DJORN - The Squire's Quest

“When I imagined the world, when it first came into being, I did not expect that the inhabitants of this one would take to magic so quickly. Ages passed and those gifted few became many. With the rise of these gifted-folk all creatures from before human creation now stand in fear of being powerless. Mortals have come too far, and no matter what, there does not exist a single god who believes we should rise up. When we came here from Zantar this world was nothing but deserts. Perhaps, if the humans are the learn their place, that is what it must return to.”

— Daedalius, the Black Dragon

In the Age of Synthos, a period of sorcery and the manipulation of all things, came the legendary practice which soothsayers and power-mongers from all the four corners of the Earth took haste to knowledgeably attain. It was in this time that the first great users of magic were formed and the population of mages, warlocks and other spell-casters became a blessed title for some, and a position of wickedness for others.

As the Age of Synthos birthed many magic-users, the entanglement of the mystical arts circulated the globe, giving the powers of darkness a greater hand in the transcendence of their essences. Many dawns later, this world would come to know a sorcerer like no other. This wielder of mythical techniques and teachings would help to shape a future for all those who rejected the efforts of evil.

It was the young orphaned squire, Djorn, who, after seeing the magnificent feats of the great sorcerer, Endymion, became infatuated with magic and sought the life of a prestigious magician, early in his his boyhood years. Endymion had ruled Mount Latpus and it’s surrounding cities for a time, until the great ruler was met with the audience of a god, whom most believed to be Apollinaire, Deity of the Literary Arts.

Apollinaire granted Endymion unbelievable knowledge which he in turn translated into the art of magic. It was due to this encounter that Endymion’s dreams were flooded with the knowledge of worlds far beyond his own. The others that were to obtain this knowledge, and one day take their place as the land’s greatest magic-users, were kings, philosophers, paladins and men who’s souls were bound for a higher purpose.

Over time Endymion took on disciples, some loyal, some corrupt, and it was through his teachings and the teachings of those like him that magic made it’s impression upon the world of man. With the ever-growing influence of darkness, evil began transforming as it adapted to the lives of humankind. It was a time where demonic entities and ancient evils from the Ethos and the worlds beyond could take the shape of man and walk amongst them.

The age had just begun and already it was shaping to be one fueled by conflict, limited by the sinful nature of man. This was the Great Synthonian Era. Djorn most notably believed in appearance, valor, righteousness, and the willingness to push away the advancements of what he perceived to be evil, at any cost.

It was through these beliefs, instilled in him through the lessons of the knights he’d served, that his childhood as a squire would soon turn him toward the life of a mage’s apprentice. While in the service of the Grand  Noble, Sir Edmon of Kalskire, Djorn found himself fighting northern marauders, held up in the small village of Brestlkin, in the Snowy North.

The marauders, followers of The Great White Wolf, Boltan, took to the slaughter of Brestlkin with great pleasure and no mercy. They were cannibals who had been making their way through the Snowy North, killing all those they could find and offering the slaughtered remains of village-folk and misfortunate travelers to the never-ending hunger of Boltan.

It was said that after the marauders would lay waste to a vast populous, they would move on to their next target and in their absence Boltan would manifest himself and feast on the blood and bodies of the slaughtered. It was here that Djorn found himself fending off these marauders for the first and last time.

As his mentor, Sir Edmon, was torn apart by spears before the boy’s very eyes. Djorn fell to the blow of a sword, piercing his heart and halting his breath. Before falling dead at the feet of his murderer, Djorn reached out for the bastard’s dagger, snagging a large green book that was attached to a torn satchel upon his killer’s belt instead.

The book toppled from the bastard’s belt and landed at the  knees of the dying squire. As Djorn failed to reach the dagger, the bastard booted the boy in the chest, knocking him backward. As the bastard prepared to impale Djorn one final time, a horn sounded to call away the attacking marauders and regroup.

Leaving the boy to die, Djorn watched, fading slowly from life as the invaders vacated, leave behind a most vile carnage in their wake. As Djorn prepared to welcome the shadows of death, he felt a presence beside him, beaconing him to inquire about the book that’d fallen from the bastard’s belt, beside him.

