Druidos

Druidos was one of the primordial gods. It had no gender. It was the eldest of the elders, even older than Krespa and Zenus. Legend has it that the 'God' was residing somewhere in the vast expanse of the cosmos, deep in godly meditation called Nuzkaen in the Ancient Language.

Appearance
Druidos has no distinct appearance, it constantly changes its form. It is usually said to take the appearance of the person it meets, which rarely ever happens. But ancient scriptures depict it having some form a or another, but never really detailing its features.

History
''Druidos was the result of an accidental collision between the Divine spheres. The Divine Spheres had been enormous balls of energy that had revolved around a particular position(the Altar of Zenus in the future) in the cosmos, usually said to be the centre. They sustained their energy by absorbing the essence of souls. They were believed to never collide with one another, only to do so when the time was right. That time seemed to have arrived when on one occasion, the Spheres collided. And a God was born.''

The Master Blacksmith
Doric was a humble blacksmith. He used to smelt weapons for the King of Arookh, the biggest kingdom in the realm of Ansgira. He was proud of his profession and was frequently rewarded by the king. Doric made the best weapons in all of Ansgira. The Royal army of King Morvik rode into battle with perfectly crafted weapons and always emerged victorious. As a result, most of Ansgira was conquered by them. Doric was pleased with his life and wanted nothing more in life.

A Failed Love Life
Doric had never married as the ladies of Arookh considered him ugly due to many burns that covered his skin, disfiguring him. His only friend was a young lady, Gretchen, a daughter of a merchant, who always soothed him when he got pained, both physically and emotionally. She grew to love him, but alas, she was forced to marry a wealthy merchant by her father and moved out of Arookh. Doric was pained to know that she had left. But he decided that he didn't need a partner in life, he was content to do his work in his cosy shed.

The Kidnapping
Once, while Doric was working in his shed, a group of strangers came to meet him. He immediately recognised them as the thugs working for the King of Donovia, a neighbouring kingdom. Doric knew the reason for their presence; the King of Donovia, Fodo, wanted to conquer Morvik's mighty empire. The crafty king knew that he could never win in a fair fight with him, his weaponry weren't up to their standards. So he chose the easiest way possible, kidnapping the man responsible for making the weapons in the first place: Doric.

Before he could react, the thugs expertly bundled him in a bag(with a hole to breathe, of course) and whisked him out of the kingdom.

Treachery
Trapped in a rotting prison for several weeks, Doric was never given enough food to sustain his health. The guards revealed to him that they burnt the Weaponry of their rivals as they couldn't gather all the weapons in time. Therefore,The King had made it clear that the blacksmith would get them only if he made them the weapons. But Doric was extremely loyal to the King, he would never betray him even if it costed his life. But King Fodo was prepared to force him in any way possible.

One day, when Doric was lying in the prison, a guard informed him that the king demanded him to make weapons right way. He then proceeded to explain the king's scheme. King Fodo had apparently captured the love of his life, Gretchen and was preparing to torment her in the nearby room. The guards then allowed him to see his lover squeal in terror in the king's iron grasp. Doric couldn't fight them any longer, he finally gave up as he hadn't the heart to see his sweetheart, his sole companion in the dark path of his life, his soul, scream in agony in front of him. He reluctantly asked them to lead him to their shed.

The Battle of Konhei Hills
The king of Donovia, Fodo, challenged Morvik for a battle. King Morvik was upset with the kidnapping of his expert blacksmith but he accepted the challenge for fear of losing face in front of his people. The fateful battle took place in Konhei Hills. With meagre weapons, the Royal army was no match for the Donovian army. As a result, the warriors were butchered to death without any mercy. King Morvik was publicly executed in the City Square. The humiliating part was that Doric saw the entire affair. Gretchen was executed soon after.

