“My father spoke little of Ath, Avv or Torr-van, nor did my Gran. My nuncle, though… Sven and Dirk and Gorf’s dad?” Telosh’s voice rises in question, wondering if the others have paid any attention to his stories of Amara. He moves on quickly though,
“He was the part of the town militia, and while he was a farmer that praised Oo-rin first, he spoke of Torr-van more than he spoke of TyLin when he was teaching us how to fight to protect the village from kossen. Anyhow, the little bits I know about Ath and Torr-vann, seem to come together a bit like this…
Torr-vann, the mightiest and bravest of the gods and the most valiant in battle, has, since time before time, fought with his great two-sided ax against dragons and dark gods and great evil powers to protect humanity.
When the world was young, and so was Torr-vann, Av’v, the mother of… us all, gave birth to a half-human, half-god son, Ath. Ath was an exceptionally clever boy, being both god and human, and Av’v was a strict mother but a great teacher, and taught him many secrets, and most of all how to keep secrets and keep his own counsel.
Ath grew rapidly, and was clever and quick, and in no time at all, Torr-van noticed the young half-god and, hoping to make sure his cleverness would lead to good and bright things, took the young half-god under his wing.
Ath was a quick study, and learnt how to fight from Torr-van quite well indeed. Ath was skilled at exploiting his enemies weaknesses, and positioning himself for the best advantage in a fight. It was no time at all before Ath and Torr-van both felt Ath was ready to join the warrior god in his battles against dragons and giants and other great evils.
Even though Torr-van was the mightiest warrior of all the gods, and he swore he would protect Ath, it took much work to convince Av’v that Ath would be safe with Torr-van.
But, She had given birth to half human because of her great love for humanity, and she knew that, fighting to protect humanity was part of his destiny, so in the end, she agreed to let young Ath adventure and fight beside Torr-van.
She kept back a dark foreboding knowledge, though, and did not warn Ath or Torr-van about the true nature of the unease she felt. Av’v knew that these adventures would lead to Ath’s death, she knew with dark certainty that his death would be a great tragedy and that the origins of this tragedy lay in Ath and Torr-van’s adventures.
She made the two swear a powerful godly vow that they would always protect each other in hope that she could somehow prevent the tragedy she knew would unfold.
The stories of their travels and battles are no longer well known, but they defeated many great enemies fighting together. Ath was a natural strategist and did not hesitate to strike down their enemies when offered the chance, and the two gods saved each other’s lives many times.
Along the way, an evil dragon, perhaps the father of all Wyverns, poisoned the two gods, with it’s powerful wyvern-like tail, and Ath, with the secret knowledge his mother had taught him, saved himself and Torr-van, but turned his experience and knowledge to his own advantage and began to use poison himself.
Some say that Ath was always corrupted, others say it was the poison that corrupted him, him being half-human, perhaps he was more susceptible, perhaps it was the nature of his mothers secret teachings and their shared secretive nature, but Ath’s poison is part of his corruption. Along with the poison, jealousy, doubt, and mistrust began to infect Ath.
Eventually these battles became something more, the Great War between the gods and the forces of Evil. The forces of evil knew that the Ath and Torr-van were an undefeatable team, but they also knew that Ath had become more like them than like his battle-brother.
So they conspired to capture Av’v.
Once Av’v was captured, their trap was set. They had long used the door in Ath’s mind open by his embrace of poisons, and dreams and nightmares and deceit to grow his jealously and double his mistrust.
Together, Ath and Torr-van battled their way to the dark cavern where Avv was being held captive and tortured and defeated the beasts that were guarding Her. Many say that she was held in deep in the mountains where the Red Wastes are now, and that it is her suffering there that lead the red color and curse on those lands.
Ath, being cautious by nature, and filled with mistrust, moved forward with care, keeping an eye out for traps and treachery.
Torr-van being brave and trusting, rushed forward to free Av’v.
Av’v, her power weakened by the forces of evil, and their foul tortures, saw Torr-van but not Ath, and praised him for rescuing her.
Ath became enraged, and no sooner had Torr-van freed his Mother, Ath treacherously cut the great warrior down from behind with a poisoned blade.
Av’v was free, and in her rage, her power flowed freely and she slew her treacherous, oath-breaking son, his blood flowed out across the floor, and the taint of his poisons gave life to all manner of poisonous vermin there.
Av’v power continued to flow, and with it she raised Torr-van up, returning the valorous god to life again.
As soon as she calmed down though, she saw that she had slain her own son, her gift to humanity, and she also understood her dark and foreboding vision of his death.
“Alexis, do you know any more of this story? I wish I knew more details, which dark gods they fought for example? Malor? Maglubiet? the Arrul No’roth?”
