Chapter 1 of the unnamed novel. Hope you guys enjoy it and it will steadily get longer. This was written some time ago and I just edited it and proofread it. Next chapter was half finished so I'm gonna finish that up now. And please don't expect me to update this so fast…all and any feed back welcome.

Author: Sebastian

Chapter 1

A day later the weather completely changed. It got very dark and stormy. The winds were howling through all the windows in the fortress. Some people just couldn't take it because they felt the taint of evil in the air. Others just went completely insane and ran outside in their night clothes and screamed till they could not scream anymore.

Meanwhile Thorn sat near the window looking out at his kingdom being attacked by the Dark Elves. There were a group of Druuchii sorcerers outside the great city casting a spell. No one knew this but him.

The spell wasn't one of death or destruction. It was one of fear and insanity. Slowly a portion of the city would die from fear and paranoia. This was a sad sight. The Druuchii were stooping lower and lower in this war. The war itself started a couple year's ago. He remembered as if it were yesterday...

It was a nice day. Thorn had decided to tour his countryside so that all the people under him felt equal. He was going to go to the town of Mroowla. It was a small farming community near the outskirts of his kingdom. They did nothing but live life to the fullest and farm. He had just entered the village and started talking to the village elder. They stayed in the elders house for a long time. They talked about politics and the life of the simple people.

Then they both suddenly heard a scream coming from outside. Thorn unsheathed his sword. He suddenly regretted that he had not brought his honor guard. He had thought that this would have been just a time where he would walk amongst his people. It wasn't supposed to be like this, it was supposed to be a time of peace. The Druucci had made a peace agreement with him. Those vile creatures could not be trusted. Just as he approached the door a peasant ran through being chased by a Druucci swordsman. Thorn skillfully took his sword into a upward arch cutting of the other warriors limb right at the elbow.

Thorn then took a step back waiting for the other to collapse, but he was too stubborn to collapse. Instead of just dying he reached into a hidden scabbard and pulled out a ceremonial knife. With a horrible scream he charged at Thorn. At first he was completely surprised that the enemy just wouldn't give up or at least go into shock after getting a limb decapitated. The Dark Elves eyes radiated with fury and anger as he charged. But he forgot to anticipate the fact that his opponent had a long sword and he only had a 6 inch dagger. Thorn easily slid his sword right into his chest. After kicking the now dead soldier off of his sword he stepped outside.

The sun semi-blinded him for a second. After his eyes adjusted to the new light, what he saw was horrible. Humans lay scattered like dolls, and they were dead or dying. One Druucci warrior lay dead with a pitch fork sticking out from his chest. Another one had a cracked skull with a villager lying next to him holding a shovel in his dead grasp. Two more warriors remained. And they weren't stupid either for they were targeting the males of the village that were left, there seemed to be no grown men in the village anymore. They were either on the floor dying or already dead. The two soldiers were approaching a group of huddled women cornered in between a house and someone's store. This infuriated Thorn, for he would never hurt a women, children, or unarmed men. Unless of course one of those threatened someone he loved or his life. He unhinged his bow from his pack and quickly knocked two arrows. With quick yet careful aim he unleashed the arrows at the nearest warrior. One of the arrows missed, the other stayed true and hit him directly in the heart.

The other seeing his comrade fall immediately turned away from the women, drew his sword and started running for Thorn. Being one of the best archers that ever lived, he had reached for an arrow as soon as the other soldiers body hit the floor, pulled it out by the time the standing Druucci started turning. Fired it exactly when the warrior turned. The arrow flew true yet again. This time right in the throat. The Dark Elf fell to his knees clutching at the arrow and his throat. Blood came gurgling out of his mouth, and his eyes bulged not in fear or pain, but in fury. Thorn then dropped his bow, put his hand on a wall for support and vomited everything that he had eaten that day. It drove him sick to see this senseless slaughter of his people. His people...his responsibility...

That had been a horrible day in his life, he had seen to many innocents killed. It was in fact only a small village but everyone's life mattered to him. That was why he was chosen to be King. The old King was very irresponsible and all he cared for were riches, fame, and women. He got all that because he was King and he abused the treasuries to the point that the kingdom went almost completely bankrupt. The Senators, Mayor, and the people of the city planned his downfall. Even the Honor Guard was in on this. One night they had simply taken him out of his quarters while he was sleeping, stripped him naked, and tied him to a tree. Right before the crack of dawn someone thought that it would be funny to put a jester's hat on him. The jester that lent the hat happily obliged, for he had been mistreated under his rule and would have done anything to get back at him. Funnily enough, even after being taken from his bed and tied to a tree, he still hadn't awoken. The other night he had drunk so much wine that he passed out.

