broke off from the mainstream world. Others were exiled and joined us, and now we have camps around the world.'
'Like what happened in Dirgefurnace...'
'I'm sorry?'
'Dirgefurnace was wiped out by a demon.'
'They are enacting their plans...'
'Armok's sake.' muttered Urist. 'So, we are all going to be obliterated by demons. Just dandy.' 'We did find a way to stop them,' responded Ferric. 'We discovered the portal to Hell. It's in Dirgefurnace.' 'So we have to go through that wreck of a place?'
'Yes.'
''Armok help me,' Urist muttered.