Kana Legrant: The Koltu
Seeing that she was getting nowhere, Sandra screamed at the top of her lungs to get the attention of anyone that might help her. Everyone turned and watched the scene unfold as Sandra arched her back and lifted her head, screaming like a mad woman and holding her hands in fists to either side of her body, trying to make as much of a spectacle of herself as possible. She screamed until she was red-faced and her throat hurt. Everyone was quiet.
“Now, can I please speak?” Sandra asked while the room was pin-drop silent. Everyone looked at her and waited. “Thank you. These things are far more powerful than we are and can defeat us directly without much of a problem. We have tried to fight them, attack them, destroy them, subdue them, everything, but we have never even put a dent in them. These Supre Malds, Malds and Gods have taken over everything we see and know and there is little that we can do about it. I propose that we start fighting in a much different way.”
“We have tried everything and had nothing more than loss follow our every step. Magic of one color may subdue one, but the next is untouched and unphased and as such we can not keep them in check. No matter what we do, they simply break our bounds, destroy our weapons or kill our people with little to no defense on our part. They see everything we throw at them before we can even throw it at them.” Je Degan stated as he waved her off. He was a large Baldwin who had actually been trained in the worldly arts of culture, diplomacy, fighting, history and the like. He was a smart Baldwin, which was incredibly rare. His purple skin and massive muscles were complemented by his long flowing black hair. He was beautiful for a Baldwin male and had the bluest eyes Sandra had ever seen.
“I know, which is why I am thinking that we start to fight without being seen.” Sandra’s idea was a three part plan that would either lead them to victory, or extinction. Either way, they would be able to put up a fight that no one would see coming. The sacrifice, however, may not be something they could all bear to pay. It involved the deaths of hundreds and two different pacts with two different beings that would cost even their ancestors as they were being born. But desperation breeds ingenuity and Sandra’s plan, though insane, would give all mortals a fighting chance from the moment the pacts were in place, until the end of all things.
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“We are ten times stronger than they are and we are much more powerful than their greatest warriors, mages, or anyone. Why are we moving to the wayside and away from their civilizations?” Dorian asked as he flicked the match and started his pipe.
“We are stronger and more powerful than they, but even we must sleep, relax at some point and we do not dare do so with any of them left on this probe. We would have to cause extinction of all races other than the gods, Malds and Supre Malds to be at peace if we so much as attack those civilizations. I, for one, do not wish to take that costly endeavor and then look over my shoulder for the rest of eternity.” Lethogan explained as he leaned back in his chair. Three slaves fanned and served him directly as he sat. “Any of these slaves that we so enjoy now could be part of them and as such could attack at any moment. As long as we keep the peace, then they don’t come for us.”
“You are weak. We could easily take on anyone they send our way.” Dorian giggled as his power popped around his hand. He took a sip of the wine and leaned back in the chair that Lethogan had given him, enjoying the cushion. Lethogan was sitting to his left and they were looking out over a vast view of Rikinia and its beautiful sea shores. Lethogan sat there in his regal robes and silken, skin tight suite as he lay his drink to his left on the tray that a slave girl was holding. The room was glistening with brilliance from the setting sun and the tapestries were glowing with their golden weaves and purple strands of pure magic. Lethogan’s slaves kept the room spotless and clean at all times for fear of being punished in most dire ways. “These slaves fear you and I with all their beings. They wouldn’t dare fight us and they wouldn’t dare defy us. There is nothing for us to fear, unless you believe that these women could actually do you harm.”
Dorian grabbed the slave to his left and pulled off her shirt, exposing her breasts. He then pulled her into his lap and began strangling her with his left arm. The wine he was drinking fell to the floor and shattered outward. Two other slaves immediately jumped to work cleaning the wine and glass as they picked up the torn shirt that hit the floor as well. The slave Dorian held didn’t struggle, though she had no air getting to her lungs. Instead, she lay her hands on his arm and pulled it tighter to help the god strangle her. A moment passed as Dorian pondered this reaction and realized that these slaves had been trained that no matter what the gods wanted, they were granted it, even if it meant their deaths.
“You can kill her, but you will pay me for her loss.” Lethogan explained as he took a drink of the wine.
“Fine.” Dorian stated and released the girl. She coughed and gagged, but stayed in place until the god pushed her out of his lap. She slipped to the ground and slowly caught her breath before bowing before Dorian. He marveled at her gesture as he has slaves but never could he train them to this degree of compliance. Not that he hadn’t tried.
“They comply to your every whim and yet you fear them?” Dorian was perplexed.
