The Day Addex Found His Weakness

The Realm was quiet. Sheep were frolicking about. Cows were being slaughtered. The occupants of Realm were just living in harmony. Until...

One day. The King of the East, Addex, searched for new foes to vanquish. He had fought with the mightiest of dragons. The largest of spiders. Hordes of the undead. He was described as being godlike, even as a dwarf. People thought he was unstoppable, undefeatable. He really lived up to his reputation. Songs were sung about him, people would tremble in fear yet delight as such a powerful man was stood right before their trembling eyes.

Addex got restless in searching for new foes. He had spent months going through tome after tome to discover new creatures to slay. But to no avail. He could find nothing that he had already vanquished. Nothing at all.

He had heard of this mage. A wind mage. Vaati was his name. He was a powerful mage, not much was known about him though. He was only seen once every few years. People would wonder what he would do during those years of isolation inside his tower. Experiments? Slumber? Travelling to other realms? The possibilities were endless, and even now, nothing much is known about him. Addex thought that maybe, just maybe, Vaati would know of a foe suitable for one of such a high stature. Therefore he set off on a journey to find him in his tower.

Knock. Knock. Silence.

Addex waited as the thunderous roar of the knocking echoed throughout the tower. Minutes passed. Hours passed. Addex sat down and waited humbly. Eventually he heard footsteps approaching. The door suddenly opened. And who was there? An old man. Vaati.

Vaati made no noise. He just stared at Addex in content. After waiting for a few minutes in silence, Addex walked towards Vaati to greet him. The mage just turned around and walked back into his tower, leaving the door open. As Addex followed, he noticed vast expanses of bookshelves wherever he looked. The mysteries buried within these books must be worth more than the Realm could provide!

Addex spoke up; with his thunderous voice he questioned Vaati about new foes to vanquish. Without a single shred of emotion, Vaati described a terrifying beast, of which it is not one, but three souls of the undead, trapped into one body.

Addex was intrigued, with this knowledge and a tome given to him by Vaati, he ventured out of the tower. But before he was away from the tower grounds, a bellowing voice cried out "DO...NOT...GO...ALONE."

Addex was confused. What was this voice? Was it Vaati? Was it his head? He just carried on with his travels back home, and on the way decapitating any undead on his way though the Hellish parts of the Realm.

Weeks passed, but eventually Addex was back at his kingdom in the East. People had already heard of what he was going to face, and whilst nobody knew of what exactly it was, they knew it must've been dangerous if only the mystical Vaati knew about it. Addex feared nothing though. Whether it was confidence or plain arrogance, nobody was completely sure.

He began to prepare for the slaying. He stocked up on magical potions to empower his body, the sharpest of blades, the sturdiest of bows and the finest of all the armours the Realm has ever seen. Once Addex had enough provisions to last, he set sail for an island stated in the tome Vaati gave him.

As the shore approached, Vaati could tell that this was no ordinary island. The island was overgrown with towering oak trees dark enough to appear burnt, yet were still flourishing. Sunflowers inhabited all around the center of the island in vast, fertile plains. The island looked like paradise. Addex couldn't understand why other Realm inhabitants had not discovered this island beforehand, surely someone must've wanted a land like this to live at?

He followed the map until it lead to a small sand outcrop just off the main island with deep chasm in the center. He started to descend down into the dark abyss with nothing but his torch and faith in Specalios to guide him. Once down there, he fought off hordes of the undead and living alike seemingly defending this small crypt at the far end of the cave down below the surface. As he approached the crypt, he could see the distorted, yet frightened faces of what looked like fellow humans of the Realm. Soul sand they called it.

As instructed by the tome, Addex placed the heads of undead beings onto the soul sand and moved back.

He heard a rumbling sound.

Then a screech. A piercing screech.

Then an explosion. A three-headed monster from childrens' nightmares emerged from the smoke and rubble. Heads of mortals were flying around the cave everywhere, exploding upon contact with anything. Addex was cunning though, he had devised an explosive trap for the monster to help him in his struggle to conquer the fiend.

But to no avail.

The trap backfired as the Wither -called so in the book -being smarter than Addex could've imagined, ended up exploding the trap prematurely. The explosion didn't seem to harm the creature in the slightest, but it had seriously wounded Addex. Being a dwarf meant that the explosion threw him across the cave like a ragdoll. Bones were broken, ribs were shattered, blood was spilled. Addex was defeated. He started to crawl to the surface, clinging onto the rope to slowly lift himself back up to the light. The King of the East had lost.

A voice started bellowing again. "I...WARNED...YOU..."

As Addex began to lose consciousness, he saw a figure in the distance. The hooded figure became larger as it approached the incapacitated King of the East. A glimpse of inside the hood made Addex realise just before he fell into unconsciousness that this person, was an old man. Vaati.

