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Chapter 5:
I confronted this Madness Personified and screamed the scream vengeance. His demeanor was calm as if I was nothing more than a sheep to his wolf. He giggled and pranced as I tried to reason in vein with him. He had stolen the ancient magic and was now prepared to steal the world. I only had one chance. If I struck him down quickly and without mercy, it would all be over. I failed.
When the spirit is separated from the body there is a sense of confusion. The colors fade to a sick black and white world. Your body lies in a pile at your feet and you feel insubstantial and weak. When the giant claw sliced through my chest to tear my soul from its moorings, part of me was glad that the dragon’s stench never had time to reach my nostrils.
Being imbued with enough black magic of my own, I was able to communicate with the Fool once known as Coco. With a wave of his hand, I was leashed to him like a pet. He explained that he had been behind the death of King Austin like a puppet master pulling the strings. His turning of Queen Lyrel was easy because her spirit was corrupt enough to begin with. The wildcard that had sent him over the edge was the coming of the Bane. I tried to tell him they were no longer a threat, but he was too far-gone. If the Bane would have just kept their nose out of my business, He sang, I would have conquered these lands and ruled at the head of the Sorcerer’s Council. He thanked me for slaying Ploog but cursed me for allowing Ian to live. I could think of nothing more than how the dark tide sweeping over the water in my scrying bowl was actually the wings of the darkest of dragonkind.
From there on, we traveled across the lands together, him and I. At every stop, he would open a portal to their dimension allowing the foul beasts to escape and lay waste to everything in sight. One by one, every structure in the realm was burning with dragon flame. All the while, Coco laughed and made bad jokes. His mind was as broken as the lands now.
While the isle of Carth burned, I was glad my ethereal body couldn’t feel the heat. I was sad that I was unable to cry at the devastation. While Coco was kicking a black dragon and pointing at a rock for him to stomp, I caught something out of the corner of my eye. A large glowing symbol of Lolth, the Spider-Queen, was forming a cylinder of light around a black figure in the ruins of the cemetery. When it reached its apex, it flickered away leaving only a burning red robe that was swept away by the hot acidic wind. I could only hope that was a figment of my own grief-stricken mind. If it wasn’t…
