Abzec-Syr sat upon his eternal throne and peered out at the heavens. His heavens. It used to be so beautiful, all of it. The Great Cathedral... home of the gods, built by his own immortal hands to last for all eternity. No more. The very sky that was his realm shook with the sky god's own fear. Lightning tore the sky into jagged tatters, and each flash sent the sharp hooks of despair deeper into the Sky Father's essence. The lightning was all that was left now... and the sky was filled with it as the battle raged on outside. The Sons of the Sky fought valiantly, but the rumbling voice of Bruhan, God of Thunder was now ominously silent. Now only one brother, Zakan, remained. His fearsome bolts ripped the sky asunder, but the twisted, yellow arcs of the Destroyer answered each blast in kind. Abzec-Syr feared his final son would fall soon, and then the Great Evil would come for him.

Then there would be a reckoning... but not before. No, even as his sons gave their lives protecting him, the Sky Father sat motionless on his throne. A single tear rolled down his cheek, illuminated by the growing storm above. His Sky Globe, which could see all realms both mortal and immortal, sat neglected at his feet. He had used it to see his oldest son's horrible death at the hands of the Destroyer. A horrible, evil death. He could not stand to watch another. There was nothing he could do; the Old Woman... goddess of prophecy... had spoken. She had seen the future, and it was one that not even the god of the sky dared alter. Not this time. Not if the greater realm of existence was to survive.

"Damn you, woman." he whispered. "And damn the rest of you as well."

Yes... the others had forsaken him. The Old Gods... lords of pantheons long forgotten by man... had ignored his pleas for help. He had called upon them when the Evil first arrived, but they never answered. Were they still alive? Had the Destroyer taken them as he now prepared to take him? No... no he couldn't have taken them all. Some still wielded power, but they were so concerned with their own petty kingdoms that they had forsaken their pledge to stand as one against the Destroyer. He expected that from a few... like Drya of the frozen wasteland. But could all of them be so selfish? What of the Gods of War? What of Bothal and his kin among the Lords of Onas? If these nobles could not be trusted to stand by the Pantheon Accord, then there was no hope for man OR god. Who would protect the mortals? Who would fight the Great Destruction when it came? No one... for there would be no wielders of power left. Only those on the mortal plane... the Exiles and the Sleepers. But the Exiles were weak... and the Sleepers had not yet awakened. They were both vulnerable, and the Great Evil would destroy them as soon as he discovered their resting places. Then all would be lost.

He had to hold him here. He had to contain the Destroyer in the Great Cathedral... if only for a little while. Long enough for the Mother of the Sky to work her final prophecy. Long enough for the other gods to realize their mistake and lend their aid.

Suddenly the ground shook with such violence that it cracked the eternal stone of the Sky Father's throne. Everything around him rattled as if the Immortal Realm itself had been struck a mighty blow.

And then everything was still.

No lightning scarred the sky, which now hung in tatters above him. No shouts of battle, waves of power, or blasts of immortal might disturbed the suddenly silent hall.

It was a silence that could break the soul of a god.

Zakan was dead. The God of Lightning... Son of the Sky, and carrier of the his father's vengeance... was no more. Abzec-Syr felt the seeds of emptiness and sorrow blossom in his heart. He shed another tear, and then pushed the pain from him. Now it was up to him.

He heard the Destroyer's footsteps as the Great Evil approached. Abzec-Syr stood tall, and his throne crumbled behind him. An evil shadow fell across the entrance to the Great Cathedral. Abzec-Syr drew his power to him. On the mortal realm, the Sky Father's great shoulders stretched from one end of the horizon to the other. His chest was the sky, and his white robe the clouds. And even here in his own house, the immortal he stood as a giant among giants, mighty arms resting on his chest like twin redwoods.

The approaching shadow darkened, and Abzec-Syr knew that it was time. The Destroyer had come. The Great Evil. The Mortal that Would be a God.

The Warlord K'Sano.