With his last bit of strength, Djorn picked up the green book, bearing the Seal of Endymion. As a wave of mystical energies overtook him, he spoke aloud an incantation of resurgence, unaware of how he knew what to say. A colored wind with a great warmth ensnared Wickatunk’s wounds, restoring him in body and mind.

He peered at the magnificent craftsmanship of the book, then out at the snow, stained with the bodies of the dead. As Wickatunk stood, he took tight hold of the book, ready to use his mightiest will to restore all of the fallen that surrounded him. A massive growl was heard, advancing on him from the trees.

As the rumors had told, the Great White Wolf, Boltan manifested itself and began feeding on the corpses of the villagers, that was, until connecting eyes with Djorn who’d challenged the beast with a furious glare. Boltan rushed at Djorn with fangs large and claws stained in death. The giant wolf towered over the trees as it gained uncanny speed.

With a deep breath Djorn flung open the book as a deep power surged through his body and magical forces fused within him. He spoke the words which took control over the dead that surrounded him, granting them momentary life to aid him in the great wolf’s defeat. In a fantastical feat of prestidigitation, beyond any comparability, Djorn manifested bows and arrows in the hands of the recently reanimated; created from magical mana. 

They shot at the beast, tearing through it’s flesh with enchanted arrows, as mortal weapons could not pierce it’s pelt. It fell lifeless as the bodies of the recently animated fell as well and the power of the book slowly depleted. Djorn gazed at the Great White Wolf that, mere seconds prior, towered over him.

As the beast faded and Djorn stood amazed, the avatar of Boltan appeared before the boy. The avatar, Jiyn, spoke to Djorn. Jiyn explained that he was cursed to the form of the ravenous Great White Wolf by the tyrant-god, Otef. He was given a never-ending hunger which would ravish these lands and spread fear through those who would dare take residency in the forests of the Snowy North.

Using the abilities of Endymion’s grimoire, Jiyn was freed and granted Djorn mighty instruments in return for his soul’s freedom. Jiyn gifted Djorn with, The Crescent, a holy blade, shaped like the shadowed moon, with the abilities of purification and enlightenment. Along with The Crescent, Djorn was also given a sheath and a coat, woven from the beast’s pelt. 

Both items were indestructible when faced with the weapons of man. Jiyn revealed. Together with The Crescent, his impenetrable coat and the book of a master-sorcerer, it was there, in the ruined remains of Brestlkin, where Djorn believed that his past self had died with the people of the village.

Djorn, Squire of Kalskire, became Djorn of Brestlkin, and that was the title he now carried with him. Knowing that he’d come into possession of Endymion’s legendary grimoire, Djorn had no doubt, that with his second chance at life, he would stop at nothing to return the book to Endymion.

Djorn vowed to travel to the High East, climb Mount Latpus and return the grand-sorcerer his legendary grimoire, or die trying. In the High East, the master-sorcerer, Endymion, furiously scoured the halls of his fortress for his grimoire. Seven moons ago mercenaries from the Deep Southern colonies of Vleshpahr flooded the streets of his city, destroying anything they could find.

Endymion fled from his tower to purge the streets of the mercenaries. In the chaos, Endymion’s grimoire, the largest collection of translated arcane-magic and mystical instruction to have ever existed, was stolen and in the hands of Vleshpahrian marauders who were said to have been heading north. Endymion knew the book was circulating the planet, being sold of and bought like cattle.

Endymion ordered his disciples to scour the land, knowing that, to the common man, the book was of no use. Only the greatly willed could wield the abilities which came with the mere grasp of the book’s bindings. And so, Endymion would send his followers out and ordered them not to return without the book in hand and Endymion feared what powers would be unleashed if the book fell into the hands of evil.

The Snowy North, the Deep South, the Mystic West and the High East each had their head sorcerer. While Endymion reined in the High East, the wizard, Den’krum, ruled the Snowy North. The Mystic West was protected by the spell-caster, Thena and the Deep South was trafficked by the grand warlock, Elphenrung.

The center of the continent was populated by all those from the four cardinal realms. To the Palace of Endymion was where Djorn was headed next. Djorn traveled to the south of the Snowy North before coming across a great wall of ice which separated him from the continent’s center.

