Ixen the Miscreant Dreamer, Culler of Those Who Preserve

Role

(Very long, chapter summary and tldr at the end of first load of 
submissions.)

Tarshil ran.

The fire burning in her blood felt cold now. Cold beside the heat in her 
lungs and legs, at least. She was tired.

Very tired.

Her ears still rang with the echoing silence of the spell one of her former 
allies had clipped her with in their last skirmish. A few hours still for 
that to fade, by her recckoning. It might as well be days.

The mountains rose up on both sides of the narrow pass. A good spot to hold 
ground in theory, though less good if you were running. If she turned an 
ankle now...

Her burden shifted where she'd slung it over one shoulder. She grunted in 
frustration and picked up the pace. She'd need to rest soon, but they must 
be close. She'd not hear them coming, which made the spot between her 
shoulderblades itch. She'd not have warning, and couldn't refresh the 
spells on her burden either. That would make things just that bit harder, 
and as things stood they were just about hard enough.

Then she broke out onto a rocky beach, and Tarshil came to a stumbling stop.
Had she really ran the whole pass already?

There was a small boat. Not good enough for her, burden or not. She'd have 
to swim it, but she'd known that already; she'd hoped to fly, but that 
option was gone. At least there would be salvation soon, of a kind. Those 
below would welcome her, of that she had no doubt, even if the idea still 
inspired an instinctive sense of disgust in her. The price would be high, 
but she was out of other options. A short rest was in order.

She took brief stock of her remaining supplies. No potions of return left. 
One teleportation potion. A single barrier wand, down to its last charge, 
and nothing else of note. She thought mournfully of her well stocked 
knapsack snatched in one of the earliest skirmishes of the day.

Not good, but it could be worse. It would have to do.

She glanced back to the pass.

And came face to face with the startled Oath standing there, having just 
emerged onto the beach.

She recovered before he did. Still unable to cast, her axe split him down 
the middle in a single blow, but his mouth had been moving. He'd called to 
the others, for sure.

Grinding her teeth in frustration, she set her burden down in the boat and 
pushed it out into the lake. She'd have to make the swim and try to push it 
regardless of her exhaustion. Perhaps if her hearing recovered she could 
drive them off, but as it was?

She glanced down to the axe in her hand, then abandoned the notion. Never 
that. The axe was fourty pounds at the lightest, but she'd never lealve it 
behind just for a chance to make the swim a little easier.

She stepped out into the lake after the boat, braced for the chill and the 
long swim ahead.

But she'd not need to worry about that.

The warrior's spear took her through the spine, the ensorcelled iron blade 
exiting from her chest in a spray which soon turned the shallows red. She 
stumbled, tried to keep going. Tried to fumble for the last teleportation 
potion. Tried to turn. Tried...

The axe fell from limp fingers. The barrier wand, unused, sat tauntingly 
within her pocket. The small fishing boat drifted away on the water, 
observed and ignored as the last attempt of an anathema to escape imperial 
justice.

It was bloody work, the third law of the Empire of Thera.

But as the Imperial blade lead his hunting party away from the looted 
corpse of the fool former Black Magician who had thought that she'd be the 
exception to the rule, he gave little thought to the violence. Indeed, he 
could not stop smiling.

There was a promotion waiting for him, for certain.

Sandar hummed to himself as he cast his rod out of his boat again. It was a 
slow day. Something had disturbed the fish, but at least those nice fellows 
from Voralian had cleaned out the demons again. The fish would come, and 
the sun was shining. What more could you really ask for? It was important 
to treasure these moments of quiet, especially in these troubled times.

His mood soured for a moment, but he quickly put it out of his mind. Those 
were problems for other days.

Something struck his boat from behind. Frowning, he glanced over his 
shoulder, then turned around completely as his puzzlement grew.

A small boat was bumping up against his. No sail or similar, and noone sat 
with oars that he could see. It must have just been set loose and drifted. 
He didn't recognise it, but maybe one of the other acolytes had not tied 
one up properly? he could toe it back to the temple, he supposed.

Leaning over, he reached out to secure a line to the prow.

Then froze.

The boat was not empty after all.

Sandar slowly drew back, then despite himself glanced again.

The beast slumbered within the boat, a monster vicious and vile. Frizzy 
orange fur on its head and skin the hew of pitch. Sandar's hands shook. Was 
it going to eat him? Could he get away if he rowed as hard as he could? It 
was almost as big as him, and he'd read the stories. It could leap across 
the boat from a standing start and tear him in two, then anoint itself in 
his blood and crush his bones to dust! What was he to do?

The beast yawned. Huge teeth, akin to tiny daggers glittered in the 
sunlight. A tongue like a thing out of a nightmare slithered across them 
and over black lips. Eyes of molten gold slowly opened, unholy gaze seeking 
out the righteous.

Sandar whispered a prayer. He brandished his fishing rod at the beast. He'd 
not make it easy!

The beast began to wail, a burbling  sound which was decidedly unmonstrous.

Sandar hesitantly lowered his rod. "I... suppose I should take you to the 
Prelate..."

Nouttin knew it was unfair.

He should not judge poor Ixen. The aura of red that yet surrounded the 
young giant of thirty years burned in his sight like a bloody promise, but 
Ixen was trying so hard! One day, the prelate said, he would be free of it. 
They'd taken in the giant as a babe to raise him away from the corrupting 
wickedness of his people, and the prelate must know what he was talking 
about.

Nouttin knew he should not judge Ixen.

But he still did.

