Sins of War

8/6/2019 Sins of War

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/sins-of-war 1/14

The balance of the world has been disturbed, you can hear it inthe wind, you can feel it in the earth, you can see it in the water, and youcan sense it in the fire.

When greed causes one nation to invade another there newwealth and land will just provoke others to commit the same sin.

Long time ago when the Dragons were the supreme rulers of thesky and Unicorns still walked the earth there was a war between two greatcivilizations: the civilization of light ruled by Ra the Good of Sun and the

civilization of darkness ruled by Bane the Good of Death. These twoempires once together were now fighting each other in a war fuelled bygreed, hate and insanity. The battles have kept on for generations untileventually Ra droved Bane in his army into the deeps and sealed him andhis armies inside forever.

The battle was won but the war was lost. The conflict left theempire in ruins: the cities were crumbled the farms were burn and slowlythe entire civilization has fallen, but the gap left behind needed to be filled.

This was the chance for young races to raise to power and toreplace the fallen civilization. Elves were the first ones to rise, quickly

followed by humans, dwarfs, orcs, and druids. First they came in hundredsbut soon they were thousands and eventually they were millions. On theruins of the ancient cities they build new ones and with the knowledge leftburied in the old walls they soon learned the ways of magic.

By the year 993 the Circle of Summoning was formed. It wasruled by great wizards and alchemists of all races united under Neo, thefather of summoning. This circle was supposed to bring prosperity andwealth to the world but instead it only brought misery and death.

In his race for knowledge and power Neo broke the laws of summoning and on the cliffs of the Sundered Island he and his followers

attempted to summon a powerful demon lord. The spell backfired and theworld was wracked by earthquakes, tidal waves and monstrous storms, theblast took the life of Neo and his follower’s and created an area of chaoticmagic witch gave birth to the Undead and brought demons into the world.

Far away from the problems of the world in the high planes of theMisty Mountains in one rainy night a pour soul was fighting with the stormtrying to find a shelter for the night. After many hours lost trying to find aplace to hide it has given all it’s hope to survive the night but there wasone thing that gave it strength so that her efforts won’t be in vain as shewas carrying in it’s hands a small creature that it needed her help.

Suddenly in the darkens in front of her she saw a small light in the darkand with her last straights she made a huge effort to get there and finally

1



put an end to this nightmare. She arrived at a shepherd’s house calledSirus, knocked at the door but no one seemed to live there, nobody wascoming to open the door. She lost all her hope that she will ever be savedbut then someone opened a window, looked outside and saw her. Hequickly came to the door and let her in seeing her clothes all wheat he puther in a bed a started taking her clothes off but it stopped at somethingthat looked like a package covered in animal fur to keep it away fromwater. He opened it and for it was amazed to find inside it a newborn childthat was sleeping. Then the women opened her eyes and with a terrifiedvoice it said to him.

“Please, take care of my boy; he is everything I have left.”“You shouldn’t speak!”“I might not make it until tomorrow so please promise me you will

take care of him.”“I promise I will take care of bout of you, I won’t let you die.”“There is little you can do; I can fell my strengths leavening me,

give this to Dante, it is the seal of my family. I want him to be able to

identify himself when he grows older and not forgot who he is. I must restnow, I’m very tired.”And in the front of the man’s eyes the woman gave her final

breath. The storm continued all night until the morning when it has finally

stopped. Sirus made the funerary for the woman the Nexxt day. Only him,the boy and the priest were there.

He took care of the boy like it was his own child and in later yearshe grow up, with the man he thought to be his father. The boy became agood shepherd and soon his father decided that he was old enough to

leave the mountains and go to look for a better life within the city.One day Sirus’s friend came for a visit. Dante was coming from

the river with water when they met.“Nagyrus! I thought you won’t come this week, you haven’t come

the last one!”“Oh Dante, I’m sorry that I couldn’t come, I’m getting to old to

come here so often. If I were younger I would come here every day to seeyou.”

“Anyway, Sirus wants to see you. He says that it’s an importantthing and needs your help!”

“I wonder what is on his mind this time.”“I bet it’s something silly again.”“I wouldn’t be so sure! Sometimes he has some amazing ideas!”After talking to Dante, Nagyrus went to Sirus to speak to him in

private in the house.“Well Sirus Dante told me you wanted to speak with me!”“Oh, yes! Just wait a minute.” and he went closing the doors and

windows.“There is an important thing and I need your help. I was thinking

to move with Sirus to the city.”

