Prologue
During the first age of men, before there was a king of all men, when the land was divided and elves and dwarfs were just things of legend, that is where our story begins.
There were city-states all over the land, each independent of one another. They were ruled by Chiefs or elders. This was a dark time when clan would war with brother clan for years over the land and respect. The Elves and Dwarfs in the far unknown north, fought because of greed for the treasure in the mountains. Because of this evil, God turned his back on the world and let the Armies of hell spill over into the earth. God would let hell take over earth, unless the people of earth did something to help themselves. The people of the earth had to show God that we still deserved his grace. So it is written in the first prophecy.
The dark unknown land in the south on the far banks of Copsis River is where the demon Abigor and his evil first came thought the earth. The damned came through the hole in the earth and walked once more with a taste for human flesh. Along with hundreds of solider demons and their imps, and the whole land was covered with darkness from a cloud that would not pass. The leader of the southern Elves Ludas knew war was upon them. Ludas went across the Copsis to ally with Abigor. Ludas was deceived, and for his trading ways, he and all his people were turned into Orcs. The wicked Dwarfs from the Aetna Mountains also tried to ally with the demon Abigor and were cursed to be goblins forever. Cursed to never know the sweet touch of sunlight again.
The dark cloud covered the whole land and Abigor's armies crossed the Copsis. They burned everything city, town and village. They murdered everyone in their path. The Dwarfs locked themselves in their mountains, to keep the horrors of the world out. The men tried to fight but they were weak and divided. As the weeks pasted the dark armies of Abigor took over more and more of the land. The dwarfs were starving from weeks inside their mountains. The lord of the High Elves Dinendal, gave them water and food. For the sacrifice and good will, the Elves were blessed with long life and protection.
One day in the western shore of Lake Sebinus, a blacksmith with a wife and young baby prayed to God for a way to save his family. The Angel Oriel appeared to him, and gave him two bars of steel and told him to craft armor and a sword. Oriel also told him if he used it to banish the demon Abigor, the power of the steel would take his life but his sacrifice would be enough to close the gate to hell.
The blacksmith's name was Luxus. Luxus stayed up all night building the sword and a full suit of armor. In the morning he met the demon Abigor in battle. No demon could hurt Luxus when he was wearing that armor and with one swing of the sword he banished the demon back to hell. The power of the armor was so strong it burst into a huge bright white light that spread across all the land.
After the light was gone, the whole Lake Sebinus was dried up and the dark cloud was passed. All the damned and demons were gone. All the Orcs and Goblins crossed into the dark south to wander the night cursed to never see the sun or be turned to stone.
The armor and sword were pieced apart and spread across all the land so no one would ever possess that much power as a man again. For Luxus sacrifice, God gave his grace to all the land and held the evil at bay as it is written in the first prophecy.
Luxus son became the first king of men. For almost a hundred years there was peace and trading between all three races of earth, and loving and growing of all beings on earth.
Until five years ago when the darkness came back. When King Breifne died and his twin sons fought over the throne. His son Brega was the governor of the eastern Kingdom and his son Ailech was the governor of the western kingdom. Brega feared the fact that Ailech was friends with the Dwarfs and Elves and the three would come and take the throne from him. When Ailech wanted to split the kingdom into two different kingdoms, to keep the peace and avoid war. Brega sent his army west to burn any city wouldn't surrender to his power. Civil war broke out and the bloodshed was awful, Brother killing brother. Crops burned and the people starved.
This when the land was covered with a second darkness, the door to hell was open and the demon Charun lead his armies across the Copsis River and Orcs and Goblins with them walking freely in the day. The demon Charun led them to the east because all the men's armies were in the west fighting each other. Both armies of men called a truce and turned to face the demons army. But it was too late the whole east was over taken. The dead walked the earth and the damned with them.
All would have been lost if not for the elf lord Dinendal. He used the power and blessing of his people to draw a line through the center of the land so the demon could not pass it. They build the western wall to cut the land in half and keep the evil at bay.
The wander was walking east with cold October wind in his face. He could taste the beginnings of winter in the air. He was wearing a black cloak that was old and stained from traveling many miles in it. At the twilight of the day he reached a farming village with a small inn in the far left corner. He reached the door of the inn when it began to rain. He knocked hard and the inn wife came to the door and took one look at him and said "We are all full up tonight for beggars; you can sleep in the barn to keep out of the rain". The wander reached into his cloak and pulled out a pair of gold coins and handed them to the inn wife and said "any dinner left?" She opened the door reluctantly, and said "You can sleep in the common the room we will make a bed for you by the fire".
The wander took off his cloak and put it on a peg next to the fireplace to dry. He dropped pack and took off his boots and put on a dryer pair of socks. When the inn wife came back in she saw the uniform of the royal army on the wander and the silver bars of a captain on his collar. She soon found her manners. She came with bread and stew and said "Sir, dinner is served". The wander sat down at the table and took the food with a small nod of his head. The wanders faced was aged as if it seen many winters but the wander was only 24 years old. His hair was jet black with the beginnings of grey on the sides. His eyes are cavernous blue, which could look through a man's soul.
The others in the common room soon found somewhere else to be. The wander was finishing his second bowl of stew when a boy came up to him at the table and said "Sir, could I ask you a few questions? "And without waiting for an answer the boy continued:
"I am Parvan, and it is my name day in a fortnight and I already have my orders for the Western Wall' the wander cut him off at this and said "I am returning from the mountains in the north and haven't been to the wall in almost four years." There was a short pause and then the wander continued "leave me I wish to rest."
