*As she was standing above the entire land of Denora, gazing in the sky, Selendis

had yet another horrible headache. They were only getting worse with time. More
agony, more suffering coming from her own gift, from what she was supposed to
profit from, what she was supposed to use in her total advantage. But within that
pain, another secret of the world was shown to her. The Thamales region had been
hiding an artifact, seeing it on top of the most known tree, the 40M spirit tree,
where it is said that if you try stealing from that place you will be caught in a
prison that you cannot be free from and face endless doubt. But she knew that
wasn't true. After borrowing a horse for a reasonable price, she started riding for
a few days towards her destination, beliving that she was going to achieve the
artifacts' strength soon enough. Once she had finally managed to reach it, she
found herself standing before a huge, tall tree. How was she supposed to climb all
the way up? Unsure about that, she looked around for guidance and managed to spot
instead other lower branches. She knew exactly what there was to do, so she ran
towards them and kept on vanishing above multiple branches, climbing up the tree
that way. Nobody could have seen her due to the distance and her continuously
blinking around, but if they did who knows what trouble she could have gotten into.
But climbing all the way, so sure of her righteous destiny, eventually she found
herself on top of the tree. In front of her was a scircle, another altar. It was
made out of stone and decorated with pink petals on the bottom, on an obelisk
standing the two claws artifacts, glowing and warming her soul. They were standing
for her, calling to her. Not even bothering to find the trap now, she went ahead
and picked up the claws, just to black out and fall on the bottom of the altar,
knocked up for some time* *Selendis then found herself on the same tree, holding
the artifact in her hands. But everything around her was as if she was in space, a
total void. Nearby a blue, glowing ray shoot out of nowhere in the sky, striking on
the tree. It was her mentor, Sinatra. Selendis was aware of this by her mere
psionic presence, but decided to stay in the ray she formed, floating through it
while holding the artifact.* "I wish to be alone, Sinatra" *Selendis said towards
the legendary figure while in a stasis-like state. Sinatra then looked a bit
worried towards her student, speaking to her* "All of us question your wareabouts."
*She said towards Selendis which sighed and started descending from the stasis
state. She put her feet down, slowly and looked at the stars* "We are ancient
people. There are few pure bloods left, and tomorrow...I sense so many to die."
*Then Sinatra snapped and spoke calmly towards her, the scar across her eye being
more obvious in that light. She had strong beliefs in all of her students, but
especially in the only one left- Selendis* "If you doubt our capabilities-" *But
she didn't get to finish the idea because Selendis was already quick to answer it
and foresee what she was to say* "I do not doubt them, old friend" *She said boldly
as she slowly looked down, over her shoulder* "I doubt my own motives" *Then as
those words were said, her eyes opened suddenly, a bit glowing green. With a rise
of her head towards the stars again she returned to speaking* "And if I doubt...so
will they." *Selendis said as several moments of silence followed up, in which both
of them were standing somewhat close and looked, gazing on the sky filled with
stars and painted in glowing, white constelations enlightening even the darkest
one's mind, warming up hearts and melting eyes. Indeed, no matter how ferocious the
artifact's effects were on that tree, at the same time they were
somewhat...pleasant, maybe even enough to make someone happy again and help with
their unfinished bussiness. But then the silence was broken by Sinatra who looked
behind at the tree* "What cause could be more noble, than reclaiming our home?"
*Then Selendis didn't wait a moment and talked back, expressing her thoughts
directly without any remorse* "Azarath is our past, but is it our future?" *Shocked
by that question, Sinatra raised her tone and spoke somewhat angry towards Sinatra*
"Azarath is our heritage!" *But to that affirmation, Selendis sighed and recalled
the darkest memories she had* "The Demon King is also our heritage." *She said as
everything around them turned into the wasteland of the recalled memory, showing
the grounds of war since back then ruined and shattered as the Demon King slayed
whatever he wanted* "We do not cling to it or what it's return...we acted no better
than animals and nearly drowned the entire world in blood." *Selendis said saddened
as pools of blood were literally seen and many warriors had found their grim end
even at the doctor's hands, unable to continue fighting as they gave their life for
the King. But then Sinatra steps in and the surroundings change again to The Hero
which downed the Demon King and brought peace once more among the people of their
world* "But from that conflict...the great cause opened our minds! He brought us
the glory of unity. And our every nation, our every evolution...became as one. With
The Hero, we found unity. We rose from our failings...We made the world a beacon
of progress in the galaxy...the envy of the stars..." *But very keen to bring up
the bad parts in everything, Selendis once more had something to say about this.
