Land of Shadows

By: Dracoon

I heard a knocking on my door. I got up to check who it was. I peered through the peephole and saw nothing but a horse equipped with traveling gear. I'm wondering who owns that horse, and who would need it here in this city. I opened the door to look closer at the horse and I see an arrow, with a note, stuck to my door. I read the note. It says that Astroth, Lord of the City of Dragons, wants to speak with you. The horse is there to take you to him. I wondered to myself why Astroth would want to see me, as I was loyal to him since he helped me get this city that I call my own. So I guess I'll go. I climbed on the horse and took hold of the reins, and all of a sudden, the horse dashes off faster then any horse I have ever seen before!

As I am ride towards the City of Dragons, I wonder why it is so important for me to come to go, as Astroth always has been a person that was known to do everything himself and never needing help. I arrived at the huge castle. I stared in shock to see it almost in ruins. I entered the castle looking around at what was left of it. It is almost completely destroyed.

I see Astroth coming to meet me in the huge hall. He looks like someone threw acid on his face. He gets straight to the point and asks if I  will help him destroy Nurell, the evil lord of Drandel in the Land of Shadows. I say to him, "Why do you want to destroy Nurell? Didn't you have a peace treaty that stated you two would go your seperate ways and leave each other alone?" He replied "Yes we had, but he started sending his shadows after my land at a time when I had sent my army elsewhere. Your city is perfect No one dares to mess with you. Everyone fears you because of that one artifact You have the defence grid." The defence grid is an artifact that makes my army almost invincible.

I say to him, "I'll help you but there will be one catch. Your land has to become a province of mine. I'm sorry if this seems harsh to you, but it is actually to protect you. You will understand why after you agree." He looks angry, but then he sighs and says, "Ok I will sign the papers and become a province of yours." I said, "One last thing... you have to turn complete control of your city over to me. You can become one of my nobles." He sighs even more as he ponders my words and says, "Why are you doing this? I give you land, and help you to start a kingdom, and you come back and backstab me, why?" I said, "Because it takes tons of cash to run the defence grid and the price is your title." Astroth says, "Well, I guess I have no choice. It's better to be a noble then a dead lord." I smiled at him and said, "Yes. Good. I want it on paper." After all the paperwork was completed, I went home to start working on a plan and strategy to stop Nurell once and for all. I have always hated him ever since my mother gave birth to him. Yes, that makes Nurell my brother.  No one knows that he is my brother.  My mother died a tragic death, and my father ran off before he was born.

A little about the land of the shadows. It's a far and dark place, where many fear to visit  The me that Nurell rule over are called shadowwalkers. They are called this because they can become shadows. These men are fearless and never run from battle. They fight with tremendous strength and can take down an entire army with only three shadowwalkers. There are many, many, of these shadowwalkers in his land. That makes Nurell's army almost as devastating as mine.

I rode back to Astroth to let him know that I have some good news, but that we need to find my father. There is just one big problem, he is in a forest on the other side of the world. The forest of the Treants to be exact.

He says, "Forest of the Treants?", in a frightened voice. I said, "Yes the forest does exist,and its as dangerous as all the stories you have heard about it. I will go get my father, but I will need your men as well.

My small army and I, set out for the Forest of the Treants. Along the way, some of the men asked me about the many rumors of the forest.  We came to the forest, it looked very eerie and dark. The hairs on our arms stood up on endas we entered the forest.  We heard howling in the distance. We walked past a cliff that looked very odd. It looked as if it had steps that went to the top, but as we approached the steps, they vanished!  We continued deeper into the forset and came upon this huge tree like creature. It surprised us as it looked up and said, "Who are you and what are you doing in this forest?"  I replied in my most polite voice, "I am here to search for my father, Geleren the Armoursmith". The treant asked how I knew Gelderen. I said once again that he is my father. The treant says, "hmm, he is on top of that cliff over there, but you have to find a way to the top yourself."

We all walked up to the cliff and searched it to see if we could find any hidden buttons, or anything that would help us get to top of this cliff, but failed miseribly. We tried to climb up the side of the clif,f but slipped back down. Then we got this idea that those steps that we saw when we walked to the spot were only visible in the sunlight, so we took out our flashlights and shone it on all to the spots on the cliff until we found the steps.  I said to the men, "Stay here. I'll be right back." Ten minutes later I came back down the steps with and old man that is wearing a cloak and carrying a staff. I said to everyone. "Say hello to Gelderen, my father!" I asked Gelderen, "Can you make my men the armour that I described to you?" Gelderen replied, "Yes, but it will take me a few weeks." I said," We only have three weeks until we invade the land of shadows." Gelderen says to me, " It will be done by then, you can count on that."  Three weeks later, every man was fitted with this pitch-black armour that gave all of the men the power of the shadowwalkers. All the men were happy and fooled around with it. Then Astroth, my army and me all set out to find Nurell..

 We came to the border of the Land of Shadows. It looked as it did the last time I was there... dead and spooky. We all walked in and saw a hoarde ofshadowwalkers running towards us. The only reason we were able to see them was because of the powers of the new armour. We got ready to fight. All of a sudden, they looked at us and screamed. The battle began! There were swords clanging, spells being blasted everywhere. The battle was terrifying! Many men on both sides dropped dead. After most of the shadowwalkers died, we moved towards the twisted tower of shadows.  We entered the tower headed towards the throneroom. Suddenly we heard a voice echoing through the tower. "Welcome Astroth and Dracoon. I have been waiting for you. I have someone that I want you to meet. Say hi, Gelderen."

I screamed, "YOU TRAITOR!"

Astroth told me to keep calm as most of the shadowwalkers are dead and he wont be much trouble. We started to move towards Nurell again. Nurell says, "Welcome brother." I said to him,"You will pay for this!"  Astroth looks at me, obviously puzzled Nurell being my brother. We pull out our swords and begin to try to reach Nurell. Nurell screams, "Guards, men regain!" Suddenly, thousands and thousands of shadowwalkers enter the room. I stare at all of them and say "There is no way to destroy all these walkers!" Then, all of a sudden, Gelderen says, "Use your armour! Press the white button!!." We all press the white button on our armours since we are all are doomed anyway. To our surprise, there was a big flash of light and all the shadowwalkers vanished.

We looked at Gelderen as now he is standing right beside us with a longsword. Together, we all walk up to Nurell.  He backs up saying, "Stop! This isn't happening..Gelderen, you were my trusted advisor. Why." He closes his mouth as Gelderen sticks his sword right into his heart and twists it..We all cheer Gelderen. I say, "Why did you turn against Nurell? He replies, "Because I realized he was gonna take over the world, so I planted stuff to make you two want to destroy him.

 The End