In the limitless expanse of the megaverse, in the Aduiadh Quadrant of the Cairghrian Galaxy, there was a woman named Zenia Dasalava, the wife of a minor government official. Zenia was obsessed with Cainer Cree, a handsome Captain in the Ghaoithian Air Guard. He was a warrior among warriors, a powerful leader among leaders and all men feared him. Cree was in love with his childhood sweetheart, Aisling, so he spurned Zenia's unwanted attentions. Zenia—infuriated at his disinterest—began scouring medical tomes in search of a poison so potent, so devastating to use upon Cree, he would die in unbelievable agony. If she could not have him, she was determined no woman ever would, and as he lay writhing in anguish she would make sure he knew who had taken his life.
During her search, Zenia came across a text written by an obscure Healer who spoke of a plant that grew deep in the rainforests of Resuello, a remote region on another world. It stated that this plant, a fern called lycant, had growing upon its fronds a very deadly fungus. Upon this fungus were highly toxic spores. Inhalation of the spores would cause hideous consequences to any creature that became infected with its virulent spores. The afflicted creature would convulse in torment, its bones cracking, its flesh turning to leathery consistency, its body splitting apart even as it breathed. So deadly, so dangerous was this fern, it was strongly advised that the fern be located and completely eradicated. A footnote stated that no action had been taken on the Healer’s recommendation for fear anyone sent to destroy it might become contaminated with its spores.
Such was her crazed commitment to avenge his spurning of her, Zenia journeyed to this place alone. Wearing a special suit of armor she thought would protect her from the spores she ventured into the rainforest and gathered the fungus that grew on the underside of the plant. As she was scraping the fronds, some of the black spores escaped and began floating around her, sticking to her armor. She was shocked to look down and see the spores crawling upon her armor, seemingly trying to find a way inside its protection. Terrified, she threw down the vial into which she had been scraping the spores and started to flee. But she slipped on the decaying foliage beneath her boots and lost her balance, falling into a sharp thorn bush. One of the thick thorns punctured the suit of armor to the right of her spine, near the base, and stuck into her flesh. Unbeknownst to her, a spore had found its way inside her suit and she was now infected.
Traveling back to her home world of Ghaoithe—she began to feel poorly. Her body temperature soared and she felt as though she were encased in a giant oven. Her back hurt terribly along the puncture yet when she tried to lie down, she felt as though something was lodged against her spine. She could not get comfortable for the pain kept getting worse. Within an hour of her journey home, she realized there was something alive wiggling around inside her lower back. Soon, she could feel whatever it was shifting, bunching up along her spine then a horrible pain lanced through her back and she fell to the floor of her airship, screaming in agony. The minute parasite that lived on the spores of the lycant plant had punctured a small artery and was now traveling through the bloodstream until it reached the kidneys. It is there that it fed on the blood until it was large enough to attach itself to the host’s kidney. What Zenia had felt in that terrible moment of pain was the parasite breaking free of the artery and biting into her kidney. As it grew, it produced offspring that formed a hive.
Then she began to change: Her skin expanded and her bones lengthened, fur sprouted all over her body, her face elongated into the snout of a wolf-creature. Her hands and feet changed into those of a beast with thick, black leathery skin. All this was accompanied by cracking, popping sounds that made her think she was about to burst apart. She snarled like a beast and salivated like one as she changed, arching her back and writhing on the floor. She found she could not speak—only growls came from behind her sharp fangs. When it was all over, the Transition complete, she stood hunkered there on all fours, amazed that she was still living. Padding over to a mirror, she rose up on her hind legs and looked into the glass, startled to see a pelt of thick white fur covering her from head to toe. She thought she had found the perfect way to slay Cainer and any others who might anger her. Somehow—inside that animalistic brain—she knew she would change back.
By the time she docked her airship at Ghaoithe, she was nearly insane with bloodlust. She realized that she would need to consume blood in order to feed the thing inside her for it was draining her own at an enormous rate. She was weak and her body aching for the taste of blood, what she would later call Sustenance. Once on shore, she stalked her first kill and devoured the hapless one, literally tearing the body apart in her frenzy. She found she liked the powers she now possessed—strength beyond anything she could have ever imagined and an ability to intercept the thoughts of others. She then set out to capture Cainer Cree and make him pay for spurning her.
Zenia sent word to him that she was coming after him. At first, he laughed it off, but when the mutilated remains of her victims began appearing on his very doorstep, he stopped laughing. She left mangled bodies in her wake. He would have gone after her but learned she was stalking Aisling, the woman he intended for his own. Knowing he had to do something, he took his own airship, the Levant, and fled, knowing Zenia would follow.
