This will be my fourth and last entry. When night falls, I’m leaving to find the Alliance. I must organise my thoughts and present them to their leaders tactfully. There can’t be any misunderstanding or vagueness.
This morning, the Oracle approached the elders about revealing the hidden chambers sealed beneath our home. They concluded that seeing the secrets our people protect early will help me understand why we must stay isolated.
Deep in the abyss of the sea, the elders showed me the Drowning Machine; a deadly weapon created from arcane magic and ancient machinery.
The alien-like Darkness Elementals that emerged during the Planar War were brutal. Our songs could lure them into the sea, but they wouldn’t drown or get crushed by the water pressure.
One of them, the creature of Darkness that was as vast as the night sky, only growing larger as it ate, threatened to take the sea after it took the continent. The songs of my ancestors weren’t enough to even distract it.
Lady Neso urged her followers to sing louder, and poured her own power into their bodies. Those Elves were overwhelmed by her power, perished, and caused horrific damage to the coast. The songs began to work on the Colossal Elemental but in the process, they lured scores of innocents to drown at sea.
Guilt must have wracked the Avatar’s mind, or maybe her pride ached. She quickly threw the blame on those Darkness Elementals. The land and sky dwellers lost in our songs had nothing to do with her. They didn’t matter.
Protecting her followers mattered… or rather, herself.
Fear and terror drove my ancestors to feverishly work and create a second weapon to accompany our songs. One that should never have been brought into this world.
The Drowning Machine.
Lady Neso said she wanted to protect us. What she really wanted was for that wretched weapon to devastate her enemies’ bodies and pride as some sort of recompense for what they did to her.
According to the elders, the Drowning Machine is made of two components. In simple terms, an input and output. The input is where we feed it ‘fuel.’ The Pedestal. At first, my ancestors used their mana.
The output is launched by the entirety of the Temple of Water itself. As it consumes fuel, the Drowning Machine would channel power throughout the Temple, capitalising on Lady Neso’s magic and jursdiction - Water, the Seas, and the Currents.
My ancestors discovered that because she can control currents, our unique magic could as well. Though Lady Neso ruled over the sea, she had no right to manipulate the other elements. Mortals, like us, are not beholden to the same rules.
Currents also exist in the air. The Elves need only direct their spells at the sky.
It was enough to tear a piece off of the Colossus as it was feeding on the shore, but it wasn’t slain. Pain wrenched its attention in our direction. It dove into the Sea to devour us.
To protect her people, the then current Champion of Water, Undine, sacrificed her mind, body, and soul. She stood atop the Pedestal of the Drowning Machine, and the currents around the Colossal Darkness Elemental ripped it in two.
One half sunk to the bottom of the sea where it continues to bleed, never to escape. The other frantically swam back to shore and wriggled like a giant worm, crawling into the shadows to hide.
The oceans stilled, until laughter echoed across the surface and churned the waves into a foamy white. My ancestors slowly realised that this was their Avatar relishing in the pathetic state of her enemy - all while her Champion lay dead in the dark.
Water Elementals approached and began to panic. Undine’s soul had not flowed back to the Plane of Water.
It was gone, erased. The Drowning Machine destroyed that beast, and the price was Undine’s very existence.
If Lady Neso discovered what had happened to her Champion, she would lash out violently at anything that looked like an enemy. And having the Drowning Machine at ready was too great a temptation.
A decision had to be made.
The Elves of old composed a song that would hide them from the eyes of the world and their Avatar.
She and the Water Elves of the rivers, lakes and other oceans came to their own conclusions, thinking their children and brethren dead - Casualties of the Planar War.
But we were always here, our continued existence a betrayal to Lady Neso. It would need to stay that way, or else the Drowning Machine would be rediscovered. The fear of the Sea would dwarf that of Darkness.
I was horrified and confused. If this weapon was so destructive, why aren’t we dismantling it?
“Just in case…” One of the elders began, immediately falling silent. In case what? In case of emergency? In case there was another Colossal Elemental?
That was when I saw the sparks in their eyes. A tiny of ambition, and maybe they were waiting for another Champion of Water to be born in the Temple of Water… Me?
The Oracle knew exactly what I was thinking and tried to convince me that this wasn’t the case. They would never sacrifice one of their loved ones. But weapons aren’t made to rot and rust. They kept it here just in case there was an easier way to use it.
The Alliance needs to know about the Drowning Machine. It has the power to erase souls and wound gods. In the wrong hands, it could be aimed at a city of innocents. But in the hands of a madman… what would happen if it was aimed at the core of Lore?
I need to leave.
Hi there! Just adding a note that Miss Aquella likely wrote this next entry a few hours after she decided on leaving. Okay, now back to reading :^)
The Elves began to panic before I could run away, yelling that we’ve been discovered.
Someone followed me to the Temple.
Their ships are above us, and they’ve pierced through the barriers shrouding our presence.
But they’re humans, how could they know how to dispel Elven spells?
Could it have been that woman, the one with the red and blue eyes…
The Oracle is herding us deeper into Temple’s Abyss, and needs me to help. Those invaders were armed and knew where the children and elderly slept, aiming there first. It’s like they could see through the walls! This is all my fault.
Hello again! Poor Aquella, this next entry was written during our siege of the Temple. I made a copy and attached it to the obelisk up on Ashray’s beach for you to find. I thought it’d be a good hook to reel you in.
I have not seen sunlight in what feels like weeks. Nothing can pierce the abyss of the sea, and nothing escapes. Though our food stores can keep us alive for up to a year, longer if we ration carefully, our minds will not survive the silence.
