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The full force of Will's attack crashed into Soveliss' body, instantly sending him backwards with twice the force of a full-grown dragon. He collided with the wall, several bones cracking upon impact. Soveliss' skull fractured inward, his spinal column also snapping. Any bone that was forced into contact with the wall broke, the rest of Soveliss' body being spared, thanks to the Necrotic Empowerment spell he had cast earlier.

Soveliss' slumped against the wall, head dangling limp where it was. "So go ahead," he coughed, "kill me. Take hold of all your anger, your hatred, your sadness and kill me, William Desarmo." Soveliss laughed, hollow and detached. "Kill me, and then what? What would that accomplish? Do you take pleasure in killing Will? Is that it? Or, perhaps, it goes beyond simple pleasure, and that you would love nothing more than to see your mother's murderer die at your own hands. Whichever way it's going to be..." Soveliss' tongue crept out of his mouth, licking his lips. "Be sure to make it as slow and painful as you can."

Chapter 9: Last Judgment

Everything went black. Whatever Soveliss saw, heard, thought, smelled, felt and his body, too; all of it gone, replaced instead by this bleak eternity. Although he had no eyes, Soveliss could see. He saw ghosts of the past, memories forced into his mind by some unseen will.

Tari soft blue eyes met Soveliss' own frightful stare. The choice had been made: a knife to the heart, the easiest way to avoid capture and possible torture..or was it? But it didn't matter now - nothing else mattered. It was the only thing in his mind, pervading all his thoughts..

As quickly as he could, Soveliss drove his knife forward - into Tari heart. As soon as he felt the serrated blade make contact, Soveliss scrambled backwards. He averted his eyes from what had just happened. "I'm sorry, Tari.I'm so sorry."

Tari's memory faded to darkness, another one shimmering into existence. Another woman...Nessa, had been her name. An elven woman, Soveliss' mother. Her face was contorted in anger...

"Leave here immediately!" She commanded a young Soveliss. "This is not your place. You've brought nothing but shame to us, you are lucky to even still be alive!" Her normally gentle face seemed to relax a bit, tears filling her steely eyes. "Now go, I won't speak to you anymore of this." She turned her back to him, leaning against the wall. Her shoulders tembled, and although Soveliss could not see her face, he knew she was crying...

Crying for what? Because she had not killed him? Because she had chose to send him into exile instead of taking his life? Was it too much pain, now, to even lay eyes upon him?

Soveliss knew she had never loved him. All these years, it was nothing but an act. A ploy, so that he would feel sound in the comfort that his own mother would not hurt him. But no, he would not fall so easily for her lies. That would be her last mistake.

He approached the woman, moving slowly and silently. All of her pain would end soon.."I won't forget..." Soveliss whispered. "Everything you've done." His cold hand brushed along the length of her arm, across her back, and down her other arm. Following the line traced by his fingers, the elven woman's limbs shrunk, withering instantly. With a gentle touch, his hand came into contact with both of her knees, crippling her even more.

Her pathetic limbs couldn't hold up her weight any longer, and Soveliss' mother fell to the floor. She was crying harder now, probably wishing for it to end. And it would...Soveliss did not feel like delaying her death - that was a pleasure beyond what she had earned. This woman - this mortal - would be done away with, quickly and efficiently.

Nessa opened her mouth, trying to find the words to dissuade her son. Nothing would work, it was too late for that. Reaching down, Soveliss' fingers curled around her lower jaw, pushing into the skin beneath her chin, and into the gums of her mouth. "You need not speak, mother. I already know what you would say." And effortless tug, and the woman's jaw was no longer a feature of her face.

She tried to struggle, to squirm around on the ground and escape death. But her death was inevitable. Soveliss focused on a spell, one he preferred not to use - but was, perhaps, the quickest way to dispose of her. The Death Guard would be coming soon, and they would not hesitate to kill him. With one last look at the deformed face of his mother, Soveliss cast the spell.