“You mean leave?! Why?! ”

2



“I want to send Dante to school so he can become somethingmore than just a shepherd!”

“But why he is happy here?!”“Yes but he can’t be a shepherd for the rest of his, in the town he

has more opportunities.”“And why do you need my help?”“I need you to find me someone to buy my seeps.”“All of them!”“Yes, I need money to buy a house and clothes for the boy and I

also need money to send him to school.”“When are you planning to leave?”“As son as I can.”“I know someone who might be interested in buying some of your

sheep’s. I will send him here Nexxt week.”“Good then it’s settled we would be leavening at the end of the

month.”“I see that you are really decided to leave! Is there any way I can

convince you to stay?”“No, I’m afraid not.”“It’s all for the better I guess, then all I can do is say goodbye.”

The Nexxt week Nagyrus came along with two men. They wentinside the house so that Dante couldn’t hear them.

“Good day Sirus, I understand you have some sheep for sale.”“Indeed, I have 150 sheep and I want to sell them all for 22 000

silver coins.”“Well we want to buy all of them for let’s say 16 000 coins.”“No that’s not enough, I need at least 20 000 coins.”

“18 000 coins?”“I can’t accept less than 20 000 coins”“Fine 20 000 coins, its settled then here is your money.”“Now all he had to do is to tell Dante that they will be leaving and

hope that he will understand.”By the time Dante returned from the forest with berries all the

sheep were taken and he was stun to see that all the sheep were missing.He ran as fast as he can inside where Sirus was waiting for him.

“Father all the sheep are gone!”“Yes, Dante I’ve sold them all.”

“Sold?! But what will we do without them?”“We wont need them we will leave the mountains tomorrow.”“We can’t leave the mountain, where will we go?”“The world is big Dante, and you have the whole life in front of

you and you deserve the chance to choose your own road in life and herethis road is closed for you. I decided that it’s better for you to move to thecity where you can do anything you want with your life. Even if you can’tunderstand entirely why we have to leave one day you will understand thatit’s for your own good.”

As hard as the news was for him Dante understood that it was

something that needed to be done and accepted the situation.“I don’t want to leave Nagyrus, can he come with us?”

3



“I’m afraid not, Nagyrus can’t come with us but we might visithim one day. It’s getting late go to sleep now tomorrow we’ll be leaving.”

The Nexxt day Nagyrus came to see Dante one more time and tosay goodbye. It was hard for all to depart as they knew they wont see eachother again, eve Dante felt inside that this was the last time he will returnhere.

And so after two days of walking Sirus and Dante arrived at thenearest city. When they got there Dante was amazed of what stood in frontof his eyes: a big wall of light in the middle of the small city.

“From this portal we will be teleported directly to Ur-Alas the cityof Knights. I’m sure you will like the slide it’s said that inside you can see themost beautiful spectrums of lights.”

“I’ve never seen such a thing how does it work?”“Well I don’t know much of these magic gates but they were

somehow made by another race that lived log time ago before our racecame here and we just found them. At first nobody knew what they were butwe soon discovered how to use them and how to build others but I don’t

know more about them. With this one our journey will be 12 days shorterand safer.”“What’s on the other side, father?”“Well don’t get too exited you will find out soon.”Sirus left Dante starring in front of the gate while he went to buy

tickets to Ur-Atlas, but Dante couldn’t stand still in front of the gate sotaking advantage of his small height he evaded the guardian’s eyes andcame so close to the gate that he could see on the other side of the gate thecity of Balelonya. Suddenly as he was watching the view changed andanother city appeared and so one, but a small part of the gate turned red in

front of his face and his family seal witch he kept on his neck startedglowing and two terrifying eyes appeared staring at him without blinking andhe started hearing a strange voice, it was like the voice was coming from hishead.

“Come to me child, your destiny awaits, come to us and claimyour heritage!”