The little ones cry “Aquella, are they gone yet? Can we sing ours Elves to sleep?”
Then, they hear the whispers. The intruders outside.
The banging on the barricaded doors starts again. The walls shake and that voice calls out, urging me to let them in.
If those voices do not cease, I will confront them myself. Or perhaps, I can send a sign? Maybe up on the surface, someone will hear our pleas and gaze into the deep.
And now… Aquella’s last entry.
No one came to our aid.
They didn’t have time to arrive, because I was so stupid.
The voices didn’t case, so I approached the door to confront them. One of their leaders, a man who spoke cheerily, promised that he wouldn’t hurt me or my people.
I could come outside, lock the doors behind me, and we could just shake hands and talk about the Temple.
I thought we could settle this peacefully. Perhaps it was a misunderstanding, and I would be the only one in danger.
I stepped outside, shook hands with the intruders’ leader, and completely lose control of my body. My hands moved on their own, knocking on the doors to the Abyss.
The Oracle let me in and hugged me as magic gathered at my fingertips.
The intruders watched as I killed my dearest friend with my own spells.
The other Elves ran towards me, but I couldn’t scream. Controlled by some invisible force, I slew them one by one.
When the others realised what was happening, they tried to save me and died.
They tried to run but I chased them down and they died. None of our warriors could raise their weapons against me. The elders demanded my freedom before falling to pieces, and my people cried until the Temple went completely silent.
They all died. I killed them with my own hands.
Suddenly, I fell to my knees, and my voice came back. The man I shook hands with shouted over my screams.
“A promise is a promise.” He said. But to his disappointment, his companion turned their blade on me. It was the same woman that I met on the beach of Ashray.
I escaped but they’ll soon discover me. Or, they let me swim to the base of the Temple so they could follow.
It was my naivety that led to this massacre. My people are gone. Their voices have joined in song with our ancestors.
I don’t deserve to be with them. I don’t deserve forgiveness.
But if I stay here and weep, the intruders will find the Drowning Machine. I need to get up, do something, DO SOMETHING! Rereading old journal entries won’t accomplish anything.
Please, I just wanted to be happy.
Oh, looks like it’s my turn!
Well! This journal doesn’t make us look very good!
Then again, Aquella was about to share the existence of the Drowning Machine with the Alliance. I could tell that no amount of reason could stop her from revealing the truth to all, including the Empire.
But the Eyes (not her real name) went too far. What a shame, Aquella was a sweet girl. Just naive. Oh, but who knows how long Aquella would have stayed that way. The elders she complained about used to be young too.
People change. In this case, for the very worst. A weapon like the Drowning Machine is a terrible responsibility indeed. But don’t you think Chaos, the Queen of Monsters, and Malgor were worth the cost?
I guess they knew you would fix everything, but that doesn’t give them an excuse to laze around.
When we gave Queen Victoria the Temple of Water and the Drowning Machine (after we mopped up all the Water Elves and dumped them outside), the researchers and construction workers made huge advancements.
The Drowning Machine could erase souls, preventing them from returning as undead.
Now, we have a permanent way to defeat evil necromancers and other ne’er do wells. Converting that function into a form that could be mass produced and weaponised was an incredible feat! They were on the verge of more ground breaking discoveries, but progress came to a halt. Without the Elves to control them, the songs embedded in the Temple started to lure all sorts of creatures in - including Kathool.
Not only that but The Drowning Machine - terribly glum name, glad Dr. Noelle renamed it Sparagmos - was running low on fuel. Aquella didn’t know, but the elders were slowly feeding it the remains of that Colossal Darkness Elemental.
Two huge problems, and that’s where you come in! So sorry for the smoke and mirrors! We needed you to visit the base and make it all the way down to Sparagmos and Kathool. Knowing your charisma, I’m sure some nosey Evil ticks would latch on to your back to see what Swordhaven was up to after the Alliance dissolved.
I hope it was a big one. If we were lucky, it was the Archfiend that followed you. Maybe the Lord of the Legion, or even the Empress herself. I made sure their spies found just enough intel to pique their curiosity.
Then, I had a great idea! I attached these journal entries to the Obelisks on each floor in a specific order, hoping it’d entice you to dig deeper. It’d let you discover Sparagmose naturally, without letting your companions know what it could actually do.
Dr. Noelle is oh so homesick, and willing to put everything on the line for forgiveness. We asked her to fix the fuel problem by allowing Nulgath / Dage / Gravelyn / Dingo the Dangerous / whoever the heck, the opportunity to gain ‘possession’ of Sparagmos.
If you’re reading this, that means Dr. Noelle cut off the fuel lines. You’re safely separated from your companion under the guise of fixing those lines.
Sparagmos, the Drowning Machine, deprived of its primary fuel source, will switch to the new source - whoever is standing on that Pedestal upstairs.
With that amount of power, it could do so much more than deep fry Kathool. Good will triumph over Evil for centuries to come.
Back when I was younger and dumber, I would have prayed that the Avatars would smite Evil.
But they did nothing until they were directly threatened. Chaos and Evil reduced the Good and just to nothing but bottom feeders suckered on to their knees in times of crisis.
Then you came along, defeated Chaos, and saved the world from Malgor.
The Gods have failed us, so we’ll make our own Gods. Name our own Heroes.
Doing the right thing means bloodying our hands sometimes, but that’s for me to worry about. Not you.
Our deepest gratitude, my Sovereign Eternal. I hope that I will have the honor of meeting you in person someday.
XOXOXOXOXOXO
The Hands of the Jus Divinum