Scene 4: The Second Letter to Elizabeth
(Same setting as the first letter)
RALATHOR: Dear Elizabeth. After some thinking I believe that it's time for you to finally learn about why I am forced to be at the Tower. In my youth I discovered that I had the ability to find monsters and other magical creatures hiding just below the mortal plane. This ability, among other things, destined me to be a Sword for the Tapestry, one of the three clans of the Descendants. They are beings born to protect all life, and to keep the balance between the worlds of magic, science and all those in between. However, before the Descendants could find me and bring me into their ranks, I was discovered by another group. The Gunslingers.
They trained me, helped me to hone and understand my gifts. They taught me how to cross the border between realms and realities, and how I could reach those in need so that I might help them. They gave my life purpose.
I took on this purpose with a fiery passion unlike anything else in my life previously. Quickly I rose though their ranks, ultimately joining their head council before finally ascending to become the Sheath of Galerion, the great hunter of the planes, and the founder of our order. With this office, only granted to those who devote themselves wholly to the cause, both in body and soul, I became Galerion’s living vessel.
So devoted was I to our ideals of unification and helping those in need, no matter the cost to myself, that under my leadership as Vessel, the Gunslingers and Descendants were often at war. Fighting between our factions was nothing new, we’ve been at each other’s throats since the duel between Galerion and Persephone in the days before the First Council. So strong was my hatred for the Descendants, who believed that the worlds should remain separate, and that interference should only occur when absolutely necessary, that I blinded myself to what was happing within the Tapestry.
During the attacks by the Talon of the Raven, I had a vision of Galerion at the Tower. He showed me that these attacks were a prelude to something much worse. The rise and rebirth of the Raven proper.
(MICHAEL, M1, M2, JACOB and ELIZABETH act out the following narration)
Long ago when the Creators first began their finishing touches on Primordia, the first world, they intended to weave within its very fabric a protector capable of keeping it safe. The Creators knew that one day they would fade away, and when that time came, they wanted something to keep their children alive. This protector, however, failed.
A few hundred years after life was given form on Primordia, the Protector went about his way maintaining peace and prosperity across the land. As he journeyed across the realm, he met a young witch who shared in his philosophies, and they fell in love. Just as they were expecting a child, the witch hunters came. Tragedy struck as the young witch was attacked in her home one night when the Protector was out fulfilling his role. As she lay dying in their home, her pain called the Protector forth and as he came the hunters killed him. As the Protectors pain and anger grew, so too did his power. Together it mixed with the powers of his unborn child and as the witch died in his arms, a terrible cry escaped his lips. Primordia shattered into a thousand pieces as the Protector died. Flesh and stone came undone as the fabrics holding Primordia together tore apart. As the world descended into chaos, an even darker force began to gather. As the pair laid dead, their blood soaking the wooden floor of their home, the soul of the child reached out into the world. Full of the intense hatred and anger that it had felt from its father, this twisted creature rose out from their bodies and went on to poison the hearts and minds of all creatures. The Raven had been born, and its lust for vengeance knew no bounds.
Before the Raven could put an end to their creation, the Creators used the last of their strength to try and reset the devastation. Auroras used his will to grapple the freely flowing strands together and shackle them to the Tower. While Primordia had fractured, new worlds would be built from its corpse, connecting to the Tower which would act as its foundation. Syriana used her magics to reset the chronology of Primordia, to keep the worlds and timelines from crashing into one another, and to keep each of the souls from the different timelines separate. Finally, Nyerian used his might to rebind the physical remains of Primordia back to the strands of the Tower, giving them proper form amongst the Cosmos.
It was by the noble acts of the Creators that the Tapestry that we know today was born out of the devastation of Primordia. The one thing the Creators could not do however, was remove the Raven entirely. Because they had built in the Protector to the very fabric of Primordia, he and his life would continue to echo throughout the Tapestry, and with it, so to would the Raven. All they could do to prevent their children from dying out was to use the last of their strength to lull the Raven into a deep sleep. And so, the Creators slipped away into the Cosmos, their ashes covering the Tapestry with their blessings and the Raven was no more. Or so it seemed, for a time.
