Chapter One

I
 


            In a normal time and a normal place the sun would be shining, the animals would be frolicking and the winds would be gentle and musical; but on this day, in the land of Akashia where a massive wall ended by two towers was built to protect the common lands from the outer realm, there was not such pleasantries for the prestigious Tower Guard. The wailing winds were slapping against the Guard’s flesh like a thick whip across shattered glass. The deep and dark gray clouds drowned out any comforting light that the Akashian people could’ve hoped for. Lighting bolts and wall shattering thunder rocked the Akashian Wall itself as if the elements were attempting its destruction. It was literally as if Erahhnus the storm God would come crashing down upon the earth at any point. 
            A frantic Mage Lord, scrambling with his feet and his long red robe, desperately searched for Lord Luther Vanguard the Captain of the Tower Guard. Soldiers were bouncing around the corridors, like kitchen dishes during an earthquake, fearful with the thought of an unknown enemy yet still trying to maintain their professionalism. The Akashian Wall was put on full alarm when a young scout returned without his peers, still holding the gaping wound over his stomach, crying hysterically of “flesh eating demons” charging in their direction in numbers of thousands. Shortly after his return the scout died but not before the Mage Lord was able to question him thoroughly. Ilam Iallyru, the Seer Mage Lord, had dreamt of this evil before. He knew of its origin and its strength; but most importantly he knew its foe was far greater then the Tower Guard. Wergle, Ilam’s Mole familiar that has accompanied him since he was a young Wyrm Mage, desperately clung to Ilam’s hood while the Mage Lord blasted through the Captain’s door leading to his study.
           Luther sprung to his feet with his specialized sword pulled from its sheathed; caught off guard while he was studying battle techniques from a distant land. “WHAT THE HELL IF THE MEANING OF THIS?”
            “My lord, I desperately need a moment of your time!” cried Ilam. Just as Luther was beginning to respond to the Mage Lord, Ellaren Wytharrona who happened to be Ilam’s Mage Knight, came running in right behind Ilam.
            “Sir, the enemy has arrived!”
            “Please come with me Captain!” pleaded Ilam. Luther returned his sword to its sheath and followed the Mage and his Mage Knight out into the chaos. Lieutenants were everywhere screaming at their men to man their posts and ready their arms. Young soldiers were dropping their weapons then just as quickly received a verbal lashing that would knock them back into gear. Luther quickly exited the western tower onto the highest walkway that connects the two towers and was taken back by the sight of his men at their posts with their bows drawn. Nothing could have taken from that moment; that is until the middle aged captain saw the enemy that approached them. Still miles away but approaching rather quickly Luther could see the sea of black and red approaching the Akashian Wall. The Captain’s stomach wasn’t turned by their numbers for he had seen such things before; instead it was the aura of dread that preceded their onslaught that swayed his fear. Something deep inside the Captain screamed for him to flee for his life even though he knew he couldn’t. A Tower Guard by no means ever flees during the heat of battle. “My lord, I have been dreaming of this enemy. They are an ancient race known as the Rashaki. Many moons ago, far before even our ancestors time, this race was designed as assassins for legendary foes of great magical proportions. Simple men such as us were never meant to battle such things, these creatures will annihilate anyone that stands in their way” explained Ilam as he rested both his hands upon the clear orb that topped his twisted wooden staff. Captain Vanguard brushed his fingers through his short dark brown beard as he contemplated the Mage Lord’s concern. His dark brown shoulder length hair began whipping behind him as the winds picked up; truly adding to the oncoming destruction. He looked back to the Mage Lord and could truly see fear building within this old man in a red robe standing before him. Ilam’s long white beard stopped just center of his chest hiding a medallion Luther subconsciously suspected to grant him “Seeing abilities”.
            “How can this enemy possibly overcome the wall? Its height alone is 500 yards high and then the width is another hundred yards thick of solid stone reinforced with iron bars. This wall has withstood Giants, it has withstood Trolls, and it has withstood entire armies of…” argued Luther just as Ilam put his hand to the Captain’s mouth.
