Disciple of OombutuBetrayal smeared a film of ashen anger and fear. Darkness dripped down the walls contrasting implosive outbursts of rage. The Silent Creator be damned! Pacing through the depths of the temple, letting the coldness seep into his bones, Rendris envisaged his next move. Clouded yet from the ritual of sight, Rendriss perception was a bit dazed and covered with a sheen of despair. He breathed deeply, attempting to cool his fury and transform it alchemically into shadow and smoke, into power.Rendris pooled shadow and fire into his auric capacitor. Power coursed through his veins creating a network of energy that extended around Rendris; plunging deep into Jhendar like the roots of a tree as well as high into the sky crackling through the thundering clouds. With each in-breath Rendris drew in the dark power of which Oombutu had given him access. Each corresponding out-breath expelled weakness.An agent of Oombutu, Rendris infiltrated the Ubulain Sect of the Silent Creator twenty five years ago. His prowess with magik fostered his quick ascension through the ranks of priests and councilors. After 15 years Rendris had achieved the rank of Head Councilor in the Ubulain state of Chandris. Having enjoyed the post and its powerful position in Ubulain society, Rendris sowed destruction and chaos secretly throughout the state of Chandris. Rendris created a network of spies and assassins that stalked the land in service of the Great One, Oombutu. Recently however, many of his high level servants had gone missing. This disturbing development led Rendris to perform a complicated ritual of sight. The ritual allowed Rendris to communicate directly with Oombutu, but also gave him a glimpse through space and time. The two had spent three hours sifting through time, and Rendris was exhausted. Yet the betrayal had been uncovered. And Rendris needed to act quickly, before it was too late.After the ritual, Rendris received a vision from Oombutu illustrating what Rendris was meant to do to the violator. Just as Rendris shook the image of peeled back skin and dangling entrails from his mind, the sound of a saw chipping through skull reared up dripping in gore. Breathing deeply while pooling energy through his auric capacitor, Rendris sent out the nausea and embraced vengeanceThe violator had been a staunch ally for ten years. Rendriss initial surprise at seeing his deputy councilor conspiring with the enemy turned to fury when Oombutu then negotiated their sight to a period when Xantos himself, in disguise of course, met with the violator to conspire against Rendris. If Xantos knew of Rendriss true allegiance then he would never be safe. If only he could know for sure. The inevitable decrease in Rendriss usefulness to Oombutu could only be diverted if Rendris found a way to quickly eliminate the violator and escape the scrutiny of Xantos. Xantos would never act directly. However, it was becoming clear to Rendris that his time as High Councilor of Chandris was coming to an end. Seeking reflection and rest, Rendris sought out his sleeping chamber.The next day, Rendris stood before the entire Ubulain Councilorship in an emergency meeting, which Rendris convinced Arch Councilor Sabion was necessary. Armed with the knowledge distilled from the previous nights ritual of sight, Rendris wove a tail of deception and corruption that pointed to a highly placed leader among the Sect of the Silent Creator. Rendris even exposed several grunts from his own network of spies and assassins as proof, while offering their tortured confessions.This is ridiculous! Rendriss deputy councilor, the violator, rose incredulously.Ive had enough of your lies Rendris! There is a glimmer of truth in your words. It is you! It is Rendris himself Arch Councilor who is the traitor. Guards arrest him.That will be enough Deputy Councilor. What proof have you? Rendris has just laid out an elaborate investigation into the betrayal of our brotherhood. What is your proof? The Supreme Arch Councilor stood and pointed an accusatory finger at the deputy.Rendris enjoyed the drama. He couldnt stop from seeing red, as he knew that upon the inevitable vote for an investigation, the invocation would be complete and at least half of the people in the chamber, including the Arch Bishop, would be dead. In the chaos Rendris would slip out with his deputy under his control, and the blood will flow. Rendriss deputy looked strangely at Rendris. As the Arch Councilor asked for the nomination to perform an official investigation, the violator ducked out of the chamber. Rendris smiled, and then several things happened at once. Rendris cloaked himself in a shield of dark protection, and the room began to fill with an opaque smoke. The smoke coated everything in the room with tiny particles of magikal dimension. As Rendris followed the violator from the chamber, he spoke the final word of power and every individual particle exploded. Most of the councilors died instantly as miniscule parts of their bodies mingled and filled the air of the room, temporarily replacing the air in the room with a brown and red sludge. Then everything fell to the floor with a splat. Only a handful of screams muffled through the chamber.Snaking down several flights of stairs, running down hallway after hallway, the violator paused to catch his breath and look back. He knew that Rendris was following him. The merest flicker of a torch seemed sinister, and though he was sweating from the exertion the violator felt a chill. Hoping to slow Rendris down, the violator wove a positional detonation shrouded in a deflection weave. Also, to distract Rendris, he created an energy beast that filled the entire chamber. Finally, he sent a seeking detonation up the stairs. In a matter of seconds, the violator had set a complex network of traps that would surely slow Rendriss progress.Reaching the final stairwell platform, the violator faced a decision. Should he venture out into the causeway, currently empty and difficult to hide on? Or, should he descend into the sub levels and search for the entrance to the sewer system? The image of Rendris sloshing behind him, each soggy step bouncing throughout the sewer system, while his hollow voice