1 Prologue:The Pillar To Immortality

An eerie night lays dormant midst a storm; a bringer of change falls upon a reluctant host. A wriggling swirling parasite slithers within an entrance of a dark dank cave. A dweller is comfortably in slumber on his bark braided mattress. The dweller frightfully moans in his deep sleep. The parasite begins to encroach its newfound prey.

The dweller wakes.

"No!" The dweller exclaims by his wake, it was just a terrible dream. 'was it a dream…?'

His eyes dilate to the scene before him. The dweller ganders at his state of being, he is coated in the sweat of his biology and the grime of his keep. 'It must have been a nightmare…?' He thought to himself.

A motion is heard, the dweller's head swivels to the direction where it was sounded, and there he saw it... a nightmare that has come to the real. The creature, the infestation of his home, crawling, slithering. It startles its pace, breaking towards him. The parasite is now rushing, moving its front half forward more vigorously while its latter half retaliates giving traction to its ever-growing motion towards its frightened host.

Frozen in a state of fear, the dweller just sat there staring at his uninvited guest.

'the inevitable is here death has finally come for me...'

The parasite springs out of the ground glimmering its razor-fanged mouth into the man, the parasite lands latching itself on the dweller's chest. The dweller convulsed to the new limb that has attached itself to his core.

He tries to pull it out with his regaining strength, but it is still latched on. The parasites fangs begin to dig into the flesh, opening a crevasse between the dweller's pectoral muscles.

The dweller screams for all he is worth; the parasite digs further inside, nestling itself in its new host.

The dweller wakes.

#

Rha'ghal Al'tul, they call him. The boy not yet a man ganders around his musky cave, he is alert for anything unfamiliar. His body is coated with sweat and grime. He did just have an awful nightmare of what crawls in the night. Those stories his sister Mar'ghal told up, really did encroach into his latest dreams.

Rha'ghal cannot fathom the thought of the concept of having a nightmare within a nightmare, but he did just experience such an eerie event. As such as is, Brother Re'ghal eldest among the Al'tul family walk past their cave.

"We be exploring brother, a new dawn has awakened this morn of the leaf." Re'ghal rejoices. With blistering fingers, Rha'ghal rubs his drowsy eyes awake. Sunlight catches his pupil, the glare was reflected by a modest puddle of sweat near his mat.

Rha'ghal has been working on his new spearhead for the last 3 leaf days, within the confines of their shabby cave.

Rha'ghal's family have been in a self-imposed isolation, exiling themselves away from their former clan. They have isolated themselves in the Kal'god mountains, near its highest peak.

The Kal'god mountains are fabled to be where the gods and demons battle for countless centuries, as the shamans of the Ghal Al'tul Clan entail.

"Why are we exploring brother?" Rha'ghal enters a question to his overjoyed brother.

"I saw a god fall last dark, Rha. It was when I was hunting near the valley of the twin curse peaks." Re'ghal excitedly told.

"It was red and bright, streaming down the sea sky, falling between the twice name curse peaks."

Rha'ghal interest peaks up, a god falling from the sky, a momentous event; an event foretelling of great events or curse it may it be, an upcoming upheaval. "Really? Red and bright…" He contemplates the meanings of it all. 'The shadow of a fallen god, huh?'

"Whatever events may come of it. I know where the god has fallen." Re'ghal excitedly confirms.

Rha'ghal stretched out off his mattress like a feline ready to pounce, he is tired yet invigorated by knowledge of finding a fallen god's corpse, he then begins to prepare for their hunt in the Kal'god Mountains.

"You still haven't completed your spear yet, Ra?" Re'ghal titters a question while Rha'ghal starts his preparations.

'Well if Re'ghal did not pester me during my search for the perfect stone head; I would not have had taken so long to find, shape and sharpen it.' Rha'ghal thought.

'Damn it, I also needed to cut my growing locks than braid them into a suitable rope so I can tie my spearhead to a long straight shaft I stumbled upon 2 leaves ago.' Rha'ghal sighs internally to himself.

"I soon will complete my spear brother… Because I can't stand the weak prey you hunt." He snarls at his brother while he mocks; also preparing for their journey north with a small leather hide tied with their hair braided ropes onto Re'ghal's back. In case they might find anything in the twin curse peaks

Rha'ghal tilts his head forward.