He led her far out into the heavens for he wanted her well away from anyone she could harm. But a violent storm came up, and he was blown off course and into a wormhole. The wormhole which he likened to a mighty vortex swallowed his ship and sucked hers in behind him as well. It spat them out not only in the distant past but also in an entirely different galaxy.
His airship was fast running out of fuel, and he knew he would never be able to return home. Ahead, he saw another world and it was to this strange place he aimed his craft for he had resigned himself to die, but he had also made a sacred vow that he would take Zenia with him. When they landed upon this new world Cainer left his ship to confront his adversary. He had every intention of killing her then turning his weapon upon himself. He did not want to live without the lady he loved more than life itself.
Landing, he fired upon Zenia ass soon as she left her ship, cold, murderous intent guiding his aim, but he knew nothing of Zenia’s new abilities. She did not go down under the assault though it staggered her. Several more times—as she calmly walked toward him, a vengeful smile on her face—he tried to put her down with blast after blast of his laser pistrol but it was not to be. He emptied his weapon yet still she came on.
He thought he was dealing with a demoness and—truth be told—he was. Zenia was now evil incarnate, mad with vengeance, utterly insane. He realized he could not kill her and had no desire to allow her to put her hands upon him so he ran. She began stalking him across the green hills and valleys of Chale.
Long into the night she toyed with him, easily keeping pace with him for her strength was much greater than his own. When at last he was winded, tired, heartsick, he came to an ancient ruin and standing at the door to that ruin was an old woman so ancient, her flesh so thin, he imagined he could see through her. She was holding up a lantern and beckoning him inside the ruin.
(In actuality, the old woman was the Holiest of Holies. She was Morrigunia, The Triune Goddess, Goddess of War, Life and Death. It is said she appears to a hero on the day he is to die. The old crone image is only one of her personas. She has many forms and can change her shape at will. Most often, she comes in the form of a raven or a copper-scaled dragon. Legend has it that in the form of that crow she will perch on a battlefield and watch men destroying men, saving those she deems worthy to make them immortal.)
Morrigunia knew what Zenia was. She had foreseen her coming. A human who could change her shape intrigued the Goddess. She wanted to know the secret of this ability so she could bestow it upon her favored warriors. Morrigunia wanted Zenia to turn Cainer into one like herself for She had plans for him.
So Cainer ran to the old woman and she led him deep within the ruin. The ruin had a name, by the way—it was called Speal Buanaí. Translated in ancient Chalean, it means Scythe of the Reaper. It was the home of Bás. (Death).
Zenia, of course, came after them. Because the goddess had clouded her vision, Zenia had not seen the old woman and when she finally found Cainer, he was in a small circular room, a dead end. He turned, came at her, but she threw herself on him and sank her teeth into his neck. Even as strong as he was, he could not escape her and she took him to the stone floor and tried to siphon every drop of his blood. Though he struggled, he could not dislodge her and finally stop struggling. Before she could take all his blood and devour him as she no doubt intended, Morrigunia materialized behind her with scythe in hand and severed the mad woman’s head from her body.
Cainer was his belly on the floor, trying to push himself up. He was dying and he knew it. Morrigunia stood over him—scythe in hand—and watched as the parasite wriggled free of Zenia’s decapitated body. It lay there flopping on the stone floor as though its own head had been severed from its body. Bending down to push Cainer’s shirt out of the evil thing’s way, the Goddess of War, Life and Death lowered her scythe and cut a slit in the warrior’s back over his kidney. As soon as the tiny trickle of blood caught the beastess’ attention, it raised its green triangular head and flicked out its forked tongue. In the space of a heartbeat, it shot forward and slithered onto the warrior’s now unconscious body. Morrigunia leaned against her bloody scythe and watched the creature disappear inside Cainer Cree.
Morrigunia knew what the thing would do for she had been in communication with the parasite since Cainer and Zenia entered that part of the galazy. In that contact, She learned what the host was capable of doing. The possibilities intrigued Morrigunia—a warrior incapable of being killed on the battlefield, one whose strength exceeded that of ten men and whose bloodlust would be wild, who could be controlled by either withholding or providing Sustenance. The parasite whispered to the goddess that there was a brew that would keep the warrior relatively content and biddable. That brew was tenerse. Addict him to that vile brew and he would be as manageable as needed.