The upstart whelp entered the Sky Father's presence as a mere boy, weaponless and with no armor save a silver medallion around his neck. Abzec-Syr fought hard to contain his own rage. How dare he approach him in such a way... in a form of weakness. How dare he show such contempt! How DARE HE!

"Face me as you faced my sons, mortal!" said the Sky Father. His voice rattled the columns of the Great Cathedral. "Then we shall do battle."

"Battle, old man?" said the Warlord. Though his body and voice were young, the yellow glow of his eyes spoke the truth... there was a power within him that matched that of the Sky Father. He stepped forward, approaching the God of the Sky without fear. "You are too old for battle. Yield your realm to me now."

"Never."

"How long has it been old man?" said K'Sano. "How long since a mortal has so much as spoken your name? A hundred years? A thousand? How long can a god exist without mortals to worship him? How long before he weakens... and becomes ripe fruit to be plucked and consumed... as you shall soon be."

"You DARE speak to me in such a tone, MORTAL!" The very walls shook with rage.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! You seek to frighten ME, old man? I wield the power of SEVEN HELLS! I draw magic from planes UNKNOWN to even the GODS themselves! Both GOD and MAN alike have BOWED before my shadow! Armies have fallen to the WEAKEST of my minions! And yet YOU seek to frighten ME!"

"I know of your PITIFUL doings, mortal! I am the Lord of the Sky, and I have seen ALL!"

"Yes... your bauble... your Sky Globe... it shall adorn my wall of Trophies, along with your SKULL!"

"You seek power that is not yours, slaying the weak but shunning those that can still do you harm! You are no Warlord... you are a COWARD!"

"I am your death, Sky-God," K'Sano took another step forward, and his eyes glowed even brighter. "My weapons shattered against the skulls of your sons... but I shall fashion NEW ones from your bones. Bow before me and accept oblivion."

"NEVER!"

Abzec-Syr own eyes flashed brilliant white. He extended his right hand out to the side, and a crackling thunderbolt appeared in his fist. The very are itself sizzled as the power gathered.... screaming to be released.

K'Sano chuckled as he walked towards Abzec-Syr. At each step, his frightening presence began to change. With the sound of a thousand swords being drawn from their scabbards, K'Sano's battle-armor appeared about his body. Bands of demon-quenched steel wrapped around him, encircling every inch and sealing him against harm. Adorning his shining, red helm were the horns of the three most powerful demons that had fallen before his might. The visor slid down over his face, and the eye-slits glowed like twin suns as the armor's enchantments roared to life. K'Sano's mortal form began to grow... his body expanded, and the armor expanded with it. Muscles bulged where there were none before. Inches became yards, and pounds became tons as the mortal form yielded to that of a god.

By the time K'Sano had taken two breaths, he stood before Abzec-Syr as an equal... twin gods faced each other in preparation for battle.

"Have at thee... old man," said K'Sano. The thunder of his whispered words dwarfed the voice of the Sky Father at its loudest.

"YARRRRRRGH!!!!" Abzec-Syr raised his mighty thunderbolt and attacked.

The Lord of the Sky brought the thunderbolt down into the center of the Warlord's chest.

KRA-THOOM!!

The sound would have deafened any ordinary mortal. The weapon shattered on impact, as it was intended to do. Arcs of white-hot energy sprayed in all directions. It was a blast that would have reduced the hardest stone to dust. Most of the energy failed to penetrate K'Sano's demonic armor, but enough got through to drive the Destroyer back several thundering steps.

"Ungh!"

"DIE, Destroyer!"

"Is that your BEST, old man!" the Warlord bellowed.

"No, it is merely my FIRST!"

The Sky father's fist shot forward towards the hideous helm of the Destroyer. K'Sano twisted and blocked the mighty blow with both hands. He grabbed the Sky Father's arm and yanked him forward. Instead of falling, or tumbling headlong into a wall, Abzec-Syr halted and spun. His back hand strike narrowly missed K'Sano's head. He punched again, and the Destroyer deftly jerked to one side and responded with a punch of his own.

