Chapter 2
Septumes 26, E25AD

Belyse was falling, and he realized he couldn't move. He glanced down and saw, to his horror, a gleaming red sword protruding from exactly where his heart was. He hit the ground with a solid thud as everything went to darkness.

Nie us pone, os noct atrum,
Black as ink, the night portrays,
Visum lasus isthi suum,
Visions of the later days,
Ista es, distsir vis lien,
Seeing nigh, the sky so clear,
Vir stri vos, siv curs ras veen,
May thy voice, the bright stars hear,
Ashlansen, sos vel mos neis,
Ashlansen, whom elves will seek,
Nim ad vos pervit sin rees,
See thee through this life so bleak,
Sur tum loss, vistin son this,
O'er the hills, throughout this night,
Meus rem vo, lest rus son viss,
My path to thee, thy stars may light,
Us in son, desvar sol nun,
As I sing, the day shall sleep,
Is rarrenssen ul pas len sun,
This lullaby sung to the weak,
In sos val, per elven lac,
And the strong, with elven words,
Tos mus vad las suum vallas
All let fall their shields and swords

The elf awoke from his dream, gasping for air, the elven lullaby his mother sung to him as a child still ringing in his ears. "That dream," he said aloud. "I've had it before. Why?" And with that and a few moments thought, he fell back into a deep sleep. However much the elf tried to deny such things as "destiny" and "faith", that dream and a man named Raydin would change his forever.

Raydin was what most people would consider a warlock. He was as intelligent as a mage in the art of magic, but as demented as a necromancer with powers of summoning. He was a man at the age of 25, tall and muscular, however not quite as so as Belyse. His face was thin, and his beard was a light brown. He also seemed to have a nice tan around his body, though most didn't have time to study his body. They, for the most part, were being ripped to shreds by his demon before they even laid eyes upon him. He was a very talented demonologist.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Raydin was standing upon a house, shouting at the village below. He looked around quickly. "Tough crowd." He jumped down, kicked a dead body aside, and shrugged. Raydin proceeded to walk out of the burning town; but before he did so, he removed the population sign and drew his face on the stone wall. He then summoned his demon and walked down a small path leading through a bright-looking forest. The warlock read the sign in front of it: Ugar's Forest. And below that: Beware of cat. "Beware of warlock." He said, smiling; he burned the sign to ashes.

Belyse awoke the next morning yawning and stetching. He had almost forgotten about the dream previously. He looked around as he got dressed. It was a small wooden bedroom in a small wooden house that Belyse had built himself. He called the house a "cabin", after the name for cut wood in the gnomish language. The house had three rooms: A kitchen, a study, and a bedroom. It was furnished with only the necessities: A wooden table in the kitchen, a few chairs around the place, a bookshelf, a fireplace, a few portraits nailed to the walls, and last but not least, a large bed made of solid oak with silken sheets and a feathery down. A comfortable but sturdy bed, in which the elf had just vacated, and above which an astrolabe was hanging.

Belyse strode outside and picked up both his bow and sword and walked into the forest from his little clearing. His intentions, like every morning, were to the southeast. He walked upon a narrow pathway for about an hour before he reached his hides, which were being cured. Like always, the place reeked of urine, feces, and rotting flesh. He checked the hides over and decided they could go another week or so. He then continued along the path to his favorite hunting spot.

Raydin had found a house two hours or so down the road. Or what looked like a house. It was small and shabby, made of wood. Weak. He found a sign out "front" and read it: Belyse's cabin. Beware of cat. "Cabin?" he asked aloud, "A cabin made of logs? A log cabin! Ha!" And with that he proceeded inside the house, smiling all the while.

The elf had found his spot at the heart of Ugar's Forest. He crouched behind a bush, hidden from sight, watching a doe graze some five or six feet in front of him. He aimed his bow: steady, almost unmoving, almost ready to fire. A sudden movement to his left caught his eye; it was his cat, yawning silently as he watched his master with bored eyes. He turned his gaze back to the doe and again saw a sudden movement to his left. The big cat had seen a mouse, and was silently moving toward it, away from Belyse. The elf didn't entirely care, they both could handle many things alone. He again turned his attention back to the doe.

Raydin's demon had caught a scent, and both demon and master were moving quickly towards the source. They had already passed by a load of hides being tanned. The place reeked so much they almost lost the trail. Raydin sensed he was getting closer to whatever left this scent, and he was never wrong. Or, at least when he was, he wasn't for long. He made things go his way.

Belyse heard a loud noise behind him. Then another, then another. He wheeled around and let loose his arrow, which stuck right in the center of a massive orc's head. "Orcs?" he asked to himself, "Here? How? Why?" He slowly unsheathed his sword, but the elf couldn't shake the feeling he had been here before; that he had done this before. But how? He whistled for his cat and realized, an instant later, that he was surrounded by five of the brutes. Something was very, very wrong