“I do not fear them directly, but what they can do. This new alliance they put together can slip into anywhere and only if we took them to true extinction, which would cause a battle that would raise the Immarse and then we would be destroyed as well. I don’t relish the idea of being destroyed simply for treating someone the “wrong” way.” Lethogan explained.
“You fear the Immarse?” Dorian was now amazed. He had heard of these beings, but never actually met one. “Are they truly that powerful?”
“They are power incarnate. Creation, destruction, absorption, un-creation, deletion, everything that you can imagine, they can do. They are not to be feared as one would fear another god, Mald or even Supre Mald. They are to be revered and given a wide birth. If they want something, then that something is theirs, regardless of who originally owned it, for they own everything.” Lethogan tried to explain but could see that Dorian wasn’t grasping the truth of the matter. He waved off the slave and she left the room only to be replaced with another slave within seconds of leaving, just as he had trained them. “I once saw a Suprema attack an Immarse directly.”
“Must have been a brave soul if these beings are as powerful as you state. But then it was a Suprema, of which are so powerful that they can rewrite the cosmos if they chose. I aspire to be that powerful one day. How did the attack end?” Dorian asked as another glass of whine was brought to him and the new slave girl bowed before him while holding it out. He took the glass and inhaled a large puff of his pipe.
“The Suprema was erased from history. Only reason that I, and those that witnessed the event, remember him is because the Immarse left his removal in our minds. I don’t remember the name of that Suprema, nor do I remember how he came to be a Suprema. I only remember the fight and the Suprema attacked with everything he had. The Immarse warned him several times to stop the assault and then simply erased the Suprema from existence as if you or I were erasing a name in the sand on the beach. I have tried to erase beings before after witnessing this ability and it is so far beyond me that I don’t even understand how it could be done. I don’t fear them. I am petrified of them.” Lethogan declared as he took a swig of wine and looked at the setting sun. The crimson sky was brilliant and beautiful as the two suns glared their light across the land, one already set and only its after glow being seen and the other just at the edge of the far mountains with its light flowing over the land.
“Interesting. I would love to meet one of these Immarse.” Dorian smiled and took a swig of the new wine. “I still don’t understand how this has anything to do with this “new alliance” that makes all these gods fear the idea of attacking and destroying all mortals. Being “nice” to these slaves makes no since to me. If I want to kill them, I can. If I want to hurt them, I can. They are mine. Is that not the case?”
“It is. You do own them. However, if you are particularly cruel, or if you go after those that are not your slaves. Anything that you do that gains the attention of the Koltu will bring them against you. The Koltu is a band of assassins that have made a pact with the eldest of the Immarse and as such are protected to work in secrecy against anyone that has “wronged” them. I am not certain what the rules are and as such I keep myself away from the mortals for the most part. I take in slaves that are being sold, but do not take to destroying mortal cities and taking slaves the way I once did.” Dorian explained as he placed his empty cup on the tray to his left and the slave turned to walk away. Dorian stopped her and pulled her in front of his view. He then slapped her and the tray and glass hit the floor hard as the glass exploded into a thousand pieces. The slave hit the floor hard and her head bounced slightly as she slid.
Dorian watched, not certain what Lethogan was actually doing. Lethogan stood, looked at the slave and waited. The slave sat up, put her knees under her and lowered her head as she bleed from her left temple. She was still sitting in the glass that had shattered as it tore into her naked legs. She sat, and waited.
“What is this?” Dorian asked.
“She was struck, but she knows her master. She knows that with the bad comes the good. She knows that as long as she follows me completely and does as I ask of her and treats me as a true God, then she is protected from all others. The horrors of this world can be extremely potent and she would save herself and her sisters from those horrors. This is what I offer and they are free to ignore my teachings and be belligerent to me. If they do, I will not punish them. I will simply expel them from my city and put them on their own. That is what bonds them to me. My protection, my kindness for their fealty.”
“That is your great secret? That is how you “train” them?” Dorian burst out laughing. “Well..What if I simply offer them the same? What if I offer them more than you can give? What if I simply ignore these “Koltu” and take all of my slaves and treat them with such disgrace as I can muster and then take your slaves and do the same? Could they get to me? Do you believe that they could touch me in my high castle? I think that you fear for no reason. These Koltu are nothing more than a band of fools that will die to the ages as all others. I thank you for the wine and the show, but realize that I do not fear these Koltu and I do not fear you. We will fight on the morrow, as we agreed and I will take your slaves for my own. I will also have a banquet where you’re head will adorn the banquet hall.”
