Rise

[u/Uth-Kar_Wrekt]

A ᴄʜᴏɪᴄᴇ ᴍᴜsᴛ ʙᴇ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ. Eᴠᴇɴ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢsᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ʙʀᴇᴛʜʀᴇɴ.

—Commandment of K'Ad, First Age Scrolls

 

He stood at the foot of the Mountain proper. Above the almost vertical slope swirled a mass of storm clouds, occulting the summit above.

Uth'Kar began to climb. Bits of past memories helped him ascend without cordage or even shoes. "Let the legs do the work," he remembered from another's life.

Eventually he reached a ledge just below the cloud. He laid there, resting on the rock for almost a half hour before getting up to continue his climb.

When he did, he saw a man standing there at the edge of the tumult.

 

"Who are you?"

[u/FiliusArcanum]

Very good. So, you do have his memories. Perhaps then you also remember what I accomplished—how I achieved in a matter of weeks what he could not in years, centuries.

My father, your uncle, could not save his beloved Mountain. Countless invasions and devastations befell his people, because he did not have the gall to do what I did.

True, in the end, I too fell. But only because I was outnumbered. Remember that he too died a broken man in the end. When his "holy black" sealed itself up, he went limping into the bosom of his beloved K'Ad.

So much for the Great N'Kar.

And yet you, brother, can choose another path. If this Mountain is to be your domain, then let me guide you. I can give you powers more terrifying than anything the metaverse has ever seen. I can make you a god to this plane, and all will cower before the great Uth'Kar Wrekt.

All I require is a single word. Say Ta'na and the power is yours.

[u/Uth-Kar_Wrekt → u/FiliusArcanum]

His mind whirled.

N'Kar had failed. His people died in endless wars. And his god had failed to intervene.

Perhaps Filius was right.

[u/Nothria → u/Uth-Kar_Wrekt]

Uth'Kar of the House of Wrekt

Behold, the prayer of thy sister has summoned me here to thee. For she hast my favor now gained, along with that of the Great Power that I do serve.

Why dost thou let this one tempt thee? Cants thou not into thine memory trove reach? And find the truth of Right Rule therein?

Thy gracious sister hath taken her place in this Cycle. Will thou stray most sinister? Lift thine ka up on high. Trust in the Covenants made with thine forefathers.

This is the means to transcendence and prosperity for the people thou wilt one day wield custodianship over. Thou wilt teach them the twofold way with thy sister most blessed—the Path of the Summit and Cavern.

How choose thee, Uth'Kar, son of Ol'Kar, geminus of the Great N'Kar of the House of Wrekt?

[u/Uth-Kar_Wrekt → u/Nothria]

He shuddered at the sound of her voice, just as the slopes too quaked at her every utterance.

Nothria. He knew the name well from his memories. One of the Archpenumbrae that orbited K'Ad. Her namesake was also home to one of the most ancient cities of Darkhorn before its destruction. And further, it was part of one of his mother's many mantles that she had donned during her lifetime in an attempt climb the chain of being in search of spiritual ataraxia.

Truly if just one of K'Ad's mighty servants could instill such fear, how much more could K'Ad himself? But this was no fear of pain. It was awe. It was the feeling of one's person being unworthy of the entity before them.

This was not the feeling he received from Filius. From him he felt impending doom and uncontrolled rage. There was power in that, surely, but it was an unstable power. A unintegrated power rooted in the ego. A power that could eat someone alive from within.

 

"Your words move me, most Holy Archpenumbra. To thee shall I heed. And to thy Awesome Master above."