Scroll of Betrayal

The Third Scroll of Lylanth: Betrayal

	Himalayas, 3rd Millennium BCE.
	ithout fanfare, Lylanth returned to the city we once built disguised in a simple white mask. At first I believed her to be nothing more than a visitor to our fine city. It wasn't until she removed her mask that I recognized her for who she was. I stood in stunned silence as I beheld what had become of her. Gone was the warm smile that had once brought joy to my hearts. Her face and body were now twisted and wracked with agony. Her skin wasn’t quite skin anymore, it was pale and lifeless. It no longer held to her bones like it should, and seemed to droop as if the flesh were trying to crawl back into the earth from whence it came. Her eyes were now empty vessels, reflecting nothing of the person I once loved. I was left with the unsettling impression that she was no longer quite real. This reunion was to be more horrific that I could have ever imagined, for she did not travel alone. She brought with her a plague more ghastly than anything I believed was possible. People within the city began dying en masse; their bodies split open and laid bare. The blood of the fallen flowed through the streets like a grim reaper; infecting and killing without remorse.
	In the mass of confusion that followed, she escaped the city with a speed and ferocity I had never seen before. At that moment I was left with a difficult choice: Do I pursue Lylanth and find out what happened to her? Or do I stay and try to save the remaining survivors from the deadly blight that had befallen them? Although my hearts longed to find her, I had a chance to save many of my closest friends. They would surely die without my help.

	“Are you telling me you could’ve stopped her right there and you chose not to?” I said, feeling a swell of anger rise from within me.
	“Yes.” Although he said very little, I looked into his eyes and could see the source of his pain. Without a word I now understood why he felt such a deep and maddening sorrow. For each person destroyed by her was in part his fault. Each village gone ripped a little more deeply into his soul. The burden must be unbearable.
	“Were you able to save any of them?” I said apologetically, now feeling sorry for confronting him with my anger.
	“Only a small handful survived. Not even a single family managed to escape the plague unscathed.”
	“It must have been horrible”
	“In one fell swoop, she devastated the community I loved. And yet it was a small tragedy compared to what was to follow. But even after all these centuries I still miss those who were lost.”
	“There’s one thing I don’t understand.” I continued, trying to grasp the implications of his story. “You said this happened a long time ago, but how could she...or you survive for so long?”
	“My people, although not immortal, can live for many centuries before our life cycles end. As for her...”
	“Yes?”
	“Although she was once human, that is now no longer the case.”
	“I still don’t understand.”
	“Soon you will.” He placed another branch on the fire and continued.

	After I helped to bury the last of our dead I had little choice but to follow her. I had to find out what happened and why she would bring such pain and misery to the people she once loved so much. At first I feared finding her would be difficult but the carnage and destruction left in her wake made for an easy trail to follow. I pursued her for many months and was shocked by the horrors she committed. Whole villages were destroyed. Countless people slaughtered. And yet she continued relentlessly. I found it impossible to believe this was the same Lylanth I once knew.
	I was beginning to despair. Her trail was easy to follow but I had to find some way to anticipate where she was going. To catch up with her before she committed any more atrocities. Her trail soon led me through the remains of a long forgotten city enveloped by the dark of nightfall. The glow of the gibbous moon illuminated the stone rubble before me and cast ominous shadows about. With my superior vision, I could see the faint outline of a person rummaging through the debris. As I cautiously moved forward I could see this man was talking, but I failed to see whom he was talking to.
	“What do you mean I’m not gonna find it in here?” he ranted. “Its gotta’ be here.”
	His movements were frantic as he darted from one pile of rubble to the next. I was now close enough to see a vacant look in his eyes. They were bloodshot and wild, not unlike the look of a rabid dog. His fingers were bloody from endless hours of digging. Fearing discovery, I pressed myself up against a stone pillar. My pallid skin shifted and turned until it took on the texture and color of the stone around me. In effect, I had become invisible to everything around me.
	Imagine my surprise when this strange man stared right at me. His eyes grew wider and his face melted into a look of terror. Somehow he could see right through my camouflage. He screamed, “NO! Not Her! Not Her!” and proceeded to claw his eyes out with his own bare hands. At first I was stunned. How could a man do such a thing to himself? I quickly regained my composure and rushed towards him to stop this self-mutilation. By the time I reached him, his eyes were badly gouged and bloody; clearly beyond any hope of treatment. The loss of blood coupled with the obvious torment he had suffered from brought this poor soul to the brink of death. I was unable to help him in any way other than provide comfort in his final tortured moments of life. In his delirium he spoke of the horrors imposed upon him by Lylanth. It was she who snatched him from his own bed as he slept. At first she appeared as a beautiful creature, with passion and lust in her eyes. Only to become a monster who twisted and warped his mind into sludge. He ranted about the atrocities She forced into his thoughts. The horrors he quietly succumbed to. She coerced him into becoming her slave, and he willingly helped in the destruction of his own village. She perverted his sanity and transformed him into the inchoate thing that lay before me. A minion without will or purpose. And with his dying breath he told me of her plans. Of how she traveled northwest towards the land of Sumer, towards the cradle of civilization. At last I would have a chance to confront her before she could do more damage.