Lore Book Last Days of Tobusekai

[Drackos]

First hand accounts of the desecration and horror seen in Tobusekai in the wake of the Cataclysm and the Basmu's Rotten plague.

I - WHIRLWIND
II - BLACKSMITH
III - SAMSARA
IV - ANOMALY I
V - ANOMALY II
VI - ANOMALY III​

 

[Drackos]

I – WHIRLWIND
Veskal’s Exchange, Tobusekai

“Boss…it’s coming. We need to go…” An underling spoke, his voice quivering with fear.

The Spider tapped his fingers together, staring at his empty ledger for the next month. For once, he felt nostalgic. A profitable business relationship, he mused again, this time silently. From outside his headquarters the Spider could hear screams of agony. He furrowed his brow; the sick, infirm, and dying were taking what little shelter they could find. The Beast had emerged from the Kaizoku two months prior, spreading its Rot throughout the land.

Last Bastion had fallen first. The Spider’s contacts at the fortress city were felled before he could even arrange for secondary supply lines to be established. For weeks now he and his people were living off of rationed water and hunted food. But even that was falling short; much of the fauna had already been claimed by the Rot and its sycophants. “Yeah, pack it up,” he finally responded, looking up from the ledger at his men. “We made a lot of money here. And…I like to think we made a difference,” his eyes were tinged with sadness, mind wandering to Solomon.

“Take me to my ship, Solas.” The Spider commanded, leaning forward in his cyberpunk metal seat. Eight would emerge from the network of fortified tunnels and buildings; sunlight strained their eyes, but clouds loomed above colored in a hue of orange and red as it spread. The group hurried through the sprawling marketplace. Once, just recently yet feeling like it was so long ago, it was a bustling place of commerce, legal and illegal. But now it was a shell of its former self, so weakened by Millicent’s pure domination of the continent.

The Cataclysm did not happen in a single day. When the Void Tree awakened and reached its maturity the blinding light that enveloped their world reached every corner. Lightning strikes and whirlwinds slammed through Tobusekai so wholly that much of the continent was left severely scarred. But what came after was even worse; sheer terror in the form of the Beast of Rot clawing itself out from the depths of the Kaizoku as its Adherents spread through the land.

The group paused at a small intersection of alleyways. Around the corner they could hear a group of civilians screaming, banging on a metal door. “Let us in, let us in!” They cried out.

“Please, those things are out there! They’re killing everyone!”

In the distance an explosion boomed through the air, windows surrounding the buildings were shattered instantly.

“Solas…” Spider began, his many eyes narrowed in concern; their intelligence told them they had more time. But it appeared time was a more precious resource than they had realized. Yet another consequence of the demise of Last Bastion, the Spider’s intelligence network had all but collapsed.

“We need to move sir. Now.”

“Stop, they’ll hear us!”

“Shh!”

“Quiet.”

“They’re almost here!” Another shouted, childlike voice making itself apparent.

“No time! Come on!”

[distant screaming]

 

[Drackos]

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II – BLACKSMITH
Armory of Marzan, Tobusekai

The fall wasn’t quick, that much Marzan was sure. He could hear it above his armory. It happens over weeks and months: cataclysmic disasters, natural and unnatural. Human settlements were flattened, oceans rent asunder, tidal waves and cyclones, explosions, wild fires, and even plagues. Worst of all: the Beast. It happened on the very first day. Marzan was wandering the shoreline in peace when the Basmu clawed its way from the depths of the Kaizoku. He ran.

But with it came a tidal wave of its own noxious Rot. He almost didn’t make it. Given no choice in the matter, he decided to shelter in place. Wait out the storm.

The smith was not accustomed to disasters like this. For much of his existence he spent it bound in Irkalla, ever since the Great Civil War that is. What came before that…well he had seen Tiamat battle against her children. But this was different. This was terrible. This was a scarred world having its wounds ripped open.

Above he could hear screams. He clenched his fist.

Then, suddenly, silence.

And it’s the silence that truly breaks him.