The voice was weakening him more and more, draining hisstrength and he felt like something was dragging him inside the gate whilethe eyes keep starring at him and hypnotizing him. Them when he almostpassed out and fell into the gate someone grab his clothes and dragged him

away, it was one of the guardians.“What are you doing here?! You are not allowed near the gate

without tickets now get out of here before I amend you!”Dante couldn’t hear what the guardian told him he was to dizzy

but he figured out that its better to go as far as he could from the gate.Frighten and alone he ran to from the world and hide between two piles of barrels full of whine.

In the mean time Sirus has finished buying tickets but when hereturned he realized that Dante was missing. Desperate he startedsearching for him everywhere and asking everyone if they saw him but

nobody seemed to be interested in helping him. Finally when he almost gaveup someone called his name.

4



“Sirus is there anyone named Sirus here?”“Yes I am!”“Is this your child?”And from behind the man a small silhouette came running to him.“Father I was so scared I thought I will never find you!”“I thought I told you to stay in place so I can find you!”“Yes, but I got scared by the…and I ran to hide.”“Newer mind, don’t’ do that again, Nexxt time just stay where I

tell you. Thank you stranger for helping me find him I almost gave up.”“It is my duty as a knight to assist those in need.”“So you are a knight?!”“Yes, I am knight Hedrick from the Guild of the Guavix Knights.”“It is an honor to meet you brave warrior I will always be thankful

to you.”“There’s no need for thanks this is my duty and I expect nothing

in return. I feel that our paths will cross again one day until then farewell.”“Common Dante we must hurry we are late. We must get to the

gate quick of we might loose the slide.” They arrived in time and they didn’t have to wait at the lineeither. The slide was short but Dante was amazed by the view between thegates.

“Wow! That was amazing let’s do it again!”“I’m sorry but we cannot go back. We had tickets just to pass

once.”Dante seemed was so distracted by the gate that he didn’t saw

what was behind him.“Dante have you took a look at what it’s on the other side?”

He quickly turned around he was stoned by what he saw: the citywas surrounded by a huge ancient wall and in the middle of it there was agiant tower that seemed to touch the sky.

“This is Ur-Atlas, the fortress city. It is the most fortified city inthe Empire and even the word. Its huge wall makes it invincible to anyattack. Nobody has ever dared conquer it.”

“It’s magnificent!”“Yes but it’s is too crowded because many people want to live

here because they know they are safe behind the great wall so a new winghas been build, with a smaller wall of course but less crowded. Tomorrow we

will buy a house there; but today we will rent a room now let’s getsomething to eat.”

They went to an inn to eat and sleep and the Nexxt day theywent to buy a house. They bought a small house near the edge. It was a nicehouse with two rooms and a kitchen with a chimney. Soon after they movedin Dante was send to school to learn and Sirus found a job at a stable, butthings were not all going so well. Right from the first day he went to schoolkids have started bugging him, nobody wanted to play with him andsometimes they even played jokes on him all because he was the son of ashepherd. He couldn’t understand why they were doing this, he saw no

difference between him and them.

5



One day while he was going to school Dante saw a gang of gypsies stealing from the stands across the road and pushing peoplearound. Nobody tried to stop them, everyone seamed afraid of them, butfrom the crowd an old man with a royal cape stepped against them.

“Stop right there rowdies. Leave the market now and you won’tget hurt!”

“You tell us to leave?! You don’t know who you’re messing with.Let’s teach him a lesson!”

The old man draw out a big and shiny sword engraved with royalmarks.

“He’s a Knight! Beating him is going to be a great pleasure.” The man wasn’t intimidated by them. With only a few punches,

some kicks and a few hits with his sword’s handle he put them on the run. The boy was impressed by him and he decided he wanted to become likehim one day so he followed him.

“Sir, can I ask you something?”“What do you want boy, I don’t have all day to chat with you!”

“Can you teach me how to fight like you?”“Ha! Ha!... Fighting is not a game boy it’s dangerous and not forkids like you.”

“Please sir I’m sure I can learn, just make me your apprenticeplease give me a chance?”

“Well, I suppose I should give you a test to see if you have what ittakes to become a knight. Follow me.”

The boy very exited followed the man to his house not far fromwhere they talked. The man lived in a two floors house built near a tall wall;in front of the house there was another tall building creating a small court.

