Fan Fiction ❯ Grendal ❯ Prologue: Defeated! ( Prologue )

In this world the people live A LOT longer and age a lot slower, so a man on the age of 95 will look at most 24 (the same goes for women). Most people look on the age between 22 and 28. It takes centuries for people to begin looking older than 28. Spellcasters live even longer. However, most people don't die from natural death, so it doesn't really matter. Also, diseases often affect appearance, so people that have been sick may look a lot older then they really are.

“ ” - speech
** ** - thoughts (if any)
< > - change in place and/or time

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The races of Ancheron

by Krysta

Overview

“The world of Ancheron is inhabited by many different races: Humans, Elves, Dwarves and more. As a result there are many people who are not pureblooded - one third of the entire population. A surprisingly low number, actually. Most of them are still considered, and consequently treated, as pureblooded. Very few are considered Half-something, (for example - Half-elves), and usually it is because, due to their mixed blood, it's hard to tell their race.”

“Most races will be just minor annoyances, but few will no doubt try to stop us, or at least slow us down as best they can.”

The Humans

“One third of Ancheron's population consists of Humans. No other race is present in such large numbers in this world. This means that humans will be our most common adversaries. How unfortunate… for them.

Humans, like most living creatures, need food to survive - most don't seem to care what they eat as long as it is not poisonous, alive, or used to belong to some sort of intelligent species. The average humans have no known strengths and weaknesses. They learn quickly (although nowhere near as fast as we do) and that is their biggest advantage over the other races.”

“Overall, the humans of this world are nothing special. But at least they are easy to slaughter. Maybe when we are done here we will go a world where humans are a bit more of a challenge. At least I hope so.”

Prologue: Defeated!

Among the many worlds there is one called Grendal. It is an ancient world, but not very important, which is why it has remained undisturbed for so long despite the fact that it is not very well protected. However, the time of piece for the people of Grendal was slowly coming to an end…

Grendal has one main continent, divided in two by the forces of good and evil. In the middle of it there are two walls, called “The borders”. The land in between the walls is neutral. The distance between the walls is 10 kilometers and both are heavily guarded. The south belongs to the good, the north - to the evil. There are also several large islands, which are inhabited by many different creatures: trolls, ghosts, dragons and so on. Everything in this world is peaceful (or at least that's how it seems). This is the way things have been for several thousand years. But they would not stay like this for much longer…

One day things changed with the arrival of a young man from another world. He looked like a human around the age of eighteen. He was tall, his hair was short and black, and he could change the color of his eyes on will. He was always dressed in black cloths. He called himself Shadow and refused to talk about himself. At first he seemed like just another mage, but it wasn't long before this changed and he became the target of many, who wanted him dead for one reason or another. As all, who got in his way, fell one after another, and as all attempts to kill him failed, it became clear that this man is more than what he seems to be…

Shadow had a talent for magic, especially lightning spells. He chose a cave with large deposits of gemstones to be his home for the time being. The cave was already inhabited by a large number of demons. Why did they let him stay was anyone's guess. Some thought that he's a demon too, others claimed he has made the demons his slaves, and third claimed he had made a deal with the demons. Some thought that he has agreed to serve them. There were many other rumors, but the truth was known only to him and the demons. And they kept it to themselves. Using his magic Shadow quickly transformed the caves into something more suitable for his needs. The place was protected by powerful magic shields, preventing most from seeing what was inside, and this gave birth to many rumors and distrust towards the young man. Distrust that would soon be used against him…

Shadow traveled to several of the islands and in a cave on one of them, heavily guarded, he found an ice cloak. He started wearing it all the time and acting as if it was the most valuable item there, as well as his most valuable possession, and so no one suspected what else he found…

Not far from where Shadow lived was Moonlight Fortress. It was a large black castle, called so because the moon could be seen almost every night. There were rarely clouds hiding it. The castle was the home of thousands of people. It was standing alone in a large plain. To its south were several hills, in which were the caves where Shadow lived. To its north was a large and dense forest, inhabited by many wild animals. To the east and the west there were only plains for kilometers, not a single bush or tree or anything else to be seen. All the land around the castle, except the hills, belonged to Queen Neherena, ruler of Moonlight Fortress. She had a daughter, a girl at the age of sixteen, called Selena. Selena was the oldest of Neherena's three daughters and therefor she ruled in the castle when her mother was away since the queen had no sons and Selena's father had died from decease when she was ten. Both Selena and her mother had long straight black hair and black eyes. Both were dressed in black or dark blue dresses all the time except on special occasions. Queen Neherena, despite the fact she was almost fifty, looked no older than twenty-two, which was normal for this world. Her daughter still looked at her real age, but this would change in a few years, when she would turn twenty.

Two months after Shadow's arrival Queen Neherena left her daughter in charge and went to visit a friend of hers. She would be gone for three months. A week later early in the morning Princess Selena's servants informed her that Shadow would like to visit the castle's library. She gave her permission.

