Ardunas

It is a fact which lies behind all that exists, that immortal beings roam the universe, creating, caring for, improving, manipulating and destroying worlds. Their nature determines their own destinies, and destinies may vary as the centuries pass them buy.

The destiny of one such immortal had been maintained on a single planet for several tens of thousands of years.

He had drifted through eternity for more years than he could remember, searching for a purpose for which his forgotten powers were worthy. Once he had been revered as a great warrior, though now he was little more than a name spoken by a race slaughtered at the dawn of time.

It was then that he had come upon a young planet, home to a race of beings which appeared similar to the humanoids he remembered as friends, kinsmen and foes from his distant past. However, these beings were larger, stronger, and more powerful than any he had seen. The giant beings called themselves the Exarn, and he was impressed by their physical power and potential.

Upon reaching the world, he had made use of a power which almost drained his immortal life-force from him, to assume the form of an Exarn. It was a power he had been granted by a goddess many aeons before, though it was restricted by an enormous amount of power being required, hence he should not use it to manipulate others without honor.

The Exarn, however, were not a peaceful race when he arrived. They were split into two factions, each as strong as the other. Their feud was over a matter long forgotten, but continued with each maintaining a stalemate for which there was no solution.

He proceeded to observe the Exarn, and continued for many decades. Then, once he had learned their ways, their traditions, their strengths and their weaknesses, he entered into a cave high aloft in the mountains where he forged a long sword, light to carry, but capable of slicing through stone with ease.
With sword in hand, he waited weeks further until one night, at the beginning of the harvest, he traveled to their expanses of land on which food was grown for one faction, and poisoned the trees and crops. He then proceeded to the farmlands of the second faction and killed the animals with a swiftness unknown to the Exarn.

The morning that followed was the first of the grand harvest. The Exarn proceeded to their fields, to find little more than desolation. Each faction required meat and plant life in order to survive. Without one, life would not be able to continue. Devastated and enraged, each faction determined the destruction to be the work of the other, and so the largest attack force in their memories was launch by each side. Weapons clashed and the lumbering Exarn fell one by one as the day drew further on.

Then, as the sun reached its highest point, a new figure emerged onto the battlefield. He moved through the thrashing mortal bodies of the Exarn, cutting, slashing, breaking, decimating and smashing their very existence. It was then that the chiefs of each faction saw the false Exarn for first time. Though unknowing of his origins, the leaders approached. On seeing their closeness, he paused and turned to them, unscarred with no sorrow or joy towards the pain he had caused.

He then explained his purpose to them. He told them he was from a distant world, and had powers which were beyond their comprehension. He told them he could help their world to become a thriving, peaceful population, who under his guidance could be regarded as great once again. He revealed to them his actions of the previous night, and told them that they would be able to share and prosper under his will.

On agreement, the battles came to an end, and the Exarn began to prosper, once again as a single, complete race. They grew and soon the threat of extinction by war was no more. For fifty thousand years, the Exarn lived without difficulty, under his watchful eye. He lived in the mountains in which he had forged his sword, and became worshipped by the Exarn as a powerful deity, making appearances only when his guidance and wisdom was needed.

Then, overnight, his purpose was removed from his existence. From the depths of his cave, he felt a force pass over the world of the Exarn. When he looked, he found his race to have been decimated. Bodies of the entire Exarn race littered the burnt and charred landscape.

His legacy was gone. In one instant move, all that he had worked for had been taken from him. In a fit of anger, he summoned forth all his power and let out a scream which echoed through the heavens, creating a wave of energy which radiated through the galaxy.

Far away, on a distant world, another immortal being felt the energy wave, and decided to investigate. Nosferatu traveled quickly, to discover him lying unaware and distraught in the middle of a now desert planet. Nosferatu lifted him from his world, and carried him to his own recovering realm of Kyderria, where he was watched over and nurtured back to sanity.

On recollecting the destruction he had seen, his anger returned. Nosferatu then came to him and explained the history of his own world of Kyderria. He told of the Great War, and of his brother, the Nameless. It was discovered that after the banishment of the Nameless, the evil being had stretched through the universe, destroying those worlds which were within his immediate grasp. The home of the Exarn had been such a world, and their immortal protectors power was far from a match for the destructive force encountered.

It was then that he vowed allegiance to Nosferatu. By allying with his enemy's enemy, he may one day stand to cast his revenge on the Nameless for destroying that which he had forged.

Under the new agreement, it was then that Nosferatu asked a question which had not been said for a long time in the immortal's presence.

"What is your name?" Nosferatu had asked.

"I am Ardunas," was the response.