Izbel's journal

[Damira]

Izbel closed all the windows, to be sure the rain could not come in. He hated rain, since forever. He took another sip from his bottle of wine and went to his desk, where lied a blank book, a pen, and an ink bottle. With the dripping pen he started scratching on the pages of what would become the story of his life.

The idea of writing my thoughts down in a journal never crossed my mind before. Telling my story to a piece of paper no one will ever read always seemed useless to me. But things have happened so fast recently that it might help me set them straight. Even though I don't really know where to begin, I will write down everything and anything as I can remember it, and try to make some sense out of it. If this journal ever comes across foreign eyes, I hope they will get entertained by what is in it, so reading it won't be for nothing. If the person reading this is someone I know, consider it as the absolute truth I probably hid from you, and consider yourself lucky and privileged to have access to this lore.

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In order to understand some of the present events, I think I should try to remember most of my past, mainly my past life.
My name is Izbel, and it has been so for centuries, perhaps even millennia. I was born in the desert of Osari, as a human, and never really knew my family; my real one, that is. I was raised in a nomad tribe, living from pillages and raids. We were brigands, respected and feared amongst the people of the desert. I quickly learned the desert laws, both the ones applying to its inhabitants, and the ones the desert imposed on us. I was respected amongst my fellow tribesmen, because I was swift in battle, and discreet outside of them.
But I was also feared, because of the differences I had with them. I was born with inhuman features, greenish eyes that were lightly glowing at the reflection of the moonlight. I also grew some strange powers in time. I was able to see events before their very happening. Usually it was seconds before they occurred, mainly attacks from enemies, or other dangers the desert held. Sometimes, it was manifesting in dreams, but these visions were a lot less obvious to me, I had to interpret them to use their knowledge to my advantage. Even the persons close to me feared those strange powers, so I made a habit of hiding it from everyone.

Our clan grew in strength and reputation. Soon, the mercenaries and bounty hunters were after us. Then, the royal guards of the Sandstone City themselves where ordered to capture us, dead or alive. I was still young at that time, maybe 14 years old, but old enough to understand that our days as raiders were counted. However, no vision had come to me when the day came where we were all captured, or killed.
I was amongst the lucky ones, so to speak. My young age had made the authorities of the Sandstone City believe I was influenced by the older ones to participate in the raids. The city court, led by the king himself, suggested that I purge my sentence by serving in the royal palace, as a servant. As this task, even lowly for a free spirit like a nomad was, was better than death or imprisonment for that matter, I accepted without hesitation.
And so began a new life, one in which I was a stranger, doing my work without talking or even looking at anyone, for I was scared of the reaction my eyes could have caused.

It hadn't taken long before I was entrusted with more important tasks, my discretion being much appreciated amongst the rich, and within months I was in charge of cleaning the bedroom of the whole royal family. The king and queen had never shown any attention to the lowly servant cleaning their sheets and furniture, and it was a good thing to me. I wouldn't have wanted to remind the king that he himself had judged me as a criminal.
Their daughter, Princess Maya, was totally different. Not only she was paying attention to the work I was doing in her room, but was also thanking me kindly every time I was finished. Soon she was forcing me not to stare at the floor anymore, asking me to look at her in the eyes. I can still remember them, and what I thought the first time I looked.
I fell in love with those eyes, instantly. They had the youth I had never known outside in the desert. They had a vitality untamed by the rigors of the sand and the blinding light of the sun. They knew no master, they were wild. It's probably for that reason Princess Maya wasn't startled by my own eyes. She was curious to know what they meant.
Since that day, cleaning her room was always the best moment of my days. We were talking every time, sharing thoughts and memories, laughing like children. I started doing all my other tasks faster, so I could spend more time in her room, and talk for longer. But people noticed, and some, probably out of jealousy, complained about the "inappropriate" situation. So I was finally forbidden to approach the Princess' room.
My days started to look longer, and cleaning the castle had became a long and demanding task again.

