Chapter Text
Gielinor, Year 169 of the 5th Age.
For months, the Mahjarrat Lucien has been a threat to the peace in Gielinor, as he got his hands on the Staff of Armadyl and the Stone of Jas, quite powerful elder artefacts, and he's been growing stronger by the minute. As I have this habit of sticking my nose where it doesn't belong and thus running into drama, I coincidentally ran into the Temple Knights of Saradomin and as they know I'm always happy to help, I was tasked with gathering some of the Mahjarrat loyal to the god Zaros, in order to unite and bring down Lucien, who is a follower of the god Zamorak. Ali the Wise, a wise old man living in the desert, told me that the Mahjarrat Ritual of Rejuvenation is about to commence. It seems this ritual is necessary for the Mahjarrat tribe to return to their human-like appearance (right now they look like skeletons) and gain more power, allowing them to live for another 500 years, until the next ritual. The downside of the ritual is, however, that they must sacrifice one of their brethren in order to grow in power. Ali seems to know quite a lot about the Mahjarrat tribe. I was preparing the ritual site far up in the north, where the ritual would take place, and added some traps for Lucien. Suddenly I felt a shiver down my spine. Sure, it was cold in the north, with the pure-white landscape of snow that never seemed to end, but this was different. To be honest, I have been feeling weird ever since I touched the Stone of Jas earlier this day. We were searching for it, since we knew Lucien hid it somewhere close to the ritual site, and as I found it in one of the many caves around here, I couldn't resist, I simply HAD to touch the Stone. I saw a weird vision of which I don't remember much and have been feeling really, really uncomfortable and strange afterwards. I didn't tell anyone about it, since no one here has a real understanding of the Stone's power, me included.
I placed the last trap and just moments later, Ali showed up to tell us that the ritual would soon begin. It didn't take long until the first Mahjarrats made their entrance. One of them was wearing plate armor with the image of a skull on the chest: General Khazard. I knew him because I fought him in the past.
He looked past me and suddenly said: "Wahisietel, is that you?"
Everyone looked at Ali, confused. It took me a few seconds, but then I realized. So, that's why Ali knew so much about the Mahjarrat. I wasn't really surprised.
"'Ali' was a useful disguise, while it lasted.", said Ali, revealing his true form immediately. Wahisietel, or Ali, had a green crystal in his forehead, one of the special traits of the Mahjarrat. His greenish robes had the same colour. As I was fascinated by his transformation, I almost didn't notice Khazard quarreling with my comrades and starting a fight. I ran over to them to join the fight and keep Khazard's minions in check. The fighting barely even started, when suddenly another Mahjarrat made his appearance: "Lucien!!", I shouted at him in surprise and out of fear, in order to warn my comrades.
"How dare you adress a god in such an insolent tone!", Lucien said about himself.
"You're no god, Lucien; just a petty thief.", said Ali and angered him further.
Lucien, in his rage, summoned an army of Ice Demons. They attacked my comrades first, one after another, and then two of them jumped over to me, and I fought back as good as I could. I was struggling, and quickly looked around me. Everyone seemed busy themselves. In my desperate situation, I called out to Ali and asked for help.
"Oh dear, this won't be easy. I'll do what I can, but I fear this will require more power than I own.", Ali responded.
"Then perhaps it is time for us to fight alongside each other once more." Out of nowhere, this to me yet unknown voice could be heard, and suddenly, out of the shadows, another Mahjarrat appeared.
Gah, where did he come from? I don't know why, but something about him seemed different, compared to all the other Mahjarrat. I couldn't stop wondering what it was. Maybe the way he dressed? His robes were somewhat colourful, compared to the other Mahjarrat. He dressed in mostly dark-purple colours, with some red and golden trims. Also, he was wearing a hood that hid the crystal on his forehead.
Ali seemed relieved: "Praise Zaros! Sliske! Always in the right place at the right time."
I quickly finished off the Ice Demon that was pestering me. I looked to the left, in order to get a better understanding of the battle situation. I heard a screech from my left and turned around, just as an Ice Demon was jumping on me and pushing me down into the snow, causing us to roll down a small hill. I made a sound and struggled to get rid of the demon, when suddenly someone attacked it and it exploded into a huge pile of snow which buried me almost completely. I freed myself from the snow in a matter of seconds and looked up to where the attack came from. The one standing there on the plateau, a bit distanced from the others, looking down at me, was Sliske. Our eyes met and I couldn't help but feel once again that something about him was different. I also noticed he had yellow eyes that basically seemed to glow. It was kind of creepy, but not in a disgusting way. At least he saved me, he couldn't be a bad person, could he? I quickly got up and ran back to where the others were, but it seemed like the fight was about to end. Some zombie-like creatures that were surrounded by some mysterious greenish glow and looked pretty much like humans finished off the demons. After even the last demon was defeated, the six zombies were called back by their master - who was none other than Sliske. Is he some sort of necromancer, maybe? Lucien stopped attacking us and said something about getting bored and wanting to start the ritual. The Mahjarrat came together in front of the ritual marker, a huge stone statue, which would be necessary in the ritual. Sliske stood in front of me and I moved a bit to the right in order to see what was going on. I glanced at him and some of the other Mahjarrat once in a while. This ritual was kind of exciting to watch. Most part of the ritual was discussing which one of them should be sacrificed in order for the remaining Mahjarrat to be rejuvenated. The Zarosian Mahjarrat wanted the death of a Zamorakian Mahjarrat and vice-versa. I kind of thought of it as a sad matter, discussing and deciding who should die. But no one here seemed to have a problem with that.
Lucien tried to gain control of the situation: "SILENCE! I DECIDE! Only one of us shall die today, to replenish us all... and it will be a Zarosian."