There was just something unnatural about the giant. The way he moved so 
deliberately. How every movement had a careful exactingness about it. Only 
Ixen could make gardening look malign.

Snip snip went the shears.

"Troubled, Brother Nouttin?"

There was his voice too. Far too soft for such a huge brute. Far too 
articulate for a giant born to such barbaric blood.

Snip snip. Fronds fell away.

"I'm... just here to help with the garden, Ixen."

Nouttin had drawn the short straw. Noone wanted to work the gardens with 
Ixen. Noone except the Prelate at least, and he was the busiest man in the 
Order.

"There is no need. I am fixing it," said the giant. "Soon, the infestation 
will be culled. The garden will flourish a new."

Nouttin shivered. Why did he have to be like this?

"Sure you are not troubled, Brother Nouttin?" snip snip. Snip snip. "Wish 
to confess a sin to me?"

"I don't like you." Nouttin clapped his hand to his mouth. The words had 
just slipped out, a moment of brutal honesty. He instantly regretted it, of 
course. It wasn't Ixen's fault he was strange and creepy and made gardening 
look evil.

The shears paused. Ixen set down his spade, and with a sick sense of 
facination Nouttin realised for the first time ever he was seeing Ixen 
smile. A red tongue flicked out to wet those black lips, and Nouttin 
shuddered at the sight of what he could only describe as rapture as it 
crossed the face of his would-be questioner.

"I accept your confession," murmurred the giant. Then he went back to 
gardening, as if nothing had happened. "Be unburdened."

Nouttin left.

Ixen was in his fourtieth year now.

The young giant sat upon the rocky beach below the temple and stared 
unblinkingly into the lake. He could see the monster cast in unspilled 
blood in the water. He could always see it when the Prelate blessed him.

It was not as clear as it had once been. That was good, he thought?

Even with the monster, this was one of his favourite places to think. There 
was something so soothing about watching the water; waiting for that moment 
when a ripple would disturb the placidity and all would become disarray for 
that briefest moment. When the status quo would rise against the disruption 
and attempt to destroy it. What would come of it? Would the water become an 
unmoving mirror once more? Or would something new be born?

He had failed again, he knew. The Prelate had taken time out of his day to 
speak with Ixen, as he so often did. To discuss his studies, his 
relationships, his... feelings.

He'd not said Ixen had failed, of course, though Ixen knew he had. He 
considered himself a good judge of people, and the Prelate never left their 
conversations happier than upon arriving.

Ixen simply did not understand. He had studied the Order's teachings well. 
Harmony with their fellow man, and nonviolence. Yet how was one to 
eradicate disharmony without removal of disruptive elements? Was it wrong 
for the lake to annihilate the ripples which undermined its tranquility? 
Was it wrong to cull the weeds which would choke the temple gardens if left 
untended? Was it wrong to - and this was a thought often entertained yet 
never spoken to the Prelate, for surely he would find it more dire than the 
first two examples - to cull a man who would threaten the Temple's peace? 
After all, he looked at many men and women and found them little better 
than weeds in his estimation. Weighed down by unvoiced confessions, acting 
out roles they neither believed or felt pride in, tolerant of those even 
more intolerable than themselves, and choking an elusive paradise with 
their unworthy existences. Why?

Disgusting.

Rotten.

But the Prelate had been kind to him. Given him a home. Given him 
perspective. Taught him the value of that distant eutopia, an unrealised 
dream. A world remade without the failures of the current one, created 
through compassion and harmony.

When he told Ixen he believed in him, Ixen believed it too. Believed that 
if he just read more, just learned a little more, just comprehended the way 
of things a little more: everything would fall into place, and he would be 
able to relate to these people who provoked such an instinctive and 
irrational sense of contempt in him. History, the prelate had suggested. 
Read of the horrors of the past, gain perspective. See why we do what we do.

Ixen cared little for reading of things already consigned, and yet...

The Prelate had been kind to him.

So Ixen would try to understand, and slay the monster cast in red 
reflection.

The Prelate of the Order of Calatius was a wise spiritual leader, and his 
advice rarely lead his congregation a stray. Perhaps it would not always 
succeed in curing their struggles, but it at least would not do them harm.

Unfortunately, as with all wisdom, it is rooted in experience. The Prelate 
had a great deal of experience with young men and women struggling to 
achieve harmony, but Ixen was not like these people, and there was 
knowledge within the tomes of Calatius that could sway even a truly devout 
to the depths of depravity.

Ixen was born out of darkness and fire, and the Order of Calatius was 
anathema to all that his race held dear. Strength. Greatness. Power. 
Therefore, it would be unfair to judge the Prelate, for to study the past 
is often a way to give worthwhile perspective to a student; and for all his 
wisdom, even he did not know the true depths of the horror upon which the 
monestary was built.

For there are powers which slumber still within the profaned stone beneath 
those hallowed halls. Powers which are ever waiting to sink their claws 
into those who stare into the abyss.

Over the following months, Ixen spent long hours in the Order's library. He 
read of war. Of strife. Of endless bloody conflicts. The books spoke of 
their evils. Of how the order's way was the only cure to the disease of 
perpetual violence. Ixen read of these things, and he found nothing of 
value; for he'd heard it all before.

Until one day, he, like many before him, stumbled across a different kind 
of book. It appeared upon no library catalogue, and it held within its 
dread pages a different kind of cure. A different kind of promise.

Ixen read the insidious poison of Zurcon, and nothing would ever be the 
same.

