The Lore of Mystic Milton of Atlantis

I

Shadows of the deep earth.

Standing among the trees Milton could feel the dusk damp rising from the forest floor. The shadowed branches seemed to draw closer, finger-like, as the darkness quickened. With a silent command the staff in his hand begun to glow with a golden light, casting a soft sphere of illumination around him as he continued deeper into the woods.

He made his way past raising mounds and through the thickening wood following his path with surety, yet it was a path not at all visible to man or beast. Rain flashed crystalline against the light of his staff as he emerged into a clearing scattered with large stones that stood, seemingly alert, in the hushed space.

Milton approached a stone near to the centre of the clearing and placed his hand against the rain-slicked surface. At first cold and wet to the touch Milton could soon feel a subtle warmth seep from the stone across his palm. A steady thrum began to issue from the central stone and Milton perceived an aspect of wisdom to this emanation, an appeal to an older, inner life.

Taking a small shard of milkstone from his cloak Milton quickly traced a few lines on the stone's surface, a downward facing triangle with a thick band across the middle section.

The humming of the stone which had filled the clearing abruptly ceased. Milton stepped back and waited expectantly. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the surface of the stone began to shimmer. Milton raised his staff to the stone, the staff's light seemed to pass through the stone itself and illuminate a series of rough hewn stone steps that descended steeply into the earth itself.

'So it is true' Milton thought to himself as he tugged the brim of his hat and started down the dark stone stairs.

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The beast had lingered here, under earth, longer than its own mind could even contain. Once a creature of the forest, of riverbank and sky, it had been leeched of life and light here, as darkness enfolded upon darkness in a forgotten place of the world. And so darkness became its sustenance, its succour.

The beast lumbered these caverns, stalking between pillars of black rock, becoming attuned to the depth of the earth. Yet now after time unaccounted a light came into the beast's realm, to offend and harm. At first recoiling from this illuminated intruder the beast kept its distance, avoiding the golden glow as it moved slowly through the cavern. But a hatred was quickly mounting within the beast, the light was searing and brought pain. The beast had shifted behind the sphere of light, treading near upon the edge of the dark and its only thoughts now were of violence against that light and a return to the comfort of unperturbed darkness.

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Milton felt a shift in the darkness behind him, a slight vibration and suck of air. Turning, he raised his staff just as a black form lurched from the darkness and slammed against him with an animal-like scream, knocking him off his feet.

Lying on his back Milton quickly extended his staff and gave a loud command. A pulse of intense light blazed through the cavern, briefly illuminating the earthen upper surface and rock pillars in a harsh white light. Another scream rung out and the sounds of desperate scrapping and digging echoed around the cavern.

Milton heaved to his feet with a grunt, he fumbled a pouch on his belt and drew out a handful of powder which he threw in the air around him. The powder hung, suspended, silvery in the air and filled the cavern with a feeble light. Steadying himself with a rough pillar behind his back, Milton peered into the half lighted depths of the cavern. He could hear a slow determined scraping sound that seemed to be approaching from directly ahead.

From his cloak Milton drew a small clear crystal and held it in his palm. He stared at it intensely as if quickly trying to solve some arcane riddle or equation. With a flick of his wrist Milton sent the crystal flying out in front of him into the depths of the cavern, where it burst into a twisting vortex of fiery white energy.

There came an agonising wail as Milton saw a jagged black shape thrashing and fighting against the flaming current of the spinning vortex. Screams filled the cavern and resounded in the depths, as the dark creature struggled against the turbulent enveloping light. Milton deftly traced a pattern of lines in the air and in an instant the vortex folded in upon itself, dragging the writhing dark shape into a single point of white light, which promptly blinked out.

With a soft clink the crystal dropped to the stone floor. Milton warily advanced to retrieve it. The crystal - once clear and bright - now seemed dimmed by a black mist that swirled slowly and constantly within it.

Milton grasped the crystal and placed it gingerly within the folds of his cloak. Standing in the silvery light between pillars of dark rock Milton dusted off his trousers and adjusted his wide brimmed hat.

“The First” He thought to himself with a sense of grim satisfaction.

Entered by: 0x9D04…0922 and preserved on chain (see transaction)