Eragreen and the Luminescent Topaz of Shar'delqoq
Chapter the First
It was a dark night, and the wind blew, carrying a scent which would change the world. Yes, the wind did blow, and blew and blew profusely, as profusely as a wind could ever blow. Dark was the night when the traitorous terror Darph Vadir did come to the temple of Vel'domërvang the Deathless. The lightning roared as the thunder streaked across the sky like a boisterous banshee. 'Twas a veritable symphony: A virtuoso of darkness, evil, and obscurity. Far away, a cacophonous war was raging betwixt the forces of the evil Galbatorix and the virtuous Varden. Darph Vadir had come to bring this war to the other side of the world: The Continent of Gravbor!
The villainous Vadir rapped upon the doors of the temple with his black fists, clad in dark gauntlets forged by the ogre-smiths of Angdoom, passed down to him by his master, Emperor Pellentine. He gave a great shout and kicked in the oaken doors. 'Twas a great moaning heard in those parts, for malice had desecrated hallowed ground. 'Twas if the souls of the venerable elven-saints had risen out of their tombs and wailed in agony, for darkness and shadow had violated their sanctuary. Yea, even though the ground itself trembled, Darph Vadir strode forth like a great indomitable ground-sloth, undeterred by the cacophony around him.
The terrible Darph Vadir was like a towering tower over the elven-priests in the venerated temple of Vel'domërvang the Deathless. But even as this doombringer clad in ebon armor pounced upon them, the monks did fight back. The abbot gave a terrible hominid war cry and unsheathed his scimitar as gracefully as a tuna would leap out of the water, and charged as a raging aurochs towards the demon-king clad in solid black ebon armor called Darph Vadir who did stand before him and defile the sacrosanct sanctuary that had previously staved off invaders such as the Orgums of Wallabad and the Gnome-King of Zxkel'debârge.
"Back, thou foul demon!" cried the venerated elf-priest, "Go back to the abyss that did spawn thee! Thou art no match for the magics of Tel'namar!"
At this the dreadful Darph Vadir lifted up his helmed head, for no man had gazed upon the grisly face that did hide behind his ebon mask. He unsheathed his own blade, a sword of the make of the awful mines of Rangdeath which had slain the fairy-queen Zut'yababa in the tenth year of King Randalf the Second of Gumbria. Solid black was its blade, but lo! It did set itself afire, and did burn and burn. His wretched voice emanated from behind the grotesque mask like a cold whisper, a throat burned and a tongue blackened, "Behold ye mine sword: Xerox the Flamebringer, bane of Yaba'ban! Tremble before it, ye cowardly elfin-mortal, for it be the death of thee!"
The white-haired wizened gnarly elven-priest only grimaced and muttered a phrase unknown to the ears of Darph Vadir, "Gurzjla!"
At once a great blast of ice did spring forth from the sage's fingertips, enveloping the dark lord in a storm of coldness and winteriness, and at length he was as cold as a statue, standing there encased in a block of liquid ice. But behold! The ice did break, and Darph Vadir roared loudly as a gorilla just escaped from its containment. And his roar became a laugh, and his laugh became speech, "Thou fool! Dost thou not know the prophecy? 'When the king of the west and the king of the east shall meet, winter there shall they seek, but find it not but at the peak!'"
And the elven-priest grew crestfallen. The prophecy had indeed come true. The dark lord was the king of the west, come to claim his birthright. No amount of frost-magic could contain such an invincible adversary.
"I have come to bring shadows to this land! All of its inhabitants shall dwell in obscurity! There shall be no more illumination, for umbrage shall dominate all! Thou shalt givest me thine treasure now, the fabled Luminescent Topaz of Shar'delqoq!"
"Nay, O Lord of Obscurity! For I abstruse it! The Chosen One hat received it! The Topaz is not here!"
At this remark, Darph Vadir plunged Xerox the Flamebringer into the gullet of the elven-abbot who had so defied him. The garnet blood stained his pure white robes, and he gasped his last gasp, falling to the floor and shedding a storm of tears, each like a liquid, opalescent diamond.
And far from this chaos and gloom, a simple farm boy in the Kingdom of Quest'vernia was about to receive the most extraordinary bestowal upon his personage.
