Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ The heart of ages

[CyBeR]

Am terminat in sfarsit primul capitol din ceea ce mi-am pus in gand.Sper sa placa si daca vor fi doritori voi incerca sa postez si urmatoarele capitole.

P.S>ia te uita ca a capatat si un titlu

[CyBeR]

Capitolul I - Begining

The days were bright in the kingdoms of Grefe.The creatures of darkness had retreated beyond the Shattered mountains wich surounded the land after the two commanders that led them had been vanquished by the king and prince of Grefe.The victory came in the lands of Roub,in the northern most part of Grefe.King Deramin lost his right arm in the battle when he slashed the neck of Grakca,the dragon that led the western orcish army.The dark elves,known also as the drow were led into battle by Misera,the only drow queen that turned against the human and elves.The prince stabbed her from behind in the heat of the battle.The battle ended there,when the two commanders fell.The orcs ran past the mountains and the drow swore their allegiance to the humans.Peace returned to the green lands of Grefe right at the end of summer.
The fortified city of Plous was now expanding as work places aside those of blacksmiths were being found there.People from all over began coming to the city.The guards had now more work than ever before.The shadow of the dark war was slowly lifting and the times were seteling.
The dungeons were full of prisoners,men that fell into traps during the wars and which were locked up in dungeons for further interoggation.Death was not uncommon between the walls of the prisons and who survived the tortures and also those that served their purpose were publicly executed by hanging or decapitation.
In the prison North of Plous one last prisoner still lingered in a cell,his body scarred by the months of torture,fingers chewed by rats.He was a drow, a dark elf which was captured when his unit was slaughtered by two legions of dwarven warriors.The attack was ruthless,the drow being ambushed during the night at the edge of the marshes.He was captured after taking an arrow in the shoulder.The others were butchered.

The heavy cell door opened with a loud sound and five guards entered the room.After chasing the rats away,two guards lifted the body off the floor and dragged him out of the dungeon and through the village that neighbored Plous,in the laughter of the gathering crowd.The sentence was clear:hanging by the neck in the city square.
The man was being kept conscious by repeated hits until he was set on the pedestal in the square.The executioner tied the rope around his neck and when he was sure that the drow was standing on his own feet he prepared to pull the lever that would lead to the floor collapsing under the prisoner and his neck to break in the fall...if he?s lucky...if not, he would be strangled to death.
The crowd gathered as at any other execution.The executioner stepped down from the platform and headed for the lever.
-Any last words?he asked in a disgusted voice.
The dark elf was too weak to even speak.He was given a pathetic healing potion so that he could stand on his own feet before the main event.He felt it burning his stomach and then spreading through his veins.That was about the only thing that kept him conscious.
-Well then...may your soul rest in the fangs of the Underworld!
And with this the executioner pulled the lever...
With a loud noise,the trap door opened under him.The rope stretched to the maximum but his neck didn?t give in.After all,the dark elves had strong constitutions and their body is quite resilient even under the harshest torture.

The entire weight was hanging by the neck under the eyes of the crowd which was actually enjoying the grotesque scene.Even children stared with joy at the dieing man.But their pleasure was cut short when a black arrow flew over their heads and stroke him in the chest.Blood began pouring from the open wound and Death seemed present.A second arrow cut the rope letting the body fall in the dust, darkening the soil with warm blood.

The executioner remained awed for a while.From the back of the mass of people a hooded figure approached the execution place.He lowered his hood revealing to be an elf.He wore armor under the cloak and pieces of it were shining in the burning midday sun,through rips in the material.
-I claim this death and this body!he shouted.
The executioner looked at him mistrusting.
-The body will be left to rot on the outer walls of the city!he responded.That is the law of Plous.
-That is if the body is of a man executed in your fair city!But I claimed this mans life so I have the right to claim the body!
His voice seemed irritated and echoed over the noisy crowd.
The executioner consulted with the guards and in the end spoke:
-You may have this filthy corpse but I don?t see what good it would bring you.Unless you?re a necromancer of sorts.Take it!
He asked no further questions and left for the north gates of town,headed for the dungeons.
The elf seemed contempt.He raised the body on his shoulder,ignoring the blood and dust which were staining his green to grey cloak,and carried it to a horse in the back of the dispersing crown.Assuring the body he climbed into the settle and left the town through its South gate.Headed for the Greywood forest to the South-East of Plous.
That was the best and quickest way to get there.He hurried as fast as the horse could carry him and his load.Fortunately he didn?t encounter any problems on the way and reached the outskirts of the forest well before sundown.

The forest itself was a maze in the truest form of the word which stretched for tents of kilometers on the countryside of Grefe.The trees had very rich branches and this gave the forest a very terrifying,dark and mystique look.Many creatures roamed amongst that lush vegetation.Many and very dangerous.But the forest was well ?stocked?? with all kinds of healing herbs,some so strong that if consumed raw would return a body to full strength and give it immense stamina for a while but in the end killing the nerves and the muscles from overexertion.
The rider headed into the heart of the maze on a well visible path.After riding for a couple of kilometers he left the path and headed into the dark of the woods.The elven warrior seemed to know the way which he now trod and in the end jumped off the horse and guided it to an opening in the dense wilderness.A young spring was crying a sweet melody and the area seemed totally ruptured from the surrounding environment.Even a birdsong was distinguishing itself from the dreadful silence.
The elf lowered the body from the back of the tired horse and set it down gently.Even though in the city the body became still,now a faint pulse was being felt in the bruised neck.
-Good,so that empty-crystal headed arrow WAS a good idea.For a moment I thought I played the wrong hand!
He slowly pulled out the arrow from the chest and threw it aside.The tip of the arrow was missing and all that remained were a couple of shard from what used to be a crystal tip.
-At least it didn?t break.Pieces of wood inside his chest would?ve been troublesome.
The man was still alive but just barely.He hung to live by a thread and Vercad knew it.He got a potion out of his satchel and opened the dark elf?s mouth.The blood red liquid poured from the old bottle and slipped down the throat immediately without any help from the muscles.Almost instantaneously his breath intensified and blood began pouring through the wounds due to the hearts restart in activity.
-Hell!I should?ve cleaned and tied the wounds before giving him the potion.
Blood was now a puddle under the dark elf?s body and kept pouring from the festering wounds.The bruise on the neck caused by the rope became darker and blood even filled his mouth.Vercad turned him on the side so he wouldn?t drown in his own blood and began disinfecting the wounds and applying bandages on them.On the wounds on the legs he applied a regenerative potion made from herbs found in the clearing in the forest,which abounded with medical herbs.The wounds made by the rats in the dungeon emanated a putrid smell when the potion was poured on them.They were bandaged as well,the potion working better with as little air as possible.The left ear was unsalvageable unfortunately and would remain only half of it because of the rat bites.The rest of the wounds,cuts,burns and whip marks were each taken care of with different potions made from the herbs found there and water from the pure spring.Even the mark left by the rope was treated.
There would be a lot scars but the body was going to recover to full strength in a matter of days.
-It?s all that counts!Vercad thought to himself.It?s all that counts!

Two weeks passed from the day in which the captive one was rescued from his fated execution.Waiting patiently,Vercad watched over the body,changing the bandages and further washing the wounds with potions made from the medicine he could find.
Vercad was a skilled warrior entering his 213th year of life,not a great deal for elves.He lived his life in the elven woods of Guir,forrest packed of terrifying beasts,at the bottom of the Shattered mountains.He was a hunter in his homeland and a skilled protector of the intimacy of the elven forest.He fought valiant battles against creatures born of legend and even forced the hand of Fate against one of the Great Ones,the dragons that retreated into the mountains along with their great treasures and transformed the deep caves into places for their long rest.The young elf battled Yudare,one of the younger black dragons.The battle concluded harshly for the dragon,having lost a couple of scales and his left eye to the skilled marksmanship of the elf.Vercad used the scales to strengthen his pure silver armor as the scales of younger dragons are very easy to mold in an armor.And after the dragon blood on them dries up the scales become very resistant,as strong as any noble metal used by blacksmiths.The elf?s armor was now dark instead of the shininess of the silver,fitted perfectly for his tall,slim figure.His golden hair and green eyes were usually hidden by a silver helmet but he didn?t need them in that clearing.The healing herbs were poisonous for most of the creatures living in Greywood forest and the ones who dared attack were met by dark arrows or the sharp edge of the elven dagger that any elf carries with him.
The nights were kept lightened by a small fire made from the grey wood that gave the forest its name.A sweet scent was emanated by the burning branches filling the mind with peace and provoking it to songs.The young warrior hummed ancient melodies which he learned in his journeys and also ones from his distant home.Those songs and the cry of the spring brought the mystique feeling to the surrounding forestland and kept many beasts at bay for the music sued them and each seemed more likely to fill their senses than their stomach.

A heavy autumn rain began lashing the woods.The water seemed to keep on falling for eternity and it poured.The daylight passed and the cold night brought forth her whispers.In the cries of nature,that night the dark elf had revived,his wounds having healed in the time of his wanderings on the other side of life.For the first time in many years and especially in the last months he felt himself alive.And he was right.A new life was bestowed to him in the womb of the forest.He opened his eyes.

...

[Demona]

CyBeR. Descrii chiar frumos acolo tot, dar e o chestie. Devine obositor sa citeshti in engleza. E mai greu sa urmareshti actziunea and all. Te credem ca shtii engleza :) shi shtiu, unele chestii suna mai frumos in engleza, dar altele suna mai frumos in romaneshte. Dar asta ramane la latitudinea ta. Eu tzi-am spus parerea... :)

[Sidonix]

Cyber...it's good man...keep up....las-o pe Demona sa vb "parerea ei"...in eng cuvintile sunt susceptibile de o gama de sensuri mult mai variata decit rom...se pot face combinatii de cuvinte si expresii mult mai bine pt a sublinia o idee...

[Majin]

cyber-kun..nice work man!!!realy nice work!!!
sid..e la latitudinea lui cyber sa aleaga limba...siu daca vrea sa continue in engleza e ok..si dca e in romana e tot ok..asa ca nu conteaza...daca scrii ceva interesant nu conteaza in ce limba scrii

[Tenshi]

Eh... Sidonix trebuie sa fie contra ca altfel nu e el, nu, Sid? :P

Si mie mi se pare greu de urmarit in engleza. Oricum ,good, very good work, Cyber, you dragon! Your english is perfect and you are very good at describing things!!!

Keep it up!!! :wink: /smile /^_^

[Sidonix]

greu de urmarit...heh..saraku shakespeare...daca te-ar auzi...

[Majin]

ma auzit si se invarte in sicriu...

[Tenshi]

Ei, na! Normal ca e o limba grea. Nu o spun numai eu, care o studiez de multzi ani, ci si profii cei mai invatzatzi. Nu ai cum sa negi asta.
Oricum, nu o spuneam ca sa ma plang, got it? :hmmm: :roll:
...Si ce treaba ar avea Shakespeare daca i-as spune ca engleza e grea? E adevarat. Iar pe timpul lui engleza era de 3 ori mai grea decat acuma. :blah:

:spam1: SORRY!!!!!!!! Admit it guys!!!

[CyBeR]

Ma bucur sa vad ca mi-ati apreciat timidul inceput.

Imi pare rau...stiu ca-i greu in engleza de citit dar nu pot scrie in romana...nu pot exprima cum vreau lucrurile.Asa ca am sa continui tot in engleza...

Va multumesc din nou pentru aprecieri!


Back to work!

Work,work,work like an Orc!

[Majin]

SPAM : work..orc..nice rime man : SPAM

[CyBeR]

Capitolul II - Wolves of twilight
Part I

The sky released the sun once again from its cage and a new day began.In Greywood the mists of the night still lingered through the trees but all was still quiet.The songbirds kept quiet until the late hours of morning.Time seemed to stay still in the mystique aura of the woods.The quiet animals were beginning to come out of their resting places where they survived each test of darkness.
A rabbit made its way out of his den.It stood on its back legs to test the area for noise that would mean danger for him.He quickly returned to his home.Amongst the trees two men were talking.