What a surprise he had that day. Just thinking about this brought a smile to Thorns face. For when the old King awoke not only did he have a terrible hangover but he was also strapped to a tree with a jesters hat. And to top it all off, a donkey took a liking to him. It stayed with him the whole day.

Suddenly Thorn felt a sharp pain in his head. It went away as fast as it came. He shook his head as if to get rid of the after feeling of it. He looked out his window again, it had started to rain. The rain was falling and hitting the roofs of the many houses and stores. The clouds were slowly moving along in the sky, so numerous that they resembled an army marching. Just as suddenly as the first pain left another one had come.

"Shittt!" he screamed as he fell of his chair and onto the floor clutching to his head.

This time it was worse. He thought he was seeing things, for he saw shadows moving around the room. Then he thought he started hearing things. Then everything turned dark and his body lay slumped on the floor, and the shadows took their cue and departed.

He awoke somewhere else. It wasn't his fortress, or another place that he visited in his life. Yet... it seemed strangely familiar. It seemed as if he grew up here as a child. No he had grown up in Aur. A small village to the east of Cordon. But...it all looked so real. Even the scent of the place reminded him of something. Suddenly he sensed something coming from behind him, He instantly turned around to see what it was. To his surprise it was a slender figure. She was covered in a white cloak and her face was covered. The wind gently rustled making her hood flutter to the side a bit. With that movement he saw her face. She wasn't a women but a young girl. Around 18 by human standards. With seeing a glimpse of her face it struck him that he knew her. But from where or how he came to know her he didn't know. She seemed so familiar...

Slowly she lifted her hood off of her face. The light danced in her eyes and hair. She was so beautiful. Her hair fell around her face down to her mid back. Then she started to speak to him in a language he could not understand, but it felt warm to his ears. He just smiled and took an involuntary step towards her. She stopped talking and smiled. With graceful movement she moved towards him and hugged him.

He returned the hug. A little confused but caught in the moment he just stood there enjoying her embrace. After all she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Just holding her in his arms felt as if he were in heaven. Then a fog started to roll over this 'heaven' of his. First the trees in the distance were slowly fading away. A mist or fog was covering everything around him. Then she moved her head back from his chest and look him straight in the eyes. Her eyes turned sad. A longing sad as if she lost a loved one. He didn't really know who that was, but he wanted to ask her. He was about to say something but then she swiftly leaned in and kissed him. The kiss was a pleasant surprise for him. Right after he started kissing her back she pulled away and said, 'Goodbye, until we meet again...' with a smile she moved back and became engulfed by the fog.

Thorn started running towards the spot where she entered the mist. As soon as he entered the cloudy wall he couldn't see anything. Everything literally went white. He turned around in hopes of going back to where the fog hadn't come yet. He turned around 180 degrees, in hopes of moving back. He walked but couldn't see anything still. Then another blinding pain shot through his head. He let out a strangled scream and crumpled to the floor yet again.

When he awoke, there was a great pain in his head. At first he was confused and he didn't know where he was. But as soon as his vision started to clear he saw that he was in another familiar place. At first he wasn't sure about where it was specifically, but after a couple seconds he finally recognized the place as the infirmary in his fortress. He looked around a couple times at first seeing if he could recognize anyone that was near him. The only person that was near him was a healer. Groggily he tried to get up using his elbows. But he fell back down onto his bed with a slightly more intense headache.

"You shouldn't try getting up yet, sir." said the healer,"You took a fall yesterday and knocked yourself unconcious. We don't know how but you were found with this wrapped around you..."

The healer went over to a desk with a chest on the top. Opened the chest and took out a green cloak. Shortly after it was in his hands. He felt the cloak, and it felt so familiar! He didn't know from where just like that girl in his vision he remembered. After some thought he remembered that the girl he saw had that cloak in her hands when he first saw her. He kept on looking at it still sensing something else concerning it. After flipping some of the folds over he saw an emblem, It was a katana going through a bow. This also looked familiar to him...very familiar, but he couldn't place a finger on it. He carefully folded it back up and placed it back in the box. Even tho he couldn't remember seeing it, it had this unusual sentimental value to him. Then his thoughts strayed back to the girl. He could still feel the brush of her lips against his.

With the shake of his head he said, "Just a dream, nothing more."

It couldn't have been real, could it? With that thought he stood up and gave a curt nod to the healer indicating that he was fine. He walked out of the room with graceful steps, leaving the box with the cloak behind.