Prologue: Hidden Away
325 Eon II
A few miles from Whitebridge
-Kaliden-
Kaliden Valderen fixed his emerald eyes on his
son and then he moved his eyes to his wife who sat across him in the carriage;
she was cradling their daughter in her arms. As Kaliden continued to watch his
wife he could tell she was on the verge of tears. He didn’t blame her, he himself
was almost in tears himself but as a man he knew he had to keep his composure
for her sake. He wanted to tell her that everything was going to be alright but
giving up your children knowing that you may not see them again wasn’t
reassuring.
“Please don’t cry Ellira,” Kaliden said wiping
the tear from her eyes, “your father will find safe homes for our children.”
“I know but I wish
there was another way,” Ellira sobbed, “These are our only children.”
“We don’t have a choice Lukrius will kill them
if he finds them,” Kaliden said, “Do you want our children taken from us.”
“No I would not prefer
that.” She said, trying to hold back more tears.
Kaliden grew silent and so did Ellira; they
didn’t like to argue to often and that’s how they preferred to be. It was quiet
for the rest of the ride, the only sounds you could hear was the wind blowing
in the trees and the horses pulling the carriage down the forest road.
-Ellira-
Ellira turned away from Kaliden and gazed out
the window of the carriage. It was dark and the moon was full but her heart
felt empty, at least without her children but she knew keeping them in hiding
was a better fate than death. Her children wouldn’t know of her or Kaliden; she
hated that but knew it was for the best. Unfortunately after the events that
had transpire weeks ago, they had to be hidden.
A year ago Kaliden and his six older brothers
were trying to find away to get rid of the Marseyan Empire and their Emperor
Nyus Kaleiges III, who had taken over majority of Elsheran and was close to
taking the Waldren Isle from the royal house of Valderen . In their search,
they came across a book in their father’s library about a demonic gemstone
called the Blaqir Harjek. In the book
were details of its power and how it could crush an entire army. As they read
further they were informed on where to find it and so they set to retrieve the
jewel. Once they found it, they decided as a group decision that each of them
was to take a fragment for themselves and each brother took a fragment of the Blaqir Harjek and molded their
fragments to jewelry, a weapon, or their armor. Lukrius the oldest of the
brothers, decided to merge his fragment with his flesh. For several weeks the
brother trained and prepared themselves for battle until it was time to face
Nyus in one final battle. When the day came they had an army ready for the
battle. The battle was a blood bath but when the battle came to an end, Kaliden
and his brothers were the victors.
For the rest of that year all the brothers ruled
the kingdom together and for awhile all was good. In that year all the brothers,
except Lukrius had children. As the year came close to an end, new threats
arrive in their kingdom. Demonic entities had found their way into the mortal
world and were terrorizing the entire kingdom. All of the brothers took action
and quickly exterminated what demons they could but their kingdom was still in
trouble. Demons had multiplied their numbers. The brothers started an
expedition to annihilate the demons and manage to vanquish a few of them but
then something strange happened. For every demon Lukrius killed, he absorbed their
energy and become stronger. Eventually over time Lukrius became power hunger
and that was when Kaliden realized that the black heart was evil.
Kaliden warned the rest of his brothers of what
Lukrius had become. Some of his brothers didn’t believe him and began accusing
him of conspiring against Lukrius. However one thing led to another and before Kaliden
could save his brothers, Lukrius showed his true colors.
Since all the brothers had a fragment of the
black heart, Lukrius decide to have his brothers apprehended and brought to his
castle in Andavall so that he could deal with them personally. Once all the
brothers were detained it was clear how much trouble they were all in. One by
one Lukrius stripped them of their power, causing them to wither away and die.
On the other hand fate smiled on Kaliden that day for his bound hands were able
to slip through the rope that tied them.
When his hands were finally free, Kaliden
grabbed the sword that was in Lukrius’s sheath and plunged the blade in to the
right side Lukrius’s his chest. Filled with rage and anger, Lukrius pulled the
blade from his wound and heaved it at Kaliden. The blade missed Kaliden by an
inch. When the blade past him, Kaliden leaped out the castle window nearest to
him and landed in a pond outside.
From there he ran until he found the stables
and took a horse and fled to his estate in Grenan. When he arrived in Grenan,
he told Ellira everything that had transpired in the castle and that they were
to leave immediately. It was at Kaliden’s suggestion that they head to
Whitebridge to visit her father because he knew good people who would adopt
children into their homes.
Ellira wonder why Kaliden and his brothers even
began to think playing with demonic jewels was such a good idea to use for
winning a war, truly it did keep the Marseyans from gaining Waldreth and its
neighboring islands but at what cost. Things were falling apart fast and who
knows if any of her nieces or nephews were being hunted down already. Perhaps
her son and daughter were the last Valderens who would survive.
The sound of the baby in her arms crying broke
Ellira from her thoughts, outside she could hear the horses startled neighs and
then the carriage rattled to a violent stop followed by a thud sound. Before
she had chance to see if her husband had heard the noise, he was already out
the carriage….
-Kaliden-
Kaliden unsheathed his blade as he darted out
of the carriage and onto the dirt road; as he did so he found the carriage
driver’s dead body close to where he landed. The man’s throat was severed clean
and blood was oozing out of the cut. Suddenly he began to feel something go
past him and he was unable to tell what it was.
“What’s going on?” Ellira whispered, trying to
hold back panic.
“Ellira stay inside the carriage, it’s not safe
out here.” Kaliden commanded.
Swoosh! Something ran past Kaliden only this
time it hit him in the arm. Cruel laughter echoed through the forest as Kaliden
examined his arm, now bleeding from the damaging blow.
“What wrong Kaliden can’t see me coming for
you.” A voice cackled.
Kaliden readied his sword in a blocking stance,
while he scanned the forest for movement.
“Lukrius I know that’s you, face me like a man!”
Kaliden growled.
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