[Damira]

It lasted some days, but I clearly remember it was like an eternity to me. But one day, when I was taking a walk outside the city, I went to sit on my favorite dune, to count the stars, and lost myself in thoughts, as usual. I got surprised by a movement behind me. It couldn't have been a predator, so close to the city walls. The creatures of the desert were avoiding the Sandstone City like plague, because the guards were killing them on sight.
So I turned around to see who the mysterious walker in the desert was.
It was Maya, the Princess herself. She had sneaked out of the castle, only to see me. We had talked for long this night, with only the sound of the wind to keep us company. We did it several nights, her sneaking out of her royal prison, and me waiting for her on the dune. We loved each other, but knew we couldn't be together, but, on that dune, I asked her hand, and she accepted. We married on the same dune we had spent hours together, we promised to be in love only with the other, whatever would happen. Whatever would part us. It probably was the best moment of this life.

I felt really bad I wasn't able to buy her a gift for our unofficial marriage. I had barely money to eat, and I was forced to steal to get something a little higher than the bare minimum. I was determined to find her something, even if I had to steal it.
I had heard from other servants in the caste that an old object was held locked in a place not guarded too much, most likely forgotten by most. It was locked there because it was supposedly an old artifact with great powers, but no one knew how to use it. I decided to steal this object and give it as a wedding gift to my Maya. Probably she didn't hear about said object, and if it was seen as an artifact, it was probably very beautiful.

It was easy for me to sneak to the artifact's location without looking too suspicious, as I had to clean rooms near it. I just had to wait for nobody to be around to go pick the lock, which was old and primitive, and take a peek inside what looked like an abandoned storage room. Among the tons of dust and spider webs, there were a lot of crates of different sizes, some broken furniture, and, in the middle of all that, an old pedestal on which laid a small horn, made apparently out of animal bones. It couldn't have been the artifact! No one would have believed a ridiculous, crude horn to be holding strange powers. But I took it anyway, as I didn't have time to look through all the crates.
As I put my hands on the object, a strange feeling started to grow in me. It was like my mind was flowing in an ocean of images, images that I figured constituted the history of the Sandstone City castle. It's conquests, wars, defeats, kings, celebrations, everything was passing through my mind at a terrible speed, so fast I could only remember a few of them. But when I cam back to myself, the most shocking wasn't the images I had; it was the fact that I knew suddenly how to activate the artifact's powers. I took it home in a little panic, I almost didn't care about getting caught.

When I got to my small room in the servant aisle of the castle, I couldn't hold anymore. I needed to try the device, whatever the consequences that would come with it. As soon as I pronounce the words I had suddenly known, the horn started making a deep noise, as if someone was blowing in it. Then a feeling of comforting warmth started in me, a feeling of peace of mind and security.
Then came water. Water started flowing out of the horn, as if it was full of it. The water was flowing on the room floor, and soon enough, it started slipping under my door. I started panicking; I didn't want everyone to know I had stolen the object, so I threw it on my bed. But it didn't stop pouring water. I was already too late to hide anything from the other servants, and so they came to knock on my door, and I could feel their excitement without even opening to them yet.
Water was to Osari what gold is to Sosaria: power.
I was in panic, for I didn't know how would the other servants react when they would see the water pouring out of the horn, but also, I knew I couldn't hide from them for long. I didn't have time to remember I hadn't locked my door, and within seconds, my room was filled with curious servants, looking for the source of all that water. I quickly took the horn in order to protect it, but the invaders didn't look menacing. They were in awe before someone who had the power to summon water. They started drinking it from the floor, one of them even kneeled in front of me to catch some before it reached the ground. I was amazed by their reaction. There acting like slaves.

I was their friends, but at that moment, I had become their new god.

[Damira]

Izbel closed his eyes for a bit. It was getting very late at night, but he couldn't get himself to sleep. His thoughts were still invaded by all the recent events, and nothing could help him to stop thinking about it. Except wine, so he opened another bottle, and took another long sip before to lean again over his book.
 
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Even though I had made everyone who saw what happened promise they wouldn't tell anyone, the rumor of a man with the power to create water had already spread around the city, especially within the castle walls. It didn't take a long time before everyone knew who the doer of miracles was, the king and his daughter included.
Even though I was wary of the disastrous consequences of what I had discovered, I couldn't refrain myself from using the horn of water. I was accepting everyone's request to a glass or a bucket, without charging anything, because before I became a servant and that my needs were fulfilled by the castle, I knew the hardship of poverty, and I knew what it was like to struggle for water. I was happy to see I could make a difference in people's life. And even if things could have gotten extremely dangerous, I was feeling lucky, and decided to help my surrounding, whatever the consequences might be.

