FINAL REWARD: EPILOGUE
by: Taliaferro Erucolindo
Taliaferro reverently placed Kiren's bow, quiver, and his Short Sword of Morin on a new pedestal, which had "Kiren Tiradoio - Guardian of Tunare" carved upon it. The pedestal sat next to Lorfindur and Glorelion's pedestals in the Hall of Heroes. Stepping back from it, Tal nodded approvingly. Next to him Thanoslug said a silent prayer to Brell, in honor of their comrade, who had been called to serve a higher purpose. Thanos prayed that they would all prove as noble and honorable as Kiren, and that they'd each find favor with their own deities, the way Kiren had found favor with his. Darshan put a hand on Tal's shoulder and on Thanoslug's. "I'm sure he'd be glad to know that we'll always remember him as a hero," said Darshan. "Aye, 'e was a gud elf, and one o' the few o' yuir kind tha' dinnae get too uppity. 'Tis a bloody shame we will nae see Kiren in this lifetime agin" said Thanos. "I'm not so sure of that," said Tal, with a glint in his eye and a wry smile on his face. "Legend has it that certain very powerful magicks can break through the seals on the Planes of Power. I daresay that someday, somehow, we might just find ourselves visiting the Plane of Growth, where Tunare resides. I'll bet that if we did, we'd see Kiren again. I'll even bet that he'd recognize us." The three guildmates smiled at that thought, as they sealed the doors to the Hall of Heroes, then left to go meet the rest of the guild at the tavern, where they would spend the rest of the night drinking and re-telling stories of the adventures of Kiren Tiradoio. Still, Tal often wondered about that final request Kiren made of Tunare just before his transformation...
.......
Tarina angrily raked a silver comb through her matted white hair. The Teir'Dal Shadow Knight wondered why her life seemed so difficult. Had she not done her best to please her Lord Innoruuk? Had she not daily tortured dozens of innocent slaves to death, all for the sake of Hate? Had she not come SO CLOSE to retrieving the Artifacts of Light from the hands of those damnable servants of the Light, Giliath Lang? "Curse them!" swore Tarina,"...'The Sword of the Star Host' indeed! I had one of their 'stars' screaming in agony on MY sword a mere week ago! Yet he was SNATCHED away from me before I could suck his soul out for Innoruuk!" Tarina slammed down the comb upon her dresser. Wearing only her night clothes, the evil knight of hate contemplated strapping on her armor and ordering an immediate assault on Faydwer, just to send more Elven souls to her dark master. "No," she thought, "that can wait until tomorrow. Tonight I just want to rest and dream up foul tortures for the bodies and souls of those damnable Giliath Lang wretches!" As she prepared for bed, Tarina thought she heard something outside her chamber door. A muffled sound. As though someone had taken breath to say something, but never got to exhale it. Suspicious, Tarina grabbed her sword, the dreaded Innoruuk's Curse, and pulled open her door. The Shadow Knight had seen many horrific things, but what she saw before her made even her leap back in shock. One of her personal guards, was standing outside the doorway. At least, most of him was. From the shoulders up was missing. The corpse fell forward into her room, and Tarina took a defensive stance, shocked that something like this had happened deep within the black heart of Neriak itself! When nothing came into her room after her, she slowly stepped forward and peered out into the hallway. The other guard was lying in the hallway floor, laid open from crown to crotch, as though something massive and sharp had torn him open! How had she not heard this? How could something have killed so quickly and so silently? Tarina looked one way down the hall, then the other. Her chambers in the Temple of Hate were so far removed from the rest of Neriak that apart from her personal guards, now dead before her, Tarina was sure that no one in Neriak could hear her if she screamed.
Deciding that she needed her armor to face whatever had slain her guards, Tarina backed into the room and closed the door, sliding the massive bar across it to secure it.
It was then that she heard the snarl behind her.
The deep, gutteral snarl, frighteningly almost like a chuckle, made Tarina...a hardened Shadow Knight....nearly leap out of her skin! Whirling around she saw, crouching on her bed, an enormous black panther with yellow eyes, baring huge razor-sharp fangs! Horrified, but reacting instinctively, Tarina summoned her Hatred and tried to harm the giant cat with her Shadow Knight's Touch, but the massive feline merely snarled his laughing snarl again, and seemed to grin at her! Swinging Innoruuk's Curse with all her might and rage, Tarina tried to cleave the grinning panther's skull.......only to have the weapon BOUNCE off of it and clatter to the floor! Tarina's eyes grew wide with terror! What WAS this....this DEMON??? The panther again snarled it's laugh-like snarl, and tensed it's muscles for the pounce. Tarina's courage failed her, and she frantically tried to un-bar the door! Before she could even begin to move the bar, the beast behind her POUNCED....
And Tarina discovered that she was wrong.
Her screams WERE, in fact, heard throughout all of Neriak.
.......
No sign of Tarina's body was every found. After the guards battered down her door, they discovered only her two dead personal guards, and to the fear and shock of the entire temple, the shattered remains of Innoruuk's Curse. Strangest of all though, was the message, carved into the back of Tarina's locked door, as though some giant claw had scratched it out. It was in Elven, disturbingly enough, and menacingly read:
"My vengeance is complete, but I shall ever watch over my friends and loved ones, for this is my duty, and my final reward."