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[center][h3][I]The Inevitable[/I][/h3][/center]

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Pain racked his body, pulsing from head to toe as if several men were beating on him with hammers of iron. Gargth groaned and muttered obscenities, but he finally reclaimed his feet - in time to see his Shadow Bolt slam into a tower of pure light. At this exact moment, he felt something else, something very wrong. The storm was weakening, and with it, his tenuous grasp of his warriors. Several of them collapsed into the sand inexplicably, but not all. 

[I]Depart, mortal. Or be undone.[/I]

The Shadow Bolt fizzled and dissipated, stopped by the pillar of light with seemingly little consequence. This interruption followed its way back to Gargth, and his head snapped back as if he'd been punched by an Ogre. Stumbling backwards, disorientated, he had but a moment to figure out his folly. 

"How can this be?" he cursed, spitting blood into the sand at his feet. "What avails them?"

[I]Not what, mortal. Who. Flee, and flee now.[/I]

Before Gargth could respond to the pounding voice in his mind, the pillar of light transformed, twisting and pulsing, remoulding itself into something unworldly. Finally, the image settled, and though Gargth should have been humbled by what he saw, he merely smiled. 

"Clever," he said, spitting another wod of blood. "It seems they have a Theurgist in their ranks." 

[I]FLEE. FLEE. FLEE.[/I]

The angelic form, a series of spinning circles encasing the form of a babe, gazed at Gargth. At first it nearly blinded him, and he felt his arcane reserves dwindling - his link to the Shadow Realm faltering - but he shrugged, even as it talked directly to him and spoke of sin, and penance, and 'knowing one's self'. 

"Do not think to lecture me on penance," Gargth said, his voice suddenly robbed of its magical enhancements. He looked directly back at the seemingly divine being. Challenging it. "You have no power here, beyond your tricks. Be gone!" 

The spirit, or angel, or whatever apparition it was supposed to be, regarded him in silence and then vanished - or fled. Gargth felt the pain in his body subside, and he called his energy back to him like waves to a beach. Suddenly he felt younger than he had in years, as his new found strength flooded his body.

And then the ground was shaking beneath his feet, as something great drew near to him. He looked across the battlefield, past his failing warriors, and saw a giant white beast hurtling towards him. It was magic in design, some bastard breed of mammoth and bear. Gargth was impressed, this second lot of fools were clearly beating his estimations when it came to their competency. In a moment the creature would be on him, tearing him to pieces. 

Quickly he reached in the Shadow Realm - his mind scanning the dark and twisted landscape - and there he plucked forth a great Spirit. Not quite a Demon, though there were few other words to describe it. In life, this Spirit had been a murderer of thousands, a rapist of Elven maidens and a corrupter of the flesh. An ancient evil, lost to time - though no longer. 

It took much effort for Gargth to haul this spirit into the world of the living, but it required mere moments, and as the great mammoth-beast came upon him, Gargth exploded. Purple flame erupted from where the Fallen Wizard had stood, sending chunks of rocks and sand screaming through the air - and an aftershock so powerful, that the mammoth-beast more or less smacked into an invisible wall and bounced back several feet. 

The Shadow Warriors collapsed, blown away by the wind or else became piles of sand. The battle ended instantly. 

And then, from the smouldering crater that stood in place of Gargth, a mighty hand sprung forth - the size of a small house. The ground shook, sending cracks through the landscape, and a terrible, booming laughter echoed across the ever-clearing skies. With a teeth-gritting grind, the hand slid upwards, giving birth to a wrist, and then a shoulder, and then a horned head. In seconds, a hulking giant of sand stood in the middle of the Alliance army. 

"I have come," it said, its voice raspy. 

It looked down at the pitiful mortals and their army, towering a hundred feet over them with his massive and muscled bulk, and hefted a great maul. Though his entire being seem constructed of sand, there was no doubt as to what that maul would do to a man - nay - a group of men. 

And with the force of an entire nation, the sand giant brought its weapon down indiscriminately into the nearest group of soldiers.

Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, Gargth collapsed onto the black marble of his tower's Great Hall. He breathed heavily, fighting the pain that threatened once more to stop his heart and drag him screaming to the Shadow Realm for time eternal. 

[I]You were a fool. Any more such foolishness, and we will deal with you personally.[/I]

"Why couldn't I defeat them?" Gargth hissed in pain, "why did you abandon me? Why did you drag me away?" 

[I]Because you would not listen, and thus threatened to undo everything. May this be a lesson, mortal. You will rule this world with our blessing, or not at all. And to gain that blessing, you must learn obedience.[/I]

"Fine," Gargth said bitterly, clambering to his feet on weakened limbs. "Then in all your infinite bastard wisdom, how do you propose to stop the invaders, if you wont allow me to do it personally?" 

[I]You will remain here. In your tower. We will see to the Battle for Everstrine, but you must give us form. This will be your purpose. Victory will require everything you have, and more. Take an hour to prepare yourself, for I doubt that abomination you summoned will delay the Alliance much. Sandbrick shall still fall, and we shall herald its destruction in due course.[/I]