"Where is Mar'ghal?" Rha'ghal inquires to his brother while they exit their cave.

"Your dearly beloved sister is outside waiting, of course," Mar'ghal interject beside the entrance of the cave.

Unlike Re'ghal and Rha'ghal; Mar'ghal had red flowing locks like the bloodstream of a mountain elk. The winds carried a gust that frazzles Mar'ghal flowing locks into a tangle mocking the sly expression plastered on her face in front of the entrance of the cave in these high peaks.

Re'ghal and Rha'ghal, though looking similar to each other they can be easily trade off with one another if the view from afar. They were exacerbated with Mar'ghal's intentions in coming along. Re'ghal with his high cheekbones, a handsome figure within the tribe juts out his hard jawline and a piercing deep sea gaze, staring daggers at Mar'ghal's assumption.

Rha'ghal was told by his mother that he had similar eyes to herself, his eyes were kind and inquisitive, shallow opal-like the ocean; luckily he did not inherit her red hair like his sister did.

They were the anomaly in their tribe and Mar'ghal was always sorted after because of her foreign red locks. They were introduced to their tribe through their mother's captivity.

Her suitors were also some of their relatives; due to the isolation of their clan was from the others across the land, they mostly interbred with one another. though sometimes they skirmish and raid with neighboring clans with the objective of looting and capturing females.

These sparse events usually occur in the spring, when foreign clans trespass the clan's territories.

Now though, it does not matter the barrier of their positions within the clan were shattered because of their late father's death, the chief; who was an advocate of non-isolation of their clan.

Thus as such, as is, Their uncles, and cousins, begin to vie for power after his death using Mar'ghal as a claimed bride for the precursor of becoming the new chieftain of the Ghal Al'tul tribe. Their brother Re'ghal barely in his teens decided that they should escape the machinations of their tribe, by exiling themselves to the Kal'god Mountains where none dare to step in due to the fear of the gods' curse might fall among them.

Mar'ghal frowns up to Re'ghal and Rha'ghal.

"Come on Reee, I saw the god fall as well as you did. What gives you the right to search for it without me?" Mar'ghal whines up to Re'ghal.

Re'ghal sighs again with exacerbation.

"Fine, you can come. Just don't slow us down." Re'ghal grudgingly spouts out.

Mar'ghal rejoiced by her brother's response, jumping up towards Re'ghal with a joyous hug.

"You could never say no to sister, Re. It could be dangerous." Rha'ghal scold.

"Don't worry brother, I'll protect you and our little sister from monsters that crawl in the night."

Rha'ghal froze up to Re'ghal's response. 'Does Re'ghal know about my dreams last eve or was it just a witty response? It can't be, he would not have seen through my dreams…or was it a dream?' He scoffs it off.

"Let's get going, midday will soon fall." Re'ghal pronounce as they start their long trek to the twin curse peaks.

Through mountain cliffs and peaks we journeyed within Kal'gods Mountains. Sparse shrubs can be seen around their perimeter. Smoke trailing from the ground into the sky leading them to the destination the fallen god fell within the twin curse peaks.

"Those smokes look eerie Re." I say as we scour the grounds heading towards the center of the crater. As we approach our destination, ashen trees crumble and a gust of dirt fall into the currents misting the grounds we walk.

A crater with a radius a mile long in the center of the twin curse peaks smolders with ash and smoke. Small shrubs burning surrounds the crash site where is said to lay dead among the ashes. The dead forest seems to be an aftermath of a cataclysmic event yet motionless in the utter silence, just ash, and smoke.

Rha'ghal stumbles on a broken tree stump that is covered in ash, he nearly fell into the ashen burial bed. Ash particles inhale into his lungs from the disruption, he then begins to cough haphazardly, ruining the silence of this hallowed place.

"Be careful brother! There might be demons lurking, lured by the dead god's corpse." Re'ghal snarls, as they encroach pass the perimeter of the crater.

"We could be the demons, you have spoken of" I mumble to myself.

Mar'ghal with dilated eyes ganders around their surroundings, she seems to be frightened yet eager of what would surprise.'Two lunatics my siblings are, this hallowed place is too sacred for our rustic feet to encroach upon.'

