The stairway.

We grow weak as they speak, we are elite as we seek, our talent's unique, we shall not retreat.
Solo was a bridge above a chasm, it was said that if you tried to cross it at night you would be devoured,the bridge was gone now but the chasm remained.
They named the chasm 'The Stairway'  because of the pathway leading into the heart of the chasm.
No one descended it, for years this went on until rumours arrived of spirits trying to climb the staircase,in time they came to find that even though the pathway was crumbling the spirits were still trying to escape the solution was clear destroy 'The Stairway'.
They attempted it once no one ever called it 'The Stairway' ever again,it was rumoured that the spirits that had escaped were beginning to make sacrifices into the chasm,no one was safe because of this,the environments closest to the chasm were abandoned which made them perfect for bending this world to their own will.
The Stairway beckoned to them in their thoughts they could almost touch the sky and there was hope then they would fall and they were hopeless they kept waking up closer to 'The Stairway' until they found themselves at the top of the staircase and they descended.
The light was blinding and it bathed the heroes in holy light there was hope eminating from two trees but there were shadows in them, between the trees was another stairway the shadows said something and the light went out.
The shadows continued to speak though, they were asking the heroes to descend into the darkness so they did.
Behind them the trees lit up again and the pathway ahead was clear, it stretched on ahead until it became a bridge called Solo.
Once they  reached Solo it was dark although their keen senses could make out another staircase up ahead , their keen senses also warned them of something terrible and it was close.
That was when the bridge itself woke up and a shadow dropped from it, the bridge shook from side to side as the shadow desperately tried to keep hold of it until it lost it's grip and plummeted into an abyss.
The abyss bathed the bridge in a heavenly glow as the heroes crossed it, as they reached the other side the glow subsided and the bridge collapsed into the abyss as well.
They felt a great sadness, the abyss was weeping and there were tears on the staircase 'this is the only way forward' they heard and then a voice telling them to turn back and then the great cataclysmic breaking of solo the bridge falling into the abyss.
This time there was one tree with two shadows in it, they were wrestling with something when they noticed the heroes they both dropped what seemed to be a crow, the crow took off into the air and flew away and the shadows flew off in opposite directions.
The tree was weeping and was weeping because of the shadows then as it's tears hit the ground the tree became peaceful again and thanked the heroes for scaring them away, the tree wanted them to stay here with the tree, but they sensed a darkness still lingering within it, this tree was dying so were the other ones they had passed through and there were more, more trees and more tears.
THE ABYSMALL FOREST.
The next stage of their journey led them to the 'Abysmall Forest' that sense of sadness washed over them again, the whole forest was weeping, the tears were pouring down like rain.
And they were dancing, the shadows were dancing in their tears, though when the shadows saw the heroes once again they flew away and as the tears were subsiding they entered the forest.
The heroes footsteps were like a heartbeat to the trees and as they grew peaceful a sense of peacefulness washed over the heroes they had found the heart of the forest.
It was a well full of tears when they looked into it they saw another tree a larger one the well called it the 'last tear'.
As soon as they had left the forest they saw the 'last tear' looming ahead, it was enormous but there were shadows entering and leaving through an entrance at the base of the tree they were draining it's tears.
Once the shadows had fled once more the heroes found another staircase within the 'last tear'the shadows had been using it as they harvested from the pool of tears the pool of tears was the size of a lake.
Solo appeared once more and manifested itself over the lake full of tears Solo told them that the sadness would subside if they crossed the bridge and as they did the tears began to sing.
They could see themselves at the top of 'The Stairway' looking into the chasm but now there was happiness emenating from it, upon the pathway there were shadows trying to escape so the heroes took the initiative and destroyed the shadows as they descended once more.
They found themselves together and truly noticed each other this time, they were adorned in robes with armour woven into it and their crowns sparkled in the sunlight.
Once they had grown accustomed to one another they realised that they were bound somehow, if they all focused on something at the same time it could work.
This was not condemned to magic either, they truly believed in one another then something awful struck what if one of them were to go,their bond would be broken, it struck like lightning and that fear never left.
There was more to fear as well but on a bright day like this who cared?
Above them the name Solo was written in the clouds and once their gaze had returned to earth they looked around and noticed that they were alone.
Little did they know they were still heading in the same direction though, days later they found each other and shared with each other great deeds and tales of fearsome creatures, stories of treasure and they revealed to each other the artefacts they had found.
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They all seemed to have come from the same kind of (species?)creature in fact they did come from the same kind of creature and since there was more than one of them it was very likely that there was more out there somewhere.
It didn't take long for the Heroes (to find) a group of them (the lizards/creatures/reptilian???), they had the same horns growing and their tails were identical they were just as slow as the others as well.