 

[Drackos]

III - SAMSARA
Mistheaven, Tobusekai

Entry 1

My daughter was born today. My beautiful daughter. I felt it necessary to keep a journal in these uncertain times, so here it is. My personal journal for my beautiful daughter, Inelle.

Life is so hard now. So tenuous and fleeting. Yuki, my sister, tells me to look toward you to give me hope. To hold onto life for a better tomorrow. That it is always worth fighting for…hanging on for.

She’s right.

In spite of it all…plague, natural disasters, wars…when I hold you in my arms even in the darkest hours I can’t help but feel hope. Hope for the future. A bright light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel.

Entry 4

Yuki told me they evacuated Last Bastion today. Something destroyed it, she said. I didn’t believe it. If that old city could survive an undead invasion from a plane of existence most of us thought to be fiction, nothing could destroy it. But she insisted. This time was worse, she said. Something came from the ocean, the Kaizoku. Smashed their walls with one swipe of its monstrous claws….

My sister is leaving us. She’s going further east to the Exchange.

Entry 5

They say it’s on the move. That it is coming here next.

I didn’t take the rumors of Last Bastion’s fall seriously. I should have. I should have listened to Yuki. Did she survive? Will I survive?

This is bigger than just me. It is bigger than all of us.

They call it the end of all things. A reckoning that will wipe out all, high and low.

It’s only a matter of time now before they get me. I can hear screams every night, masses of people fleeing an inexorable force coming to drown the continent in ash.

But at least I have you.

Entry 9

We found a cave today far from our village. It was just me and you now. Most of our village has fled, scattered to the wind like chaff. Every night we sit together, frightened and huddled, as screams echo under the night sky. By dawn the great quiet returns and with it a horrid smell that brings the scavengers. Each day I pray for that next dawn, to smell the horrific fumes of rotting bodies and desecrated lands.

And those nights, when I try to sleep, I realize there are no crickets.

Entry 13

Last night we awoke to hear something pounding on the cave above. It roared and stomped, howling in sheer frustration. Its strength was far beyond what any beast I knew could do. The cavern shook, Inelle began crying. I held her mouth silent. Please my child, no noise. We can't. We can't be heard.

It lasted the entire night. Though we never saw it. When it was over we ran, we fled the cave. I had to go east. As far east as I could go. Until my legs gave out.

I have to save my daughter.

Entry 16

The night sky is lightless.

 

[Drackos]

IV – ANOMALY I
Borderlands between Misthaven and the Strand of the Ancients, Tobusekai

“We need to stop…I can’t keep going,” Taya breathed heavily, resting her palms on her knees to catch her breath.

Maiev stood next to her, similarly out of breath and exhausted from days of fleeing their collapsing world. To think only a week ago they were atop the ramparts of Last Bastion when it emerged from the sea, using one titanic claw to bash down the walls of their splendid sanctuary city. “We can’t stop,” she replied, firm and resolute in spite of her own fatigue. “They’ll kill us if we do…or worse.”

“Mai,” Taya started, cracking her back, “We have to find someplace to rest. Anywhere. There must be somewhere safe…” It was a hope she had desperately clung to for the past seven days. They pushed through the light forest clearing, a gentle yet cold mist hanging over their heads, and sought to set up camp nearby.

“If we hadn’t seen what happened…looking at this place is almost like nothing happened at all.” Maiev whispered, hand trembling as she pushed paced quickly around a tree and pushed a low hanging branch away from her.

Indeed, the scene was tranquil. The forest was filled with the sounds of small birds chirping overhead and small animals were still abound searching for food to bring back to their nest or to snack on themselves. By all metrics, it was the picturesque forest and the definition of serenity. It contrasted severely with sights from just days ago; packs of animals fleeing eastward as if running from a hurricane.

“Do you know where we are?” Maiev asked, her face struck with cautious curiosity.

