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Background
Hyvon Lore’s childhood was like most other normal Drians, he went to school, had a good education and lived in a caring family. From an early age though he had a strong passion for knowledge, he wanted to find out everything there ever was to know. People told him it was impossible, that there wasn’t enough time in the world for such a task, but he wouldn’t listen to them, he kept on saying that he would do it even if he didn’t believe it himself in his truest of hearts. His parents encouraged him with this quest that Lore had set himself, but only one person really believed in him, his best friend Paero. They did not study books like most philosophers though; instead they talked to people, listened to stories and searched parts of the old world, trying to uncover their mysteries. They were more like adventurers really, but the end goal was not treasure of material worth, but knowledge. Lore believed that to understand the world around you, you first had to uncover its past and understand that.
Lore and Paero were like brothers really, the only times they weren’t together were at night and at meal times, although a lot of the time they went to a fro from each others house, staying at one persons one night and then the others the next. They did everything together and both liked the same things as each other. They got on so well that they were when people spoke about one of them; they usually spoke of the other at the same time, many people called them inseparable. As they grew older they both looked out for each other too and their friendship grew stronger and stronger They truly were the best of friends.
By the time Lore was ten he had already been on his first adventure with his father and Paero. It was not really an adventure to the adults of the world, but Lore believed that it was and he counted it as his first quest. They had visited a tourist attraction early one morning before any other visitors got there, an old fort that had stood for over five hundred years and had been the center of a fierce battle in its final days. Part of the fort had been destroyed in the battle and never been rebuilt and so it had stayed as ruins ever since. It was believed the people who had inhabited the fort had fled and never returned during that battle. Many mysteries surrounded the fort, and Lore wanted to be the one to solve them. They did not stay long at the fort that day, Lore’s father wanted to leave before the tourists arrived so that it would not be ruined for young Lore, but this fort would play a large part in Lore’s later life.
It was after this visit to the fort where Lore had seen the great weapons of the warriors who had fought there that Lore became interested in the art of swordplay and began to train himself each day with a short sword that his father owned. Paero helped Lore train and together they both became skilled with a blade. All the time Lore’s psychic powers, which he had kept secret from everyone including Paero, were growing stronger as he practiced using them when he was on his own. At school he was being taught how to use the magic that every Drian held within so that he would be able to use it helpfully in later life, but even at the age of eleven, Lore knew that this was not what he would be using it for.
At the age of eighteen, Lore had established himself as a recognized swordsman, mage and philosopher, although some were skeptic about his techniques. Yet still nobody knew of his psychic ability. Lore didn’t want anybody to know though, it was something that he always had as an insurance policy in battle if it came to that, and if an enemy knew of it, they could easily find something in the technology around them to seriously endanger him. Lore had researched psychic power over the years and had found that many people had died from overuse of the power, it was very unstable and psychics were advised not to use their powers at all. The one example of Holy Matter on the planet was created by a very power psychic who had practiced the art all his life, but even when he created the powerful energy he exploded, leaving on the holy Matter. After learning what technology could do to him he saw how it affected the whole planet and that technology would always stand in his way unless he could have it on his side. So it was between the ages of fifteen and eighteen and Lore began to carry a gun, practicing his aim where and when he could and slowly becoming competent with this weapon. At the same time Lore began work on his new project, the Genon, a device that would allow him to use his psychic power as much as he wanted.