As K'Sano's fist slammed into the Sky God's abdomen, shockwaves from the impact rattled the walls of the Great Cathedral. Abzec-Syr doubled over, and K'Sano quickly grabbed his head and drove his own knee upward into the Sky Father's face

"ARRGH!"

Abzec-Syr broke free and stumbled backward. The eternal face of the sky was bruised and bleeding.

"You are not a fighter, old man. You do not know the ways of war... Yield to me now!"

"rrrRRRRRAAA!"

K'Sano squared himself for a physical attack, but instead, the Sky Father's eyes released twin beams of energy that struck him square in the chest. Each white hot blast was like unto a hundred of the Sky God's thunderbolts.

"AAAAAAH!" Despite his size, the blast threw K'Sano backward... He flew through the air like a feather in a whirlwind, and slammed into the far wall of the Great Cathedral. Were the Cathedral not constructed to last for all eternity, he would have gone right *through* the god-hewn stone, but even still, huge, damaging fissures radiated from the point of impact. K'Sano slid to the floor and dropped to his knees... his mighty armor still sizzled loudly from the Sky Father's fury.

He knelt motionless for a second... and then slowly got to his feet.

"heh, heh, heh, heh... Heh, Heh, Heh... AAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! So NOW the contest BEGINS! And now I believe that it is MY turn!"

K'Sano's eyes glowed bright yellow. He extended his right hand with the palm open, facing Abzec-Syr. A column of fiery, yellow energy blasted forth...

The Sky Father tried to dodge the attack, but he was too slow.

"AAARRGH!" The energy of the Destroyer was capable of disintegrating mortal stone and steel on contact. It's effect on the Immortal plane was much more painful... The blast ate into the god's immortal flesh, searing away the skin of his left shoulder and beginning to dissolve the muscle and bone beneath it. "AAAAARRRRRR-"

Abzec-Syr stumbled to one side, but K'Sano kept him targeted by his beam of power. Enraged and in pain, the Sky God raised his left hand and blocked the Destroyer's attack. The yellow fire quickly began eating away at the exposed palm... flaying the fingers to the bone. But his shoulder had already begun to heal. Abzec-Syr wasted no time in gathering his own strength and releasing another blistering assault. A second thunderbolt appeared in his right hand... much more powerful than the first. He raised the weapon and threw it. It crackled through the distance between him and the destroyer, and bathed the Great Evil in the Sky Father's rage.

KRA-THOOM!!!

The very ground under their feet rumbled and cracked. K'Sano's armor glowed as it fought off the searing assault. He broke off is attack and stumbled backwards, nearly falling several times.

"Now face the WRATH of the SKY!"

The Sky Father's eyes pulsed as he summoned his fury. A fierce wind rose and whipped through the Great Cathedral. The storm thundered with a might that had never been dreamt of on the mortal planes... winds that could uproot entire forests descended on the still-staggering K'Sano.

"DIE!!!!"

Abzec-Syr raised his hand again and threw another thunderbolt... and another... and another... each was more powerful than the last.

THOOM!

The first knocked K'Sano off of his feet and tossed him into the fury of the storm.

THOOM!

The second struck him in mid air and threw him to the ground.

THOOM!

The third drove him across the floor with such force that K'Sano's armor carved deep furrows in the already damaged stone. The Destroyer careened into a wall, and the wind swept him along its length until finally he lay crouched in a corner of the Great Cathedral.

Abzec-Syr continued to pelt him with thunderbolts, laying into him with all the power that the God of the Sky could summon.

And K'Sano was laughing all the while.

The Destroyer's broad shoulders began to tremble... and then they began to grow. The enchantment that had transformed him from man to god transformed him further. He grew larger... stronger... muscles became denser... more powerful...

With a roar that overwhelmed the storm that assaulted him, K'Sano rose to face Abzec-Syr. He stood a full two heads taller than the Sky Father now... his arms and chest dwarfed those of the huge God of the Sky. K'Sano stood still, with his chest out as if daring Abzec-Syr to continue his useless attacks.

