Zifaril stared at the grey and broken wall. This was the day. Finally would he be released and be reunited with his mother.

For 20 years had he been in prison. He had grown up, had a strong and firm adult body, but was still young in the eyes of a Drow. At first, he couldn’t stop thinking about the Valsharess, the hatred he felt for her deep in his soul, his mother, who he thought would be condemned to a cruel fate, and finally, his father. Never did he hear anything about his mother. Nobody was allowed to visit the prisoners, unless they had a very good reason. Still, he knew she was still alive.

Every single day had he trained, training and utilizing his body to the utmost. The unnatural speed he had felt when attacking the Valsharess had changed his body from the inside, allowing him to train much longer than he normally could. Zifaril had practiced against other prisoners, and not one could stand against him. The prisoners started to fear him. Zifaril got word of this, and strangely liked it. He couldn’t tell why, he just did. This scared Zifaril, yet he found it comforting. Finally someone had recognized his strength.

While he was in prison he vowed to take revenge for his father. Although, the long years in prison made him lose his lust for revenge, and he calmed down. Nonetheless, he still trained hard every day, his lust for sword fighting and winning tournaments after his release still burned deep inside him.

Suddenly, Zifaril heard a key turning the lock. He turned his head upside down to look at the door, and saw a male Drow opening it.

“It’s time.” The man said “Let’s go.”

Zifaril nodded and got up from his bed. He followed the man in a long black corridor, passing the other cells. Zifaril recognized several prisoners, some of them which he had met in training. Some of them were afraid of him, and looked away when they saw Zifaril staring at them from behind their cell. Eventually they arrived at the exit. The man gave him his stuff, including his swords. The man opened the huge door leading to the city, and Zifaril walked through it, without saying something or even looking back.

The huge door closed, and Zifaril paused for a moment. He looked around him once again, just as he did 20 years ago. Again he thought about the surface world and beyond, but stopped thinking about it when the thought of his mother shot through his mind. He had to get home fast, and see if something had happened to her.

Zifaril arrived at his home, which he hadn’t seen for 20 years. It still looked exactly the same. He ran inside and began shouting his mother’s name, but got no answer. He looked in every room, in every corner, but found no one.

Then he realized she had to be at the temple. He immediately ran out the door towards the temple. Didn’t she know he would be released today? Or did they just not tell her? He would find out soon enough.

As he arrived at the Temple, he noticed a huge crowd had gathered in front of it. He thought about what it could be. Usually a crowd like this gathers for a message of the Valsharess, or a show. Or perhaps….a sacrifice to Lloth…..

A frightening thought came over Zifaril. Could it be that…..?

A voice awakened Zifaril’s attention. It was the Valsharess. She stood on an altar attached to the side of the Temple. There were many priestesses gathered in a circle around the altar, and in the middle of the altar was a hole, and inside that hole, Zifaril could see many driders, half Drow half spider, waiting for a body to be thrown in.

“Aahhh, I see you finally arrived!” the Valsharess said smiling. “About time as well.”

Suddenly the whole crowd was staring at Zifaril. He nervously looked at them, feeling uncomfortable.

“What’s going on!? Why were you waiting for me!?” Zifaril yelled. He felt uncertain.

“Why, you ask? Well, I really thought you wouldn’t want to miss this! It’s a once in a lifetime experience!” The Valsharess started laughing. Zifaril got even more frightened.

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?”

“You really have no idea do you?” the Valsharess said laughing. “Alright, I will show you. Guards!”

Zifaril saw 2 guards coming out of the Temple, carrying a woman…..his mother. They carried her to the altar, where the Valsharess grabbed her arm and dismissed the guards.

“MOTHER!” Zifaril yelled.

She tried to speak, but only mumbling sounds came from her direction. She was gagged.

“Ooohh, how lovely, a family reunion!” the Valsharess said with a sarcastic voice. “Too bad it ended after one word!”

Zifaril could only watch. He couldn’t move an inch, his feet felt like they were frozen onto the earth. The crowd was still looking at him, watching him with absolutely no emotion in their eyes.

