Legends of Belariath
Scathien
Revenge of the Phoenix: Prologue
Revenge of the Phoenix is a story of Scathien and the revenge he takes upon a man that once tried to end his life before he grew too powerful to be controlled.
It took months, but here he was standing overtop the fallen body of the former guild master of the Western guild of Fire Mages. A faint smirk formed on Scathien’s lips as he ripped his custom forged blade from the dead man’s chest and took his (assumed) rightful place on the guild master’s chair. He glanced toward the students that started to file in after hearing the commotion and quietly thought back on all the stops that brought him to this point….
Scathien emerged from the depths of the Kolight forest along with a small band of ten soldiers that his benevolent Pasha Qu’Selashya allowed him to take in exchange for forging weapons for her and her other vassals. Now they faced the goal of their travels. Before them lay a giant mountain which contained within its darkened depths the Western Guild of Fire Mages. The city which surrounded the giant tower had been dead and deserted for months ever since Scathien had taken the guild’s sacred fireball scroll for himself on a previous mission as a test from the guild master. His task was to retrieve the scroll, but said nothing about returning it. So he took it with him and left the city to die, assured that it may hold a greater power for him if he could unlock its secrets. The guild master didn’t seem to care anyway.
Now Scathien checked the pockets of his fiery red and orange robe as his similarly colored wings shifted and curled up behind his back. He had several reasons for coming here with an entourage of soldiers. Mainly for revenge…
Shortly after Scathien completed his little test for the guild master and after he obtained status as a full fledged pyromancer, the guild master saw fit to send Scathien on another mission. This time he was to seek out another pyromancer and bring him to the guild for reasons that Scathien was not told. A few other details were left out as well. One of them being that Furnak’s tower was a death trap, another being that he was trying to kill Scathien before he got too powerful.
While in the tower he discovered why Furnak was so sought after. Years ago he stole a very important artifact from the guild master that had given him a great deal of power, enough to assume control of the guild through forceful means. Once it had been stolen, Furnak retreated to his tower and the guild master hired Earth and Water mages to assault him. His tower was sunk into the ground and the top four floors were booby trapped with water magic to prevent anyone from ever escaping. For years he survived using an underground cave with a pool that held fish within its depths.
Scathien made it to the tower and learned the whole story behind Furnak and the object that he stole. Furnak had been trying to destroy it ever since he obtained it and was growing closer to his goal before Scathien arrived. Scathien called Furnak an old fool, and killed him, saying that he did not deserve the mantle of Fire Mage, took the artifact and barely escaped the tower with his life.
The guild master believed Scathien to be dead, confident in his trap that had never failed him before. At home however, Scathien was hard at work and finally managed to unleash what little power still remained within the object he had taken from the depths of Furnak’s tower, preparing himself for his revenge. He would use his own power against him and make him pay for trying to kill him off.