Phallun
Earlier in a crooked castle in the land of light, Phallun sat upon his throne in a darkened chamber. A magnificent chess set, cast of gold, silver and adorned in precious jewels rested tentatively on the table before him and before it, the greatest chess master in Evnyance. Only the flickering glow of a sconce illuminated the board.
Isiren approached with her usual confident stride with a man in wickedly bladed armor following after. He reached for a light switch but was swiftly halted.
“Don’t give life the light! Only darkness may quell my sorrow. Yes, Siren, you may speak,” Phallun said without looking up. One hand caressed his chin, another on a pawn and the remaining two slouched lazily over the armrests of the lavish chair.
“My lord, the homeland general is here to see you. He claims it is a matter of urgency,” she said, bowing.
“Make it quick; I’m busy.”
“My lord,” the general began with much less confidence than the siren, “I must speak to you about the Weaver. I beg of you, please order her to leave my troops be. She hunts us and slaughters our own for sport in the most cruel ways imaginable. Just two days prior she drained the blood from an entire platoon and hung their husks in webs upon the barracks. My men live in fear of her amusement.”Phallun sat strait as he had been quite slouched over the board. He lifted the captured queen in his hand, running her between his fingers as one might do a coin, “the Weaver is a dominate part of all my operations moving forward. She is essential where, might I add, you and your men are not. So I suggest you find a way to deal with it.
Perhaps make yourselves scare in her presence. And don’t bother me with such trifling matters again.”
“Yes lord Phallun,” the general managed to squeal and turned to walk away with a great knot in his chest and being.
Phallun returned to studying the board. He looked and thought deep then positioned a bishop to check and mate the opposing king, “at last, the student has become the master. You know the penalty for failure.” He produced a knife from his coat, flipped it in the air, catching the blade between his fingers and handed it to the chess master.
“My lord, I’d hate to stain such a beautiful rug,” the man muttered with an overwhelming shiver of dread.
“Oh don’t worry. I have excellent maids, very apt in just this situation. Well, get on with it,” Phallun said leaning forward.
The man took one final breath and turned the knife to his own throat, swiftly and gruesomely ending his life. Phallun snapped his fingers, “bring me another chess master. I fancy second game.”
-The Gatekeeper
Phallun serves as one of two main antagonists of The Gatekeeper. He is an immortal demon who fell in love with a mortal woman. Driven mad from being apart from her every time she dies, he has gone to great lengths to study and circumvent the ghate- the dimension where souls go to be reincarnated after they die.
The plot of The Gatekeeper revolves around Phallun's obsession to find his dead wife and never be separated again. To do this he massacres countless races across the universe to forcefully tear open the ghate and hold it aloft. From their he employs giant webs that act as nets for souls. None seem able to challenge Phallun's might. But what is his endgame?