The dark elf had risen that morning.His body was covered in thick blood that remained from the wounds and coagulated in the long days in which he slept helpless.The young elf helped him get up and introduced himself.
-Welcome back among the ones that still walk the world.My name is Vercad!
-I need to wash! was the answer he received instead of a great.
Vercad left him alone to wash himself with the pure water of the spring.They sat down and had breakfast...a rabbit hunted the day before.
-I believe you would have some things to explain...the drow broke the silence.
-...You do have the right to some explanations....Vercad spoke and threw one of the fried rabbits bones behind him.The bone was quickly taken by a fox that had her home there.The sound of young cubs echoed from her den as she ate the tasty piece.New lives called out for her strength.
-First of I should tell you that your mind might be a little clouded because of the potion in the crystal head of the arrow....
-It?s not.I remember everything...the war...the torture...the pain...the execution!I remember them all!
A grimace of disgust crept over his scarred face.His dark eyes seemed lost for a moment in the painful memories but recovered their coldness as he asked:
-How and why did you save me? as he tossed the last rabbit bone aside to the small animals drawn by the smell.
-The save was easy...all I did was shoot a potion in your body so that it would mimic your death.Luckily the guards didn?t check to assure that you were dead.He laughed slowly and continued.
-The reason...is a little more complex.
-Just tell it to me.
The elf felt the cold stare and the attention that was thrown against him.
-If only it was that simple!
-Are you familiar with the legend of Gnejase?
-The great sorceress said to have enslaved an ancient dragon?That?s a legend from Guir.I?d say that?s your birthplace from that ragged cloak you?re wearing.
-That?s the one!It?s a legend all around Grefe but that?s our guarded secret.Her magic?s the thing that keeps our lands peaceful and hidden from stubborn eyes and ears.We just insure that small fries don?t come too close.That?s why our lands have never been attacked by great armies or beasts foreign to us.
He stabs the little fire in front of them with a piece of wood and then throws it in the fire.His golden haired reflected both the little sunlight that passed through the leaves and the playful flame.His eyes showed sorrow.
-That arrow was given to you by her,wasn?t it?Only the Great Ones have knowledge of such things.That potion had dragon blood in it.I felt it burning my veins during my night.
-Not her but him.Yudam,one of the four ancients of the Great Ones.Yudam the Black Dragon!I don?t know the reason why but he wanted you saved.
His eyes were tearful.Memories of times that seemed so long ago passed filled his mind.
-Why were you sent to my rescue?
-I made a pact with him.My most loved one,my fianc?e was once hit by Redsar arrows when they tried to invade our lands.We pushed them back and they never returned.But the poison in their arrows can never be cured.Only death awaits those that are struck by it.He called me to bring her to him and he gave her his blood and saved my loves life in exchange for a pact I would make with him.I now live tied to him through my very soul.
The mist in the forest persisted.The sunlight was weak and the atmosphere heavy.The fire was now reduced to a few coals in which the heat still lasted.
-But the pact was for naught !My lover recovered and for a while we were happy again.But she began weakening in a few years.The dragons blood was just like the plants in this forests.It strengthened her but in the end it claimed her life because she couldn?t handle its power.My fianc?e withered away in my arms and fell into the world beyond the Edge of the sea.I?ve been a puppet to Yudam since then inside my home.He tortures my mind but cannot control my will completely.I can?t run because he would pull me back,but neither can I be sent if I do not desire it.
The dark elf didn?t seem impressed by the story he was told.The blood in the arrow was distilled and so it just shocked his body but kept him alive.That arrows wound would leave a scar in his chest until the end of his days.
After a while he spoke:
-Yudam knew what would happen!
-I know!
Vercad seemed retreated into his own memories.Talking of such things only filled him with pain and regret.His mind was overflowing with the image of his love.He remembered her white face,blue eyes in which even the sky could sink.Dressed in her white robe,at night the entire sky seemed embedded in her frail figure,each one drawing out the beauty in the other,scarring an untold beauty over the ancient trees.The stars were her voices echoes into the cold night of the forests.
-She had one final wish before dieing.She wished for me to not end my days in this world until I would be free from Yudams spell.He could easily pull my soul back from my lovers arms and torture me continuously even in death.
-I guess I am the key for your chain.Right?
-Yeah...he promised that he would release me if I could get you to him.
And with this he turned to the dark elf.But before he could speak his question the drow raised.
-This is Greywood,isn?t it?It?s going to be a very long road back to Guir.We,the drow,praise those that help us in our time of need.I shall receive the dragons ?invitation? and then I hope you may live your life as you see fit.

They spent three more days in the opening of the darkened forest.They talked about the war and Grefe,about Guir,about Gnejases protection over the lands inhabited by the elves.It seems that the sorceress took control from the shadows over the suzerains of the noble kin.When she managed to bring Yudam under her control she brought her power from behind the throne and seized control completely.She was cruel and yet a very merciful ruler.At times she would leave her castle on the back of the terrible Black Dragon and bring forth the greatest inferno to a village or another setting the woods on fire, just as at times she would perform the greatest acts of kindness by helping the ones that need help and even extinguishing the fires she herself created.Her secret reign was nearing the 500th year and she seemed to be at the peak of her power.
While the dawn of the fourth day was nearing,they began talking about the impending trip.
-The safest way to Guir is to through the neighboring cities of Plous.It?s going to be a long way and probably a very tiring one.And there?s the problem with the guards.
Vercad looked at the drow with an amused eye:
-You?re supposed to be dead Taros.If someone recognizes you we might get the city guards on our heads.The dark elves stopped walking these roads after the war.Their kingdom is in chaos after Misera?s death.There is a king chosen by the human allegiance after they subdued the drow but I?ve heard he?s been assassinated already.
-I don?t intend on taking that road.It?s too long!
-Is there another way?Faster?
-Through this woods there are countless paths that lead near to the Shattered Mountains.In the days of old there were many that tried to pass through the lonely paths but most never even got halfway through.Most of those that actually got through either became mad or suffered great wounds from which they died.I intend on taking this road.
-That?s madness!We are not in a hurry...there is no need for such a risky incursion!
-Trust in me...I know how to pass through this places.Trust in me!
The expression on Vercads face became almost desperate...he mumbled something to himself,took a deep breath and seemed beaten.
-Yudam said to me to trust in you when I left so that leaves me no option!...Oh....I almost forgot.He sent you some equipment.

Saying that he turned to a big luggage that laid in the opening for a week before he had saved Taros in Plous.He carried the large trunks strapped to the side of his horse from Guir to Greywood.They didn?t show special through anything in shape,size and design...there was only an emblem painted on each of them showing a sleeping dragon,engulfed in flames.He opened the trunks and a dark armor showed itself from inside,reflecting the sunlight in strange shades of grey around.
After opening the trunks,he got on his feet and whistled after his horse,which had been grazing near the clearing.Usually he would come in an instant at the call of his master but this time he came slower,in a wounded pace.As the horse was approaching Vercad could see why the animal wasn?t feeling well.
It seemed that in the days since the drows renewal the horse wondered a bit further, escaping the watchful eye of his owner.The camp wasn?t far into Greywood so there weren?t any really dangerous predators there except.The horse wandered around until stopping to drink at a large puddle that remained from the previous rain.Instantly,from the trees around a real downpour of tree leaches showered him and strapped themselves to its body.The tree leaches of Greywood don?t suck up much blood but instead they carry different infections.
A few leaches still hung on to the horse when it returned.The animal was in a terrible state now,infections spouting from beneath the riders seat and the bite marks that remained already began festering and even decomposing.His eyes were covered by a strange substance that nearly blinded him and which was eating at the eyes muscles.
Vercad,seeing the tormented animal took a sheet which was still strapped to the seat and tossed it by the luggage.He took out his dagger and with a powerful stroke he slashed the animals neck with a precise,clean cut that began filling itself with blood and overflowing violently.His horse died fast,with some pain but otherwise in a merciful manner.The puddle of blood infiltrated into the ground and some of it even touched the pure springs water.

-Dammed leaches!the elf thought as he was cleaning the ruby-red blood from the daggers handle and blade.
-Poor animal...At least the carcass will draw in some predators soon,after we?re already left.
That being done,he turned to Taros and asked him to take a look in the trunks.
What lay there was an old armor,born in the fires of the dragons.It was completely made from dragon scales and bones.That was one of the few original Dragon Armors that the Great Ones kept as a very valued piece of their riches.
-This will be yours from now on!Try it!

The armor didn?t seem to be very heavy but it proved hard for Taros to equip it,the armor not being exactly his size.Once the armor was completely on him it seemed to mold to his body as if it was made for him.His stature was now clear one of the proud dark elves.The armor was of a shining darkness with few decoration to it.It was light yet extremely durable.The joint between the pieces were made of melted dragon blood dust,reflecting a crimson color in the opening of the new day.The only decoration to the armor was the emblem on the chest which represented two dragons fighting,devouring each other.It was masterfully painted to the chest plate with a heated dragon fang.The armor was a perfect ally in battle as valuable as the lives of those that were used in its creation.
-The last thing it needs is this...
Vercad pulled out from the baggage a sheath and handed it to Taros.He pulled out the sword...
It was a perfect blade,created in the same fires as the armor but from the pure mythril from the hearts of the Shattered Mountains.It was as sharp as the blades of the royal families of Grefe.The simple touch of it caused bleeding.
-You might want to wear this over the armor...said Vercad and handed him a grey elven cloak.I guess we?re ready to go.
-Yeah!

They took what they could carry,filled the flasks with water from the spring.They headed out of the forest,searching for a path unknown to all but to Taros it seemed.
As dawn was breaking the day predators of Greywood caught scent of blood and many surrounded the carcass...beginning to rip it to shreds not sensing the smell of the two elves.


...

[CyBeR]

Chapter II - Wolves of Twilight Part 2

By daybreak they had already made their way out of the forest near the place where Vercad had entered it.The entry road was now to the east of them but they headed west.Daybreak had reached the peaks of mountains,unseen to them,hidden by the vast area of woodland.The sky turned a fiery red as the sun was climbing from his nest,made past the far reaches of the world millenniums ago.
The two grey shadows walked for a few miles in complete silence.That was the last they would see of the easy earned morning sky for quite a while or they did not knew it but felt it,like a constrictor tightening itself with each breath taken.
The walked in the shadows of the forest until the shadows retreated into the forest when Taros began studying the forest with his dark eyes.After an hour of walking and staring into the depths of the forest he stopped.
-This is the way that we must follow if we are to reach Guir.
Vercad looked at the winding path that laid itself in front of them.There were no markers,no marks to show that feet have even once trod there.It was a path of a virgin forest,marking itself with ancient trees that serpent into the dark.They overshadowed the woods and showed themselves proud of the ages they endured.
-Is this the way of which you spoke?
Taros still scoured the depths,making sure of his decision.
-Yeah....this is fastest way to Guir.

As they entered the forest,a dark whisper seemed to surround their senses and the way closed behind them in just minutes.Greywood was re-welcoming them to share her secrets.Elves are accustomed with the voices of nature but this didn?t even seem natural and was somewhat disturbing.No heed was paid whatsoever to the dark feelings and they cut their way further,folowing the primordial trees until after a few miles Greywood opened herself to them,the trees rarefying and openings became usual.They had reached the hunting grounds.

Night overtook them whilst on the way.Tired and hungered they stopped for rest and nourishment.The late hours of the night found them taking turns keeping guard but both of them saw the shadows that kept surrounding them and retreating back into the wild,only to return again and study them.The sound of a spring echoed near but as peaceful as it may have been the sound didn?t bring any peace of mind to the two travelers...

Daybreak neared and the dreadful shadows retreated.It seemed that the day scared them away.There was no doubt that they would return the night after or even sooner.Taros awakened Vercad and urged to leave at once.Sleep didn?t do them much good so they didn?t bother to waste time eating a messily breakfast there.They ran following the path but still a shadow crept behind them,periodically replaced by another.The creature didn?t let itself be seen at any point but it was clear it was a quadruped,a large one at that.The eyes were slightly visible and glittered cold in the weak light.
The noon sun was already up when they slowed down.A dense fog set among the leaves and the way became unclear.The giant trees could now be mistaken with the young ones.That left them without the only marker to guide them.
The sound of flowing water echoed again.This time louder,closer...it was unsettling.
-I think we?re headed in circles...Vercad mumbled to himself,a sapling of fear setting itself in his mind.This way is getting dangerous....
-We?re not turning back!added Taros before the young one could finish his complain.And we?re not headed in circles.Let?s go towards that sound.
-What for?
The dark elf didn?t answer.One of his years never fully healed from the wounds so now he set his complete concentration on listening for the sound.Its echo sounded louder with each step taken and it seemed to resonate from all around but a weak line led them forward.
Walking slowly through the mist,they followed the wiping sound.In the end a large clearing emerged from the mist.They remained awed by what they beheld:the forest changed levels there and a stiff cliff emerged under their eyes.There was not a spring there but a small waterfall making its way down the rocks,splashing down in a small pond at the bottom of the cliff.Darkness came quickly and with it the fog started to lift,slowly disappearing into the air.The late afternoon sky arose ominous above their heads as they checked the clearing.The small pound at one side followed the cliff side, at places eating into it and stretching for about a mile in both directions,its shores marked by large boulders and jagged rocks,no doubt fallen from the cliffs.The daytime mist still persisted above the face of the water and it seemed to freeze there in time.The wind died all around as the sun finished its descent.

All around,the clearing was a good place to defend oneself.The cliff at one side cut the possible attack routes in half so the forest was the only place from which a blow could have been expected.The shadows before came back as the pursuers never lost track of the travelers.It seemed an entire pack gathered at the end of the trees but kept still in the shadows.
-They?re scared?!
Vercads remark moved the silence.A weak wind began haunting them as cold chills raised on their backs and soon horror overcame them.
A sudden, putrid smell raised and filled the clearing.The last rays of sunlight were disappearing and the ruby-red sky left behind a dark one,blacker than any sky before.The stars were absorbed in the darkness and a pitch black void filled the view.Between the trees,fireflies began stirring and shading their pale,cold aura upon the mist that lingered above the water.
In this dead light they saw the corpses decomposing there.The soil got moist now and rotten carcasses showed themselves from it as if being pushed out,excreted.The sickening smell became stronger and stronger,just bearable.Humans,warriors in armor and even animals from the forests laid there,some ripped to shreds,others just barely touched.Fleshless arms and bodies trying to escape death,were clinging to the soil as if to pull themselves from it and run.But Death had done its job there.