The following years were difficult for Ixen. The promises of Zurcon within 
those dread pages weighed on him; for they resonated more than anything he 
had learned from the order. Many of the questions he had sat in solitude 
and asked himself found revelation there, after all. Was it wrong to 
destroy this impure world? Was it wrong to cull the unworthy and the weak 
of conviction? According to Zurcon, no. It was a goal to which all wise men 
should strive.

But.

It just all seemed so pointless. There was a hollowness in the dread 
promises therein. Like a puzzle half formed but with pieces missing.

Would this be his lot? Ever learning half truths, half promises? Never to 
find an answer to those most fundamental questions?

Time passed, and others tended the garden, though without the admittedly 
fastidious care that the fire giant had exhibited. Indeed, Ixen would often 
pause on the way to his studies and on returning to his bunk and look upon 
the gardens. A brief frown would distort his dour features, but he would 
then continue on.

He would sit and pour over texts, and stand upon that knife's edge: on one 
side the Order with their distant dream and gentle ways, and on the other 
the long shadow of a god who wished only for the stillness of total 
annihilation.

Perhaps had events not conspired, Ixen would have swayed there for a time 
before succumbing to corruption as so many had before him. Perhaps he would 
have gone on to wear the three serpents and lightning, and cut down those 
of the light in droves in service to that most fell benefactor, always 
wondering why the acts felt so drab, and hollow, and devoid of something 
vital.

But this time, that is not what happened.

It was late Autumn when the news reached the monestary along with a 
delivery from Voralian City.

Two divinities had awoken. The first described lightened the mood of all 
but one, for to value life and the natural world would surely be a net 
benefit to the world. Some of the more pecimistic monks muttered about how 
it would be soon enough that war priests would take up her banner in bloody 
crusade, but it was more by habit than genuine displeasure. The alternative 
could be far worse, after all.

Unfortunately, the alternative was also manifest. Whispers of a goddess who 
reveled in destruction, in consigning the world to fire to see what would 
then rise from the remains, of ash daubed priests full of the vilest 
intentions wiped away the smiles and good cheer in short order.

The monks wished to hear no more, for they knew the shape of this tale. Of 
the boundless wickedness which would be born from such an emergence. Yet 
when Ixen offered to help the traveler unload his boat and took the time to 
ask more, he knew.

That puzzle, so long fragmented and incomplete was no more. This was what 
he had been looking for.

When he returned to his readings that night, it was with the most terrible 
of intent, for where once he had been uncertain, now he was resolved. His 
long quandary at last broken.

He would need power, and while Zurcon's faith was a path discarded, the 
demon God's priests had included other things within those pages.

That night, Ixen set to forging his first pact with the Abyss, thick 
fingers turning pages until he found a fitting name, the arrogance of youth 
giving no thought to the consequence for stepping beyond his means.

Trallmonnan. He who rots.

The price was high.

Sandar grunted as he tugged upon a weed. It was getting dark now, but the 
gardens really were getting out of hand. He'd just shift this last one then 
head to the mess for supper. He wasn't a young man anymore, and his back 
was killing him.

It just wouldn't budge!

Sitting back on his heels for a moment, Sandar glanced up and almost 
toppled backwards in shock.

"Ixen!"

The giant was standing very still in the middle of the garden, a shuttered 
lantern clasped in one large hand. His two golden eyes were shining in the 
light, and his mouth was set in a strangely pensive expression.

"Sandar. You are tending the gardens."

Sandar frowned. There was something not quite right. He just couldn't put 
his finger on it.

"That's right. They're getting a bit out of hand."

He hadn't meant to make it sound like a rebuke, but it was. He'd always 
been proud that the young giant he'd found had made something of himself, 
even if many of the rest of the Order would disagree. To his surprise, Ixen 
nodded.

"I will fix this garden soon, Brother Sandar."

Sandar involuntarily shivered. The way he had said that... reluctantly, he 
decided to ask. He did not like prying, but they were brothers, after all. 
"Are you alright, Ixen?"

Steam wafted from between the giant's black lips as he let out a sigh. "Yes,
Brother Sandar. Yes, I think I am." The giant set the lantern down and 
took a step closer. "I think, at last, I have found hope."

"Hope?" Sandar blinked. He'd never heard Ixen speak of such things before. 
"That's wonderful, Ixen."

"It is. There is hope, Brother Sandar. This rotting world, this unrealised 
dream. This wretched status quo..." the giant took another step closer, his 
golden eyes shining. "It will end. I give you my word."

Sandar frowned. "I don't underst-"

Then Ixen struck, one massive hand wrapping about Sandar's neck while the 
other clamped over his mouth. The priest recoiled, tried to pull away, but 
the huge fingers were like an iron cage. Inexorable. Relentless. He stared 
up at the giant, uncomprehending.

Then realised in a moment of dreadful clarity what was different.

The lantern in the grass was shuttered. The sun had set.

And the light that set Ixen's eyes to glowing was cast by the brilliant 
aura of scarlet that blazed with all the condemnation of the damned.

"In her name we will set the pyre, and so be free, brother Sandar," said 
the giant as he began to squeeze. "We'll start a new. It will be a better 
world. I promise."

As darkness closed in about the corners of his vision, and breath refused 
to come, the last thing Sandar ever heard was the softly spoken words of 
his killer.

"The sacrifice is not of your life, Sandar," said the fallen philosopher. 
"It is of my conscience."

Upon the beach of Loc Grynmear, Ixen watched the smoke rising into the sky 
in the distance.

It was summer, and the gardens had been dry. A tipped lantern had been all 
it had taken, and with it a labour of love was no more.