The man went to his pile of swords and took a short one fit for the boy.“Here take this sword. Now your job is to attack that dummy over

there. Think he is a real man and you have to kill him.”“That is all I have to do?! This will be easy!”He charged towards the dummy and hit his arm but it rolled in

circle and the other hand hit him from the back and he felled down.“See now it’s not easy to become a knight. You can’t even beat

this training dummy. Ha! Ha!..” The boy got mad and he decided to try again. From the ground

he jumped up and cut the dummy’s head with one blow and then with one

kick he sends the dummy into the wall.“How about now? Is this good enough?”

The man couldn’t believe what he just saw, the boy finished off the pour dummy.

“Well I’m impressed. I wasn’t so impressed for years.”“So you acquire me as you student?”“I definitely do, from tomorrow we shall start your training!”“Why not today?”“First I shall be the one asking questions here, and second you

come tomorrow here after school no training for today!”

“All wright I guess, but what is your name?”“It is Arthur, and yours?”

6



“My name is Dante...”And so, Arthur decided to train Dante. Training was hard but

Dante proved to be very skilled, each day his technique became better andbetter until one day Arthur decided he was ready for the Nexxt step.

“Well done! You have proven to the most talented student I haveever seen. At such a young age you master the sword just like a knight andnow I have something new to teach you about wielding a sword. Common Iwant to give you something.”

The man took the old key he always kept on his neck and openedo big trunk. He took a shining sword with a blue blazing gem.

“This is Armablon, a sword of power! All swords of power havelimitations but one such as this in the right hands can win a battle, even awar. To learn how to use its powers takes decades but I think you shall be abit faster. Take it it’s yours now; I expect you will become a better knightthat I was. Come tomorrow and I’ll teach you how to use this sword!”

Dante soon discovered that using a sword of power is moredifficult than it looked. It took him days just to summon a fraction of the

swords power and even more to use it in a strike, sometimes the energyblew in his face or passed through his body causing him great pain.One day they went outside the city on a tall hill covered with big

rocks.“Very well, now that you know how to use the swords basic

attack I will show you how to cast a spell!”“You mean like magic?!”“Yes! Real magic! Now it gets very hard, it’s not just about

waving you sword and saying magic words; you have to summon the powerof the sword and then perfectly control it otherwise you might get hurt, you

must be very careful not to summon more than you can handle.”“I’ll keep that in mind!”“Now move the sword like this and say “Sferus Foculus Nobilis”

then spin and send all you energy at that rock.” The first attempts were in vain but after many other he

eventually started creating small balls of fire, until one attempt: the seal onhis chest started glowing, and then he summoned a fire-ball so strong thathe blew up a three meter rock. Pieces of rocks were falling from the sky andwould have hit him if there wasn’t for Arthur to save him. He took the swordand started casting more fire-balls to blow the rocks into smaller ones but

couldn’t stop them all and one hit Dante in the head and he lost hisconscience. When the man looked at him he saw the seal covered in a redglow. He touched it and right away he found himself falling into nothingnessand all he could see were two eyes telling him:

“Join us… or fall by us, we... will fill your world with graves and allshall… perish! You have no choice… bring the boy to us… and you little lifewill be… spared!”

The man suddenly woke up and saw that the boy was stillsleeping, he was wandering if a rock didn’t hit him as well he just imaginedall, he quickly looked at his seal but it looked as normal as ever. He woke up

Dante and immediately started asking him questions about his seal.“What is this seal you always wear?”

7



“It’s the seal of my family my father gave it to me.”“It looks like the seal of an important family. Would you mind

letting me study it?”“I’m sorry but I’m not giving it to you or anyone else.”“Then can I make an imprint of the seal?”“Sure, I don’t mind that.”From soft clay he made a mould of the seal and then from plaster

he made a copy of it. He started spending his time at the library looking forany information that could help him translate the text from the back of theseal but with no success. Meanwhile the nightmares with the two eyestelling him to bring the boy came more and more often and more and moreterrifying. Eventually he decided that in order to translate the text heneeded help from someone more qualified. He took the first slide to Silver-light, the capital of men. There were the most important and wise leaders of men, each leading one organization: the White Council, the Stronghold of Royal Knights and the Throne.

With a copy of the seal and a lot of confidence he first went to the

Council but he couldn’t find much support so he tried to speak with the kingbut nobody would even let him enter the main palace. Disappointed by thefact he couldn’t find anything he went back to Ur-Atlas. On his way back heportal he stumbled into an old friend who still worked at the White Council.

