The Shadow Chronicles - Fallen Heroes Book 3 : Amadan the Crystal Keeper
All the lords of Antheria had been gathered to study a new crystal that had been found deep in the forbidden mines, Some did not like working in these mines since they where forbidden since ancient times..
Nobody knew the true reason, why the mines where forbidden and sealed…and to be fully honest, nobody realy cared why....
There was money to be made and that was all that they cared about now.
I am one of these Lords, my name is Amadan;
Lord Amadan Evermist Pryde
This is a little tale about what happened when a certain crystal was found in a hidden chamber deep in the forbidden mines, a large gemstone shaped like an eye.... Burning with magic...
Our sages and mystics told the council that the gem was evil or atleast that it had evil magic sealed deep within it, that something in there was just waiting to be released into this world...
Did the council listen? .... No, they did not care about what the sages nor mystic said or thought...
Some who kept on complaining about the gem suddenly vannished for ever, no trace was ever found on the scene of the crime on what had happened to these persons...if there even was a crime... nobody was sure..
Everyone suspected that the Emperor and his dark council to be behind it, those whom found proof however was soon silenced in one horrible way or another....
Those who followed the Imperial orders began to change as they used the powers of the gemstone, their voices became cold...empty and ... hollow...
It was like talking to the long dead...the Wraiths of the Fallen Plains that lies to the north east in my country... so full of hate, sorrow and lust for power...
Each and every lord was the master of a clan, the name of the clan was depending mostly on the country with they ruled in...Unless they where mountain clans... they had other names..and other rules...
I was the master of the Evermist clan since my country that was often shrouded in deep mists that came flowing down from the surrounding mountains, by my side rules Lady Jezamine "Evermist" Vhe'Jain..
She is astrange person blessed with the body of an angel and the burning red hair of the setting sun
She also has such a wonderfull temperament, she can go from happy to extremely mad in the blink of a second... and then you can probably guess who has to calm her down again once she has gotten upset over something... Yes thats right.. me...
Today is a special day in the Capitol City of Ifrengarde,
it was the day of the pledge...
All the lords from outlying countries come to pledge their loyalty to the High Emperor whom rules the lands with an Iron Fist...
Many wish to see him dead and some try to do more then wish... last year it was over two-hundred assasins that was cought in the Imperial Palace, but like my Father I have chosen to remain neutral and loyal to the Emperor...
Even though he is one of those hated Moc´Zhians...
I was summoned to the Imperial Palace on a normal day, not directly sunny but still warm for being early spring, the messenger was an unusual fellow he was carrying something that reminded me of a monks robe yet it was more like the ones found on Master Wizards..
All you could see was the hands and those horrible cold staring eyes, the mere summoning was an unusual matter since it was yet four days until the lords had to pledge their loyalty....
I turned to face the messenger again asked him a simple question.
“Pardon me Sir, but can you tell me why I am being summoned to the Palace, the day of the Pledge is not yet here...” gazing into the messengers eyes was like staring into a brick of ice, they where completely void of emotions...
Then we had his voice.... a horrible voice that sounded like it came from beyond the grave and I knew that it would give me nightmares for many days to come… “You are not supposed to ask...questions, you are merely supposed to obey the royal commands...” I could not wait to get him out of my mansion so I bowed and thanked him for his time thus showing it was time for him to leave... he just flashed me a wicked smile, took a step back into the shadows and vanished from sight...
I knew one thing for sure now, I never ever want to hear him speak again...and since I had been so nicely invited by the High Emperor I had no other choice then to see what he wanted...
The Great Road
((The Road to the castle is long and dangerus, bandits, raiders and worse things now lurk in the hills and forests near the road...but I do not need to fear them like many of the “normal” travelers do..for I am a warrior in Heart and Soul, and thus by doning dark armor and a common longsword I can ride down the road alone, mostly unchallanged by the foolish bandits and fiends of the roadside))
It was a dull and rainy day; the sky was grey due to the thick clouds and to think I was to ride upon such a day... I sighed and started to speak to my self like I always did ”Well such a Rainy day, I wonder what that old fool can want of me this time, I hope its some raid or to hunt bandits...and not...” more I never got to say before I heard a distant cry for help, I shook my head and swore a silent curse before making the horse run faster towards the direction of the scream...
This did not sound like the average every day cry...but was a bit strange...