He wished he could have witnessed the aftermath. Seen the barren soil, 
devoid of encroaching weeds. Stood in the silence as fires sputtered and 
died. Known the peace promised through annihilation that was that dire 
truth put to paper in the texts anathema: and yet with an even greater 
promise too. A promise brought to him not by the purposeless rampage of 
Zurcon, but by the whispered tales of another.

The promise that something new would rise from the ashes. That the world 
would be reborn from that consuming flame. That things could change.

Yes. He wished he could have stood there after the ash had settled, and 
given prayer to Ocaiye even as his first dark pact had formed with 
Trallmonnan. Had whispered his words of faith even as the cloying stench of 
his crimes had risen to cloak him in its dread miasma.

But he was not yet ready. There were those among the Order that for all 
their empty words and doomed ways of peace would raise their hands against 
him if pushed, and he was not yet their equal.

Not yet.

Ixen glanced down at the still waters of the lake. The monster was there, 
brighter than ever before. Spilled blood upon tranquility, a fire to 
illuminate the path to eutopia.

No. He was not ready yet.

"I will be," vowed the damned.

For the first time, Ixen smiled at the monster.

And the monster smiled back.

We will not speak of the dark roads that Ixen walked down in those 
following years. Of the unspeakable sacrifices performed upon those unable 
to contend with a fire giant's natural strength in the pacting of his dark 
benefactors. . We will not speak of the terrible promises made to the 
demonic forces in exchange for the power to do what must be done, and the 
terrible self-inflicted wounds carved upon his soul in the quest of a 
madman's dream.  At least, not yet.

But many years later, a young giant of a hundred years entered Galadon 
under the cover of twilight. His face was masked with iron, and from behind 
it shone two eyes of molten gold.

To a house falling into decay he went, and this too was good; for to find 
purpose in the rotting of the foundations was a worthy thing. A place 
fitting to begin the craft.

So a dark knight was made.

1: Ixen's mother, an Anathema black magician, attempts to reach the cult of 
Zurcon beneath Grynmear in a last ditch attempt to save her skin. The blade 
sect catch up to her on the beach, but she has already put the baby Ixen in 
a boat and it floats off uncared for on the water.

2: A young Initiate out fishing comes across the boat with Ixen in it and 
though initially terrified of the wicked beast, his soft heart and kind 
nature lead him to take the giant to the prelate, who also being a good man 
decides they will attempt to raise the young Ixen in the way of the order 
of Calatius (and rid him of his wicked birthright).

3: Ixen is seen from the perspective of an acolyte sent to help him in the 
gardens. Ixen is shown to be very unnerving and abnormal for a giant, and 
seems to delight in gardening and particularly in hearing the 'confessions' 
of others.

4: Ixen struggles with his natural predispositions towards violence, trying 
to resolve the Order's teachings with what he sees as a world unworthy of 
tolerating.

5: Like many before him, Ixen stumbles across the dire texts of Zurcon 
hidden within the monestary while doing research, in a quest to find 
meaning.

6: Ixen has a crisis of faith - Zurcon's malign promises of destroying 
everything resonate with him, but they still feel incomplete to him, 
because ultimately he wants a 'better world', or believes he does. His 
sphere is the reason it felt wrong.

7: Whispers of a new goddess making her presence known to the west reach 
Ixen, and the bits and pieces he overhears are as a puzzle solved - the 
missing pieces of a belief system, and so his wicked heritage at last wins 
the moral battle. He turns away from Zurcon, appreciating him for the 
fragments of wisdom but ultimately believing him to lack vision or true 
insight. He uses Zurcon's texts to form his first demonic pact for power, 
beginning his road to apdom.

8: the price for his first dark pact is his conscience (Trallmonnan is one 
of the demons which can be invoked for the plague spell, so he basically 
overpaid bigtime in his novicehood for the deal). In order to fulfill this 
pact, Ixen murders the now aging man who saved him from the lake as a baby 
in the gardens he'd worked on for so long.

9: Ixen burns the gardens he toiled over for most of his young life before 
departing. He vanishes for some decades doing dastardly things, before 
reemerging when he is old enough to enter the guild system and naturally 
joins the AP guild.

- He speaks well for a fire giant, being very well educated. I know this 
might be a little jarring, but I think its justified given upbringing. 
Reasoning is he'll have grown up around storm giants so modelled his speech 
after those.

- He's a eutopian and believes that his goal is one for which all 
reasonable people should strive. The current world is clearly flawed, and 
so they must start a new and remake it in a better image. Naturally, the 
current world has to be cleansed in blood and fire first.

- He enjoys hearing the confessions and sins/failings of others (will 
probably love Morians...). These make him feel validated, justifications 
for the nihilistic worldview which he has adopted. Deep down, he wants 
people to be flawed (rotten) so he can justify his awful-ness to himself.

- He will be very thoughtful/philosophical for a fire giant, even if his 
conclusions are ultimately underpinned by an inherent brutalism and 
destructive worldview. Nuance may prove difficult.

- Sphere: Creation. He's all about making that new world, destruction is 
the means.

- He'll aim for Scion, as the end of the world as we know it would be a 
thing he's of course very on board with. He'd want to hasten that process 
where ever possible, and might clash with Scions who are there for other 
reasons as a result if he gets in.

- Will pray to Ocaiye.

The path down into the Fissure was never routine.

Ixen did not know if it was his upbringing far from the burning depths or 
if the Fissure was simply that hot. Even with his advantages he knew that a 
plunge into the lava would doubtless be the end of him, and so he carefully 
watched his feet as he descended into the fires. He liked it here. That 
knowing that one single step wrong would spella fall into an agonising 
death. This was right.

