An Elf Tale. The Age of Kurum

I. The Twin Cities

For over a thousand years, the elf city of Erundel was well-known in the rest of the world for its vast forests, its three stunning tall towers, which represented wisdom, peace and fellowship, their elder's knowledge in ancient healing and the hospitality of its people.

The elves were growing exponentially, the other races and realms were falling behind in technology, knowledge, economy and in population, but nonetheless, that situation was about to change.

50 miles north of Erundel stood the mighty fortress of Valni, its twin city. The three -tower fortress, in which the major part of the elvish army and the royal family had its place. The fortress was built in quarry stone by the elves' ancestors thousands of years before and it was all covered in thick layers of vines that hid what was a part of the history of their kin.  Each tower was so tall and well-protected that no dragon, wyvern or witch could even get close to them. Ah, dragons... we'll get to talk about those majestic creatures later on.

In Erundel's border territories was told to live a very powerful dark wizard who possessed the ability to turn every corpse or living thing into a loyal servant, what people called a necromancer. People claimed to have seen the necromancer wandering deep in the Mystic Forest, which is the place where every elvish ruler is crowned and blessed by the ancient gods. No one really believed the story of the necromancer told in the streets all over Erundel and Valni, as they were focusing all their strength and thoughts in a war with the neighbour city of Lagou, home of the Bolgun, a race of tall, red-headed ambitious people who are known for being treacherous with everyone after getting what they wanted.

The Bolgun tried to take over the twin cities with an army of 200,000 men armed with all kinds of spears, axes, maces and blades forged in platinum, their most beloved and precious treasure.

As the conflict went by, very few noticed the unnatural state of the Mystic Forest and no one would talk about it, because the army and the same people thought it made no sense and they would be called moony and preposterous, as they didn't have any real blatancy about it.

The necromancer was imprisoned in a magical cell by the archsage Saleh in the times of the first legion of the elvish armies. Saleh fought against the necromancer for seventy-seven days, till he had almost no energy left and had to sacrifice himself in order to save the world from the evil the necromancer emanated. He used the last drop of energy his staff had to lock him away in the magical prison the ancestors had created in the isle of Ebrum long time ago.

It didn't seem likely that the Necromancer had escaped from its magical prison, the wizards in charge were absolutely sure that the prison was unescapable, and that the necromancer was still there, weak, but everything seemed quite odd in the Mystic Forest and its surroundings, just as if someone or something had taken the life out of the trees and animals living there, as if the forest's soul had been ripped apart, it was truly decaying. Everything had turned grey, lone, and dark, just like it happened long ago, just like it happened when the dark wizard used to reign all over the undead from Erundel to Valni, from Krendhir to Asghul.

Meanwhile in Valni, every man in each side was concentrating in battle, it had been tough and exhausting for the Bolgun after losing half of their army in just 5 days and the elves' almost with no casualties, it was a victory already for the elvish army, but then something strange happened. A black, shadowy mist appeared on the horizon, above Erundel, as it was shrouding in a thick fog, not even the bravest soldiers could resist watching that astonishing moment, it felt like everyone had been paralyzed and forced to face Erundel, not even the Bolgun could resist such spectacle.

In Erundel the people were screaming, running, grabbing their bows and arrows, everything that could be used as a weapon, ready to fight a Bolgun ambush, a raid from the dwarves or an attack by the Khrall with their powerful dragons but no bolgun appeared, no axes were seen, no dragons to fear,  there was only cold, sadness and desperation. The fog was so thick that no one could see anything but darkness, a darkness that not even the elder people had seen before, so heavy that the great walls and gates of Erundel were cracking.