The Raising of Corloth

This is part of a larger story that I am writing to develop my own character. This is a part where he finds out about how Gryph spelled the city into the sky. Perhaps I will type up the other part preceeding this portion soon, and post it as well. This is all I had time to type up currently.

The Raising of Corloth
How Quel’tra’loh’s capital became a floating city.

Excerpt from Stormcrow’s “Tale of a Wanderer.”

The caravan mother had just finished telling Lurien about the geography of Quel’tra’loh. When she mentioned that the city of Corloth floated high above the mountain floor, he became curious.

“Lurien murmured something under his breath, and after a long moment looked up sharply to ask a question of her. “Was this Gryph’s work?” he asked quickly. She nodded.

“So you have heard of our founder,” she asked. He was silent for a moment.

“Yes,” he said slowly, as if pondering what to tell her, “Yes. He is the one I came to learn about. Tell me, do you know how he accomplished this feat?” Looking quizzically at her, he awaited an answer.

“Of course, but not first hand. Everyone has heard the tales. They say that as the Skylord lay on his deathbed, it was a premature death, that he performed one last feat with all of the power remaining to him. They say that the only reason it was possible was that it was with every last bit of his strength. It is said that Gryph requested to be taken outside the city onto the tops of the drift cliffs, and of course they could not refuse him. A few Gryph riders carried his bed out of the city and over to the cliffs, where they landed.

Once there, the Skylord sat up in bed, then stood. Setting his staff, the thing that was to become the symbol of office, on the ground beside him, he pulled a strange medallion from beneath his shirt. It was hung around his neck with a skyweed rope, and the wooden disc was carved into elaborate vine-shapes. Old leaves hung from these creepers, but at that time they were said to be living. I’ve seen it on display inside the palace, those leaves hanging decrepitly from the vines. Our first skylord then held it above his head with both hands, and closed his eyes. They say that even though he never once moves his mouth or formed a word, that he was shouting and that they could hear him. None could say afterwards what the words were, only that they had been clearly listened to. Then he died.

“At that moment, there was an earth-shattering rumble, and a quake threw everyone to the ground. They were far enough away from the cliffs that none fell off, but it still startled all. Even as they watched, the entire city and quite a bit of surrounding land was plucked right out of the ground and raised to the height it is now. All that were there stared for a few minutes, and then looked back at the dead corpse of Gryph. A shimmering white figure stood next to him, the man’s spirit, and had watched while the city was lifted. It sighed faintly and turned to the carriers. It spoke, but it sounded as if the wind itself had whispered the words, “I wanted to see that. Goodbye.” Then he faded, and was never seen again aside from his body.

“Fortunately the gryph riders were still there, and they carried everyone up to the city, where all of the people there were found to be in a trance. Apparently this was so that no one would panic and go off of the edge. I suppose he must have had something inside the city to cause his spell to work so well, but nobody ever found it. Once everyone was conscious, the situation was explained to the populous. Soon word had spread all throughout Corloth, and a week of mourning was declared. Many people traveled to the city to give homage to Skyhawk, and to see the wonder that he had performed. And that is how the city got into the air.”

Stormcrow

Psychotic Wizard-Type
Edited by: SmurfStormcrow at: 7/30/02 2:36:36 am