- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
As my craft exited slipspace, I was held entranced by the vision before me. The star exactly from my vision... ever shifting in color. I realized there was something important here, something for me to find. I noticed a slight warmth coming from one of my pockets, and I pulled out the hilt without a blade, now almost glowing in the star's light... something was happening to it. I talked to the pilot.
Bring us closer to the star. Get us in as close as you safely can.
He brought the ship into a relatively close orbit around the fiery orb, and the glow of the hilt increased. It almost appeared to be charging somehow... It continued to increase in both light and heat, yet for some reason I didn't notice it, as if I was immune to it's effects. It was almost shining as the star itself now, and my hands began to tremble involuntarily as the light pierced deep into my eyes. It hurt, yet I was unable to look away. I couldn't see it, but the flame had indeed gone to my eyes, cracking the once grey visage into molten fragments, as if barely containing the furnace within. Yet with sudden revelation, I realized that the flame was not consuming, but enhancing me. It swept through me and purified, leaving nothing to stand in the way of perfection. Suddenly, as if the world had folded directly into a singular point and swept through my mind, I heard a voice inside my head, unlike any I had ever heard, yet I felt as if I had known it from birth.
IT IS TIME
The flow of power suddenly reversed direction once again and focused completely into the hilt, which now thrust forth a blade, or so it seemed, of pure light and energy. It was the very brilliance of the star, writhing with untamed fury, yet solid and erect, sharpened to the edge of an atom. And as suddenly as it had appeared, it vanished back into it's hilt, which barely shimmered with the sun's reflected light. As I pondered this, I noticed a new inscription upon the hilt. It should have been undecipherable to me, yet somehow I knew its words by heart:
I am Dolorous, the blade of sorrow and of righteousness. Should you ever know my wrath, you will not taste it again.
I realized the task before me, as clearly as I beheld the very star that held my gaze. The memories, the visions, they all made sense now. I died here, or at least, another version of me. I was sent back, by who, I didn't know, to finish his task. He gave away the power with which he sealed a great evil here, and it fell into the wrong hands... now I have to reclaim his position, my position. His name... he was Dolorous, the Praetor, the judge of this realm. He now lives in the blade I carry, as it's energy was taken from the star he birthed with his dying gasp. I will not fail. A grim resolve filled me, and the flame beneath my eyes seemed ready to burst forth with vengeance upon my foes. I turned to the pilot one final time.
I know what I have to do now. You may head back to wherever you wish. Tell those you know that justice will be done.
And with that, I focused upon my one goal: the sphere that contained within it the essence of the Praetor, now forced to serve the army of darkness. With a blinding flash, I disappeared from the view of mortals and walked upon the stars, forging my way with speed unrivaled towards my foe.