“Light mist…” Taya knew where they were. Her brother had spoken of this place many, many times. It was a place of peace though not for reasons that were particularly heartening. “This is Mistheaven. Cultists would come here and to the east for ritualistic purposes before they were purged from Tobusekai…at least that’s what my brother would tell me…”

As they pushed eastward the pair came upon another young girl. She was injured and malnourished, cheek bones protruding and appearing as if she hadn’t had a single bite to eat in days. They found her nestled under a tree, back propped against its trunk. She wore nothing but a light white robe reddened from light bleeding around her arms and chest. Her breathing was soft, barely noticeable.

“Who-“ the pair said in near unison.

“Sister…sister…” The strange woman barely managed, clearly somewhat delirious.

Maiev uncorked a flask of water she had carried with her, boiled days ago from the Dead Rivers. “Drink, here. Save your strength.” Using what little strength she had left, the girl opened her mouth, letting Maiev tip the water ever so gently.

Hours passed as the pair nursed the strange girl back to health. The tranquility of Mistheaven seemed to relax their sense of urgency. Precious and peaceful hours. The young woman stirred.

“Hey, sleepyhead.” Taya offered a smile, though behind it was a weariness from days of running from Last Bastion. “What’s your name?”

The girl’s head turned toward Taya and then Maiev. For the first time in days, she was no longer thirsty; yet a hunger pang still shot through her weak body. She propped herself up against the tree’s trunk, wearily looking westward.

“Yuki.”

 

[Drackos]

V – ANOMALY II
Borderlands between Mistheaven and the Strand of the Ancients, Tobusekai

“I have to find my sister,” Yuki continued. “I have to save her. I left her behind…” She sounded frightened and defeated.

“At…Last Bastion?” Maiev asked with a pause, dreadful surrender in her voice as she spoke those terrible words. What had happened at Last Bastion…she couldn’t imagine many surviving that chaos.

Yuki shook her head. “No. Further west. I was afraid…and she didn’t want to go,” Yuki’s face was stricken with heavy guilt, burdening each word she spoke with a blanket of pain and regret.

Maiev and Taya both looked at each other, saying nothing. Each understood the precarious position they were in. Going west was not only unacceptable but also impossible. The plague had spread from the shores of the Kaizoku through the center of Tobusekai and there was no sign it was going to abate.

“We’ve spent too long here.” Taya hissed, suddenly feeling extremely self-conscious and hyper aware of the danger they were in. She had seen first hand the horror that Last Bastion suffered. She would not suffer it too.

And then they heard it: a roar followed by a stampede so prominent that the ground underneath their feet began shaking. The plague had found them.

They ran.

 

[Drackos]

VI – ANOMALY III
Strand of the Ancients, Tobusekai

Maiev, Taya, and Yuki's breathing was labored, heavy with exhaustion. They had arrived in the Strand of the Ancients, miraculously unscathed. Calamity had happened all around them; a stampede that shook the very ground. Diseased animals and toxic plants spreading like wildfire across a land scarred by war for hundreds of years. The desecration made the Mother Cult's work look like child's play.

But here...here in this holy place, the land remained untouched. "What is this?" Asked Maiev, awestruck by the magnificent ziggurats and temples left behind from forces unknown. When they had arrived at the Strand's borderlands the land seemed unmoved and uncaring, and stranger yet - the fauna that had chased them, those mysterious diseased Rotten animals, had all but fled.

They were alone.

"I've heard of this place. Stories from Last Bastion's mercantile district. They call it the Strand of the Ancients. Even the Cultists from four years ago were cautious when they tread these lands. Seems that these beasts are too." Yuki wiped beads of sweat from her forehead onto her sleeve, falling backwards onto the sandy shores of the Strand to enjoy a brief moment of respite.

"Something isn't right," Taya opined.

"Why? We ran," Yuki swiftly replied, her brow furrowed with frustration and fatigue. She was tired of running.

Taya remained silent for a moment, scratching at her chin. "Either we've out run those beasts or..." She paused, eyes tilting down toward the sand beneath her bare feet. "Or there is something far more dangerous here."