He attempted to break the wall with his blade, but it did not give way. The wall stood tall, above the clouds and regenerated with each blow he delivered. Just as he was attempting to strike it again, the snow beneath him began to tremble. Before him, Djorn witnessed the reanimated skeletons of icy soldiers rise from the ground.

He was backed up against the ice wall as their unfathomable fractions closed in on him. He rushed head first into them, with his blade swinging hard. Before he knew it, Djorn was knocked out by a shield-bash to the back of the head. His sight faded as the ice-skeletons moving in was all he could see.

When Djorn awoke he was in the palace of Den’krum, master-wizard and ruler of the Snowy North. Djorn questioned Den’krum as to why he had sealed off the Snowy North from the rest of the continents. Den’krum revealed that he had not been invited to the last few meets of the Grand Master Magician’s Council.

Den’krum explained that he’d headed the meeting every year and that if the master magic-users of the world would not bother to acknowledge him, then he would refuse to acknowledge the world, closing the Snowy North out from the rest of the realm. Before attempting to plead with Den’krum, Elphenrung burst through the doors of his thrown room, demanding that the wall to be taken down, insisting that it had stopped the Deep South’s ability to deliver and receive supplies to and from the five realms.

Elphenrung explained that he had ventured many moons to arrive at Den’krum’s castle in the north and that he refused to leave until the wall was diminished. After Den’krum’s refusal, the wizard froze the warlock’s arm which in turn caused Elphenrung to blast off the wizard’s arm with plasma. As Elphenrung broke free of the ice, and Den’krum’s arm regenerated, Djorn turned with haste to a page within Endymion’s book.

He spoke aloud the incantation to cease all movement within a powerful radius. As the grand wizard and warlock stood, unable to move, Djorn stepped in-between them, announcing that he was in procession of Endymion’s grimoire. And, that without the removal of the wall and the ability to return the book to it’s owner, he feared it would fall into the wrong hands.

As the spell timed out, so did Den’krum and Elphenrung’s fury. Den’krum, looking upon Djorn, realized the great matter of importance and apologized for his behavior, as Elphenrung had also been the target of Endymion and Thena’s cold-shoulders. The two made amends and it was decided that Elphenrung would travel alongside Djorn, with a few of Den’krum’s men, and return the book to Endymion.

Along the way the group encountered ice demons and crystalized beasties of all sorts, corrupted by spirits of the Snowy North. By the time Djorn and Elphenrung had reached the point of the wall, now absent, Elphenrung snatched one of the soldier’s swords and slashed Djorn through the back.

As Djorn let out a cry, Elphenrung grabbed Endymion’s grimoire before killing off Den’krum’s remaining escort soldiers. As the grand warlock of the Deep South stood gloating, Djorn lied in horror as Elphenrung teleported away, taking what supplies and food he had left and, all the while laughing over his treachery.

Djorn stood up, saved by the coat of the Great White Wolf which could not be pierced by the blades of man. With the book now in the hands Elphenrung, Djorn stood and decided that his destination must still be to the fortress of Endymion, to tell the sorcerer of what had conspired, as a supply-less journey through the snow, back to the Castle of Den’Krum would result in Djorn freezing to death.

Djorn knew that if he travelled south he would be out of the snow within a couple miles and replenish his supplies at the next village. Doing just that, Djorn pressed on. For a time Djorn hoped that his journey would be smooth, with Elphenrung believing him to be dead. Both would soon come to believe otherwise.

Traveling through the center continent, Djorn, with blade and pelt in tow, journeyed East. In his travels Djorn encountered villages plagued by the Hal’mystic Sages, those who held dominion over the common people of Ghania. Located in the Sevrohn Desert, the Valley of Ghania stood, cut off from the outside world.

The Hal’mystic Sages were headed by the Wicked Immortal. One that Djorn would soon come to know quite well. Upon becoming lost in the Sevrohn Desert, Djorn was saved by the Skavajirs; Outsiders and nomads who patrolled the outer Valley of Ghania. Djorn was taken to Ghania’s capital where, after seeing his blade, the Crescent, the people believed him to be a savior and paladin, spoken in prophecy, too free the valley of the Hal’mystic Sages.