A sudden pain jolted through Addex as he woke up screaming. His bones were fixed, his cuts were no more, his body was total again, and if anything, he felt even more powerful. Vaati had used his magic on him to heal his ruined body. He thanked Vaati for the favour and as he stood up, Vaati nodded his head in appreciation and acknowledgement. Vaati started to speak. Warning Addex about the danger he has unleashed upon the Realm, and that he needs help in vanquishing it.

Vaati and Addex began to descend into the abyss to confront the horror that awaited. The monster, the Wither, had started to destroy the cave and explode the rock above until it managed to get to the surface. The duo had to act fast, or the whole of the Realm would be in danger. Addex with us sword, Vaati with his staff, the pair battled with the beast for what seemed like forever. As time passed, they realised they could not win this battle with just two people. Help was needed. Vaati sent a message out via the goat-like inhabitants of the island to the Great Alexandros to help them. Alexandros received the message quickly, as he was out exploring for new lands to settle down at nearby. Once he found out he set off straight away to sail back to the main town on the Realm to warn fellow inhabitants of the danger and to get assistance.

Nobody would step up to the challenge. Alexandros was devastated by the fact that everybody was more worried about their own lives than saving the lives of others. He got desperate. Addex and Vaati needed assistance, and they needed it quickly. Alexandros offered up his legendary pickaxe to any person who delivers the final blow to the Wither, hoping at least one person would step forward.

Three heroes stepped forward. Chintios the Clumsy, a rather simple man. Hannares of the Southern Hills, a local miner. And Danarios of the Rocky Cliffs, a builder who often enjoyed fishing. With these three heroes, Alexandros set sail with them to the island. The trip was rather short as the wind and tide were with them on the way there. Once at the island, the heroes met up with Addex and Vaati to begin the battle and save the Realm from utter chaos and destruction. Unfortunately, Alexandros was facing issues internally. Plagued by an injury whilst exploring. Healers called this injury Literal Aerobic Gastration, or L.A.G. for short. Alexandros had to therefore view the fight from a distance.

As the heroes approached the now destroyed cave, they encountered a mineshaft. This mineshaft had plentiful treasures in for everyone but also housed the Wither, which was lying in wait for them. As Chintios approached the mineshaft, a deep roar was heard from one of the nearby tunnels. As the hero approached the tunnel hastily, the other heroes could not catch up and were therefore split off from him. A scream was heard, and then an explosion. And that was the last ever recording of Chintios the Clumsy.

As the heroes huddled together; Danarios devised a plan to lure the Wither out of the tunnels and into the destroyed cave to be fought from all angles. He asked Addex to approach the Wither and draw it's attention back to the cave. As Addex was a dwarf, he had the advantage of being small enough to allude most projectiles thrown at him from the creature and the speed needed to escape its presence. As the Wither came into the expansiveness of the cave, the heroes attacked. Hannares shooting from afar with her bow. Addex fighting face-to-face with the beast. Danarios hitting the monster from different angles with swift speed. Whilst Vaati was casting spells to harm the fiend.

The battle raged on for over a day. Hannares started to use pebbles to replace her lost arrows. Addex's armour broke and he subsequently became injured as a result of this. Danarios wounded the creature immensely before he was sadly poisoned by the blood expelled from the creature and left paralysed. This left only Vaati and Hannares left to face the beast. Hannares dragged the wounded away from the battle to preserve their life as Vaati fought valiantly against the monster. Even more hours passed by as both Vaati and the Wither were exhausted. As his staff was destroyed by an explosion, he picked picked up Addex's now-rusty sword, charged at the Wither and cut through one of the heads. Hannares started to volley pebbles at one of the other heads to distract it whilst Vaati sliced off another head. The last head was in the middle of the now-screeching Wither. The screams and cries of agony ripped through Hannares, making her unable to focus on anything. This left Vaati no choice but to end it, once and for all. Vaati prepared his stance, twisted his body, and threw the sword, past the blood and rubble, through the darkening chasm until it slid right through the Wither's last head.

The following explosion was enough to knock Hannares and Vaati out cold as the Wither bent down into a crying position and screamed whilst its body was shredded to pieces in an explosion resulting in the collapse of most of the cave. The Wither was dead. Addex managed to crawl across the now-collapsing chasm until he found a bright light, the heart of the Wither. He pocketed it and commenced dragging Vaati out of the chasm to the rope leading to the surface. Danarios managed to help Hannares out of the chasm as well, as Alexandros pulled up the rope carrying the heroes back to the safety of the Overworld of the Realm. It was over.

Alexandros kept his promise, but stated that Danarios severely weakened the Wither, giving Vaati the chance to vanquish it. Danarios therefore got the pickaxe, but Vaati was promised a new staff, imbued with the power of a god.

Addex began to understand that he could not do everything alone and needed to work with other inhabitants of the Realm to gain further prosperity. He began to work more with the others and created a vast kingdom devoted to peace and prosperity.

Vaati went back to his tower, but started to visit inhabitants of the Realm to help with normal problems as he realised that the Realm needs him, not books.