Shadow spent the time remaining to Queen Neherena's return in the library and was amazed at what he found. In the many books there were a lot of ancient spell books with spells long forgotten by all. He was especially interested in two spells.

**I don't believe it! This spell would make a powerful wizard almost impossible to kill. Anyone would want to have it! And yet it lies here among many others as if it was just another version of a common spell. And this spell is all one needs if he wants to destroy all the paladins in the world! It would strike a great blow to the forces of light if used. But it too has been long forgotten.** He smirked. **Just as I expected. But now is not the time for such thoughts. There are more spells here that I need to find. After that I'll have to hurry and gather as much power and knowledge as I can in the short time I have before she makes her move.**

When the queen returned Shadow thanked her and her daughter for allowing him to access the library. To show them his gratitude he gave them a few spells he had found. These spells would allow them to improve their undead servants, making them a lot more powerful and deadly. He also gave them an item he had found during his trips to the islands. It was a sphere (dark blue color), made from crystal. Its diameter was 10 centimeters. When activated, it would create a shield around the castle, protecting it from both fire and ice. It had a cost however - it would drain a small quantity of mana from all spellcasters in the castle. This wasn't a problem since there were a lot of people in the castle that used magic: necromancers, wizards, mages, dark sorceresses and so on. The queen and her daughters were sorceresses too. And the more people to drain from, the less drained from each. The artifact was gladly accepted and put to use immediately and Queen Neherena gave him a permission to visit the castle and its library whenever he wants to. Then he left.

“What do you think about him, mother?” Asked Selena when they were alone in her mother's quarters later that day.

““Touched by the goddess” are the first words that come to my mind when I see him.”

“Touched by the goddess?” The young girl didn't try to hide her surprise at her mother's words.

“Yes, Selena. He is not what he seems at first. I'm sure his arrival here wasn't a coincidence. But you are still too young to worry your pretty head with some things. Forget about him for now. Time will tell if I'm right.”

Six months passed since Shadow's arrival in Grendal. On the first day of the seventh he entered the lands of Light for the first time. He traveled under a fake name, hidden by an illusion, and his goal was once again knowledge. Again, in various libraries he found spells long forgotten. He had talent for both light and dark spells and he used it to learn as much as he could. But some of the rulers discovered his presence despite the precautions he had taken. Because he had studied dark spells, including necromantic, he was declared evil, a servant of darkness, and was sentenced to death. The Order of Paladins was his greatest enemy. They all believed he must be destroyed. But he had other enemies too. One of the most fanatical at first was Princess Firiana, The Fire Princess. She tried to kill him dozens of times, but always failed. For reasons known only to him he tolerated her attacks and even made a few attempts to show her she was wrong instead of just killing her, something he could do easily.

While traveling from place to place in the lands of Good, Shadow noticed many things that were amiss, but remained unnoticed by all or were considered normal. Like the fact that love was nothing more that a word for almost all people, especially among royalty. Almost anything could be sold or bought, including a person's child, even if that child was a princess and a future queen. Many claimed to believe in the gods and serve them, but hardly anyone really did. Which was fine with the Gods and Goddesses since they considered this world to be of little importance and paid hardly any attention to it. There were many other things. And the situation was getting worse with every passing year. It had been getting worse for centuries, but no one cared. It all seemed normal to the people of this world. But to him, who was from another world, it was so obvious that he couldn't believe no one else could see the truth. Then, one sunny day, while looking through some old records of old trials, he noticed that there had been many people from various ranks that had noticed, but they all died in prison or executed. “Seems like someone doesn't want things to change. Another piece of the puzzle. And exactly where I expected to find it.”

Three months passed since he first entered the lands of Light. One cloudy day he was in a forest when he met Firiana once again. What happened remained unknown to all except them, but two days later they were friends. Neither thought it's necessary to give an explanation for the sudden change. Not long after that rumors appeared about the two being more than friends, but no one knew for sure. In fact, no one had any idea what had happened. And the two of them did nothing to change the situation. In fact, it was almost as if they enjoyed listening to the rumors about their supposed liaison.

One year had passed since his arrival when some of these that lived in the lands of Darkness decided Shadow is becoming too powerful for their taste and they must do something about it. He had acquired a small but very powerful army. Most of his soldiers were undead, but there were also two powerful shadows, some dark elves (mainly archers, but also a few sorceresses) and humans, all of them veterans. He had also created four Sylrana Queens.

Sylrana Queens were powerful undead sorceresses that had a very large reserve of spells, mostly offensive, but also some defensive. They were also good at unarmed melee combat. Their very presence drained the life force of the living while healing them. They could choose whether or not to drain someone's life, so their allies had nothing to worry about. They were extremely beautiful as well, which enabled them to seduce any man or woman, but this was their last line of defense. He had discovered the spell for their creation in the Moonlight Fortress, among the other forgotten spells.

However no one knew this. Many necromancers wanted to know how to create them, but he wouldn't tell the secret to anyone, no matter what they offered him, mainly because they all had nothing he wanted.