The mist began clearing.The fireflies died out but their light remained.It was now emanated from bellow the water,a dead light of souls driven there in years of patience and wait since before the days of old.
In the clearing mist a precipice emerged under their eyes,standing tall in the middle of lake.The insipid light just made it seem darker but also showed the small figure that laid upon the rock,crucified there.

Vercad and Taros stood in awn at what they saw there.Back to back,now the place just seemed to them as a trap closing upon them.The shadows were no longer visible but they were there,waiting,observing the moment.
Taros studied the cliff rising from the depths and the figure there.A woman laid hung by her wrists and legs.Heavy chains and shekels kept her motionless on the jagged rock.Her eyes opened and turned towards his meeting and reading them.
With a loud noise one of her shekels broke and the chain fell into the water with a loud splash.The sounds echoed in the silence,taking Vercad by surprise.He turned from the forest and looked scared at the image that stole Taros?s attention.
?-Elevsss.....elvess have come!?
The whisper surrounded them and sharpened their senses.
The pack at the outskirt became quiet!Their movement ceased and they remained waiting in the cold shadows.It became silent again.

Another shekel snapped and its chain ruptured from the cliff and fell.
?-Prey... fresh and strong!....Feast....?
The woman?s eyes were now cold,as cold as the abrupt darkness of the voided night.She opened her mouth as if to scream but not she didn?t even make a sound...instead she smiled perversely and the last two shekels snapped with the loudest sound yet.
She fell like a feather from the rock and like a feather she barely touched the water and remained floating just barely over the calm water.The white, muddied dress was wrapped tight around her body,her hair falling gently besides her.She took a step towards them...small,circular waves formed beneath her foot and the water became darker....Darker and darker with each step she took towards the shore.Her movement was hypnotizing.Whispers followed her and surrounded the elves,making them freeze on the spot,unable to take their eyes off her and try to understand what was happening.
She arrived at the shore and with her first step on the ground all the darkness that followed her path in the water was absorbed into the shore.She stood and admired the captives of her spell...

A sudden pain burst into Taros?s chest.He felt it like a burn itinerant through his veins and leaving clusters in each organ.He felt the armor burning his skin though the thin cloth beneath it and making him fall to his knees in pain.The dragon blood was acting up and trying to protect him,it drew his mind from the grasp of the spell to the attention towards his body?s suffering.
When he fell,the pain suddenly receded and the drow felt his mind clouded...he was dizzy and felt sick,he vomited.
At the edge of the lake a small hill was forming,similar to an ant hill but which kept rising.The ground broke open and a dark creature raised from the putrid remains.Much larger than a wolf it stood on four muscular limbs.Blood red eyes searched the opening and then looked at the woman who stood next to him.
-Feast...she said patting him on the back.But leave his head to me.
The creature turned towards Taros who was trying to get back on his feet.Howling,it charged at the drow.
The elf,almost helpless,tried to defend himself.He reached for the handle of his sword but his arm got caught by the creatures fangs.It was just luck that saved his life or his neck would of been slashed instead.
A cold,metallic sound was made by the friction between the grey fangs and the armor dressed arm.Taros tried to escape the bite but he was too weak to resist.

A wolf howl sounded through the forest,followed by others.Two black wolves charged from the shadows and attacked the neck of the large hound,making him fall over with his chest and neck exposed.Black.thick blood gushed from their bites and stained the ground bellow.
Reacting to the blood,two other beasts awakened from beneath the ground,pushing rotting carcasses out as they arose.
Taking advantage of the fight,Taros grabbed his sword and with the broad side struck Vercad in the chest.As if awakening from a heavy sleep,the elf stared awkwardly at what was taking place in the clearing.Seeing Taros on the ground,he helped him get up and feel the ground beneath his feet once again.The sensation of dizziness was beginning to fade away when five more wolves attacked from the forest?s side.
The two new beasts made quick work of the two previous wolves,crushing their skulls with the mighty jaws filled with grey fangs.
The woman watched the fighting with joy...all the blood that was flowing in the ground she was drinking.A phantasm of Greywood forest,she played with the minds of travelers and in the end she strengthened herself through their lives that flowed through their veins and the souls that tried to escape.She locked those in the magic of the waterfall and using their despair and the remains of flesh to summon her beasts,the Volds.Creatures born from a spark of magic and an animal spirit,the horrific nightmares could be summoned only in the darkness.In the summoner appendix these were known as Wolves of Twilight.
Three more appeared and attacked Vercad and Taros.The dark elf pushed Vercad to the side and slashed the neck of one of the Volds but a second one knocked him to the ground,trying to smash his skull between its jaws only to have its own skull shattered by one of Vercad?s dark arrows.A second arrow injured a Vold at the back of its neck.It madly attacked Vercad but two wolves put him down and ripped him to pieces while another one tried to attack the mistress on the creatures.But a beast cut off his path and bit it back the back of its head,snapping its neck.
Taros saw the attack and yelled:
-VERCAD....Try to break her concentration!Wound her,kill her...just distract her!
Vercad heard the call and shot three arrows at the woman.Two of them hit her in the abdomen and in the shoulder.The third one barely missed her neck.
The wounds bled heavily but she paid no mind to them.The wounds were more or less superficial to her.In excange,two Volds ran towards the young elf.He threw aside his bow and pulled from their sheets two of the three elven daggers that he carried for close quarters defense.

In the meanwhile,Taros ran towards the summoner with his sword drawn.The opening was full of bodies of wolves and beasts which slew one another that night.The summoner was keeping her eyes on Vercad who fought with the two Volds and didn?t notice the drow?s attack.It ended swiftly when he plunged his sword in her chest than shacked it in the wound to widen it.
She extended her arm and touched his face smiling before her body turned a dark crimson shade and then melted in a puddle of thick blood.
?-Remember my face!? a final whisper touched his mind.
The remaining three beasts lost the spark that kept them alive and their bodies fell lifeless to the ground,starting to decompose instantly and releasing a foul stench that sapped the strength out of the two travelers and the remaining wolves.
The soil engulfed the bodies,those new and those that it spitted out and the mist returned over the pound.The dark night returned and gave them
a rest without dreams or nightmares,a cold sleep.

Morning found the elves with their weapons still gripped tightly in their hands.When they awakened they saw the wolves of the night before in the middle of the clearing,in a circle.In their middle stood a young girl.She smiled at them when she saw their reluctances.
-Don?t worry!They won?t attack you...they protected you since you got in the forest.You should know that Taros!
-I thought this route was safe...When did it become so dangerous?
-It was safe even when you passed with Misera through the forest.You just got lost in that fog this time.
Vercad listened to their conversation and could resist asking:
-Who are you?And who did we encounter last night?
The girl looked surprised at him and then jumped on her feet.
-Hi! My name is Astrea...I am one of the phantasms of Greywood.So was that poor soul last night!
-How come you aren?t attacking us?!
Vercad seemed more and more amazed at what he heard and he looked mistrusting at the emerald-eyed girl.
-Because you are with Taros and he?s a dark elf...
Seeing the puzzled expression on Vercad?s face she added:
-I struck a pact with Misera when she passed through the forests that I would help any drow from her army.Else you would?ve been food for my wolves.
-But Misera?s...
-Dead...I know...but a pact?s a pact.
Taros intervened in the discussion and added:
-Last night we were attacked by a phantasm such as yourself right?Why didn?t you just try to get us out of there but try to kill her as well?!
-She was intruding in our hunting territories when she can?t feed on her own.It would?ve been a lesson.Plus...can you kill a phantasm?
-Yeah...I just destroyed her fleshly body,right?
-Aha!Well then,I?m hungry and so are my wolves...would you be needing anymore assistance?
Taros and Vercad looked one at the other and almost in the same voice they spoke:
-Could you get us to Guir fast?
Astrea looked at them curious and then nodded in approval.
-How about you ride two dire wolves to the edge of the forest and than on your own?
She didn?t await for their answers and after a short whistle two wolves appeared almost like out of nowhere.This wolves were even larger than the Volds but faster and more agile.On their backs they wouldn?t be attacked by other spirits of Greywood.
-This two pups should get you where you need to go.
?Pups?!? Vercad was speechless but nodded that it was OK!
-Thank you for your help Astrea!added Taros.
-Next time don?t need it!she answered departing into the woods.Take care!

Vercad looked after her until she disappeared from his sight.The two wolves were waiting patiently for the riders to mount them.
-Cute kid!
-She?s 1320 years old.
The elf got on the back of the wolf and thought of all the questions he?ll ask Taros before reaching Guir.Prhaps he would find out why Yudam wants him.

The wolves started their sprint though the forest with incredible ease and speed.
...

[CyBeR]

Chapter III - Ashes

Through the wilderness four shadows moved like lightning through the trees and unlike thunder,quietly and barely seen.The wolves ran for more than a day now,threading on paths lost for centuries but remembered by the beasts of the forest.Shadows formed natural paths by the times of day and night, linking into amazing webs.Spirits not unlike Astrea dwelled in the darkness there or in the pure moonlight.Whispers and songs echoed in the timeless valleys,amidst the ageless trees,speaking of magic times,of accursed fates or songs of attraction. Beautiful was Greywood showing herself but they had experienced the horrors that dwelled bellow.It wasn?t charming anymore.
Vercad almost lost consciousness at times because of the hypnotic movement of the shadows and the speed at which the wolves moved, although they were fairly large.At those times the creatures slowed the pace and allowed him to get back to his senses.The trip was one he wouldn?t soon forget.
After a seeming eternity the wolves stopped their sprint.Greywood was behind them now and the barren lands of Karal were the next step towards Guir.The elves un-mounted and watched the beasts departing into the wilderness.
The bareness of Karal was almost devoid of perils.No creature could survive long in the lifeless plains.The food was scarce for predators so the choices became limited?most of the creatures that would pose a danger retreated towards Guir or Greywood.The only creatures that roamed the paths there were nomad Redsar tribes,small ones,unimposing.
Vercad and Taros crossed the plains in a fast pace,shortening the distance to Guir considerably in just one day.The night was cold in Karal...no fire could warm them.There was nothing to burn.Rocks melt only in the hearts of volcanoes.They didn?t eat that night except for a few fruits.
-Tell me?Vercad inquired trying to get his mind off the cold?how come you knew the path in Greywood?And what was that about a pact?
-Before the war broke,Misera searched,in secrecy,for allies.Greywood would have been a perfect retreat point.She was not foolish enough to believe that the war would be easy for us.She knew of the phantasms of the woods there so she sought one with enough power to provide her armies with shelter,protection and a safe route through Greywood.Astrea was the one to welcome us?not cheaply.The queen sacrificed something priceless for that pact.
-What would that be?
Taros smiled and looked amused at his companion?
-Something you would hate to lose as an elf. We were sworn to never divulge what was sacrificed that day.
Vercad didn?t enquire further.He knew from tales that a drow?s silence was of steel.He had no chance of finding out more.Plus that he felt sleep overtake him.The gentle wind of the plains sometimes broke the silence hanging above them as a willow?s branches, embracing them and leaving their minds to dream.
-One last thing?he said yawning.Why didn?t Astrea use those dire wolves to help us earlier?!
-Dire wolves are hard?to?breed.
Taros fell asleep on those last words,with his sword in his arms,wrapped in the gray cloak.The gentle breeze recessed and silence became their shadow.

On mountain peaks fires began blazing and unheard calls were sent in the skies.A gathering was being summoned.Great wings rose into the sky and all headed for one place?the ruins of Fulsag Fang,the great citadel of the demigods at the birth of time.

Daylight came warmer than the elves could ever believe possible.Only light was there to break their sleep in Karal.The last remains of their measly food ratios were consumed that morning with the hope that before dusk they would have reached the elevn home?Guir.
They began their march early and covered good miles until midday when they rested.Karal was empty?lifeless and dry.Just a few plains covered by rocks to connect Greywood with Guir.Next to Roub,it was the other shameful face of Grefe.

It was nearing the 7th hour of the evening when the stale air began to change.The stale,dead air was slowly replaced by a fresh one?specific to areas covered by forests.It was cold and refreshing to the traveler body.Soon,the barren land became green and their steps sounded smooth on the young blades of grass that bent under their steps only to rise again.The sun was not even a shade of light now,darkness overcame them on the way but the new ambiance did them good so they pushed on into the night.The forest of Guir was now in front of them?standing darker than night,tall and mighty.It was a home of the elves,mystic and mysterious.

