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| The Eternal Conflict Prologue Breached Wall The castle Raeven�s wall has been breached and the hordes of Pain Bringers advance. In the midst of remnants of buildings in the royal courtyard a band of last resort soldiers stands. They will not be able to fight off the incoming enemy. The impenetrable castle is breached, only the Final Keep (The Keep of Light) still stands. A lone skyscraper in the midst of the ruins of fallen company. Chapter One Heros �It�s fallen,� uttered Daedlyn. �Raeven has fallen! Run children! Run to the Keep of Light. We will make our last stand there.� Daedlyn never thought that his life would be ended this dramatically. He had always thought that he would die with grandchildren or even great grandchildren. Somewhere on a farm away from the wars of mankind. �You there, do you listen with your arse? Why do you not heed my words, why do you not run� A single swordsman had stayed behind from the fleeing army. �I will protect you Sage Daedlyn� my life is yours. I will not run till you are safe or I die m�lord. I am loyal to the throne of Arigon.� �I see young one,� the exasperated Sage replied. �If you must stay behind with me then let me know your name and surname so I may tell your kin how you died.� �My name is Andros Delanie, I am an elemental of the noble house Ifrituus. My family swore its loyalty to those who protect the great element of the sun. May you feel the warmth always and see the light, Sage Daedlyn.� �Aye, the same to you Flamewalker. Prevail we must, you are correct. For the sun which provides the light, we fight!� As the first hordes walked in through the broken city keep, even the great sage Daedlyn had to shudder. The masses were not only unfair, they were overwhelming. Even with his supreme knowledge of battle tactics and magical warfare, Daedlyn had a nasty feeling that he would have a very long sleep when all was done. Either outcome. Nevertheless, he felt slightly better having a Flamewalker fighting alongside him. He had never met one before and had only heard myths and stories from local pubs. Legend had it that Flamewalkers could conjure immense heat and blinding light to extreme amounts at the will of their mind. They were by no means invincible, but one alone could take out a city and it was said also that multiple Flamewalkers could link together and control such vast amounts of raw energy that the world would tremble and burn. Still, with the masses this overpowering Daedlyn didn�t think much of the chances. Andros was muttering incantations and meticulously brandishing his arms in intricate spell formations. The air around Andros suddenly became full of symbols and obvious invocations. Daedlyn was fascinated. The suspended summons were golden for nearly a whole minute before Andros began to speak. �I smell the blood of the innocent, this which I smell, this which I now taste shall be the last. Filthy beasts, you shall be the last of your kind�� The army had filed into what seemed nearly a thousand columns and it was only seconds before they began to advance. In the front were twenty-foot high towering beasts, the giants. They were the most primitive yet also the most destructive race of the land. Daedlyn himself began preparing himself. Within seconds Daedlyn had his mystic staff in his hands. Then he stopped and flatly stared at Andros. Andros was now yelling at the top of his voice. The pitch was deafening, his voice was so low that the mountains in the surrounding areas were reverberating. His hands were quickly flashing a reddish color. The rumors very much diminished the awesome power of Flamewalkers. Chapter Two Silent Night Still the horde advanced. Within twenty seconds the army had diminished the gap from 200 yards to a mere 50 yards� and yet they were still no apparent ending of the relentless tide. Exactly then Andros became dead silent. As if rehearsed prior to the event, the entire first wave froze in their footsteps. Each appeared as if impaled by an invisible lance. Then the fire started. And burn they did. The sheiks were becoming unbearable when Andros finally let off the torching. In the time while Andros was burning the first wave, Daedlyn had not noticed that a messenger had come from the Keep of Light. �Sage Daedlyn, the Keep of Light sends word of approaching troops from the west. The Keep sends its apologies in not notifying earlier and begs forgiveness for not alerting of incoming danger.� It was obvious that this messenger was new; he was struggling for words and was squirming like an insect. He spoke on disregarding Andros totally. �Sage Daedlyn, we don�t yet know whether or not the enclosing army is ally or enemy. We only know that they arrive at noon.� �What time is it now messenger?� �It would be nearly noon Sage, bout 40 minutes if ye be counting.� �Very well young messenger, you may return to the keep. Send word as soon as you know the faction of our new visitors.