Burden of Remembrance

The Libraria Aeternitas pierced into the perpetual twilight sky of Atraxis Prime. Its spires towered over the city of Caelithorne. The night was always approaching, but would never come. Inside the eternal library Aderic Dravurelii, once an Ignivar of the Ordo Primae Flammae, now hunched over a large desk of manuscripts, scrolls, and books caked in dust from age long gone. He turns the page of the book, stroking his thick gray beard, streaked with black. Aedric adjusted the red cloak draped over his shoulder, it bore the emblem of the Pactum Solariensis, beside it was a small pin signifying his new role as Custos Memoriae. He raised his eyes from the old book, his eyes locked onto an object sitting on the table. It was his old emblem from his Lorica Ilvanora, his sacred armor issued by the Ordo Primae Flammae. This emblem, the Sigil of Solomir, once a dragon engulfed in holy flame surrounded by a seven pointed star, now faded and partially destroyed from battle. Aedric reaches for the old emblem. He remembered a time the Sigil of Solomir was whole. It was a time when the Flame burned true.

Victory on Vredre came at a terrible price. The Pactum Solariensis severely underestimated the strength of the Stahlvolkh and the Witch. Aedric closed his eyes and bowed his head in remembrance of his brothers and members of the Solar Pact. In his thoughts, he recounted the last days of the siege. The Iron Reliquaries, colossal machines made of steel, rad-cannons were mounted to their shoulders, each arm armed with an auto gun or a noctis-blade. At the center of each dread engine was a man entombed in the center, his arms and legs cuffed to the machine. Mechanical tentacles were lodged in the skulls. The Steel People had bypassed AI entirely and had embedded their own men in tombs of destruction. The soldiers were no better off, their limbs replaced with hydraulic arms and legs, those men could fight day and night with out needing food, water or sleep. The perfect soldier. Aedric shook his head, he could not imagine why men would give up their bodies for such aversion. The Dominion of Neuprusska, now Stahlvolkh, used be an honorable foe, yes war was fought, territory gained and territory was lost, but honorable no doubt. No they were abominations, slaves to the Witch. Aedric felt a chill in the air as he remembered what appeared to be a woman, neither alive or dead, floating in a pitch black cloak that shimmered with the light of fallen stars. She wore a crown of bone, haloed in ornate golden light featuring shapes of an unknown geometry. Black viscous liquid seeped from her closed eyes, her head was bowed as if in prayer, her mouth closed yet everyone could hear her voice, but not all understood. Except…

“Solistan…”Aedric whispered. His hands trembled, he could feel the burden build inside of him. Solistan was and is the reason that the Pactum Solariensis was victorious. The man, now made legend is gone, his memory is all that remains. Aedric opened his eyes and closed the book, dust was released into the air. Setting the book aside he stood and walked among the columns of texts. The air had grown colder, the lanterns more dim, the atmosphere was agitated. A cold wind blew, Aedric’s red cloak billowed in the breeze, his breath visible in front of him. Although presently a scholar, his senses began to enhance, impending doom was upon him. In the thick atmosphere, shadows seemed to dance in his peripheral vision, he continued his search for Liber Tenebris, The Book of Shadows. Aedric burrowed deeper into the vaults of Libraria Aeternitas, the perpetual twilight and half-lit icons adding

to the dread that he was already feeling.

His gut told him, he would find his answers here. His eyes locked onto a pitch black binding with gold trim, the title written in Imperial Daciana, Liber Tenebris.

His fingers touched the spine.

“Aedric Thorne” said a voice both near and far.

Aedric closed his eyes and let out a small sigh, his blood ran cold. He had not heard that name in centuries. Thorne, was his Solterran name.

“Who goes there,” he replied.

“You seek what many have sought throughout the millennial. Though none have found it.” The voice was soft yet piercing.

Aedric refused to look in the direction of the voice and pulled Liber Tenebris from it’s shelf.

“Aye, show yourself stranger. I have no temper for parlor tricks.”Aedric retorted while opening the book. The stranger rushed to Aedric’s side.

“This is no parlor trick mortal.” The air turned subzero, Aedric frozen in place could barely turn his head. The stranger glided above the floor, it was cloaked in a shadow so thick and black that it clung to the stranger like living ink.

“I come not as a foe but as a bearer of burdens, an echo of what was and what is to come.” The stranger stared directly into Aedric’s frozen face. Though there was no form, Aedric could clearly see the outline of two voids. The eyes of a hungering star.