The Sky God was more than happy to oblige. He threw a thunderbolt from each hand, and both struck their target perfectly. K'Sano flinched and grunted... but the destructive power of the thunderbolts danced off of his chest like beads of water off waxed oak.

Abzec-Syr blasted him again, this time with energy beams from his eyes.

"UNGH!! RRRRRRR"

Growling like a beast, K'Sano walked into the beams, approaching the Sky Father despite the fury of his most powerful weapon. He reached out for him, with palms facing outward

The yellow fire shot forth from the Destroyer's hands. This time it was the Sky Father who was knocked backwards. He tumbled end over end and slammed into the wall above his ruined throne. He hit the floor, and pain flooded his consciousness when he tried to move. His chest was a gaping, seared ruin... and it would take precious seconds for it to regenerate.

But the Destroyer had other plans.

Abzec-Syr looked up and saw K'Sano storming towards him, his boots leaving holes in the stone floor as he walked. The Sky Father struggled to rise, but has only made it as far as his knees when he felt the Warlord's iron grip on his neck.

K'Sano lifted him and thrust him back against the wall. His fist closed around the Sky-God's throat. Gods do not need to breathe... but Abzec-Syr felt his flesh being reduced to pulp in the grip of the Destroyer.

"Your sons died as fools, old man..." K'Sano hissed. "Your pitiful pantheon is no more... Now there is only you and the Mother. Where is she? She will perform her prophecies for ME until I decied to rip out her throat!"

"NNNNNNN!!"

K'Sano leaned in close to the God of the Sky.

"Where are you hiding her!?!"

"NNNRRRAAAA!"

Abzec-Syr reveled in the Warlord's mistake. The Destroyer had thought him injured an powerless, but he had enough strength left within him for one more strike... a strike that would be all the more effective now that the Warlord had foolishly placed his face mere inches in front Sky Father's eyes.

Abzec-Syr tensed his mighty muscles and gathered all that remained of his strength. He poured it into his eyes, which released their twin beams of power one final time.

"AAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHH!!!"

The sizzling, white beams engulfed the Warlord's helm. They drove him back with such force that he was halfway across the Great Cathedral before he could even react. He raised his hands to block the beams, but the Sky Father's power did damage no matter WHERE they struck.

"ARRRR!!!"

K'Sano dropped to his knees. His demon-quenched armor glowed... not with enchantment, but with the shear heat of the attack. Enough heat penetrated to begin cooking the flesh of the mortal inside. K'Sano roared in pain, but the Sky Father did not relent.

"ARRRRRRRGH!!"

The assault continued... seconds... minutes... the God of the Sky would not yield. He poured all of his godly energy into destroying the Destroyer... into wiping the mortal filth from his realm. His grievous chest-wound continued to weep... as he could spare no more energy to heal it. He tapped the vitality of his own flesh to add even more power. His mighty muscles burned with a fatigue he had not felt since the start of his existence. His very skin burned... his bones ached... and finally, the Sky Father's power was spent. His eyes continued to flash, but they had no more energy to yield.

On the floor before him, the Destroyer was on his hands and knees. The armor glowed with a heat so great it was almost too bright for the Sky Father to bear.

"No matter HOW many you slay, be they god or demon" said Abzec-Syr. His voice was now only a raspy whisper "No matter much power you steal... you are still but a mere mortal pretending to be greater than he is. You are still mortal... and you can die."

"...and... so... can... YOU!!"

Suddenly, K'Sano rose to his knees. He stretched forth his hands and released his fire in two tight cones of destruction. They struck the Sky Father's already injured chest... and ripped THROUGH him like a hot sword through candle wax. Abzec-Syr opened his mouth to scream... but with no lungs, all he could to was fall and stare up at the ruined sky. Abzec-Syr had no chest... just a charred, smoking hole through the entire width of his body. The Sky Father heard his own flesh sizzling. He was too weak to even tremble... and even if such a wound could be healed, it could not be done by him.

