The Sorcerers King: The Crown of the Stag

prologue-Peace

The ground beneath our feet is trusting to some, but deceitful to others.

Long ago, long before the events on Kryden. Long before the dragons roamed the Cirosian sky. Long before the Autolians pathed the way for the future, chaos reigned. And among it the Creator; Agesphere. He was a being, known throughout the Ancient Atolian pantheon. before the Reckoning. His origin is unknown but his name echoes through history, taking many forms; Chaos, the observer, or the King of demise.

He waged a war against the evil wrath known as the Calla-Petiem. Agesphere couldn't fight them alone. So, he created four beings. Known as the Synestek's (Autolian for Emotion). Orvo, Phos, Eudad, Pafth; the embodiments of Anger, fear, happiness, and suffering.

In the wake of the fight. The five decided to start something new. Her name was Gorris. An experiment with their dominance, they created a new being. She seemed to have many layers to her. Her feet were an almost purple crystalline substance, around her ankles burned of molten iron, resting below a layer of magma going up to her shoulders, above that was stone up to the top of her neck. Her head was a mossy substance, and her hair was made from vines and covered in flowers and plant life. Soon after she was created her initial thought was to expand, she pushed herself out, and eventually turned into a spherical piece of rock with purple crystals in the core which would be a structure known as a planet.

The five had a prophecy about this planet, and that it would house the making of a creature that would be a great threat to Agesphere. Scared that that such a threat could also hurt them, the four of them attempted to kill Gorris. But Agesphere, despite knowing the reasoning behind this attack, wanted to see how such a thing could develop. And so, the original omnipotent destroyed the other four. Due to this, Agesphere noticed something on Gorris. Since their destruction, a collection of purple crystals seemed to have formed on the land of Gorris. Interested in the crystals now, Agesphere decided to make more planets, none of which were conscious like the original, but intrigued in the thought of the life they could create none the less. Eventually, over time. the future inhabitants of the source planet would get to know it named Ciros.

A pearly moon ascends over the dark deciduous trees of the Lespirit forest of Hikaylia, a second chasing soon behind it. The night surrounds Feyholder which sits in the distance in an eerie monstrosity. Its milky white stone bricks glow in the moonlight. The escalation of the raging towers and spires soaring from the palace and escalating over the large walls surrounding the area. Birds of all sorts, some of which had just woken up, seem stirred by movement within the wooded labyrinth of the forest. Bursting through the vegetation into the clearing that wakes towards the city, sprinting in a wave of despair. Corien makes his final sprint towards the torch bearing figure on horseback. Moving at a speed unknown to him. Adrenaline fuels every need to evacuate the forest. As it gets closer, the light illuminates Henry of Bayan tensing on his brown horse.

'What happened out there? I thought you'd be back by now' he pauses to stare at the sweaty elven hands which shake completely empty 'with a small hare at least'

'There wasn't anything out there' he pants leaning onto his muddy breaches.

'Fell of your horse?'

'Something like that yeah'

'So' Henry looks around the clearing 'where is the horse then?'

'Theres something in there. She got scared, threw me off and vanished'

Henry bursts into laughter as Corien nervously follows in suit. 'When I went to check it out i found her body on the floor. Head hollowed out' he adds as Henrys laughter falls.

'You are kidding? Did you see which savages did it?' tightening his grip on the string of his bow that slings across his chest.

'It's easy for you to say. You're a Lord, big house, name, title, and all. But I don't think that was any savage. What savage leaves the body?'

Henry falters at this thought, confused towards the details of the crime.

The two make eye contact before Coriens face freezes in pain. His golden eyes dilate. His pointed ears go a ghostly pale that leads the rest of his face to match. His shoulder length hair thickens and desaturates. As his breath appears to shorten taking one last gasp before falling to the floor. Henry pauses in shock before climbing off his horse to inspect the elf. Dead to the world. Henry looks in fear as a tear falls down his cheek. The two had only met a week ago but it felt like months. He looks up in a flash and sees a ghastly thin silhouette in the distance. Its gaze shoots, powerful and overwhelming. Climbing onto his horse and galloping towards the city behind him, Henry rides unknowing what to do. Before his horse falls to the ground unresponsive. Panicked and bearing a bruise on his left knee. he limps as fast as he can.

bow in hand and three arrows left in his quiver. Brown eyes widened. Heart beating. Legs seeming to be on autopilot, using adrenaline to mask the pain temporarily. as he aims for the Capitol. After a fair minute of running unceasingly, he notices a silhouette of something in his line of direction the unsightly gaze threatens. He stops in fear, knowing this is his demise. He raises his bow and pulls back one of the three remaining arrows, pointing it towards the figure. A footstep. A breath. The hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He lowers the weapon and turns...