Arganthes: The Capital Of Dungeons

I grabbed my head as the memories flashed by… Remembering was horrifying,

but now I knew… It was all… Real… That it wasn't a dream…

"So… I… See… It… wasn't a dream… It… Was… All… Real…"

"Tell us… Shadowfang… Tell us… What… Happened…"

I looked away… Took a deep breath… And started telling what had transpired.

Alarmed Micco and Honi looked at each other. Micco Scraped his throat and answered me back.

"This… Never… Had anyone… Endured it… This… Far…"

Worry came over the chieftain, he knew he had to inform Michael about everything…

"You see, young Shadowfang… The Ritual of Berak has been something to endure for our people for centuries… But… For an outsider to get involved… And have his psyche intact…

Can be called a miracle on its own… Even our own… Tend to give in to temptation…

Or worse… Turn… Insane beyond imagine…"

Partially annoyed, I decided to thank the chieftain for his remark as he continued.

"For you see… The Primordial, is an entity without form… Or shape… It invests itself into the depths of one's psyche, soul sea and even inner most nerves of the body… Spreading…

Like a virus… The battle of wills… Is one, we wanted the world against… But now…"

"It has found its way to you…"

Honi said, as he stared to the ground…

"Berak, is what our people call the void, the nothingness within the universe.

An paradox, giving shape to non-existance.

You see… Berak the Primordial want everything to return to a whole... Ever since creation, everything has been divided in categories.

Categories like; Space, Time, Good, Evil… Sins… Deeds… Morals… Emotions…

Berak wants to rid the universe of this so called good will, chaos and suffering… Bringing back everything to…"

"Nothingness"

I finished.

"The Gods…"

"Each have their own believes… Categories… To protect… Since the creation of the universe…

It has always been an unending conflict between existence and non-existance. Trying to co-exist has always been chaos and what other might call a struggle of epic proportions. Therefore different religions came to fruition… Which is why morals are mostly based on the individuals believes.

This in turn creates conflicts that clash against those believes. For example, what one believes to be evil or wrong, could be part of their upbringing, culture or even religion... Then... Others might find good, content or even justice in these words as their believes support this.

It became a way of life so to speak...

Even for us, we strongly believe certain things to be right or wrong, stabding proud as we fight for those believes, spreading them thoroughly within the clan. Yet the other clans might disagree with our believes creating conflict in its wake."

I knew the chieftain wasn't done talking soon.

We had only set foot within a never-ending well of ancient history.

"Conflict which we couldn't even escape from..."

I said without thinking.

"Things like, War... The clashing of two wills, Murder, sacrifice and even Slaughter were all things common within the world I had come from. Yes... it was a given I myself was lucky enough not to witness this, but still... We knew it happened within the world...

One man... has the power to chance the world, yet can't achieve greatness on its own."

Honi and the chieftain looked at each other before grabbing my hand as they revealed a hint of worry within their eyes.

"The saying is more true than you realize, for you see... This is how existanxe came to being. When the Void couldn't hold back the conflict on its own anymore the creation of existance happened.

Giving birth to consciousness and believes as we previously told you about.

The creation gave birth to gods, planets, cosmic energy and more.

To fight of the nothingness the three gods of creation bundled their strenghts, locking the void in its own dimension by combining the entirety of believes and consciousness into one.

We can't tell you their names as this was during the creation of space, time and consiousness itself.

One thing we do know is that one of them gave birth to what we believe is life itself, nature, warmth... Even Peace, curiosity and trust. Giving birth to many gods in the past."

"I don't know why, but this sounds like Aphrodite, even Gaia or Mother Earth!"

"You are indeed correct, although we worship many alike, the main gods of our culture are Artemisia and Fenrir."

"Wait... I remember the both of them, although I don't know how similar they might be in this world. Artemis was the Greek goddess of the hunt, wild lands, wildlife and childbirth.

But Fenrir... although I do know about him, in my world he was known as the norse mythological monstrous wolf. Decendant from the norse god Loki, the god of lies and chaos.

Legend has it, the gods bound him by chains multiple times eventually asking the "night elves" for help making what in my world was known as "Gleipnir" made of certain elements. Such as; the breath of a fish, the beard of a woman, the saliva of a bird the sound of tapping cat paws, and finally the tendons of a bear."

Honi and his father looked at each other, baffled by my knowledge, they had not expected me to tell this much in detail.

"H-how do you know the receipt, not to mention the conflict that happened between gods of old?"

Startled I jumped up, had I said something I shouldn't have?

"No matter... You are correct... But! In our world Fenrir has been freed from Gleipnirs bounding."

The chieftain looked me in the eyes and continued before I could ask him why.

"Why?! Well... Think about what we had told you before, that there is no right or wrong... Only believes that strengthens ones own resolve and builds the culture and religion around us."

*Sigh*

"I don't know why, but thinking about Fenrir and his father Loki... his father was the god of Lies and Chaos... He even took to his father earning his cunning."

"Yes in a way, you could think Loki was bad depending on your Believes and Morals, which directly relates to not only yours but anyone their upbringing. I recommend you try to keep an open mind."

A gust of wind entered the room, chilling the air around us. I thought it was a warm and dry season, yet within second the warm dry air surrounding us took a turn towards the cold.

Both Honi and his father gathered around the the centre of the tent. Quickly putting all kinds of wood on a pile. Then the chieftain sat down as they called for me. Where they going to start a fire here, inside the tent?

Now the tree of us were gathered Honi began to chant in a foreign language as his father began to make special signs. I didn't know what was going on, yet they were the only ones I could trust in these unknown lands.

What could their connection be with Fenrir or other wolf-like ancient entities? I thought to myself when the chanting suddenly stopped.

The fire was burning, lighting up the room with its bright flames, warmth slowly spread throughout the tent as they kept dancing on rhythm with the previous chanting.

"We will tell you more young Shadowfang, but... You have to see it all to believe the words of our people..."

The chanting intensified.

"Proud ancient ... Fenrir! Show him the way of truth ... The truth corrupted by the gods. Filling the lies that cover his eyes, the calculation of the day they called Ragnark. Show him what really happened on that god forsaken day."

The wind slowly crept closer. The ground around us slowly overcome by ice...

The flames danced eagerly following the rhythm ever stronger. I didn't know to feel warm or cold anymore. But then the flames spiked upwards flashing in different shades of blue,

first light, then dark...

Slowly growing smaller... the wind too began to calm down... and I couldn't put my finger on it, but it felt like it wasn't us three anymore within the tent...

I felt a pressence outside of the tent, not from this world. Almost beast-like...

But then, out of nowhere the flames began to open up, taking it in... It felt like something was staring at me from the other side of the flames.

Shadows slowly invaded the tent from the outside, shadows without a distinct form.

Glistering in the faint glow of the flames.

I tried to get away... I tried to scream... As I was unable to, I realized the worst... I... Was... Frozen...

The shadows crept closer, now surrounding the three of us. The distinct form slowly faded away as eyes began to glow within the dark. Bright eyes... Blue... Yellow, Red and Purple.

Slowly revealing their pressence, their shape became more distinct.

I feared for my life when I suddenly heard a sound.

Wait... are those?