This is the end of the last Great Age. This is the beginning of the new age. See now the truth of how it began.

The following account is taken from historical records.

Episode Twenty-Six - the Rise of Powers

'Yer all pay th' price in th' end. Ev'ry last one o' yer.'

Paladin Torosanifeya cleaned his sword on the outrider's hood, hoisted the bag onto his back and walked through the empty streets of the City of Elders. It was strange. There were no sounds of industrious working, no sounds of merchants bawling their wares, no sounds of children running between horse-drawn wagons.

A city of ghosts. Just like him.

He found the deserted Ranger House and entered. Carefully he made his way to the room where Kadocasitari had vanished before the evacuation of the City.

Kadocas's widow, Cafialerasun, sat on the table, holding their
four-month-old child Ferokadicafi in her arms. 'Is this the place for a
baby?' Torosanifeya asked.

'He's with his mother. Where better for a baby to be?' snapped Cafialera. 'What's in the bag?'

'A witness account from one of the outriders. History continues,' said the Paladin. 'Where did you bury Kad's body?'

'I took it to the Reapers' Cave during the evacuation,' she replied. 'It was buried properly.'

'That's not what I'm annoyed about, Cafialera. You took his body from the guard of the Rangers. The darkness is everywhere and spreading, and the Reapers have been preparing in secret for a thousand years. Why did you risk exposing us all?'

'Do not take that tone with me, Reaper Torosan. You'll upset Fer.'
Admonished, Torosanifeya stood back and waited patiently for an answer to his question. At last she spoke.

'History continues. The Reapers learn from the past, they document the present, they write the histories the future will learn from. The Reapers have been learning for more than two thousand years, Tor. What have we learned? People live, and people die. And because people die, they have children to continue their race. But because people live, they want to be remembered.

'For some, especially mothers, it's enough to have a child, and see them grow up. Everything from conception to birth takes such a toll on a woman's life that it makes a difference. But for others, especially men, who are only involved at conception... they don't feel the force of generations moving through them. They have to make their presence on the earth known in other ways. Fighting, hunting. Wars. Statues and monuments.

'But ultimately, people live, and people die. And Kadocas is dead. And I loved him. That matters more than anything the Reapers can accomplish, ever.'

He nodded quietly. 'You're right. The Reapers serve the people, and their lives, not the other way around. But the Reapers go on.'

'I miss him, Torosan.'

'Yes,' Torosanifeya said. He paused, and then approached her, and sat on the table, and put his hand on her near shoulder. He thought she might have leant her head on his shoulder, but she didn't, perhaps because she was rocking Fer gently from side to side. He was an attractive baby, he thought.

Eventually he said, 'We should go. We should not be found here, and we have work to do.'

She nodded. 'What will you be doing?'

'I'm supposed to be carrying messages to villages near here, but I'm
going to go and scout Anilomes instead. I want to see my tower.'

'It's not safe there, Torosan.'

'It's not safe anywhere, Cafialera. Someone has to go there, and learn what they can.'

Cafialera considered this for a moment. 'I still think it's very
dangerous, but if we can't go into the darkness with an army, then one man has a better chance. Good luck.'

'Thank you,' said Torosanifeya.

'Torosan. I'll tell you now, you've got three days. After that, I'm going to report your disappearance.'

'The Aisorbmii will wonder why I have gone into the forest at this time. They may demand more answers than you can provide.'

'You mean, I may have to tell them something about the Reapers? Is that such a bad thing, Torosan? They need to know what is really happening. The war has clouded their eyes to the real enemy.'

'You will not tell them,' Torosanifeya said, sternly. Cafialera met his stare. 'Fine,' he said. 'Say what you must, but no more. And I will be back in three days, so not a word before then.' He stood, and readied to leave. He left his bag on the floor. 'See that this record reaches the archives. Just in case.'

He left Ranger House without waiting for an answer and quickly left the City of Elders via the main gate. For a few hours he walked towards the Anilomes factory fortress. A full moon appeared in the sky before night set in, but he kept walking, planning to make camp when the moon got higher. He caught a rabbit for his supper, and made a simple spit to cook it on.

And then he was surprised from behind.

When he awoke he was gagged and his wrists were bound, his armour had been removed and he was inside a large room. He was inside the Anilomes fortress, he realised. The walls were surprisingly intact. There was machinery here, some of it familiar, for putting food in tins, some of it less familiar. There was a lot more space here now than when a hundred Aisorbmii workers had made rice pudding in these walls.

There were two black-hooded servants kneeling at a pit, praying in an unknown tongue. There were three other captives nearby, two men and a woman, bound and gagged as he was. Torosanifeya could see no other soldiers.

The great door opened, and four people entered in two pairs, a man and a woman each. The male of the lead pair was immense, and clad in black and bloody crimson. He wore a mask with immense silver teeth. His companion female also wore black, and she was blond and attractive, with thick eyebrows and... long canine teeth. Conspirators! He averted his eyes, but tried to concentrate on their conversation, trying to learn something.

'The Aisorbmii have their first food delivery, including one wagon of custard,' said the woman. 'There was one troublesome wretch, a Doctor with an attitude and some talent. I disposed of him.'

'Good, Dremgadona,' said the silver teeth. 'Ar'gokarn? How is the
Kingdom?'

