The Second Exile

In the days following the Godswar, the Knights of Storm Keep worked their will upon Algoron with only the slightest resistance.  Gareth Keep offered them resistance, yet the Light was in much disarray, and Storm met far more successes than failures.  Emboldened by this, a hubris formed in the minds of many that would require the harshest reminder.

Late in the days of Hsiu Wa's leadership, the Godchild began his task of enslaving the Abhorrent.  In consort with the Black Tower, the Abhorrent were unleashed, yet only marginally controllable.  Malachive came unto the Knights of Storm for assistance in a process which would bind them more securely.

As the Knights worked - and they worked well, with Dark Lord Wa and Captain Reklah Kayen at their head - they quickly secured the items Malachive required.  Yet they were besieged by voices, sounds, apparitions, seeking to cause them doubt.

They, of course, did not doubt their way, but they were perhaps over trained, for they chose to inquire as to the nature of their task when it had not been volunteered.  Malachive, as might be expected, did not take well to being questioned by those who had no right to ask anything of him.  By his power, Hsiu drove his own dagger into his stomach, and Reklah was consumed in torturous flames.  Thus saw all the tall price of failure and foolishness, yet it was not to be enough.  Necrucifer himself came before them, angered by their pride.  He cast them out from Storm Keep, the creation of Shay.

Enslaved to the very Abhorrent they had sought to help bind, they were ensconced in the derelict ruins of their failed predecessor - the ruins of the Keep of the Eclipse.

Reklah and Hsiu recovered from their injuries, but they called on those of new strength to lead the Knights past this hurdle and win back redemption. The night of the crisis, Fritzgrad Kayen was to become Chancellor, and he would soon assume the mantle of Dark Lord.

In his wake came two - one a Templar, and one who had once been.  Lerost Atennim, once Lord Templar and now a Shadowguardsman, became the Chancellor, and his protege Jaerlach Kesepton served the Keep as Lord Templar.  Through the will of these three were the Knights of Storm bent back to faith and service.  Hubris and pride were not tolerated, and all were driven to beg for forgiveness and to prove their worth again to the Master.

Necrucifer said little, but he watched them, and their faith was unyielding.   From their collapsing shelter, they sallied forth with battles.  In the dim light, they chanted and taught each other the Ways that Shay Kayen had learned in those very walls generations earlier.  They spread the word to all - that no matter how exalted the servant, he was worth only the service rendered last.

In time, they were rewarded.  It was Kesepton who walked into the echoing halls of the deserted Storm Keep to find it restored, with a message from the Godchild rewarding them for their unfaltering devotion.

Restored to their Glory, the Knights of Necrucifer have never - and shall never again - fail their Master thus.  No one, no matter how skilled, can expect a second forgiveness for the same mistake.