The people of the valley gave Djorn their most prized artifact, having kept it a secret from the Sages. It was from them that Djorn obtained The Irohn Amulet, fastened to a silver bracelet. Legend tells of the amulet once being worn on the crown of the god, Sh’ehm, handed down to the founder of the valley.

It was said that the amulet allowed the land to rise from the desert and warded off the advancing evils of the new age. That was, until the Sages and the Wicked Immortal arrived. The prophecy of Ghania said that the Savior Paladin would take the amulet and head to the Sub-terrain Palace of the Wicked Immortal, defeating them and restoring freedom to the valley. 

Djorn found that the amulet enhanced his strength and speed, as well as allow him to enchant objects he touched, at will. With this new power, he set out for the Immortal’s Palace. Along the way Djorn encountered four Terorhydes in the deep forest. They were gigantic beasts with leathery skin and tusks that resembled twisted tree trunks.

Terrorhydes almost appeared like earth-bound birds with feathers in certain places on their bodies. They were built like buffalo, some having hooves with sharp nails on their upper hind legs. Their faces looked like a combination of a bird and a boar, some looking more like one or the other. Djorn willed the powers of the amulet to amplify, allowing him to take on all four Terorhydes at once, beheading each one with the Crescent.

As the forest began to clear, Djorn came across a river. However he was unable to pass as it’s inhabitants, Streamlings, spirits of the stream, halted land-goers from crossing. Djorn presented the amulet, and when he did the Streamlings fell, powerless to the overwhelming ora of the artifact. Djorn crossed the water and took a quick drink before continuing. 

Coming up on the entrance to an underground passage, Djorn continued. Entering the illuminated caves of the Immortal’s Sub-terrain Palace, he ventured until he came across a room where the Sages stood in a slumber, tucked between tomb-like pillars that glowed with a purple haze. As Djorn entered the chamber, he raced past the sleeping Sages, bursting into the throne room of the Wicked Immortal without hesitation.

The Immortal, asleep and decaying, sat on a throne of stone, with a line of emerald goblets behind him. They were on a stone shelf which caved into the wall. As Djorn made his way around the Immortal to inspect the goblets, a pain struck his stomach, causing him to cry out and fall to his knees.

The Immortal awoke to the sound and took mighty fury upon Djorn, having invaded his domain. The Immortal picked him up and flung him across the room. Surprisingly, the force of the throw and the impact of the landing did little to stagger Djorn. After dodging blow after bow from the Immortal’s bastard sword, Djorn charged the ribs of the decaying immortal, knocking him into two pieces.

Djorn readied his sword as the Immortal’s body reassembled itself automatically. Djorn was stuck with a sword blow which sliced him straight up the torso and launched him backwards through the stone throne and into the shelf of lined-up goblets, all containing a form of the grand panacea.

As Djorn lifted his head back, liquid from the fourth goblet in the row toppled forward and landed in his open mouth. With a swallow, Djorn looked down to witness his wound completely disappear, and all pain in his body ceasing. He got up to face the Wicked Immortal once more, but fighting with a sudden burst of rejuvenated energy.

The Wicked Immortal fell into two pieces once more as Djorn raced for the exit. Bursting through the throne room doors again, Djorn swung his blade, collapsing the pillars that held the entrance intact. The entrance to the throne room caved in, trapping the Wicked Immortal underground, indefinitely.

As Djorn raced back to the Chamber of the Hal’mystic Sages, he came to find that they had awaken, preparing purple magical blasts of poisonous energy to launch at him. Taking a few hits, Djorn realized each time the blasts blow off a piece of his body, the immortal would instantly regenerate.

Djorn began using the Irohn Amulet to absorb the energy-blasts, firing them back at the Sages caped in red-hooded cloaks. As the six Sages fell, Djorn made for the exit as his wounds begin to heal again. Djorn wandered back through the river and forest, suddenly pondering why he never thought to loot the corpses of the Sages.

The thought swiftly passed him as Djorn returned to the people of the valley, informing them of his triumph over the Wicked Immortal. Having trapped the Immortal and having slain the Hal’mystic Sages, Djorn was praised by the people of the valley, and asked for their enlightenment upon the events which had caused his pain within the throne room, his strength’s renewal after a blow from the Immortal’s sword and his eventual triumph over the evils he’d encountered.

