User blog:Lab Coat Billy/C0DA Excerpt: The Red Council

Note: This is an excerpt from the C0DA that has sprung up around a series of RPs, and should not be taken as what is considered true lore, as it applies only to said RP series.

3rd of Frostfall, 3E 433

Somewhere within Aetherius, at a table of carven stone, sat a group of three men, all seated in chairs of similar make and design around the table while they seemingly awaiting the arrival of someone else. Finally, the idle silence was broken when a great rift opened in the world before them and out stepped a black-haired man, who strode over to the head of the table and took his seat without a word, then looked to the others before beginning.

"This then is all that remains of our council? Where then is the Godkiller? The Underking?" asked the black-haired man, his voice laced with irritation.

"Are we not enough, Ysmir?" answered the first, a tall man bearing a horned helm, which was both terrible and beautiful to behold at the same time. "We have come to hear your words, Ysmir, but we are restless. We have not been blind to these happenings, and the calling of a council helps none."

"And it is not a council we were content to answer to," added the second, an older man with grayed hair. "We have seen the once-open gates closed, despite the destruction of the Crystal Blood and the dimming of Flame to embers. What more have we to fear?"

"Perhaps, then, you have not heard the shifting of the Wyrm as we have, Wordly God," argued the black-haired man.

"All four of us know of His shiftings, Ysmir, but what of it? It is only the passage into a new time," answered the first.

"You of all people should know of what we speak, Breath-Of-Kyne. It is the passage into darkness."

"Of what kind?" asked the second.

"An old darkness from which we shall not emerge. We cannot weather what is coming. It will wake and consume everything, as it has done for millenia. We had dared not to believe to believe it, but it has been foretold and the signs are clear now."

"Signs of what, Ysmir? What is this fit of madness?" asked the third, a heavily-scarred man.

"It is not madness, slayer of the slaver-kings. It is prophecy, written and foretold by those who would enact it."

"I do not understand."

"It was prophesized that when our Empire fell and the Throat lies bleeding that he would awaken, and he is waking as it was foretold. Do you not see it? The shifting of the Wyrm does not mark the beginning of a new age. It marks the beginning of an end. Our end," explained the black-haired man. "The World-Eater is waking. We of the council are not of Anu's blood. If this world ends, we will not be reborn into the next. Which raises the question... what are we to do?"

And to that question the only answer was silence.