Shadow's end

Epilogue

R'odash was perched up in a tree branch high above the ground, carefully watching his meal approaching. He hadn't eaten in a week and he needed something to consume quickly. Luckily for him, one of these primitive and stupid creatures which he heard the other races call "humans" was getting closer to him, unaware of the imminent danger it was in. His mouth slobbered uncontrollably at the thought of eating the human. Millions of years had gone by in R'odash's life and nothing he had devoured tasted quite as good as human flesh. He heard a snapping branch just below him and he saw the human crouched and looking at something, a fearful look on its face. It was the perfect moment to strike. He jumped down from his hunting spot, brandishing his jagged, uneven knife and struck his meal right on the top of its head. He took out the knife and examined his prey. Young, male (or female, honestly R'odash could never tell the difference until he ate. Their flesh had a different taste), seemingly average fitness and quite clean for its species. The prime factors to make an incredible meal. The banished Shad'raa took his knife and started slicing off ugly, uneven chunks of bloody meat off of the human and let out a horrifying moan of almost perverted pleasure. Yes, truly this was the best flesh that R'odash had ever consumed. He was at his favourite part of the meal (the bones, specifically the skull), when he was interrupted by a presence he did not recognize. It was powerful, sinister and most of all, familiar. Not bothering to clean the blood off of himself or the pieces of flesh, R'odash found a hiding spot to pounce on the intruder.

The beast had been wandering the forest of the lost for nearly a century, looking for what it believed to be R'odash. It hoped that this would be the right place. All of the rumors it had heard in the surrounding towns said that a dark monster brandishing a knife had been spotted many times roaming these woods. This had better not be another blunder, thought the beast exasperated, It has already been a million years since I set out to search for him. I would very much like this to end. Many times he had come close to finding R'odash yet missed him just by a few days or sometimes, even hours. But not this time. This time it seemed like it may have lost his trail for good, wasting its time in this ridiculous forrest, crawling with stupid creatures like those pesky humans. Not only were they pesky and annoying but they were also incredibly weak (although the beast had to admit that their souls were quite powerful for mortals). Despite this they were still quite amusing to behold as they told stories about "The Spirit of Vengeance", which was simply the beast, for centuries, making it the object of complete fabrications to teach important lessons to their young. The beast was yanked from its thoughts as a raspy, demonic voice coming from behind him yelled out. The beast whipped around and saw a large muscled figure with rags as clothes charge it. It thought that he may have been a human but the jet black skin, the lack of hair, pupilless white eyes, large mouth filled with razor sharp jagged teeth and long equally jagged knife told him otherwise. Before he could attack, the beast said "Wait! I have not come here to fight you!". The man stopped upon hearing its voice, seeming to recognize it. "I have been looking for you for a very long time, hoping we could talk". The man took some time to consider this and replied "You know who I am?" "Yes, I do. You are R'odash, line of Sh'aard". The beast could see that R'odash seemed to be reflecting deeply upon hearing his name... and that of his father's. "Yes... yes that is my name. What is yours? I do not recall seeing you when I left the capital". The beast thought it over, not knowing how to approach this. Eventually it said "This body and mind once belonged to Rasocren, line of Drash'aa. Now, it has no name nor any line to speak of, for Rasocren is dead". "I see" responded R'odash, seeming impressed "And tell me, why have you chosen to embrace your true self? Has Drash'aa not tried to dissuade you of this or have you followed the same path I have, assuming you have read my work?". So did the beast begin to recite its tale from the beginning to the end, leaving out none of the details. R'odash listened, his face impossible to read. This did not deter the beast from being passionate and even joyful as it described thoroughly how it had slaughtered the entirety of the Shad'raa. When it was finished, R'odash said nothing for a long while. Then, quite coldly he said "Normally, I would invite an admirer of mine and fellow Shad'raa to share a freshly killed human with me but you are no Shad'raa. No matter how well you have followed in my footsteps to become  a perfect being, I will not accept a Kinslayer in my entourage". "Pardon me?" inquired the beast, its rage rising in a way it hadn't felt in a long time. "Did you just say share a freshly killed human? Because if so, it is not I who is a false Shad'raa but you! You dare commit an act so disgusting as devouring the flesh of your victims and you come to tell me that I am no true Shad'raa? You disgust me!!!". With that, the time for talk had ceased and the epic battle between the two remaining members of the Shad'raa broke out.

Both beings were incredibly powerful yet they did not naturally possess the power to inflict the unbelievable effects that were produced during their battle. It was as if some omniscient god-like being watched over them and granted them a surge of strength and vitality that only the most powerful of immortals could dream of. When they clashed, terrible forces were unleashed. Mountains were made and flattened, oceans were created and vaporized. Entire valleys were shaped, continents split and volcanoes erupted. Terrible storms were conjured or completely dissipated. All life, for the four hundred years that their battle lasted, was non existent, being completely wiped off the face of the planet. But like all battles, it came to an end. Both of the Shad'raa were completely exhausted and could barely walk. It seemed that none of them had truly won this fight. Or so the beast had thought. But somehow, it felt a strange yet subtle boost of vitality that seemed completely unnatural. Go, said the voice of a stranger, your purpose cannot be fulfilled if you do not win this battle. Taking step after step, the beast walked towards R'odash and grabbed his knife from his hands. It slowly raised the knife and said "You wanted to know my name, you vile creature? Then listen and listen well for you will not live long enough to hear this again. I am Spirit and you shall tremble before my might!"before beheading the only other Shad'raa besides itself. Once it had finished, it dropped the knife and walked away, off to explore the world that would slowly fill with wonderful lifeforms that Spirit would immortalize in a morbid collection for the rest of eternity, forever searching for the perfect life form.