A feeling started to stir inside of Zifaril. He recognized this feeling……

“Oh great Lloth,” the Valsharess started to speak, “accept our sacrifice we give to Your minions, and thereby to You. May you be pleased with this body, oh dreadful Queen of Spiders.”

Zifaril knew what was going to happen, but could still do no other thing than watch. He started to feel a burning sensation in the back of his eyes.

The priestesses started to chant, and the Valsharess pulled a knife out of her belt. She held it high in the air, for all to see, and then mercilessly stabbed Zifaril’s mother in her gut. The blood poured out, falling into the pit. The driders became agitated, and their bloodlust started to rise.

When Zifaril saw the blood, something cracked inside of him. His mother was about to die, and he was watching while it happened. Suddenly a surge of energy flowed through his body, and his eyes started glowing that same yellow colour again, just like 20 years ago. He no longer felt frightened; that emotion was replaced with hatred. He felt stronger than ever.

The crowd around him noticed the strong energy coming from Zifaril, and stumbled backwards. Their faces changed, and started to show awe. The Valsharess didn’t notice it, and lifted Zifaril’s mother up in the air. She laughed, and carelessly dropped her in the pit.

Zifaril’s reflexes started to react, and suddenly he started running at inhuman speed. He ran to the side of the pit, and jumped in, in an effort to save his mother. But it was too late. Just before he caught her, a leg of one of the driders impaled her body. Zifaril stopped, and stared straight into his mother’s eyes. She looked frightened, and was crying. She reached out to Zifaril’s face, but just before she touched him, a drider grabbed her arm and tore it of her body, putting it in his mouth to cease his hunger. The drider which impaled her lowered his leg, letting her slide off towards the ground.

Zifaril stood above his mother, looking at her....at her corpse. He could not look away, and could not move an inch, and now not because of fear, but of hatred. Once again had a parent been taken from him, by the Valsharess. He could feel his heart implode. He felt like his soul was torn in halve. He felt nothing more but pain. All was black.

The crowd, still in awe of Zifaril's speed, looked down into the pit. The priestesses had stopped chanting, and were on the edge of the pit, looking down in excitement for the driders to make their second prey. The Valsharess was grinning; she knew this was going to happen, and knew this was Zifaril's end. How she had liked this little game, torturing his soul. She smiled and turned around, walking towards the temple.

Silence was all around, nothing could be heard anymore, not even the dripping of water. Ust'Natha sounded dead.

Suddenly, Zifaril started screaming so loud, it sounded like a dragon's roar. It could be heard all over Ust'Natha. His voice was deafening, and some of the Drow had to press their hands to their ears to stop the fierce sound penetrating their ears. Zifaril did not stop screaming, but instead started screaming louder and louder. Energy encased his body, as it became visible to the naked eye. The energy kept growing larger and larger, hitting a drider's leg, burning it instantly. The drider screamed in pain, but it could not be heard by any beast alive anymore. Ust'Natha was filled with Zifaril's voice, and the horrifying sound of energy crackling and twisting.

All of a sudden, a gigantic boom could be heard. Zifaril had stopped screaming, and a giant nova of energy shot out of Zifaril's body, slamming away the five driders, 2 of them being impaled by the spikes on the wall. The priestesses were thrown backwards, and the huge crowd was almost lifted into the air. The corpse of Zifaril's mother was also thrown into the wall, but Zifaril did not care anymore, he only felt hatred now.

The Valsharess, whose ears had almost started to bleed, almost fell, but regained her balance, and immediately ran to the side of the pit. There she saw Zifaril, standing tall, taller than he ever looked. Streams of energy were whipping out of his body, and his muscles seemed larger than ever. But the most frightening of it all were his eyes. They had turned completely yellow, even the white around the iris was completely gone, and sometimes flashes of lightning could be seen shooting out of them. They were focused on her. The Valsharess and the crowd were watching in fear....what was happening to him?

Zifaril stared at the Valsharess, not even blinking his eyes. He started reaching for his swords on his back, but it was done with such care and tender, it was horrifying to look at. Zifaril grabbed the hilts and started pulling out the swords, very slowly. The sound of the swords coming free sounded sickening, and some Drow in the crowd started throwing up, some started to cry, and others just watched in fear...

