Waking came surprisingly difficult given his unfamiliar sleeping
arrangements.  As Kaladorne's senses becamse once again aware of his
surroundings, he smelt a very pungent odor coming from somewhere inside the
room.  Opening his eyes, they quickly adjusted to the light coming from a
small window that wasn't there before.  Sitting up, the first thing he saw
was a zombie holding a tray full of silverware, moving towards the desk.
The zombie slowly laid the tray down, and then limped out of the room,
closing the door behind it.

        Stifling a yawn, Kaladorne pulled himself out of the comfortable
bed, and stood up, stretching out his legs, arms, and back.  He then,
without much thought, pulled his sword from it's scabbard and begin his
usual morning excersises.  Practicing various swings and strokes as well as
different stances and defensive swings against an opponent that wasn't there.

        After roughly half an hour, he realized that something had been kind
enough to bring him breakfast.  He carefully put his weapon back in it's
sheath, and then sat down in the sturdy oak chair and looked at what had
been left for him.  He saw an extremely ornate fork, with knife to match.
A rather large silver plate with a cover, and a large pitcher filled with
red wine.  He gently lifted the cover from the plate and saw that three
eggs had been fryed, with a sizable cut of meat next to them.  The smell of
the meal quickly got the better of him, and he began to eat.

        Just after he had finished the eggs and started on the meat, he
heard an odd noise from behind him, and turning in his chair, noticed Tygor
sitting on the bed looking at him with his arms folded across his chest.
"Please, don't let me interrupt your meal!" Tygor said, and motioned back to
the plate.  Kaladorne turned around and continued to eat.  Tygor got off the
bed, and walking towards the bookshelf said, "Soon you will have volumes of
lore and craft filling these shelves."  This got a questioning look from
Kaladorne for a second, but he kept eating.  Tygor's visage suddenly became
one of seriousness, "Today, I will test your skill with that sword.  The
test will begin in two hours, prepare yourself."  With that and a small
gesture, a black portal slowly opened, and Tygor stepped through it.

        Kaladorne tried not to let Tygor's words weigh to heavily on him,
and finished his meal.  When he was done, he dressed, and began practicing
again.  His level of concentration for the next hour surprised even himself,
as his swings were completed with a gracefulness he didn't think he
possessed.  He then put his sword away and sat quietly on the bed for Tygor
to bring him to the test.  During his waiting, he tried to prepare himself
mentally, not knowing what Tygor had meant by test, it was a little
difficult.  He could only assume a combat of some sort.

        Right on time, a knock came at his door.  Getting off the bed, he
said to himself, "I'm ready," and opened the door to reveal a skeleton
standing there.  Startled, he jumped back, but the skeleton made no move.  He
grabbed his sword and yanked it from it's hiding place, and stood defensivly.
The skeleton slowly moved forward, until it was about five feet from him, and
held out a small black necklace with a jet black stone set in it.  Kaladorne
was a bit taken by this, but grabbed for the necklace carefully.  Once it was
in his hands, the skeleton motioned for him to put it on.  Very slowly,
closing his eyes, he lifted it over his head, and down onto his neck.  He
waited for what seemed like several lifetimes, but nothing of notice happened.
He shrugged it off, and opened his eyes to reveal the skeleton once again in
his doorway, motioning for him to follow.  He sheathed his blade again, and
slowly, catiously followed the undead.

        Walking down the dark halls of the tower, he found he could see very
well, too well for his own eyes.  He reasoned this was the amulets affect.
Walking slowly behind the skeleton, he noticed something coming up the
corridor towards them.  It a black mass that had a generaly human shape, and
it looked as though it was coming straight for him.  He drew his sword, and
stopped moving.  The skeleton stopped at almost the same time he did.  The
form moved right up to Kaladorne but stopped a short distance away when the
jewel on his necklace began to emit a faint black light.  Almost instantly,
the creature went on about his business.  Kaladorne felt little reassurnace
and decided to keep his blade out as he began following the skeleton again.