It was like they are not used to screaming but get what they want anyways, like a noble… but what noble would ride out here on a day such as this?...
The scream seemed to come from beyond a few hills, hidden in one of the valleys…Now more then even I was curios on who it was that screamed this loud for Nobody that is normal in mind enter these hills on this sort of day, the fiends don’t like humans in their rituals and tend to create nasty traps all over the hills..
When I came close to the origin of the scream I felt a chill down my spine, something was not right here but I could not put my finger upon what it could be…
After a swift glance over what seemed like a minor battlefield from a war it seemed like a young lady and her escort was being attacked by strange knights, upon seeing me some of them started to drop the bows they was carrying and drew their swords….
Seemingly nothing is ever going to be easy for me...
The first knight that attacked moved much slower then I had expected, more like a ghoul then a fiend and that made me curios to what was realy going on here...The Ghouls never came this close to a major city unless they realy wanted to get some new flesh into their pack and even then they never ever used armor like this...
Dodging the few and sluggish blows was easy, seemed powerfull strikes but realy slow and easy to predict.... even a novice fighter would have seen all those openings.
With a few swift slashes on his sword I could easily find the opening I wanted, one he slashed down I swirled to the left and slashed my sword at the medium sized opening between the helmet and the chest plate, cutting its head clean off its shoulders....
This drew the attention of the remaining armored freaks...
They slowly advanced forward, spreading out and moving into diffrent directions... these seemed more trained in warfare then their first companion and the young lady had been completly forgotten in the heat of battle...
I tried to yell out in order to make them stop attacking, wasting life like this was never any fun and also a complete waste... "Lower your weapons and you will not be harmed, this I promise upon my honor as an Knight" the reply was more like a whisper then actualy spoken and the cold voice was so familar yet.... diffrent. "L...Lower weapons? S...Surrender? ....You.... must.... be... Jesting..." then there was to more time for talking as a new fallen knight had come close enough to be beheaded...
After seeing their second comrade fall one of the strange knights took out a crystal, muttered some strange words and they all faded from sight... as I inspected the body of the two knights I had slain I noticed that they had Imperial badges, yet the suit was clearly not Imperial....
Since I was late I had no other choice then to grab the badges, shove them into a bag and mount my steed again... The Emperor did not like to be kept waiting and maybe... Just maybe he could shed some light upon the badges of the Fallen...
<1>
The Lady did not seem all to happy over my apperance and even less about the fact that I was allready leaving, I could hear her scream in some odd language that I could not understand... nor did I have any intention of learning that language at the time either If I am to be fully honest, so I turned my mount around and started traveling back towards the capitol for the Emperor had to be told or there could be most dire fate awating all of us.
The Capitol City - Eastern Gate
The area around the gate was under an unusual heavy guard, the gate itself was even worse.
Local farmers running into the gate and city guard comming out of it was an unusual sight...
Not that there was not usualy guards going out on patrol but this many guards actualy guarding the gate itself and all those archers just waiting to get a sight of something they can shoot was not normal at all, there was signs of battle nearby and a few arrows were hopelessly stuck in the tree´s as if they had been fired in a hurry to guard something or someone from being attacked.
The question is, who would be dumb enough to attack the capitol?
I approached slowly as to not make any sudden moves, for if I did The archers would probably fill me with arrows and the guards would probably try to strike me down with their damn spears and halberds... even if I did survive all that they probably had Shadow Dancers around in the woods guarding the hidden scout paths.
When I finaly came close enough to draw attention from one of the scouts they all turned to face this newcommer that had showed up, armored and mounted I sure looked rather odd...
The first to speak was one of the guards "Hey you, yeah you on the mount...." he took a deep breath and waited as if I was to respond but since I did not and just looked down at him from my horse he continued... "Don´t give me that look damnit, who are you and what are you doing here?" Then it came to my understanding that the guards had not been told of that I was to meet the Emperor today, I did not like that one bit...
When I was about to reply one of the Local captains came walking trough the gate and barked out some orders to the guards and archers, shook his head and signaled me to approach....
"What are you doing here, Lord Evermist? Wait don´t answer that, I got enough trouble as it is... just be quiet and ride on trough..." The Captain did not look to happy so I figured out that there was no use going into an argument over something I did not and cared not to understand...
:: The Captiol City - Outer Parts ::
"The outer parts of the town was usualy the worst looking part, this was where most of the poor merchants, pesants and persons with more shady life lived...far away from the Emperor and his council...."