“As you wish. But realize that when we fight, I will not hold back.” Lethogan explained as he turned back to the god. Two slaves stepped over the the one on the floor and helped her to her feet as they began picking glass out of her open wounds. Another came from the side door and began cleaning the blood and glass from the floor. None of them were wearing more than simple dresses and had nothing to protect their feet, but they worked on as if it did not matter that their feet were getting cut. “I will show you the true power of a true god. If you do not survive the day, I would like to apologize now.”
“You think that you can take me? You are an old fool. I have enjoyed our friendship thus far, but I see that you are nothing more than the weak thing I was looking to destroy among the gods. Fear an Immarse, fear the Koltu mortals, fear this god and that god. Treat your slaves with respect and be wary of mortals. You are not only old and foolish, but scared to take what is rightfully yours. I fear nothing and no one and because of that, I will take over the whole of this world. One god at a time.” Dorian sat his glass on the tray as the last of the dying suns vanished over the mountains. He stood and placed the pipe on the tray as well. “A first light, you die and I absorb your power. I should be considered a true Supre Mald by the end of the day. It is exciting and you should be proud of me for it.”
“I give you only the warning that your journey may well end sooner than you think. I was warning you of the Koltu because I heard that you attacked two cities today before coming to my home and threatening me. I heard how you put all the males to the sword and took the females for slaves. You then had the children thrown off the cliffs of Dell. Three entire civilizations wiped out because of your greed and foolishness. This is the type of thing that will call the Koltu to you and with that, you are all but dead already. I warned you and now you have not heeded my warnings.” Lethogan explained. “I struck my slave and I treated her poorly, but tonight I will ensure that the two that were harmed here and those that cut themselves will be treated to a good meal and will be stitched up. I will ensure that they are treated as slaves and not as actual cattle. You did not heed. You did not learn. You will not prevail. I am sorry to see you go.”
“You speak as if I am already dead. Come tomorrow, it is you that will be dead. As for this Koltu, any mortals that wish to challenge me are more than welcome to do so. I nearly never sleep and I rarely ever lose the charge of my powers. Not to mention, I am nigh invulnerable. There is nothing these fools can do to the likes of me.” Dorian scoffed, turned and marched out of the room. “Tomorrow is your death. Have a great night, old friend.”
Lethogan sat back down and waved his slaves away. He looked out the window and the cold black sky and pondered if tomorrow would be his last. Eight hundred years he had lived and thought himself immortal, as does Dorian, but the day he met her, he knew that he was just as killable as all other beings on this accursed plain. He knew that night that if she ever showed her face again, it would be his last day and he trembled at it. It was nearly twenty years past now and he saw it as if it happened only moments before. The absence of anything in those eyes, the mask that she wore that covered the mortal’s face but could only be seen by the gods. The way she moved with such grace and power that he wasn’t even certain he could have taken her had she not snuck up on him. Yes, he feared. Not God, Mald, Supre Mald, but he most certainly feared the Koltu.
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Dorian got back to his castle and grabbed two slaves. He brought one in and forced her to her knees as he placed his large legs atop her back. He then forced the other into his lap and began stroking her hair as if she were some pet that would help him calm as he pet her. She struggled for a few seconds and he gripped her throat so tightly that he heard something pop. Her eyes went blood shot and she relaxed almost completely. He then bent her over his chest and began stroking her hair again.
“The fool is nothing more than scared. I can’t believe that he would fear mortals. The weaklings are nothing to fear. Though I would like to understand how he trains them so well. It would help me to stop losing mine. Constance! Constance!” Dorian yelled to the other room.
“Yes, my lord?” Constance answered as he quickly entered the room.
“Get me another, this one is leaking.” Dorian stated as he threw the dead body of the slave to the floor, her face dripping with blood. He had broken her neck.
“Yes..yes, my lord.” Constance answered immediately and clapped his hands together. Another slave was brought in and taken to the gods’ side. She was struggling against her bonds before seeing the dead girl on the floor. She then stopped and looked horrified.
“Yes, that will happen to you if you don’t comply. I will kill you and your body will be thrown out the window to rot in the sea below. Now get on my lap and curl up into a ball.” Dorian stated as he opened his arms wide. He was covered in blood and seemed not to notice. The slave girl quickly climbed into the great chair and the man’s lap, sliding slightly on the blood and got into position. Dorian began to stroke her hair and forced her into an uncomfortable position, but she dared not move. “Do these mortals think that they can…can…what? What is it that they think they can do against us? We are gods and they are nothing more than insects, made to be crushed below our boots. The entire argument is nothing short of stupid.”