His eyes began to close, but before they did, Abzec-Syr beheld the Destroyer as the Great Evil stood above him and gloated.

"So much power," said K'Sano "And it is wasted on the gods. No longer. I claim this realm... this immortal plane... as the newest part of my Empire. Its strength shall feed me. From here, I shall strike out at the other fools who dare resist me."

Abzec-Syr's lips moved... his mouth forming a few weak whispers...

"...we...will stand... against... you..."

"HAHAHAHAHAAA! You speak of your miserable Pantheon Accord! Yes, I know of it... a paltry assembly of forgotten gods, all as weak and pathetic as yourself. Bah! I shall sweep them aside as I did you and your sons. Their realms shall join yours... conquered lands that will strengthen me as I prepare to take on more WORTHY opponents."

"...the end.... the... end..."

"Indeed it is, Father of the Sky."

K'Sano held his hand palm down over Abzec-Syr-Syr's face. His eyes glowed bright yellow, and a single blast of power erupted...

And Abzec-Syr knew oblivion.

---

"HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!"

Still encased in his demon-quenched armor, the Warlord K'Sano laughed... announcing his victory to the shattered heavens. The home of Abzec-Syr was his... and yet another god had been removed from the field of play. Who would be next? Who else was ripe for the picking? Drya? No... no, she still wielded power that could rival his own. For now. He would have to take another first... someone who's power would increase his considerably.

Who would that be?

"Ahhh... but first, there are two more tasks to be done here."

K'Sano's eyes began to glow as he summoned his considerable magic... most of it stolen from mortals and demons that had fallen before him in battle. He stretched out his arm and swept his hand through the air in a wide arc.

The very fabric of the universe caught on his armored fingertips... and ripped. K'Sano tore a hole in the universe... a portal that stretched from the realm of the fallen Sky God to one of the dark, Infernal Realms K'Sano had conquered long ago.

The demons came immediately. K'Sano had no need to summon them, for they had been waiting anxiously for a chance to claim their new home. They poured through the jagged portal like a plague of locusts... hideous creatures of smoke and shadow... all slaves to a master who was himself a slave to K'Sano. Their filthy black wings sent soot and brimstone billowing out into the once-pure air. They scattered, filling the sky with their foul presence.

"Claim this realm!" shouted K'Sano. "Claim it in my name... seek out every source of power and drink deep! Strengthen your lord so that he may strengthen ME!!"

The demons squealed in acknowledgment.

"Then rip out every stone of this Cathedral and sent it to my quarry. Weak though it is HERE, it is nigh indestructible on the mortal planes. I shall use it to strengthen my fortress there."

K'Sano pointed to the remains of Abzec-Syr.

"And then take THAT back to your Pit! Feast upon his essence slowly, but bring me his bones when you are done."

A cloud of demons descended and snatched Abzec-Syr's corpse from the floor. They carried it back through the portal, which showed no signs of closing or weakening.

"Now..."

K'Sano stood before the remains of Abzec-Syr-Syr's 'eternal' throne. It was a pile of rubble now, and a few demons were gleefully carting it away piece by piece. The wall behind it was unmarked, but K'Sano knew that what he sought was there.

He drew back his fist and stuck the rock with a powerful blow. The stone crumbled. It was only a few inches thick, and was there only to hide... not to protect... what lay beyond.

The inner chamber was lit only with a single lamp, and was unfurnished save for a thick rug stretching across the floor. Laying on the rug held the body of an old woman. The Mother of the Sky... seer of the future... the goddess of fate. The old woman was dead. There was very little blood, but K'Sano could detect not one spark of life within her. Rather than serve K'Sano, she had taken her own life through some method that K'Sano could not discern.

"DAMN YOU!!!!" spat the Warlord. He rolled the old woman over. Her dead countenance showed neither pain nor peace... just a weariness that had been frozen on her face when she died.

"What were you doing in here, old woman? Calling for help?"

K'Sano looked around. He found nothing that could tell him what he wanted to know... but then he saw the wall.

