The Chronicles of Koch, The Dark Castle

Prologue

Naron and Garon looked down into the smoldering valley.Strewn among the charred rocks and burnt vegetation lay steaming piles of wood; the last remnants of a lost house.

Naron gave a long sigh, and then spoke to his brother. "Do you suppose life will ever be the same again?"

"No," Garon sighed, "never again will we feel the cradling arms of our mother, the warm crackling flames of the hearth, or the gentle sway of the apple trees." Garon turned and smiled to his brother," but we will always be together, and that will soon make the hurt go away.

Naron smiled back, but it quickly faded, he knew the hurt will never go away, try as he may, it never would leave.

"I suppose we had better head back to town." Naron said quietly. He turned around and looked at his parents graves. "I wish the flames had taken me too, and then I wouldn't have to suffer this pain."

Garon turned to him. "I am glad you weren't taken by the flames brother," he said giving a solemn smile, "then you wouldn't be here with me, and that would be the worst torture of all."

Naron smiled, and then started walking down the char streaked path, away from all the death that haunted him. Garon trotted up behind him, and they walked silently through the small pass between the town and their past home.

"I am sorry for all these things," Garon said to his brother, "I wish she, our mother, hadn't tried to save us, that we could have helped ourselves better. I would have done anything to save them if I had known that-." He stopped talking; there was no more need to talk.

Naron looked silently into the higher hills. He looked as far as he could, and saw a black hole, the entrance to a cave, yawning wide like a mouth ready to devour anyone who was brave enough to step into it.

Garon then slowly started to sing a song, a song his father taught him.

"For on and on we go on, through the rivers through the hills,

We travel through dusk and dawn, although we find no thrills,

When one discovers truth and light, no farther does he go,

Long lost he be, till he finds the way how to know."

He started to sing again when he stopped. Naron continued to walk but did not hear his brother's footsteps. Puzzled, he turned around, and was stopped in his tracks. What he saw was the arrow protruding from Garon's stomach. Horror struck upon Naron in an instant, and he was immediately at Garon's side. He heard course laughter from above that made him his face from his deadened brother and look up.

He stared into the eyes of his brother's murderer, a goblin nearly the size of a normal man, and looked at the four others surrounding him. The middle goblin held a bow, with another arrow ready to be fit.

Naron gaped and took a step back, then looked at his brother nearby him.

"This runt should do the job nicely," the middle goblin said in a gruff voice, eying Garon's lifeless body, "good eating tonight boys! Heh heh heh!" He then looked up to Naron, "Well what's this?" He said mockingly, "Looks like there's going to be a second portion!" He leaned closer, licking his lips. "Better start running little man."

Naron cringed in horror and started running as fast as he could back to the valley. He heard the pull of a bowstring, and the running of his feet. Then he heard the final sound of his life, the sound of an arrow hitting its target.

Part One: Destiny

Chapter 1

The Altar

Lleu looked into the rolling waves. He wondered what caused the waves, whether it was a force of nature or the hand of a god. Such questions occupied his mind while he watched his father fish on the pier.

His father was a large man compared to the other men in the village. His father was a fisherman, so if Lleu ever needed him, he could usually find him at the pier.

Lleu sighed, wondering if his father would ever stop fishing. He looked out to the horizon, where his gaze met the Great Sentinel, the huge statue that kept the creatures of the deep from entering the bay.

"I'll head home now father," Lleu called across the pier. His father looked over his shoulder, smiled, and yelled back, "very well then son, I'll see you at home." With that he continued to fish.

Lleu turned toward the village and started jogging home. His mother had shoed him out of the hut when she started baking her famous wheat bread. Lleu smiled, thinking of the wondrous aromas drifting out of the windows into the street, and the warm flaky crust breaking off of the bread.

So much was he dreaming of the bread that he didn't see the hand shooting out of the nearby brush, grabbing his ankle and tripping him. Getting up, spitting out the dirt, he stared at the hand until it disappeared into the bush. Rising from the bush was a girl nearly the same age as Lleu.

"I never thought you would come Lleu," She said comically, pulling herself out of the bush and brushing off the loose branches. "Pleasure to see you as well Maria" Lleu spat out, "next time could you try to at least break my neck?"

She smiled, and retorted, "I'll try..well… I found some really cool thing up in the hills!" "You did?" commented Lleu, pulling himself up and brushing off his own loose branches, "Perhaps it is just a tree that you found."

She shook her head zestfully, "Come on! I'll show it to you!" And with that she jumped off into the bushes and clambered into the higher hills.

Lleu sighed and frowned, although on the inside he was smiling. He bounded off into the hills with Marie, completely forgetting the wheat bread back at home.

Lleu and Marie pulled themselves atop a rock and into a barren grassy field. Panting, Lleu looked toward his sister, "how can you be so much faster than me when you're younger?" Marie smiled at him, "It's because I'm fit and you're fat." Lleu smiled back, "Very well."

Looking across the plain he saw a peculiar sight. In the middle of the field sat a circular stone altar, surrounded by eight large pillars in an octagon formation. Walking towards it, Lleu noticed something up in the hills. It was a black hole in the side of a cliff, it resembled a mouth. Lleu shuddered, but continued to walk to the altar.

Stepping into the octagon, he let his hand run along the finely crafted stone altar, feeling long forgotten runes and symbols.

"Lleu!" Marie called from atop one of the pillars, "you can see the whole village from here!" But Lleu wasn't listening. Concentrating his entire mind into the senses of his hand, he ran it atop the center ruin, a ruin which resembled three circles pushed together. Before he knew it, he was speaking a foreign language.

By the dark lord, the last king

Never again, will he be seen

Long be gone, he need not return

Gone for all time, gone be sure.

He will free himself, which will happen one day

When he rises from ash, and sets out to slay

For these words forever, all will remember

He who comes to finish all

Koch, the dark lord.

Sleep long Koch, Live long Koch!

Panting, Lleu retracted his hand in fright. Marie stared at him and jumped down from her perch. Putting her hand on Lleu's shoulder she questioned "Lleu, are you all right?"

"Yes, yes I'm all right" He returned his hand to his side and fell down on his knees.

Suddenly there was a shift in the ground. Lleu looked in all directions, "What is happening!" he thought to himself, "The pillars are rising!" Lleu yelled. "No," his sister replied, "we are sinking."