Fire Colossus - Rift Scorcher

The very first picture i ever made purely in Photoshop. Enjoy...

Rift Scorcher
Other titles: Greater champion of the Flame Sire, Destroyer of Nations

The Dragonbound Armor:
The court of Maleforge is not one bereft of political struggle or betrayal of one’s own kind. The Nine were ones such example. A brotherhood of powerful dragons who tried, for various reasons, to overthrow Maleforge. But the Crimson Dragon eventually triumphed, and the traitors were brought before the Flame Sire in chains and humiliation. Uncharacteristically, Maleforge spare them the death penalty, to the confusion of everyone. But the red dragon has a way to punish traitors, and the Nine would wish they were executed that day.

The nine then underwent such a brutal and torturous torment, their physical body was mutilated and ravaged. And the dragons were forced to watch and felt every pain during their torture, even when their souls have been separated from their destroyed bodies. Their powers, however, increases significantly, but they lack the physical body to use it. Maleforge used the desecrated remains of the Dragons, and forged a massive set of armor. Cursed incantations wrench the souls of the Nine Dragons and shackled them tight into the armor. Now grotesquely decorated with their nailed and mutilated bodies, with their souls, screaming and raging and trashing about in the prison of their body and soul.

Thus the armor was made…

The Nine Suns:
Throughout the eons of the Blood Storm, time and again, worlds fall. During that time, Maleforge has taken to collect the suns of conquered realm. For the Flame Sire, the sun is the pinnacle of the destruction by fire, and thus sought in various ways to harness its power. Over time, The Flame Sire had collected a number of suns (nine Suns, to be exact). Using materials and incantation of unbelievable power, Maleforge compress and attached the suns into the core of a weapon of his making, with his skin as a material. Unfortunately, the power of the sun proved too much, and the weapon melted.

However, Maleforge continued on with his work, regathering the melted pieces and reforged it again with another new batch. The toil went on for centuries, until at last, Maleforge skin within the sword had developed an immunity towards the power of the sun. The next time Maleforge reforged the weapon, the power of no less than 9 suns were beating at its core.

Thus the sword was forged…

The Destroyer of Nations:
In a world, long before Telara, there exist a tribe who epitomized wanton violence. The brutality was such, even Maleforge, whose favor was seldom given (if ever), were quite impressed. Such was their ferocity, they were known as the Destroyer of Nations. The tribe was then used as agents by the Blood Storm dragon Gods, and with the blessing from Maleforge, the tribe swept through the whole world clean of all resistance and the tribe has become a mighty empire and there is no more challenge. Maleforge was pleased, and found the perfect reward for this favored sons of the Flame Sire.

Maleforge continue to instill aggressiveness within the people of the tribe, and as the result, they continue wanting to seek more violence, more blood. But there are no more kingdom to destroy, nor any enemy that can test their mettle. As such, they turn upon themselves. At first the process was controlled, with tournaments and duels in coliseum. But as time went by, the tribe began to lose control of themselves, and before long, the denizens of the empire butcher on one another, until at last, before long, there’s only one left. This was Maleforge’s intent from the start. By having the so called Destroyer of Nation butcher one another, he will eventually be left with the last survivor, the strongest of them all. And then, just like that, in one gigantic Rift of Fire, the entire kingdom was swallowed.

Thus the Champion was chosen and claimed…

The Unholy Trinity…
Telara whispered a rumour of a powerful colossal daemon emerging from gigantic Fire Rifts. Entire kingdoms were destroyed, and many thought it was overrun by an overwhelming number of riftspawns of the Flame Sire. However, impossibly gigantic cuts that split apart the earth into crevices were found. Today I stand witness to the cause. And it was not an army, or a tide of unstoppable evil, or a powerful unholy magic. It was… one demon…

An entire battalion of the city elite guard set forth from the city gate this morning. A rift of the Planar of Life emerged this morning and we set out to defeat its spawns. Halfway through the battle, the Rift of the Air suddenly burst into flames… and in an instant, a gigantic rift of fire emerged… literally erupting into the world… it… arrived…

We know not the colossus’s name. It was wreathed in flame, so hot it was, even the very air feels like it sears my throat. The creature was grotesque, and terrifying to behold. He was clad in a massive layered armor, the ground crumbled under its weight. And I can see nine dragons, mutilated, and tortured beyond all recognition, and yet, they were still alive, trashing about in obvious anger and pain, as their bodies were ruthlessly nailed and merged into the armor, creating a terrifying decoration which violently attack everyone in vicinity. What manner of monstrosity of a mind that made such horrifying construct, I dare not imagine.

The colossus wield its great long sword in battle, the source of the cuts mentioned earlier, and make no mistake: it do so with skills. Combining the inherent insanity of the daemon itself with skills of such unworldly caliber, and spell castings in conjunction, creating a monstrous combination. It also summoned minions of Riftspawns from time to time to keep us busy, and it will not hesitate to strike a killing blow, destroying us, and even its own minion in the process. Our army was left with a quarter of our number because of this…

I… I… argh… and… throughout the fight… I kept forgetting words… I kept forgetting why I even fight. I caught up with Roland earlier, and he looked at me… but all I see is insanity. The shock was enough to prevent me from falling to such fate, but the others… driven insane by the Colossus aura seems care not of their own survival and charged blindly. Naturally, they were burned, tortured, mutilated and butchered, wholesale – not necessarily in that order.

I… I’m losing consciousness… I saw in the distance and suddenly I realized, behind the Colossus, an enormous number of Riftspawn of the Flame Sire had gathered. This city has fallen. I left… this… note… to every other traveler out there. Beware…

The Rift Scorcher… is here…

Last words of Rienalt, the City Guard