#aveyonddruids

PART TWO OF TWO: 

Eventually the landscape was fully formed, large trees and frozen grass blowing slightly in the icy breeze. He smiled to himself and continued to the middle of this new place, closing his eyes and allowing the darkness inside him to slowly seep out through his feet and into the ground. In his mind he began to build a city for the vampires, houses that reflected the nature of the vampires, the city separated into two separate spaces. Iron fences and stairs carving themselves into the ground, shops forming in the entrance of the city. When Rashnu opened his eyes satisfaction filled him at the sight of a dark gothic city having risen up in front of him. There was a large empty space at the far end of the city but Rashnu ignored it for the moment as he returned to Halloween Hill to gather the vampires.

Rashnu announced to the people that he had found a solution to their human problem and was met with excitement and eager shouts. Was he going to kill the humans off, or grant them invulnerability to holy water and stakes?

He shook his head and instead shared that he had created the vampires a city entirely of their own, where they could live their lives out without the humans terrorizing them. A place that would belong to the vampires alone. At first they were hesitant at the idea of leaving behind their home, abandoning the homes they had built and the ragtag city they had created. But Rashnu convinced them, speaking of his plans for having separate cities for the vampires, the ghosts, and the darkling and ogres.

He created a portal and ushered the vampires through so they could look through their new home and make a decision, watching as the vampires examined their new home with excited chatter. The move went quickly from Halloween Hill to their new home and soon they were all gathered around Rashnu who stood in front of the empty land. He explained that the vampires would no longer be living in a dysfunctional city, but would become a organized people. There would be a council and a vampire who he trained personally would lead this council as the vampire learned how to govern themselves. Then in front of the vampires eyes he turned to the empty space and held out a hand, Darkness flowing from him as he raised a massive stone cathedral. This would be the home of their council, this would be the start of their new society. Now he just needed to find a apprentice to lead the council. The young vampire Gyendal seemed promising, he had ambition and he might just be able to protect his people from the humans

~Queen

PART ONE

When Rashnu became the patron Druid of the vampires the first thing he noticed was the uneasy tension that gripped the vampires. Many of them spoke wistfully about the time before the humans had begun hunting them for sport, when they could go out and see the moonlight reflecting on them as they taught the children to hunt. More and more of the vampires were refusing to eat, speaking of vampire slayers that would surround the entrance and exit of Halloween hills with stakes and holy water, those who became desperate for food and tried to leave were dying and the vampires were finding themselves hostage by the very beings that they fed off. This angered the Druid of Darkness, no longer were the humans only killing the vampires that posed a danger, they wanted to kill them all off, using them a sport hunt to prove their "bravery".

Something had to be done.

So Rashnu took a trip off of the islands that made up the lower part of Aia to where the young Sword Singer that had stopped Ahriman lived now, Thais. The land around Thais was still desolate and it would not do the vampires any good to live near the massive city, instead he went lower to where a small rainy village was located. The village was situated in the middle of the woods, and a large catacomb system was located behind the village, a large cave situated near the ocean to the south of the village served as the entrance.

This would serve nicely for the purposes that Rashnu wanted it for, so he made his way as deep into the catacombs as one could go before stopping in front of a thin wall and placing his hand on the stone, his power flowing through him and coiling against the wall. Under the Druids hand the stone melted away, replacing itself with a massive iron gate that led into a grey mist, the product of Rashnu bending part of the underworld separate and weaving it into the earth. Smiling to himself the Druid opened the gate into nothing and began to walk through. Every step he took into the nothingness around him began to dissipate, making way for a ghostly forest and frozen grass.

Like ink on a page colour and mass began to bleed from Rashnu into he mist and like a mirage a entire different world began to knit itself together.

~Queen

Upon leaving the ice palace with her daughters the Oracle brought them home where the other four nymph daughters were waiting, holding her daughter Ishtar who was crying as she realized the magnitude of all her actions when under Heptitus power.

As she held her crying eldest daughter in her arms the Oracle thought about what had taken place in the past, the last two greatest battles against a powerful evil force. In both the battle against Ahriman with Rhen and her companions, and in this battle against Ishtar. Both wars had been caused and the outcome deeply effected by the all powerful and supernatural beings like the Druids and the nymphs, her daughters.

There had been a reason for placing the Druids over the humans, the power of the Druids was neutral and could not sway the humans to either darkness or good. The Nymphs did the opposite of the Druids.

The Oracle looked out on Aia, taking in the entire realm. Catching her eye was a young teen boy, a ambitious Mage named Mordred Darkthrop. The fate line leading from him was slowly bleeding black, and one glance at what his dark fate would lead to if she left her powerful daughters on Aia made her decision for her. The Oracle gathered her daughters together in the Ice Castle that her daughter had created and summoned the Druids. Then together, the Druids and the Nymphs joined their magic together to create and blessing and a seal over Aia, a seal that would ensure the balance and protection over all the humans without the supernatural creatures ever having to come in contact with the humans again. And once it was over, once the Druids had returned to their homes, the Oracle made one last painful choice. She stripped her daughter Heptitus of her supernatural level powers before exiling her to Aia to live among the humans as punishment for her actions. Then she returned home with her daughters, watching as the next Prophecy began to unfold.

After Ahriman's fall, things began to change in Aia. The magical races retreated out of the sight of humans and as the years went by and the generations that were alive during that time passed on, so did the knowledge that the supernatural was real, instead most dismissed it as myths and tales except for by those who lived in towns effected by the magical. But as human belief all but vanished for the magic races, so did the belief in the Druids. And without the belief in their existence to sustain them, the Druids began to fade. The Oracle saw that her Druids were fading away and in desperation looked to the only ones who still believed in the Druids, the magical creatures. And so to save the Druids the Oracle made a decision and gathered the Druids together, before tying each Druid to a different magical race so that the Druids would only have to rely on their magical race to survive.

Daena, Druid of Wisdom was tied to the Ice Faries on the Northern Isle in a place that became known as Dire Woods, where she built her home the Star Temple the place of protection for the enchanted dragon bridal.

Rashnu, Druid of Darkness was tied to the vampires in Ged'here where he built the cathedral, taking a young vampire named Gyendal under his wing to train him to protect his people and always put the vampires above the humans who seeked to kill.

Devin Pendragon, Druid of Light was tied to a winged race known as the Naylithithins where he and his wife Talia lived in a small home near the city of Naylith.

Vahu Manah, Druid of Music was bound to the Dream Weavers, a mythical race that were humanly known as the Dream Priestesses, building the Harmony Temple on Mystic Isle.

Vita, Druid of Time was bound to the Darklings in Underfall and the mermaids in Acropolis, giving both small races the gift of agelessness and the rare being from either race the gift of Prophecy.

Armaiti, Druid of Agriculture was bound to the elves, giving them the ability to sing to nature and bring nature under their magical will.

Eithera, Druid of Strength was bound to the Dragons, training and protecting those dragons who could shift into humanoid and hiding them away in a room protected by a curtain of molten heat far to hot for any humans.