The second woman spoke. 'The famine is widespread. Someone has found a cache of custard at No Man's Land, and it is keeping them alive to revolt against the King. They do not appear to have discovered our subterfuge.'

'They are fools,' sneered the second man. 'Any competent leader would think to check that their orders were being carried out properly by their men. As it is, half their food has been sent to their army at Rene Ponit, and half has been sent to the Aisorbmii defending the same fortress!'

'There will always be fools, T'Neuss,' said the leader. 'So much the
better, but we are still pressed for time. I had hoped that the witch Erica del Erica could have been manipulated, and her powers could have
strengthened our own. Instead we must perform the Summoning. Soon afterwards we must raise a new defence shield around the Psyopalace, for the veil of shadow will fall. Look! The moon is rising; we have little time. Take your places.'

The four moved apart, each to one of the captives. The leader moved to the girl. The one called T'Neuss moved to Torosanifeya, and kicked him in the side. The Paladin-Reaper rolled to his back, and the Conspirator kicked him again, then again, until he rolled over. Torosanifeya tried to steady himself with his legs, so he wouldn't move any nearer to the pit, but T'Neuss continued to kick, and his legs gave way to the sharp toecaps.

The hooded servants stood and chanted. 'Theeay jovdacoo star d'will star t' now!' Torosanifeya recognised the chant; it had accompanied any great Aisorbmian magic performed in the past few months. None of the mages had understood what it meant; there were no stars named 'Jovdacoo' or 'D'will'. But then no-one, not even among the Reapers, had thought the Conspirators had this much influence over the magic.

T'Neuss drew a knife, and cut Torosanifeya's shirt from his upper body. He paused, smelling the Paladin. He muttered a word to the leader: 'Reaper.'

The leader nodded, then carried the girl to the two servants, who held her by her shoulders and feet. The leader then drew his own knife and cut her end to end. The blood spilled into the pit. The leader then approached Torosanifeya.

'Reaper, Reaper,' he said, inhaling, seeking the same scent T'Neuss had found. He smiled in the moment of discovery. 'There is a scent on Reapers. The scent of knowledge. I am pleased... the sacrifice will be complete. Watch and learn, Reaper. Your knowledge will do your kind no good.'

'From the land of the Kingdom!' he roared, dragging Dremgadona's captive towards the pit. He took his bloodied knife and dug into the man's chest, listening in glee to the muffled scream desperately seeking escape from the dying captive's mouth. The leader reached his hand inside, and ripped out the heart, throwing it into the pit.

Black smoke gushed from the hole, smothering the girl-corpse, and
billowing towards the captive. His gagged was removed, and he tried to
scream with the moments left to him. The smoke entered his mouth, and he screamed afresh...

The leader now moved to Ar'gokarn's captive, who squirmed far more now. 'From the land of Aisorbmia!' roared the leader, again dragging the captive forward and viciously retrieving the heart. It, too, was thrown into the pit. Black smoke issued forth as before.

The leader moved to Torosanifeya and lifted his head so he could see the first captive. 'Learn,' he hissed. The muscles in the captive's arms and legs were rippling, swelling. The skin around the gaping hole in his chest was stretching, sealing over the wound, and then stretching forwards. A grotesque face emerged, and Torosanifeya could see the rib-bones now angled as teeth.

The beast grew in stature, the demonic face of the beast grinning and drooling, and the useless human head lolled above it. There were ripples around the neck between the two heads, and then the human head fell off, hitting the floor with a crack.

Dremgadona took the head to the window and threw it outside. What
remained was a giant, ten feet tall, its immense arms ending with long
raking claws, two columns of bony spikes jutting from its back on either side of its spine, coming to a point just behind the beast's head. Its legs were long and muscular.

'The first Beast,' said the leader. 'I will send it to the Kingdom, to destroy the Royal castle, to slay the King, and his Queen, and his Prince. The second Beast-' - the leader indicated the now-transforming second captive - 'I will send to the Aisorbmii at Rene Ponit, to slaughter what remains of their defences.'

The leader grinned. 'You I will send to the Reaper's Cave. You know where that is, and so shall the Beast you will become.'

Torosanifeya struggled futilely as the leader dragged him forwards. 'From the caves of the Reapers!' he roared, cutting in with the bloody knife. Agony soared over Torosanifeya then, and he screamed, fighting to keep his eyes open. The gag was removed and he could hear his own yells, and feel the impending change.

'Praise be, Fyendodas!' said T'Neuss, Dremgadona, and Ar'gokarn. They all stood tall now, all strong. The spells had made them grow too. 'Theeay jovdacoo star d'will star t' now!'

'Yes. From this day forth we are no longer merely Conspirators. We are Blood Lords!' boomed the leader, Fyendodas, the Terrible. He then repeated the syllables of their chant, separating the sounds into new words which became far too clear to the soon-dead Paladin-Reaper. 'The Age of the Custard will start Now!'

The threads interweave. The famine of the Kingdom; the plague of the
Aisorbmii; the Great War; the multitude of deaths. And now the Rise of the Blood Lords' Power.

The Age of the Rice Pudding ended, at great cost. The Age of the Custard began, also at great cost. And some prices are yet to be paid.

But hope remains. The Sword in the Stone remains, awaiting the One who shall draw it forth.

There is still time. There is still hope. Keep watching, dear viewer.

The Next to the Custard
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