I N F I N I T E S

Lord Slaish

    Slaish stood in the center of the desecrated village. Homes were shattered to rubble, and the beams of wood that once held them up were now engulfed in blazing fire. His long black cape was flowing in the heated breeze. It curved and shifted in an unnatural manner, almost as if it was a shadow attached to him. He heard cries of survivors that called out to him.
    "Someone please HELP!"
    "We're trapped!"
    "Someone call the knights!"
    He ignored every single one of them. They were as common to him as the sound of the sea to a sailor. He strode with an eerie gate about the ruined buildings and debris. His forces made their way through the town to attend to the wounded and living. They were a great force of walking suits of black armor with purple glowing eyes.
    No one was inside the armor, by what the villagers could assume. They did not bleed nor did they grow tired. Many stories had come to pass about these creatures. Some say that they were the souls of the restless come back to life to rain down their vengeance upon the living. Others say they were the knights of hell that were armed to do evil's bidding.
    There were many stories yes, but everyone across all of the planet of Cynthil called them by the same names: The Dark Paladins.
    This was the force that Slaish led. They were his own personal army tasked with doing whatever he wanted, and what he wanted now was the utter destruction of this village.
    The Dark Paladins stomped their way down the streets uttering their war calls in a Dark unknown tongue. Whenever they found anyone still alive and screaming, they silenced them with sudden and crushing blows from their large Magikblade. By the time that they would finish, the village would be left lifeless. The black of their armor made them stand out amongst the fires and ash.
    Slaish did not bother to kill the survivors himself. Instead he was looking about and taking in his handiwork. His bald pitch black body seemed to suck in the light around him as he stood before the blaze of a crumbling structure that once served as an inn.
    By most nights an inn like this would be a gathering point for adventurers and heroes to gather and tell stories of their great deeds over song and a pint of ale. Yet tonight there would be no ale and no song.
    Heroes. Slaish felt a surge of disdain even by thinking of the word. They were all just servants to a public that was striving to an unattainable future. He knew the truth. He knew that it was him and him alone that could bring the eternal conquest to an end. It was he who would reach the goal that all the races fought so hard to achieve.
    Slaish seemed to be lost in this thought for a moment until he heard a cry that was closer than all the others.
    "Help please, my children need help!"
    It was with this that his interest peaked.
    His footfalls were marked by the sound of crunching burnt wood. He could hear the cries getting louder. He was drawing closer, but he did not  hasten his pace. The origin of the noise came from a blacksmith's shop with it's entire front half and roof missing Inside was a six year old girl and a boy no more than eight, huddled in with their mother. The boy had a large slash in his chest and he was losing blood fast.
    Slaish turned from around the corner with his arms in his cape like a specter. He walked over the rubble to then stand before the mother and her children. He looked down at them and observed them. The woman must've been the blacksmith's wife judging by her clothing, Which would make the children his son and daughter.
    The woman sat speechless for a moment. It was then that a Black Paladin had turned around the opposite figure of the house and locked it's purple eyes on the family. It clomped over with the noise of heavy metal hitting ground. By the time it had made it's way over and was readying to swing it's Magikblade Slaish held a hand out from under his cape. He ordered it to stand down with a swish of his hand. It lowered its blade back down to it's side.
    Slaish let his hand remain in the air til it had fully ceased it's attack. His hand was clad in a gauntlet with silver detail and inlay along the back of his hand. The silver detail was in the shape of a flower of some kind. The thing that stood out the most about these gauntlets was the long sharp claws that adorned his fingers.
    The woman regained what little courage she had left and used it to speak.
    "Please, my husband is dead and my boy will be too if nothing is done."
    Tears were streaming down her cheeks like a waterfall of grief.
    Slaish studied her expression carefully. He wanted to take in as much of it as he could. The woman's breath stuttered, but she spoke again.
    "Please, I'll do anything, I'll do anything, I'll do anythi-"
    Slaish quickly drew a hand out of his cape with malice and slashed down upon the crying woman.  A terrible crushing noise was then followed by a horrid squelching noise as red blood splattered against the stone walls around. The woman's body went limp on the ground, her hand still clutching the small fingers of her son.
    The girl was so frightened by this sudden and horrible death of her mother that she didn't even want to make a noise before the figure of death that stood before her. She just huddled up into a ball and began to pant with jolted breathes.
    Slaish then pointed to a flat piece of stone on the ground. The Dark Paladin reached to it's belt and produced a spherical bottle of red liquid. It placed the bottle on the stone where Slaish pointed.
    It was then that Slaish spoke with a voice that warped the air around his words.
    "Take this potion and give it to the boy. I want you both to grow up strong. I want you to survive. You're going to become strong and we will meet again."
    He bent his knees to get down to the boy and girl's level.
    "And when the day comes we will see if you have become strong enough to face me without fear."
    The boy opened his eyes and for a moment he saw what the girl was seeing. They stared into an eye of black jade with a malevolent aura of purple surrounding it. This eye was not in the shape of a normal eye, no it was far from normal. It was in the shape of a V.