            “These are no Giants or anything of the sort. These creatures haven’t been seen for thousands and thousands of years and only the Gods know why we’re seeing them again. All I know is the Mage Council must be warned for this barrier will not hold them for very long” explained Ilam.
            “Then we shall dispatch one of our fastest messengers to Yevin so the Mage Council may come and assist” plotted Luther.
            “No my lord, It must be you that carries this message! It is of too high of importance for any mere messenger boy to carry! The lives of every living soul depend on its safe arrival” panicked Ilam. The Captain paced momentarily contemplated this decision. It is commonly known that Tower Guards are trained to never retreat and never surrender; so to ask the Captain of the Tower Guard to leave right at the dawn of battle was truly frustrating at best.
            “Lieutenant Itharon!” Luther yelled for his most trusted Lieutenant. Sammaul Itharon was one of the most legendary Tower Guards that ever existed.  Born as a Night Elf of the Hawks Bane clan he has certain abilities similar to a hawk’s. It has even been rumored that certain Hawks Bane clansmen can completely shift into Hawk form. This particular Night Elf commonly used his Hawk eyesight ability most often which of course allowed him to see further then almost any of his fellow archers; making him one of the most lethal archers seen in history. The slender yet very well built Night Elf stood almost as tall as a full grown human and had a very dark royal purplish skin complexion. His eyes were as blue as a spring sky and even seemed to glow at times. His long grayish white hair hung down to approximately the middle of his back and was treasured by human women for its unmovable straightness. His primary weapon was his vas array of bows accompanied by their arrow counterparts. Sammaul typically kept at least five separate bows upon his back including his extreme distance bow known as the “mile marker”. Each bow was used for its distance capability whether that is long range or short range. His secondary weapon was a very slick Elvin blade similar to a human Katana that he kept on his side. Its handle was made of solid gold and crafted to look like snakes intertwining and swallowing the blade. Sammaul did not care much for extravagant armor other then the mithril that he wore under the black leather that he was commonly seen wearing. The legendary Night Elf looked to his Captain and swiftly approached him with his bow still at the ready.
            “How may I be of service my lord?” inquired Sammaul.
            “I need you to assume command in my absence. A dire message about the enemy that approaches must be delivered to the Mage Council and it has been brought to my attention that no mere message boy is capable of such a task; therefore I must take the message myself” ordered Luther with a sense of irritation behind his voice.
            “I will hold the wall in your stead Captain” proudly assured Sammaul. The Captain put his arm around his Lieutenant and walked him slightly away from the Mage Lord.
            “I’m not sure what kind of enemy we are dealing with here Sammaul but I do know it has Ilam shaking at the knees. Now granted he is a magick user and not a warrior like you or I but he seems to think that this enemy will take the Tower Guard. I don’t care how it has to be done but this wall must hold until I get back. I’m counting on you my friend” whispered Luther.
            “I will not let this foe or any other for that matter threaten the common lands…not as long as I still breathe free air” proudly pronounced Sammaul. Luther proudly patted him on the shoulder, shook his head in appreciation, and stepped off back towards the Mage Lord.
            “Lieutenant Hawklight! Corporal Dunhallow!” hollered Luther as he continued to approach Ilam. The two guards quickly found themselves standing in front of him ready to hear his command. “Prepare a travel bag and your weapons…we leave immediately for Yevin!” he ordered. The two guards looked at each other puzzlingly but quickly took off to do as their Captain commanded. Luther turned to face the Mage Lord and witnessed him what appeared to be him casting a spell upon himself. A glowing blue energy seemed to flow from Ilam’s forehead and was forming an orb within his hand. The orb seemed to glow brighter the more energy that was poured into it. The miniature stream flowing from Ilam’s forehead to the Orb in his hand finally ended as the Mage Lord looked up at the Captain.
            “This is the message you’ll take to the Council of the Seeing Stone. Remember my lord it’s very vital that the Mage Council gets this message” Ilam stressed to Luther.
