Three of the five most feared and powerful entities in the Conquered Lands gathered around the small granite altar in the center of the cavernous expanse of the Great Hall. The Great Hall of Zager�s castle stretched the length of the mighty castle and half its width. It had been the first room constructed when the castle was begun, as Zager wanted it to be the centerpiece of his castle, what everyone saw in their minds when they thought of his castle. Through the years it had weathered the war well. It had seen no combat and Zager hoped to keep things as such. It was Giehl�s castle he wanted to see lying in ruin, and it was with this meeting that he hoped to begin the final push to defeat his life long rival and brother.

Zager sat on his throne, waiting for his three generals to settle into their positions. To his left stood the blindingly beautiful and equally powerful Goddess of Darkness, Mei. Her presence was a surprise to all but Zager. She rarely showed herself to anyone outside the immortal realm. She stood regally awaiting the start of the meeting. Zager looked down from his throne upon his three most trusted and able warriors.

One was his wife, Enirah Tak, the most feared and able battle-mistress in his kingdom. She had trained with her father until their banishment from their lands for her crime of practicing the arts of war. She left gladly with her father and traveled to the wilderness of banishment to live as a farmer and continue her training to be the strongest warrioress in all the lands.

The second of his generals was his only son, Arevir. He had been trained as a knight from birth. His mother had promised Zager that no matter what the gender of their child they would grow to be a mighty warrior. She had done her best to train Arevir in all the ways of war and succeeded in turning out the only other person to defeat her in combat.

The last of the assembled Conquered Land Warriors was Ikarei, the leader of the race of wraith-demons, the Droven. They were an ancient race, created by the Dark Goddess herself to serve her and her alone. They hated all mortal beings, humans above all others. She answered only to the Dark Goddess Mei, and was only working for Zager because of his alliance with her master. Unlike all other Droven, Ikarei had the ability and privilege of taking on a form other than that of pure shadow. It was this form that she held now. Her bright red and orange hair flowed like fire from her pitch-black figure. Her facial features were nearly non-existent, broken only by her burning yellow eyes as the rest of her body flowed to the floor like oil spilling over black velvet.

Zager rose from his giant throne and lifted his hand signaling for silence from his three generals.

�I have gathered you all here today to discuss our newest plan to crush my brother and his armies. While I stay young and strong thanks to my pact with the Dark Goddess, my brother grows weak and feeble. The time has come, once and for all, to destroy him and take back what was taken from me. We will march to his castle and lay it siege. We will starve him out and bring his castle down around him. I will have my victory this time. And you three will help me secure it.

�Ikarei, you and your Droven will go before my army and destroy all resistance in our path. If any man wishes to join my army, so be it. If not, then kill everyone. I know how much you enjoy that.�

�Indeed.� Came Ikarei�s flat monotone and almost inaudible response.

�Well then, Enirah and my son will lead my armies through the path that the Droven have carved so that when we do reach my brother�s castle, they will be ready for the battle before them. Enirah, take my son and go tell the commanders that they are to begin preparations for our march to my brother�s castle. Tell them we will leave in one month�s time. Have them recall all our soldiers back to our fortress, we will take all of our forces to do battle with my brother.�

�But that would leave all of our lands defenseless. Should we not leave some of our troops here to protect, at the barest, our fortress?�

�No, my fortress does not need to be protected. It can stand against any onslaught brought against it. Besides, there is no one left in my lands that would dare go against me. Leaving troops here would be robbing them of their chance to see victory first hand.�

�As you wish dear. Shall I go now and inform the commanders of your orders? Or shall I stay and hear more?�

�Send my son to tell the commanders. There is no reason why he needs to be here for the rest of our meeting.�

�He is one of your army's generals, lord. Are you sure you want him to leave?�

�I do not care what rank he holds in my armies. Send him away so that he can do what I have ordered.�

�Very well.� Enirah turned to Arevir with a soft look of concern that could only be given by a mother to her only child. �Go dear, and do as your father wishes. Find me later and I will tell you what else was said here.�

�As you wish mother, but I do this for you, not for your husband.�

As Arevir pushed back the great oak chair from the stone table, it fell to the floor with a resounding crash. His cloak flew through the air as he turned and strode from the great hall away from the man who he was ashamed to admit was his father.

Just as Zager and his men planned to defeat his brother, Giehl and his most trusted were holding a meeting trying to plan an end to the years long struggle which held their kingdoms captive. The good king and his men sat around a small table in his chambers.

