The King of Minbenthac was sitting in his throne room when he heard the news. The palace was easily the most opulent in the city, beyond even Tallon's vast holdings. His throne was made of gold and nevryl, a magical metal with the properties of gold and mithril. Looking up, the ceiling had a gigantic painting of the history of the city, with room for more to be added. The hall in which his throne sat was larger than most of the open bazaars in the city, and surrounding the king were hundreds of servants, guards, wives, and court officials.
One of his 57 wives was the one to tell the king that a messenger had arrived from the great temple. She didn't know what he was talking about, only that it was urgent. As soon as the messenger was let in, he began going on and on about some "mysterious threat" and how "he's returned at last."
The king himself was initially bored by this seeming rant, and his gigantic golden crown weighed heavily on his head. His matching gold-and-silk robes were far lighter, though. He was about to send the messenger off to tell his tale to some minor court official when the name "Dememoras" was dropped. Immediately upon hearing it, the court mage ran over to the king and took him aside.
Dressed in black robes, the court mage was the king's personal go-to man for anything magic. In addition to being an archmage, the position also called for unqualified loyalty to the monarchy as well as a stable personality; there were to be no mad archmages advising the king to summon a gigantic demon or some such thing. The current court mage was Kluchuduun, or "Kluchu" for short. His name meant "color", and it was not the name he was born with. Kluchu's name comes from the face that, as a young apprentice, he was in a freak alchemical accident. He lived, but his skin was changed in such a way that its color would change from time to time.
Upon hearing the word "Dememoras", his color changed from green (the color he was born with) to red, then to a brownish-red, which it stayed at for an hour or so. The whole color-changing process too a few seconds, and was quite the thing to see at court. Sometimes he would even be asked to change color by some of the servants, a feat which he could willingly control, but hated doing.
"Your majesty, a word if you please." Kluthu told the king, taking him aside.
"What's this about, Kluthu? You know what this fool is ranting on about?" the king responded.
"I do, sire. It is very serious. Dememoras is a serious threat. His true nature is... well, that would take a while to discuss, but the bottom line is, he and his forces are capable of destroying this city, and quite possibly all others in the Dracon lands."
Now, the "Dracon Lands" were really called "Daractrix Thaczil" in their own language, but this was how it translated. More to the point, the king, upon hearing of a universal threat to all these lands, decided to take swift action.
"What do we do about this problem? Is there anything you can do about it?" the king asked.
"Not by myself, sire. It is too great a problem. Even if Dememoras were in front of us right now, I doubt that all the guards and mages of the palace could stop him, even when I am included among them." Kluthu replied.
"Well, in that case, I need you to tell me everything you know about this threat, Kluthu. I need you to tell me all of it right now. Scribes! Bring the messenger over here! I need two scribes to record everything that Kluthu and the messenger are about to tell me!" And with that, the two of them told the king all they knew about Dememoras. The whole explanation took over three hours, as the king asked to know about every painstaking detail and scrap of information he could find. Most interesting was that there was already a party of adventurers fighting Dememoras...
"So, someone's already opposing him?" the king asked.
"A group is, yes. An unnamed party of adventurers seeking to stop him." the messenger replied.
"Hmm. One moment please. Emissaries!" The king called, asking for a messenger of his own to come forward, which several did upon hearing his call. "I need you to go to find this adventuring party, and bring them here. Messenger, what was the name of the leader of this party?"
"His name is Adykon" the messenger from the temple replied. "He is a mercenary and a former goat-herder, he served in the army of-"
"Thank you. Kluthu, get a scrying spell ready. We're going to find out where this guy is." A few minutes later, Kluthu returned with a scrying mirror; a very powerful artifact that would show the user anyone he wished, as long as there was no magic blocking it.
"I'll start the spell now, my lord" the mage told the king, and with that, the screen clouded up and the hum of magic emanated from the glass... but no image came up. "Oh. He's in a place protected from scrying. I'm going to increase the power of my spell. I should be able to get through the obstacle. Hopefully it isn't too powerful a ward..."
After a minute and increased spell power, the ward against scrying was broken, and Adykon's image appeared on the screen. He was feeding Kos some more grapes...