            “I understand my friend. Rest easy knowing the message is in good hands.” Luther then stepped away from the Mage Lord and worked his way back into his study. Quickly he began to rummage through mounds of paper, books, quills, cloth and many other things that cluttered his working space. Luther was a magnificent warrior but also believed in order to maintain good leadership and mental prowess then one must continuously study. Many have joked with him before saying things such as “you study more then a Studenteer Captain.” Luther found no humor in being compared to a student mage but chose to not let such ignorance bother him so. Finally, after a few minutes search, Luther was able to scrounge up a few things into a travel bag for his small journey. Yevin, the Mage City, wasn’t always the easiest to venture to. The city itself was built upon a floating mountain that hovered high in the air circling the common lands. Depending on weather conditions and things alike it could be hard predicting where exactly the Mage City resided at the time. Then even when you found the city you had to be near a Cloud Strider to even get up to the city and not every city had such services. Luther figured he would just head due south and pick up a Cloud Strider in Volkash. That way he’s only traveling a day on foot and the rest, however long that will take, on the back of a Gryphon. Ready to leave he opened the door only to find his two comrades awaiting him with their travel bags ready on their shoulders.
            “Glad to see you two know the meaning of haste this evening” joked the Captain as he brushed by them. “We certainly have a long walk ahead of us.”
            “Where exactly are we going sir?” asked the deep voice of Corporal Rom Dunhallow. Rom was a Half-Orc that was rescued by the Tower Guard back when even the Captain was a youngling. After swearing his allegiance to the Tower Guard and the protection of the common lands he fought for years under the direct command of Lord Luther Vanguard; refusing to ever promote so that he could remain on the front lines. On the front lines he commanded nothing but fear with his massive frame towering over even the human men that fought next to him. His skin was greenish or brown like most of his less civilized kin but his human looking flesh did have a slight grayish tint to it. His eyes looked perfectly normal except for the iris which was a golden yellow with traces of red within it. Most of his hair was straight but was also rough and hard to work with. Most of the time he kept the hair on his head right at jaw length and by mid-morning he already had a beard forming again. He didn’t have protruding fangs like most other Half-Orcs but he did have a very powerful looking jaw and a slightly flatter nose then most Half-Orcs which gave him more of an Orc demeanor about him. Rom loved heavy armor and even heavier weapons since he was able to wield them with such ease. Even his favorite weapon was the commonly feared Orc double axe which was a very thick staff that had double sided axes ending either side of it. Rom would tell everyone he kept it because of his love for destruction but everyone knew it was closer to the Orcish pride that rested within his heart.
            “We’re going to Yevin my friend, the Mage City.” Rom scowled at hearing the word Mage and grumbled slightly knowing he was going to be surrounded by a lot of them.
            “Oh surely Rom Boy you can handle a few magick users.” Evelyn smiled her beautiful yet mischievous Elvin smile as she teased her Half-Orc friend. Her beautiful, slim and pale Elfish figure left her victims underestimating her abilities more often then not. Her long, black and silky hair fell perfectly down to the middle of her back which she kept in a single braid most of the time. Two beautifully crafted silver sabers were her primary choice of weapon as they hung from either side of her curvy waist. Like most of her kind she wore mithril under her clothing but Evelyn cared more for human armor for the exterior protection. Crafted for a woman from gleaming silver she wore her chain mail like a goddess over her pearl white ladies tunic. The exotic cloth came down to her knees where nothing else was worn other then her calf high leather boots. Though very appealing to the eye most of the time you saw none of this for she hid herself within a charcoal gray hooded cloak. The only pleasantries she’d normally leave out in the open for the eyes to behold was her simple Elvin headdress that spoke back to what it was to be a Elvin lady of the court. Before she left Lysthorana, the great city of the Elves, to join the Tower Guard she was the daughter of a high chancellor directly under the Elvin king himself.
            “Its one thing to be around a force you cannot control but it’s something completely different to be around those who know how to control it” growled Rom. The three companions finally exited the great wall and made their way south.
