DORULL STORIES - LEGEND OF ROSHNAK
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CHAPTER 1
Deep underneath Kabb’nal-An, one of the most
fecund and fruitful regions of the entire Dorull, there was a rather small,
completely isolated cave. Not more than five hundred yards long and wide, with
its ceiling standing tall between two and three hundred feet. It was an
irregular, oval shaped space, lit with the lake of lava, stretching over a
quarter of the entire size of this cavern. Decorated with hundreds of stalagmites
and stalactites, and clusters of shiny crystals and bouquets of diamonds, it
was a home of an ancient, primeval being, Badzanogh.
He was created from the first rock, in the
everlasting flames of molten magma, over ten millennia ago, when Dorull was
only but a barren, stone boulder, floating through the endless universe. The
spark of life from the stars gave him the initial upswing. Without any
knowledge, and led only by his feelings, Badzanogh began to build. To create.
With his strong, huge arms, he molded the hills, dug up the valleys and
canyons, and carved out the lakes and river beds. Out of hills grew the first
mountain. From the mountain, he made the entire range. Years came to pass, and
Badzanogh created more and more. Tiresome and highly devoted to his work, until
one day, he found himself at the same place, from which he began his journey.
It seemed that his work was done, but he
wasn’t pleased. No matter how his effort looked enormous, as he tried to make
everything different, Badzanogh couldn’t help but notice that everything was
rather monotonous. Everything around him looked boring and bland. Identical,
dark-gray shades were all around him. Only then, he realised, he was the only
one alive around here. He wished to see some other color, perhaps maybe
hundreds of them. He would love to give them names. This valley he was in,
could be green. Surrounding mountains could be a bit darker, black even. That
one field behind could be golden, or perhaps white. But more than anything
else, he wished not to be alone. He wished he could share this with someone.
This place that he created.
Badzanogh sat at a small hill. It too was
gray. Out of the small slit on his palm, elemental let the thin stream of lava,
thus creating a tiny creak. Bright red color of lava, in contrast with the
earth, was pleasing to his eyes. But his happiness was short-lived. For almost
immediately, lava started to cool down. Soon enough, it would completely merge
and drown in a surrounding dreariness. Badzanogh let out a loud sigh, looking
towards the skies. Why was he here? All alone. Was this some kind of test?
Perhaps maybe a punishment?
Deep within his thoughts, Badzanogh sat well
into the night. He would probably remain there even longer, when all of a
sudden, on the dark skies above, he spotted a slight flickering of light. Very
similar to those of the stars, that he sometimes enjoyed watching. But this
phenomenon seemed much closer, even bigger. And it looked as if it was nearing.
At first, Badzanogh thought he was imagining things. But soon enough it became
apparent that the object was rushing towards him. And at an incredible speed.
But what could it be?
Elemental didn’t have to wait much longer.
Just about ten minutes later, this falling star crash-landed on the ground.
Flash of light shone across almost half of Dorull. For a moment it seemed as if
it was day, once again. The shock wave traveled the planet almost two times,
before Badzanogh could hear a loud, thundering detonation. Clouds of dust and
smoke bursted high into the air, creating a very dense, thick mantle around the
planet. Elemental wasn’t waiting any more, as he rushed towards the place of
the impact. He had to know what this was all about.
The object fell close to him, in the nearby
valley. Badzanogh could sense the exact place, for he knew every inch of this
planet. He was connected with it. He climbed fast over the mountain, from which
he had a perfect view. A huge, several miles wide crater, disfigured the
smooth, flat, beautiful surface of this valley. And that annoyed Badzanogh a
bit, reminiscent of all those months he spent flattening the surface, to an
absolute perfection. But as soon as he saw the shiny, spherical object, in the
middle of the crater, he forgot all about it.