        Soon, they came to a flight of stairs, and began ascending.  They
climbed five floors until they reached a door at the end of the steps.  The
skeleton opened it, and daylight flooded into Kaladorne's eyes.  They were
apparantly on the roof of the tower.  The skeleton exited, with Kaladorne in
tow.  Tygor was standing in the center of the roof, and called him over
eagerly.

        Tygor spoke, "I hope you've prepared yourself for what awaits."

        Kaladorne replied, "As best I can without knowing what to expect."

        "Ahh, but not knowing what to expect is a part of life that you'll
have to deal with."

        Tygor let his sentence end sharply, and began to weave a spell.
His arms moved and he chanted, and soon, through a black vortex, a suit of
black plate armor appeared holding a broad sword made solely of black
flames.  Hanging down from its waist was a tattered loin cloth, and wisps
of black smoke.  Through it's black helmet, two red eyes flared.  Tygor
looked over at Kaladorne, and said, "Now, if you live through this, you are
worthy of becoming my champion."

        At those words, the floating armor assumed an offensive posture,
and began advancing on Kaladorne.  Kaladorne assumed a defensive posture,
and awaited the attack.  The thing moved quickly, and swung right for his
midsection.  Kaladorne easily put his sword in the way, but the black sword
flew right through it and through him.  Kaladorne felt a cold like he'd
never known where the sword passed through him, but he tried not to dwell
on that.  Kaladorne swung quickly, one-handing his bastard sword and
slammed it into creature with all the force he could muster, but it simply
glanced off the armor.  It's eyes flared again, and Kaladorne suddenly felt
a bit weak, but recovered in time to see another sword strike coming for
his head.  He ducked quickly, avoiding the cold sting of the black blade.
He sliced in at it, and broke through the armor this time, tearing a gash
through the plate armor.  This seemed to hurt the creature because it
floated back from Kaladorne, and hung a few feet away for a second or two,
and Kaladorne noticed the gash close somewhat.  He decided to advance on
it, swinging for it's head now.  The creature dodged his attack, and struck
one of its own at Kaladorne's left leg.  Kaladorne screamed at the biting
cold this time, and put the other hand on the bastard sword, and stung
straigh at where he'd wounded it before.  The creature moved fast, but
Kaladorne moved faster this time, and his blade ripped from the middle of
the plate armor right out of it, and the creature faded away.

        Kaladorne stood with a nasty cold wound on his chest, and with a
limp in his left leg.  Tygor came over and healed his wounds with a gesture
and a word.  Kaladorne looked up and said, "So, I guess I passed your test
then?"

        "Yes, you did very well.  I was expecting that avatar to kill you.
You should be very proud of yourself, not many people can resist the death
gaze of the avatar."

        Kaladorne could only look tired, so Tygor teleported them to his
room, and told him to rest for a little while.  Kaladorne laid down and let
sleep take him.

        When he woke, there was a book on his desk, and a small parchment
with writing on it.  Kaladorne looked at the parchment, and realized that
he'd forgotten to tell Tygor of his inability to read.  He sat down, and
decided to just look at the book anyway.  When he opened it, a blast of red
light flooded into Kaladorne's eyes, and stunned him for a second.  When he
regained his senses, the book had gone.  He suddenly felt fear.  What would
Tygor do when he found out that the book he left was gone.  His thoughts
quickly turned to the parchment again, he could recognize some of the
letters inscribed on it.  He picked it up, and read it, "I knew you couldn't
read, so this book contains the lessons one would learn to go about reading
and writing.  I magically enchanted it to implant the knowledge directly into
your brain to save some time.  You can now read and write.  Don't worry about
the book.  That's a draw back of using the spell I did."  As soon as
Kaladorne put the parchment down, and noticed that there was a book on his
bookshelf now.  He got up and went to get it.  It's title read, "Creatures
of the Netherworld".  He put it on the desk and started to read it.  It was
a wonderful feeling to read.

                            (To be continued!)
SAUCE00'kaladorne - part 3'               Executioner         blade               19951110ú#
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