Dark Lord Rising [GAME]

Foreword from the author: in case you didn't get it from the tag in the name this is a story written to be read in game mode, given the way it is written reading it without game mode active has no interest as I didn't add a Canon path to be followed and a lot of text and options will be missing.

Fools, everyone of them! What right do they have to expell me? To banish me? How could I have guessed that the girl I gave the love philter was the arch chancellor's little niece. Besides if that old coot actually practiced magic rather than spending his time bothering me, the mandrake extract I borrowed from is lab would have been fresh. His little niece would have ended in my bed rather than in the infirmary puking her guts out.

My name is Silas Dunmore and this is how it all began. I was born in a farm in the small village of Sheepmeadow , everything you need to know about it is in the name. My mom was a naive farm girl that believed since before my birth that my dad would come back. My dad, we'll it is more complicated. Sometimes Gods like to fool around with mortals, sometimes children are born that way. Go down a few generations of this demigod breeding with mortals and you get someone far from godlike power but with still longevity, health, strength or powers. That is who my dad is, a scion of Malak god of chaos and mischief.

When I turned 13 years old a strange mark appeared on my left hand, a mark that no one could see. I looked it up and learned that way that I was marked by Malak. With the mark came the powers and I was soon noticed by a wandering mage that insisted that I come to study at the Academy in Taranis the capital. I spent 5 years being hated by teachers and students both for being smarter than them and better than them. All right there was also this little disagreement about rules, morality and boundaries, most of them insisted that they were things to follow and respect at all times even when they are hindering you, I tended to disagree. It made the teacher rather mad at me but because the philter failed they though it was my aim to make her puke, in fact not giving them enough to expel me.

What did it was Gnash it was my final project, the one I was going to showcase to become a full mage and no longer a student. You would think they would be impressed that a young boy that grew in a farm and is barely 18 years old was able to build a flesh golem from pieces of orcs and trolls bought at the Arena. But no, of course not! All they cared about was how evil it was and the fact that I borrowed a Keldrin crystal from their reserve to animate it. Keldrin crystals, gems of immense power and very handy to perform rituals or create artefacts, you would think they would store them more safely.

I didn't wait for my hearing before the council, those never go well, the old bearded mages on it are too close minded. I knew that I would be expelled and banished (some stupid edict outlawing necromancy dating from a few centuries.), they would also would want to take Gnash apart to retrieve their crystal.

Under the cover of the night I escaped, not a difficult task, they thought that asking me not to leave was a sufficient insurance that I would not flee . Gnash dressed in many layers of rags and covered by a large cloak was carrying a chest and a few bags on an harness tied to his hunched back, I wouldn't leave behind anything of what I owned. (and a few things that I didn't own neither) I spent a lot on things I used to build Gnash and only have {Shillings} shillings left.

Once in the streets I had a choice to make. Which direction to take to exit the city? I take a look at my map.

Sailing downstream on the Varlan River to the coast west of here? To the north gate and on the road to the frozen wastes and their barbarian tribes? East through the forest towards the Skywall mountains? South towards the shattered realms (dozens of small feudal states each under the delusion that they are a kingdom in their own right despite the fact that you can cross some of them on foot in less than an hour) maybe trying to go home?

author's note: for now only the east path will be there, I put the others so the chapters are in order when I'll write the others branches. Activate game mode go to the Read First chapter and then go east