I almost caved in and signed up earlier today. But then I realized Vanilla would start before January, and I remembered it probably wouldn't be a good idea for me to play before then.

You know I want to play...

Add me pls!!

Prologue 3 (there'll be a link to this post in the OP)

Thunder.

That was the first thing that happened, that day. As soon as their sun had begun to rise...thunder. There was not a cloud in the sky, but on their world this meant nothing. Lightning storms did not need clouds on their miserable planet. The Dark Ones had seen to it themselves. They had crafted this planet to be as painful and life-threatening as possible. Without warning, a bolt of lightning could strike a town's center, split, and decimate the entire population. "Survivability," they always said, "Is half skill, and half luck."

The second thing that happened, that day, was that one of the females finally gave birth. Here, it was not a day of happiness or pleasure. Here, it was always a day of despair. Yet another tool for The Dark Ones had been born. Even tools understood that their existence was miserable. They did not wish that fate upon others. And yet, when commanded to do so, they would be required to visit others with that fate. That was their lot in life.

This time, however, it was different. This time, there was celebration from The Dark Ones. They even came to witness the birth themselves. Not in 300 years had The Dark Ones given audience to a birth, but this one was special, indeed. This was the descendant of Garlic, a member of the royal family. And there had not been one born upon the planet Makyol for quite some time.

The female lifted the child up, revealing it to be a boy. The Dark Ones murmured to each other about the strategy of having a boy versus a girl, and what sort of tactics each sex could employ in battle. Eventually, this discussion became silent, as one said, "What shall we name this child?"

The decision came quickly. The Makyols in the room could not determine if there had been a decision at all. No words had been spoken. This was what made the Makyols fear The Dark Ones the most. The ambiguity of them. The Dark Ones were nearly formless, they showed no faces. They merely glided from town to town, spoke, and left.

Nevertheless, a decision did come. "We shall name the boy, 'Thawmus', for he is the Gatekeeper."

The Makyols in the room gasped. Nobody had been named the Gatekeeper since Garlic Jr. had been named. No Makyol ever had the ability to control the Dead Zone since then, and it was forbidden to attempt it. A rip in space-time could put the entire planet in peril. The Dark Ones had put too much work into it, to allow that to happen.

Thawmus would be the new Gatekeeper. He would be taught how to control the vortex to the Dead Zone. He would be required to use this ability in battle. And entire worlds would disappear from existence, by his hand. His mother wept, now knowing her son's role to play in the universe. She screamed at The Dark Ones, letting them know exactly how she felt about the decision.

That was the last breath his mother ever took. But not the last thing that happened during her lifetime. As blood spilled out of her mouth, she looked upon her son, and saw lightning flash through his eyes. And she thought she heard it, at the same time, the last thing to happen while she lived.

Thunder.

I read the first thunder and the last thunder. Skimmed the rest.

*slides his thumb over his neck, looks at Darq with wide eyes*

I'll play.

I'll work on Prologue 4 tomorrow. I've got like a month and a half to do these...

I'll give this a shot.

Feel free to join Disworld Mafia and maybe draw some new favorite characters to add to your cast.

That's 20.

Frankly, I had no idea I'd get that many signups. I really questioned the theme here.

I'll still allow signups, but if I get any more, I will have to actively search for a co-mod to assist with this.

Where is that Prologue 4? Thawmus said he'd write it, and it isn't there!!

I'm going to kick that guy's ### when I see him, guys, don't worry!


(I'm only in one game at the moment, and it just closed, so I should be able to get on this today, hopefully)

Prologue 4

This boy is the one we're looking for.

The thought could not be suppressed. While Romack did not want to let hope cloud his judgement, there was just no denying what he saw with his own two eyes. The Makyol simply...sponged....every single technique he was shown, as if it was like drinking water. Within a day's time, he was already showing enough skill to defend himself against most of the vicious wildlife on the planet. "Thawmus", they called him.

Yet, there was a very large concern. His power was weak. It didn't fluctuate with anger, like most people. It just stayed at an abysmal level. Perhaps this was why they had chosen him to be the Gatekeeper? When Garlic was chosen, he had tremendous power available to him from the start. His son, Garlic Jr., was no different. And yet, both of them were not of the mindset to destroy worlds. Instead, they wanted to conquer them, and sit on thrones like kings. This was not the way The Dark Ones wanted their Gatekeepers to operate, so that had to be the reason for this. If this boy had tremendous skill, and yet was a weakling, he would be unable to resist his masters' control.