“I can’t believe it! Is that really you?”“Yes my friend, time wasn’t kind with me.”“Sure wasn’t! You look like 200 years old.”“I appreciate your honesty. So what brings you to Silver-light?!”“I came to see the archives; I want to study a strange seal.”“What kind of seal?”

He takes out the copy from his pocket.“I see what you mean…these texts look very old, only the

archives from the Light Tower can help you. What a coincidence I was alsogoing to the tower; come let’s search together.”

The two searched the archive for days until they found an ancienttext with a similar writing.

“I think I found something useful, it’s a very old text with thesame writhing as the one on the seal, it even mentions about a seal. Luckilyit already translated, it says: Although we have locked them in the deeps of the world

some have managed to avoid our trap and even stole the seal. We manage to find their little

camp and surround them but just as we were about to attack they used their canon to send the seal over the Northern Mountain. The explosion was so big it killed them all and hurt a few

of our own, the seal was carrying a curse so that whoever finds and his bloodline the seal

first, he will be granted the power to open the gates of the hell and rule its army to glory. We

tried to cross the mountains and recover the seal but we were too weakened.. As I write these

words we are in the final moments of our age .”

“This means that the boy has the power…”“Who are you talking about?”“There is no time to waste...Umm, we must inform the king!”

They went at the first hours of the morning to speak to king

Soulien.

8



“What a surprise to see you Arthur, I never thought you will cometo see me. What brings you here?!”

“I’m afraid I bring terrible news. We have found an ancient scrollthat mentions of a terrifying army trapped in the deeps of the earth longtime ago, and that the seal to its gates was stolen and lost but, it was alsocursed, whoever finds the seal he and those who inherit his blood will havethe power to open the gate. I have found what could be the seal mentionedand also the one who carries the curse; I suggest we should act quickly andbring the boy here.”

“Let’s not act precipitate. Where is the boy?”“He is in Ur-Atlas...”“Arthur! You must go to Ur-Atlas and bring the boy here; does the

boy present any danger right now?“Yes the seal can offer him great destructive powers but he

doesn’t seem aware of them.”“I will send two squads with you in case anything happens. I will

summon the Council and acquaint the Elves and Dwarfs about this.”

Arthur went back to Dante to convince him to willingly come withhim.“Dante I need you to come with me to Silver-light. There are

some who wish to speak to you.”“When?!”“Wright now actually…”“I must first speak to my father.”“Don’t worry I sent someone to tell him of your unexpected

leave. I have everything arranged.”“Then I guess its all right…let’s go…”

Arthur was relived that the boy was willing to go with them; hefeared that if he was to be taken by force he might have caused greatdistress. In the meanwhile Soulien was briefing the Council and the envoysof Elves and Dwarfs about the great power that was threatening the world.Elves: “If this seal is such a great threat then we must eliminate itbefore it becomes a real danger.”Dwarf: “Why don’t we just smash it under dwarf axe?”Soulien: “I’m afraid we cannot know what forces the seal contains;breaking it might unleash an even more dangerous threat.”Elves: “I agree we must not act so reckless. Let’s start with what’s first;

Soulien where is the seal.”Soulien: “My men are already on the way here with it and its owner.”

Just as he spoke the doors opened Arthur and the boy came inand everyone was shocked to see that the boy was carrying a sword.Dwarfs: “How dare you, Soulien, let the boy come in here carrying aweapon?!”Elves: “We demand an explanation!”

Soulien looked confused at Arthur witch was just entering thehall. He felt the need to explain why he let the boy inside carrying a weapon.Arthur: “I see you all wondering why I let the boy in with his sword…he

wouldn’t let anyone take it from him and we didn’t want to displease him,

9



after all what harm can a boy actually cause? Besides a sword is not themost powerful weapon someone can carry…”

They all understood that he was trying to keep the boy happy andthat the sword was not the biggest reason for them to fear him.Soulien: “You must be Dante; all of us here join to talk with you. Tell uswhat the seal you always carry is?”Dante: “It’s the seal of my family. It is the only thing I have left from mymother.”Soulien: “It looks very impressive…have you ever wondered what magicalpowers it can contain?”Dante: “Actually I’ve always sensed it has a great power inside butnever could summon it as if it was hiding from the world …”Dwarfs: “Why don’t you try summoning it now?”Soulien: “Indeed why not try again?! Step into the circle of amplification itwill help you concentrate.”Elves: <whispering>“A very good idea to see what we are to face inthis controlled environment.”