Just a few steps into the elven territory were enough for the ?welcoming? party to have their arrows and spears at their necks.On usual terms,anyone,be it man or beast would?ve been showed the way to eternity by simply entering the forest but word from Gnejase stayed their hand that day.The guardians of the silent woods were to check anyone who entered the forest that day.The guests importance was seemingly greater than Vercad or Taros could have imagined at first meet.
One of the rangers approached the two:
-Your name,elf!he ordered cold and swiftly.
Vercad took a step forward and pronounced his name and rank as a hunter in those lands.
The elf looked pleased by the answer.This and the dark,hooded figure behind the young one confirmed the commands received.The party dispersed to their normal duties and the travelers were allowed safe passage, continuing the winding path in the forest.Soon, elven lights began shining shyly at the edge of darkness like timid fireflies burning their short life in unspoken beauty and secrecy, now showing their path in a blue light, meeting the poisoned grey of the moon. They walked for hours in a glass-bound silence meant only for the ones facing a cruel, or perhaps, glorious destiny.
At once,all the lights were lost behind them on the forest path and they were left to the moonlit clearing between Guir and the mountains.A few camps showing a fading light gave away the solitude of that moment in time,of that twilight for which even the great D?aemos would forget their accursed fates and begin a death called march for the horizon, with neither hope nor despair as guide, just the lust for the secrets of the pitch black shadows.
And there, and the merging of rock and wood stood, as a beacon, Gnejase?s tower, emanating a faint light.It was just as far from them as was the breaking of dawn.Unrested for almost two days, the two only pushed forward only for the desire to end the journey as soon as possible. Enchanted by the magic moment, it was not long before they realized the changing of the light.Above them; the night was changing face as the sorceress?s tower was getting closer to the reach. A magic aura hung above them like lace, burning without light. That was the magic crown of Guir, sustained by the unholy allegiance of flesh and eternity. It was the wall that acted upon that no great army could invade, keeper of secrets from the all-seeing eyes of the sagacious wizards. It?s light died out as the first rays thrown by the sun showed themselves and the elves reached the tower.
The tower was simple and large in diameter.It raised to the sky like and ancient tree, devoid of branches or life.Two massive doors sealed its inside but opened at their arrival.
The inside was hollow?only the morning sky rose above them and only the walls echoed to their steps.
-There?s nothing here?asked Taros in a confused voice.
-A little patien?
But Vercad lost the chance to finish the sentence when the floor shifted beneath their feet and began to slowly descend.There was no mechanism to aid the descent.Pure magic moved the rock and a frail web of light formed as a vortex on the sides of the circular platform, slowly moving in a circular motion downward, keeping the structure from collapsing.

It was at that point that Taros felt for the first how the armor began getting heavier and heavier with the descent.Even the sword seemed to long for the soil.The descent came to an end and at that point he could hardly walk, taking all his strength to simply stay on his feet.
The place they now occupied was a gigantic cave.The walls were cut in black rock, obsidian and smoothened with such delicacy that no chisel in Grefe could accomplish but only the infernal fire of magic or dragons.Here and there on the black wall were torches embedded in the stone and at the foot of the wall a rift was dug and filled with water.As such, the cave was lit with the flickering light of the fire and its reflection in the water, moving continuously and unpredictable.The rows of torches stretched out into the darkness, into secrets still closed to them.
Taros?s armor suddenly became heavier until it felt like it was about to rupture his body.To ease the pain he fell to his knees as strong echoes bounced in the cave.From their front the dragon made its appearance.
Yudam stood before them in full might.Darkness that grasped shape was his body, covered in thick scale armor, forged in ancient battles and refined through ancient crafts of magic.It came towards them on four muscular limbs, each in worth of a hundred warrior?s strength, ending in four talons for which time was worthless in its effort to blunt them.Thousands of years laid on his back while his skillet grew and evolved, spikes sprouting in a fierce row down his back towards his tail ending it as a weapon.He possessed a wide mussel with black fangs running in twin rows on each jaw, crushing a body with the ease of breaking a toothpick.Darkness incarnated, it stood before them, four times their size
Stretching its wings, the creature approached them.Vercad was standing motionless next to the kneeling Taros as the dragon approached and studied them.He backed off a step and spoke in elven tongue:
-I see that your task was successful!
Dark grey fumes rose as he spoke, escaping from his mouth and nostrils.The voice in which he talked was that of a great sage, gentle yet powerful.
-I accomplished your request.Now I ask you to keep your word to me and free me.
A chant began from the shadows.A woman?s voice, suave and gentle invoked in an ancient language the chant of unbinding.Her voice was joined by that of the dragon?s and together they cast the spell.With each word, Vercad felt himself returning to the way he?s been so long ago in his life.But now he just felt alone but secure.He was free!
Yudam backed away a few steps so Taros noticed that he could get up now but was still unable to move.Vercad was behind him, fallen on his back, exalted by the renewed feeling of being free from any control, any invasion of his sanity.From behind Yudam appeared Gnejase.
Her beauty was unspoken, bearing more than the beauty of the elven kin but even some of the mortal race.Long, dark hair washed upon her shoulders.Her azure eyes were shining like gems in the torched light, upon her soft shaped face.If nothing more, she might as well tame Yudam with just her voice and beauty.
She circled Taros, studying him from head to toe.A dark elf was a rare sight after the horrid war.
-So this is your assassin against me?I must admit Yudam?he might?ve freed you.
She faced he mighty beast now and spoke softly towards him:
-But things are so much more complicated now than they were at the when you sent this young one to retrieve him.
The dragon bowed its head before her and spoke something in his own tongue.
-Don?t worry my dear, old friend.Your try to free yourself from our pact was inevitable.

Taros, having listened to their words, was now confused.Feeling himself weakening, he asked:
-What kind of trickery is this?What has happened to me?
Gnejase turned towards him and noticed now the armor that reflected the weak light in strange shades, especially the emblem on his chest.
-Oh, you were wearing that.I thought that Yudam just cast a spell on you to keep you from doing anything reckless...
Taros interrupted her, now almost out of breath:
-Why has the armor gotten so heavy?!
-You didn?t expect to wear a Black Dragon Armor and not serve a Black Dragon,did you?!Call it a safety precaution?As you get closer to a Black Dragon, the armor protects its creators.There is much more to dragons than the pitiful myths that have sprouted since their retreat from the mortal eyes?
Taros now realized what excited the dragon blood that still lingered in his veins back in Greywood.The enchantment of the armor saved his life in that ambush by doing what it was supposed to do?protecting the royal blood of a dragon.
She addressed Yudam and asked him to leave them.The dragon growled softly and departed through one of the caves passageways.As it departed, the drow felt the burden lift off his shoulders and could now stand tall with no impediment.
-Please, the both of you follow me!she spoke while departing.

The two elves followed the queen up a spiraling staircase that seemed to go on forever.Masterfully chiseled bas-reliefs embedded in the stone marked the ascension, lit from place to place by small candles burning with a strong, blue flame, emanating a honey-like scent.
They emerged in a large hall, flooded with the early morning sunlight which poured through six tall windows, chopped in the mountain stone.They were above the height of the previous tower, in a castle built in the mountain wall, and with rooms that all met in that somber hall.A few servants were awaiting for their mistresses commands.
They walked through a double door at the center of the wall and passed into a larger room.Three chairs were prepared there, on the edge of a circular gap.Taros felt the armor getting heavier once again?the gap was surely a way of access for Yudam there.
The queen took one that faced both the others as the elves got seated.
-I do believe that you are tired from the long journey behind the two of you but please listen to what I have to say.As you might have guessed so far, Yudams original intentions were to have you assassinate me so he could escape from here.
-Why would he want that?!Taros asked as he took a seat.
Yudams voice arose from the gap and it echoed off the entire room?
-A selfish reason.Pay it no attention now.There is a storm over the kingdom of mortal men?there are rumors that he king has died soon after his return from Roub and unrest is growing.That and something else is brewing in the winds.
The queen intervened:
-However, we are sure that intrigues are being orchestrated from the shadows in the courts of men.Their armies are gathering in their cities.The sky is darkened by the smoke from their forges.
-What?s our connection with all of this?asked Vercad.
-My young one?your role is yet to be determined and it?s not in our hands.
-What do you mean?!
Yudam answered instead:
-There is a gathering being called forth in the mountain vastness between Grefe and Shir.There is an ancient stronghold there.It has served as a meeting ground since time in memorial.A meeting of the mighty powers has been called forth each time a threat appeared over our domains.
-There are representatives from each race that dwells these lands. I want to send you, Taros?you are a great warrior from the drow and I know that your knowledge and age have made you a favorite of Misera.
-The matter of humans will be discussed and I believe you will know what to do.
Whilst the dragon spoke, Gnejase began chanting a summoning spell.In a few moments; two drakes appeared before her, taking the form of flesh from a world beyond that which spanned the existence of the elves, a world of power.
-What are you doing?!...asked Taros jumping on his feet despite the weight of the armor.
-One last test?
After this, the two drakes attacked.Vercad was already on his feet and with his daggers ready for combat.Taros was ready as well.
The drakes attacked furiously but were easily avoided by the elves.The claws of one of the creatures sparked when meeting with the dark sword that Taros wielded and tried to cut it down.Just before he could attack, the creature spitted a stream of dark poison.Having just barely eluded it, Vercad launched himself with speed at the one spitting the poison.His attack was foreseen and the flow of poison was directed at him.
Taros intervened in time to saved his companion by pushing him out the way and then covering his face with the grey cloak so that the poison couldn?t touch.The second drake?s attacks came without warning and it managed to sink it?s talons in Vercand?s back.The wound wasn?t deep because of the armor but it knocked him down, near the edge of the gap.The dark elf seized the opportunity and attacked the creature, slashing off one of its wings and throwing it tumbling into the gorge.
The last beast saw that it remained alone and there was no way out for escape.From the gorge came frightening sounds and Vercad was now standing again.With the odds against it, the being came down to the ground and folded it?s wings around its body and bowed its dark head.
The elves looked at it and almost started laughing at it as it stood motionless in front of them when the queen began applauding:
-Yes, it seems that your passing through Greywood wasn?t just good fortune?I know now that I can place my trust in your strength.
-Well, I don?t believe such a test was in order Gnejase; came Yudams comment.But it proved that they are worthy of finding the citadel.
Vercad now felt the pain caused by the wound and by reflex tried to reach it with his arm.Seeing his gesture, the queen called some servants and asked them to show her guests to the rooms in which they will be resting.
-When must we leave?! asked Taros before following the servants.
-In two days from now.Rest in the meanwhile.I shall explain the details tomorrow.

The elves spent the next two days in the Gnejase?s stone bastion.They were told of the history of those walls, how the bastion was sculpted into the mountains by Ghun dwarves in the days of old, as a gift to the elven nation.They learned about the wall which flowed and surrounded Guir and how, if Gnejase left those woods, it would crumble and leave the lands vulnerable to enemy eyes.The queen explained that their path would lead them through the canyons of the Shattered mountains and great perils awaited them on that way.A new companion, a guide was to lead their path until they reached Fulsag Fang.

Before the twilight of their second day, the elves were equipped with supplies and climbing on a mountain path along with the elven mistress, to the place where their journey would begin.Someone was waiting for them at that point.It was an elf woman,dressed in a heavy leather armor,with the chest, leg and arm portions reinforced with steel.She had short hair and dark blue eyes, a rough beauty.Her weapon hung on her back: a bastard sword, almost the same height as her. After seeing her, Taros wondered for quite a while if she would be able to handle that weapon.
She stood there in wait, staring dreamy at the starlit sky.She turned away from it when the party approached her and before a word was spoken, she introduced herself in a joyful tone:
-My name is Jinx?I?m glad to meet you two, Taros and Vercad.
-Likewise! answered Vercad whilst Taros remained silent.

The sorceress said her farewells there and turned back towards Guir, wishing them the best of luck in their journey.
-I shall await for the meetings decision?return safe my friends.

The small party now began its travels that night.Even though the sky was full of stars, their path was clouded and dark.Dark days were ahead of them now.

?

