Gramoroth

The mighty warlord fought with unequaled cunning and skill as the two combatants fought on within the blackness of strongholds mightiest chamber. Slashing upward and thrusting in with some strikes penetrating through the creature’s defenses, yet Gramoroth showed no pain. Defending each thrust with such skill that Kraken perceived this struggle a mere jest to his enemy. Weariness began to take him, but remembering what the dwarf King Ragad proclaimed during the Council of Kings, renewed his strength. “The Evil One has but one weakness to the mortals of this world. A swift strike through the center of his being with a weapon that has been tempered by the flames found only within his forges,” to kill or injure, Ragad could not say. Adding only, “this knowledge carried a heavy price of many lives; do not squander this opportunity their payment has given us.” Only boldness in the face of death might restore such a long lost hope for those remaining, and only hope was enough to chance death against such odds. Darkness is all that remains for those born into this world and now, “he must pay for his endless crimes of dark days gone by!” Kraken’s heart quaked. Perfect was the world before the Great War, splendid and marvelous, full of wonder and light, without fear or suffering. Now all has vanished into the past, with darkness and cruelty in its stead. When he came so long ago, full of pride and desire to rule all things, then nothing of worth stood chance to remain for he valued nothing except himself. False promises and twisted truths he made to lure many to follow him, in the beginning. He was clever during the Majestic Age, fooling so many. Even amongst the High Hosts to do his bidding towards his desire to seize all power over this world, then when the time was right, he made war. Gramoroth was the greatest of the High Hosts, one of the Quinta, but his greatness was only in that he had the ability to wield power in all its aspects. However, none of the aspects of power he held were greater than that of the Quinta who wielded it solely, though the knowledge of all gave insight and properly placed him as their counselor, trusted and loved. It was the pride within him, beyond what he ought to have, that created his unbridled lust for power. His fall from righteousness began when he started to use his insights to gain advantage with treacherous intent to lock them all out. Deceiving with twisted truths, he gained a willingness in secret to be taught new understandings of power with each of its aspects from their respective masters. Knowledge taught him, without realization of what else he had been instructed was only a trifle individually, but combined, became something far greater to one so insightful, shifting the balance of power. He learned what he needed from them, and then misguided all into confusion and strife. When his opportunity came he revealed his true intentions by wielding a power never before seen, which he attained from the knowledge he ought not to have had. He alone could wield it and used it to imprison those who would not be swayed under his subjugation. Those Quinta he held behind the Great Barrier would never follow him because of their gift of greater foresight, able to see beyond time, and had seen what awaits those who choose to live outside the laws of truth. Gaining any knowledge from them was his greatest challenge, for he knew they would take action upon him if they realized his desire. His skillful use of deception and the power of blinding diminished their foresight enough to obtain what he needed, without raising concern beyond explanation. They never realized his intent or perceived the shift in power till it was too late. To their shame, this became known to all as “the undoing, the beginning of the end.” A wise one who survived the Great War wrote of him, “Gramoroth’s desire to rule all things resulted in his own deception, blinding himself from the fullness of truth, leaving him only able to see his part in this world, seeing his rule would last till the end of time.” Adding further, “his removal of the Foresightful had the effect of reducing true understandings for the purpose to life from those who survived the Great War. Truths found from the writings remaining lacked clarity without the counsels they had, yet in the hearts of some of us there is still a sense that the fabric of time holds a greater purpose for life, which Gramoroth has lost or chose not to believe, and without further enlightenment time itself must now reveal its own secrets.”