At nineteen, Lore and Paero left for their first real time away from home and their first real adventure. They both knew that there would be many dangers along the road, but were confident that as long as they looked out for each other then everything would be ok. Their first adventure was to the ancient ruins of Alsaka. Their search took them deep inside the long deserted city, the very buildings around them looking as though they were about to collapse at any second and the eerie snake statues peering round every corner. When they reached the gates of the great palace, the way was blocked off by the legendary serpent guardian of the people who resided in this place. Lore and Paero both fought hard, but it was futile, they couldn’t beat it with either sword or gun, and their magic was nowhere near strong enough. Lore’s gun had been smashed to pieces and his sword snapped in half, his left arm had been pretty much destroyed by the ferocious beast and he did not have enough energy to cast any magic spell, but he did still have one weapon left. Lore built up his psychic energy and then let it all out in a deadly blast that hit the serpent directly and caused him to explode. The two were spared but at a cost, Lore had been exhausted from the sudden energy outburst, he had never used his powers this much in one attack, never used such a deadly amount and because of it his body couldn’t deal with the loss of energy that had been used from it and the huge build up of radiation had got to a dangerous level; Lore had dropped out of consciousness. He stayed in this state for the next two days, Paero tended to Lore’s wounded arm as well as his own cuts and sores, but during this time a band of goblins had attacked Paero. Paero had fought them off well, killing all of them to protect Lore just as Lore would have done for him, but he had been shot with a poison arrow in the heat of battle and now he was dying. Lore awoke on Paero’s final day of life, “I never knew” were Paero’s last words before he passed away.
Lore did not end his quest here though, he continued through the palace, for Paero, learning much about the race who appeared to all be a lizard type people. They worshipped their lizard gods and lived only in this city. When their great king fell, so did their race, as the deadly armies of the elvish peoples who had always hated the lizards and vice versa, destroyed all traces of them before the last remaining lizard priest summoned forth the huge guardian who then destroyed the few remaining elves. Those of course were not the only elves on the planet, while they were the only lizard people. Inside that palace which had been made into a tomb, Lore found the sword Bethalion.
When Lore returned home he was greeted as a celebrity, his findings astonished some people, but he became famous for them. That day was spoilt by the death of Paero though, and that would be the only reason he would remember it. Lore dedicated the next year to the construction of the Genon, working on it day and night until it worked fully without any faults. During this time he also designed and manufactured a new arm for himself and refitted it. He had to replace part of his rib cage and his left shoulder too so that the arm would be fixed on properly like a normal arm. He fitted the Genon the night of its completion and in the morning he left again. Paero’s death had made Lore wonder whether he should be doing this sort of thing. He had thought it would be a bit less dangerous than it really was and during the past year he had considered giving it up, leading a quiet life, but all the while he continued to prepare to leave, fixing himself up and training all the time. He carried on with many more excursions to ancient ruins, remnants of the old world, talking to people on his travels and training all the time. He said to himself that he did it for Paero, but it had been what he always wanted to do.
For two years he traveled, seeking the knowledge that he wished and then moving on to the next place. At last he arrived home to find that much had changed. The elves, dwarves and the few humans that lived on the planet had formed an alliance against the dark armies who were terrorizing the people of Kyathalon, and were now asking the Drians to join with them. The Drians did not wish to take any part in a war. They were peaceful people and had not been attacked by the dark armies. The elves became angry and accused the Drians childishly of thinking they were better than the other races, but the Drians did not give in. As the war was being planned though, the Drians were attacked by the dark armies. Villages burned and the peaceful people could not defend themselves well enough. They were an advanced race and their technological defenses were powerful, but the Dark Armies were deadly through towns and the people had few ways to defend themselves. Their men fought but it was not good enough, many Drians died, but not all was lost. The united races did not turn their backs; they came to the Drians aid, destroying the Black armies that were attacking. The Drians knew what they had to do now; they joined up to the United Races of Kyathalon and went into battle with their allies.
Every battle capable male of each race had to go into battle and that included Lore. The Dual-Discharge Series was born for this war and it helped the URK to defend themselves and assault the black armies. Lore carried Bethalion into battle with him along with his DDS and it was not long before he was recognized for his natural battle skill and was promoted accordingly. The war went on for two years non stop, a constant battle on the fields of Hellanor. After the war it was renamed the Dark Fields of Hellanor, but while the battle raged on, nobody cared about such things. Lore lost his right leg in that war, the left side of his hips also got crushed and he was forced to replace the rest of his ribs after his left arm was damaged again. Lore shared his secrets with the surgeons and the medical staff, teaching them his method to replace body parts with the tough, armoured type synthetic materials that he had used on his arm. Lore was honored for this information and greatly rewarded, the material that Lore had used revolutionized artificial limbs and gave the person unlucky enough to have to have one a new body part that worked in exactly the same way as their old natural one. The work he had done himself on his ribs and arms were improved by the surgeons who managed to fix up the few loose parts that Lore could not do on his own. The stress that his back and shoulders had been put under because of all the work done to him meant that he had to have a new spine and spine board fitted into him.