There were consequences, of course, but not such as I was expecting. I was summoned by the king, for a dinner, only the two of us, and asked to bring my magical device. I went, without knowing what was waiting for me.
The king was a fair man, everyone could agree on that. He never abused of what he had, always treated the people with due respect, and was very dedicated to his responsibilities. If I was to get into trouble, I wouldn't be told on a private dinner with him.
Indeed I wasn't in trouble, far from it. The king wanted to make me one of his vassals, but under the condition, in order to prevent the city from falling into chaos, that I use my horn in a controlled manner.
He was right. The city guards had a hard time recently in keeping the population calm and under control, but I knew he had other intentions: with me under oath, he would have the horn under a form of control. The riches he was offering me were nothing to the power the artifact represented. I accepted nonetheless. The closer I was to the king, the closer it would bring me to his daughter Maya, secretly my beloved wife.

Things started to look a lot better for me for the first time of my life. No need to sneak in the desert to see the woman I loved, no need to worry about getting money for anything, and no need to conceal my strange eyes, from people, because most of them were below me, and never looked at it.
One day, I shared my thoughts with Maya about her father's intentions, and the power of the horn. She admitted that she didn't agree at first about me becoming the king's vassal, but since it would allow us to see each other in public, even if we had to hide our affection for each other, she didn't protest. But she was suspicious of her father, also she decided to try and confront him any way she could. She didn't want me to become one of her father's tools, or, for what I represented, one of his weapon. We would see in time what his father had in mind, but I promised her I wouldn't let myself drag into a quest for more power.

The pressures of the king were a lot stronger than I had expected, and the situation between him and I had become really tense. I was having a hard time being both firm and diplomatic, but I had the support of the people, as I had the powerful artifact in my possession .
Things escalated fast, and soon I was threatened by war. I didn't want it to go that far, but I suppose I couldn't help it. The king had been corrupted by the appeal of what power the horn could bring. I personally had avoided to even think about it until then.
I received a visit from my beloved Maya, and she asked me something that would change my life, once more.

"Izbel, my desert star, become my king. Become my king, and we shall unite the world."

[Damira]

I believed her words; Maya was always speaking her mind, following her heart. So I accepted.
I was shocked to learn that king had been assassinated, and even more when Maya told me she was the one who had planned the coup. Her father had become really strange, and she feared he wasn't able to rule over his kingdom with justice. It was her duty, as the princess, to make sure that Sandstone City was ruled by a fair leader, and that's why she was choosing me to do it. This is how I became the king of the Sandstone City. The celebration lasted for days, and the people were glad that I became their leader, for I was the one who held the magical artifact that made their lives easier. When we announced the project of uniting the peoples of the desert, the citizens of Sandstone City enrolled into the army in great number. They wanted conquest, they wanted victory.
And they were not disappointed.

The first years of my reign over Sandstone were marked by many glorious victories. As time passed, the banner of the Sandstone Empire was growing and growing, quickly becoming not only a fearsome force, but also a welcoming shelter for some less fortunate tribes.
I don't know exactly what happened during that time, what made me change to what I became then. Maybe it was the power of the crystal that had finally got the best of me, or the taste of victory was a taste I became addicted to, but whatever it was, it made no good for the new empire, or for me.
I started ruling over the Sandstone Empire as a tyrant, a bloodthirsty general leading his army wherever there was resistance. The people did not adore me anymore; they feared me. I also started to slowly neglect Maya, who in the beginning was always by my side to give me advice. It started when I refused her in the war councils, then I asked that she was moved to another bedroom than mine, because she was always asking me to stop useless wars with some cities, and I didn't want to hear about it.

This situation lasted for some years, degrading more and more. It lasted until I learned very saddening news. With the aid of my powers, I had discovered that Maya had secretly started a resistance group within my Empire, probably trying to take over my throne, and most likely my powerful horn of water. I was crushed to learn about that. Everything I had done, all the wars I had led and won, all the tribes and cities I had united under one big banner, it all seemed like a failure at that very moment. Even though I knew how to stop those new rebels, I decided not to make a move against them. I wasn't able to be angry at Maya, who since the beginning wanted to unite to people of the desert under the name of peace. It reminded me why I had fallen in love with that woman, the woman the desert hadn't been able to defeat.
The woman I had betrayed.
It also made me realize how I had neglected her over the years, and I found myself requesting that she comes back to sleep in my bed. But I wasn't the same anymore. I wasn't the naïve young man with great hopes for the world she had fallen in love with. And I wasn't the tyrannical emperor who was waging wars against anyone opposing him. I had become the shell of a man, a man already defeated by life. For some reason, Maya had started to show some affection for me again, but I knew too well what was going to happen.