The message was written in blood. The goddess's blood. It was the final prophesy of a desperate, dying woman. And it appeared to be addressed to him:

THE GREAT EVIL COMES
HE BRINGS THE END
BUT HE IS YET A FOOL
FOR HE IS JUST A LOWLY PAWN
OF THE TRUE THREAT,
HE IS BUT A TOOL
CULLING THE WEAK,
SWEEPING THE WAY
SO THAT THE STRONG MAY TEST THEIR MIGHT
AND GROW STRONG IN BATTLE
AGAINST HIS POWER
AND TRIUMPH IN VALIANT NIGHT
THE WARLORD SHALL FALL
AND RISE AGAIN
AND FALL, AND RISE ONCE MORE
BUT SHOULD HE FALL
A FINAL TIME
THEN DEATH SHALL LOCK ITS DOOR
AND IN THE END
THE VALIANT HEED
THE RAGNAROK'S DEADLY KNELL
AND THE WAR OF THE GODS
SHALL SHAKE THE WORLD
AND IT SHALL BEGIN... IN HELL.

"What madness is THIS!" shouted K'Sano. "Childish prattle! LIES and TRICKERY!!" The Warlord blasted the wall and obliterated the goddess's bloody message and the stone that held it.

Seething with rage, K'Sano stormed out of the back room and returned to the crumbled throne, which was now almost completely gone. He picked up a stone and threw it... it hit one of the demons, killing it instantly, and then continued through a far wall and over the horizon.

From the corner of his eye, K'Sano spied the Sky Father's globe. It was glowing with a light that seemed to burn the demons when they got near it... and so they gave it wide berth. K'Sano walked over to it and picked it up.

The globe was the size of his chest... which was quite large in his current form... but it had no weight whatsoever.

K'Sano looked into the globe, but saw nothing but the white glow. He shook it, but nothing happened. The Warlord opened the visor on his helm to look closer, and saw that there were shapes inside the globe. They appeared to be clouds.

"Show me my castle..." he commanded.

Nothing happened.

"SHOW ME THE CASTLE!" This time, K'Sano's eyes pulsed with yellow fire as he coerced the globe. The image inside changed, and the Warlord saw a huge, imposing fortress. It was composed of an oily, black stone, and stood like a evil blight upon the surrounding land. The castle was his. Its enchantments were supposed to prevent spying by even the most powerful beings... but the globe was showing it quite clearly, with no sign of any resistance or interference.

"Inside!" he commanded.

The view changed again, and now he was looking at the dark halls within his fortress. Soldiers and demons roamed the halls side by side. His skinless attendants prepared his quarters for his imminent return.

K'Sano growled deep in his throat. How many secrets had Abzec-Syr stolen? What had he learned? Who had he told?

"GLOBE! Show me my ENEMIES! Show me the weapons that would destroy me... and the men who would wield them!"

The image in the globe began to change... but suddenly there was a flash and the globe exploded! Long shards of hot, enchanted glass flew up at the Warlord's exposed face...

"AIIIIIIIGGGGH!!!!"

Daggers of glass sank into his flesh. His face burned like hot brands were being pressed into him. Driven by their own magic, the shards dug themselves deeper and deeper, searing his nerve endings with immortal fire.

"ARRRRGH!!!!"

K'Sano ripped at his face, but he could not dislodge them. They sank deeper still... K'Sano's own magic flared to life, trying to seal the wounds and eject the foreign bodies... but in the end he could only achieve a stalemate. The glass shards halted their progress. They cooled, but try as he could, K'Sano could not remove them.

"RAAAGH! It was a TRAP! They KNEW! THEY KNEW!!!! RAAAGH!!!"

With a sweep of his arms, he ripped open another portal... this one was to the mortal realms, deep inside the safety of his fortress of Ifreann. Dripping blood and covering his ruined face with his hands, K'Sano stumbled through the portal and sealed it behind him...

The End (?)

copyright 1999 by Marc Washington (Dark Icon)