The town as as usual a complete mess, boxes, crates and large bags stored all over and merchants standing around peddling their goods to anyone who passed by showing the slightest intrest into their goods...
<2>
There was an unusual ammount of pesants were running all over trying to find heads from tails in this messed up town, hardly even those that lived here knew how to find anything else then their own house and new shops was discoverd and forgotten each day.... but I pretty much ignored those as they never spoke to someone of my status, it was against the law....
The paths to the castle was many, if you had the right connections and went down the right streets, for even the strongest castle have fake doors in the walls and sewers had secrets that few dared to challange even today....
Since riding is forbidden in the city I went to the closest stable and tossed a purse with coins in the lap of the stablekeeper awaking him from his sleep..
"Wha... who, Oh hello Sire, I will take good care of yer mount" he said still dizzy from being awoken from his slumber
I just nodded in a reply and tossed the reins of the horse over before dismounting and walking away with just my sword as company... for this was a behavior that was expected of a nobleman of my status in this city and If I did not... eyes would be turned upon me directly since I would be an outsider and stranger... the kind that never been specialy welcome in the capitol, never less on a day like this....my walk was disturbed by a low hissing voice...
"Hey.... Hey you, yeah I am talking to you Lord Evermist...." the voice came from a shaded alley that I passed on the way towards the court "T...This way....m...my.....m..master, wi...wish to meet you...."
The way he spoke, the way he moved in the shadow.... no doubt this was a member of the brotherhood, the true rulers of the captiol.... and his master could only be my older brother who not too long agao had taken over the brotherhood... Myravon "Magistrate" Pryde...
I took a quick glance around and ventured into the alley after brotherhood member to be taken to the Master of the shaded star and everyone knew that going against the will of the brotherhood was a bad idea, no matter what they wanted ... or from who they wanted it... they had just to ask....
::: The Brotherhood of The Twilight Star :::
"The Brotherhood is a band of Thiefs, Assassins and Nightbirds with together formed a secret haven in the old catacombs scatterd across the land... with their main headquarters secretly hidden in the biggest catacombs beneath the Capitol city & Castle....the name of the place was labores solis or eclipse of the sun"
<3>
I knew that the Emperor was waiting for me in the castle, and I knew that the orb would be there... yet I had to go...
Nobody knew the true reason, why the mines where forbidden and sealed…and to be fully honest, nobody realy cared why....
There was money to be made and that was all that they cared about now.
I am one of these Lords, my name is Amadan;
Lord Amadan Evermist Pryde
This is a little tale about what happened when a certain crystal was found in a hidden chamber deep in the forbidden mines, a large gemstone shaped like an eye.... Burning with magic...
Our sages and mystics told the council that the gem was evil or atleast that it had evil magic sealed deep within it, that something in there was just waiting to be released into this world...
Did the council listen? .... No, they did not care about what the sages nor mystic said or thought...
Some who kept on complaining about the gem suddenly vannished for ever, no trace was ever found on the scene of the crime on what had happened to these persons...if there even was a crime... nobody was sure..
Everyone suspected that the Emperor and his dark council to be behind it, those whom found proof however was soon silenced in one horrible way or another....
Those who followed the Imperial orders began to change as they used the powers of the gemstone, their voices became cold...empty and ... hollow...
It was like talking to the long dead...the Wraiths of the Fallen Plains that lies to the north east in my country... so full of hate, sorrow and lust for power...
Each and every lord was the master of a clan, the name of the clan was depending mostly on the country with they ruled in...Unless they where mountain clans... they had other names..and other rules...
I was the master of the Evermist clan since my country that was often shrouded in deep mists that came flowing down from the surrounding mountains, by my side rules Lady Jezamine "Evermist" Vhe'Jain..
She is astrange person blessed with the body of an angel and the burning red hair of the setting sun
She also has such a wonderfull temperament, she can go from happy to extremely mad in the blink of a second... and then you can probably guess who has to calm her down again once she has gotten upset over something... Yes thats right.. me...
Today is a special day in the Capitol City of Ifrengarde,
it was the day of the pledge...
All the lords from outlying countries come to pledge their loyalty to the High Emperor whom rules the lands with an Iron Fist...
Many wish to see him dead and some try to do more then wish... last year it was over two-hundred assasins that was cought in the Imperial Palace, but like my Father I have chosen to remain neutral and loyal to the Emperor...
