Role

Chapter 1

As the walls caved in, the raucous shouts filled the narrow corridors of the
minor house in Teth Azaleth. Being a minor house meant many things, including
being further from the core of the city - and the dubious safety it brought.
Generally though, the greatest threat was others of their own kind, the
dark-elven spirit that causes them to twist and turn on each other, to
see their own civilization as the most important thing in the world.

Such arrogance, unimportant in the face of the illithid and their slaves.

As the cries rose up, pain and fury and rage intermixed in a dire dirge,
there was one that rang loud in Alyx's ears. His own. The stench of the
duergar as he picked Alyx up, the rough calloused hands gripping him painfully
and the image of his parents turning tail and running without concern are
all burned deep withing Alyx's mind.

From then on, it was blackness and pain. Not knowing how long went by, the
child grew into young adulthood in years. There was little to mark time
by in the blackness, little to be conscious of.

The fires were the first thing that he knew, lighting up the darkness in
painful light. The anguished cries of the illithid - echoing directly in
his mind - as they fought and died, slaves coming to the fray and being cut
down indiscriminantly. Those that brought the light, denizens of the
unknown world above, had little concern for who they slew in their
battles here. Those that live in darkness must have darkness in their
heart.

In the chaos and desparation that followed, Alyx was one of the lucky
ones. The weight of the umber hulk that pinned him to the ground didn't
crush him. Instead, he lived, barely able to breathe. He managed to
worm his way out - it wasn't his time to die, he supposed - and
followed the trail of devasation, the fire-melted magma, the litter
of broken arms and armor, to the world above.