Idrepi's casual scorn still set his teeth to grinding behind the mask. Oh, 
the drow hadn't come out and mocked him directly. For all their embittered 
alliance, he wouldn't risk that, Ixen was sure. But the casual disdain when 
he'd said his prayers hadn't been answered yet when they'd spoken of faith 
had not been imagined. Had it? Was he being paranoid?

No. Impossible. He saw more clearly than the rest of them. Even his fellow 
Scions didn't truly understand.

But it didn't matter. It had been many years, but his faith was 
undiminished. He would come until his bones were brittle and his arms were 
tired, prayers answered or no. The dream was worth it. It had to be.

He came to Solisren as he had many times before. The dark phoenix rested 
upon a great nest, and gave him no mind. Ixen spoke his prayer to Ocaiye 
into the turmoil, and prepared to leave.

Then Solisren's beak opened for the first time Ixen had seen, and a whisper 
like the igniting of dry tinder fell into the unstill surroundings.

Not since the Prelate of his youth had Ixen been questioned so. His every 
word turned over and picked clean of flesh to show the bones beneath. But 
as Solizren learned of him, as he demanded tribute, and entertainment, and 
more, Ixen learned too.

Learned that he had not dreamed enough. That as the world must be cleansed 
and made better, he too could be. Must be. After all, if he was to craft of 
himself a gift for the one who he had commited his life to, it must be one 
truly worthy. He must excise the rot in himself just as vigourously as in 
the world.

More challenges. More suffering.
More struggle. More. More. More. He would make of himself something truly 
worthy. Solizren might think him a floundering fish, but if he was to be a 
fish then...

The somewhat simple giant frowned. Then what.

What would he be?

What did he want to be?

Not a fish.

Steam hissed from behind his mask as Ixen sighed. Thoughts turning over 
like ponderous grindstones, the inexorable march towards terrible 
conclusion that had always served him so well.

He didn't know yet.

But he would.

He would be worthy of her flames.

Deep beneath the earth, in a chamber meant for meetings of the vilest magi 
Ixen sat alone.

To the outward observer, nothing would be different. The giant sat as he 
often did. Unnaturally still. Expressions concealed. Silent. The only sign 
of the giant's inner turmoil the slow and inexorable drumming of fingers 
upon the table before him. In the unhallowed halls of the giant's 
malevolent mind he replayed his conversation over and over with Solisren.

Him. A preserver?

This could not be true.

But truth is a lie.

Teeth ground together behind a mask of iron. The giant's natural 
inclination to crush the life from the thing that troubled him so rising to 
the fore, but finding no outlet. After all; these were a knife of words, 
and this was not a thing which his monstrous strength could contend with. 
This was in the mind and in the marrow and in the blood, a poison which ate 
at convictions and long held beliefs.

He wished to deny the claim, even now. Had he not dedicated himself to 
destroying these preservers? These men and women who clung so viciously to 
the status quo. Who would see this world persist. Unchanging, in all its 
wretchedness? Who would strive to see the new world remain an unrealised 
dream?

He had. And yet.

He clung to things too. Different things, yes, but things he wished to 
preserve. He told himself it was for the dream. They were necessary. They 
were important to the work.

How was he to use this pain?

How could such a revelation be endured? After all he had done? How could 
this be suffered?

What was he to do?

The tapping fingers stilled, splayed hand poised like some crouching spider 
upon the table. Ixen knew he was well learned compared to other giant's he 
had met. But it was in moments such as these that he realised his own 
limitations were not so different. Introspection had always been simpler 
when he had had years of solitude devoid of interruptions. He knew the 
words. He knew clever things. But putting it all together was always so 
difficult.

Could he give up all those things he preserved?

His bounty of screaming souls? His place within the chasm? His treasure? 
More?

No. He liked what was his. More, they helped the great task. The dream. To 
varying degrees.

So what was the answer?

What was his answer?

Steam drifted from behind the giant's mask as he let out a sigh.

He must find it.

This answer.

He would endure until he did.

He must.

It was not in peaceful solitude that Ixen found his answers, this time. 
Instead, it was in quite the opposite.

Speaking with the preservers was always very hit and miss. Sometimes, he 
learned things. Gained insights. Had his beliefs tested. Sometimes, they 
cursed his name and this was all. Ixen enjoyed both of these. The former 
made him grow. The latter proved he had grown. Both of these were promising.

The enemies of the craft, those that wished to destroy magic were different.
He actually quite liked many of these. They often had such a simple and 
practical view of the world that it gave him hope. They were focussing upon 
the wrong things, but destruction was destruction, and they made no secret 
about their desires for the most part.

The conversations that gave him answers were with one of each of these.

He had spoken little with Ivyln before. He decided afterwards this had been 
a mistake. This one was wise. He talked of how contradictions are but 
sparks. Fuel.

The Preserver on the other hand. This Travanz. This one was not wise. This 
one spoke of how he wished to reach the Azure Fields. A place where he 
would be preserved forever.

From them both, Ixen realised his answers.

Yes. He preserved things. He was flawed. He was imperfect. Yet, he wished 
to destroy the preservers. A contradiction.

It still made him angry. Still set his teeth to grinding behind his mask. 
The knowing that truth was indeed a lie. That he was as infected as the 
rest of them.

But that didn't matter.

Because unlike Travanz, he did not wish to be preserved. He only wished his 
dream to come to pass. For the world to be made new. There would be no 
Azure Fields in that world, he was sure. No land of eternal preservation. 
The Light preserves?

