The Allure of Power

[Alistair]

13th of Saun, Arc 716

"Ha ha ha ha ha . . ." She laughed. Her tone was dark, a voice almost as deep as a man's. But demented, twisted, demonic. "Ha..." she continued. "Be honest, Alistair." She stood high as if a tower; she presided over all things, all of the darkness. Within the weave of her energy laid hordes of the undead marching forward. Millions of them. Enough to overtake the world. "Don't you want this?"

Don't you want this? It rung in his head, over and over. The power that magic could bring. The dominion over everyone and everything. Why distribute immortality when Alistair could be one of the lucky few . . . ? Why strive for a world without death when death was of the greatest benefit to an aspiring Necromancer? Why . . . ?

"Don't you want this?" She asked again. Her voice demented the world around it. She was a specter of great black darkness, looming in all of his vision, yet somehow hidden behind a shadow of her own devising. Everything that she was - this woman, this Ellasin - was a mystery to him. She was one who struck in him a great torment. Great . . . great . . . abysmal . . . neurosis.

"I do," he replied. No. "I want all of it. Every last bit of the power you are so resistant to share. I want . . . to rule mankind. Because I was born to rule. Noble blood runs in my veins. And not yours." She grinned, and he did not. No, grinning required the ability to be happy at all, perhaps. In the face of Ellasin - the greatest of his kind in both Necromancy and sociopathy - he did not need to conceal the truth with a lie. To smile was to lie. He never felt a moment of happiness. Only . . . bitterness, and desire. For knowledge, for power, for everything.

"Ellasin, they all wail; I want what you have." She begun. "I want your beauty, your elegance, your immortal perfection. Will you show me? Will you guide me? But not you, Alistair of House Venora . . . perhaps you believe yourself above me, for you were born to status and renown. Yet that has crippled you; you earn nothing, yet own everything. Slaves, servants, loyalty. You can command it with merely a breath. But I scrounged from the bottom to get to the top . . . and I am better than you. Nobility is not power, Alistair. Power is power. Power is all that I am, it defines me more than anything. Power is the ichor that fills my veins. Yes . . . I possess it in infinite amounts."

She paused. She laughed. She smiled playfully, almost innocently.

"Don't you want this?" She asked, a third and final time.

[Alistair]

Alistair stared blankly. Ellasin, the Immortal Witch, the Necromantress of the Coven. The Ire of Damien Noch and the Liches who felt spite in the face of her corruption of them. The one who loved to corrupt innocence and create a lust for power in hearts that desired only the completion of their ideals. A woman with no equal in this world in the evil she could imagine. Did he want this - this infinite spiraling void that she had created around her? He knew that this was a dream. And yet . . .

It was also real, wasn't it? The Ellasin he knew - really knew - was one of great power, and great danger. And she bathed in darkness and haunted men's dreams. This Ellasin was but a manifestation of her infinite aura of discord. She was not a lie. She was really here, even if only a specter, and these dreams would haunt him for the bitter days of his youth until he gave in. Don't you want this? What did he want, you could ask? To become a Lich. That was the temptation - the allure of Necromancy. The state of immortal power consuming the soul. To be a Lich was to be . . . everything that others were not. It was to be one of great power, great authority, great wisdom. And yet even as a state where you commanded over all, you owned nothing.

To be a Lich was to be hollow. The man waved his hand. He refused.

"I don't desire such a thing," he began. "You have corrupted others before me, but I am a man of different caliber. Like you, I feel nothing. I withstand everything. I'm just like you. A sociopath. I always thought it was a curse, but it's not. Even in the face of this power, I can think rationally. I am calm. And I have to ask: why seek to corrupt me, when I was never innocent in the first place? Damien... Miqael... Eliza. All of those Liches beneath you were once good. And me? Heartless. Renowned for evil. So why?"

She stopped, and reached outwards with her hand. The moving of her silhouette consumed everything with darkness around him. It was as if she had lodged herself inside him, stripping him of his vision. He saw only a radiating violet glow.

"You will be my greatest conquest. When I cleave your resilience apart with my emenence and craft you into a child of my own ilk, then you will know the pleasure I have felt at transmogrifying a soulless individual into an all-desiring monster. It is the challenge I endure for . . . and you are a challenge indeed. And you wish to destroy me. I admire that. Let me warn you that you may destroy yourself instead . . ."

[Anomaly]

Review: Completed!

I'm Anomaly, and I come bearing gifts in the form of a thread review. The thread has been thoroughly combed and all participants have been alloted their rewards, listed below. If you can't find your name, please see the closing comments at the end of the post. Thank you!

Alistair

Skills

Story: 3/5
Collaboration: 0/5
Structure: 5/5

Knowledge

Ellasin: Takes Pleasure in Corruption
Lichdom: Privileged Power of the Few
Lichdom: A Final Destination

Other

N/A

Notes

I'm not entirely sure what you were looking for in terms of Knowledges, and as for your marks... I have the story a 3/5 for the length of the thread and the somewhat barebones content of the posts. It was a lot of repetition of the same general statements and circular reasoning that didn't amount to much in the end and the story as told didn't accomplish a whole lot. It feels like you could've gone an extra mile with it to explore this topic in depth. Still, it's a 3/5.

Closing comments: My apologies if you felt you wanted more Knowledges from this thread. I gave what I could find, and anything else would've felt forced. If you had any in mind that I missed, however, feel free to point them out and I can add them.

Lastly, if there are any questions or concerns about your review, send me a message as soon as you're able so we can sort it out if need be.

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