[b][u]Order of the Aether Outpost, a Cave in the Shattered Kingdom[/u][/b]

In the darkness of a damp prison cell, breathing in the stink of his fathers blood that had become splattered upon his clothes, and hearing his mothers tormented screams as the Templars committed unspeakable acts in the nearby room, sat a young boy no older than 12. His name was Sibbi, and he and his parents had been attacked by the Abbey on charges of heresy. His family was lower class, and his mother was highly superstitious. His father was a more down to Earth man, and Sibbi... well, Sibbi didn't know what to believe. Both, however, were pious supporters of the abbey, and he didn't believe for a second that either had committed anything that had come close to heresy in their entire lives, but still the Templars came.

The Templars had come for them in the night, a knock at the door at nine at night, just before Sibbi was to retire to bed. He went to the door with his father, and the two had answered it together. His father had greeted the Templars politely, and asked what their business was. The two templars began flinging accusations upon Sibbi's mother. A witch, they said, who had bewitched several men around the town and who conducted profane rituals in the name of the Princes of Ruin. His father remained polite, but stern, as he spoke. Never, he said, had his wife even considered worship of the Princes of Ruin. The Templars did not relent, they drew their blades and one slashed his fathers throat where he stood, sending his blood splattering against the wall. His mother tried to protect her child, but they pulled the child from her arms. Oh, the curses she spat at them! She cursed more in the two minutes before the Templar finally subdued her than Sibbi had heard in his entire life.They had been brought here, an underground dungeon not so far from the town. and Sibbi had spent what seemed like an eternity in this cell, trying to block out his mothers screams, trying to keep his mind away from imaging what they must be doing to her

And then there was some silence, and then a final dying scream. The two templars returned from the room, and one knelt in front of the cell, looking down to the young boy in the darkness and removing his mask
"Your name is Sibbi, yes? I am Brother Sturgess of the Order of the Aether... Sibbi... I'm sorry but your parents were dark people. They planned on giving you to Kharathorr, the Great Enslaver, in return for power. You are full of fear, but you'll be safe here. The Abbey will take you in, it will be hard the first few months, but like I did, you will recover. The Grand Masters have assigned me to be your tutor, Initiate Sibbi. With your help, we can ensure nothing like this happens to another child." The Templar said, but Sibbi merely eyed him and the Templar nodded "I shall allow you to rest on it, this is much to take in, I know." He said, and the two Templars raised, turning and leaving Sibbi in the darkness. 

The Boy looked down to his feet, mumbling into the Darkness. After a few minutes, he began to sob into his hands, then cry aloud, flinging curses at the Order. It was then he noticed something move out of the corner of his eye, and glanced quickly towards the cell entrance to see a figure standing there. 
"Young little Sibbi... What a sad hand fate has dealt you. Your parents accused of heresy and killed by the Order of the Aether... but we know your parents were never heretics, were they? All this because your mother rejected a nobles advances.." The figure approached the bars, and they contorted as he touched them. Sibbi stood and took a few tenative steps towards the figure
"Who... Who are you?"
"Me? I have many names, but you know me as Orfai."
"And... why are you...?"
"Here? Because I know that you don't want to spend your life in service to the same order that slaughtered your parents. You want to change that fate, you want to do better." Orfai approached him, and the boy cowered slightly. Orfai raised his hand, and the boy felt a pain in his chest. He ripped at his clothing to get a look at his chest, and could see a strange mark burnt into his flesh, over his heart, before fading
"What did you do to me?!" The boy quickly exclaimed, jumping backwards in fear
"I gave you a gift. You have such anger inside you, ready to be unleashed in a destructive rage in the world around you if you lose control. You are like a fire, and so I have given you a control over fire that it can take wizards years to perfect. I cannot help but wonder what you will do, Sibbi, but I know one thing for certain, whatever it is it will be interesting." Orfai took a few steps back, and faded into the shadows.

Sibbi stared at his chest for a moment, before stepping through the contorted bar and examining the tunnels. The door ahead was an iron gate, but it appeared to be locked. Sibbi glanced to his hands, then to the gate, raising his hand. He had been given a control over fire, and he inexplicably knew how to use it, another part of the gift, he supposed. A stream of fire leapt from his hand and smashed into the lock, which melted away under the heat. Sibbi took a few steps forwards and pushed the the gate with his hand, and it squeaked open. He took a step through and found himself in a cavern with many different prison cells... eerily they were all either coated in blood or filled with young children, boys and girls who were sobbing silently... he could only assume they were in the same state as he. 
He gulped and took a few steps forwards, the key lay on the table in front of him, and he seized it and set about freeing the other children. Some thanked him, others remained silent and some wept uncontrollably. The only way out from this area appeared to be a door two levels up, but the ladder had been removed. He paused and focused for a moment, before he vanished in a puff of fire and reappeared on the platform above. He looked in surprise at his hands, and then the floor below him, seeing the startled expressions of near enough a dozen child. He nodded to them, as if some form of silent promise that he would help them, then turned and proceeded through the door