At the end of the war, at least half of the males of every race had been lost, but the dark armies were thought to have been wiped out. A festival and presentation was held at the end of the war to celebrate. Lore was given the highest honor for his services to the races and many believed that without his medical finds they would have lost the war. The celebrations did not last long though as the party was hit by an assault by the few remaining members of the black armies. Imps came from the sky, orcs, goblins and trolls from the ground. The men created a perimeter around the women to protect them, but the dark creatures hadn’t come for the women or even the men, they had come for Lore, the person who had no doubt secured the win as they all knew.
Arrows shot towards him from everywhere but Lore just stood there as he stopped them all with his psychic powers. The firing stopped and the arrows dropped to the ground. Black Matter was being shot from everywhere, imps fell from the sky in torrents but they kept coming for Lore. The trolls were soon wiped out as they were the primary danger and the weak goblins were either trampled by their large allies or killed off quickly from bullet fire. Orcs surrounded Lore, but he carried on fighting and the black matter kept coming at the orcs and imps. There were too many though and soon Lore felt the cold steel of an orc sword piercing through his flesh near his stomach, others smashing at the armoured rib cage until suddenly one broke through, piercing in and heading towards his vital organs. The others had been too late and although they had wiped out the last of the dark creatures, Lore passed through to the next realm, his vision darkening and then suddenly filling with a blinding light.
Everything around Lore was white, even the surface he was standing on was as white as everything else around him. Lore noticed a figure walking towards him, it was a man dressed in a white robe, his long white beard flowing down to his knees. He was quite tall and fairly thin, but he had a visage of power and regality. He spoke to Lore softly.
“Welcome to the upper realm of heaven, Hyvon Lore”
“What? I don’t want to be in heaven, put me back on Kyathalon”
“I had a feeling you might say that. You are currently in a state of unconsciousness on your world, but if you walk through to the next world then you will die. You do have another choice though, you can face the trials and I will put you back into your body, but only if you can beat the trials”
“Then send me to the trials”
The figure nodded at Lore and there was another flash of light. For the next two days Lore went through the trials of life and death, the trials that tested his character, brains and brawn. It was a grueling time and took a lot out of Lore; he had to use all the skills he had ever learnt in his life in just two days. When he reached the end a host of people stood in front of him including the man who he had saw when he first reached heaven. These had been the two hardest days of Lore’s life, even though he wasn’t sure if he was alive or not. His fate was yet to be decided, it was like the first day of school all over, but this was a whole lot worse. It could be the end of his world forever for him, he could lose everything.
“Well done Lore, you have passed. In fact you aced the trials and scored perfectly. Therefore we, the gods, would like to offer you a job. You would become a higher being if you accepted, able to travel through realms as you please. From the first time we have allowed people to enter these trials, not one, except for you, has been able to release their true potential. We would like you to guide these people through the trials. Of course you cannot do the trials for them, nor can you help them with the actual tasks, but you can make sure they are ready to try the trials. Your payment would be something you truly care about, knowledge, and with that knowledge, power. You would be the “Guide of the Damned“. What do you say?”
Lore looked quite surprised by the offer but he gladly accepted. Such an offer was not exactly going to be turned down; he would have to be mad not to want to do this. Seconds later he was reunited with his body on a hospital bed, bruised and aching all over, but alive all the same. He had been stitched back up and his chest casing had been repaired. He didn’t tell anybody about the events that had happened to his spirit, but he somehow knew what he had to do.
From then on he went about his life as if nothing had changed, having fun and fulfilling his life’s dream. All the while he was the Guide of the Damned, helping people along their true path as he grew more powerful and more knowledgeable everyday of the world around him and the worlds beyond them. He was given knowledge by the gods, and they knew all of life’s secrets |
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