While the beast itself was asleep, its hatred had grown so much that it could be felt by all the living beings across the realm. In the heart of all life grew the emotions of anger and greed, pain and distrust. As the Tapestry grew out, expanding itself evermore into the Cosmos, so to did the Raven. And as all children do, soon it began to dream. And in its dreams, it began to travel.
The Raven, despite being trapped in eternal slumber could see the Tapestry through its sleeping eyes! And although it could not make physical contact with anything, it soon began to reach out with its influence. Soon mortal men began to fall to its whim, paving the way to thousands of years of war, and ultimately to the Ravens true calling. The fall of the Tower, and the complete destruction of all things.
To say the vision scared me was an understatement. As I fled, I began to plot the atrocities that would lead to where we are today. You see, Elizabeth, each gunslinger alone has the power to find and kill monsters, the beings birthed by the diseased shadows of the Ravens will, but each of us alone only has so much power. It isn’t until we combine our power under a singular effort that we can truly prevent immense tragedies from occurring. That is why we came together under Galerion initially. I understood this, and so I knew that in order to kill a beast like the Raven, or to even have a chance of slowing it down, we would all have to strike at the same moment in time and with the same focus. To that end, I decided to call my brothers and sisters home.
We met at the endless desert that was once Galerion’s home, under the guise of a war council. Every gunslinger was called, both honored veterans and the newest of fledglings. Once the council was met, I led us in our opening prayers, honoring Galerion and begging for him to lend us his strength. To lend ME his strength. And in the final moment of our prayer, I…. I killed them Elizabeth. Every last one of them was struck dead as I unleashed the full force of Galerion onto them. And as their bodies fell, I rushed to expose the weapon that I had crafted in order to contain their essences.
With a final command their souls were bound to the gun, yielding onto it their vast and infinite powers. As they were funneled deep into the heart of the weapon, Galerion himself broke from his bond with me in order to usher in the souls of the dead and the souls of the unborn. Through his might, the weapon gained the full power of the Gunslinger soul. The past, present and future all bound together for a single purpose, and as Galerion himself was pulled into the very metal that encased his children he gave his blessings to it.
“Hear my cry, all you cursed children of the realms, for we are the monsters born to kill monsters. In our dark hearts burns a fire of passion and love so strong that we can't help but to fight for what we think is right, no matter what the morals of men dictate. Cursed are we, who cling not to the strands of fate and time and flesh, but to the strands only defined by the whims of our hearts. We are cursed because we are not bound by the same forms that they are, and because of that we are all but monsters in their hearts. Yet, we are cursed to yearn for their protection all the same. Hear me, you cursed children of the damned who fell from grace at the council of councils! Hear me and take strength in my words! Though cursed we may be, our love is our strength, and together as one we cannot falter. Hear me children lost throughout the realms and speak my words! I am the darkness in the heart of men, the crippling influence that blackens even the strongest of light, and although I may be weak in the face of destiny, together I am the Slayer of Monsters!”
As Galerion spoke his final words to the Tapestry, engravings carved their way into the cooling metal. His final blessing, and curse, now remain carved onto the weapon. That Elizabeth is why I am here at the Tower. By following Galerion’s warning I had succeeded in becoming the last guardian of the Tower in his place. When I woke to find myself at the Tower the first time, the weapon had vanished into the realms, waiting for a day when its purpose can be fulfilled. You see, the gun will go to those of us who are cursed enough to need its power. And when they speak Galerion’s final words in the face death, when they believe with all their heart that they have found a beast worthy of its power, The Monster Slayer can truly kill monsters.
And one day Elizabeth, I believe that the weapon will make its way to you. You need to be ready when that happens. Each of us only has a single shot.