I kind of hoped it would be a Zamorakian Mahjarrat though. Lucien pulled the frozen Mahjarrat Jhallan out of the ground, whom I have saved a few months ago. I wanted to scream "NO!", but I thought it was inappropriate, given the circumstances. This was a holy ritual, and someone had to die. My comrades voted for Lucien to die, as he was the biggest threat, but even though he was dangerous, I found him quite amusing. Kind of weird, I know. Someone who left their home to save Gielinor and it's citizens sympathizes with a tyrant, pathetic.
The Mahjarrat started fighting. The Zamorakians wanted Jhallan to be the sacrifice, the Zarosians and my comrades wanted Lucien to die. Ali and Azzanadra, another Mahjarrat which I'm actually on quite good terms with, started attacking Lucien, according to our plan. I quietly left the site and checked that the traps I set are still working. I quickly returned, just when Sliske summoned his zombies.
Zemouregal, a tall Zamorakian Mahjarrat who fought for Lucien, adressed Sliske: "Still the puppetmaster I see, Sliske. Let's see what your wights can do!"
Sliske grinned at him and gave his wights the command to attack. Zemouregal summoned zombies of his own, but due to the traps we made, they were quite weak and easily defeated. Some of them turned on Zemouregal, even. Zemouregal asked Lucien, who was actually his cousin, as I found out earlier, for help, but Lucien just looked at him, made a displeased face and summoned more demons to attack me and my comrades instead. Zemouregal seemed to take it personal and got really angry all of a sudden: "Lucien, you would betray me and let me be the one to die? Wahisietel was right - all on Lucien!"
From here on, the fight got really messy and the pure-white snow got sprinkled with more and more red splats of blood.
"Enough fighting!", shouted Lucien, standing next to the ritual marker, with the Staff of Armadyl in his one hand and the frozen Jhallan to his other side.
"The time is upon us, Jhallan will face the void, so that we may be rejuvenated!"
He channeled power through his staff and hit Jhallan, I clenched my fists and was about to hit Lucien for this, but watching the ritual made me forget about it. One after another, the Mahjarrat got hit by a mysterious power and suddenly all of their flesh regenerated, they didn't look like skeletons anymore, but like proper humans! Or almost, at least. Lucien, rejuvenated, summoned the Stone of Jas. My comrades whispered things like "This is pure madness!". I couldn't really move nor react, remembering how I touched the stone kind of played weird tricks on my mind. I felt like I was forgetting something.. A high-pitched screeching prevented me from thinking about the matter any further, as suddenly fireballs came raining down from the skies. I took cover behind a rock and saw the dragonkin, powerful dragons able to speak our language, who are supposed to guard the Stone of Jas (honestly, where were they when Lucien stole it?), coming down from the skies and positioning themselves close to Lucien.
"False user!", they hissed and drew closer to Lucien.
Lucien smiled in a confident manner and said: "You DARE mock the power of Lucien?"
The dragonkin, enraged by his words, attacked him. He seemed to be able to fight back, but three dragonkin were simply too many, they slammed him into the ground and stabbed him with his staff, the Staff of Armadyl. The other Mahjarrat quickly teleported away, with only Ali and Sliske remaining. I couldn't believe what I had just witnessed. Lucien was dead, I just watched him die. Such a powerful being, defeated in seconds. As the dragonkin had finished their job, they left as well, and I ran over to Lucien's corpse. I kneeled down next to him and looked at his pale face. Tears wouldn't stop flowing out of my eyes. But why? Wasn't it good that this tyrant died? Why did I feel so sad about his death? My comrades stood around the Stone of Jas, not far behind me, and discussed about what to do with the stone.
"Perhaps we must hide it away, prevent its further use... or misuse.", is what Ali said.
I only heard parts of their conversation and didn't really listen, as I was too busy with mourning, until Sliske said something that caught my interest: "Good luck with that, my brother."
Brother? Sliske was Ali's brother? I never knew Ali had family. I turned around and wiped away the tears, wanting to ask them if they could help me with Lucien's dead body.
They didn't seem to listen, instead, Ali talked to Sliske: "Still here, Sliske? I thought you'd have left with the rest of them."
I stood up and got closer, in order to take part in their conversation. I wanted to go home, really. It was cold and today was simply too much. I wanted to go home and cry by myself.
"I had a reason to stay... ", responded Sliske, turning towards me.
"I have been following your progress for some time now, watching from the shadows."
He took a step closer.
"You have grown most powerful, and now I am rejuvenated, I have an opportunity to expand my collection."
I was baffled: "Excuse me?"
One of my comrades got between me and Sliske and told him off: "Now, hold on there, sneak. She's one of us!"
I was just about to tell him that I can handle this, but Sliske was faster, saying "And now she is one of mine.", while casting a spell at me.
Another one of my comrades, Akrisae, jumped in front of me, yelling "NO!" and protecting me from Sliske's attack. He fell into the snow. I bowed down to check if he was alright, but he quickly got up, walking over to Sliske. What did he do to him? What happened?
"I serve you, master."
Master? He adressed Sliske as his master?
"Ha ha ha! Well, you will do just as well, for now!", laughed Sliske and teleported away, while glancing at me for one last time. I was in shock, too shocked to say anything.
"Sliske! I should have known he'd stay for some profit.", said Ali angrily, then looked at me and asked if I was okay.
I shook my head. Was I okay, after all of this? Of course not.
He apologized for Sliske's actions: "I am sorry. He is a powerful ally, but his actions are his own. If nothing else, you can at least trust that you can't trust Sliske."
I sat down in the snow and got comforted by my comrades. Ali said he had some business to attend, and teleported away. Just what is wrong with Sliske? He said he has been following me? Since when? And why? I had so many questions but no clue to any of them.