The Afterlife
That night, Doric was offered the chance to become the kingdom's blacksmith. But Doric decided that he'd had enough and rejected the offer, cursing the guard. The guard then countered by informing him that he was to be executed the following day, if he didn't comply. That night Doric couldn't sleep. He kept thinking about the ruined empire of Arookh and his beloved Gretchen. He decided to choose the latter option of dying. When he finally slept, he dreamt that he was in an unearthly place. There he heard a voice assuring him that his death won't be in vain, that the afterlife held him much promise. The following day he was executed.

Retribution
Doric's soul had created a forge, called the Forge of the Divine, in the Astral Plane. An unknown force had manipulated it. It crafted a divine weapon to punish the kingdom of Donovia. The weapon was sent to wreak havoc in Donovia. The days that followed were hell on earth for the people of Donovia. Their king had died, the cities destroyed. Food was hard to find as a famine plagued their kingdom. Corpses littered the streets, the very air itself was as toxic as poison. But they all knew the horrible truth: the blacksmith who had been executed was striking back. The whole kingdom trembled and ultimately fell due to his wrath. Then, the soul of Doric went straight to the Astral Plane. It was the first of many to come...

The Student
The weather was warm. It was a perfect time for Iris to proved her worth. The young lady went to her mentor and told him she was ready for the test. The mage decided to give it a chance. But he wasn't so sure. Maverick thought Iris wasn't fit to be a mage. She had failed in all her previous tests. He wasn't very much happy with his new student. He only accepted to train her because she was his niece. He already predicted what was going to happen.

Iris took a deep breath and shouted "Kakana-Seraphis". Nothing happened. The spell was supposed to make it rain. Her mentor then told her to practice again. Clearly, he was disappointed.

The Quest
Iris had a dream, that night.

''She is hiding behind a bush when she heard someone scream. She then sees a mysterious figure holding a thick book. The figure doesn't look friendly. And then it sees her with its murderous eyes. It is coming towards her....''

Iris woke up with a scream, and then calmed down realising it was a dream.

The Dead Sorcerer
The following day, Iris decided to take a break from sorcery, much to her uncle's joy. She then went into the forest to relax a little. There, she saw a person lying next to a tree. Upon inspection, she found out that it was an old sorcerer who seemed to be asleep. She tried to wake him up, then, to her horror, she realised that he was dead. She was disgusted at such a terrible act. Why would someone kill a man? For the book? She would never know. She also noticed that he clutched a book in his hand.The book from her dream....

The Book of Secrets
At first, Iris wanted to avoid the book whose cover read: The Book of Secrets. She wanted to stay far away from it as she knew it had something to do with the mystery man, but curiosity won her in the end. She decided to take a peek inside. In the first page itself, there was a single word scrawled in red ink.....or dried blood?

Kaangh

She read it aloud, then closed the book. She waited for something to happen. Nothing happened. Strange. She then went home with the book, chanting the incantation as she felt compelled to do so.

The Transformation
In the following weeks, Iris skipped mage-training. She was busy reading the different incantations in the book....she just couldn't stop herself from reading it. Her uncle became worried of her health; he was unaware of the book she hid in her room. She soon found out that the incantations had effect if uttered properly. She was intrigued by their supernatural powers. In order to master the spells in the book, she didn't sleep at nights; her health worsened day by day. Also she noticed that she was transforming physically also. Her body gradually became transparent and ghostly, shadowy. Her eyes slowly but surely began to glow read. Her hair grew longer, unnaturally so. She became addicted to the Book of Secrets.

Her uncle soon noticed her transformation. He questioned her, but she gave no straight answers. Her uncle tried all that he could to cure her of her ailment, but the magic that controlled her was too strong. He knew she was hiding something.

One night Iris entered her room to take her book, when she saw her uncle searching it. She cried out in anger, told him to stop searching. But the Master Mage wouldn't listen. Finally he found her book, hidden under her bed. He immediately became angry for keeping such a dark secret away from him; he began to throw the book outside. And then she exploded with rage.

Ultimate Power
She could feel the energy coursing through her, she was unstoppable. She was the Deathmonger. She attacked with a barrage of spells. They magics had devastating effects. They destroyed the surroundings,almost killing her mentor.