[CyBeR]

La cerere:

Chapter IV - Dark

Opening his eyes all he could fathom was the abyssal darkness in which they had fallen in those days so long since passed; the days in which the demigods broke their wings and chased them from the skies. The days in which the human servants, so young a race, marched their armies against them. So many were slew amidst those peaks. He could see the arrows flying towards him, stabbing him in so many places, burning with the magic poison. And then, there was darkness and shadow, the earth opened and swallowed him along with so many of his kin. The demigods had abandoned them, feared them and defeated them.
He tried to move and felt the rusted metal still stuck between his scales, with blunted edges and broken tips. Bathed in his own blood, he had healed in those eons. Time had scarred his wounds and his suffering was no more.
A sound of shattering filled the cave as he tried to move his body, the blue, crystallized blood breaking away.
He managed to rise in all his might, roaring in recognition of his life, soon followed by others, embracing the slim edge of Fate that allowed them to resurrect.
The race had awakened, fed through time with the blood of kindred, of the ones that perished in those days of unholy war and offered their life in hope of salvation for others.
One by one, breaking the blood shell, the race of Azure dragons were returning from myth into reality, sensing Fulsag Fang?s silent call.
The last that fell from the blue into the darkness ignited one last breath of fire towards their opponents but all they could do was melt the stone closing in on them, and create various cracks through which air could sip in and allow them survival in that dimness. The dragons headed towards one of those cracks and plunged their claws in solid rock, some breaking it, boulders rolling through the cave; while some ignited the wall with their fires, melting the rock. Slowly they tore away their prison in blue flames and saw the night sky once again through the side of the mountain. Once again they felt the blistering cold and merciless winds which they so did adore. One by one they took to the skies, on dark-blue wings. In majestic flight they moved the blizzard from their wake and once again roared at the sky in full strength, as the storm was once again approaching.
Two figures witnessed the scene from a mountain path. An old man in a red cloak was standing dreamingly next to an ice wall and watched the shadows fly off into the night. He smiled as his companion approached him:
-It seems the wheels of time are in motion again! I wonder how long before all are reborn?
His voice seemed a whisper on the ethereal wings of the blizzard.
-Come on father! His son?s voice echoed in his mind and pulled him out of his meditations, despite the bitter cold; we must make haste! The storm intensifies and it?s getting harder to continue along this trail.
The old man nodded his head in approval and hastened his steps, challenging the feral eastern winds.

The ancient road seemed almost impracticable. An ingenious accomplishment by the Alliances aided by the dragon clans, the once protected road served as a connection between Grefe, the citadels hidden in the mountains and the kingdom of Shir. But that was eons back and the road was now derelict, devoid of its previous protection from the elements, when the sorcerers united their forces to provide safe passage for troops or for simple servants in their journeys. It was wide enough for two lines of soldiers to pass, fully equipped for war or a single line of riders.
The three elves found it now to be too narrow even for them, ice covering the walls of the ravine and the wind howling like mad above their heads, as if all ghosts gathered there to exact revenge upon their tormentors. Jinx seemed to know the path very well but even for her the weather seemed odd, being the first time a snowstorm was so powerful in that area.
-The blizzard is howling mad today! She yelled at her companions. We should try and shelter ourselves until the storm blows over.
-Where could you find shelter OUT here? Taros yelled in sarcasm, his voice almost covered by the savage groans.
Jinx approached him and tried to talk normal although the wind was pushing her into the wall. Her sword gave her stability as it hung heavily on her back, with a few bits of ice stuck on the handle.
-When the road was created, the workers had dug small gaps in the ravine wall for resting, eating, and some gaps being veritable caves. If we walk next to the ice wall we?re bound to find one of those fissures, even if many of them had been covered by the glacier or rock slides.
Vercad was a bit ahead of them, embracing the wall so that he would not lose sight of his companions because of the snow blind. The altitude and the powerful gusts made it hard even for him to breathe as he moved forward. Jinx and Taros were now close behind him when he felt the ice, covering the wall, chink as he leaned against it. The sound was weak but being so close to it he could distinguish it from the mountain?s sounds.
-Taros, lend me your strength here?.
-What is it?
-I believe there?s a fissure here. Help me break away this layer!
Taros pulled out his sword and stabbed powerfully in the frozen layer. The ice felt cracking and the blade plunged in it from tip to tilt. After pulling out the sword, Taros and Vercad smashed against the frozen stratum. At that point the ice gave way and they plunged head first into the cave, followed by Jinx. The wind remained shrieking outside.
The cave wasn?t deep, but it was pretty warm and compared to the tempest outside, a blessing. They could finally rest after following the winding paths for the last few days, slowly moving to the east. The storm had caught them in the worst of places, exposed and with little protection from nature?s power.
Jinx pulled down her cloak. The cloaks were made especially for the weather they just faced, being sowed with a protective inside made from small animal fur. It didn?t offer great protection but it was enough to keep them alive.
Her sword produced an echo in the cave as it hit the rock floor.
-Much better! Jinx exclaimed. At least we can rest here until it will be safe to travel again.
-Fierce weather...I don?t think we?ll be going anywhere until dawn.
Vercad?s voice stirred the heavy air. It wasn?t stale as expected for a sealed cave?it was as fresh as the one outside.
Taros was leaning against one of the walls with a serious look about him. He seemed to concentrate on listening to the echoes outside and inside, paying no attention to what was talked.
-Something bothering you?
-It?s nothing. Just thinking how could we find a fissure with such a frail ice covering? These parts are deserted, nobody threads these ways. Which ever places are under ice are supposed to be sealed for good. Only a mage could break the ice gates of these caves.
Jinx and Vercad seemed to notice this also but they weren?t concerned at that point. The only thing important was to wait for the moment in which they could leave and in the meanwhile to get some rest.
-Leave it be; she said tapping him on the shoulder. The cave is empty beside us and no creature could survive outside right now. The wind is howling even worse now. I say we rest and be ready in the morning?even if the winds don?t stop, we?ll have to continue our journey.
-Probably?.but I?d rather stand guard this night.
With that having been said, the three chose a place in which to spent the night and after wrapping themselves in the covers, Jinx and Vercad fell quickly asleep as Taros sat in the bottom of the cave, paying attention to every sound he could perceive.

The snowstorm showed signs of receding in the earliest hours of the morning. The creature finally began to move, stretching its slim, clawed limbs. It started to move on the ceiling, barely heard, making itself visible. A spider-like being, it moved like a shadow, joined by two others that slept in wait for their pray to arrive. And now, their hour had come.
Taros was almost asleep. He had surveyed the entrance the entire night until he had convinced himself that there was nothing to fear in that darkness. He was about to give away his fears when and get to sleep for the day at hand when something grabbed him by the head and flung him across the room, hitting the rock wall and falling onto Vercad. Taken by surprise by the noise and out of reflex, Jinx jumped on her feet grabbing her weapon.
-Shadow-Stalkers! She yelled at the other two who were now trying to get up.
Three creatures were standing in front of the cave entrance, tall and slim, grotesque in appearance. They had human like stature but slim to the point of skeletal. Three pairs of arms were sprouting from their bodies, with three claws on each, with each arm weighting the strength of five warriors. They moved hypnotically from side to side, always fixing their pray with the four eyes that lit their disfigured faces.
For a moment, Jinx felt lost in the depths of those dark blue eyes but found the force to not get scared. Another creature crawled down the wall and changed its color to that of the young dawn outside. One of the stalkers tried to attack but just a few feet away from Jinx an arrow skewered his head. The creature tumbled, trying to grab the arrow and pull it out. Jinx seized the opportunity and with one slash, it smashed the creature?s side, crushing under the heavy yet blunt blade, two of its arms and its chest. A screech was let out from the stalker?s head as it fell in its puddle of blood.
Taros was already up but waddling because of the hit he had taken. A red stripe was cresting his cheek with a visible source near his left eye. Two of the creatures had already moved out of sight, crawling like chameleons on the walls, unseen and unheard. A short scream came from Jinx when one of the Shadows attacked her from behind. It was now crushing her with two pairs of the arms, while the third pair tried to take the sword from her hands.
Vercad was trying to aim for the creature in the semi-darkness. The shadows caught shape next to him and the Stalker ripped the bow from his arms and assaulted the elf. Having immobilized him, the Shadow-Stalker tried to impale him with its claws. The young hunter, who never faced such beings before, just tried a desperate way of escaping, striking with his head the creature?s cranium. The sudden shock blinded it and weakened its hold. The pair of eyes, which suffered the blow, was bleeding and that turned the being berserk, throwing Vercad to the side and just attacking him in a crazed frenzy.
The attack didn?t last long, Vercad slashing its neck with precise timing, just as the creature was folding its arms around him to try and grab him.
Jinx dropped the sword and, with one arm, was trying to free herself from the choke hold and with the other to make the second pair of limbs let go of her abdomen. However, her strength was dwindling as she neared the brink of collapse under the superior strength of the Stalker.
The grip loosened suddenly when Taros?s sword plunged into the being?s neck from one side. With one twist of the sword, the creature fell into total darkness, its head barely hanging on its shoulders. Jinx fell to her knees gasping for air:
-Where?s the other one? She asked when she noticed just three bodies.
The last one was outside, watching the sky. With all his force, he ripped open the binds on his mouth, distorting his own face. His yell was the scream of blood as it spilled from his ruptured jaw, with ingrown teeth. He screamed at the sun as it was rising, his only sound since birth. His cry ended swiftly, only echoes remained testament to his existence, as his body stiffened.
The black feathered arrow shot through the figures head, disintegrating it, the ash scattering in the wind.
-Ash?! It turned into ash?!
Vercad couldn?t believe what he witnessed.
-It was turned into ash?Taros corrected him. They failed their mission so the punishment was?.cruel.
-It seems that we have some eyes upon us. Not friendly! But what were our foes? I?ve never seen anything like them before?
Jinx had his answer:
-The spies and assassins of the sorcerer kingdom on the edge of the world, before the great lakes of fire. Born as humans or elves, their tongue is sealed at birth. Their bodies are modified through witchcraft or necromancy, replacing all weaknesses and enhancing all attributes. They feed only on the magic energies of their home lands and live just to serve and obey the dark lords of Mar.
-Their ambushes are notorious and luckily for us, there were only four this time, among which a more willful one. Let?s tend to our wounds and get a move on before the winds pick up once again.
-Agreed!
Having tended to their wounds, they were headed east through the ravine before the morning was consumed.

On the farthest reaches of survival, in the darkest south, the fortress of Blackstone stood for thousands of years before the rage of ice and blizzard. A few keepers kept the ancient halls lighted and kept watch over the relics in the deepest altars. Deep within its walls, the fortress and its servants, subdued to no one but their ancestral duty, the seals of the old ones slept. Shining in the fade light from almost burnt out torches, the stone skulls ornaments on the center altar began secreting a dark substance, peeling away the signs of age, hardening and becoming as gold. The round emblem imbedded in the altar was also bleeding from its edges. With each second, the symbol in its center was becoming clearer until it was fully visible to be the sign of the second era since the dawn of creation.
A young servant of those halls was coming to renew the torches in the chamber of seals when he saw the light coming from the center seal. He dropped the carafe of oil and the new torches and ran as fast as he could to the abbot?s chamber, to inform him of the failure of the teachings.
By the time the abbot arrived with three others, the seal had already crumbled to the pint in which only a crystal symbol remained of it, emanating a divine light upon its embedment.
-These are not the teachings! This was never supposed to happen before the age of eternity.
The abbot was clearly shaken by the event. He tried to maintain a composed attitude but could not attain it. The event was too great, it meant too much?
-Prepare the expedition to the valleys! Send word of this to the kingdoms of all sentient beings?

Over the great sea the mist was raising yet she had no shape?.

?

[CyBeR]

Chapter V ? The gathering of power

How wonderful was the taste of fresh meat. After eons of sleep and starvation, now they fed to their hearts contempt in the small village at the base of the mountains. They heard the call, they knew its meaning, they knew its importance but yet?they feasted. The village was burning, dark clouds of smoke rising into the air, reaching for the clouds but getting dispersed by the powerful winds before becoming one with the blue. But their feast continued?humans or cattle; both were the same for them now, both nothing more than food for their starving bowels. Another house crumbled under the flames, the sound of its collapsing lost in the noise of the inferno and the desperate cries. The village square was nothing more than piles of rubble. The kin were as heartless now as were their jailors centuries before. The cries were nothing more than the agony of food grasping for its last seconds. All they could hear was the shattering of bones between their jaws and the sounds of barns coming down around them, buried in their blue flames. The inferno was no longer fed only by the village?s wood but also by its flesh, humans catching fire and trying desperately to survive before being taken down by the might of the Azure Dragons or buildings coming down on them.
The call came stronger?like a desperate scream over that sea of fire, chaos and death.
?Father??...the single thought filled their minds as they took off at once, spreading the flames as they took air and heat under their wings. The blue wings disappeared into the cloud of smoke, one by one above the mountains.