“You are her.” Aedric could barely pass the words through his lips.

“I am not the Lamenter of Stars, you seek to find her in the ancient tomes, yet you do not know truth of Zha’Nuir. For she is the one to bring your empire to heel. Zha’Nuir is and what is to come. The Dominion of Neuprusska found their savior and in time your hollow throne will seek her as well. The Elder Star protects and provides.”

“By the name of Solomir, you speak lies.” Aedric hissed through frozen teeth. “Vredre stands and the Pactum is triumphant, we will march on Neuprusska and destroy them by the time our ranks our filled!”

“Brother…” The stranger’s voice now deep and stoic. “There is no escaping Zha’Nuir. Even in death she breathes life. What is lost, is now found. What is weak, now made strong.”

Aedric’s blood ran cold. Could it be? “Solistan?”

“Yes, brother. I am here. Embraced by the sacred light of the Elder Star. I have found salvation through Zha’Nuir. May our enemies be destroyed by Or’Zherrak, the Hungering Star.”

“This cannot be, you died a martyr. You are one of Solomir’s chosen. A Saint! You are the one that is hollow, you are a jester in this court”

The stranger moved closer to Aedric. In the void a finger could be seen. It placed the finger on Aedric’s forehead. It replayed the Siege of Verdre. The strangers voice shifted to dissonance.

“Solistan’s blood brought reprieve, Hadrien’s crimes have awaken older sins and the Stahlvolkh rally under the halo of Zha’Nuir. The Machina Carnalis grow stronger and multiply. By the Lamenter’s grace you must yield for dark days lie ahead.”

The visions in Aedric’s mind intensify, time shifts, he sees the perpetual twilight of Atraxis Prime fading into eternal eclipse. The people are enslaved to Zha’Nuir. Hydraulics and electrical conduits replaced their extremities. Zha’Nuir towers above the Libraria Aeternitas. Light fades, and shadows grow. Ichor falls from her eyes. Atraxis Prime has fallen.

“The future cannot be changed Aedric, the path to salvation is Zha’Nuir.”

The stranger removes its finger from Aedric’s forehead. It glides even closer to Aedric, its ink black cloak billowing in a nonexistent breeze. The lamps dimmed and Aedric looked deeper into the hungering void.

“Lux in mentis, flamma in cordis.”The stranger hissed.

“You demon!” Light shone from Aedric’s Sigil. He broke free from the frozen grasp of the stranger. “Lux in mente, FLAMMA IN CORDE!” Aedric bellowed, the light from the Sigil of Solomir shone bright and a figured emerged from the light. The figure stood between Aedric and the stranger, though it was cloaked in light Aedric could make out the armor of the Ordo Primae Flammae, Lorica Ilvanora. The warrior of light towered above the stranger and turned to Aedric.

“Brother, do not heed the words of this demon. Varkhuz Zan’kel.”

“The mouth of the star?” Aedric whispered.

The warrior nodded.

“Kaldrith calls brother, Or’Zherrak awaits.”

The air thickened and lamps went black. The only light in the chamber was from the warrior.

“I, Solistan Dravurelii, a Saint of Solomir the First Flame, banish you Varkhuz Zan’kel. You will return to the void, Vallis Gehennonis awaits, return to Or’Zherrak.”

For a moment, the stranger lingered, the void stared into Aedric.

“I am remembrance, heed me, seek the mercy of Zha’nuir.”

Solistan drew his sword and punched the bladed of light through the stranger. The stranger and Solistan both disappeared as quickly as they appeared. Aedric’s heart was pounding. He sank to the floor, Liber Tenebris lay open on the floor. A new passage appeared, Varkhuz Zan’kel warns; the burden remembers. Aedric’s eyesight grows dim, everything turns black.

Hours later, Aedric’s eyes open. He is in the medicae. Varron Thaurikon is seated at his side.

“Aedric, you are awake. What happened? You look as if you have seen a ghost.”

Aedric murmured, “Worse, a prophecy.” He sat up in his bed. “The fleet must rendezvous on Kaldrith. The fate of the Pactum Solariensis depends on it!”

The burden weighed heavy — not just of loss, but of the evil that must be faced on Kaldrith. Or’Zherrak waited and with it, Zha’Nuir’s dirge.