Drax Zenith: The Downfall of a Hero

Chapter 1 : Dreams become reality

Violent clashes of swords were heard. From where they came from, that was still a mystery. An image of someone standing still in front of ghosts suddenly appeared, then nothing. That was the last thing Drax saw in his dream before suddenly waking up. He was sweating profusely when he stood up. This wasn't the first time he had such dreams. Shaking the thoughts off, he went to go take a nice hot bath to relax his spirit. Today was gonna be his first day serving officially as one of the paladins of the Order of the Fallen Roses, a group of faithful elves that serves to protect Seyana, the royal city of Ombrelune, kingdom that is currently residing in the Shadowfell, a dimension of darkness ressembling the material plane. He grew up from his youngest age, or at least, from what he remembers, here in this underground facility that served as the headquarters of the order. His mentors always told him that the order worked closely with the queen, and that they were told to be discreet about their actions, especially since the rumors started about some of the gods of the Elven Pantheon started to become silent. He didn't know at the time what it truly meant, but he would learn soon about it. His group of paladins serve the greater Elven god, Corellon Larethian, father of all elves. Every paladin was of an elven lineage, everyone but a single person. Drax himself. Drax is a dragonborn, a blue one, and he has yet to know the reason he was here at the very start, but he only knew gratitude for the elves that raised him up, as well as Corellon, who watched over him, or at least, he always believed so. Even though he wasn't an elf like the others in the order, he was without a doubt, most worthy of becoming a paladin to serve Corellon with his overwhelming faith in him. After his morning bath, he prepared himself, taking his best clothes to look good in front of the commander. When he felt ready at last, he got out of his quarters. The headquarters of the order is pretty big, having many personal quarters for some of the members as well as common ones for the paladins. Drax, being chosen by the commander directly, had the benefit of having a personal one to himself. He made sure to earn that favor throughout his training amongst his fellow piers, showing double the effort while ignoring the ones judging him for his race. What Drax may not have learned about was that the dragonborns are often used as slaves, at least in the city. Some of the other members viewed him as such, while others showed great respect for his devotion. After all, for him, the paladins all around him are his only family, as he never learned about his biological parents. The commander, Lorianne, adopted him when he was still a baby. She told him that his parents were dead, and this was a favor that she wanted to pay them back for what they had done for her. Drax never had any attachment to his real parents, since they died too soon for him to actually love them, so his affection and his parental figure turned to Lorianne. She was the only one to fully believe in his capacity, assuring the others he would be one worthy to hear Corellon's call when the time would come. Her hopes of him was one of the main reasons he kept on trying his hardest to prove his place in the order. Now, today at long last, he will finally be made a paladin, a true guardian of the city and a fierce servant of the greatest god. His dream to finally hear and enact his will is finally happening. As he steps in the room of elevation, where every ceremony to promote a new member to paladin is done, he was surprised to see only two person in there. One of them was of course Lorianne, but the other one was not someone he recognized.

"Hello, my child." Said the unknown woman. "It seems your time to become a paladin has come at last. I am Valeriane, high priestess of Corellon. I act both for our god and for the Order of the Fallen Roses, although I usually am in my church, in the royal city. I came to perform the rite of elevation, giving you the rightful gift of hearing the will of our father Corellon."

"It would be my utmost honour, to receive such a blessing from you, high priestess." Said Drax, kneeling down in respect in front of the official voice of Corellon.

"Of course, it is the greatest blessing to receive. Now you shall repeat the words I say after me." The priestess said, putting her hands together as she stares up, as if looking to the sky. "I, faithful follower of Corellon, swear to always follow my oath, of devotion to my god and my allies."

"I, faithful follower of Corellon, swear to always follow my oath, of devotion to my god and my allies." Drax repeated after her.

"To serve his will and to fight for him is my fate and I shall strive for it."

"To serve his will and to fight for him is my fate and I shall strive for it."

"No matter the obstacles, I shall persevere through and through, for this is the power of my fate in Corellon!"

"No matter the obstacles, I shall persevere through and through, for this is the power of my fate in Corellon!"

After this final sentence repeated, the priestess made a symbol with her hands, and a light suddenly appeared. Drax could feel some sort of holy magic starting to flow inside him, as he began to be a wielder of the will of Corellon. When the rite finished, everything came back to how it usually is. Lorianne who was watching everything, took the arm of Drax and hold it like she would do with any other paladins.

"You are now officially one of us, my dear. May Corellon bless you in your duties for eternity!" Lorianne exclaimed.

Immediately after that, everything stopped moving. Everything but Drax. He could feel that something was wrong. Time has been stopped somehow but he wasn't affected. It was then that he heard a voice, coming from a place he could not pinpoint.

"Drax Zenith, you are the key. You must never forget that. My child, keep on your duties and never stray off, for your destiny will be grand if you do, and fate will bring you to me." The mysterious voice said.

Drax did not even have time to reply that time continued to move like nothing happened. The priestess took her leave, bidding farewell to him while his commander followed her behind closely. He stood there for a second, but quickly brushed off the events. No matter what that was, he had only made his conviction. He shall never give up on his faith.

Weeks. Months. Years even passed since that day. Drax may have forgotten the words he was spoke to, but there is one thing he never forgot. Every now and then, he kept having the same dream he had that day and even before. He kept on going with his new morning routine, now working as a paladin. Training was part of the daily, as well as doing some patrols around the facility. From what he had heard, the queen of Seyana hid the Order in some place, close to the royal quarters of the queen. That being said, the doors to the quarters were shut when the king had gone mad, supposedly transformed into a lich king. The paladins could only continue to serve the queen, who asked them to always keep a diligent eye around the royal quarters, to make sure no one would be entering without permission. After all, the doors were sealed magically, and no one could break it open, at least, not by themselves. From that day, the paladins always made patrol around the area, making sure that no one would disturb the queen, seeking refuge in her quarters from the rage and death that the king was bringing to the city. On one particular day, Drax, who was assigned patrol duties, was walking around, as always. It had been five years since he began his paladin job, and he found it almost... too boring. The military routine of working out, training and patrolling as well as learning about the city's in and out was getting slowly but surely tiring for him. It was to his surprise that when he saw a groupe of people in the hallway leading to the royal quarters fighting some sort of living statues, he felt somewhat relieved. This was a first in forever. He observed from afar, unsure how to take care of the situation. Theses statues he had seen most often never came to life before, and now they were attacking mercilessly strangers. That's when he knew he had to intervene, for his oath of devotion not only include his god and his allies, but also the innocent, those who did nothing wrong. Before he even engaged in the fight, he saw something, further behind the statues. A ghost, watching over the group fighting, as if it was controlling the statues. Then, it all came together. This was his dream.