Even though he is one of those hated Moc´Zhians...
I was summoned to the Imperial Palace on a normal day, not directly sunny but still warm for being early spring, the messenger was an unusual fellow he was carrying something that reminded me of a monks robe yet it was more like the ones found on Master Wizards..
All you could see was the hands and those horrible cold staring eyes, the mere summoning was an unusual matter since it was yet four days until the lords had to pledge their loyalty....
I turned to face the messenger again asked him a simple question.
“Pardon me Sir, but can you tell me why I am being summoned to the Palace, the day of the Pledge is not yet here...” gazing into the messengers eyes was like staring into a brick of ice, they where completely void of emotions...
Then we had his voice.... a horrible voice that sounded like it came from beyond the grave and I knew that it would give me nightmares for many days to come… “You are not supposed to ask...questions, you are merely supposed to obey the royal commands...” I could not wait to get him out of my mansion so I bowed and thanked him for his time thus showing it was time for him to leave... he just flashed me a wicked smile, took a step back into the shadows and vanished from sight...
I knew one thing for sure now, I never ever want to hear him speak again...and since I had been so nicely invited by the High Emperor I had no other choice then to see what he wanted...
The Great Road
((The Road to the castle is long and dangerus, bandits, raiders and worse things now lurk in the hills and forests near the road...but I do not need to fear them like many of the “normal” travelers do..for I am a warrior in Heart and Soul, and thus by doning dark armor and a common longsword I can ride down the road alone, mostly unchallanged by the foolish bandits and fiends of the roadside))
It was a dull and rainy day; the sky was grey due to the thick clouds and to think I was to ride upon such a day... I sighed and started to speak to my self like I always did ”Well such a Rainy day, I wonder what that old fool can want of me this time, I hope its some raid or to hunt bandits...and not...” more I never got to say before I heard a distant cry for help, I shook my head and swore a silent curse before making the horse run faster towards the direction of the scream...
This did not sound like the average every day cry...but was a bit strange...
It was like they are not used to screaming but get what they want anyways, like a noble… but what noble would ride out here on a day such as this?...
The scream seemed to come from beyond a few hills, hidden in one of the valleys…Now more then even I was curios on who it was that screamed this loud for Nobody that is normal in mind enter these hills on this sort of day, the fiends don’t like humans in their rituals and tend to create nasty traps all over the hills..
When I came close to the origin of the scream I felt a chill down my spine, something was not right here but I could not put my finger upon what it could be…
After a swift glance over what seemed like a minor battlefield from a war it seemed like a young lady and her escort was being attacked by strange knights, upon seeing me some of them started to drop the bows they was carrying and drew their swords….
Seemingly nothing is ever going to be easy for me...
The first knight that attacked moved much slower then I had expected, more like a ghoul then a fiend and that made me curios to what was realy going on here...The Ghouls never came this close to a major city unless they realy wanted to get some new flesh into their pack and even then they never ever used armor like this...
Dodging the few and sluggish blows was easy, seemed powerfull strikes but realy slow and easy to predict.... even a novice fighter would have seen all those openings.
With a few swift slashes on his sword I could easily find the opening I wanted, one he slashed down I swirled to the left and slashed my sword at the medium sized opening between the helmet and the chest plate, cutting its head clean off its shoulders....
This drew the attention of the remaining armored freaks...
They slowly advanced forward, spreading out and moving into diffrent directions... these seemed more trained in warfare then their first companion and the young lady had been completly forgotten in the heat of battle...
I tried to yell out in order to make them stop attacking, wasting life like this was never any fun and also a complete waste... "Lower your weapons and you will not be harmed, this I promise upon my honor as an Knight" the reply was more like a whisper then actualy spoken and the cold voice was so familar yet.... diffrent. "L...Lower weapons? S...Surrender? ....You.... must.... be... Jesting..." then there was to more time for talking as a new fallen knight had come close enough to be beheaded...
After seeing their second comrade fall one of the strange knights took out a crystal, muttered some strange words and they all faded from sight... as I inspected the body of the two knights I had slain I noticed that they had Imperial badges, yet the suit was clearly not Imperial....
Since I was late I had no other choice then to grab the badges, shove them into a bag and mount my steed again... The Emperor did not like to be kept waiting and maybe... Just maybe he could shed some light upon the badges of the Fallen...
