Valcore - The Ancient's Rise

PROLOGUE

In a time long ago, before the ice had devoured our planet, before the great war took over the earth and the continents drifted apart, there was a land in the far east, the land of Véir.

One hundred million years before our time, it was the dawn of a new empire. The land had become a very dark place, full of cities and castles, fortified from hammered steel and molten rock, erected into the darkest and most exquisite cities imaginable. These were the dark ages.

Back then, the demon advocates had risen to power by corrupting the minds of all the last remaining humans and vampires that once ruled before them, they sought to kill and conquer all that existed. They filled the human's heads with lies and tortured them with their thoughts. It was a very dark time indeed. The advocates had begun to form alliances with the farthest corners of the earth, starting an act that in return would end the world as they know it and banish the good and the truth from Earth forever.

One night, as legend has it, a man, honorable in every way, was subject to this corruptness and viciously murdered by one of the dark vampires while trying to protect his wife and unborn son. He refused to back down or show fear, one tear escaped in the last moment of breath, falling upon the ashes of an old sacred oak tree, as it landed time was said to stop. A fire came from the sky and entered his body - as he was already changing into a vampire. As he rose a new species was born, a species of awareness, morality, and wisdom, matched with the utmost lethal precision. The order has stepped in. The new species were called Veiré, and this enraged the underworld leaders. For they knew the Veire bore witness to their corruption and would not allow it. The underworld sought out a plan to wipe out the entire world, including the Veiré, and for a time they succeeded. But history has always had a way of repeating itself. They're coming back, and they are now known as The Ancients.

CHAPTER ONE

There I was, blinded by overcast, flying effortlessly through a quiet midnight sky. I look down as the clouds open up, revealing a dark and wild ocean roaring beneath me, the moonlight reflects off the treacherous waves, crashing into what looks like an island of jagged cliffs ahead. As I move forward I could - one by one - make out hundreds of lit torches lining multiple passageways and bridges built into these cliffs. It was a fortress.

What is this place? is all I could think as I flew closer, waiting to find out more. I wasn't in control of what was happening, it was like I was being shown something, all I could do was watch as it unfolded, feeling everything that happened as it did. I did not want to be here at all, I felt helpless, but curiosity pulled me closer like gravity pulling an airborne rock back down to earth. I couldn't help it, I needed to know what happened next.

Finally, I was there, gliding up towards an ancient castle. I could see a cylinder shaped tower in the middle of it all. For some unknown reason, it held some sort of significance. As I glided up and over it, there was a platform on top, it had twelve gargoyle-like statues place around it in a circle - their hands held out, beckoning towards me – and a centerpiece, some kind of alter visible by some red ominous glow. The night air was crisp and the full moon was large but far, far away. There was a feeling of aloneness in this world I've found myself in.

I hovered there above the ancient castle, suspended in mid-air. Nothing could prepare me for what happened next. As I looked up, the feeling of complete aloneness was vigorously replaced with dozens of winged beasts slowly moving about the empty abyss above, their large leather like wings beating against the air around them. Suddenly, from somewhere under the island boomed a woman's voice,

"He is here, kill him." At that moment my heart dropped, and as the first beat of my quickened pulse sounded, every figure became aware of my presence. All at once they open they opened their mouths, revealing long white fangs and came straight for me. I want to do something but I can't. I can't breathe, I can't move, and as I think about even trying to scream I realize I have sharp teeth, just like them. Before I can even contemplate any further I fall out of the sky, plummeting towards the ground.