Gerig, the king�s son and commander of the 14th Infantry, sat to his father�s left. Uthena, the High Priestess of Light, sat to Giehl�s right. She had long been his closest advisor and at times had been closer to him than anyone knew. Across from Giehl sat the only reason Zager had not yet overrun his brother�s armies. Ariam, the Goddess of Light and Good, was the vision of beauty to any man who looked upon her. She was the first to speak.

�Zager and Mei plan to siege your castle. They are marching within the month. He will bring all of his men, leaving none behind. He means to crush you this time. Although he lives on through Mei�s dark powers, he has grown weary of this conflict and wishes its end.�

�Finally something we agree on. I also wish this war to end. But I will not see it end his way. After he is through with me there is nothing to stop him from taking the world and doing as he pleases.�

�Do not speak that way father. We will stop my uncle. And when we do the world will finally be at peace.� Gerig turned to Mei. �How do you know that Zager will march within the month, Goddess? We have sent spy after spy into his lands to try and gather any and all information but they never return. How is it that you know what he will do before he does it?�

�Do not question why the Goddess knows what she knows. Just have faith and accept her gift of knowledge.�

�Yes, of course, please forgive my lack of faith, moth��High Priestess.�

�You are forgiven, Gerig. And please, call me Uthena. We are all friends here.�

�As Uthena said son, just accept that the Goddess knows of what she speaks. Now, Goddess, you said my brother will march within the month with all his men in an attempt to siege my castle. I think it only wise to start stockpiling food and other supplies we will need during the siege. Gerig, go and tell the generals to spread the word that we are going to stockpile foods and supplies. If they ask, tell them that we never know when we might need them. Tell them nothing of the siege that is coming. Now go.�

�As you wish father.�

Gerig stood, bowed to his father, Uthena, and the Goddess Ariam, then turned and left them to their strategies.

Uthena broke the silence left by Gerig�s exit.

�Your son has a strong will, Giehl. He gets that from you.�

�Yes, but his kind heart is that of his mother�s. It makes me wonder why he became a soldier in the first place. He never struck me as one who would enjoy fighting.�

�Perhaps it is not the fighting he enjoys, but the feeling he gets when he knows he is helping others.�

�Again, one of his mother�s better qualities.�

�Indeed. I must now return to the temple. I have much to do before this month is through. Many people will need comforting and new places to stay during these coming hard times. You will bring your people inside your castle in time won't you Giehl?�

�Of course I will. I will not leave them out there to be slaughtered by my brother.�

�Very good, maybe you are more kind than you know.�

Uthena bowed to her king and knelt before her Goddess before taking leave of them.

Giehl ran his hands through his thinning gray hair and sighed heavily.

�I�m getting too old for this, Ariam. I think that someday Zager will be too much for this old man to handle. Is there nothing that can be done to stop him?�

�You have already told me that you do not wish me to use my powers to stop your aging. And for that, I applaud you. Lesser men would have given anything to live longer. And many would call you a fool for refusing my offer if they knew that your brother accepted the same from my sister.�

�It is because of that very reason that I do not take you up on your offer, Ariam. I have but one life to live and when it is over I want to know that I lived it to the fullest. Cheating death is living on borrowed time, time that was not meant for any man.�

�Then I will leave you to your one life and your thoughts. May you use your time wisely, Giehl.�

�Thank you Goddess. And again I thank you for your counsel.� Ariam�s body faded from view but her beautiful smiling face remained a few seconds before disappearing into the ethereal nothingness.

�ARIAM!!�

The shrill voice seemed to come from a darkness within the endless sea of blue

�ARIAM!!�

It moved closer to a faint point of light appearing in the vast nothingness.

�ARIAM!!�

The darkness closed in on the light and began to dance around it fiercely. The light spoke calmly.

�I heard you the first time sister. What can I do for you, Mei?�

�You can start by ceasing your spying on me.�

�I would hardly call it spying sister. We are connected for all eternity throughout the vastness. Just because I have raised myself beyond what I was, and have acquired new powers because of it, there is no reason for you to be jealous.�

�I am not jealous of you sister. Nor will I ever be. But you have used your new powers to thwart all of my careful planning. You have destroyed all that I have worked for these past thousand millennia time and time again. And now that I am so close to my goal, you once again find it necessary to stop me.�

�Of course I do sister. You are the Goddess of Darkness; I am the Goddess of Light. It is our destiny to clash. A destiny that we can never escape, only accept.�

�I will never accept eternal defeat. I will rule, and there is nothing you can do to stop me.�

The darkness flew away from the light with such speed as to make any man or god jealous.

�She will never learn, will she?