Drawn by this unbelievable beauty, fire
elemental rushed towards the middle. He stopped for a moment, just enough so he
could inspect it more carefully. The sphere wasn’t larger than fifteen feet in
diameter. Its perfectly polished surface was encased in some sort of nest, made
out of metal. The sphere was pulsating in a bright white light, while humming
in low, but pleasant noise. Curiosity became to much for Badzanogh. It was
unbearable. To the point, when he no longer could contain himself, grabbing the
sphere with both of his hands.
In an instant, the contact made an unbreakable
bond. Fire elemental felt their energies melding, and intertwining with each
other. And it was a rather pleasant feeling. It tickled. Badzanogh wished it
could last forever, until he realised he was losing his strength. The sphere
was draining his life. He tried to throw it away, but to no avail. It seemed as
if it was glued to his palms. He thought of smashing it against the rocks. Or
melting it with his lava stream. But nothing worked. He slouched in defeat,
realizing this could mean the end of him. Surely not. He wasn’t ready to die
yet. It was way too soon. If for nothing else, but for the fact, he was
yearning to witness the miracle of life.
All of the sudden, the sphere flashed, rolling
away from Badzanogh’s hands. Seconds later, a strong blast threw him away,
almost as far as two hundred yards. Elemental tried to stand up, but couldn’t
move even an inch. Darkness surrounded him, as he felt unbelievable tiredness.
He felt weak. For the first time, in his long existence, the fire elemental
fell asleep.
Uninterrupted slumber lasted for more than a
century, but once he finally woke up, he came to realization, that the entire
planet completely changed. Instead of boring, monotonous grayish land, he saw a
beautiful golden valley. Tall, black, mountain peaks rose above it, casting a
mile long shadow. The ground beneath his feet was soft, it crumbled under his
enormous weight, into millions tiny grains. Badzanogh realized this was the
sand.
He proceeded to run over to the other side of
the mountain range. He was excited beyond comprehension. The endless, green
carpet in front of him, was certainly the most beautiful thing he ever saw. A
field, as far as eyes could see, filled with various colorful flowers and trees.
So many trees. It was the entire forest. Badzanogh knew he could spend eternity
in this place, just to enjoy its abundant splendor.
And he probably would, if he suddenly hadn’t
come to realization, that the ground around his feet started to turn black as
coal. Badzanogh turned around, horrified once he saw the scorched tracks, where
he walked through. He had to move away from here, as soon as possible.
Otherwise, he was risking destroying all of this beauty. And that was something
elemental could never forgive himself. But he was fortunate enough. Just some
hundred yards or so, to the left, he spotted the entrance to the cave. On the
rocky ground fire would not spread, for sure. Elemental was right. But then, at
the same time, he understood what this meant for him. He could no longer move
freely on the surface.
As he glanced one last time, across this
beautiful, green valley, Badzanogh went further down the cave. He had to leave
as far as possible, if he wished to preserve this world. By putting the distance
in between, he thought, it would minimize the temptation of ever going back to
the surface. Elemental walked through tunnels, corridors and caves, always
down, into the darkness. Whenever the tunnels came to an end, Badzanogh would
dig a new one, until he’d reach a new set of caves. Tiresome, with a clear goal
in his mind, to find a lone place, closest to the center of the planet. And
there, elemental hoped, he will be far enough to do any kind of damage.
And then, a couple of days later, Badzanogh found himself at the end of his travels, as he discovered a rather small, oval cave, filled with colorful minerals and crystals. This will be his home, and at the end his tomb, he decided. Badzanogh was sure of his choice. It made sense, it was the right thing to do. He was bustling to close and block the tunnel behind him. Otherwise, elemental knew it would be much too tempting for him to venture back towards the surface. He no longer had a place there.
With a heavy
heart, quite mirthless and miserable, Badzanogh walked inside the lava lake. It
was just a couple of yards deep, but large enough, so he could completely
stretch inside of it. It wasn’t too long before elemental fell asleep, dreaming
about that beautiful, green valley. He dreamt over a thousand years. Until some
strange, unbearable noise, coming from somewhere above, woke him up from his
sleep.
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