Time passed. Several assassination attempts failed. His power grew and he became know as the Master of Lightnings. He tried to stay away from trouble, but there were too many greedy fools and fanatics, blinded by what they believed, for that to be possible. It soon became clear to him that it was only a matter of time until an army attacked him. He knew what army exactly that would be, and he also knew he couldn't win without revealing too much, not to mention winning this particular battle wasn't in his plans, so pretended to be unaware of the looming danger and used the time left to study and practice his skills. He also traveled a lot to many places. During his trips he found some ruins from times long forgotten, which proved that the mages in the past had had power far greater than what they had now. He also found an item that had magical power, but he had no idea how to use it. It was a purple stone with a gold rune engraved in it. He was intrigued by what seemed to be an ancient artifact of some kind and took it to his keep, hoping he'll be able to discover its secret later.

During his travels he never visited one place: the city of Turyn. It was the home of Princess Anita. She was at the age of 10, with hair like gold and yellow eyes. Everyone thought Anita was just a little girl. But she had a secret, known only to her. Or so she thought. When she was 8, something happened to her during a storm. She never told anyone about it, not even her family. But Shadow, who at the time still wasn't living in Grendal and was traveling from one world to another, had seen what happened. Anita's secret made her a danger for Shadow, for it allowed her to discover his secret, if given a chance. He knew he had to either kill her or stay away from her. Killing her would've been a lot easier, but the death of a kid, especially one as loved as Anita, would attract a lot of attention and would be the perfect excuse for a war against him, even if he had nothing to do with it. There was no need to provoke his enemies just yet, so he decided to let her live for now. Fortunately for him Princess Anita rarely traveled and always was well guarded, so it wasn't very likely that something would happen to her. This also made it nearly impossible for the two to meet, so he had nothing to worry about for the moment.

While waiting for the attack he discovered two castles that were different from all others and had much better defense than normal castles. The first was the south most castle in the lands of Light and was called “The White Pearl”. The second was the north most castle in the lands of Darkness and was called “The Black Pearl”. In both lived sorceresses far more powerful than most other in the world, but he had no luck in finding more. He tried all he could, but it was in vain. Or at least so it seemed, because with Shadow nothing was certain…

One year and eleven months after his arrival too many people decided he must die. Some served the Light, some the Darkness, their reasons were different, but they had a common goal. As a result, an alliance was forged between the forces of Good and Evil.

Two weeks later Shadow's keep was besieged. However, he had the terrain advantage and he was well prepared for his attackers. The battle lasted for over two weeks. In the end, Shadow was defeated, his army destroyed, all the demons slain. Nothing was left. When it was over, the attackers returned home.

Hours after the battle ended, in the darkness of the night, the moon hidden by clouds, a lone figure arouse from the ruins. A figure dressed in black and wearing an ice cloak. The figure laughed triumphantly as if he had won, not lost.

**Fools! They think they have destroyed me! How wrong they are! Let them think it is over. When I come back to this world I will show them that this was merely the first battle in the war. And it is not they who won, no matter what they think or believe. The fools all judged me not by my actions, but by what they thought or heard about me. They followed their fear and jealousy of what I had instead of trying to see the truth. They are all so blinded by their believes that they allow her to freely manipulate them. With every passing day they sink lower and lower, and don't even realize it. But I am not blind. I will show them the truth and prove to them that they were wrong. This shall be my revenge. Enjoy your little victory for now. When I come back, all shall remember me, and the war will continue, but this time by my rules. I shall not be defeated again!**

Then he left through one of his portals.

<At unknown location, after the end of the battle>

**At last, Shadow is dead. I have nothing more to worry about. Now all I have to do is wait. Ancheron will finally be mine!**

<Ten years later>

A tall young man, wearing black cloths and dark blue cloak was floating in the air a few feet above the ground. Next to him, on his right, was a woman - a crisalid - wearing a crystal cloak. She too was floating in the air. The two were watching the sunset in the distance. The sight was truly beautiful.

Suddenly a portal opened before them and a crisalid walked through it. She bowed to the two, first to the man, then to the woman. “Master, My Queen.”

“What is it, Yllyra?”

“She is dead, Master.”

“At last. Our time has come.”

“Yes, Krysta. Our time has come. At last I will have my revenge. The fools who dared to judge me and who tried to kill me because of what they thought they know about me will pay. First the Paladins, then the rest. They have no idea what I have in store for them. Poor fools.” **And while I get my revenge I will also keep my promise and do what the Goddesses asked of me.** He turned his attention back to the crisalid before him. “Go back to the others. You know what to do.”

“Yes, my lord.” Yllyra left silently through another portal. As Shadow watched her leave the words of the prophecy sounded in his mind once again.

Darkness shall arise and engulf the land,
Sorrow and despair will fill the hearts,
Blood shall flow like a river,
And Death shall triumph above all…

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My first attempt at an original story. I hope it wasn't too bad.