Legend of Roshnak

CHAPTER 1

Deep underneath Kabb'nal-An, one of the most fecund and fruitful regions of the entire Dorull, there was a rather small, completely isolated cave. Not more than five hundred yards long and wide, with its ceiling standing tall between two and three hundred feet. It was an irregular, oval shaped space, lit with the lake of lava, stretching over a quarter of the entire size of this cavern. Decorated with hundreds of stalagmites and stalactites, and clusters of shiny crystals and bouquets of diamonds, it was a home of an ancient, primeval being, Badzanogh.

He was created from the first rock, in the everlasting flames of molten magma, over ten millennia ago, when Dorull was only but a barren, stone boulder, floating through the endless universe. The spark of life from the stars gave him the initial upswing. Without any knowledge, and led only by his feelings, Badzanogh began to build. To create. With his strong, huge arms, he molded the hills, dug up the valleys and canyons, and carved out the lakes and river beds. Out of hills grew the first mountain. From the mountain, he made the entire range. Years came to pass, and Badzanogh created more and more. Tiresome and highly devoted to his work, until one day, he found himself at the same place, from which he began his journey.

It seemed that his work was done, but he wasn't pleased. No matter how his effort looked enormous, as he tried to make everything different, Badzanogh couldn't help but notice that everything was rather monotonous. Everything around him looked boring and bland. Identical, dark-gray shades were all around him. Only then, he realised, he was the only one alive around here. He wished to see some other color, perhaps maybe hundreds of them. He would love to give them names. This valley he was in, could be green. Surrounding mountains could be a bit darker, black even. That one field behind could be golden, or perhaps white. But more than anything else, he wished not to be alone. He wished he could share this with someone. This place that he created.

Badzanogh sat at a small hill. It too was gray. Out of the small slit on his palm, elemental let the thin stream of lava, thus creating a tiny creak. Bright red color of lava, in contrast with the earth, was pleasing to his eyes. But his happiness was short-lived. For almost immediately, lava started to cool down. Soon enough, it would completely merge and drown in a surrounding dreariness. Badzanogh let out a loud sigh, looking towards the skies. Why was he here? All alone. Was this some kind of test? Perhaps maybe a punishment?

Deep within his thoughts, Badzanogh sat well into the night. He would probably remain there even longer, when all of a sudden, on the dark skies above, he spotted a slight flickering of light. Very similar to those of the stars, that he sometimes enjoyed watching. But this phenomenon seemed much closer, even bigger. And it looked as if it was nearing. At first, Badzanogh thought he was imagining things. But soon enough it became apparent that the object was rushing towards him. And at an incredible speed. But what could it be?

Elemental didn't have to wait much longer. Just about ten minutes later, this falling star crash-landed on the ground. Flash of light shone across almost half of Dorull. For a moment it seemed as if it was day, once again. The shock wave traveled the planet almost two times, before Badzanogh could hear a loud, thundering detonation. Clouds of dust and smoke bursted high into the air, creating a very dense, thick mantle around the planet. Elemental wasn't waiting any more, as he rushed towards the place of the impact. He had to know what this was all about.

The object fell close to him, in the nearby valley. Badzanogh could sense the exact place, for he knew every inch of this planet. He was connected with it. He climbed fast over the mountain, from which he had a perfect view. A huge, several miles wide crater, disfigured the smooth, flat, beautiful surface of this valley. And that annoyed Badzanogh a bit, reminiscent of all those months he spent flattening the surface, to an absolute perfection. But as soon as he saw the shiny, spherical object, in the middle of the crater, he forgot all about it.

Drawn by this unbelievable beauty, fire elemental rushed towards the middle. He stopped for a moment, just enough so he could inspect it more carefully. The sphere wasn't larger than fifteen feet in diameter. Its perfectly polished surface was encased in some sort of nest, made out of metal. The sphere was pulsating in a bright white light, while humming in low, but pleasant noise. Curiosity became to much for Badzanogh. It was unbearable. To the point, when he no longer could contain himself, grabbing the sphere with both of his hands.

In an instant, the contact made an unbreakable bond. Fire elemental felt their energies melding, and intertwining with each other. And it was a rather pleasant feeling. It tickled. Badzanogh wished it could last forever, until he realised he was losing his strength. The sphere was draining his life. He tried to throw it away, but to no avail. It seemed as if it was glued to his palms. He thought of smashing it against the rocks. Or melting it with his lava stream. But nothing worked. He slouched in defeat, realizing this could mean the end of him. Surely not. He wasn't ready to die yet. It was way too soon. If for nothing else, but for the fact, he was yearning to witness the miracle of life.

All of the sudden, the sphere flashed, rolling away from Badzanogh's hands. Seconds later, a strong blast threw him away, almost as far as two hundred yards. Elemental tried to stand up, but couldn't move even an inch. Darkness surrounded him, as he felt unbelievable tiredness. He felt weak. For the first time, in his long existence, the fire elemental fell asleep.

Uninterrupted slumber lasted for more than a century, but once he finally woke up, he came to realization, that the entire planet completely changed. Instead of boring, monotonous grayish land, he saw a beautiful golden valley. Tall, black, mountain peaks rose above it, casting a mile long shadow. The ground beneath his feet was soft, it crumbled under his enormous weight, into millions tiny grains. Badzanogh realized this was the sand.

He proceeded to run over to the other side of the mountain range. He was excited beyond comprehension. The endless, green carpet in front of him, was certainly the most beautiful thing he ever saw. A field, as far as eyes could see, filled with various colorful flowers and trees. So many trees. It was the entire forest. Badzanogh knew he could spend eternity in this place, just to enjoy its abundant splendor.

And he probably would, if he suddenly hadn't come to realization, that the ground around his feet started to turn black as coal. Badzanogh turned around, horrified once he saw the scorched tracks, where he walked through. He had to move away from here, as soon as possible. Otherwise, he was risking destroying all of this beauty. And that was something elemental could never forgive himself. But he was fortunate enough. Just some hundred yards or so, to the left, he spotted the entrance to the cave. On the rocky ground fire would not spread, for sure. Elemental was right. But then, at the same time, he understood what this meant for him. He could no longer move freely on the surface.

As he glanced one last time, across this beautiful, green valley, Badzanogh went further down the cave. He had to leave as far as possible, if he wished to preserve this world. By putting the distance in between, he thought, it would minimize the temptation of ever going back to the surface. Elemental walked through tunnels, corridors and caves, always down, into the darkness. Whenever the tunnels came to an end, Badzanogh would dig a new one, until he'd reach a new set of caves. Tiresome, with a clear goal in his mind, to find a lone place, closest to the center of the planet. And there, elemental hoped, he will be far enough to do any kind of damage.

And then, a couple of days later, Badzanogh found himself at the end of his travels, as he discovered a rather small, oval cave, filled with colorful minerals and crystals. This will be his home, and at the end his tomb, he decided. Badzanogh was sure of his choice. It made sense, it was the right thing to do. He was bustling to close and block the tunnel behind him. Otherwise, elemental knew it would be much too tempting for him to venture back towards the surface. He no longer had a place there.

With a heavy heart, quite mirthless and miserable, Badzanogh walked inside the lava lake. It was just a couple of yards deep, but large enough, so he could completely stretch inside of it. It wasn't too long before elemental fell asleep, dreaming about that beautiful, green valley. He dreamt over a thousand years. Until some strange, unbearable noise, coming from somewhere above, woke him up from his sleep.