            “I want a watchful eye at all times…the roads cannot be trusted much anymore” warned their Captain as they pressed forward into the horizon. As the three companions began to disappear, the black and threatening enemy began to appear. The Mage Lord Ilam was preparing some spells so that he may delay the inevitable even longer while Sammaul was preparing his men.
            “I WANT EVERY BOW AT THE READY! THIS ENEMY WILL FEEL OUR FORCE BEFORE THEY EVER LAY ONE FINGER ON AKASHIAN STONE!” Every bowman on the high rise prepared their arrows and directed their aim towards the enemy just as their Lieutenant commanded. “LONG RANGE BOWMEN YOU MAY FIRE AT WILL! LET THE MIGHT OF THE TOWER GUARD RAIN UPON THEIR FLESH!” roared Sammaul as he prepared an arrow in his own custom long range bow. The bowmen let loose of their arrows as a multitude of strings vibrantly played their songs of death. Long minutes went by before the first targets were dropped with the initial array of piercing pain but this did not stop the bowmen from firing everything they had. Through previous battles the bowmen knew to fire as often as they could; for once the killing began the enemy would soon rush the wall and leave their shots useless. Everyone knew when the first one was killed for the past repeated itself with the sudden rush towards the wall. The enemy was now in full sprint towards the Tower Guard. Done with any need for militaristic organization, the black fiends abandoned their ranks and rushed with all their might towards their new found enemy. The closer the enemy came to the wall the more archers there were firing upon them. After a long assault upon their numbers, a few of the gruesome looking fiends finally reached the great heights of the Akashian Wall. The front line bowman began firing with all their might, trying to prevent the creatures from tampering with anything they could find. Unfortunately the fiends had no intentions on tampering.
            With some assistance from some of the other creatures, one of their own was able to reach the Tower Guard that was firing upon them within a single leap. One of the front line bowmen quickly dropped his bow and reached for his sword but was gravely too slow. The burnt flesh creature swung his powerful claws at the bowman, knocking his head clean off of his shoulders. The creature opened his, what appeared to be oozing, mouth and let released a high pitch wail that paralyzed the soldiers next to it. The men began to feel a sense of crippling fear as the creature lifted its powerful arms into the air only to be caught in the throat by a swift arrow.
            “THEY CAN JUMP!” announced Sammaul as he returned an arrow to his close range bow. “I WANT MEN AT THE READY WITH THEIR BLADES…THESE CREATURES WILL NOT BEST THE TOWER GUARD THAT EASILY!” One after the other the fiends tried scaling the wall only to find an assortment of arrows buried into their flesh. A few of the dark creatures managed to escape the painful death of the bowmen but were quickly met by men with swords and spears. Sammaul found himself distracted from shooting every black creature in sight when the Mage Lord Ilam was heard screaming in what seemed to be agonizing pain. Sammaul quickly had another resume his post as he attended to the Mage Lord. When he finally reached him, the old man was buckled over in pain and looked as if he was aging to death. His flesh was drying up and sinking into his body as if the muscles themselves were disintegrating.
            “There’s…a sha…shaman…amongst...them!” Ilam choked out. “He’s…more powerful…then I!” Just as Sammaul bent over to help his old friend, the Mage Lord’s chest crumbled open and a black river seemed to flow from out of him. Ilam let out an agonizing gasp for air as he fell to his death, crumbling upon the floor. Sammaul looked up to Ellaren, Ilam’s Mage Knight, for some sort of explanation. The Elf looked at him with great sorrow and bowed her head.
            “He tried mind melding with their leader in an attempt to confuse them. Which of course he did succeed; but only to allow the Shaman creature to curse his body. This enemy is a great one my lord…we’re all going to die!” cried the Elvin woman.
            “Not if I have something to say about it!” responded Sammaul.