Dante stepped into the circle, closed his eyes and once again twoterrifying eyes appeared in his face and whispered.“Well done our son, you brought to us the means to be free

again! Now repeat after us: With the fading of the light…we shall regain our might… and our chains shall turn to dust.”

Dante could not contempt with such terror and against his will hesaid the incantation, the entire room was filled with red light and from thefloor shadows rise and covered Dante, the Council’s mages quickly tried tostop the spell from being cast but they could only stop it from escaping theroom and that alone took all their skills and strength. It all ended as soon as

it started, the only difference was that Dante was missing.Dwarfs: “What short of sorcery was that?!”Elves: “I’m afraid I know the answer all to well…”Arthur: “What is it?!”Elves: “For millennia my kind has fought with this threat, I have nodoubt, it’s the power of the Nexx.”Dwarfs: “If you knew it al along why didn’t u said anything you darnelf?!”Elves: “I’ve never suspected it, we have vanquished this evil centuriesago.”

Soulien: “It seems pretty real to me and still pretty strong as well.”Arthur: “Where is the boy? What happened to him?”The Arch Mage: “The boy has been teleported from here, nobody can tellwhere, a shadow so dark blocks our vision that not even the eyes of theelves can see through it.”Elves: “Perhaps the ancient text you found might give us a clue.”Soulien: “Of course! We haven’t translated the entire text; it might tell uswhere this army is hidden I’m sure the boy was taken there!”Dwarfs: “Only one problem with this plan…the army is trapped in thedeeps of the earth! How will we get inside and rescue the boy when we don’t

even know what foe we should expect to meet!”

10



Elves: “Indeed perhaps we can’t do anything to help the boy; it mighteven be too late as we speak, after all darkness does not waste time.”Soulien: “It seems the battle for the boy is lost before it started but wemust prepare ourselves, we might soon be facing a threat greater than anywe’ve seen so far.”

Dante woke falling into nothingness, screaming in agony,hopeless and always expecting to hit the ground; but after falling for sometime he’s fear disappeared and started to wonder if he isn’t dreaming. Thenhe stopped falling and in front of him two red eyes appeared again.

“No you are not dreaming, this is more than a little dream, it istime to you find out what your destiny is.”

The darkness disappeared and he was in the forest, in anopening.

“Recognize anything?”“…my seal, what are they doing with it?”“Sending it away, so that THEY cannot seal shut the doors of our

prison.”

The landscape changed again, he was standing in a big crater.“There… in the middle, observe.”A young elf came and took the seal in his hands. It started

glowing so bright that the man was forced to cover his eyes. He wasbecoming more robust and stronger as the seal took over his mind. Hebegan hovering in the air, rocks started rising from the ground and melting,fusing in a violent alchemy to form armor and a sword worthy of a warlord.Now he was ready to rule the world…

The landscape changed again and he found himself in the middleof a battle.

“See the how under the power of the seal an empire is raising.Watch how the enemy is crushed under the lead of you ancestor.”

“My ancestor…?” The landscape changed and this time he was in the middle of a

siege.

11



“Arrrg…see how we were betrayed, defeated and now a grandkingdom has fallen apart. Look behind you, who do you see?”

“I see a woman with its child.”“Yes they are now forced to leave the castle, THEIR HOME, TO

HIDE.”Again the landscape changed; he was in the house he spend his

early years with his father, in that stormy night.“Look how your mother is forced to run from those who killed

your people and family.”“Mother…! Is that you?!”He tried to hold her but he couldn’t even touch her, he kept

calling her but she wouldn’t answer.“There’s no point child. Your mother is long gone, killed by the

actions our enemy.”“…this means Sirus isn’t my father…”“No…! He lied to you, they all lied, and they all wanted you dead

from the day you were born, you are the last of your bloodline, you are the

only one who escaped the slaughter all you have left now is the seal andrevenge. You must rebuild your empire, but for that you will need andarmy…”

The illusion disappeared and he was in front of a monolithic gate,50 meters tall.

