Strings of light wove through the rubble of the fallen temple. So too, did the creatures who created such calamity. No longer was the light so strong as to penetrate the blackened smog. No longer could it turn all who threatened it into dust, for its light was fading. Slowly, light would fade from the world itself, as would all warmth and life.
An inaudible grumple fell from the jaws of one of the skeletal creatures - he who led the attack on the elvish city. With his command, many of the other creatures rose from the rubble. Reattaching whatever limb or piece of armor they hand managed to lose, the hellspawn dug through the rubble in an effort to find Shenran's Sun. This, their master wanted. This, their master needed.
Their eyes flared as many boney hands caressed the glowing orb. It shone bright - blindingly so, but it had no power. No warmth. Shenran's Sun had not lost its power, but it had only been sealed away. Oh how Ifer would grind their bones if they had damaged the Sun itself!
The sun was sealed away in a sturdy box as black as their bones, and just as powerful too. No light escaped it's obsidian walls. None but Ifer could explore the chest's contents.
A dwarvish man stood above what remained of Shenran's temple. He looked like a short elf, clothed in what looked to be a mage's robes. Red paint streaked across his face in the shape of a twisting snake. A disciple of Ifer.
"Da master calls for ye to return. Leave half ye'r men, 'n take the rest of 'em back." He commanded.
The leading skeletal creature simply abided by his words, without question or even the slightest sign of acknowledgement. Half of the hellspawn followed, while the rest stayed with the dwarvish man. Without a moment to spare, he immediately informed the creatures of their newest assignment.
"To da mountian of Synnefamav'! Ifer be sensin' a threat to 'im der. We'r to eliminate it." He commanded. "'e say da presence be amongst da Synne Orcs. We'r to be payin' dem a visit."
***
Into the cavers they crept. Down the slippery, winding paths - the giant, luminous mushrooms as their only guiding light.
"What's in the box, it asks." A voice echoed out.
Only a moment later, a small gnome appeared atop the obsidian box. It's small, dirty hands grasped it as its mushroom covered hat sprouted and dropped more mushrooms to express the creature's curious feeling.
One of the skeletal creatures who carried the box by a handle on its side swatted away the pesky gnome. Toppling off the box, the small mushrooms upon his head drooped in dismay and it quickly scurried back into the forest of ginormous, glowing mushrooms. Soon, at least a hundred mushroom gnomes descended from the forest and wandered into the crowd of skeletal creatures. Practically in a wave, they took the box in which contained the Sun, and brought it further into the cave. The hellspawn followed without retaliation.
The chest was set on an altar and the gnomes, as well as the ebony skeletons, backed away. From the Stalactites descended a large, ethereal snake. It looked to be nothing more than a ghost. Swiftly, it slithered around the box until the obsidian walls shattered and the sun was revealed.
The snake winced.
"To hold the world in my hands! The stars! The universe! The very gods themselves! The world will once again be mine, and all living beings will rue the day they abandoned their faith in me!" The disembodied voice boomed - the snake's head plummeting down at the sun as he spoke his final words, consuming the glowing orb.
The snake's ghostly figure was soon consumed by emerald scales and flesh. His very being began to form, and light burst from it. As the light faded, the snake began to twist and writhe. A familiar blackened smog began to seep from what now appeared to be a corpse, and it fell to ash. Oh but this was not the workings of Shenran or her sun! But from the ash descended the Demon Ifer, the very child of Analar - the Goddess of all wicked presence in the world! Ifer, the snake whose venomous jaws had once held the world!
It would take time for his power to return, and to fully cultivate that of Shenran's sun. However, the world will soon witness his rule again.