Emptiness
Viktor Zólyomi:
Rider of the Black Horse
Part I: Emptiness
http://www.rideroftheblackhorse.co.uk
Disclaimer: All names and occurrences in this story are entirely fictional. Any similarity with actual people or places is purely coincidental. Story, characters, and artwork concept (map and cover art) are copyright Dr. Viktor Zólyomi, 2011, all rights reserved. All graphics (map and cover art) are copyright Juliana O. S. Medeiros, 2011, all rights reserved. Kindle edition published in 2012.
For my mentor Jeno and my beloved Juliana,
and for the song Inside The Monster
1
Contents
Prologue
To ignite the flame
Nightmare
A simple merchant
Ashes to ashes
The black magician
Saddle up!
Revelation
The warrior
The Enforcers
The path of the warrior
The burden of leadership
The trial of the warrior
Fear
The Amulet of Darkness
Reunions
When dreams fall apart
Face to face
Inside the monster
Emptiness
The curtain falls
Epilogues
Cast of characters
Author's Foreword
Rated R for strong language and extreme graphic violence.
That, I believe, is how the MPAA would classify the movie version of this book, if one was ever made. That will never happen, of course, but if it did, that's how they'd rate it. Then again, it is dark fantasy, so there's not much to be surprised at that.
Yet I feel a fair word of warning is in order here. This story is not for the faint of heart. Though it's no horror tale, of course, there are plenty of gory scenes to be found here and there; lots of violence and lots of blood. And swearing. Arghard is a dark, foreboding world where heroes in the classical meaning of the word do not exist, and the characters that inhabit it behave accordingly. The tale is centered around a few individuals, their agendas, their interests, and the conflicts of their interests. And where there is conflict of interest between powerful individuals, there's bound to be bloodshed. Now, the bloodshed is not what drives the story, it's just something that necessarily comes along with it. Like I said, this is no slasher horror. However, be advised, this tale is still not for the faint of heart. You have been warned... :)
With that admission behind us, let me tell you of the origins of this story. You see, this book may appear to be written in an unorthodox style, and it certainly has some very unorthodox origins. The whole thing was born to be made into a playable module in the PC game Neverwinter Nights (NWN). The concept itself was in fact born before NWN was even released, inspired by the - in my opinion - best computer role playing games ever made, Baldur's Gate 1 and 2. NWN had been in development for quite a while by the time the original concept of this story took shape in my mind, and I was eager to build it into a module once NWN would be released.
Unfortunately, I never completed the module, and likely never will. I worked on it for a long time, and then I got to a certain point where I realized that I just don't have the kind of time that I need to complete the module, to fine-tune each and every last detail of it, to finish all the scripting, the balancing, and so on. So I decided to drop the whole thing, because it's simply far too much trouble for me. I had to realize that working full time as a physicist simply does not leave enough time for that. But by then, I had the story evolved quite far, and day after day I inevitably kept thinking it further, even as I knew I'd never finish the module. After some time, sometime in 2003, a new idea was born in my mind, and I decided to write down the story as a book, to work out the little details of the story. Even this is a time consuming thing to do, but much less so than making a playable module of such an epic scope.
So I started writing. Since the tale originally had an unnamed central figure, the playable protagonist, it was only then that I created a name and a specific personality for the main character, though fortunately his personality was fleshed out in great detail over the years I spent writing the book. Now, the main influence behind his character as well as part of the story was precisely the Bhaalspawn saga, the aforementioned Baldur's Gate series. As a whole, this pentalogy hardly resembles the Bhaalspawn saga, but that's where the roots of the story lie, and I am sure those of you who played the game will notice this.
At first I wrote the books just for my own amusement. It was only after the story had evolved into a pentalogy and after I had the main plot of the story fully in my mind, that I even thought about publishing it. Some people might notice a deeper, philosophical meaning which lies subtly beneath the surface, and I admit that it is there. However, that was never the intention. The book was written with a sole purpose: to entertain. Somewhere along the way, quite some philosophical content ended up among the pages. I think it was just inevitable. But I do not mind. I sometimes share some deep philosophical conversations with my mentor and former boss, and I have always enjoyed that. So I do not at all mind that the story might make people think.
Yet my purpose was to entertain, and I hope I was able to achieve this goal. The reason I decided to publish is exactly that I felt that some people out there might find it entertaining. As long as there is one person out there who will indeed be entertained by my book, I will have achieved my goal.
One last note about the story. There are three prequel novelettes that act as a sort of prelude to the things that happen in this story, The eyes of the wolf, Adrian's Way: Loyalty, and The Viper. These are collected in a mini-anthology called Preludes to a Nightmare. Each novelette is centered around a different character and is a stand-alone short story. It is not necessary to have read any of these novelettes to understand the story of this book, but doing so certainly adds to the lore of Arghard and offers a diverse introduction to the world. My recommendation is that if you haven't read them yet, do so before you read this book. It would enhance the experience, although as I said, it is not necessary. You can always read them after finishing this book.