Dorian sat there a while, staring at the fire and stroking the girl’s hair. He wasn’t hungry, thirsty, horny or even bored. He was content, though a bit anxious of the coming day. He wanted it to get there much faster than he knew it would, but there was nothing he could do for that. He knew that he could easily defeat Lethogan in a fair fight, but he wasn’t going to make it fair. Lethogan was an older god, nearly eight hundred years, if not more, and Dorian wasn’t certain what tricks he might have picked up along the way. As such, he wasn’t going to give the old god a fighting chance.
“That fool will…” Dorian started when a small knife drove through his right shoulder. The knife’s blade actually cut through his armor, which he hadn’t taken off, and more importantly his skin, which was nigh invulnerable to any attack. Dorian tried to rise as he threw the slave to one side, but the knife was now embedded in the chair and even his great strength could not lift him without leverage.
“You speak of power as if it is something that is given without responsibility. You speak of mortals as if they are nothing but insects. You speak of gods as if they are nothing more than your stepping stones. But you don’t look at yourself in this grand scheme.” A voice from the shadows started as a second knife flew through the air and struck Dorian on his right shoulder, effectively pinning him to the chair.
“Constance!” Dorian shouted as he struggled.
“Master?” Constance asked from the doorway.
“Help me!” Dorian commanded.
“I am helping, master.” Constance explained. “I am helping you to see what you have done to my people. I am helping you to understand that what you are doing is not right, just or ordained. It is just cruelty for cruelties sake.”
“What? Why would you do this? You have been faithful to me for over twenty years! Why the betrayal now?” Dorian asked and demanded at the same time. The knives in his shoulders hurt greatly and the fire that was spreading through his chest was immense, but he wasn’t going to show anyone else that he was in pain from these stupid mortals.
“My mother is from the city of Dell, my father the city of Baroka. I followed you because I thought that being your slave would save them from the same fate. Today you killed them both. Today, you are no longer worthy to be my Master.” Constance explained as if he were some other being with a backbone and no fear of reprisal.
“You will pay for this. You will all pay for this!” Dorian was still certain he could get out. He was going to kick over the chair and fling himself backwards, which would dislodge the knives and throw him to his feet. It was going to hurt, but it would free him.
Launching his feet backward and throwing his body the same, Dorian started his move. Dorian slammed his body back into the chair and the chair’s unforgiving back pushed the air out of his lungs, but did not move. He tried again, but still nothing moved. His lungs were on fire now and he could feel the pain in his back from hitting the chair with all of his might. He should have shattered the chair and should not have felt the damage from hitting it.
“The Koltu daggers are made in a special forge. When they come in contact with the skin of a God, Mald, Supre Mald or even a Supernatural or Preternatural beings, it will simply sap them of all their energies, curses, abilities, and the like. You are currently as mortal as anyone else in your castle. Those guards that are just outside the door can’t help either, as they are under my spell for the next few minutes.” The voice explained as Dorian struggled to get free. “You will be shown the light tonight and those that you harmed shall know vengeance and justice.”
“I haven’t wronged anyone! I am a God and as such am allowed to do whatever I choose to those that are weaker than I!” Dorian struggled further but could not get loose of the accursed knives and was further feeling their effects as pain was now permeating from his chest, arms and stomach. He was actually feeling pain. “Now, let me go before I…”
“Before you what?” The voice asked as a third knife flung from the darkness and stabbed through his left leg. The scream that was heard was something Dorian swore he would never do.
The Koltu dagger is a curved blade with a small set of spikes at the hilt. The blade itself is dark blue and eminates a purple glowing field around itself. The handle is infused with gold magic and the runes that cut down the blade and into the handle are of pink. The knife itself is perfectly balanced and beautiful to behold. It’s deadly bite is only paled by its beautiful allure.
“Let me Go!” Dorian whimpered but could not be freed.
“No, master.” Constance stated, emphasizing that “Master” was now just a name with his inflection. “You are going to atone for your actions. You are going to answer to the Koltu.”
“Who the hell are you?” Dorian screamed as the pain welled up inside him.
“Glad you asked. You see, nearly fifty years ago, a great grandmother and her family were tired of seeing mortals be nothing more than the playthings of the gods. So she, and her seventy friends, struck a deal with an Immarse to be granted a way to defend mortals from the reach of the gods. Thus the champions were born where the people of the different cities would pour their prayers and thoughts into a single champion who would be able to channel those into energy and power and defend an entire city. This worked for a short while, but the lady was smart enough to realize that the gods would simply find a way around the champions, which they did. The second part of the plan then unfolded where a single person would hold sway of the Koltu and use its awesome might to lay waste to any that tried to eradicate mortals. It wasn’t to free them of bonds, or get them out of whatever situations they were in, but only to ensure that the mortals would be able to live on regardless of the gods.” The voice explained as Dorian struggled against the knives.