hissed and teased after him, made the violators decision an easy one.Rushing into the street, the violator dashed towards the nearest tree, with the hope of somehow remaining hidden urgent in his mind.Slowly Rendris made his way down each flight of stairs. Without any sense of urgency and with a smug look on his face, Rendris began his pursuit. Constantly chanting, Rendris wove three spells of magik at once. Rather than pausing at all the essential points of each spell, Rendris changed languages and switched to the second spell. Like putting on a mask, the melodic chanting shifted Rendriss awareness into the deepest twisted aspect of himself. In those depths, Rendris could tap into the neural nodes of his auric capacitor, granting strength to the multiple spells that he wove. The first spell was a seek and neutralize spell that he sent forth ahead of his pursuit. He felt the seeks threads of magik find and unwind several powerful defensive weaves that the violator had set. For the second spell, Rendris wove a powerful glamour over the violator, making the violator appear to the now many bystanders that he was a grotesque demon, all horns, fur, and fang. The same demon had apparently slain the entire Councilorship. The small part of himself that was aware of the crowd chuckled to itself while imagining the onlookers appreciation for his pursuit of the beast.Rendris felt a tug at his energy. A defensive node in his auric capacitor had been triggered. The violator sent a ball of dark energy at Rendris, a trick Rendris had taught the violator. The auric capacitor automatically sent out a counterbalance ball of energy, leaving Rendris free to continue his magik. Besides the glamour, Rendris was weaving an intricate binding spell. Knowing that the violator was trapped in the long alley-less street, Rendris anticipated the violator to be focused on every tree as a possible point of protection. Therefore Rendris wove the binding spell through the violator and into every tree along the street, tethering them together with unseen lines of power. With every strand of the powerful weave, every desperate stride of the violator shortened, making Rendriss slow and steady steps seem powerful and magnetic.Through the tethers and into the violator, Rendriss subconsciously, with the auric capacitors guidance, began creating a four-dimensional power grid. Through the tethers in the trees and along their roots, threads of power connected with the deep channels of power in the earth. This connection pushed into the violator, decreasing his momentum. As the grid strengthened, the binding ropes thickened around the violators arms, legs, and mind and the violators every step slowed to a ridiculous degree. To the watching crowd, the demon seemed to be moving in a comically slow motion. The look of horror on the beastlike violator and his slow motion combined with the vicious appearance of the violator through Rendriss glamour, a surreal feeling of hilarity and fear ensued. Suddenly something shifted, and Rendris felt some of the tethers snap out of place. Rendris was knocked from his feet. Nearly losing his focus, Rendris managed to maintain his chants. To the onlookers, it appeared as if the four legged beast had reared up on its hind legs and uttered several guttural syllables, causing shards of lightning to shoot from his hooves into all of the trees along the street as well as into Rendris. The violator had broken free of a majority of the spell of binding and had assumed that by destroying the trees, he would more completely shatter the spell.The defensive node of Rendriss auric capacitor activated once again, and Rendriss robes began to smoke and singe. The defensive node did not protect Rendris from the loud crack as the air around him exploded. The ground beneath Rendris crumbled, and Rendris fell to one knee. Tumbling through the air, Rendris twisted and landed in a wavering crouch. Never stopping his chanting, Rendris flung a simple sonic boom at the violator, knocking the beat to the ground. Knowing that the violator had used all of his reserves to break Rendriss binding and engage his offensive, Rendris confidently snapped the spell back into place. The few tethers that remained in place though had become weak and slack quickly thickened and snapped back into place. The violator slammed face first to the ground, and a spray of blood erupted around him. The violator could not get up from the ground. Rendris sealed the final weave of the glamour, knowing that the illusion would last nearly twelve hours. Striding up to the immobile violator, Rendris thought on the gruesome retribution Oombutu had expected Rendris to enact. However, with the crowd gathering and the glamour of a beast over the violator, Rendris decided to kill the violator. First however, Rendris needed some information.While still chanting and weaving the more complex spell of binding, Rendris took up a new spell. Borrowing the lines of power into the violator through the spell of binding, Rendris sent tiny coils of magik into the violators brain. Extracting the necessary information was easy, as the violator was already nearly unconscious. Retracting his tendrils from the violators mind, a new weave formed in Rendriss mind, and a sword of light grew from Rendriss outstretched hand. Without a word, Rendris took off the head of the violator.Far across the cosmos, hidden within his sleeping chamber, Oombutu awoke to a tingle in his auric capacitor. The Gods deep sleep resisted the almost painful tingles in his nervous system. Yet, Oombutu had never been stirred from his slumber in such a way, and the God of Wars curiosity had stirred. Quickly Oombutu realized that his immediately surroundings were not triggering his defenses. Upon completion of a diagnostic check of all of his auric capacitors nodes, Oombutu realized that his principal servant on Aidris had finally activated his own auric capacitor, which was built upon one of Oombutus nodes. At an immediate concession to his will, a viewing screen appeared in front of Oombutu. The God of War rewound through the series of events of the evening that had led Rendris to activate the auric capacitor, and despite himself Oombutu was pleased.