            “LIEUTENANT!” hollered one of his men. Sammaul quickly turned only in time to see the massive fireballs flying through the air directly towards them. The men began to scramble as the balls of burning pain fell upon them. Some men tried to hold their ranks but only to be cast aside completely inflamed from the new attack. The momentary lapse of concentrated bowmen allowed numbers upon numbers of the creatures to reach the top completely untouched. Sammaul dropped his bow in time enough to remove his Elvin blade and open the stomach of a rushing attacker. The creatures were upon them now, slashing and pounding their way through the white and gold battle tabards of the Tower Guard. Sammaul, amongst wielding his sword to the bidding of death, heard a deep voice whispering through the air. His eyes quickly took to the sky as lightning bolts began smashing into the stone structure of the wall. Large chunks of stone and debris began to fall upon the ground, leaving gaping holes within the structure itself. Fear of defeat finally began to sink into Sammaul’s stomach as relentless lightning attacks upon the wall began breaking up what stood for generations before then.
            “GET OFF THE HIGH RISE! GET INTO THE TOWERS!” ordered Sammaul. The men began to scramble and dodge their way into either tower. The creatures followed in pursuit as the floor under them began to give way through cracks and deep holes. Sammaul fought outside one of the tower doors so they could bar it shut behind him. When he knew the door was secure he fought his way to the other side just in time before the middle of the high rise finally collapsed.  Creatures swarmed the other door as a wall of spears and swords protruded from it in an attempt to keep the creatures from coming in. Sammaul began to slash and stab through them but only to find him self surrounded by the massive black fiends. Blade met bone as claws met Elvin flesh. The creatures piled over the top of the night elf just as the entire high rise gave way. The fight continued to ensue as all the creatures and the night elf fell from the great heights of the broken Akashian Wall.
                                                                        ~
            In a small village, many miles southwest of Akashia, three young adventurers were preparing a morning meal. Emanuel Sagewood, a young half-elf that was chosen as a youngling to become a Mage Lord, gently prodded a couple vegetables that he had thrown into a pot with some rabbit meat. Emanuel, now an apprentice mage, was barely paying attention to his meal but rather was trying to concentrate on his next task. His tutoring Mage Lord, Galleon Ianward, had been giving him back to back tasks to accomplish in order to graduate into a Wandering Wizard. This time all he knew was that some children had been kidnapped from their small village of Oxley and that it was his duty to retrieve them.
            Off to the side of the campfire sat the proud Lance Caldwell, smoking on a small pipe as he awaited his breakfast. Even before he was chosen by the mage council to be Emanuel’s Mage Knight the two had always been great friends. There were certainly more then a few times Emanuel would get himself into some serious trouble and Lance would have to pull him out of it. As younglings the villagers would say things such as “if your looking for one you might as well just look for the other too”. Then when Emanuel was chosen to begin practicing to become a Mage Lord and Lance his chosen Mage Knight, he knew at that moment they were meant to depend on each other. He looked over to his wizardly friend and gently chuckled to himself causing Emanuel to look his way.
            “What’s so humorous on an early morning such as this?” laughed Emanuel.
            “Nothing, good sir, I was simply wondering, to myself of course, if the ones who are trained as much you are know anymore about properly cooking then you do.”
            “Well as I’m sure you know He-Who-Fights-Like-A-Girl that some Mages need not know how to cook but only how to summon food to them.” Emanuel heavily laughed as his final sly remarks left his tongue but only to find a fist implanted into his chest.
            “I’m sure that little girly blow wasn’t too much for you to handle right?”
           “No worries my friend. I’m ok” once again laughed Emanuel between winces of pain. Behind the two young men play fighting with each other a young bearwolf shakes his head while watching their display of immaturity. Trekkyn, Emanuel’s bearwolf familiar, was truly a sight to behold; being as bearwolves was believed to be a myth species from times of old. His size was the same as a full grown brown bear but in the shape of a wolf. His paws resembled that of a bears as did his head but his muzzle and tail were that of a wolf. His thick brown hair was closer to a wolves then it was a bears merely because of its length.
            “It’s not a wonder how people refer to you two as fools” said the deep voice of Trekkyn. The two boys looked back at the bearwolf with puzzling faces.
