Author Topic: The Child of Fate: Daljin's Fall  (Read 534 times)

PlatointheCave

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The Child of Fate: Daljin's Fall
« on: November 10, 2020, 05:11:54 AM »
Copies of a short story begin circulating in Port-a-Lucine. A few are left on odd shelves about Barovia.

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The Child of Fate: Daljin's Fall


This is the true tale of the twists and turns taken by fate, to a better world.

There was a deck of tarokka cards, appearing like any other, but possessed of great power. Those that drew from the deck found their fate twisted. Wealth, loss, madness and death would come to they that drew.

Such a thing was never meant for mortal hands. But it was stolen. First, by an entity of power known as Desdemona. Her deeds with the cards of fate are varied, but are a story in their own right. It was a fey creature from Tepest that stole fate’s tools next. He was many times Desdemona’s lesser in power, but was cunning and quick. He sought the cards for the chaos they would bring others for the creature, known then as Morgan O’Shanahan, fed on the misery of mortals.

The devious fey creature would play games of fate with many souls. At times granting fortune, but more often misery and madness. It was in these games that something terrible would be called to our shattered world. The Conjuror was drawn; the card of calling. The fiend Daljin answered. He wore the face of a hound and acted with the cunning of a serpent. It was this act of calling that would shape the fates of all that touched the deck. For Daljin was more dangerous than any who had played with fate’s cards.

The fiend saw the power of the deck, and craved it. So he schemed to take it for himself. He gathered to him a handful of desperate souls; they craved power and cared not for its cost. These agents Daljin sent to claim the deck. But one had learned of Daljin’s scheme; a Shadow with no love for power. When Daljin’s agent seized the deck the Shadow fought the fiend, for chaos was their nature. Yet the Shadow could not compare to the fiend; she fell. So it was that the fiend succeeded in stealing the deck, for the third time.

With the deck in hand, the fiend drew every soul that had touched the cards to his domain. To each, he offered a deal. Power for soul or service. Though he had not freedom to slay they that refused, the cunning fiend used terror and barbs to fool many into selling all they were to him. Daljin’s power swelled with agents. The fiend was ascendant; all barriers to his conquest gone.

It was then that a worldly Trickster hatched a scheme. She was not versed in the mysteries of magic, nor was she of high birth. But she had known many marks. She had seen many great men cast down by their hubris. So she entreated the fiend: “Daljin, I offer you a wager: I will sell you my soul in exchange for the power to pick any pocket. But if I should outlive you? Our deal is void, and I will keep my soul.” This amused the fiend. How could a low born mortal outlive something so mighty? So he agreed. The pact made, he cast his gaze to his next conquest, even as the Trickster’s quick fingers turned fate once more. The deck was stolen yet again; not by a creature of power, but a cunning mortal.

Daljin soon discovered the ruse. Enraged, he hunted the Trickster, who fled to the Shadow and a Serpent that served death. She entreated each for aid in bringing final ruin to the fiend. The Shadow agreed, and so the Children of Light were called to defend the Trickster. Before the Serpent could reply, he was drawn to the domain of the fiend. Desperate, Daljin promised the Serpent power without strings if he would only bring death to the Trickster. The Serpent measured the fiend’s words carefully before replying: “I would be no Master of Death if I bowed to one so easily deceived.” So Daljin and the Serpent fought for the first time, for the Serpent’s nature was to kill. Daljin lost the battle, but cast the Serpent from his world before he could slay him.

Thwarted, the fiend sent its eyeless servants to kill the Trickster. But the Children of Light were prepared. They broke Daljin’s tools and cast them down. But in doing so their gaze was drawn elsewhere. The cunning Daljin sought the Trickster himself. With treachery and fell magics, he slew the Trickster, and stole away her soul. Yet the Serpent had been watching over her. He seized the deck himself, and for the second time he battled Daljin. Again, Daljin lost the battle, but he did not die. Fiends are strange in nature, and have hearts that must be broken before they will end.

The Serpent sought the Shadow and together they drew the Conjuror from the deck. They burned it, and the Shadow called for Daljin. The fiend arrived, and entreated the pair: “Give me the deck and I will return the Trickster.” The Shadow hesitated, but the Serpent was resolute and said: “The Trickster had but one wish before they fell: that this dog dies.” So the Shadow and Serpent fought the fiend. Again Daljin was bested, but he did not die. For his heart was not the Conjuror.

The Shadow, ever aimless, cast about for answers. The Serpent, ever thoughtful, meditated on his course. Together they learned the truth of why the fiend craved the deck: it had among its cards a way home. A pathway back to the world beyond the waking dream. They could use the deck to destroy the fiend, so they gathered again the Children of Light. But when all was ready, the Serpent found a new truth in his battles. He would be no Master of Death if his nature was only to kill. Death must come for all, but not all deserve it. So it was that when Daljin was called, the Serpent did not choose to kill. Instead, he offered the fiend a deal. The fiend would be allowed to draw a single card from the deck if he would return the Trickster’s soul.

The fiend saw how the Children of Light and the howling Shadow had readied themselves to destroy him. So he accepted, for he had come to know fear. From the deck he drew the innocent; the redeemer. Such a card changed the nature of they that drew it forever, making them pure of heart and deed. Before the Children of Light, Daljin the fiend died, and something new was born. An innocent, his heart heavy with regret and pain. From his great book of chains he tore the Trickster’s soul and set her free. On his soul and self he pledged to release everyone he had enslaved.

Though the fiend he had been was great and terrible, the Child of Fate that had taken his place was set free to wander and begin to right the wrongs of this fractured nightmare. So it was that Daljin was defeated, not with death but hope and chance. By a taker of life choosing instead to save another.

The Children of Light saw the deck returned to its rightful owners, and celebrated the end of a great Evil. The Shadow sang for all the souls set free. The Serpent had taken no life that day but he slithered back to the darkness of his home; content to let the sun rise on a world made a little more whole.

The Trickster left them all behind, for reasons none know.

For her heart is her own and she guards it well.

But on her deeds, the Fate of the world turned.


Katja Vinter

« Last Edit: November 10, 2020, 05:19:38 AM by PlatointheCave »