There would be no Light either, then. Yes. This would be good.

SO he'd use that anger. That resentment. These contradictions. They would 
all be fuel for the pyre that would devour the world.

And that, at least, was true.

Immortal Comments

Timeline

Level History

Title History

PK Wins

Jan 27, 2024|Lv 36|Bramblefield Road|Khardin vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, poisonous stab) Jan 27, 2024|Lv 36|The Seaport of Hamsah Mu'tazz|Pharaedurus vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, caustic smash) Jan 27, 2024|Lv 36|The Dragon Sea|Zakua vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, poison) Jan 28, 2024|Lv 36|The Lower Voralia's Tears|Elakas vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, lightning bolt) Jan 28, 2024|Lv 36|The Eastern Road|Jairen vs 2: [36] Ixen (65%), [35] Mirzarlac (34%, punch) Jan 28, 2024|Lv 36|Ruins of the Deep|Karisea vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, caustic smash) Jan 29, 2024|Lv 36|Galadon|Llorthos vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, caustic smash) Jan 29, 2024|Lv 36|Hamsah Mu'tazz|Jairen vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, bash) Jan 30, 2024|Lv 36|The Fields of Balator|Mirzarlac vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, crush) Jan 30, 2024|Lv 36|The Inn of the Eternal Star|Jairen vs 2: [36] Ixen (19%), [35] Ukualtia (80%, torments) Jan 30, 2024|Lv 36|Fortress of Light|Llorthos vs 2: [36] Ixen (12%, crush), [40] Boarkuun (87%) Jan 30, 2024|Lv 36|Outside Hamsah Mu'tazz|Jairen vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, caustic smash) Jan 31, 2024|Lv 36|The Citadel of Ostalagiah|Karisea vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, poisonous stab) Feb 2, 2024 |Lv 36|Galadon|Nerog vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, fireball) Feb 2, 2024 |Lv 36|Bramblefield Road|Nerog vs 2: [36] Ixen (5%, sickness), [39] Ukualtia (94%) Feb 2, 2024 |Lv 36|The Eastern Road|Onvek vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, drowning) Feb 2, 2024 |Lv 36|Seantryn Modan|Zakua vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, caustic smash) Feb 2, 2024 |Lv 36|Northern Foothills|Apsalareia vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, caustic smash) Feb 3, 2024 |Lv 36|Forest Road|Nerog vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, fireball) Feb 3, 2024 |Lv 36|Galadon|Onvek vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, caustic smash) Feb 3, 2024 |Lv 36|Prison of Glymarach|Idrepi vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, poisonous stab) Feb 3, 2024 |Lv 36|The Village of Barovia|Elakas vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, lightning bolt) Feb 4, 2024 |Lv 36|The Drogran Hills|Neryn vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, caustic smash) Feb 4, 2024 |Lv 36|A Virgin Forest|Dokoel vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, iceball) Feb 4, 2024 |Lv 36|Crystal Island|Catti vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, caustic smash) Feb 4, 2024 |Lv 36|The North Road|Zakua vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, iceball) Feb 4, 2024 |Lv 36|The Dragon Sea|Karisea vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, cleave) Feb 5, 2024 |Lv 36|Galadon|Tamus vs 3: [36] Ixen (85%, drowning), [33] Laureon (10%), [38] Snoraloo (4%) Feb 5, 2024 |Lv 36|Bramblefield Road|Hariel vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, vicious attack) Feb 5, 2024 |Lv 36|The Lower Voralia's Tears|Zakua vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, poison) Feb 6, 2024 |Lv 36|The Kobold Warrens|Zemzec vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, cleave) Feb 6, 2024 |Lv 36|The Consortium|Helnavra vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, claw) Feb 6, 2024 |Lv 36|The Dragon Sea|Phalvala vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, lightning bolt) Feb 6, 2024 |Lv 36|The Keep of Barovia|Apsalareia vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, claw) Feb 7, 2024 |Lv 36|Mausoleum|Catti vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, cleave) Feb 7, 2024 |Lv 36|Forest Road|Catti vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, drowning) Feb 8, 2024 |Lv 36|Organia, the Veil of Shadow|Zutura vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, caustic smash) Feb 8, 2024 |Lv 36|Graveyard|Tzam vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, drowning) Feb 9, 2024 |Lv 36|The North Road|Elakas vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, bleeding) Feb 9, 2024 |Lv 36|Galadon|Neryn vs 1: [36] Ixen (100%, iceball) Feb 9, 2024 |Lv 37|Keep of Ceawlin|Dokoel vs 1: [37] Ixen (100%, infernal power) Feb 10, 2024|Lv 37|Hamsah Mu'tazz|Daerys vs 2: [37] Ixen (54%, molten smash), [48] Idrepi (45%) Feb 10, 2024|Lv 37|Mausoleum|Tzam vs 1: [37] Ixen (100%, molten smash) Feb 11, 2024|Lv 38|The Eastern Road|Araristara vs 1: [38] Ixen (100%, beating) Feb 11, 2024|Lv 38|Outside Hamsah Mu'tazz|Catti vs 1: [38] Ixen (100%, molten smash) Feb 11, 2024|Lv 38|The Tahril Mountains|Laureon vs 1: [38] Ixen (100%, poison) Feb 12, 2024|Lv 38|Outskirts of Tir-Talath|Mawrik vs 1: [38] Ixen (100%, iceball) Feb 14, 2024|Lv 39|Khardrath's Planar Sanctum|Daerys vs 1: [39] Ixen (100%, divine power) Feb 14, 2024|Lv 39|The Rocky Paths|Misaeve vs 1: [39] Ixen (100%, divine power) Feb 15, 2024|Lv 39|Hardan Road|Mawrik vs 1: [39] Ixen (100%, lightning bolt) Feb 15, 2024|Lv 39|Organia, the Veil of Shadow|Lyxzi vs 2: [39] Ixen (89%, divine power), [34] Greah (10%) Feb 15, 2024|Lv 39|The Battlefield|Tyun vs 1: [39] Ixen (100%, claw) Feb 15, 2024|Lv 39|Hamsah Mu'tazz|Hranik vs 2: [34] Merigan (6%), [39] Ixen (93%, infernal power) Feb 17, 2024|Lv 39|Voralia's Tears|Drultgor vs 1: [39] Ixen (100%, infernal power) Feb 17, 2024|Lv 40|Hillcrest|Zutura vs 1: [40] Ixen (100%, infernal power) Feb 17, 2024|Lv 40|Blackclaw Village|Viana vs 1: [40] Ixen (100%, infernal power) Feb 17, 2024|Lv 40|Forest of NoWhere|Neryn vs 2: [44] Draakor (0%), [40] Ixen (100%, claw) Feb 17, 2024|Lv 40|Temple of Loch Grynmear|Drultgor vs 1: [40] Ixen (100%, infernal power) Feb 17, 2024|Lv 40|The Shadow Grove|Gazru vs 1: [40] Ixen (100%, sickness) Feb 18, 2024|Lv 40|Outskirts of Tir-Talath|Viana vs 1: [40] Ixen (100%, infernal power) Feb 18, 2024|Lv 40|The Grove|Merigan vs 1: [40] Ixen (100%, cleave) Feb 19, 2024|Lv 40|The Eastern Road|Kalanzt vs 1: [40] Ixen (100%, divine power) Feb 19, 2024|Lv 48|BattleRager Village|Ogahn vs 2: [48] Ixen (38%), [51] Nisyraim (61%, claw) Feb 19, 2024|Lv 48|The Past Grove|Drultgor vs 1: [48] Ixen (100%, freezing bite) Feb 19, 2024|Lv 48|The Imperial Palace|Merigan vs 2: [48] Ixen (0%), [51] Iskrith (100%, bleeding) Feb 19, 2024|Lv 48|The Imperial Lands|Misaeve vs 2: [48] Ixen (83%, divine power), [51] Iskrith (16%) Feb 19, 2024|Lv 48|Blackclaw Village|Ogahn vs 3: [51] Nisyraim (30%), [51] Boarkuun (69%, freezing bite), [48] Ixen (0%) Feb 19, 2024|Lv 48|Glauruk Spawning Ground|Laureon vs 2: [51] Nisyraim (31%, KB), [48] Ixen (68%) Feb 19, 2024|Lv 48|High Lord's Keep|Daerys vs 2: [51] Nisyraim (61%), [48] Ixen (38%, claw) Feb 20, 2024|Lv 51|Forgotten Crypts|Zarethadon vs 2: [51] Ixen (32%, infernal power), [51] Viz (67%) Feb 20, 2024|Lv 51|The Dragon Sea|Corithil vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, cleave) Feb 20, 2024|Lv 51|The Dragon Sea|Woreich vs 1: [51] Ixen (0%, cleave) *Cleaved in Half* Feb 20, 2024|Lv 51|Outside Hamsah Mu'tazz|Drultgor vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, infernal power) Feb 21, 2024|Lv 51|BattleRager Village|Viana vs 3: [51] Boarkuun (41%, sting), [51] Merigan (0%), [51] Ixen (58%) Feb 21, 2024|Lv 51|The Ruins of Ostalagiah|Merigan vs 1: [51] Ixen (0%, cleave) *Cleaved in Half* Feb 21, 2024|Lv 51|Desert of Araile|Drultgor vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, flaming bite) Feb 22, 2024|Lv 51|Galadon|Crusimy vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, flaming bite) Feb 22, 2024|Lv 51|The Eastern Road|Viana vs 2: [51] Skaya (46%, wrath), [51] Ixen (53%) Feb 22, 2024|Lv 51|Saurian Village|Corithil vs 3: [51] Ixen (20%, ghostly flame), [51] Boarkuun (50%), [51] Merigan (29%) Feb 22, 2024|Lv 51|Island of Corte|Ogahn vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, KB) Feb 23, 2024|Lv 51|The Ruins of Ostalagiah|Viana vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, infernal power) Feb 23, 2024|Lv 51|Hamsah Mu'tazz|Daerys vs 2: [51] Ixen (56%), [51] Ssorc (43%, disruption) Feb 23, 2024|Lv 51|Hamsah Mu'tazz|Kalanzt vs 2: [51] Ixen (39%, KB), [51] Ssorc (60%) Feb 23, 2024|Lv 51|Galadon|Drultgor vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, infernal power) Feb 25, 2024|Lv 51|Domain of Eternal Night|Braughe vs 2: [51] Ssorc (34%, sting), [51] Ixen (65%) Feb 25, 2024|Lv 51|Hamsah Mu'tazz|Sulismirve vs 2: [51] Ixen (27%, shocking bite), [51] Ssorc (72%) Feb 25, 2024|Lv 51|Domain of Eternal Night|Braughe vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, shocking bite) Feb 25, 2024|Lv 51|Balator|Mawrik vs 2: [51] Ixen (82%, cleave), [51] Ssorc (17%) Feb 26, 2024|Lv 51|The Dragon Sea|Ogahn vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, divine power) Feb 26, 2024|Lv 51|Hamsah Mu'tazz|Merigan vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, cleave) Feb 26, 2024|Lv 51|Desert of Araile|Ogahn vs 2: [51] Sinnyah (3%), [51] Ixen (96%, divine power) Feb 26, 2024|Lv 51|Domain of Eternal Night|Ogahn vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, blackfire nova) Feb 26, 2024|Lv 51|Domain of Eternal Night|Ogahn vs 2: [51] Ixen (100%, surge of water), [51] Viana (0%) Feb 26, 2024|Lv 51|Domain of Eternal Night|Viana vs 2: [51] Ogahn (23%), [51] Ixen (76%, slash) Feb 27, 2024|Lv 51|The Tower of Trothon|Zaurea vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, infernal power) Feb 28, 2024|Lv 51|BattleRager Village|Drultgor vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, shocking bite) Feb 28, 2024|Lv 51|The Eastern Road|Viana vs 2: [51] Boarkuun (25%, surprise attack), [51] Ixen (74%) Feb 28, 2024|Lv 51|BattleRager Village|Hrendya vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, shocking bite) Feb 29, 2024|Lv 51|The Seaport of Hamsah Mu'tazz|Merigan vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, shocking bite) Feb 29, 2024|Lv 51|Lost Elven Vaults|Gilliri vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, divine power) Mar 1, 2024 |Lv 51|The Seaport of Hamsah Mu'tazz|Mhaeya vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, cleave) *Cleaved in Half* Mar 1, 2024 |Lv 51|Valley of Veran|Dokoel vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, KB) Mar 2, 2024 |Lv 51|Organia, the Veil of Shadow|Crusimy vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, shocking bite) Mar 2, 2024 |Lv 51|Domain of Eternal Night|Laureon vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, shocking bite) Mar 2, 2024 |Lv 51|BattleRager Village|Mryai vs 2: [51] Boarkuun (67%, serpent strike), [51] Ixen (32%) Mar 2, 2024 |Lv 51|BattleRager Village|Laureon vs 2: [51] Ixen (65%, cleave), [51] Boarkuun (34%) Mar 2, 2024 |Lv 51|Domain of Eternal Night|Drultgor vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, slash) Mar 3, 2024 |Lv 51|Domain of Eternal Night|Mryai vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, infernal power) Mar 3, 2024 |Lv 51|The Imperial Palace|Mawrik vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, iceball) Mar 3, 2024 |Lv 51|The Imperial Lands|Merigan vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, infernal power) Mar 3, 2024 |Lv 51|Voralian City|Remlial vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, shocking bite) Mar 3, 2024 |Lv 51|Feanwyyn Weald|Remlial vs 2: [51] Draakor (70%, claw), [51] Ixen (29%) Mar 4, 2024 |Lv 51|BattleRager Village|Mryai vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, shocking bite) Mar 4, 2024 |Lv 51|The Ruins of Ostalagiah|Hrendya vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, KB) Mar 4, 2024 |Lv 51|BattleRager Village|Drultgor vs 2: [51] Ixen (33%), [51] Boarkuun (66%, aimed shot) Mar 4, 2024 |Lv 51|Ruins of Maethien|Dhuuston vs 2: [51] Ixen (53%, KB), [51] Boarkuun (46%) Mar 4, 2024 |Lv 51|Silverwood|Bynna vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, cleave) Mar 4, 2024 |Lv 51|Fortress of Light|Remlial vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, shocking bite) Mar 6, 2024 |Lv 51|Galadon|Lekarum vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, cleave) Mar 6, 2024 |Lv 51|The Ruins of Ostalagiah|Remlial vs 2: [51] Boarkuun (25%), [51] Ixen (74%, cleave) Mar 6, 2024 |Lv 51|The Ruins of Ostalagiah|Drultgor vs 3: [51] Ixen (9%), [47] Qintinal (17%), [51] Iskrith (73%, flurry) Mar 6, 2024 |Lv 51|The Eastern Road|Merigan vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, shocking bite) Mar 6, 2024 |Lv 51|BattleRager Village|Drultgor vs 3: [51] Ixen (44%), [51] Iskrith (11%), [51] Boarkuun (44%, aimed shot) Mar 6, 2024 |Lv 51|The Outpost of Tir-Talath|Remlial vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, shocking bite) Mar 6, 2024 |Lv 51|Voralian City|Crusimy vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, cleave) Mar 7, 2024 |Lv 51|Northern Foothills|Gilliri vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, burst of energy) Mar 7, 2024 |Lv 51|Northern Foothills|Remlial vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, burst of energy) Mar 7, 2024 |Lv 51|Fortress of Light|Remlial vs 2: [51] Ixen (75%, shocking bite), [51] Boarkuun (24%) Mar 7, 2024 |Lv 51|The Lower Voralia's Tears|Remlial vs 2: [51] Ixen (60%, blast of frost), [51] Boarkuun (39%) Mar 8, 2024 |Lv 51|Northern Foothills|Gilliri vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, infernal power) Mar 8, 2024 |Lv 51|BattleRager Village|Drultgor vs 2: [51] Ixen (16%, burst of energy), [51] Boarkuun (83%) Mar 8, 2024 |Lv 51|Hamsah Mu'tazz|Zaurea vs 3: [51] Ixen (44%, infernal power), [51] Laureon (16%), [51] Iskrith (39%) Mar 9, 2024 |Lv 51|Galadon|Kariagar vs 1: [51] Ixen (100%, claw)

PK Deaths

Mob Deaths