            “So what does that make you my friend; when you are the one who follows us?” asked Lance.
            “Well I’d say your mother but I don’t have the tits for you to suckle on.”
            “Are you sure of that?” asked Emanuel with a rather large grin on his face. Just as the question was asked so were Trekkyn’s teeth bared. “Ok grumpy I was just teasing!”
            Emanuel quickly returned to his pot of stew as Lance began practicing different sword techniques. As his blade sliced through the air he could feel the pure magic boil within himself. Though most Mage Knights were picked only to defend their Mage Lords, they were still taught to harness certain forms of natural magic as a line of defense. With every different twist and spin move came a flash of something elemental. A couple of times Emanuel thought for sure his life long friend were going to set himself on fire. At one point he managed to notice Lance’s sword ignite into flames just as an array of lightning bolts sparked around his body. Multiple spells and shields along with your martial technique really depicted the skill of a warrior you were among Mage Knights. A legendary Mage Knight could destroy you before you ever even touched him. Warriors such as Yurotha the Freezing Mace Lord and Muryn the Thrashing Flame were well known for their ability to eliminate foes such as Giants without their Mage Lord ever even contemplating a spell. Lance studied and treasured stories of such warriors and even boasted of his dreams to one day be just like them.
            Like Lance within his practice Emanuel as well was deep in a meditative state as he summoned forth the knowledge for his next task. He unlike Lance could bring forth powers far greater then anything he’d ever know. Like the air that entered his lungs or the blood that flowed through his body, the magic was like another extension to his existence. With the right command and the perfect amount of focus he could bring a meteor shower down upon an entire kingdom of people if he so desired. Fortunately, the inappropriate use of such magic was regulated by a council of aged Mage Lords known as the Council of the Seeing Stone. Anytime high levels or forbidden forms of magic were used the council knew about it and if needs be, they eliminated the problem. Though this kept many Mage Lords from really experiencing their true potential this also prevented certain unethical Mage Lords from destroying innocent societies and inexperienced Mage Lords ignorantly destroying their own existence through a magic overload.
            Memories of classes such as Analytical High-Energy Magery, Remedial Pyrotechnic Sorcery and Advanced Military Enchanting began rushing through his mind as plot after plot began to form. He wasn’t sure who or what had stolen the town’s children but something told him it was more of a trap then it was a kidnapping. He knew he could always try some divination but he had only taken a basic course in the subject and knew little about it. If this were a trap he highly doubted his low divination skill would be able to detect it. Slowly he began twisting his hands in a circular motion as he stared intently at what appeared to be a pile of rocks. At first the rocks only shifted and vibrated a bit, but soon after the rocks ignited into flames and began climbing each other. Now interested Lance began to watch the moving pile of rocks as they appeared to form into a flaming little rock man.
            “Hey is that a?”
            “Yes…that is a miniature flaming rock golem” smiled Emanuel proud of his accomplishment.
            “Will he listen to you?”
            “He sure better or face a quick demise” laughed the apprentice. Just as the question was asked the golem stepped before Emanuel and awaited instruction. “Go attack Trekkyn the bearwolf.” The small golem, not even a foot tall, turned quickly and rushed the resting bearwolf. The bearwolf, unaware of his small sized attacker, was rudely awoken to a flaming kick to his rear. Quickly the bearwolf rose to his feet with a roar and instinctively smashed the flaming golem. Almost instantly the flames extinguished and the golem ceased to be.
            “Did you guys see that little…” Trekkyn asked in astonishment as he realized the boys were laughing. Quickly the bearwolf’s anger began to rise within him as he leaped right before the boys. “SOME MAGE LORD YOU’LL TURN OUT TO BE! YOU SHOULD BE STUDYING AND PRACTICING FOR THE TASK AT HAND! BUT NO, YOU’D RATHER PLAY GAMES WITH A SLEEPING FAMILIAR!” he roared in a rather foul mood.