They were pulling/dragging a larger form of themselves, the heroes could hear it snoring from where they were and he was 'also' wearing a crown.
They had been pulling/dragging their king for what seemed to be an eternity now their king had been asleep for years before they started on their journey towards 'the edge'they were going to wake him up by dropping him from a waterfall but there was only one they knew of and it was very far away.
'The Edge' cascaded off the highest mountain in the world, from 'this' distance it almost blocked out the sky and it was still very far away.
The king never woke up though and drowned after they tried waking him up but his crown floated to the surface they left it there though and renamed 'The Edge' the  'Kings Pool.'
The lizards all imigrated to the Kings Pool after that and they erected a settlement there, They respected the water as sacred as well, after years of worship their king woke up again and he was angry.
Their king had to ascend 'the edge' to stay alive and that was where he met the heroes.
He told the heroes all about his experience, he had been precipitating upon a half broken bridge he could see the kingdom on the other side but he couldn't reach it he stood there for years longing to be in that kingdom until eventually one day his end of the bridge broke, he dropped for days into the abyss continuing to crash through bridges and waking up spirits as he did so, little did he know that he was destroying real bridges as he fell, he destroyed hundreds of them, all of them actually he told the heroes that he was angry at himself and asked them forgiveness.
They told the king that there was a spirit called solo that could repair the bridges and the king told the heroes that he would aid this 'Solo' in any way that he could.
The kings quest was to follow the path they had travelled to bring him here to the 'Kings Pool' retrace their steps and was to place his tears upon the staircase, the king had also felt a great sadness whilst he longed for forgiveness he would never forget that kingdom he couldn't reach, perhaps this quest might lead him there so he set out to find it and the heroes would go with him.
They got to a point where the pathway stopped and branched off in different directions, extra footprints as well, the king told the heroes that the footprints were made by a different king, the king that had invoked his slumber.
So the lizard king continued his quest and the heroes pursued the  'King of Sleep.'
But the pathway was deceptive and their roles were reversed, the lizard king came to this conclusion because anything living he found was asleep, there was still an anger burning within him too, and that anger was awakening within him.
The heroes felt it too, an infernal rage welling up from some source of existence and they couldn't control it neither could the lizard king.
The heroes searched hopelessly for an answer when above them the sky said 'don't wake him up' the lizard king saw it as well.
That was when the lizard king decided to defy the words in the sky, he would defy the sky itself if he had to, he looked up once again and found the words 'he will be angry' and then it was dark.
They could hear it snoring they all could even though they were in different places, then the heroes heard the lizard king yelling so they travelled towards the source of the noise but as they got closer the noise stopped.
They found the lizard king he was torn in half but bathed in light, he had also scratched three z's into the ground and they were illuminated as well, so as the heroes dusted the z's out something woke up something big and it was angry.
The king of sleep offered to tear the heroes in half if they came any closer and told them that if they did not flee into the darkness and leave the lizard king lying where he was that they would share the same fate eternal slumber.
The lizard king moaned asking the heroes to help and that he would heal in time, he told them that his slumber was the bridge again leading to the palace but there was a king in front of him blocking the way so the heroes ventured to destroy the king of sleep.
They became weary and the ground was getting difficult,and as the sun came up their vision improved until at last they saw the words 'daylight'.
Solo had bestowed daylight upon this place but it was fading and quickly they could feel the anger again and as the daylight went the king slept once more.
It was the heroes turn to wake him up 'solo' advised them against it but they had to help the lizard king the answer was simple make him angry but they did not expect this, the king of sleep had been waiting for them and he wasn't that angry he had just grown tired of waiting for them so he would sleep to pass the time.
Your friend has been waiting for this moment a very long time, will you cross the bridge with him or will you flee?
This stairway led up once it was revealed but they had to close their eyes to ascend it the stairway was also 'asleep' it led into the dream/bridge realm.
The lizard kings body was upon the stairway it was still torn in half but the kings soul was still upon the bridge in the dream realm the king of sleep told the heroes that he was waiting for them to ascend and help him and as they closed their eyes they saw the chasm.
As they ascended the stairway the king blocking the bridge fell and solo appeared in its place telling the king that it was all over now and he could finally reach the palace he turned around and saw the heroes coming towards him.
They were to accompany him until he reached his destination there was destined to be another encounter upon this path.
 When they reached Solo he was smaller than what they thought he would be and he was weak, Solo told the heroes that they would have to build his strength if they were to succeed, the king picked solo up and noticed that he was cold it sent a shiver through him and dropped solo, he froze in mid air then levitated up 'solo' could fly then he dropped to the earth again and couldn't move the heroes and the king felt sorry for him so they held a council on how they were going to help 'solo'.