Before closing I'd like to thank the people who read the first draft of the book and told me that they liked it, especially János (or the Punisher as I like to call him since he beat almost all my high scores in the Punisher PC game) for his extremely useful constructive criticism which really helped me improve the book in many ways. My eternal thanks go out to Feri and Balázs as well. I'm also grateful for the tips I got from Steve which helped polish the language before publication. (By the way, sorry about my extensive use of commas, I know I use them more often than I should.) And a very special thanks to two other people who have read the book, Jeno, who has been my mentor for almost a decade and who taught me everything I know about my profession and whom I respect endlessly, and my beloved Juliana who has been by my side all these years despite all my stubbornness.
Now, let me close this Foreword by making mention of my key influences, i.e. the sources I stole... errr... borrowed... errr... drew inspiration from. Yes, that's the right way to say it... Now, there are countless sources that have inspired me greatly and I will not make mention of them all here. That will come at the end of the last book of the pentalogy, although if you are curious and don't mind some slight spoilers you can also find the list of inspirations on the website of the book (http://www.rideroftheblackhorse.co.uk - the website features some additional extras as well including descriptions of the worlds and characters of the story, wallpapers, and a pdf file of the map of Arghard). Here, I just wish to mention the most important inspirations that were key to the conception of the story. In no particular order (though I did save the two
most important ones for last).
Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 (Bodhi, Sarevok, Irenicus, Edwin, and all the others: I salute you!)
David Gaider (The man is sheer genius. His Ascension mod to Baldur's Gate 2 was pure awesomeness! He's a great writer, too.)
The Twins Trilogy of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (Raistlin Majere can kick Gandalf's ass any day!)
The Sin City movie of Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez (I loved the first person storytelling of Sin City, and that was the main inspiration for the ever-changing first person storytelling in this book.)
The Punisher (The figure of Frank Castle is truly one of my all time favorite comic book characters. I'm also a great fan of Dirty Harry and revenge tales in general, so I guess it's no wonder that I like the Punisher so much. The Punisher's unique style has provided me great inspiration for one of the key characters in the story.)
Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Randy Orton, and the Rated R Superstar: Edge (I'm sure you're wondering about this one, but if you know the resume of these guys, you'll eventually understand why and how they inspired me.)
The songs Inside The Monster, Heavenly, End In Sorrow, Beyond My Destiny, and Demonsion by Brainstorm, the songs Forever, When The Lights Are Down, and Memento Mori by Kamelot, and the song Two Seconds To Live by Symphorce; but especially Inside The Monster by Brainstorm (Brainstorm is god, and Andy B. Franck is his prophet! These are the words used to describe Brainstorm's Liquid Monster album in a review some years ago, and what can I say, I tend to agree with this assessment. Those who have seen the cover of the Liquid Monster album will most certainly see how greatly the song Inside The Monster inspired me in the writing of this book.)
The music of several bands including Within Temptation, Symphorce, Sonata Arctica, Sengir, Sabaton, Kamelot, Heavenly, Evanescence, Egypt Central, and of course Brainstorm, and many many more (See the website after you read the pentalogy if you are interested in the ``playlists'' of the books, which is basically a list of songs I feel fit to each volume, somewhat similar to a soundtrack in a movie.)
John Caldwell's Skandar Graun books (I pretty much grew up on Caldwell's books and have read Word of Chaos and Night of Chaos more times than any other books I ever held in my hand. His masterpieces inevitably inspired me greatly.)
Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné (Moorcock is the greatest fantasy author of all time in my opinion, and Elric of Melniboné is the single greatest piece of fantasy ever written, a true masterpiece which has naturally given me much inspiration.)
The time is coming... Long have we waited in patience, but finally we need wait no longer... For one has come who shall effect our release from the darkness...
Legends speak of the Rider of the Black Horse... Everywhere he goes, death follows his passing... He rides alone, and he is death made flesh... He is more than mere legend... He is real...
He has taken us from the world of darkness and by his actions to come we shall soon be free... If not by his hand, then by the hand of one of those that will follow him... He is the first, but he is not the only one... There will be others... There will be five altogether... The Rider is just the first, but he is the most important of them all... It is the Rider who brought us into a world where it will all become possible... It is he who shall come again to close the circle in the end... We sense this... We know this... It will be as it was foretold...
It was foretold, that the power of five shall enable us to fulfill our destiny... So it shall be... We WILL fulfill our destiny... There can be no other way... For we are the very end, and in time all things must come to an end...
Nothing lasts forever... Everything must die... When we are released, our destiny will be realized, and the whole world shall fall to our might... We shall bring about the end, the end of everything...
For we are death... and soon... everything... will be one... with us... - unknown origin, approximately 10 years before Twilightfall
Prologue
The assassin
Somewhere in the northern edge of Ess'yer, 6 months ago (2 years, 9 months, and 21 days before Twilightfall)
Midnight nears, and the moon is shining high above the trees. The sight of it brings back memories. Painful memories... It doesn't matter any more. Nothing matters now. Here, among the crumbling walls of this old ruined orcish fortress surrounding me, I will meet my death.