The next area he recognized as the entrance, filled with Templar guards, five of them. One of them gave a yell and pointed to him, and the Templars turned to him. He recognized the maskless Sturgess and felt himself consumed by anger. With a cry, he launched a stream of fire towards them. It engulfed Sturgess, immolating him. The other Templars darted forwards, drawing their blades and setting upon him. Sibbi yelled with anger, and beside him appeared a Fire Atronach. Two of the templars broke off, engaging the new threat. Sibbi again vanished in a puff of smoke and appeared behind the Templars, sending bolts of fire into back of one of them, but when the flames cleared his uniform was barely burnt, and the templar didn't slow. The Atronach managed to envelope one of the Templars, moving as though to hug him before sucking him inside her fiery body. Even his uniform could not protect him inside the atronach, and he burnt to a cinder. The other swung his blade through the fiery atronach, swatting aside some of her flames, and he swung again, and again, and again
The Atronach withdrew under the Templars relentless assault, and eventually she was extinguished. The templar turned his attention to Sibbi, who was suddenly faced with the might of three templars rather than two. With a flash of fire, Sibbi disappeared and reformed near Sturgess body, grabbing the dead Templars blade before vanishing again. He appeared behind the first overseer and plunged his blade into the neck joint of the mans armour, blood spurting from the wound as the Templar collapsed. Sibbi left the blade, for he lacked the strength to pull it out, and instead grabbed the Templars crossbow from the floor. His vanished just before a Templars blade scythed through the air where he was just standing, reappearing on an overhang above them, firing a bolt down into the back of one of the Templar, penetrating his armour. The Templar screamed, but did not collapse, and both drew their crossbows and loosed bolts up at Sibbi. The young boy sent out a blast of fire, and the projectiles were deflected in the air, falling to the floor as the fire swept forwards. It did not kill the Templars, but it forced the injured one backwards, and he collapsed through the door and downed to the pit below. He was dead upon hitting the floor, but the frenzied children in the pit set about beating him anyway.
The final Templar pushed forwards through the fire, and Sibbi appeared down below again, firing a bolt of fire at the Templar. This time, the man made an audible grunt of pain as the fire burnt through his uniform, but continued forwards towards Sibbi and swung his sword. Quick as he could Sibbi raised the crossbow, locking with the Templars blade. The templar was far stronger, and Sibbi was forced down to his knee within mere seconds. He struggled to hold his own against the Templar, who forced him backwards until he forced Sibbi to the floor and knocked the crossbow from his grasp. The Templar raised his blade, ready to bring it down on the young boy, but Sibbi launched a kick outwards towards the mans groin. The Templar doubled over in pain, and Sibbi used it to his advantage, launching a stream of fire up at the Templar. His uniform finally failed him and the zealot was set alight, screaming in agony as he fell to the floor.

Sibbi took a few moments to regain his breath, before slowly raising from the floor and looking around. The steel ladder lay against the wall, and he slowly made his way over to it, grabbing it and straining to drag it to the pit, tossing it in for the freed children below. With screams of joy they set it upright and climbed from the dreaded hellhole, By the time they reached the top, Sibbi had already gone

[b][u]Arcturus, Estara[/u][/b]

Orfai watched with some glee as the city was overrun with Kharathorrs chains. Another massive and beautiful change to the world for him to revel in and enjoy. Kharathorr was one of his favourite Princes of Ruin for this matter. After all, enslaving entire towns and cities is a change of massive proportions, and effects the mortals in many wide spread ways. Orfai appeared in the guise of an old man, standing upon a tower as he watched the chains consume the city, arms folded. A young girl stood behind him, and called to him
"We're all going to be taken aren't we?" She asked in a resigned and defeated tone, and Orfai turned to regard the mortal who had climbed the tower, presumably in an attempt to escape the chains. He gave a small smile
"I think so, Kharathorr enjoys this sort of action" He replied, simply, and the girl took a step forwards, watching the city
"So it's true... what the Crier said. Princes of Ruin, monsters and demons, endless torment"
"Of course, and a great many more things." He said, and he watched a chain climb from behind her, snaking over the towers edge
"What do we do? I don't want to be taken!" She exclaimed, her fists clenching
"Maybe I can help with that, Jessica" He said, and the young womans eyes widened in surprise
"How..."
"I know the names and secrets of every mortal in this city. For I am Orfai, Keeper of Secrets, the Lord of Change."
"But..." She became dumbstruck as he transformed into a younger man, and heard a clunk behind her. She turned in surprise to watch as a chain recoiled, as if batted away by some invisible force
"I would be glad to change this fate, but this all comes at a price" Orfai declared, folding his arms "Choose quickly, I shall not stop the next chain that comes for you.". She nodded quickly, she was shaken from the incident with the chains, and right now Orfai seemed a much brighter option than eternal slavery.
"I'll give yoy anything, anything at all! Just please get me out of here!" She begged, and Orfai gave a grin, and placed his hand upon her arm... and then she felt herself falling through the void, falling and falling...

She felt herself land on the ground, and woke up on a small hill on the border between Estara and the Kingdom of Althorra. She peered around, searching for Orfai, but could not see him. She stood up quickly, and felt something fall from her lap. She peered down and picked it up from the floor, examining it. It was a small envelope, sealed with the mark of Orfai. She broke the seal and took out it's contains, opening it and reading it with trepidation.

[i]This slip of paper signifies the contract between Jessica Maro of Arcturus and Orfai, the Lord of Change.
By the agreement settled between Ms Jessica Maro and Prince Orfai, the souls of all of Jessica Maro's relations (Excluding those already claimed by other Princes) are forfeit and now belong to Prince Orfai until such a time he see's fit to release them. In return for this payment, Prince Orfai shall provide safe passed for Jessica Maro from the destruction of the City of Arcturus at the hands of Prince Kharathorr. This contract may only be broken at the discretion of Prince Orfai. Any attempt by Ms Maro to breach the terms of this conflict will result in her soul being taken in compensation by Prince Orfai. The signatures of the two parties are held below.[/i]

Jessica paled as she read her signature at the bottom of the contract, written in her hand writing as though she herself had signed it. Below her signature lay the Mark of Orfai, swirling as a constant reminder that she had sacrificed her family in order to protect her own skin...