One night, when she was feeling particularly loving, I almost felt like we were the young passionate couple once again. But it was the last time. While I was holding her tightly in my arms, I felt a sting in the bottom of my back. I felt her heart beat fast. I felt pain, but did not die on the instant. I had the time to realise what was happening. I was being assassinated by my wife, the same person who put me where I was, the one I shared the best moments of my short life with. The person I loved the most. I don't remember if I had the strength to tell her I loved her at that moment, but I remember vividly the tears streaming down her face. I'm not sure what was more painful: knowing I had deserved to be killed, or knowing the one who did it did it out of love.


Everything after that is blurry. I'm pretty sure I died, though, as I remember going to a really dark place. There was an elf waiting for me, and old male with a kasa hat from Tokuno. I think I hadn't realized what had happened to me at that time, but I remember the elf proposing me something. In exchange of accepting that he takes Maya's life, he would bring me back among the living. And I accepted.
This probably is the worst memory I have. I don't know what I was thinking at that moment, but I regret it completely today. If I could go back to the moment where that elf made his proposition, I would kill him. But what is done is done.

I remember the life I led in Osari even more than the one who followed, the one I'm in now. I am now myself an elf, and I'm obviously in a different world than the one I was in. Or just a very long time later. But still, I can't forget what happened, as I took the blessing the gods had bestowed upon me, to rip it like a mundane piece of paper.
I had everything, but threw it away like it was not what I wanted. Perhaps it wasn't.


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The rain had stopped, and the light of the day had started to enter Izbel's bedroom. The elf, still drunk, and lost in his memories, didn't seem to notice it, as he slowly fell asleep on his chair, with his bottle of wine still in his hands.

[Damira]

Izbel woke up screaming. Another nightmare involving the mysterious elf. Recently he dreamt about him daily, and even if they were all different dreams, nothing in them could be used as information. But he wanted to solve the mystery behind his resurrection, and for that he would need to know who that elf was. His memories were a lot clearer, from his Osarian life at least, since he had started writing his journal. That's why despite his hangover pounding his head, and his hunger making his stomach scream, he went back to sit on his desk, cleared the mess caused by the bottles he drank the last night, and took his ink pen to continue his story.


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For what I remember of my elven life, I have not been a much better person than I was in the desert of Osari. Man-for-hire, bounty hunter, hired assassin, name it, I have done it. Wherever money was offered in exchange of blood, I could be found, doing anything and everything most men feared to do. Anything involving money was mine to execute, even if it involved betrayal, cold-blooded murder, nothing could prevent me from satisfying my greed.
Yet, I don't recall having been rich at any given moment. The reason for this is I was spending my money as fast as I was earning it, and sometimes even faster. I was spending it mostly in alcohol and money games, that I was playing in hope of seeing the strange powers I had in my osarian life reappear, but they never did. I was wandering from place to place, leaving when all the good jobs were done, and usually also leaving the woman I had met in the region, and that for centuries.

It is around Britain, some days ago, that my confusion started, I think. It's about then that I remember more clearly what has happened. I was negotiating a big contract of assassination, with an influent organization named The Plague. I knew the pay was around 1 million gold, so I could refuse that, whatever it was.
The man I was negotiating with was Unkren, a huge man with disproportionate features.

The target should be somewhere around Magincia by now, he told me. It was not to be taken lightly; many had perished under that assassin's blade. It was an elf, a female. I laughed. I had no problem in being trusted by a woman, my silver tongue had conquered many women who had the reputation of being intimidating to men. When I was doing my job, I was never sneaking the opponent to kill them in the back; I wasn't skillful enough to do that. Instead, I was lowering their guards with words, and striking at the most opportune moment. The job would pay enough for me to slack off work for a while, and I was eager to its completion.

Without waiting any longer, I departed for Magincia, where I would do my investigation, and murder the elf named Varani.