Chaos: Genesis

It's morning and Spero is walking with the rest of the men back to Anshan. He spaces out for a second and feels a dark presence. Sending shivers down his spine as something whispers inaudibly in his ear. he snaps back to reality, and when he looks around, everyone is gone, and it is the middle of the night. Spero frantically looks around and yells out for anyone.

"Spero", a sinister voice calls his name, but he can't locate where is it coming from.

"Daeva...one of us!"

The sand begins to engulf Spero as the voice exclaims, "Your anger! Your darkness! YOUR HATRED!"

The voice crescendos, multiple sentences, and voices overlap. Spero desperately tries to claw out the sandpit but it swallows him up in pitch darkness. There is a glimpse of light and other voices that are familiar to him. He gets closer to the light and , a wall of fire blocks his path. He shields his eyes when he removes his hands from his face he notices them drenched in blood and a body lays in front of him, battered, beaten, and pouring blood.

"No!", Spero screams and reaches out but the body disappears.

He is surrounded by a city up in flames, filled with screaming citizens. He looks below into a puddle of water and sees himself as a child.

The voice returns, "You did this! You will do this! Everything is caused by you!"

Spero unleashes his power. Darkness and red energy burst out of him vigorously and the chaos symbol appears in his eyes as he screams from pain. Multiple flashes of events, death, and blood appear in his mind.

The voice yells one last time, "YOUR POWER WILL BE MINE!"

Cyrus wakes Spero up by pushing him to the side, "Finally... it's daylight. Time to head home"

Spero, confused, sees that everyone is around him, they're gathering up the gear and preparing for the journey back to the kingdom. He nods and gets up, looks at his hands and they are not covered in blood. He takes a couple of breaths and readies his belongings.

Once they arrive in the kingdom, Spero breaks off from the group to a secluded location.

He casts a spell, "Astral"

A symbol glows in his hand and a voice appears, "Yes, old friend"

Spero turns towards Astral.

"I was...attacked, a mental attack from a dark presence"

Astral pauses for a second and continues, "Were you stuck in an illusion?"

"Yes, but this illusion didn't feel like normal magic, it wasn't trickery it was...real in a sense."

Astral's eyes widen, Spero continues, "The voice knew of my power, and showed me what seemed like memories of my past, future, and events that I have no recollection of"

Astral gets serious and approaches Spero, "Do not follow that voice, ignore it at all costs, do not listen, and do not engage!"

Spero is shocked to hear Astral so direct, "Who was that presence?"

"You say its name, and they will find you. The less you know, the safer you'll be.", Astral disappears.

Spero now intrigued by the lack of information given to him tries to look deep into his mind. He remembers a time during dinner with his Father

"There are daevas out there, which feed on dark energy. Your power, they are attracted to. Do not let them corrupt you, stay far away. If the voice finds you block your mind and fight back if you can. I have tried to kill as many as I can, but he will be looking for you."

Spero regains consciousness,

Information is always being withheld from me. I'll find my own answers.

King Cambyses is standing on his balcony as his conversations with his servants' end, and they leave the throne room. He turns away and looks out at the kingdom and the night sky.

"My King."

Cambyses hears this and turns around to see Spero kneeling. The king walks to his throne and sits down,

"Excellent. On time as always. Your mission against the Orc General was an astounding success. Their forces have weakened and they are fearful of our strength, especially with the last assault. As you know our meeting with my informant from the Medes Empire is approaching, but this one will be a bit different. An official is delivering some classified information to the King in Medes and I want you to intercept that scroll and deliver it to my informant. Make sure you kill the official. I will provide you with the location and time where the carriage will be."

"Yes, my King."

Spero gets up and heads towards the exit,

"Do not let my son, Cyrus, know of our meetings. I do not need him getting into any political quarrels at this time."

Spero nods and leaves.

A two-horse carriage travels along the trail of the desert. The official sits inside with two guards. Spero sees the carriage approaching and hides behind some foliage. As the carriage passes he grabs onto the undercarriage, climbs to the back, and eavesdrops. Shortly after, he pierces the carriage with his sword and with that, the official. He then slides through the carriage doors and swiftly assassinates the guards. Spero sees the scroll, takes it, and escapes the carriage without the driver noticing anything.

Later that day, Spero meets up with the Medes Empire informant, "Greetings, Spero, it has been long."

Spero hands him the scroll, "What information can you share about this scroll, Harpagus?"

"The Medes King sent the official to the Elves of Old Elam and tried to create an alliance with their minor clans. It turned out to be successful. If the surprise you left them arrives, this allegiance will be severed."

"It seems the tension between your king and ours is beginning to rise. Cambyses is steadily advancing his plan."

Harpagus perks up, "That is great to hear. King Astyages has become quite wary of your King, and was hoping the Elves would be able to breach your walls and take out your kingdom without breaking the treaty"

"I will be sure to inform Cambyses.", Spero states as he begins to walk away.

"Will Cyrus be joining our next meeting?"

Spero stops and slowly turns around, "No, if he learns what happened to your son he will blame himself. It would cause a problem with our plans, so best to leave him in the dark for now."

Harpagus takes a step forward and places his hand on his chest, "He is not to blame, I chose to spare his life!"

"When the time is right, maybe, but for the time being he must not know."

"I...I understand."

Spero heads back to the Kingdom of Anshan and shares the intel with the king.