00. INTRODUCTION TO MARKO ARCHIVE
In the Kingdom of Azhurn, under the tyrannical rule of King Valtor II, there is a story few remember—a tale buried beneath layers of time and shame, known only to those who seek what others have forgotten. It is the story of Marko, a man born of sin and darkness, whose name was lost to history, yet whose legacy would haunt the land forever.
Marko was born of an illicit union, the son of a prostitute and the late King Turzhin II—an offspring too shameful to bear the crown’s bloodline. His very existence was a blemish on the throne, an affront to the purity of royal lineage. To cleanse the kingdom from this stain, Marko was condemned to the Abyss, a place where even the faintest flicker of light dared not venture, a prison more hopeless than death itself.
But the Abyss was no ordinary prison.
There, where the laws of reality twisted and time held no meaning, Marko found a strange fate. Amidst the horrors of the shadowed depths, he encountered an ancient being—a figure whose body had become a shell, a fragment of the lost Vaelkrathü, the civilization that once sealed the Ocular Force at the heart of the Abyss. This being saw in Marko something more than a mere exile; it saw the key to a forgotten prophecy—a prophecy that would forever intertwine Marko’s soul with the power of the Abyss.
Under the ancient one’s guidance, Marko learned the dark arts, bending the very forces that consumed his surroundings. The teachings were cruel and shrouded in mystery, and it was through them that Marko learned the terrifying truth: the Ocular Force, the malevolent power sealed away by the Vaelkrathü, was bound to him. He was not just the child of a forgotten king; he was the inheritor of a far darker legacy.
In the most harrowing of sacrifices, Marko did not perish in the Abyss as he was meant to. Instead, he absorbed the power of the Ocular Force, escaping the depths just as they began to collapse. The Abyss was sealed forever, but Marko had become something more—his soul and body fused with the very darkness he had once sought to destroy.
This newfound power led Marko to Azhurn, where he joined the Western Wing of the kingdom’s army. His name spread like wildfire, and he quickly became known as The Abyssal Blade, the greatest warrior to ever walk the earth. Yet, even as his legend grew, so did his hunger. The Ocular Force, now within him, gnawed at his very being, driving him to ever darker actions, and his once honorable soul was slowly corrupted. His insatiable thirst for blood led him to a terrible massacre—one that claimed the lives of a thousand soldiers. It was in the aftermath of this slaughter that Marko, horrified by his actions, vanished into the wilderness, seeking refuge in the distant mountains of Tarhal.
But the power of the Ocular Force would not be ignored. In the mountains, Marko’s connection to the Abyss grew stronger. The land around him began to warp, twisted by the awakening of the Ocular Force’s full power. Marko’s very shadow became a reflection of the dark power within him, and it would soon rise to challenge him. The battle between man and shadow was inevitable—a battle that would consume them both.
In the end, Marko was defeated by his own shadow, a manifestation of the Ocular Force’s true strength. The power of the Abyss would once again return to the land, beginning the cycle anew. Marko, the Eternal Sacrifice, would die by his own hand. Yet, even in death, his legacy would remain. The Ocular Force, now fully awakened, had only just begun its influence over Azhurn.
Thus, this archive begins—an account of the life and death of Marko, a man caught between worlds, destined to be both savior and destroyer. This is the history of a bastard prince, a warrior consumed by darkness, and the eternal struggle between light and shadow.
"The shadows do not choose their champions. They devour them and transform them."