The people of the valley explained: Behind the Stone Throne of the Immortal stood a row of goblets, all containing a version of the elixir of immortality; as the secret of the Valley of Ghania was that immortality had originated there. The First Panacea grants slightly prolonged life. The Second Panacea grants regenerative abilities.

The Third Panacea grants death, only by decapitation. The Fourth Panacea grants advanced healing, automatic regeneration of wounds and invulnerability to all mortal-inflicted injury. It grants freedom from toxins or sickness, as well as youth and physical stability. The Fifth Panacea grants life, even after decay, and advanced regeneration.

The people of the valley deduced that the river Djorn drank from was infected with sprites, which caused his stomach pain in the Immortal’s Palace. After drinking the panacea, not only was he cured, but his struggle with the Immortal also managed to spill the goblets containing the elixir, destroying any modern means of obtaining immortality.

They explained that the Wicked Immortal stole the palace from the previous occupant and was, in fact, forced by the Sages to remain there for his greed and lust for eternal life. He was granted the Fifth Panacea and forbidden from ever leaving the underground lair. Djorn had consumed the Fourth Panacea by mistake, which happened to be the most beneficial of the five elixirs.

Djorn took a moment to absorb all that he had learned before remembering his original quest. Informing the people that he must leave, Djorn was met with difficulty, as the people of the valley would not allow an immortal, created within Ghania, to venture out of the valley. They feared that others would seek eternal life and search out their civilization to attain it.

But the people of the valley would not hear Djorn’s pleas and attempted to stop him by any means. They stabbed Djorn full of blessed daggers which paralyzed his immortal body. With the people he saved now turning on him, Djorn cried out as they confiscated his sword and the amulet.

At the valley’s capital, Djorn was locked into a tomb and kept prisoner. Many days and nights he remained inside, calling out until he was sure he would never be freed. The daggers tightened his muscles, freezing him in place, and making his seclusion all the more terrifying. Years passed. One day, the tomb doors opened, and the light of day peered upon him. 

Hands reached into the tomb and pulled the daggers from his flesh, freeing him from paralyzation. Freed, in an unfamiliar age and saved by the one known as Chathos, Djorn stepped out from his long slumber with much fear in his heart. Chathos was a monk from the Valley of Ede and a descendent of the people of Ghania.

The monk apologized for the behavior of his people and explained his position. Through the ages people had begun to believe that Djorn, a slumbering immortal, would be a valuable tool in the conflicts of the future. So, along the migration and evolution of the Ghania people, who ended up taking new residency in the Snowy North, the prophecy was formed that a chosen member of their people would travel back to their homeland, across the continent and into the valley to awaken Djorn.

Chathos was the son of a monk, born during the year of Djorn’s imprisonment. It was the grandfather of Chathos, Ytmaik, who took the people of Ghania away from a life of stern beliefs and turned them towards the graces of spirituality. In order for this to take place, the people of Ghania went north and abandoned the valley to forget their past.

Ytmaik’s people eventually founded the Valley of Eden and it was there they decided to stay. In doing so Djorn was left to sleep. When Chathos was of age, his grandfather told him the origins of his people and, before dying, gave Chathos a sacred rune, carved in a small stone and told him to journey at once.

Chathos left his people behind, found the valley and located the tomb in what used to be the town square. Chathos pressed the rock with the rune upon the tomb and it glowed a blue light. The symbols across the stone coffin lit up as the upturned casket’s lid fell to the side. Djorn gasped as his body shot up.

Chathos pulled the knives from Djorn’s flesh as the immortal man gained his footing. Chathos explained all that he knew to Djorn as he added that three-hundred years had passed since his imprisonment in the valley. Chathos was an old man, but he cared himself like a youth and it was his optimism that gave Djorn a bit of hope, despite his situation.

Chathos told Djorn how the master sorcerer, Endymion III, tasked the people of Ghania to seek him out and bring Djorn before the throne at Mount Latmus. From there Djorn would be tasked with preforming a great feat which could mean life or death. Only after the completion of that feat would Djorn be granted a way back in time.