The days had passed fast on the snowy paths. Above the roof of that world, the party of three was finally in range of their goal. Fulsag Fang was just beyond the range of the peaks, its towering magnificence visible before them. There was only a day?s way until they reached the great bastion. Even if the road was destroyed by time?s caprices, it was still better than climbing the steep walls. They walked in silence, weary from their long trip up until there and the fear of another ambush. Their enemies had pursued them for two days but let up as they neared Fulsag Fang. They walked almost without stop, their rest was little and scarce with one of them on guard.
-We haven?t seen any signs of beasts for days now; said Vercad as they stopped to rest in a small alcove, next to the road.
-Shouldn?t we rest more for now? He continued as he leaned against the ice wall breathing heavily.
Jinx set down her sword and stretched her shoulders and arms, feeling all her bones snap and realign themselves, giving her a sensation close to pleasure.
-We aren?t far from the citadel. I think we should press on and reach it before tomorrow?s dawn.
-That might not be a good idea; Spoke Taros as he opened one of the last flasks of water and took a sip.
-There is a narrow ravine up ahead if we continue on this road. If there is an ambush in wait for us, right there would be the perfect place for it. I agree with Vercad when he says that we aught to rest here more.
Jinx scratched her head, more like an automatic motion than a necessity and silently agrees:
-If that gathering is as important as Gnejase said, I doubt we?ll be resting upon arrival. But tell me Taros, how do you know how this road continues? She inquired picking up her weapon and searching in the backpack for her stone to sharpen the great blade, although it wasn?t something that needed to be done. The blade of the sword was pretty blunt, but because of its weight it could go through a body without much difficulty. She just used the stone to clean the blood and give herself an occupation.
Taros didn?t answer her question. He just looked towards the semi-ruins which were visible in the mists of that day. The party was on a plateau above the level where Fulsag Fang had been dug in the stone by the startling power of the demigods; their place of rest, their place of isolation, the place where they felt each other dieing and where they sealed away their immortality. They renounced the power of creation and fell into a sleep deeper than death, throwing their own bodies in the abysses of Sapheria, the world they created and ruled when their minds and hearts were young and strong.
-Hmm, the steel silence of the drow?I won?t bother.
Jinx had come to know Taros in those days of travel, a bit at least. She knew that his silence was forged stronger than steel. Of the three she was the less tired one. As a message carrier she got used to all kinds of terrains in her 412 years of existence. She had seen the walls of Fulsag Fang before but was never allowed passage inside.
They left the alcove the next morning and headed down the path. It had been a cold night, the last one they had to suffer in that barren rock land.
Indeed there was a narrow valley just before they could reach the fortress. All their dark thoughts from the day before were laid to rest there as the passage was clear and no vile creatures attacked them in that dangerous place. The silence was dreadful as they moved in a row through ravine. A sound or echo of a stone falling was all that attracted their senses.

Before them stood the impressive gates of the stronghold, encrusted with symbols that had lost their meaning in the millennia since their creation. The gates were of massive stone, held in place by great metal hinges.
As they neared the gates, a call echoed in the sky and a flock of shadows blocked the sun, flying like ravens to a place of feasting. The beasts landed on the cliffs surrounding the fortress, clinging with their claws to the snow covered peaks, making a terrible noise which echoed in the valley.
-Azure Dragons??! Taros mumbled to himself.
As if a signal had been given, the dragons quieted down and turned their eyes towards Fulsag Fang. The massive gates opened with a powerful sound. From the semi-darkness a tall, slender man walked out. He wasn?t wearing any armour, just a normal blue tunic. Two blades hung at his waist strapped to a wide belt, simple swords with no inscriptions or ornamentations.
He walked forward toward the awn struck party of three and spoke in the purest elven tongue possible so far away from the elf kingdoms:
-Emissaries from Grefe I believe. We have been expecting your group. Many have gathered and you were the last ones.
And with that he extended his arm as a sign of good will.
Taros walked towards him and shook his hand. His expression changed and turning towards the peaks he yelled:
-Great Ones, now, after your day of awakening, may your leader come forth and join in this gathering, for the fate of all.
His voice thundered around the mountain sides, echoing over the vastness of that moment. It was a great moment indeed, the royal race having returned into the destiny of Sapheria. From the closest summit one of the dragons took flight. He flew a circle above them and then set down in front of the gates. The beast was even larger than Yudam, with scars that stretched across his entire body, testament of his ferociousness in battle and his resilience; a testament of a warriors heart. This dragon however had no intention on sharing his thoughts with the elves. He proceeded through the wide opened gates, followed by Taros who walked besides the citadel warrior.
Taros seemed changed; he seemed older somehow, as if the years were now his strength, walking proud through the darkness, next to the beast that shared his might. Vercad and Jinx moved closer to him so that they wouldn?t get lost in that dampness. They were still amazed by the legends outside. Those dragons were lost to myth even to the elves, stories around the campfire at celebrations, not the palpable reality they were following.
The gates shut close behind them when they noticed a weak light in front of them. Their guide stopped and grabbed a torch from an embedment in the wall and lit it with the help of a white stone which sparked violently in contact with the wall.
The room was huge but clearly just a wing of the entire structure. The light from the torch barely touched the walls, showing dark statues rising to the bolted ceiling, each one masterfully sculpted in the details of those to whom they were gifted. A short warrior wearing spiky armour and wielding a mighty axe, a sage holding his book in the chanting of a spell, a knight grasping his sword at his chest, an archer tightening his bow, a cloaked mistress watching the travellers; statues of great beasts adorning the walls, dragons in flight with their heads smashed in an avalanche of anger; even statues of elves and humans, with the traits for their noble faces lost to time, all were beautifully modelled in the stone, enshrouded in the veil of perpetual shadow, barely lifted by the gentle light from the flame. A sharp reflection of light from the dragon?s folded wings drew their attention for a second, the veil of darkness took back its rights and the statues remained behind them, as the walls ended and the hall merged with the other halls in a grand room. Five more groups were now walking at the same time as them, face shown only by the pale light wielded by their guides: a human mage and his guardian warrior; a summoner from the lands of Moass, with her head bowed in silence, she walked behind the guide, a large dire wolf trailing her steps; two more dragons stepping proud, with the imagine of ages about them, wise and powerful; a crimson fiend of Garr?al, the realm next to the sea. The last ones were three dwarves, bearing the vestiges of their journey and equipped for battle; there was Gadwar leading them, warrior renowned across the kingdoms for his ferocity in the last war, one of those that managed to wound Gracka enough for Deramin to have a chance in defeating it. All the sentient beings of Sapheria had gathered their agents there and were now marching towards the innermost sanctum.

The wind didn?t seem to allow existence of life that day. It gripped ferociously to the jagged rocks, screamed his fury in the echoes, more terrifying than the flames of the Underworld, the realm of death and desperation, gifted to all and opened to none of the living.
In Blackstone, the message carriers were preparing the gryphons for the expedition. Those noble creatures were only kept in Blackstone, having been hunted near extinction for human kings, for their royal halls, prizes for knights who won the competitions. Such beauty, grace and strength was more valuable than the rubies paid for them but yet, they blindly killed many, the only few surviving were kept in the citadel, used only for expeditions, their wings being strong enough to face any kinds of wind.
Six riders were on the roof of the citadel, next to the staples where the gryphons slept. Six beasts were brought out, stretching their wings and tiny shards of ice falling like diamond dust from their feathers.
The men supervised by the abbot and clothed in the sturdiest leathers and furs, meant to keep them alive in their journey north, were sent to all those that needed to know about the event.
They strapped themselves on the backs of the gryphons and trusted their fates into the beasts? power.
They took off...

The light became unbearable as they entered the room. The doorway had collapsed in time, the massive doors lying shattered at their feet. One by one they passed the barrier of light and found themselves in the throne room, though there was nothing to indicate it. The room was in ruin, the light emanated from a few crystals which adorned the walls, once covered in gold and precious stones, precious gifts crafted by skilful hands, trophies presented by strong huntsmen. Nothing anymore, nothing survived the terrible wrath that besieged the fortress.
In the centre of the room, where the wall was one with the eternal mountain, there was the greatest proof of the madness that the last age left. There stood Adamar, for ever trapped in stone, left with only one limb to agonise over his existence, with his chest ripped open and robbed of his gift of Death for all eternity.
-Adamar, father of the noblest kin; Declared Taros so that all could hear him. The dragon opened his eyes and watched Taros approach. Behind him came the Azure dragon.
He closed his eyes again, the clear blue eyes of the Great Ones. Trapped in stone, his wings hung skeletal on the floor, lifeless and broken. Bits of them were caught in the wall when he was punished but he ripped them in his desperation, in his times of solitude and terror. He clung to the cold floor, trying to break himself loose, deep scratches were proof to his attempts of escape. He struggled for years on end, for eternity it seemed until his claws blunted away as did his will. Everything was taken from him, even the simple joy of madness that would eventually engulf all those with the eternal heart.
He opened his eyes again when Taros put his hand on his wounded wings, gently moving it towards his head, drawing a shiver with his touch.
-You have suffered much my friend. I bring no salvation as I have brought none in all these centuries.
The dragon looked at him and then, as the others moved closer, he distinguished that all he had summoned had arrived and more. He now saw one of his children, Asgar, the strongest of his kind, awakened by his call. Something would change then. Looking at all that gathered, he pronounced:
?-I am Adamar, witness of ages and madness.? His voice resonated in their minds as if time itself was speaking to them and images filled their vision.
?-All of you have received a taster my knowledge and my guidance throughout your life. You are my eyes in this world, my hope. I have guided you until this moment which was not supposed to be, which I both hoped for and dreaded.?
The others found their mind invaded by images, from the dawn of the immortals or predictions of the future; a jumble of scenes, of attacks, of sacrifices and hatred. As the images faded?the dragon?s voice sounded again.
?-I have called you forth as I had done countless times in countless years with countless others. Each time in the past all there had been was a stirring in the balance of this world. But this time, the danger is greater; the balance is shifting as we speak. An awakening is readying itself for this world though I do not know why or when. You all shall be told the truth behind all legends and you alone shall decide your actions.?
The sage walked forward and spoke:
-For 50 years I have been guided by You, my Lord. For 50 years I have offered counsel in times of war and peace, counsel based on your advice. The kingdom of Grefe has known prosperity and victory in all our trials. I, Marius, from the human race shall follow your word further, even to my own death.
The summoner declared as well:
-I, Greed of the summoners, shall follow you words as well. I lay my life before you as you shared countless secrets with me and helped me and my people during our times of wandering through the darkness.
One of the dragons, belonging to the race of fire dwellers, the red dragons of Fiero, spread its wings as a sign of respect and spoke in its own tongue:
-Adamar, brother to our fathers and sole survivor of thy time?I have witnessed your knowledge in the past. Trapped in stone and robbed of all but your sanity, I praise thee for the work of centuries in the name of Sapheria. I shall walk this destiny led by your guidance as I am sure Yudam would too. In his name and all my brethren, I, Kalagos, shall not stray from your guidance.
The other dragon, white as the peaks that surrounded them, bowed its head and preferred to remain in silence.
The elves couldn?t understand what was going on looked to Taros for explanations. Noticing their troubled faces, Taros turned towards them:
-All shall be explained! He said in a deep, reassuring voice.
The dwarves remained in silence as well, looking mistrusting at their surroundings and, at the same time, starring amazed at the vastness of that single room, which time had desecrated but which was still retaining some of its opulence. Only Gadwar nodded his head towards the trapped one.
?-Full well, as you wish it shall be!? Asgar was the only one that kept the same look about him, waiting for the explanations that would follow, unwilling to seek fast conclusions to his fears and suspicions.
The great dragon lowered his head and closed his eyes. When he opened them, all those that participated were engulfed in a swirling storm of images, slowly becoming coherent and Adamar?s voice thundered over them.