� Bowing profusely, the messenger retreated back to the keep. Andros jested about the incident. �Bit odd that one� he didn�t even say hi� no manners at all� The Sage was surprised to hear his own laughter. It had been a long while since that had happened. �Remind me to buy you an ale when this is over,� replied the Sage. Both grinned in an ironic fashion... Andros spoke. �What the hell are they doing? Why are they hunching over the dead bodies? �! Why does their shape blur? Share your wisdom sage Daedlyn� With a grim look, the sage replied the question. �Universa Anilate� more commonly known as Pain Bringers are extremely violent and of the rageous Faction. They originate from a dimensional rip near the center of the Indigo Mountains. The Pain Bringers thrive on pain� whether it was their enemies or their own. They plague this land in endless tides and destroy everything they can destroy. Their shape classifies them into different sub races. Some like the dark elves are the most sophisticated of the Pain Bringers, they have lived on this planet for so long that they have evolved into a near perfect copy of our moon elves. If they were ever to discover the magic of the moon and sun then pain they would bring indeed. As for what they are doing now� they feast on the life essence of fallen creatures and people. They cannot go very long without feeding on the carcass of something. They only need to drink the soul to survive in this world, yet if they eat actual food they become physically stronger. Those that last in any battle become stronger for the next. They also gain the attributes in some sort of randomized shape or ability� whichever is particularly stronger. Their shape blurs, because they evolve before us. It was now the Young Lord�s turn to gape. He had no time for questions however, because the advancing pain bringers had just reformed and closed in on them. Instead, Andros muttered a small incantation upon the blade he held in his hands and it immediately lit aflame. Muttering something about odds being in the opposing favor, Andros readied himself. The Sage unpacked the rest of his supplies and equipped the staff he had removed from his bag earlier. Andros took a second to look over the peculiar actions of the man beside him. He didn�t really know what to expect from the man, because knowledge about Sages nearly as unknown as the knowledge of his own people. He wondered aloud, �What are you actually planning to do? I don�t want to interrupt, but how exactly do you think we can combat that amount of Pain Bringers? �My boy,� said the sage. �By simple mathematics and a little bit of magic� here, drink this potion and concentrate on fighting one Pain Bringer. View the battle in your minds eye. Visualize the weakness of the enemy. Picture the fire within. The fire is the spark, which lights the candle of passion. The passion is your drive, your drive to defeat each and every Pain Bringer on this battlefield.� He paused and his voice relaxed, �Tonight we will rest, so do not limit your energy output. Oh� and you owe me a beer.� Chapter Three The Sullen Captain Captain, we approach a battlefield!� A distant shout echoed throughout the perimeter of the vast, floating ship. �Captain Robert, it looks as if the pain bringers are attacking another colony.� At that point, the captain of the enormous ship strode up from his cabin. He peered quickly at the demolished buildings of a once magnificent empire. The remnants of the buildings reminded him of his past. He was of the castle Raeven, being born and raised within its walls. Never, in all his life, had he thought that its defenses could be breached. It was, in his mind, the impenetrable fortress. His only living childhood friend had been living here. In fact, he had secretly wished that he might meet his friend and planned on inviting him on his adventure. He held no other reason for returning to the castle. He had left Raeven at the age of 18 seasons. All who knew him were told that he had died when his house caught fire. And he almost did. An assassin snuck into his house one night and tied up his family. His and was chained to his wall and his mouth was gagged. In his desperation to escape, he cut his own hand off to escape the flame. He wanted revenge and he knew what the assassin was sent to retrieve. The assassin was sent for the Vial of Transferring Life. The killer did not however know where the Vial was. So the young man did the only thing he thought would bring him some retribution. He lured the assassin into a trap. He had counted on the assassin not knowing how to use the vial and also counted on the assassin being a corrupt fool. He told the assassin to fill the vial with cold water and to drink from it. The assassin sensing a trap made the young, crippled captain drink first. And that was exactly what the young man expected. As soon as the vial touched Robert�s lips, his stump of a hand stopped bleeding and his body suddenly matured many years. His muscles swelled and his spirit soared. The assassin glared and crumpled as his youth was drained from his body. No longer would the assassin be agile, no longer would he kill, all he had left was his breathing, and that was only hardly. Indeed, the captain had extracted his revenge. But as in all ways of Robert�s life, there was a doubled edge to his momentary victory. Castle Raeven prohibited brutalizing and killing of any sort, save the protection of the castle. Rules were strictly enforced and no quarter was ever given. Those who killed were killed. The only way to escape hanging was to die. So the young man died, or at least he made it seem so. With his new matured body, he was easily able to pass as someone he wasn�t. So he swapped clothes with the assassin, and left the town in the middle of the night, taking only his clothes, hunting knife, the Vial, and an assortment of different ropes and cloths. From then on, his life was hazy. The only reminder of his past, his damaged arm. �Captain, are you alright? Captain!?� �Yes, yes I�m fine,� the captain sighed. �How goes the battle, are we in reach to attack the pain bringers?� �No sir, we are still too far to do any serious damage to the encompassing troops. It also seems as if they are setting up their siege equipment once more. |
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