• Chapter One


    "Come on! Get Up!" I heard someone yell as I slowly opened my eyes to the sound of swords clashing all around me. "Are you ok?" I heard the same voice ask me, I looked up to see who it was that was talking to me but I could not see anything, my vision had become blurry. "Can you stand?" the voice asked me once again as I slowly tried to stand to my feet. I went to fall but the person who was talking to me quickly grabbed my arm helping me up. "Snap out of it kid!" the voice yelled at me once more as my vision began to get clearer. "I could make out the figure that was talking to me. It was a man, he looked like a general of Lord Drathera's army, the same army I was in. "Can you still wield a sword?" he asked me as he tried to hand me a sword. I reached out to take the hilt of the sword but my body felt numb. I managed to grab the hilt but it was to heavy, it felt as though it was weighing my body down. "It's to heavy." I managed to say as I tried to lift the sword up showing the man I could barely lift the sword. The man looked at me as I spoke before he looked at the sword he held in his hand. "Here take mine." he said as he took the sword from my hand replacing it with his own. I looked at the sword in, it was not a normal sword. As I griped the hilt of the sword I began to feel strange. I nodded it off when the man taped my shoulder. "Follow me." he said as he ran off in the direction where sounds of swords clashing came from. I quickly followed behind him, stopping when he stopped.

    We both stopped walking when we came to a ledge, I looked down to see countless of men fighting. "Are we going to help them?" I asked the man as my hand began to shake in fear. "No. Your going to come with me. My men are already in position, we must meet up with them as quick as we can." the man said as he took one last glance over the ledge before running off to his right. I followed behind him, as we ran I looked to my sides to see countless of men dead or buried under the rubble of the fallen city. I quickly looked away not wanting to see the countless of men who died to protect the city. "Were almost there." the man said as I looked up at him. When the man stoped running so did I. He slowly came up to a hole in a wall, he looked around before he entered through the hall, I followed him in. When we entered through the hole in the wall we came to a stop when the enemy stood in our way. I quickly griped the hilt of the sword. The man threw his hand in my way, I looked up at him to see a smile spread across his face. I looked from his face to the face of the enemy they to where all smiling. "General Darind." the enemy said as I looked away from the enemy back to Darind. "Darind?" I said to myself as I had heard that name before. Before I left the kingdom I heard a knight say something about him, he was a legendary general in Drathera's army. He had never lost a war, he was the greatest warrior in Drathera's army.

    "Taimon." Darind said as he walked over to the enemy. He shook his hand with the same smile still across his face. I was confused until Darind looked my way. "This is my men." he said as I was still confused, was Darind working for the enemy. "I don't understand why-" I was cut off by the knight Darind called Taimon. "Don't worry, were with Drathera's army. We took the armor of the enemy so we could get by more easily." he said with a smile across his face. A smile slowly appeared on my face as Taimon kept staring at me. "What's your name?" he asked me as the smile faded when he asked me the question. "Yes what is your name?" Darind said as he looked over my way asking the same question. "Alastair." I said as they all nodded their heads. "Well Alastair are you with us?" Taimon asked me as he held up his weapon. I slowly walked over to where he stood, touching my sword with his I smiled. "I'm with you." I said as he also smiled. "Lets go, we can't waiste anymore time." Darind said as he took off deeper into the tunnel. Taimon along with the rest of the knights followed. I quickly ran behind them all, I could see a light at the end of the tunnel, knowing it was a way out but I wanted to know where it lead to.

    As I came out of the hole in the wall, I looked around my surroundings. I was in Lord Kelran's castle. "What are we doing here?" I asked them as I kept looking around. "We are here to kill Kelran and end this war." Darind said as I stopped looking around, my eyes went wide. We were here to kill a lord, but not any lord the lord who ruled the city of Aquria. I opened my mouth to try to speak but nothing came out. "Lets go." Darind said in a quiet voice, he was trying to be silent, I snapped back into reality when Taimon tapped my shoulder. "Come on." he whispered to me as I slowly followed behind him. We walked up many stairs untill Darind threw his hand hand telling us all to stop. He peeked around the corner to see six men guarding the door that lead to the throne room. "There are six knights guarding the doors to the throne room." Darind said as he looked to us all. "Yes but there may be more inside the throne room." Taimon said as he along with the rest of the knights griped their swords tighter waiting for Darind's order. "Your right Taimon, well then be careful everyone." he said as he gave the knights the command to attack. The knights along with Darind, Taimon, and myself ran off towards the six guards. I watched as the knights, Taimon, and Darind faught the six guards. One of the guards ran at me, I swung the sword at the guards left shoulder. It came in contact, hitting the guards shoulder. As the sword hit his shoulder, the guard fell to his knees in pain. I looked down at the guard in fear as I rose my sword in the air, I looked into the eyes of the knight. I could see the fear in his eyes. I slowly lowered my sword, as I did the guard took his sword in his right hand. He went to to lunge his sword into my stomach, I knew I could not defend myself, I just closed my eyes and waited for the pain to come. I slowly opened my eyes to see the guard lying on the ground. I looked up to see Taimon standing infront of me. "This is a war, never lower your weapon. You can't show mercy to these men, they want show you none." he said as he helped me to my feet. "Do you understand?" he asked me as I simply nodded my head.

    I walked along side of Taimon to the doors of the throne room. "Get ready men!" Darind yelled as he stood infront of men, he looked away from the knights and to the door. "This is for Lord Drathera!" he yelled as he busted the door open. As we all ran inside, we all came to a stop. We looked around to see countless of knights surrounding us. I froze in fear as I looked around the room, my hand began to shake once more as I knew this would be my last moment alive. I looked over at Taimon and Darind, they both looked at me. I looked into their eyes, I saw in their eyes they had no plan. "I don't... I don't... I don't want to die." I whispered to myself as my hand kept shaking. I droped the sword as I slowly began to back away from the knights. I stopped when Darind stood begind him. "Coward." was all he said as I looked up, I looked into his eyes once again, I saw no fear. "I don't want to-" he cut me off as he punched me in the face. I feel to the ground, I spit out a little blood. I laid there staring at the ground not wanting to look into his eyes or the eyes of my comrades. Darind looked away from me, he looked back to the knights that now surrounded all around us. Darind closed his eyes, he took in a deep breath before charging at one side of the knights as did the rest of them along with Taimon. I watched them as they killed one knight after another, I was still frozen in fear. I looked away every time one of our own men died, my eyes shifted to the sound of Taimon's voice. My eyes went wide with horror when I saw a man in a strange blue and white armor lunge his sword in Taimon's chest. "Lord...Kelran..." I said to myself as he took his sword from Taimon's chest. He looked over at me, he slowly started to walk towards me till Darind stood in his way. I watched as the two began to fight, my eyes shifted back to Taimon's now lifeless body. It was then I acted, it was then the fear within me vanished.

    I quickly grabbed the sword Darind had given me, I jumped to my feet running at the knights. "Bastards!" I yelled as I sliced down one after another. My body then fell forward , I landed on my knees. I slowly reached for my stomach, Ilayed my hand on my stomach. When I took my hand off of my stomach I felt a warm, wet liquid. It was my blood, I fell to the ground, my vision began to become blurry as I looked around the room. I could make out two figures, I knew they were Darind and Kelran. "Darind..." I managed to say as I coughed up a little blood. I watched as one of the figures was stabbed in the chest, I could not make out who it was that was stabbed, I watched as the one that was now hurt fell to the ground. "Darind... no..." I said as I knew it was Darind that had fallen. My eyes began to grow heavy, my eyes began to close. "Alastair..." I heard my name as I slowly lost consciousness.