The Stone and the Flame

In the years before the Third War of Reality, a girl was born in a far flung, rural region of one of the ancient human kingdoms.  From almost the moment she could walk, her deep red hair attracted the attentions of the people near parents' farm.  She explored the forests near her home incessently.

Before she was very old, her brother was born.  Even as an infant, he was large.  The bond between them was instantaneous.  By the time the boy could walk, his sister was taking him on her adventures.

Both siblings developed a stubborn streak as they grew, often taking on difficult tasks and refusing to give them up until completed.  For her creativity and inquisitiveness, the girl was often called the Flame, for fire has often been the companion of inspiration and wisdom.  The boy, who had grown sturdy and large to match his stubborness, was called the Stone, for few things are more steadfast than rock.

Together they worked their parents' farm, far from the politics and pressures of the Human kingdoms.  Still, their mother told them stories of how one day a War would come and reshape the very Reality of their lives.

In the last days before the War, an army began to rise from within the lands of the Humans and the Fae.  It carried allegiance to no one land, but honored them all.  Led by the Great Sorceress and the Child of Light, the force was the Watchtower, the army founded by the Heroes of the past two Wars for Reality.  They called to all the citizens of the lands they crossed, asking for those who would pledge themselves to maintain the balance of reality, not raising up one race over the others.

Having been told of the War and the exploits of the Watchtower time and again, the girl called the Flame and her brother called the Stone left their home and their safety to pledge themselves to the cause of the Artifacts of Fate.

And so, like so many of their generation far across the Human and Fae lands, they went to War.

The Devourer

Once there were two mighty sisters of the Fae.  One was fair of hair, like the sun high above.  The other was tressed like the night of the new moon.  Together they fought across ages, decimating their foes with potent magics.

At the advent of the Second War of Reality, the city of the sisters stayed neutral.  They were not needed urgently and were powerful enough to defend their home with minimal aid.  Or so they thought.

A great wave of Kobolds, fresh from their conquest of Brute territories, swept into the kingdom, pillaging until they lay suege to the capital.  The sisters, certain as they had been of their defenses, found it too late to call for aid.  The Kobolds pressed at many fronts, stretching the forces of the Fae and Human Alliance to their limits.  The siege continued.

Finally, the Kobolds broke the city defenses.  The streamed through the streets, killing indescriminately.  The sisters, who were the city's rulers, descended to the streets and began laying waste to the Kobold forces.  For a brief time it looked as if the tide would turn, but then Kobold reinforcements appeared.

Enraged, the canine-humanoids, sought to break the city forever.  By day's end they had killed near half of the city's population, dragging some of the bodies away for foul purposes.  The dark-haired sister was among the missing.  The fair-haired sister grieved and prepared for the end.  But at the fall of night, great horns sounded, as an army led by great Heroes and the Child of Light marched toward the Kobold flank.

The remaining battle was a rout as the furious Fae if the city rose up and the Kobolds were pinned by the forces of the Child of Light.  The entire marauding band was destroyed.  The fair-haired sister, called by some the Sky Queen, pledged her aid to the Child of Light, but set out on a campaign to disrupt and defeat the Kobolds in vengeance for her presumedly dead sister.  As she fought, Heroes rallied to her cause, punishing the Kobolds for their depredations.

But the dark-haired sister lived.  Tornented by the Kobolds, she watched as they used a magical device to twist the world around them.  Soon, she became obsessed with the power of this Chaos Rune.  It beat in time with her soul, calling to her in every moment.

Chaos, she realized, was the natural state of Reality.  Consumed by this thought, she swore to return Reality to that state by destroying civilization wherever she found it.  She would create an utopia of anarchy.

After a time that could have been years or decades, she found her opportunity, breaking from her captivity and freeing the Chaos Rune from the hands of her captors.  It drifted from her reach, but she felt its call and followed.  It is not known how many times the dark-haired sister, now the Devourer of Civilization, laid her hands on the Rune, but the evidence of her passing is often clear.

In the wake of the Third War of Reality, she came to the Island Home.  There she found the Rune, secreted within the vaults of the Island Home, and a young prince, hungry for an eternal rule.  She came to him, offering herself as a quiet adviser.  And as his trust grew, she began to whisper to him of a chance at a rule lasting longer than the cycle of Reality and War.  A rule which would make him the most powerful individual in that Reality.

He accepted, becoming twisted by her touch and the touch of the Rune.  He fed on blood and the lifeforce of his people.  He usurped his father and was denied the use of the Sword of Kings by the spirits residing therin.  But this his people did not know.  They trusted him, and such was their downfall.

The Turned Lord brought down the Island Home.  He allowed the Devourer to lay the wards of the Island asunder.  He allowed his people to fail in their duties.  And the Island Home sank, sank beneath the waves forever more as the magical swords of its defenders were cast into the earth in a desperate bid to remove them from the reach of those twisted by the Turned Lord.  The Devourer had struck a blow in her campaign to sow chaos, crushing one of the bastions of Humanity, a holdout from the Third War of Reality.

Fortunately for the Human kingdoms, she lost the Rune in the collapse of the Island Home, but it would not be the last time she neared possession of it.