The darkest, most infamous book of all time. . . the Necronomicron. It does not give up its secrets willingly, even to the vilest of souls. It is scribed with the blood of angels on pages of mortal flesh. It cannot be destroyed as long as evil fester within men's hearts, for it is connected and bound inextricably with all evil.

Yet there is a scrap of information, an entire legend built up from the last, most indecipherable fragment of that ill tome. "...helios destructos sic kouros..."

It has many translations from the Mortrandi Script. Some say it reads, "The sun will be destroyed when it is young." Others say, "Destruction shall be nigh when the sun comes out."

But the most obscure translation is this: "If he be young, the sun shall destroy him."

An entire legend has sprung from this little-known and obscure translation of the last phrase in the Necronomicron... the tale called Mythos Solais.

The Legends of Light.

Those who subscribe to it say that it is the most guarded secret of the devil. Those more radical say not even the devil knows this, for he guards it even from himself. It is a story that began with a prophecy 5000 years ago, they say, a prophecy passed down orally until it was written in the Necronomicron with the Lance of Longinus shortly after the death of Christ and the birth of the Church.

What does it have to do with, this tale? Well, some say it reached its culmination in the mysterious events of the year 2056, and it is to this time in recorded history that we now turn...

-Excerpt from the "Leaves of the Scion"

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Alright, here is my idea for a new tale. No one was really interested in the last one, but that's okay. I've let some stories die, but that's okay. This one, I say, shall LIVE!

This story takes place in the year 2056, though there may be references to earlier times as well, ie flashbacks and historical recordings. Mars has been terraformed and colonization well on its way, with just under a billion people settled upon its surface. Bases have been set up on the moon as well. Each major government has a base on the moon, whereas the colonies of Mars are free to set up their own governments, under the guidance of the UIN (United Intrastellar Nations, formerly the UN).

Antimatter weapons have been developed, though they are not prevalent yet.

Simon Carduce is my protagonist, though everyone should come up with their own character to add to the story. The theme of this story is, well, I think the word is techno-Gothic. Sort of Castlevania-esque. The point of this story is to build upon the legend that is Mythos Solais. Don't fix anything about in stone right away, until the story develops further; in fact, your character should probably not even know about the Mythos Solais story at the beginning.

The enemies are undead, evil monsters, and demons, as well as mortal assassins and soldiers and whatnot. Think vampires and mummies, you know, that type of thing. The ultimate enemy will be determined by me.

To begin the story...

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Manthis was among the most prosperous colony-states of Mars, despite its relatively small size. Settled by Wallachians of Romania who were suffocated by the enormous population of their original Earth region, its inhabitants now number a mere 8 million, spread out across fertile farmlands, lush islands, and industrial yet clean cities.

Simon Carduce was a young man living in the pleasant outskirts of the central metropolis of Manthis, known as New Wallachia. New Wallachia was a silver metropolis spread out across several islands, its central bulk on top of a broad, short island peak.

Simon lived in one of the taller apartment complexes, a spire reaching to 2000 feet. He was taking the megavator to the Cathedral of Aencth when he noticed a shadow in the sky. Looking up, he saw a vague outline in the clouds, that almost resembled... a castle.

Just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone again, and Simon, though puzzled, shrugged away the odd sensation, and continued to the Cathedral. Upon his arrival, he was again, as always, awed by its majestic towers and steeples, the grandeur of its stained glass windows and ivory pillars.

Aencth was the patron saint of the very religious (at least in some respects) colony state of Manthis. He had died only five years ago after leading his contingent of Romanians to New Wallachia from Earth.

Simon worked at the Cathedral of Aencth as a security officer. Not very exciting, it might seem, but he got to learn a lot about obscure legends and tales, which intrigued him.

As he walked in the side door and went up to the central offices to report in, he heard some voices, and eventually made out what they were saying.

An unfamiliar voice, cold and authoritative, was saying, "...must understand that whatever falls under the jurisdiction of the Church, falls under our jurisdiction as well."

Following that was the voice of the head priest, sounding shaken and caught off-guard. "But Consignor Genyorko, you can't just walk in here and-"

"Watch me," said the strange voice, now identified as Genyorko. Then he walked out into the hall, brushing past Simon. Worried, Simon hurried to the head priest's side, and asked, "Sir, are you alright?"

"Y-yes, my lad," the head priest said, though he didn't look it.

"I'm going after him," Simon declared, but the priest clutched at him with a fist of cold iron, saying in a voice filled with a sort of horrible dread:

"Don't."

Simon reluctantly obeyed, and went to his duties. Throughout the day, he picked up rumors among the altar boys.

Apparently, Consignor Genyorko was a member of a Jesuit offshoot organization, a sort of cult that sometimes worked with the Church's priest, sometimes not.

Regardless of these suspicions, Simon tended to his work. It wasn't until 1 AM that the next strange thing happened.

The bells had stopped chiming, as they were supposed to every 15 minutes, so Simon went up to the bell tower to fix the problem. He finished at a minute 'til one in the morning by his watch, so he waited up there to hear the bells when the clock did strike.

And strike the clock did. The bells chimed-

Then chimed again. Simon, puzzled, thought he had fixed the problem, and went back to investigate the master clock of the tower, as the bells chimed again and again, before finally stopping. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Simon knew that the bells had chimed a total of thirteen times on the hour.

And then he was staring at the master clock, staring at in dread and awe. There were now 13 hours on the clock. And the hands were at exactly one minute past 13 o'clock.

What the devil was going on?

"You're here late, Consignor Carduce," a voice addressed him.

Nearly jumping, Simon turned to see Genyorko. "Consignor," he returned, somewhat coldly, but now understanding why the head priest had been so shaken. "Um, what's going on?"

"You have ventured where you should not have," Genyorko said harshly. "You have entered the realm of the Dark Mail."

"The what?"

Genyorko bowed sardonically. "Surely you have heard of us. For you, until now, we exist only in the annals of legend. But nonetheless we are real. As are our foes."

"Your... foes?" Simon said.

"Yes... vampires, demons, the dark lord himself."

Simon snorted. "That's impossible."

Genyorko quirked an eyebrow. "So is a thirteen-hour day. Don't you think?"

So began Simon's odyssey into the dark underworld of the Dark Mail, a secretive organization of mythic knight-warriors...

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Quest on epic adventures or duel at the High Citadel!