Shadow God, Day 1

He awoke.

Time passes not in the void, but stands still. A single day seems an eternity and eternity but a single day. As his essence floated through nothingness, he dismissed the memories and each one returned as a knife in his skull. He has no notion for such follies anymore. But Aberon, the City of Light, dwells in him and against him. He curses its very foundation.

The necromancers bow before him. All of them, wizards who forfeit life to serve him. A growl boils up from his depths. Slowly, he found it turning into a laughter. Genuine laughter. I have retuned!

“Come,” he uttered in a deep, unearthly voice, echoing as it travels forth from his mouth.

A skull lifts up, blackness shrouding its eye sockets. His grunt confirms the servant is the one he addresses.

The skeletal being approaches his throne and bows again before him.

“Are we in the Dor Valach?”

“Yes, my master” the necromancer answers slowly with a hiss. “We dwell underneath the city.”

“Ahhhhhh. And the demons?”

“No, my master. The Archons have imprisoned them since the time before.”

The fire and fury bursts throughout his body as he screams in agony. He lashes an arm and beheads the necromancer before him. He rises from the throne, towering above the masses, standing nearly ten feet tall.

“Prepare the war room,” he commands. “I will crush the Archons and their City of Light.”

Ellendra, Advisor to Llanovar, Day 1

Ellendra ran up the stairs with the note in her hands. She had read it ten times and still did not believe the message. But it carried the seal of King Roderick the human king. Llanovar must know. She wished her legs to carry her faster.

Gasping, she stopped before the door. She knocked and waited a second. Just as she was about to knock again, “Come” answered from the other side.

A long table with a red table cloth extended into the room. At the far end, the elven king reclined. He was old, white hair and a thin beard. His long body reclined in the royal chair, as if a hard day had past. Ellendra knew better.

The young elf woman strode across the room and bowed before the king.

“What is it, Ellendra?” he said in a quiet voice, not looking at her.

“My King, you have not eaten your meal again,” she said, more as statement than a question.

Llanovar waved absently in the air.

She pushed the bowl back toward him. “You must. You need your strength.”

“Strength for what? She’s gone. My Sarah.”

“Yes, she is. Your only daughter and child. It has been many seasons and she is gone.”

The elf king exhaled slowly and looked absently away.

“You must let her go. It was her choice to go into the goblin caves. No one returns. But you could not stop her.”

“I should have.”

Ellendra knelt beside the old man. “For what? She was of age and of heart. You know how stubborn she was. The will of the gods could not have stopped her.”

“My Sarah.”

Ellendra grabbed the king’s arm. “Wake up, my lord. A messenger from King Roderick arrived. He brought grave news.”

The king still looked away, refusing to see Ellendra.

“War is upon us. The Shadow God has returned.” Ellendra’s eyes grew wide with fear. “The evil one is upon us again.”

Llanovar’s head slowly turned toward her.

“Yes! The Shadow God will cast Ertia in darkness.” Ellendra stroked the side of head. “You remember, my king. You were there. The Shadow God is back.”

“No,” he mumbled.

“Yes.”

“No,” he said again and shook his head.

Ellendra stood up and grabbed his shoulders. “Wake! Your people are your children and they need you. Be a KING!”

Llanovar’s eyes focused in on Ellendra. He straightened. “Is it confirmed?”

Ellendra handed him a note. “With King Roderick’s seal.”

The old man read over the note and touched the the seal. “Send for Stevin. We must act.”

Ellendra smiled. “Yes, my king.”