The Shadows of Erisdar 1 of 3 [COMPLETE]

Introduction

Over four thousand years ago, advanced races of people existed. There were sorcerers and witches and wizards. Not only did these people have remarkable abilities, but some were born with additional gifts such as healing, foresight and telepathy. Many humans envied these people, calling them 'cursed ones' or 'devil's spawn', and often attacked them. But some didn't mind them and felt safe living among their societies, hidden behind the magical barriers created by the sorcerers.

They lived this way for hundreds of years until it became clear that a seer's vision of a great catastrophe striking earth was becoming a reality. Mere days before this Catastrophe was to strike, the sorcerers had completed the creation of a great portal to another world and they along with their human followers left their doomed world behind for a new world: Ardaman.

On the other side of the portal, they were greeted by the Council - the governing body of Ardaman that consisted of the wisest, strongest and purest of each race - who strangely knew of their arrival, and welcomed them into their world.

The animal and plant life on Ardaman was much more vast than on Earth, with many creatures that were considered mythical. There were other races on Ardaman as well: Shapeshifters (mainly wolf shifters), wielders, witches and the smaller fae folk that inhabit the woods and the waters.

As the decades went by the people from earth settled well and the entire of Ardaman was flourishing, however, among the humans that came through the portal were those that envied the sorcerers for their ability, and at the discovery of the shifters, who could shapeshift into various species, that envy grew tenfold.

These humans desired their ability so much that they enlisted the help of twisted and consumed sorcerers. They experimented with shifters, trying to unlock the secrets of shapeshifting, but they failed, because the ability to shift was due to completely different genes and a much more powerful mental capacity, just like with the sorcerers. But this did not stop them. They began to bind animals to humans. They eventually succeeded in using wolves and a powerful spell that allowed them to change forms, however, the shock of the bond and the loss of its body caused the wolf to take over the mind of the human, shifting and becoming savage. After a while, these people died horribly. It started to seem that they had greater success with children, for the mind adapted easily, but in the end, these too turned savage and died.

It wasn't until one of the test subjects, a woman, who did not die after turning savage gave birth to twins. It was soon realised that both the wolf used for the procedure was carrying cubs and the souls of two of the unborn cubs were bound to the woman's unborn boys. These children could shape-shift when they matured, their senses were heightened and they were stronger than humans, yet it seemed that there was still a savage touch to them. These children were the start of a new race. The humans adapted the procedure so that adults could be changed as well by reversing the ageing immensely before speeding it up again, and so, the werewolves were born.

Almost six decades after the creation of werewolves, the race had evolved and adapted. They hardly went savage and lived in organised packs similar to the shifters, the wolf soul within them needing the structure of their wild brethren. Yet, they still envied the shifters, for the shifters were bigger, stronger, faster and better, and they despised it. It wasn't long before the peace across Ardaman ended and the werewolves started hunting the shifters and many other powerful species down and killing them, and by the time the council realised what was happening, it was already too late. The royals that ruled Ardaman were no more and the council's members were almost completely replaced, so, the existence of shifters and many other mythical creatures faded into myth and legend.