Romack shook his head, sadly. How could a boy so weak, and so skilled, be capable of the things he would be asked to do? Romack's masters were fools to think this was the way to go.

"Again," he instructed. Thawmus threw his arms to his sides, and attempted to create the portal once more. As could be expected thus far, the portal creation was putting a strain on the child. While the technique itself was easy for him to learn, his waning power became an immediate problem. He couldn't hold the portal open for very long. The boy collapsed in sweat and tears, as his mind relaxed from the pressure. Similar to the pain one feels after running for miles, the boy's head pounded like a drill.

This is not going to work.

Romack needed answers. But he would have to confront The Dark Ones in order to get them. Time was short, and no other solution was available to him. He vowed to brave himself before them after training was done today. There was no other way.

As he determined this solution, the boy slowly rose again, still panting from performing the technique. Through tearful eyes, he screamed, "NO, TEACHER! I have not failed you yet."

Romacks' eyebrows rose sharply. Now this was interesting. In all the time during their training, Thawmus had never exhibited any sort of die-hard mentality. He had always been polite, and apologetic, about most everything. But here, there was a fire in his eyes that both thrilled and frightened Romack at once.

Of course!

The Makyol child's tenacity, resolve, and sheer unwillingness to give up. He had not displayed it before, but here it was! Romack's scouter began to tally a difference in the child. Anger and rage didn't trigger any increase in power, here. In most, it did, but here it was completely different. Failure was the trigger. Everything that Romack had attempted to teach him thus far, the boy had done perfectly, as if he had been doing it for 30 years. This one time, he actually managed to fail in using the technique.

Romack felt his hands tremble. His scouter began to pick up a power increase of his own. He lost emotional control, and said, "You'll never fail me. You can't fail me. There's too much work to be done."

He immediately took a step back. The words had come out, as though he had been caught up in Thawmus' fire himself. Could it be, that the boy's own tenacity was contagious to others? Perhaps there was even more power to this child than he had thought. To think of what he could do with a small army behind him, he would be nearly unstoppable.

Romack grinned at the thought of what Thawmus would be able to do for his masters. Yes, it was definitely time. He had seen enough, and it was time the boy did what he was meant to do.

As Thawmus struggled once more to create the portal in front of him, Romack instructed him on how to properly place the gate on the other side, and broaden it so that a person would be able to enter and exit at will. With the boy's new-found powerup, the task was easy. He grinned through his sweat and tear-stained face, as success reached him once more.

Romack circled around him slowly, and said, "Good. This is what you will need to become comfortable with. I want you to practice this every day, from now on."

"Yes, teacher, I will do as you command."

"All right, I believe our lesson is nearly done for the day."

Thawmus smiled once more, as he was severely fatigued, and needed rest. Romack stood behind him, and said, "There is just one more thing I have to ask of you, and I want you to make sure you always remember this, and promise me you will obey."

To Thawmus, such a request was silly. Of course he would obey. His teacher was always kind to him, and gave him a sense of purpose. He could not think of another option available to him, and did not want to accept other possibilities.

Romack bent low, and whispered into Thawmus' ear: "You must never come back to this hellish place again."

Thawmus' eyes grew wide with fear, as Romack kicked him into the portal. As soon as the boy had gone through, the portal closed. Never would it open there again.

From every corner on the planet, The Dark Ones came quickly, knowing full well what had just happened. They appeared behind Romack, preparing their claws for his flesh. He turned around to greet them, throwing off his dark cloak, revealing white garb that shone like the sun.

"I am Paladin Romack Lightbringer, assigned protector of this universe. And you have just let your own destruction escape your grasp."

Blood spattered upon the pure white clothing he wore, as The Dark Ones howled and screamed. His death was not quick, nor painless. But in the end, his last words were words that inspired fear among them.

"He will kill you all."

I read the italicized words 'cause I assumed they were important.

Do I need to read the rest to understand what's going on?

Prologue 5 will be sometime this weekend, I'm sure. For whoever wants to ignore it and make faces at their computer screen at silly Thawmus-ing.

If you need another, Im game