Why did Rha'ghal accept his brothers' proposal on finding a dead god's corpse in the Kal'god mountains where Gods and Demons had battled for eons?

As the siblings approach the center of the crater, a huge obelisk can be seen, extruding out of the center of the crater. It looks like obsidian spearhead piercing the crevasse of mother earth. With awe, they look upon it.

'Is this a corpse of a fallen god or one of their weapons they just happen to drop during their battle within the skies of the Kal'god Mountains. What giants must they be to use this as a tool for their demise?'

Re'ghal brimming with a smile plastered on his pale face looking up at the obsidian obelisk."It's The God's own metal…" Re'ghal with awe says.

"Come let us go further, we must try to chip some of the hallowed metal out of the God's tool." Re'ghal hurries them forward towards the center.

The eerie silence is frightening Rha'ghal. No sounds of life, even though they are in the Kal'god's Mountains; the surroundings should not be this silent. Hesitant he asks his brother.

"Should we be doing this?" He interjects into his brother's exuberant mood.

"The God's have let us live in one of their peaks in the mountains, not we steal their hallow metal." He tries to reason his doubts to his brother. Re'ghal's face distorts to Rha'ghal's anxieties.

"Brother, listen!" Re'ghal look directly to him, halting their movement towards the center of the obelisk.

"We finally have the means to take our uncles and cousins out from vying for my inheritance of the Ghal Al'tul Tribe. My birthright!" Re'ghal snarls in desperation with a gleam in his eyes. Rha'ghal saw the hatred and aspirations in Re'ghal's eyes on reclaiming what was meant to be his.

"I cannot deny you brother, but I do not know what upheaval this will bring to the mother earth." He frustratedly says.

Mar'ghal with wide eyes glances between the both of them and then away towards the obelisk. She suddenly trips back."I saw something!" Mar'ghal screeches.

Re'ghal and Rha'ghal are alerted to her cries, they both individually inspect the grounds carefully. No twitch of noise, no motion was heard within their surroundings. "Where?" Rha'ghal questions her.

"In the ground, I saw something move, shaking in the dirt near the God's tool." Mar'ghal frightfully say.

His brother and he both careful scour the grounds for anything out of the ordinary. 'To be honest, none of this is ordinary.'

"Enough of this, let's get the metal." Re'ghal said bristly.

Rha'ghal pauses to his response. This does not feel right, Rha'ghal knows something isn't right about this place but he does not speak up to his brother's actions.

Re'ghal places his hand on the slick obelisk metal; shivering with excitement and awe, staring up into the top end of it. "With this, I can rule the tribe without question." Re'ghal boasted.

A motion of clicks is sounded, Re'ghal reacts by moving back, but he can't; His hand is stuck onto the metal. Rha'ghal quickly reacts by heading towards his brother, grabbing him by the shoulder, trying to pull him off the cursed metal.

"I'm stuck! My hand is stuck! Ra, help me!" Re'ghal with panic in his eyes screams at Rha'ghal. Mar'ghal with wide eyes then stumbles, tripping backward down on the ashen ground; she screams as if something is latching onto her."Something is on me Ra!" Mar'ghal screeches.

"Ra! Help! Something is on me!" Mar'ghal with screeches for Rha'ghal. He glances at his little sister struggling on the ground, he then fixates on his once ever confident and reliable older brother. 'No, this can't be a real… This is a dream, yes it must be a dream!'

"Ra! Something is digging inside my palm! Argh, it hurts!" Re'ghal begins to scream in pain as if something is digging inside his palm and tunneling through his arm. Rha'ghal head swivel between Mar'ghal and Re'ghal, his face with utter devastation. 'why did we come here, why do we deserve to what fates will befall us?'

"No, No…No!" He shouts while trying and failing to pull Re'ghal off the obelisk.

"Raaa!!! Arrghh" Re'gal pushes him away as he painfully screams out his name.

Rha'ghal twists and stumble, his bare arms hitting the slab of obsidian besides him. His eyes begin to burn, something is inside him begins to react to the touch of the God's cursed metal. 'The pain is unbearable.'

Symbols on the corner of his eyes start to appear.

Updating: Initializing Host Implants…

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Catalyst Approved.