The journey from the Valley of Ghania, to Mount Latmus in the High East, opened Djorn’s eyes to a world that had been taken by Elphenrung. Due to his imprisonment Djorn was never able to tell Endymion of Elphenrung’s thievery of his grimoire. And so, after returning to Den’kuum’s palace and killing him by throwing the wizard into a black void in space, Elphenrung raised armies of the undead and brought war to the High East, crushing Endymion’s forces and eventually killing the sorcerer.

Endymion spent his final moments, impaled at the end of Elphenrung’s staff before being thrown from the peak of Mount Latmus, to his death. Thena, as explained by Chathos, left the west and spent the remainder of her life building up secret rebellions against the warlock. Out of all the magic-users, only the grandson of Endymion was left and leading a small army. 

After losing his families home, Endymion III was forced to lead his rebellion within the sewers of Endymion’s fallen city. When finally brought before Endymion III, Djorn asked how he would be returning home and that, if they could promise him passage back, he would do anything. Endymion III, told Djorn that Elphenrung’s overuse of Endymion III’s grimoire effected the warlock like a poison, and so he was forced to lock it away.

Endymion III planned to have their greatest mages teleport Djorn within the vault where the grimoire was held, teleport him back to the palace and use a one-time spell to send Djorn back in time where he could return the future version of the spell book to Endymion and prevent these three ages of destruction.

Endymion III knew that due to Djorn’s legendary immortality, no physical harm could come to him, therefore he was the perfect thief to retrieve the book and escape unharmed. The rebels began immediately. The magical circles were formed as Djorn was prepared to be teleported. The mages envisioned the location and held the sight of the vault firm in their minds.

Djorn knew he would have to act fast, as the spell could only sustain him for a minute or so before he would be sucked back to the place he was summoned from. Before taking off, Chathos stepped forward and handed Djorn his old weapon, confiscated by the people of Ghania, three-hundred years ago.

The Crescent. Having regained his old blade, Djorn gave the word for the mages to ready their spell as a flash of light took over and the immortal was sent away from the sewers of Latmus. Before Djorn knew it he was in a dark place, with Endymion’s grimoire atop a small pillar and a black aura around it.

With haste Djorn took the Crescent and placed the white blade upon the black aura, breaking the spell-binding seal. Djorn took hold of the book, jumped back and closed his eyes as magical forced blasted his molecules apart and reformed him, his sword and the book back within the sewers and before the celebrating rebels and a pleased Endymion III.

Chathos cheered upon Djorn’s arrival, boasting about how he knew the holy power of the Crescent blade would be enough to break the dark seal over the grimoire. However, this joy was not to last as watchers informed Endymion III that their noise and presence had called the attention of Elphenrung’s undead soldiers from the streets above.

Fortunately, the mages jumped into their next spell and prepared the throw Djorn back in time. Endymion told Djorn that, when he returned to his time, he would spawn within the sewers of Latmus, where he now stands and that all he need do is make his way to the palace of his grandfather and request an audience with him.

However, this spell would come at a price. Endymion’s mages discovered that the energy needed to preform the spell that would send Djorn back in time would require an immense amount of life energy. This energy was conveniently equal to the power of Djorn’s immortality and therefore would have to be sacrificed if he wished to return home. 

Djorn assured them all he was ready and the spell began. The jump was close, but just as the undead ravished the sewers, Djorn was thrown back and awoke within the sewers of Latmus, three-hundred years prior, as a mortal man. Djorn ran through the streets of Latmus, all the way to the palace at the center of the city.

There he entered, being halted by guards. Djorn held up the book so that Endymion, sitting mere feet away and upon his throne, could see it. Endymion ordered his guards to stand down as Djorn ran through, reuniting the sorcerer with his grimoire. It was after the return of the sorcerer’s book that Endymion granted Djorn anything he desired.

All he’d need do was ask. Djorn requested that he stay on Mount Latmus and train under Endymion in the ways of sorcery. Without question the sorcerer agreed and Djorn spun tales of his travel to the future, the meeting of Endymion’s descendant and the treachery of Elphenrung. With this knowledge and more, the approaching age was to be shaped, anew.