"... THAT is Adykon?" The kind asked, surprised. "What kind of warrior spends time feeding a child fruit?"
"There's more to it than you see, sire." Kluthu responded.
"What? Don't tell me that Adykon is that toddler!" the king replied, jokingly. "Seriously, what is this 'more' which you speak of."
"THIS!" Kluthu replied, pointing to the background of the image.
"What is 'this'? A marble wall? That statue on the wall? I don't see what... wait a minute... that's Tallon's palace! Those adventurers are connected with him!" the king replied, referencing his richest noble.
"Yes sire." Kluthu replied. "They seem to have the support of his house. We now know where they are..."
"Hmm. I know what needs to be done. First, bring in Adykon and his adventuring party. Then, call in the mages, priests, nobles, and any other important Dracons in this city. We need to inform everyone about this. Send messages by letter and by magical contact to the other cities, too." The king ordered. He knew that a united response would not be forthcoming, but the more people who knew about this threat, the better. Even IF the messenger told the king that Dememoras wants to be found out at this point... not that anyone was sure why. He had kept a veil of extreme secrecy for untold milennia. Why should he drop it now? Had something changed?
"Tell them to come personally or send representatives from their houses" he added, knowing the risks of having all the nobility in one place at one time. All it would take was one big attack to kill them all...
"And messenger, do you know WHY Dememoras has chosen to reveal himself now? Would he want to do it when all the cities were weakened by a war or a famine?" The king queried.
"No one at the temple knows why he is returning now. I-I am just a messenger my lord. Not even an apprentice. I know little in the ways of magic... I don't know how a being like Dememoras would think. But... I was told one thing, sire. An old mage in the temple spoke about a warrior who had defeated the Dark Lord a long time ago. It is said that a legendary warrior is the only thing which CAN defeat Dememoras, and that only one such warrior will come in a given age. If this warrior is killed, nothing would be able to stop the Dark Master... but if the warrior is turned to darkness, he could be even more useful. That's the gist of it... you'd have to ask someone more learned than myself for more."
Immediately, the king turned to Kluthu, who explained in greater detail.
"Well, sire, what the messenger said is rather... complicated. It goes like this. Milennia ago, Dememoras was stopped by a warrior whose name is lost to history, although some names have been given to him by the bards and writers. A new warrior will emerge at the time of the Dark Master's return. Now, centuries ago, an oracle prophesied that if this warrior fights against Dememoras, the Dark Master will lose, but if the warrior fights for Dememoras, the Dark Master will win. If the warrior fails to show up or is killed by someone else... well, the Dark Master may still win. The prophecy was unclear whether the warrior fighting Dememoras was a necessary cause or a sufficient cause for victory against him, or if there was any other way to beat him. Still, without the warrior on his side, there is no guarantee Dememoras will win. So... if Adykon IS the warrior, we are very lucky to have him on our side."
"Does the prophecy state anything about the warrior? What he looks like, what he will do? When he will appear?" the king asked.
"Outside of very clearly naming the warrior as a HE... no. It says nothing else." Kluthu replied. "No name, no appearance, no deeds he will do... nothing."
"Well... in addition to calling in all those nobles and priests and such... I need you to explicitly send an order for the cities seers to arrive... and I need the advice of an oracle. I need all the information we can find, and I want to hear the same story you just told me from different source. I want to be certain that this IS how it will go. In fact... send me the priest great temple... and before that SEND ME THE HIGH PRIEST IN THE PALACE TEMPLE!" the king shouted that last part to his court.
When the green-robed priest arrived from the palace's personal temple, he basically told the same information that Kluthu did, adding his surprise that the king should ask about something that no one expected to happen. He also knew the specific title of this warrior.
"The prophecy explicitly calls him the "Warrior of Destiny." Although... prophecies like this one are known to be metaphoric. "Warrior" could refer to a number of things... not necessarily a soldier, or even a fighter. It could also mean "one who opposes" something.
"So... it seems that this IS the situation" the king replied. "I need to meet this Adykon. I don't know if he is the warrior of destiny or not, but if he is... we have GOT to help him."
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