Something was wrong, she could feel it. Those weren't her thoughts, not her
beliefs, but she felt as if they were forced upon her. She had no choice, she had
no other way or path to walk down to as only those lingered in her empty, dark
mind. Not only that the unity was and still is a lie, but there is something else
going on and she had to point it out as the background changed to lower parts of
Azrath* "But in the glory of unity...so sure of our righteous destiny...we once
again turned on our brothers." *Knowing exactly where she was going with that
phrase, Sinatra realized what Selendis had to say. Even if their home was more
pacifist towards everyone, on the inside something else was going on, something far
more sinister than anyone would think. Also disturbed by that, Sinatra thought of
continuing the idea that Selendis had begun, not afraid to face the truth* "You
speak of the half bloods...do you?" *Glad that she understood, Selendis answered in
the same empty and sad tone, continuing what she wanted to say* "Yes....They chose
to reject all that we are and sever themselves from the pure bloods. We branded
them heretics, tried to sell them...we had forsaken our unity and like the era of
The Demon King, that division made us weak. We were punished by fate for that
weakness. Because of our certainty, Azarath fell down in social ranks." *And then
feeling the need to, Sinatra continued with a few thoughts of her own, feeling hurt
that their land was usually associated with half-bloods, misserable hybrids that
were sold and used as slaves* "I watched our reputation burn...Our honor
lost...Countless lives lost." *With visible saddness and distress in her voice,
Selendis continued too and shared her idea, hoping to finish it this time. She had
a point to make and felt interrupted by Sinatra every time, however she couldn't
blame her for she was entirely right so far about everything spoken* "There will be
more loss in this fight. More friends...fallen. Because we cling to an ideal that
may have passed us." *But bold and somewhat brain-washed, Sinatra continued very
insistently on her beliefs on how Azarath was the strongest land, pure and noble
and was tainted by other races that wanted to steal their power, use it for
themselves as hybrids were born and shared something both with Demonia and any
other race that there was, making Demonias common* "I refuse to accept that. Do you
not see the symmetry in this moment? Making the hybrids tradeable was a sin, but
today...because he has united us, we fight together. The lives lost tomorrow will
be the price of our future!" *Sinatra said proudfully as the reason was purely
noble, facinating as she wanted the entire world to be saved by Selendis from the
dark voice and show everyone that Demonias are even more special now, now that
there are still pure bloods remaining. But at the same time, it completely
triggered Selendis and made her extraordinarily angry, errupting with the force of
a vulcano. Her eyes widened and she turned around to face Sinatra, speaking right
in her face releasing all of her anger on the mentor* "An easy sentiment from one
who is not going to die!" *She said, but that made Sinatra far more angrier than
Selendis could ever imagine. Sinatra gave her life protecting the temple, but
failed. She knew what dying in a blaze of glory and honor felt like.* "FROM ONE WHO
HAS BEEN SENT TO DIE! I was among the first to protect our honor! I am Akhundelar!
The tip of the spear!" *Shocked by the hidden truth, across Selendis mind sinister
thoughts, grim ones and even the sorriest ones have crossed. An Akhundelar was the
very first warrior in a battle, they would stay ahead of everyone and most of the
time sacrifice themselves for an upper hand. Those were ther bravest and by far the
most honorable people that could have fought, but she never knew her master was one
of them. With a desperated sight in her eyes, sweat dripping and fading voice she
asked* "An Akhundelar...few will survive the first wave. Why!?" *And when she was
asked why, Sinatra stood up pridefully, putting a hand on Selendis' shoulder as
they looked at each other, expressing the glory and devotation for her land*
"Because I know of no higher honor. I volunteered to give my life, for our home. To
make a world for all Demonia once more! They...made me believe in that." *Stunned
by her words, Selendis
looked up in the sky, to gaze again upon the stars with tears in her eyes as she
had just realized what that meant. What it was symbolizing and how noble was the
served ideal* "A world...for all Demonia...once more. It will be, because of
warrior like you" *Then, knowing she had gained her trust and made Selendis snap
out of that crazed state, out of her doubtful never ending hole that this damned
tree had put her in, Sinatra sighed relieved and then spoke towards her* "Come back
Selendis. Use the artifacts. Lead us home... My life, for Azrath" *Sinatra said as
the wave from before came to vanish her into particles once more to return to her
rightful place, in the grave. Selendis looked towards where she was supposed to be
and spoke muffled* "Sinatra...My life, for Azrath." *She said as the entire
background around her, all the illusions had been shattered, but not without
Selendis looking one last time in the sky, gazing on the stars and admiring their
beauty, knowing that not only her master, but all of her brethren were there, in a
happy place among the stars. Once more she had found herself in the tree, looking
around herself knowing well that the entire place was something else than it had
really been. Selendis looked down again and then look down, determined as she
pulled up her mask again. Looking down on how to reach the ground once more, she
braced herself and then jumped from the entire 40 meters of the tree. When she was
near landing, she prepared one fist and then punched the ground equal to the speed
and force she had gained so far, stopping herself above the ground where she landed
and stretched her fists. Selendis looked up towards Kanfaldur, knowing well that
she was supposed to go there next. No other option existed. Her last artifact, the
final stand before her full potential, but it didn't matter. She knew that by this
time her power was inevitable. Even if so far she took her time and did everything
slow, calculated, this time there was no time to waste. Although the land was far
away, it didn't matter to her. Her emotions and remorse were gone by this point.
All the people that died, that got used and abused, she couldn't ignore it anymore.
The artifacts were going to solve it all by destroying the Dark voice. Whenever it
chose to materialize, it would be gone by the time it got to step into their realm.
With her newly achieved cold heart and overwhelming determination she went ahead
and knocked up a man in a more isolated area to steal his cart, then started riding
towards the Kanfaldur.*