The boy gave a short boa, and left the common room. The wander blew out the laps in the common room, so the only light was from the fire in the middle of the room. He then locked the door and pushed the large table in front of the door, took out his bed roll and put his sword next to him. He knew he was safer in the INN then he has been on the road for months. But he hasn't been able to let guard down since the war. The dreams came back to him that night, the same dreams he has had for five years now.
In the dream he can see his house, the light green door his father had painted with him that summer before the war. It is night time and dark but there is a glow from fires that are burning everywhere. He can't tell if the house is on fire or just the house next door. It is a deafening silence, until his heart stops when he hears the scream of wife and the scream is cut off and the only thing he can hear is the laughter of demons. The sinister burning laughter of demon soldiers, he has heard before on the battle field. He tries to run into the house but can't move, he tries to scream for his wife but his voice doesn't work. He can feel the jagged pain of the blade as it cuts deep into his gut and he falls into a pit of other dead men who are devouring each other.
Then he awakes in a cold sweat, before dawn.
Chapter 2
The wander packs his bed roll and newly dried clothes in the dim dawn light with only a little help from the embers in the fireplace. He is on the road again before anyone is awake but leaves a letter with his family's seal on it for the boy. The wander knows the horrors that this young boy will face and feels remorse for not giving him advice but at least this seal will keep him from being mistreated before he dies on a demon's blade.
The day is young and the wind is blowing through the trees as the road is slowly becoming a forest trail. The wander is happy for this, the forest will hold back some of the weather and make it easier to find food and hide at night. He knows he must pick of the pace if he wishes to speak with an elder at the next town before nightfall. No traveler is welcome after nightfall these days. The wander needs to learn more about the first prophecy if he ever wants to intact this mad plan, which includes crossing the western wall and going east.
At midday the wander stops for a meal. He finds cover in a small cave at the base of a hill covered with ancient oak trees. The wander can smell the damp in the cave and know there is water nearby. After he eats and drinks the last of the water from his canteen, he climbs to the crest of the hill to find the water he can smell. When the wander gets to the top of the hill what he finds takes him by complete surprise, it is the ruins of a small city from the Great War.
After the end of the Great War, no one returned to any of the ruined city they were said to be haunted by the dead and cursed by the evil that was once there. The wander stops for a second and thinks about this fact but continues down the other side of the hill into the city. The wander thinks about what city this could be but he is an Easterner and doesn't know much about this part of the west. As he walks past the shattered gate of the city he notices how much different the city were sent up back then. Before the Royal army protected the whole country, each city was build to protect itself. This one is no different with high walls covering the whole area of the city. The signs of the Great War are present that his city was sacked by demons; you can see the parts of the wall that are missing from where they made their way in.
The thought of the Royal army protecting everyone almost makes the wander laugh out loud. He is taking back to the days of the civil war before the second darkness.
The wander was a young father who lived with his family in the Eastern port city of Gythio. It was on the outskirts of the capital of Civitas. They were fishermen who's only worries were from the pirates raids of the wild islands, who never dare come into a major city.
When the civil war began every family had to spend one man. The wander wouldn't let his father go in his place because of his love for his father and his advanced age. The wander never thought the events that took place next could ever happen.
After a short training period he was a part of a company of Royal Infantrymen. He would see battle against governor's city guards who were never suppose to see war. The easterner army fought their way west burning and killing until about three weeks into the raid the western army had formed to meet them. The battle that day and for the days to follow was the bloodiest since the Great War. Raining fire with arrows burned men's flesh and the rest were in the killing fields. By the fourth day you had to stand on the fallen to keep fighting.
It wasn't until almost both armies were destroyed that the second darkness came. By the time the generals knew what had happened the east was over taken. This idea haunted the wander more than anything else because they people in the east had no way of protecting themselves.
The wander is able to shake this memory and move on through this ruined city. The bones of men and demon still liter the streets. In the city square is a huge pile of burnt bones of humans. The demons were burning them alive. It is too hard to look at and the wander moves on, looking for a library or mage's house. He is driven by the end to read the first prophecy himself, the wander believes it is the key to his plan. As the wander walks the city's streets he sees how the tress of the forest and nature itself has taken what was once theirs. Trees and plants grow feely over all the left standing buildings. He finds a tower at the highest point of the city that looks somehow untouched by the demon raid of old. The wander makes his way to the tower at the gate there are ancient runes that the wander cannot read but there is a picture of an eye above the runes and that means mages lived there. While the wander is this looking at the runes the door of the tower opens. The man standing on the other side looks like a middle aged man but for his white hair that was so white it almost hurt to look at. There was something cold and dead about his flesh but he had bright green eyes that were full of life.
The man steps forward and says "Welcome to the house of depnoacies! We have not had a visitor in many years." The wander answered "Who are you? What are you?" because he could tell there was something inhuman about this man. The man replies "My name is Dular. I am a mage from the house of deponacies, or as you may know us the Necromancers." At this the wander drew is sword and warned Dular to not to try anything. Dular replied "Relax friend, most of the things you have heard about the Necromancers are untrue. Some have joined the darkness but most have chosen to end their own life and spend the rest of eternity among the damned. You see my friend, God has punished us for own unholy magic with a blessing and curse. We have immortally. But we can only cause death. For everyone we love. When the Great War came, for all my power I could do nothing to stop the demons and everyone I tried to bring back from the dead turned to a mindless monster. I was cursed to spend my life here alone, but I never gave up hope that one day God would forgive me and let me rest."