The dark, hooded man I see before me has no doubt come to end my life. He seemingly appeared out of nowhere, but now I see that the shadows are much thicker near him, and I realize who he is. Just before he appeared, I had noticed that some of the shadows were moving on the ground. They moved away from the wall and neared me, then they stopped a few feet in front of me and began to thicken. He appeared in a matter of moments. A dark figure, dressed in black from head to toe, his face covered by the hood of his black cloak. I could not look into his eyes, but I felt his gaze upon my skin. A cold stare, one that cuts right to the bone, like a dagger made of the coldest of ice.
I had heard of him before. Doorn, they call him. He is an assassin. Or rather, the assassin... The most dreaded assassin the world of Arghard has ever known. Rumor has it that he can mold into the very shadows and move within them, unseen. Such an ability combined with the fighting skills he is said to possess makes for a perfect killer. It is also rumored that he has killed thousands over the course of his career, and that he has only been working as an assassin for the past eight years or so. His name is feared throughout the land, and rightfully so.
If what I have just witnessed was not just a figment of my imagination, then it seems the rumors of his shadow-walking skills were truthful. I am very certain that I did not imagine what I saw. He moved so perfectly covered in darkness that ordinary mortals never would have even noticed him in the black of the night, here, in these shadowy ruins surrounded by dark woods. But I am not ordinary, nor am I mortal. I am a half-demon, a child of the dreaded Demon Lord Th'Mesh, and I see more than an ordinary mortal can.
It is strange. In the eyes of decent folk, those like me are to be hunted to extinction for the good of society. Those like Doorn are equally despised. Now, one such man has come to kill one like me. I have heard rumors claiming that Doorn is hunting our kind, and that he is most certainly working for himself in this endeavor. Everywhere I inquired, I heard the same story: Doorn is hunting the spawn of Th'Mesh, and nobody's paying him for it.
Surely, they must have been wrong. Barely anyone even knows that we, the spawn of Th'Mesh, exist. Yet the few that do are people with power. The Supreme Council, the governing power of this land, knows of us. I know for certain that they want my kind hunted to extinction. They have tried to have me killed several times. Their minions always came in great numbers, assorted groups formed of warriors and mages alike, a necessary force to slay one like me. A half-demon is no ordinary prey, especially not a child of Th'Mesh. They came in masses, but they could not slay me. They weren't enough to take me down. Or rather, the demon in me.
So why wouldn't they hire Doorn to finish us off? They can only gain on this deal. If he succeeds, they're rid of my kind. If he fails, they're rid of the worst scum of the underworld. In time, however, I was convinced that Doorn was indeed working for himself. Either that, or the Supreme Council somehow managed to keep this deal a greater secret than anything else. What was most troubling is that I had to learn that he was able to do what the legions of minions of the Supreme Council failed to do. He had killed every last one of the spawn of Th'Mesh that he succeeded to track down. The Council has always wanted me dead, but now that Doorn is here, they need not bother to hunt me any more. Now someone else is apparently doing their dirty work for free.
The only question is, if he is working for himself, why would someone like him be hunting those like me? It makes no sense. He is an assassin, a killer for hire, he makes a living out of killing people. He is anything but a righteous hero, why would one like him be trying to eradicate creatures such as myself?
Vengeance, no doubt. A
t least I can think of no other plausible explanation. He must be Hell bent on taking revenge on my kind for something that one of my siblings had done to him. I can understand his motivation. We are monsters, and we deserve no less than death.
He slowly steps closer. His sword still rests in its scabbard. Why doesn't he draw it? What is he waiting for?
`So, you've come for me, have you?' I ask him. He does not reply. He stands still, piercing me with his cold stare. I still can't see his face, but I feel the cold in his eyes....
`What are you waiting for, assassin? Why do you stay your blade?'
Still, he does not reply. It's like he's waiting for something. Perhaps he wants me to make the first move? I slowly draw my weapon. Still he does not react. He just stands there and stares at me. After a while, I lower my weapon.
`Why have you come, if not to kill me?'
Finally, he speaks; his voice is deep, gruff, and cold.
`Can you control it?'
`What...? Control it? What do you speak of?'
`Can you control it?'
I hesitate to answer. I have tried to control the beast within me for nearly fifteen years now, ever since I became what I am. In the beginning, it was next to impossible. Slowly, I learned how to try and keep the demon at bay. Still, time after time it rises from within, and there's nothing I can do but wait until it gets its satisfaction. Even now, I feel an urge within... but this is different. The demon inside me somehow feels that this man has come to slay me, and thereby slay the demon as well. It does not want that to happen. It thinks that I'm too weak to kill the assassin, and that it must take the matter into its own hands.
I feel a sharp pain inside my heart, and it swiftly spreads throughout my whole body. I fall on my knees and drop to the ground in pain. I hear the cold words of the assassin before me.
`Of course you can't...'
Still I cannot see his face, but I could swear that he is frowning. Frowning at the sight of my weakness. I know now that it is inevitable. Soon, the monster will rise from within. Still, Doorn has a few moments to kill me before the monster appears. He doesn't do it. Instead, he stands still. And I... I slowly change, and the monster surfaces from within me...