When the parasite changed Cainer Cree forever, Morrigunia hunkered there with the scythe at hand should She need it and was mesmerized by the process of the Transition. She watched him go from human to beast then back to human and realized he would pose a threat to Her people if left at Speal Buanaí. He must be taken to a place from which She could take him when he was needed as an ultimate fighting machine—the indestructible warrior who could champion Chale. So before he came fully to himself, She hoisted him upon Her shoulder and flew with him to an island off the rocky coast of Chale. The island where he was imprisoned was once called Longbhriseadh—Chalean for shipwreck—for pirates would lure unsuspecting ships to those barren shores and once the vessel broke apart on the crags, make off with the goods. Since Cainer was forced into residency there, it has become known as the Isle of Uaigneas—the Island of Loneliness—and no one goes near it. There She lay him down and when he sat up, knowing full well he had something evil lodged inside him—having been aware of what had happened to him when that evil took over—he begged Her to kill him, to put him out of his misery. Morrigunia denied him and bestowed upon him a term of Her affection. She called him her dearg-duls which in ancient Chalean meant 'strong reaper' for it was Her intent to make him a reaper of souls, a warrior above all warriors. She shortened it later, calling him simply My Reaper.
Morrigunia tried to seduce him for She found him most desirable and she wanted c child from his loins but he rebuffed Her. Thinking it was Her Death persona that had caused this denial of Her offer, She changed to Her Life persona—a beautiful young woman with long blonde hair, a voluptuous figure, cherry red lips and eyes the color of the sea at sunset. She opened Her arms to him, enticed him with suggestive body movements, but he still rejected Her. Changing once more—unable to believe he would deny Her yet a third time—She became the Warrioress persona with flowing red hair, eyes as green as a stalk of a new corn plant, and breasts that were full and bare. Yet still did he refuse to accept Her offer. Enraged, humiliated and stunned that he would dare show such disrespect, She punished him by imposing several harsh Geas upon him. Each was designed to penalize him for rejecting Her advances.
Now Geas are magical obligations. They can also be curses or prohibitions, or bans of some kind. The Geas is distinctive and fitting to each person. To break a Geas can cause great misfortune for those close to you and even result in the death of the recipient. Many a warrior has received his Geas from a woman, but to have been given one by Morrigunia, Herself, was an honor Cainer came to understand and accept—if not like.
FIRST GEAS: It became his obligation to pass on a fledgling from his body in order to aid those who seek him out.
SECOND GEAS: It would now be impossible for Cainer to ever know sexual peace again. Since when he Transitions he takes on the form of a wolf-like creature, She made it so he would only know one mate in his lifetime. Should that mate die or leave him, he will never have another.
THIRD GEAS: This one was designed to make his life as long as possible so the loneliness would eat at the Reaper every day of his extended life. To ensure he would be as lonely as possible, She took him to the island where he resides to this day and left him there alone.
FOURTH GEAS: The thirdGeas placed a ban on him taking his own life. She made it so the parasite inside would not allow him to be able to get out of his punishment. He would be forced to live and suffer daring to reject Her.
FIFTH GEAS: Made it taboo for him to swim so he could never leave the island. The curse states that a deargs duls may not swim nor cross running water. They cannot so much as put a foot into running water because Morrigunia willed the parasite to fear it would drown if such should happen. So the parasite will not allow the deargs duls to come into contact with running water.
SIXTH GEAS: Morrigunia laid her hand upon his brow and he fell into a deep sleep. In that sleep, She willed his staff to rise and She impaled herself upon it. She took his seed within Her in attempt to have a girl child of the union but when it came time for Her to deliver, it was a male and Morrigunia threw the babe into the fire. She did not want a male. She wanted a girl. Over the years, She tried unsuccessfully to get a bairn from the warrior but finally gave up when She realized only males would come from the loins of Cainer Cree. And so the final Geas was placed on Cainer’s broad shoulders—no female would ever spring from the staff of a deargs duls.
The first human Cainer turned into a Reaper was a Healer Morrigunia brought to him named Lord Khnum. That was a mistake for Morrigunia took a fledgling from Cainer's back with Her own hand not knowing it would cause the revenant worm to go mad with evil.
Cainer had kept a diary--explaining in detail how to do the Transference of fledglings. Simply called The Book, it would later fall into Lord Khnum's hands and the evil one would found an entire race of vampyres on his homeworld of Ordon.
The second attempt Morrigunia made to create a Reaper by Her own hand was when She Transfered another of Cainer's fledglings into the body of Cree's nephew, Viraidan. The young man became crazed with bloodlust and the Triune Goddess began to realize that once She touched a revenant worm, it became evil. From that moment forward, She created Her Reapers from those fledglings harvested from Cree's body and placed into Her own while She wore a glove made of chainmail. Once inside Her body, the goddess began teaching the fledglings in how She expected them to behave.
At the same time Morrigunia was creating Her Reapers, Her twin sister, Lilith, the goddess of Demons, began Her own version, calling them, instead, Nightwinds--sexual beings or incubi--with great powers. These evil beings are more demon than man for Lilith touches them, strokes them, and keeps them close to Her vile body until they were mature and ready for Transference.
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