?-It was a time of creation. The demigods, sons of a single God which chose sleep for eternity upon creating his children and leaving the world to their care and wisdom. They shaped the world as they saw fit separating the heat from the cold and creating life in between the two and silence opposite to the life. Such was the birth of the mountains of ice and the lakes of fire and the continent of Demaes, which stretched between the borders of stone that kept it from the inferno and the glaciers and was margined by the Great Sea over which reined the silence.
And they shaped the small piece of existence as they saw fit. The seeded the forests with fruits of their imagination. They dug the rivers and the borders; they made the soil rich and made it grow life only to take it back in itself to fuel other lives. And they made the animals, to occupy the forests and offer joy to their eyes. In the end they built their eternal citadel, using their hands to break the mountain and give it the shaped they desired. Then, they rested, each in their own throne, watching over their own creation and supervising the whole.
And so the first age ended?
But the demigods grew tired of the small things they created. They started to change from one another and saw the beauty in different things, shutting away their thoughts from the others. But still, they grew tired.
The Warrior was the first to give another shape to his own thoughts. He wanted something to call his own and to cherish. So he took the darkness and gave it shape, made it material and saw the beauty in it. He poured all his energy, all his imagination into that creation and thus he created the first dragon, father of darkness born from darkness. He was named Drako, and was as wonderful as his creator, as powerful and as wise.
The Sage saw the creation and he approved of it, felt love for it and decided to make it a pair. And thus he created the counter part for Drako and named her Guir. And she was as wonderful as her creator, much wiser than Drako but more sensible to the caprices of matter.
The others saw these wonders and were mesmerised by their grace and beauty. From The Warrior?s idea, they each created a pair in the likeliness of that piece of nature that each preferred.
The Knight created the race of Red Dragons, destined to love the heat and the bottomless lakes of fire. And he named them Smoke and Marre and thus he loved them.
The Archer created the race of Sapphire Dragons, green as the marshes they would love and inhabit. He gave his pair no name, for they would need none, just his admiration.
The Mistress chose to create a unique pair. She created me, Adamar the Blue and my mate, Bliza the White, destined to make a race that would split into two directions, always turning to their domain, the world of stillness, the world of ice.
All had a pair to call their own, but one.
And all the couples mated and expanded their race until the world had been theirs, indulged by their creators to survival. And they thrived, learning from their masters.
And that was the second age.
But The Loner could not be satisfied by the dragons alone. He befriended me and confided in me yet he felt that the world was incomplete. He took a decision to create something that he would love as the others loved us and complete his reality.
He took the music of the forest and made it into substance. He took the grace of birds in flight, the beauty he saw in everything and gave it shape and named it elf. He did not create one; nor did he create a pair. He created groups, a whole race. And he gave them all that Demaes had to offer. They chose to love the beauty of nature and ravel in its glory.
The other demigods noticed the new beings and as before, felt love for them as well, as for all the creations of their brethren. And, as before, they felt that something was flawed and each perfected it in his own way. Such was the birth of the aware creatures of Sapheria.
The last, came the humans, for which all had chipped in and offered them a small gift. Even the ancient dragons loved them and chose to guide them, to teach them about the works of their creators. And the humans learned quickly and excelled in everything they chose to. And the days were peaceful. The masters even took the shape of their preferred race so that they would live amongst them and teach them further.
But the demigods also knew the mind of all creatures, all but the dragons which, in their knowledge, forged their wills and hid their thoughts. And in the minds of the new creatures they found new feelings that were unknown to them until then. They discovered hope, courage, greed, hatred, suspicion and arrogance. They were amazed by their new discoveries. These feelings were so new to them and interesting, as they used to tell us. They considered us friends until those feelings they discovered found their way into their hearts. Our creators started looking at us distrusting and started to hate us for our vast knowledge that rivalled theirs. They even began distancing themselves from one another. Their days of council in Fulsag Fang were now grim and quiet, each meditating on the others, finding faults and reasons to hate them.
Day by day they grew insane. Nothing mattered to them but their growing hatred towards their first great creations. The first to be lost was Smoke, which was killed by the Warrior as an act of superiority. That led to the Wars of Fire, where the dragons tried to protect themselves from the unjust wrath bestowed upon them. The human armies were promised great wealth for each head of a dragon they returned. The elves wished for no part in that madness and were protected in their decision by The Loner, who still retained his sanity and his love for his creations.
There was so much blood shed in those crimson days, from many beings. Armies burned, dragons fell from the skies poisoned by dark potions which were made with the wit of humans, and the knowledge of healing acquired from the Sapphire ones, perverted and combined with arts of magic.
Our kin fought bravely but our ranks withered away. The ones that showed the most rage in the heat of battle were the Azure kin, born from two kinds, more powerful than all of them. They did not try to survive; they just fought for the world, for their right to life and justice. The final battle was lead atop the Blue Crests, the peaks now know as the Shattered Mountains. The demigods shed their reserves and wished to fight themselves; as such they grew wonderful black wings, wings of ravens. They took to the sky in all the pleasure of the hunt and the kill, raining death upon those that served them once. Fires filled the clouds, fires and clouds of poison. It was a majestic battle, all the noble races moving about that moment.
The maddened creators dodged attacks with ease, flew as lightning and ripped wings as they flew. Archangels of death, they took numerous wounds but in they glorious madness they did not notice any of them. The got on backs of dragons and ripped off their wings hurling them downwards and looking with immense glee as the bodies smashed against the rocks, flying down to deliver a final blow if their victim was still moving.
They used the powers that were once for creation, to destroy and annihilate the creation. The storm they raised seemed to rise out of the Underworld itself. It was moaning and screaming, taking down one dragon after another with its bolts of energy. The demigods still battled, ripping throbbing hearts from chests filled with heat and will to survive. The cruelty of that day was not to be sung, was not to be remembered. Such a horrid day it was.
The last act was being played. The mountain bellow shattered and opened its bowels as a grave welcoming its corpse. And then the combined their powers and with one enraged scream the transformed the wind into pure energy and cut down as many of the noble kin as they could, all falling and twitching towards the opened bowels of the mountain. Falling in agony, they ignited last breaths of fire towards their tormentors but could not touch them. My entire race was taken away take day. I survived at their will. Their final act of the war was to entomb me where you all can see me. As I cried out my pain, their madness recessed and they saw the essential flaw in themselves. They still hated us but they did not go after the ones that escaped. They chose to make me the testament of those ages and granted me immortality as I am right now. They tore open my chest and took my heart, setting it to beat eternally somewhere in Sapheria. The Loner cried along with me, sharing my pain and considering it his burden. During the battles he had stayed behind the attacks. He could not defend us nor could he battle alongside his brothers.
That war showed them their vulnerability to their own deceit, the simple feelings of the human heart taking easy hold of them. They feared themselves and the harm they could cause even further.
In my blinding pain I bared witness to their last vote. They chose to sleep as the one before them did, wandering amongst the dead. They became as one and threw their bodies in the abyss between the world of life and that of silence. The two worlds were not bonded at that time and a rift as deep as the sea of stars widened between them.
All of them renounced their power and took their madness along into the abyss, restoring balance to their loved world.
And thus ends the third age.
But the Loner stayed behind. He renounced his shape and took on the shape of a dark elf, renouncing his knowledge and most of his past memories and all of his strengths.
He created seals out of the earthly belongings of the others and sealed the rift with their powers and the last of his. The seals have been handed to the keep of humans in the most remote of places, to be forgotten in time.
The Loner took a name of his own and promised me to find my heart so that I may be freed from this accursed existence. Alone, it is almost impossible for him to find what has been taken from me. His eyes cannot peer across the entire world and his feet cannot reach the most distant of places. Yet he travels and hopes?his name is Taros!?

A day and a night had passed when the images ceased and all that remained was the present moment. They did not tire during that time. And they did not hunger. The knowledge they were offered was of a great importance and that gathering as well. More was to be revealed.
Taros walked forward:
-The truth has been said and I say this to you now: a great power is rising but there is time to prevent it. We don?t know how much the balance has shifted?
His words ended as an echo of banging filled the room; the sound of a door being smashed. At the end of the dark hall behind them a light pierced the dark and in it a shadow walked forward?

[Alexander]

Dude enough english! E obositor!desi stiu engleza e foarte greu sa tin pasul, so I quit!

[CyBeR]

Wow...am uitat total ca mai exista si topicul asta. Nu cred ca se uita nimeni pe aici dar sa fie si asta postat ca sa-mi iau de o grija.
Alexander...primele 3 capitole in romana aici...nu garantez corectitudinea traducerii de vreme ce nu e facuta de mine. Daca ti se par interesante, poate dai o sansa intregii lucrari in engleza.

Chapter VI - Guir

-Lies! Fairytales! What manner of fool do you think I am? The prince got off the throne and walked towards the messenger, his hand gently touching the sword’s hilt. Why would I be interested in a prophecy of which I had never even heard off, speaking of things that are even beyond the knowledge of my wisest advisors?
The cloaked man backed off a step. His appearance was fierce, like the appearance of a savage barbarian, wrapped in furs and leather. His sword hung heavily at his waist, proving his strength. Only his eyes seemed calm and peaceful, despite which, he was a warrior.
-It is your choice to believe me or not. If you do not desire to prevent the destruction of this lands than I shall take my message to someone who shall take action against this threat.
His voice was imposing, echoing in the large throne room. The prince was coming down the steps, his red mantle trailing his steps. His left hand was now gripping the sheath of the sword.
-Why? He thundered as he approached the man. So you may spread such lies among others; to set forth chaos and worry? I shall not allow you to do such a thing!
-By what right do you stop me from carrying on my mission? I serve no man, no kingdom; just my duty!
There were a few servants of the king in the great hall. The sun was shining brightly that day and gentle rays were piercing the large windows, through the white curtains. The view outside was not one of peace however. Above the city of Plous, the castle was built above it all, on the hill which overviewed the entire region. The streets were full of activity. From the castle one could see the streets shining as if paved with diamonds as carts were moved by workers from one place to another, filled with pieces of armor and swords, equipment for knights and for the lesser legions. Like a river of light crossing the streets, there was no time to rest in Plous. The blacksmiths were again hard at work, after such a short while after the war. At the edge of the city the training camps were visible, surrounding the whole town. Little dots of light were seen from the castle clashing into one another, knights training their bodies and honing their skills or peasants and merchants being taught the way of war. Massive brutes were coordinating the camps, equipped with great, black armors, their faces hidden under spiked helmets. Their hands wielded both a dark sword and a black whip, their lashes echoing over the clinging of the swords.

-What right indeed…The prince answered his visitor... But, by what right will you spread news of terror amongst my people through your fairytales? I shall not allow such a thing…
He drew his sword out of the sheath and launched himself at his guest. Their swords met one another and cried out in unjust pain as the battle began unveiling itself between the two fighters. The man dressed in furs fought with extreme discipline, unhindered by his equipment. His attacks connected in successions that didn’t leave his attacker the time to fight back. Their blades clashed again and again, exploding with light and screaming furiously with each parry and attack, until they remained embraced, both fighters trying to overpower the other. The prince leaned back and managed to hit his opponent in the chest with his knee, throwing him off-balance and loosing his own balance as well. By rotating his whole body after the weight of his sword he dealt another furious attack.
His attack managed to sink the sword between his opponents ribs, cutting through the furs and the chain mail beneath them, but unable to inflict a serious wound. With a short jump backwards he eluded a slash that would’ve otherwise decapitated him. Trying to charge again, his attack was deflected with a quick parry after which the monk sent him to the ground with a strong punch in the face.
-Guards, kill him! He yelled spitting out blood.
In a moment there were a dozen guards running into the room, armed with pikes and short swords. But before they could surround the man, to seal his fate, the large doors shattered as the gryphon came to the aid of his rider. Two guards were smashed under the pieces of wood and two others fell under the creature’s assault. The beast pounced on the guards, ripping them apart with its claws and beak, ripping limbs like blades of grass in its fury. The monk hurried towards it and jumped on its back. The belts had been broken when the gryphon attacked but he could hang on to the mane as the beast threw itself through one of the large windows, taking to the sky.
-Kill them! Don’t let them escape! The prince screamed angrily, spitting out more blood. The archers! Get the archers!
A rain of arrows followed the monk as he tried to escape. Two arrows hit him in the back and another one claimed his life, hitting him in the back of his head, through his brown hair. His grip on the gryphon’s mane loosened and he fell, his body smashing through the roof of one of the Inns.
Prince Sedef smiled as he saw the body hurling towards the ground. He smiled, showing his now red teeth as a thick line of blood flowed from between his lips.
-Call for my father! He ordered the servants which had gathered to clean the hall. Tell him that things have been set in motion. We must hurry!

