No Storm Lasts Forever, a DND inspired story, by Allan Concillado

Chapter Five: The Party At The Mansion, Part Eleven

     "Ledias?" Theodore asked as he entered the room with Grog behind him.

     They expected to see Ledias's warm and soft smile, but instead they got a stern and serious look. The elf and golem were next to her, not really doing much.

     Ledias placed her hand on her sheathed sword. "What are you two doing here?" she asked with a serious tone.

     "I could ask you the same thing!? We thought you died!" Theodore yelled.

     "Maybe I did and you're just hallucinating."

     The giant placed his finger on Ledias's shoulder. "I think it'll be alright if you told them," he said.

     Ledias looked up at the storm giant and looked back at Grog and Theodore. "Fine. You two, come here."

     The two of them came forward. Grog was uneasy. He didn't like how Ledias was acting right now, if she was the real Ledias.

     "Want the long version or the short version?" she asked.

     "Short?" Theodore answered.

     She sat down and placed her hands behind her. "Basically, the world is ending."

     "What?!"

     "Well, you weren't there when it happened, but someone foresaw the end of the world."

     "So a vision, basically."

     "Yeah, a vision. Someone envisioned a band of heroes coming together to stop the end of the world from happening."

     "That could be anyone then."

     "Yeah, it could, but there was a name that was mentioned. I'm sure you've met him and acquainted with him. Midnight. I'm guessing you already found out about him being a god?"

     Theodore nodded.

     "The vision showed the viewer what would happen. The world ends because one person was too greedy, too self absorbed. He's the scum of all living things: Timber Grail, the leader of the Seven Snakes. He was born into this world to destroy it, but not by his destructive power, but just like the devil, with deals. He made a deal with hundreds of entities to get us killed and release Midnight's true form so that the world would be judged harshly by his alter ego."

     "Wait, so he made deals with different entities, like the shapeshifters?"

     "Precisely."

     "But how do the shapeshifters benefit from this?"

     "They don't."

     "Then what's the point of that?!"

     "To end this world. The same thing actually happened before. The world almost ended a couple thousand years ago. Two gods, the god of light and the god of darkness, created a being: Midnight. His job was to judge the world and if they were deemed dirty and unholy, he executed the sinful ones. This plan backfired and Midnight became so overly obsessed with the deaths of thousands that he became blood thirsty and sought to kill everyone. Luckily, the two gods locked him away deep down in the core of this planet, and he slept for a while," Ledias explained.

     "So what does any of this have to do with the vision of the end of the world?"

     "Timber is re-awakening Midnight's true form so that he could finish the job and finally kill everyone on this planet. In order to get to this point, he made deals with the Seven Snakes, with nearby giants, with common mobs, the goblin royalty, the old lady, Zephyr, shapeshifters, and even the people that you know too."