One of the driders had gotten up again, and started running towards Zifaril, screaming in anger. Zifaril was still looking at the Valsharess. The drider lifted his hand and swung at Zifaril's head, but the hand struck air instead. The drider looked around and saw Zifaril standing behind him. The drider's eyes were filled with fear, and he unleashed a shrieking scream. Zifaril raised his swords and stabbed the drider's body, pushing them as deep as possible. Blood poured out. The drider screamed even louder, as Zifaril turned his swords, and pulled them out again. The drider fell to the ground, dead. Zifaril started running at the other driders, who were not even prepared for what was coming their way. The driders tried to catch Zifaril's movements, but just before they caught a glimpse of his body, one of them had already lost 3 legs, one arm and his head. Zifaril kicked the corpse aside and ran towards the remaining drider. This one was prepared and just before Zifaril arrived he pointed his legs forward, trieing to impale Zifaril. But it was futile. Zifaril had jumped high into the air, falling down again, pressing his swords together in a downwards thrust, slicing the drider's body in halve.

The priestesses, who had just gotten up again, had missed what was happening down in the pit. They ran towards it again, and saw the corpses of five driders and one female Drow. Suddenly, one of the priestesses got impaled by a sword through her heart, and was almost immediately pushed inside the pit. The other five priestesses saw this, and started casting spells.

Zifaril did not care and continued running towards his next victim.

The priestess was almost done casting, and only had to say the final word, when suddenly she felt a sting in her throat, and could not seem to speak anymore. She looked down, and saw one halve of a blood-stained sword. She looked at Zifaril who was already swinging his other sword, slicing her head off. It fell to the ground, and rolled towards the Valsharess. The Valsharess, who had just regained from her moment of fear, saw the head, kicked it away, and started casting a spell as well.

Meanwhile, the crowd was in a state of panic. Many of them were screaming, fearing what was going to happen, and ran away, locking themselves in their home. Others kept watching, interested in the bloodbath.

Zifaril ran onto the third priestess, who just finished casting a spell. Five bolts of red energy flew towards him at great speed, but they were no match for Zifaril's reflexes. Zifaril quickly turned 360 degrees and swung his swords in the process, hitting three of the balls, one of them flying against the temple, and the other two rebounding towards the priestess. Zifaril dodged the two remaining balls, slamming into the crowd, killing a Drow citizen. The two rebounded balls were now coursing through the air towards the priestess, who did not expect it. She tried to stop them, but already one had hit her hand, taking away halve of it. She dodged the other, only to let it strike the head of another priestess standing behind her, taking off a part of her face, making her fall to the ground, and bleeding to death. 

Only three priestesses remained. Zifaril quickly retaliated, and ran towards the fingerless one, having too much pain to notice Zifaril swinging his swords in opposite directions of each other, cutting off her torso. Zifaril looked at the remaining priestesses, who stopped their spell casting in fear, and ran away towards the crowd. Now, only one remained.....Zifaril turned his head and stared into the Valsharess' eyes. She had just finished her spell, encasing her body in an eerie blue glow. Zifaril ran at her, shouting and pushing his swords in front of him. The Valsharess started to smile and did not move an inch. Zifaril arrived at the Valsharess and pushed the swords into the body....but they wouldn't go further. The blue shield protected her. Zifraril did not accept this and kept pushing and screaming, until a feeling of energy burst through his hands. He could see the energy seeping from his hands into his swords. Zifaril got confused, but also got the feeling he had to keep pushing, and so he did. The harder he pushed, the more energy seeped into his swords. The swords started to glow blue as well, and Zifaril felt them penetrating the shield. The Valsharess also saw this, and grabbed the swords, trying to push them away, but without success....Zifaril was too strong now. 

One last time, Zifaril screamed to the top of his lungs, his eyes starting to shoot flashes of electricity and his swords almost burning from the blue energy. Suddenly something miraculous happened. The swords started to transform, their shape was altered by the overwhelming energy coming from his body. The swords became longer, lighter, sharper. The hilts transformed in such a way they were perfect for Zifaril to hold, his hands fitted perfectly around them. Zifaril looked up, grinning like a demon, looking the Valsharess straight in the eyes again. The Valsharess stared back with a hateful, yet fearful look.