Prologue: Sounds of war

The light of the sun shone brightly in the throne room of the castle of Borromeo, in the middle of Aberon. On the huge throne, full of gildings, gems and velvet, sat a man. He was tall, well built, and was wearing an impressive amount of dark and orange robes, considering the suffocating heat in the castle. On his head rested a golden crown, incrusted with jewels. He could be considered as handsome, except for the long scar on his face, which ran from his right temple to his left cheek, and except for the look of bitter and hatred he had when he was thinking.

He had been on the throne of Surda for two years, since the death of his pathetic predecessor and father, Orrin. That little dog of Nasuada once had shown the fangs when the High Queen had been elected and since then he had been a servile ally of Lady Nightstalker, like the Urgals named her.

His death was useful, although not painful enough for everything we had to endure because of his weakness he thought bitterly. I'll have to thank Custelo and her mysterious hirer for wad they did accomplish for both our country and our cause.

Indeed, the death of Orrin had not been natural. The common knowledge was that he died of a strange and unknown disease, but his son knew the real cause for the death of his sire. He had been poisoned, by one of the impressively efficient mixtures of a well-known herbalist and additionally poison crafter, Custelo. Those who knew what she was secretly doing feared her, and even those who didn't couldn't help but shiver at the sight of this little old woman with hair grey like the greyest iron and a face wrinkled like nothing else known. The new king of Surda met her once, and he had uneasy memories of that encounter, and the unease and fear of that moment was only overtaken by the memory of another encounter, with a man having hair and eyes of a strange, red colour. Well, thinking of it twice, that encounter had also been painful.

Outside of the city, two weeks after the crowning of the new Surdan King, a black form was approaching at an impressing pace, far faster than a fast human. Alerted by his guards, the son of Orrin walked towards the doors of the city, and asked his guards to stay at the door, while he would be going to meet the man. After again fifty minutes walking in the burning heat of the sun, he met the potential ally running. He was tall, with crimson shoulder-length hair, blood-red eyes, and his face was pale like snow. His whole body shook slightly with hatred, at everything it seemed, and also as if it was too much full of power. He was dressed in a black robe, with black leather boots, and at his side hung a scabbard from which appeared the hilt of a bone-white, terrifying sword. He began to speak, showing his pointy teeth through his white lips.

"We are Mulzraug. We cannot say "nice to meet you" since it is obviously not. You are incredibly bold to meet a Shade and ask him to work with you, King of Surda."

"Does it displease you? If you work with me, you will kill and have much more blood than you ever dreamed of." He replied, trying to hide his fear of the being in front of him

It seemed that he did not succeed completely, since the Shade smiled, showing his teeth in their full horror.

"It's a lot", he said, still grinning

"I know, but we both agree that the peace set up during that twenty last years is a heresy, and that I want the throne of Illirea for…"He trailed off.

"You?" Said the Shade, and he let out a cold, maniacal and terrifying laugh.

"Or you if you wish so!"

The Shade seemed to think for a while, even if the obvious fear of the King at his last words was funny. Then, he looked at the King again, and hit him with his sword with a movement impossibly and inhumanly fast, causing the blood to pour out of the wound on face of the King, who was rolling on the ground because of the pain. The scar extended from the temple to the cheek. Then, licking the blood on his sword, the Shade said:

"I will help you"

The memory caused a new flow of pain on the face of the King. He cursed mentally and fully awoken from his reverie when he heard the noise of an explosion. He got up, and went to the window, but he saw nothing. He decided that it was unimportant and looked down to admire the city instead. Just under him, hundreds of soldiers were training to the sword, the bow, or the axe. Thousand more, he knew, were already trained and waiting for his order to march on Alagaësia to conquer the capital and the throne. The last problem he had to deal with was the actual High Queen, Nasuada, for she had the power to make all the races of Alagaësia unite together, and he was sure that no one else could be capable of such a feat. With Nasuada unable to command, he had greater chances to win. And his men were already taking care of her.

A young page appeared in the throne room and announced

"General Mulzraug, the magicians Orgaft and Argaft, and their prisoner!"

The Shade entered the room, followed by a man and a woman, obviously brother and sister considering the similarity of their faces, who did hold between them a woman, only covered hastily with a blanket. Not showing his surprise at the lack of clothing of his prisoner, he observed that she had lost consciousness. The two magicians also looked like they were about to faint, and the King noticed that they were as well dressed with different clothes than when they left, and they seemed to have dressed hastily.

I will have to ask them about it later He thought. Then he noticed something else. The fools! They have lost their rings! What am I going to do with them?

Finally arriving at the feet of their King, they let fall the woman, revealing her dark skin and hair.