Spark: A Prologue

Long, long ago, in the ancient times of the elves and dwarves, a kingdom was on the edge of collapse. It's only hope of staying alive was a band of 2,000 soldiers who escaped their kingdom's fate. This noble realm was called Adarisin , and It was once the most wealthy and powerful city in all the land. Even the higher most dwellings of the elves could not rival it. Adarisin was inhabited by men, strong, tall, and powerful fighters. They did have one weakness though, and that was blindness. Not literal blindness, but the inability to see the inevitable. The collapse of Adarisin was brought on by this weakness of men, and it all started, one day, with a wild man named Antilose.

Antilose was a thin, decrepit, gray-haired old man. One day, he came hobbling out of his run down hut, screaming a prophecy at passersby.

"They will come! THEY WILL COME I tell you! You cannot stop them! I will though! You will thank me! YOU WILL THANK ME!! But, then again, maybe it will be me. Maybe I will come. Will I? Do you think you can stop me? I think not!!!"

After almost half the kingdom heard him, he ran off into the dark and forbidden outside of the city walls.

Back up in the royal castle, a messenger told the king, Hekitae, of Antilose's rant. This was very concerning to Hekitae, as Antilose used to be one of his chief military advisors, and the king once trusted him greatly. Immediately, Hekitae ordered a contingent of soldiers to track down Antilose and bring him back to Adarisin. The soldiers went out, 50 of them, but never returned.

A few years later, at the age of 31, Hekitae married a beautiful lady named Justina. Their one and only son was named Hektor, in honor of the king. Hekitae then did what every king had done with their son. He took him for a reading.

In the hut of a fortuneteller, the fate of Adarisin's heir was spelled out. As the oracle placed her fingers against Hektor's forehead, she had a horrible vision.

"I see such violence, so many murders, in your son's history. I see...... I see...."

Suddenly, the oracle's eyes rolled into the back of her head. A terrifying shriek escaped her lips, and she crumpled. Hekitae was screaming and immediately pulled his infant son out of the hut. Never would the king fully recover from that terrifying ordeal.

20 years later, after returning from a military expedition, Hekitae found a package labeled "An Honorable Gift for An Honorable King" sitting on his throne. Delighted, he opened it up. Inside was a black and purple snake. In his mind, the snake whispered to the king:

"Remember me, your old buddy Antilsoe? After escaping into the dark forest, I allied myself with a black dragon. It taught me the secrets to casting fiendish spells and whipping up deadly potions. Finally, I learned the art of shape shifting. Now, I am the most powerful dark sorcerer in all of the land. Fear Me!"

At this, the Antilose lashed out at the king's throat, infecting him with venom. As Hekitae fell to the ground he bled profusely and died within ten minutes. Antilose stealthily slithered under the door and out of Adarisin.

Almost immediately after Hekitae was shockingly discovered dead in the castle throne room, the army assembled. As they were being briefed on what to do and who their possible enemies might be, a mysterious war horn bellowed outside the stone walls of Adarisin. Suddenly, an uncountable horde of creatures from the deepest depths of the dark forest surged at the gate. They were humanoid in form, but with some shocking differences. Some of them were tall with long, beefy, arms. Others were very short, not over 4 feet, but were moving at inhuman speed. Despite the differences among them, every beast had three things in common. Their teeth were long and curved, as were their claws. Their fingers were pointed to an extent that it appeared as if a knife blade were taped to each of their fingers. Finally, and most shockingly, rising above their jet-black a helmets were two devil horns, one on each side of their heads. The creatures' armor was no less spectacular. Black as a starless night, the full body suit of plate armor, combined with their solid helmet, hid all body parts except for the red, glowing eyes. The protection offered to the men of Adarisin could not have been more different. The plates on the torso one piece suit were arranged in a pattern, varying between the colors of red and gold. Their shields were pentagons of thick gold that provided maximum protection. On their heads, they wore crimson-red helmets with a deep gold plume of hair on top. Every kingdom of men around Adarisin shared the same armor, just with different colors. All of a sudden, Antilose's raspy voice boomed over all of Adarisin.

"Kingdom of Adarisin, bow to me. I have murdered your useless king, froze your army off guard, and caught you with your kingdom gate unlocked. Soon my forces will storm your villages. Do not fight back. My creatures, the wraiths, or, respectively, the doomwraiths and deathwraiths, have been trained to slaughter any resisters. From now on, consider yourselves unequal to me, mere ants under my boot. Anyone who thinks otherwise will be promptly executed. The inevitable has arrived, and you have failed to see it. Goodbye! "

Antilose charged his forces straight through the gates of Adarisin and straight up the cobblestone road, burning houses and randomly killing villagers in the path up to the castle. Inside, Hekitae's son, Hektor, ran into the throne room where the 3,000 soldiers were assembled, too frightened to fight. Hektor beckoned furiously at them. He was 20 now, and was the most skilled warrior in the entire kingdom. He ran at them, shouting:

"What are you doing, proud soldiers of Adarisin? What has happened to your courage and ferocity that has conquered us so many cities? Very well, if you are too cowardly to fight, then we must escape. Follow me, NOW!!"

From this moment on, every soldier respected Hektor as their new leader. Despite the order to flee, the fact that he had taken command in such an intense situation made up their minds about who should take command. They followed him, at a run, through the gardens at the back of the palace and up onto the wall. There, they climbed down the ladders that they had climbed up, and fled like the wind from the burning city that was once Adarisin.