“Open the gate and claim your heritage…”He approached the gate and tried to open it but couldn’t stir it,

the only way he could think of was the seal. He placed it into a hollow witchseemed specially made for it. While the gate was opening the light of thesun was fading fast and by the time the gate opened you could hardly see.

From the gate a gloom of red light came out and right after a flock of

12



Gargoyles, hell’s scouts. He was dragged inside into the black pith where hecouldn’t see a thing.

Back at the council panic began to spread and on the lips of everyone stood only one word: war.Dwarfs: “We will start grouping our forces and attack this new powerbefore it escalates.”Elves: “I suggest we should be very cautious and act together; thisforce is not to be taken lightly it almost destroyed our homeland, and Ibelieve that this time it will be even grimmer.Arthur: “What kind of atrocities is this Nexx capable of?”Elves: “Not even the foul orcs and goblins are as macabre or terrifyingas them! Their can drain the life of their foes to replenish their own loses ordrink the blood of their victims in order to gain more strength, they caninfluence your mind and actions; eventually taking over your will if you arestained by their corruption, they heal at the cover of darkness and theirsorcerers can even summon it on the battlefield…”Council: “Turn the day into night?!”

Elves: “Not quite, it’s more like casting a shadow upon the world; youcan still see the sun but only ass a huge fireball on the black sky, and theirlooks are just as scarring as a demon in a nightmare, they always seem tobe in some sort of a trance, when they go to battle it seems as if theirdancing as in some sort of ritual for their wicked masters, half present half dreaming god knows what twisted blood filled fantasy.”

After hearing how terrible and frightening the forces of Nexx wereand how delirious, bloodthirsty and cruel price of a few minutes everyone inthe room remained silent; even on the faces of the pompous dwarfs youcould read the feeling of insecurity and fear as what the elves said was moredisturbing than anything that the other races have ever lived to hear.Soulien: “From what you speak I suppose that they are a foe that doesn’thave the concept of negotiations, surrender or honor, only one thing in theirmind: conquest…”Council: “No, only blood for their dark gods who drain their powers fromthese rituals of death, mere puppets under the mist of darkness.”Elves: “What you speak is true wise Council, but their army consists of a variety of troops. The lowest ranked are the newly recruited ones and their

minds are in a state of pure dementia due to possession, they will attack anyof those who do not emanate the presence of the Nexx, their minds

13



wandering without target. Those who give in to the corruption are moreaware of themselves and of the world around them and show moreintelligence. On top o the hierarchy stands the generals, true believersdedicated to the ways of the Nexx they have great powers and abilities andfinally the leader, he holds all the powers of Nexxium and sends his servantsto battle.”Arthur: “And how did your people managed to defeat it?”Elves: “We used strike and run tactics. We attacked the leaders andthen without anyone left to control the mindless mob they simply gone madand became unorganized, no longer a fighting force, they usually ran awayand we chase them to death with our cavalry, but to reach the leader takesa lot of steel and blood.”

Meanwhile as the debate moved on not far away at the RecruitingCamp the future soldiers of men were giving their graduation test to enterthe ranks of the Archons. Their goal is to prove their abilities in front of theharden veterans of battle. To pass this test requires years of training evendecades, that unless, on rare occasions you prove to be very talented. This

year up to three young talents are trying to beat the odds and prove theyalready have what it takes to become the emperor’s finest soldiers: Aronmaster of the power-sword he wilds it like no other, Shura daughter of apowerful elven mage and a human mother her ability to cast spells isunmatched Niel the last survivor of a legendary tribe that could control thevoid and see through darkness or any deception, unique fighter able toleave our realm and summon forces from beyond it.

The recruitment supervisor was an old soldier not as harsh on thenew recruits as the other but just enough to show his authority.-shouting- “All wright recruits here’s what you have to do if you wish to

enter the army in the ranks of the Archons: the forest behind me representsthe testing ground, your team goal is to reach the top of that hill, fight thedefenders, claim it for your team and hold it for one hour, the team thatsucceeds will be selected as the new Archons of the Empire, if the soldiersconsider any of you worthy of the same honor you will go through a secondevaluation where you might still be selected. On your way you will be facingsoldiers as well as other teams but don’t worry they are not allowed to usefull force so you will stand a chance against them. Any questions?!... Good,begin!”

14

Documents

Sins of War