His mouth opened wide - much wider than normal, as enhanced by the spell - wide enough to consume the crippled form of what had once been Nessa Silimaure.

Her screams went unheard as the next memory faded in to replace it.

Twelve years after Soveliss became a lich...twelve years for Yenke's fury to boil and swell, fueling his insane obsession of destroying Soveliss. They had been friends since childhood, and yet..such a simple thing as unlife could shatter their bond? No, of course not. Soveliss would see to it that it wouldn't.

Soveliss felt the bone in his left arm shatter as one of Yenke's attacks ploughed through undead flesh, muscle, and nerves. He winced with the pain, but carried on nonetheless. It was difficult wielding a large scythe with one hand, plus the additional burden of parrying, deflecting, or otherwise blocking Yenke's flurry of attacks, but Soveliss had one thing Yenke did not - an unclouded mind.

Yenke's sword drove into Soveliss' shoulder, lodging itself there. With a powerful shove, Yenke spun Soveliss around, sending him sprawling to the ground face first. He strode over, his steps heavy and deliberate. "A pity, that the great Lich Lord Soveliss could barely put up a fight against his childhood friend, someone who always paled in comparison...until now." Yenke reached down, grabbing Soveliss' long black hair.

He hauled upwards, forcing Soveliss to his feet. "I've defeated you, you're helpless...Now you will finally be dead, and all of Eberron will see that I am the one they need, not you!" with all the strength he could muster, Yenke's foot came crashing down into the back of Soveliss' leg. He smiled at the satisfying sound of cracking bones and tearing flesh.

Soveliss reeled from the pain of his tibia shredding through the tight flesh on his leg. The broken, glistening bone was jagged...an eerily pleasing sight for Soveliss. How beautiful such mutilation looked...had he the time, he may have admired it moments longer.

Instead, Soveliss acted instantly. Spinning on his working heel, Soveliss stood to his full height, driving his awkward knee into Yenke's sternum. "And now, my friend, we see who is really helpless." Yenke's eyes widened, his face growing pale. The man's mouth struggled for words, coming up short - only managing quick gasps for air...

That very same day, the last of Soveliss' "childhood friends" had died. A half-elf by the name of Loki, faithful to Soveliss up until his murder. It had been an act carried out by Soveliss himself, although his reasoning for it was..difficult to comprehend. The death had been quick and relatively painless, happening nearly the exact second Soveliss' scythe glided through Loki's neck.

It was as simple as that, no words exchanged, no goodbyes...and only moments before Yenke's encounter with the lich in Soveliss' own citadel.

The second and third memories dissipated, molding into a different shape...this one more familiar.

At last, he reached the limp figure on the ground. The wife of a well-known paladin, mother to a single child...a boy, by the name of William Desarmo. Soveliss towered over her, his body shaking erratically. He knelt down, and reached out to touch her cheek softly. ?Soon we can be together?forever?.?

His pale fingers fumbled for the wound in the woman?s head, and as at last they found their mark they slid smoothly inside. His hands felt warm, and he smiled at the feeling. He delved ever deeper into her skull. There must be something out of place, he told himself. I will find it, and we shall forever live out our lives in happiness?

Soveliss' fingers found her brain, a soft mass of matter about the size of two of his fists, and they clasped around it. Soveliss was ecstatic now?he licked his lips, and gave a tug. Something snapped, and the pulling became somewhat easier. Blood surged through the laceration in the woman?s head, spilling onto the cold ground. More blood and gore discharged from her skull as Soveliss tried to squeeze the brain through the undersized hole in her head.

Will's mother, in turn, fled into the darkness of Soveliss' judgment. Faint visions, coupled with hoarse echoing screams, rippled in the abyss. Various acts of murders, people Soveliss had killed and din't know who they were...some women, some children, and mostly men. And out of the countless who's lives were taken, only one or two per city he had "visited were lucky enough to be left alive.

The rest...the rest were not allowed..not allowed to live. No, they couldn't. They were like all the others. They were evil, a threat to his existence. They could not be allowed to live, or they may have ended up like Eragia...