“What in the Hells does this have to do with me?” Doran asked, now certain that he was trapped and looking to find a diplomatic way out.
“Easy, you looked to eradicate an entire species and I am here to ensure that you can’t.” The voice was so mechanical and robotic that Dorian thought it might not even be mortal.
“How did you get into my castle? There are safeguards.” Dorian tried to pull his shoulder free and was so racked with pain that he nearly passed out. Instead he decided to push back and rock his shoulder side to side and try to work the knife out of the wood behind him. He could feel it starting to wriggle and the pain wasn’t nearly as great, though still nearly unbearable.
“I can go wherever I choose. I can be whomever I choose. I can use a vessel and afterwards that vessel becomes part of my Koltu. They kill and with their killing they become one with me, making them Koltu where they were not before. That is how I entered her in your church of death. You treat your slaves with such disdain that I have no issue with the idea of killing you. I need only find a single person that hates the mark I am after, or dislikes them enough for me to enter their thoughts. Once in, if the hatred is enough, then I can alter them to become Koltu and kill for me. That is why it was so easy to get into your castle. Every slave here hates their master for he is evil incarnate and treats them like cattle.” The voice explained as Dorian thought he saw something move within the darkness before him. He needed time.
“Lethogan owns slaves and treats them poorly. Why not go after him?” Dorian asked, more trying to buy time than to actually understand.
“Lethogan treats his slaves as slaves and will harm them if they get out of line. He does not, however, try to destroy entire races, or try and find new disgusting ways to torture them to death just for his own pleasures. Only you do that, at the moment. As such you have called my attention. I am the owner of the Koltu and as such I am the one that calls down the judgment of what you should pay amends. In your case, you have destroyed fifty cities and killed thousands in your wake. I would have come sooner, but I had another that I was dealing with and couldn’t fit you in. Besides, you were foolish enough to put your brand on everything that you did, so I knew that finding you would be easy.” The voice explained as it shifted through the darkness.
“So you avenge those that are wronged? You kill us for killing mortals, but you are a mortal yourself. Albeit with some grand powers, but mortal nonetheless. Doesn’t that skew not your vision? You are not incorruptible. What happens when you are the one that has killed thousands and need to be eradicated?” Dorian was reaching for anything that he could use to keep the conversation going. He felt the knife in his left shoulder slowly giving against the chair and thought it might come out at any time. As such, if he could move that shoulder again, he might be able to use enough force to throw the chair over to its left.
“I never said that I was mortal. And I have already killed millions.” The voice stated and Dorian’s attention shot to the darkness. A face came out of the demarcation between light and dark. A face Dorian had seen before.
“You….” Dorian started as the next knife shot through his heart and killed him instantly. His godly body reacted violently to its own death and Light shone brilliantly in all directions. He then imploded as his atoms slowly dissolved. Those in the room could hear his cries of pain as his look of shock gave way to crumbling atoms. The face folded back into the depths of the darkness, a grin on its face. None, save Dorian, had even seen it emerge.
“The Koltu will stand for every, and I will see to it that they become the greatest assassins in all the land. None will be able to see who we are or where we are at any given time since we can be anyone or anything. Our goal is to ensure that gods treat mortals with enough respect to not try and stomp them out. I will one day run this guild as a business and we will be hirable to those that have the coin and to those that we know will shape the future. All the while, no one will know that I am the true head of the Koltu. None will know who, or where we are because we will be everywhere and nowhere. Because I don’t take kindly to others killing my mortal loves. The agreement with the Immarse was an amazing one, but after the champions started to fall, the Immarse knew that they would need more protection, something that would give them an edge but the Immarse couldn’t get involved further without risk of breaking the rules of the Kala. So he called me to help. And now I am the ruler of the Koltu.”
“Who are you?” Constance asked, watching the darkness move slightly but seeing nothing within it.
“I am Kana Legrant. You can call me mother, for from now on, you are going to be one of my disciples and you are going to help me build the Koltu into infamy.” She explained as she stepped out of the darkness. Constance screamed and the two slaves fainted at the sight of the monstrous beast before them. “We will go forth and claim the name of Koltu to the entire Probe and they will all know that the will of the Koltu is absolute. As is that of her mother, Malevolence.”
And thus the Koltu was infamized and became Legendary. So much so, that no one will even speak of the Koltu critically, and only the fools will claim to be part of the Koltu when they are not. For the Koltu seems to be always listening.