[center][h3]Cyclone and Rtron[/h3][/center]

Ialu stood alone in a vast boreal taiga north of Garakai. An icy, flensing wind bit at Ialu's flesh. Starved of the sun's warmth thanks to the eternal night, the tundra was frigid beyond description. There was nobody and nothing except snow and deathly cold in these parts, but that was why the demigod had come. It would not do for anybody to see him in this sorry state of his.

Having just stopped, Ialu slung off the sack that he had been carrying on his shoulder. His warspear tumbled out and into the snow. Ialu examined the corrupted weapon, [i]the Blade of Chaos.[/i] The Chieftain (or God-King, as he had lately taken to stylizing himself) willed the spear to twist and bend, and it did so until it took the appearance of a jagged longsword.

Ialu reached down to the bastard sword's grip. He clenched the thing with the titanic might of a demigod before trying  to heft it upwards. As if it were as rooted into the snow as a tree, its tip would not rise. With a bellow Ialu once more tried to bring it up, this time for a wild swing. Once he had been able to cleave a man in twain like that, yet now it took all of his strength to so much as hold the blade off the ground for a second. 

Roaring in frustration, he willed the longsword to change back into a spear. The sword's grip now being the haft of a javelin, he tried  to lift up the throwing spear and hurl it. It was all to no avail; despite endless practice, he was just as incapable as he had been half a year prior. The curse refused to abate and he could not overcome it; though out of pride he had refused to bow down and plead to Ferghus for it to end.

Unable to contain his anger, he threw a hand forward and created a surge of fire. The wall of hungry flames washed over a nearby cluster of trees and turned them all into oversized torches. There suddenly came a laugh from behind Ialu. He spun around to face it, though he had already sensed what it was. The nightmare cackled a bit as it slowly crept closer to Ialu, meandering seemingly harmlessly. Perplexed by why this monster of the night did not simply attack like most did, the demigod allowed to draw closer. When it came near enough to be illuminated by the light of the burning trees, Ialu saw his living nightmare for what it was: a weak, infirm, husk of himself. The figure of an old man, laughing at his younger self's feeble attempts to change.

With a roar he clenched a fist and the apparition exploded, its dusky innards flying everywhere as if it had been a real creature destroyed by Ialu's Wi. The warlord spat. He was done here; as he had tried to convince himself a hundred times now, he had no need for weapons. He still had the Wi, and more importantly, he still had thousands that could wield weapons in his name.

He was suddenly determined to go see some of those thousands now. Holding his two arms skyward and invoking his Wi, his mighty and impossibly large form suddenly became as light as a feather. He took off at a sprint, and after a few mere steps he was quite literally running on mere air. His destination was Garakai, the wretched mess of a city that he had been trying (with little success, admittedly) to bend to his will for the past half a year.

[center]~==--==--==~[/center]

With a tremendous thud, Ialu landed within the walls of Garakai. A hundred eyes fell upon him as he flew, but they were averted quickly enough. It was not an uncommon sight since their new warlord had made a point of bein seen by his subjects, and often. It intimidated them. It inspired them. Or so he thought.

There was one in particular that he was searching for...Aztoc. Deciding to hazard a guess that he would find the man in the dragon pits, Ialu reached out, probing with his newfound senses to find Aztoc. Despite being Viscardi's brother, Aztoc had pledged fealty, and for that Ialu had let the dragon tamer live. He had proved useful thus far and been far less treacherous than some.

Aztoc gave an acknowledging reply to the probing, unable to do more as he was busily dominating a new dragon brought in. For the sake of the crowd he had a whip and was yelling, random noises, his voice echoing out of his helm. But the real battle took place in the beast's mind. [i]Oh, you're a strong one.[/i] He commented, gaining ground against the dragon. He had already taken control of it's ability to speak, lest the giant lizard reveal his secrets. [i]Stronger than any mere mortal![/i] The dragon roared back. It had a notably less impressive effect when done mentally. 

[i]I don't think so. You've never experienced this before. You don't know what to do, you're just blindly pushing back like the beast you pretend you're not. I already know how much mental strength you have and I assure you lizard, it is minimal. Regardless, I have given the peasants a good enough show now. You will obey.[/i] With that, Aztoc surged forward with his mind, easily slipping past the dragon's instinctive but unskilled defense. 

In the pit, the crowd only saw Aztoc give a final crack of his whip, and the beast kneeling before the brother of Viscardi. They, as peasants did when shown a magic trick, went wild. Aztoc immediately turned on his heel and kneeled to Ialu as the 'God-king' arrived. "My lord. A pleasure to be in your presence, as always."

Ialu looked towards the dominated dragon. Yet beast of war for his command. Pleased, his booming voice washed over the crowds, [b]"Leave now."[/b]

When they began to scurry off as commanded by their crazed warlord, Ialu turned then towards Aztoc. [b]"The night sky has gone, and the light returned. Now is the time for war; I can sense that the Mighty One has given me this chance so that I might conquer more in His great name. I shall take as many men as this 'kingdom' can muster, and the warbeasts. The tribes to the south will bow to my authority, and the Cimex will be eradicated."[/b]

After a brief pause, he went on, [b]"See to it that this is done. Your brother will accompany me for the campaign. I will entrust Garakai to you, as you have been loyal and can appeal to the masses. Your task is of course to continue converting the peasants and fools to the worship of the Mighty One and myself."[/b]

With that, Ialu spun around to retreat back to Viscardi's old palace. In his rage after Ferghus' visit Ialu had destroyed half the place, but it was still habitable. Despite the grandeur that the palace had Ialu could not help but prefer his own Mighty Cottage.

"As you command." Aztoc replied, reverently. He was careful to keep his face in the same pretense his voice was, despite his helmet. You never knew what the madman was going to do. He kept his glee at the fact that Garakai was finally within his grasp firmly hidden away. There would be plenty of time to celebrate when the madman was gone, and he was in control of the empire.

[hider=Summary]
-Ialu is pissed off about being cursed.
-He's taking an army from Garakai down south and plans to attack both the Cimex and Confederates.
-Aztoc, Viscardi's brother and the dragon tamer, is in charge of Garakai while Ialu is gone.[/hider]