A sudden, painfully clear image of Eragia's most recent death blazed before Soveliss' "eyes". The single touch, the merciless utterance of words...and the final, crippled form Eragia had taken, a mass dominated mostly by the necrotic cyst that had killed him.

Mingled with it was another image, this one, too, was recent.

It was four years ago, at this very place. Tyrin's brother was there, he and several "important figures" of the once-proud nation of Cyre. They would all die, Soveliss knew. They would all die, and he was to blame...no, blame was not the right word. He was to thank. Without them, Eberron would be a much better place...it would be nearer to perfection than ever before.

But this man...this brother of the one named Tyrin. Why did he oppose Soveliss' actions? Why did he try to save the nation? Perhaps he had found a better way to attain perfection of the multiverse? No, that was impossible. Then it must have been that he was morally against what Soveliss has been doing. If that had been the case, why was he not among those destined to die? Why had Soveliss not killed him sooner? This man...this mortal...why was he there?

The final flash of green necromantic energy, and Cyre was destroyed, the vision along with it.

The gods had passed judgment. The elf's wrongs outweighed any good deeds he may have done in his lifetime, and it was now in his future to forever dwell in the Abyss, soul separated from body, tortured for eternity. A ghastly black hand sprouted from the groud, grasping for Soveliss.

"You, there, half-elf!" A masculine voice called out, not far from Shadow's position. "What's your business here? It's dangerous to wander the grounds of the Glass Plateau alone." The voices body strode into Shadow's line of sight: a lean, average height man wearing typical, lightly-colored paladin armor with black leather gloves and boots. His face was wrapped entirely in bandages, save for his right eye, a red sliver in the mass of white. The skin that could be seen was, similarly, ghostly white, as was his short hair, hinting that the man was an albino.

"I, most certainly unlike you," he replied, "have grown accustomed to these lands and their...habits. Of course, as with most things, if you know how to deal with it it causes no trouble at all..." The man paused, and then laughed. "My name is Orophin. And yours would be?" He cautiously stepped over a few of the corpses, offering a hand out to Shadow.

Orophin laughed again. "And I say to you, out of honesty, that I am here because I'm meant to be here. There's no doubt you've seen these bodies by now, right? Well, being a paladin, an upholder of the law and all that is good and righteous, blah, blah, blah.." Orophin's tone lost it's good-natured sound. "In any case, it's my sworn duty to check every single one of these bodies for survivors. And," he added, "I happen to like it here. Aside from the Living Spells, occasional Warforged band, and anything else I may have forgotten that I might have to kill.

"Now, you said you were leaving." His eye drifted over to the mouth leading into the Glass Plateau. "You went in there? Strange. I hadn't seen you walk in, and I know for a fact teleportation won't get you in there..." He droned off, lost in his own thoughts.

Snapping back to reality, Orophin blurted out, "Actually, would you be able to do me a favor? Yes, yes of course you will." He leaned in close to Shadow. "I'm actually here looking for someone. He's not..incredibly well-known, mind you, and not quite a people-person. He's a half-fiend. Oh, here." His hand dove into a pocket on his armor, retracting with an out-of-shape scroll. He began to read,

"'Age: 84
Height: 7'00''
Weight: 575 lbs'....I was sure there was more to it than that....oh, yes! He goes by the name of Tael'braithe. Have you seen him?"

"Oh, it's nothing really." He said with a half smile. "Simply upholding my duty as a Soldier of Justice. Since you 'may' have heard of him, you 'may' have heard about all the murders and crimes he's committed against the innocents of Eberron. He's earned himself the death penalty - three times over."

Orophin's smile faded. It was going to be a hard trial, if there even was one, for this "Tael" character. Chances are he'd have to face execution without a trial, or maybe life-imprisonment. "Put simply, I want to kill him." The half-elf's expression stayed blank. Tough crowd. "Sorry. I was reading your thoughts." He brought a finger to his temple. "Useful technique for someone like me."