Everyone was silent, looking distrustful towards the darkened halls behind them. The echoes of heavy steps met their ears.
Yudam walked forth into the pale light of the throne room, stealing shape from the veil of shadows. Gnejase laid on his back, barely hanging to the dragon’s scales, cuddled between his spikes; her hair ravished by the journey, her body exhausted.
-Queen! Exclaimed Vercad and Jinx, surprised, rushing to her aid. Yudam leaned towards them and allowed Vercad to get on his back and lift the elven queen into his arms while Jinx took off her cloak and set it on the ground for Gnejase to lay herself on it. Vercad jumped graceful off the dragon’s back and set her down gently. She had fainted and was now in a deep sleep, as beautiful as a haunting phantasm.
-Let her rest! Yudam ordered. The journey has been tiring.
-Yudam?! Taros walked towards the dragon. What happened that it was so serious that you two came to attend the gathering?
The dragon exhaled a dark cloud of smog as if trying to regain his breath after a great effort. The smoke rose to the ceiling and dissipated as if it were never there, the pale light shining freely on the meeting.
-The second age has been awakened; one of the seals has crumbled. Blackstone has sent riders to announce this. This meeting is worthless now; it is not as it was in all the centuries before.
The news struck the hall as lightning. The dragons which were present closed their eyes and bowed their heads, except for Asgar who could not understand the gravity of the moment. Taros seemed ready to collapse from his feet but kept his composure.
The quietest of all, the fiend of Garr’al walked forward, towards the center of the room. The inhabitants of the sacred Garr’al were humans distorted by the magic of Mar, slave creatures who had gained their freedom in an uproar, when the demigods abandoned the world, when the magical rifts closed in Mar and the kingdom was shaken by earthquakes and fear alike. The mages turned insane with the disaster and lost control of their slaves, awakening the spark of self-conscience inside them and the wish for freedom. Most of them escaped, changed for ever into red skin creatures, walking on two hind legs, covered with spiky hair, resembling the limbs of a wolf. Their skin was always moist and they found comfort in the vast sea, although their life was spent on dry ground. Their life span was seemingly elfish, aging slowly in centuries. The sign of age was the color of their eyes, which turned from fiery red at birth to a snowy white as the years went past them. From the first generation only a few survivors remained, carrying more than a millennia on their shoulders, while the younger generations seemed to survive less and less with each birth. One of the elders was Arius, the one that attended the meeting. He had seen the Wars of Fire and had been a member of the gathering ever since.
-This is grave indeed, my friend.
He spoke in a deep voice; his face was hidden underneath the cloak, only his eyes shined like gems: two small stars swimming in a sea of darkness.
-If things have gotten to this point it seams that all our past efforts have been in vain.
Adamar opened his eyes and his thoughts rolled over them:
“-Indeed, our efforts have been laid to waste. This time around, Mar has opened a rift and that cannot be closed. Nor can the gods awaken from their sleep if the seals are breaking. All that remained of them in this world are embedded in the seals, their legacy. If the seals disappear, the gods will forever sleep.”
A faint voice whispered in the room. Gnejase had opened her eyes and was talking, her words aimed at Adamar.
-My lord, tell them the whole truth. I am sure that you haven’t already…
Vercad jumped to support her but she fainted again, the simple effort of talking being too much after her journey.
-What did she meant by that, Taros? Jinx asked.
Taros took a deep breath and spoke in a low voice:
-There are two more things to be said about Adamar’s heart and the gods’ sleep. This has not been told before and was never meant to be told, as the seals were never meant to be broken…
“-My heart was hidden not only to keep me from leaving this world but also to be a guide for the slumbering gods. Their bodies made of flesh have long since rotten from when they were thrown into the abyss. The rift of magic of which Arius spoke, it was the passing point between Sapheria and the world of silence. The heart of a dragon beats silently but in the empty space beyond the rift, the beating of a strong dragon heart is seen as a star that shines with power, each heartbeat feeding the wandering soul and bringing peace to it. My heart was hidden to serve as a beacon for their spirits, to never return here. As such, the gods cannot return into this world, not as flesh, not as spirit. But their power can be summoned back through the ancient rifts of magic. That was why the seals were created. The magic energies that continually flowed into Saphiria had been stopped and the magic that now exists is slowly diminishing. The inhabitants of Mar have always tried to reopen the rift of magic, each shifting of power being their fault. There is a good time to try this when the life force in these lands is drained and the equilibrium is disturbed.”
The white dragon spoke this time, in the tone of a powerful warrior:
-As the seals are breaking and the gods are entangled in their dreams, the powers of magic that Mar can acquire may even be greater than in times so long ago forgotten. Another war is surely to ensue and this time, I can only believe that the end of many kin may be at hand. Demaes must be warned of such things.
Finally, even the dwarf Gadwar spoke in a spoiled elven tongue. The talk of the dwarfs had long since become known to few outside the halls of their noble race.
-We shall not wait for Mar to become this powerful. He spoke with enthusiasm and the spark of battle shined in his old eyes. The plates of his armor rattled as he moved towards Adamar.
-I say we attack their kingdom and rid it from the face of the world. In ages past, always, our forces had been too weakened by the wars to fight them. But now, the war has been won easily by our armies and we are powerful enough to make these meetings end for all eternity.
-Father…
The entire gathering turned towards Asgar, as he spoke for the first time as well since the gathering started:
-Father, I also believe that an offensive against Mar would be best. My brothers and I are ready to do battle with these filthy humans. Our patience has been eating us alive in our centuries of entombment and our thirst for revenge shall not go unquenched.
His voice was now thundering over the entire hall.
-Their poison shall not be our undoing yet again! We shan’t allow it!
-Enough!
Taros stopped the great beast in its tirade. The tall elf seemed to have reached a conclusion:
-I believe I know of a way to avert this danger from our lands. A battle is unavoidable, true. Time and time again they have tried to usurp the lands of free people but we have stopped them. With the rift reopened, the great books of spells are once again dangerous as the magic power drawn from my brothers beyond the rift is once again giving control to the crazed mages. The dark armies can be resurrected once again and the forbidden elements can be summoned.
He spoke gently, building his confidence for what he would say next, that could decide everything. Adamar looked at him with sad eyes. He knew what Taros would come to say and that it was their only way of stopping the magic kingdom. Everyone was watching the dark elf with utmost attention.
-The lands of Guir still have military power so they will begin preparations for battle…
-The dwarves will help too. Spoke Gadwar, anticipating Taros’s next words. Our power is untainted since the last battles.
-As is the power of the human kingdom of Grefe. Spoke Marius with his son next to him to approve of his words.
Taros looked at them all and spoke again, in a powerful tone. This was it, the moment that the meeting had been preparing for centuries, always but a flicker way from fulfillment:
-We are going to find Adamar’s heart and destroy it! Only this will assure that Mar will be debilitated as we shall take the kingdom through fire and sword. With Adamar’s heart destroyed, the power of the gods will return to them as they will lose any form into the silent abyss.
All the elders of the gathering fell silent. The destruction they planned would lead to the death of their mentor. Adamar would perish at that moment; the last vestige of the passing of time would become one with the flux of time.
“-My friends…do not mourn for me yet for I still live for now. I see the young queen is coming to so you all will witness my words and understand them, for there shall not be room for mistakes.”
Gnejase was now awake, sustained by Jinx. To manage to arrive at the meeting in as little time as possible she used all her power to split the winds in their wake, as Yudam flew with all his might. Her strength was not yet returned from the exhausting journey but she needed to be there, to know what the path she needed to follow would be.
“-Yudam, return to Guir with your beloved one and gather all the elven forces. Ready those for the march against Mar.
Marius, your advice is precious in your land. Use this influence and let the king know about the dangers that lie in store for our world. The human armies had suffered greatly but this last effort may prove the last test they will ever be required to pass to ensure their well-fare.
I’m asking the same of you Gadwar, prepare your forces for this will lead to our final hour or our greatest triumph.
The ones that would lead you all in battle shall be Yudam. All of the forces you can muster lead them to Guir and from there, onward into a new legend.”
Taros took point now and spoke:
-The two elves from Guir, Greed, the dragons and I shall search for the heart. On my own, I could never find it but now, these times had brought us all in this quest. I know the places that no elf, human or dwarf could reach on its own and the perils of such places. All our efforts shall concentrate on these…he paused as to catch his breath…one by one, we shall search them all, as quickly as possible for time is not kind to us.
-But, if in eons you failed, how could we, in just a matter of days, accomplish such a feat? Vercad asked, with little confidence in the words of the ancient. But Taros turned a wise eye on him and answered gently:
-If you only knew all the stories I have to tell, you would understand my failures. But, as I’ve said the first time you’ve pulled me from my desperation and nursed my wound: trust me and I shall not let you down. And, I expect that you shall help us with all your heart. After all, you are now only following your heart.
The young elf seemed pleased with the answer. Feeling no more need of words, he simply nodded.
-Now, it’s time we all rested for tomorrow a great task shall stand before us. Follow the caretakers of these ancient halls and they shall show you to rooms in which to spend these final hours of peace of mind. Taros exclaimed with a confident tone.
The gathering broke then, one after the other leaving the great hall, only Asgar remaining behind.
-An us Father? What shall we do in these times when we cannot celebrate our renewed strength? What is out path?
The ancient dragon looked upon his son with saddened eyes.
“-You shall go to Guir. Ask Yudam to show you to the bones of your mother that he had been guarding for centuries on end. Take these bones and satisfy your hunger with them. You shall grow stronger and your revenge against the ones that harmed you most shall burn even greater in your hearts.”
Asgar turned away and proceeded towards the exit.
-Goodbye Father…
Now, only a hallow shadow guarded the derelict hall…only a shadow that never left its place since time immemorial…
The dwarfs departed straight away for their kingdom in the east. Asked by the caretaker, Gadwar answered him:
-Us dwarfs are sturdy on our feet but we are slow so an early start would be best. With these words, they departed amidst the peaks, watched by the blue eyes of the clan.

The crescent jewel of the sky had risen among the stars. Bellow it fires blazed in the night. Dark shadows moved heavily in the waving light, carrying large tree trunks on their shoulders, three or perhaps four of them at once. The sound of wood chopping echoed in the forest, as the axes came down and removed the branches, the servants tossing them aside into the fire. The sweet smell of burning gray wood was overpowered by the foul odors from the creams that the beast used on the wood to make it easier to cut, later to harden close to the strength of steel. The smoke was thick but the orcs found no problem in this.
Another mighty tree was standing ready to fall from their axes. As it lost balance, the beasts cleared the area, except one that dropped its axe and was now searching for it. The tree fell on him, smashing him under the weight. As the branches were removed and the fallen shaft lifted on powerful shoulders, the maimed body was dragged by two others and thrown into the fire. They had no need for useless garbage to slow their work.
Greywood was crying, was whispering, was threatening. A few workers wondered off into the maze, mesmerized by the voices. Their screams echoed into the darkness. The others felt no compassion for their brothers. Others took their place continuously, nothing was slowing them down.
-Work worms! WORK!
The voices of the tall brutes and their whips sounded like demons were breaking loose in the camp. Songs were sung in the rugged voice of the orcs, as the axes did their jobs and shined devilishly in the dancing light.
The howling of wolves began in the depths of Greywood. The workers turned their heads to the darkened forest as the whispers ended and the tension was growing. The earth was trembling.
The howling was growing, the wolves were attacking. They came from the forest like a torrent of flesh. Darker, larger shadows were running along side the beasts…volds. The workers fell under their fangs, as their dark blood spilled over the wood. Some managed to rise and defend themselves but the wolves surrounded them, attacking with no mercy. The bit the legs and brought down the tall orcs, ripping open their necks. The volds were fighting ferociously, the skulls of their enemies shattering under their strength.
But the camp would not fall this easily. The warriors soon emerged from the tents, their dark, curved swords ready to do battle. They attacked the pack that defended the woods, slashing left and right as the wolves were falling in their wake. Some warriors fell under the wounds but other took their place in the blood bath.
A young girl was watching from between the trees, biting her lips as the pack was diminishing.
“Guir…we’ll head to Guir…”, these were her only thoughts left at that time.
By the time the stars began to fade, more fires were lighted, as the bodies of slain soldiers and crushed beasts were destroyed. The work was progressing as well, as Greywood fell.
-WORK! NEVER STOP! WE NEED THE SIEGE WEAPONS! These voices were howling again as the massive brutes moved about the blood stained battle field.
-WORK! Their echoes were never-ending.

On the streets of the city-kingdom of Mar, the stains of the carnage were subsiding. The moans throughout the city had become only whispers of the dying, lying in their own blood, unable to move, with mutilated bodies. The passers minded them not, cared not for the suffering ones.
Days had passed since the earth trembled violently and opened beneath them in narrow cracks, spreading throughout the city as serpents of lightning. The energy emanated those days was so intense, so powerful that all beings above them were ripped apart, the buildings were destroyed. Now Mar laid in ruin but no despair was present among the citizens. Instead, it was a time of rejoicing as Mar had finally acquired all that they longed for in centuries of starvation for magic energies. Their time was drawing to an end but fate had decided that they, the favorites of the gods, were no to disappear into oblivion, into the abyss meant for all living creatures. No, fate had plans for them, great plans. These were the thoughts that lead the inhabitants of Mar into chanting for their rulers and forget about all those in pain.
Beneath the city, great doors opened with terrible noise as the key shifted in the rusted locks. The small room was lighted by a crystal gifted to them by the Sage a long time before the Wars of Fire. In the middle of the room, on a table of stone, there was a tome covered in the dust of time. The book was massive, with golden covers adorned with shards of crystals. It was tied with several belts adorned with small locks that did not even seem scared by the ages that had washed over them.
One of the men that came for the book blew over it and a cloud of dust was lifted making them choke and gasp for air. When this settled, two servants lifted the great artifact into their arms and proceeded to the castle, where the resurrection for the power contained within was eagerly awaited. They walked through streets paved with ash that hardened into a black layer in all the years in which it rained over them. The whole city was a black stain on the instable landscape.
The people chanted great prayers and bowed their heads in submission as the cortege passed in front of them, carrying their precious load. As they passed near the newly-opened rifts, red sparkles of energy were drawn to the ancient relic, absorbed by it as the book began to glow.
“Magic! Magic! The propheciesed Gods are returning to us.” The thoughts of the masses were one; their chants became stronger and stronger until the howl of their joy echoed between the Fire Mountains that surrounded them, reaching even the dormant dragons of Fiero.

...

[Majin]

frate, daca nu mi-ai fi prieten ai primi un glontz in cap! man, e f frumos ce zici u akolo, da o iau pe ulei daca mai citesc 2 randuri in plus. la fel cum a zis alex, nice work, da al draq de multa americaneasca pt mine !

[Alexander]

Just finished chapter one.
Observatii:
Incepe cu o povestire de o mare lupta, nush daca voua va suna cunoscut, dar mie imi suna a LOTR.
Continut destul de original, chiar bine scris. NUmai ca mai sunt fraze care.. ech nu prea au gust bun:
"The dungeons were full of prisoners,men that fell into traps during the wars and which were locked up in dungeons for further interoggation."
Te repeti la faza cu doungeons...

"After all,the dark elves had strong constitutions and their body is quite resilient even under the harshest torture." - si totusi si a luat o sageata in umar si a cazut... se bate cap in cap cu replica aia de mai sus despre etinut(cum ajunsese in doungeon blah blah).

"The forest itself was a maze in the truest form of the word which stretched for tents of kilometers on the countryside of Grefe" - kilometri? Dude ur spoiling it, incearca sa mentii atmosfera folosing cuvinte care sa mearga(fields/hills/as far as an elf eye could see... etc).

Per total cap I e bun. Felicitari! :)

Trec la urmatorul capitol maine.