            “Come now Trekkyn I didn’t mean for him to attack you. I was simply practicing creating something that could fight in my place so that I could concentrate on more complex puzzles” lied Emanuel with a rather suspicious smile on his face. Trekkyn twisted his head slightly as he read Emanuel’s facial expressions.
            “Yes I’m sure that’s all you were trying to do” he growled. The massive creature slowly walked back to where he had been laying and returned into a comforting rest. The boys snickered a little to each other and then returned to what they were doing.
            “So do you think you could make a bigger one?”
            “I’m not sure I could sustain that level of energy yet in order for one to form” questioned Emanuel to himself. “Perhaps if I tried an element other then fire it may work. Fire tends to be more chaotic in its existence.” Emanuel sat down in front of the nearby stream and began to breathe rather deeply. This time it seemed like nothing was happening at all; that is until mud, stone, vines and water erupted from the stream like an explosion and twisted together into a seven foot tall being. The water that flowed around and through him began to glow a vibrant green and pulsed as if it had a heart. The tall man looking creature opened its completely glowing green eyes, appeared to take a deep breath and turned back to the stream with its arm stretched out as if summoning something. Out of the water like darts launched at a board, a massive weapon made from the same ingredients as he and formed into what appeared to be a triple ball flail rushed into his hand. The tall humanoid began twisting and swinging his weapon as if he were a legendary master of the art. After a few swings the golem stopped and stepped before Emmanuel bowing to whom was obviously his master.
            “Holy…merciful…gods…how did you?”
            “I’m not sure how the weapon came to be but the golem I made just like I did before only this time I invoked a life force into the water that flows through him to help sustain his existence so that I shouldn’t have to” explained Emanuel.
            “So that glowing water that’s pulsing all over him…that’s like blood to him?”
            “Kind of…yes…along the same principles anyway” pondered the young apprentice as he contemplated the concept.
            “So can he die?” asked Lance as he stared at the golem in complete awe.
            “I’m sure he can. I know drying him out would definitely end him so be sure to remind me to stop by some water every now and then so he can refill. I’m sure the laws of nature and evaporation still apply to him.”
            “Very impressive young master! I’m sure your instructor Galleon will be truly happy with your progression” stated Trekkyn as he approached the new made golem.
            “Well thank you Trekkyn. That’s the nicest thing you’ve said all morning” snickered Emanuel.
            “Well if you like that I wouldn’t advise getting into the habit of making your creations attack me” smiled Trekkyn with obvious accusation. The apprentice merely smiled and looked back to his creation. “Are you going to give him a name young master?”
            “Yes I do believe I shall. Haldor…yes that’s good…Haldor will be his name” proudly stated Emanuel. “Haldor…you may now rise!” The golem quickly rose to his feet towering over the rest of the party. “From this day forward your main priority and purpose is to defend me and assist Lance in any battle he falls into.” The golem nodded his head and immediately began walking around surveying the area around them. Emanuel turned and looked at Lance with a rather wide grin. “Well I doubt he’ll be very entertaining around a campfire but we certainly won’t have to worry about cutthroats in the middle of the night.”
            “Yes that’s for sure” laughed Lance.
            “Are you two ready to finish this quest? I do believe I found a rather interesting trail” asked Trekkyn. The bearwolf escorted the boys over to the trail leading into the woods that he had found earlier and sat down next to them.
            “What kind of trail is this?” curiously asked Lance.
            “I do believe it’s a Goblin hunting party eight strong but I’m not sure/”
            “Aren’t Bearwolves suppose to be excellent trackers?”
            “Yes we are but these aren’t normal Goblin tracks. They look like Goblin and smell like Goblin but their trail isn’t characteristic of Goblin. As you can see these marks are in a fluent militaristic marching fashion. Now Goblins are militaristic but they aren’t coordinated enough to march that fluently. Either these are well trained Goblins or something wants us to believe they are Goblin” explained Trekkyn. The party studied Trekkyn’s information for a moment before anyone spoke.