<1>
The Lady did not seem all to happy over my apperance and even less about the fact that I was allready leaving, I could hear her scream in some odd language that I could not understand... nor did I have any intention of learning that language at the time either If I am to be fully honest, so I turned my mount around and started traveling back towards the capitol for the Emperor had to be told or there could be most dire fate awating all of us.
The Capitol City - Eastern Gate
The area around the gate was under an unusual heavy guard, the gate itself was even worse.
Local farmers running into the gate and city guard comming out of it was an unusual sight...
Not that there was not usualy guards going out on patrol but this many guards actualy guarding the gate itself and all those archers just waiting to get a sight of something they can shoot was not normal at all, there was signs of battle nearby and a few arrows were hopelessly stuck in the tree´s as if they had been fired in a hurry to guard something or someone from being attacked.
The question is, who would be dumb enough to attack the capitol?
I approached slowly as to not make any sudden moves, for if I did The archers would probably fill me with arrows and the guards would probably try to strike me down with their damn spears and halberds... even if I did survive all that they probably had Shadow Dancers around in the woods guarding the hidden scout paths.
When I finaly came close enough to draw attention from one of the scouts they all turned to face this newcommer that had showed up, armored and mounted I sure looked rather odd...
The first to speak was one of the guards "Hey you, yeah you on the mount...." he took a deep breath and waited as if I was to respond but since I did not and just looked down at him from my horse he continued... "Don´t give me that look damnit, who are you and what are you doing here?" Then it came to my understanding that the guards had not been told of that I was to meet the Emperor today, I did not like that one bit...
When I was about to reply one of the Local captains came walking trough the gate and barked out some orders to the guards and archers, shook his head and signaled me to approach....
"What are you doing here, Lord Evermist? Wait don´t answer that, I got enough trouble as it is... just be quiet and ride on trough..." The Captain did not look to happy so I figured out that there was no use going into an argument over something I did not and cared not to understand...
:: The Captiol City - Outer Parts ::
"The outer parts of the town was usualy the worst looking part, this was where most of the poor merchants, pesants and persons with more shady life lived...far away from the Emperor and his council...."
The town as as usual a complete mess, boxes, crates and large bags stored all over and merchants standing around peddling their goods to anyone who passed by showing the slightest intrest into their goods...
<2>
There was an unusual ammount of pesants were running all over trying to find heads from tails in this messed up town, hardly even those that lived here knew how to find anything else then their own house and new shops was discoverd and forgotten each day.... but I pretty much ignored those as they never spoke to someone of my status, it was against the law....
The paths to the castle was many, if you had the right connections and went down the right streets, for even the strongest castle have fake doors in the walls and sewers had secrets that few dared to challange even today....
Since riding is forbidden in the city I went to the closest stable and tossed a purse with coins in the lap of the stablekeeper awaking him from his sleep..
"Wha... who, Oh hello Sire, I will take good care of yer mount" he said still dizzy from being awoken from his slumber
I just nodded in a reply and tossed the reins of the horse over before dismounting and walking away with just my sword as company... for this was a behavior that was expected of a nobleman of my status in this city and If I did not... eyes would be turned upon me directly since I would be an outsider and stranger... the kind that never been specialy welcome in the capitol, never less on a day like this....my walk was disturbed by a low hissing voice...
"Hey.... Hey you, yeah I am talking to you Lord Evermist...." the voice came from a shaded alley that I passed on the way towards the court "T...This way....m...my.....m..master, wi...wish to meet you...."
The way he spoke, the way he moved in the shadow.... no doubt this was a member of the brotherhood, the true rulers of the captiol.... and his master could only be my older brother who not too long agao had taken over the brotherhood... Myravon "Magistrate" Pryde...
I took a quick glance around and ventured into the alley after brotherhood member to be taken to the Master of the shaded star and everyone knew that going against the will of the brotherhood was a bad idea, no matter what they wanted ... or from who they wanted it... they had just to ask....
::: The Brotherhood of The Twilight Star :::
"The Brotherhood is a band of Thiefs, Assassins and Nightbirds with together formed a secret haven in the old catacombs scatterd across the land... with their main headquarters secretly hidden in the biggest catacombs beneath the Capitol city & Castle....the name of the place was labores solis or eclipse of the sun"
<3>
I knew that the Emperor was waiting for me in the castle, and I knew that the orb would be there... yet I had to go...
posted by Myravon Z. Lamont at 1:58 PM
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