            “Well I guess we don’t have a choice but to follow these…” just before Emanuel could finish, his golem burst through the party and was running down where the trail lead at full sprint swinging his organic flail.
            “Well you son of a…” hissed Lance.
            “HALDOR STOP! He believes this to be a threat so he’s eliminating the threat! We’ve got to stop him” screamed Emanuel right before taking off after him. Lance quickly leapt upon Trekkyn’s back and Trekkyn rushed to Emanuel pulling him up as well.
            “We’ll catch him quicker with me! HANG ON” roared the Bearwolf as he leapt into a full sprint after the rampaging water golem. Limbs and leaves slapped at the boy’s faces like a spiked whip across their flesh. At full sprint a Bearwolf could easily outrun a typical horse. Fallen trees and broken limbs made an even more obvious trail of where Haldor had been. After minutes of chase Haldor could be seen racing towards what appeared to be a cavern. The party was too late to stop him from entering. Swiftly he began swinging his flail back and forth at what certainly appeared to be Goblins. They small charcoal colored fiends lunged for him in a desperate attempt to bring him down. Splattered and beaten the ghoulish creatures fell upon the cavern floor.
            Before the rest of the party could even enter the cavern the little minions vanished from sight leaving Haldor very confused. Within seconds the trap sprung sending ropes and arrows sprawling across his body. The golem pulled himself free from the ropes with his massive strength and stared at Emanuel dumbfounded with arrows decorating his body like a morbid Christmas tree. Trekkyn shook his head at Haldor as Emanuel and Lance analyzed the cavern.
            “The Goblins were an illusion. I can feel the traces of the magic that worked them” concluded Emanuel. “But if this was the quest then where are the children we were to recover?”
            “OVER HERE!” Emanuel looked towards Lance as he knelt before a hole in the wall small enough to be a door for a Halfling. Everyone rushed towards the hole but Emanuel quickly stopped them.
            “Wait! There still may be more traps and just because they can’t hurt Haldor doesn’t mean they can’t hurt us!” Emanuel plunged his hang into a large cloth sack that he carried around his shoulder and pulled out a box like device. Slowly he put the device before the hole and waved his hand over it causing it to glow brightly. The golden light stretched out through the hole then turned a bright red color and the light focused somewhere down into the hole as if it were pointing. “Something down there isn’t what it appears to be!” Emanuel looked into the hole and could clearly see five crying children at the end of the tunnel and the red light was glowing right at them. “Wait here!” Emanuel snickered slightly and rushed into the tunnel. Within seconds he was back carrying a device that looked like a mechanical egg. Slowly he walked to the center of the cavern and placed the egg upon the ground. After stepping back from the egg the image of his instructor Galleon Ianward appeared before them smiling.
            “Good work young apprentice! As I’m sure you’ve figured out by now this entire quest was nothing more then an illusion to test your skills. I expect this egg returned to me with a full report on how you accomplished this mission” stated the image just before vanishing from sight.
            “YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!” Lance threw up his arms in disbelief. “I didn’t get to kill a single Goblin! How will that look for us when the instructors find out Big Green Dumby over here completed our quest for us?”
            “I’m sure they’ll understand just fine. The goal was to complete the quest. I don’t recall any rules being established on how we went about doing it” stated Emanuel in hopes to calm down his counterpart.
            “I still don’t like it! I don’t feel like we learned anything here!”
            “That’s not true…we learned Haldor needs a firmer set of rules” teased Emanuel. Lance gave him a look that could kill and turned to walk back out of the cavern. He looked to Trekkyn who was pacing the cavern probably tracing its different scents. “How do you feel about all of this?” Trekkyn looked to him with an emotionless look.
            “I think you did rather well young master. Lance is only upset because he didn’t get to destroy something.” Emanuel laughed at Trekkyn’s comment and stepped out of the cavern and gazed towards the sun. The bright orange orb was casting its majestic colors across the tops of the trees; making certain ones appear as if they were almost on fire. Shadows began to form all around the party and the howls of wolves began ringing across the land.