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| - In the throne room of Karouk, capital of Armesia, sat the monarch of the land, King Nardek. Nardek was not the true king; he was but the adopted son of the last king, Elias. Elias had found the boy outside the gates of Karouk after Nardek had been orphaned and abandoned by a mob of undead. As he had grown, he had become jealous of the king and his sons, totally ungrateful for Elias's kind treatment of him. Eventually, he had dared to ask the king for dominion of the land. "The kingdom shall pass to my eldest son, Zake," Elias had answered. "You shall be a duke in the northern division." Most young men would have been quite satisfied with that reply, but Nardek, filled with anger, drove himself to murder the king and his sons that very night. But then the strangest thing happened; an army of goblins from the east appeared at the gates of the capital city the next morning and swore allegiance to Nardek. Drunk with his newfound power (and a good amount of wine), the youth took the throne that day. Now, as he sat on his throne, the great euphoria of his victory decades ago had left him. He was worried, for he had heard rumors of an uprising in the north. The northern division of the kingdom, Galantan, had remained loyal to King Elias and his family, and so they housed a rebellion, known as the Eastern Resistance (the name was meant purely to fool Nardek, but it hadn't worked very well). Many of the members of this rebel group had been prominent officials in Elias's service. The leader, Suluth, had been Elias's head advisor. He, through some mysterious power, had sensed the evil in Nardek's heart and foreseen his murder of the king. Therefore, they took Elias's youngest child, and hid him in the capital of Galantan for a time. Through the years, Nardek had grown in his terrible powers, even being able to sense the minds of others; it was all fueled by the Darkforce, black magic which flowed from the Shadow, an evil entity that lay in the east. But becuase of this his body was deteriorating. Now it had gotten so bad, that he had donned a hooded robe which concealed his features. His face could no longer be seen under it. He wore black boots and a pair of spiked metal gloves. It was known to the members of the Eastern Resistance that he was possessed by the Shadow. And that could very well be true. His closest advisers had grown wary of him, realizing that some sinister change had crept on him. Now he was surrounded by a different set of advisers, all hooded, and an aura of terror spread throughout his palace. Many of the most famous and well-liked had died unnatural deaths, and almost all were accredited to him. Even the very groves that surrounded the capital city were dying off. It seemed everything natural was complaining against his corrupted rule, maybe with the sole exception of the people in his palace, who at any rate were too afraid to say a word against his reign. For they had another name for this terrible being: The Black King. "Gerlak!" The foul breath of the Black King hissed under his hood. At his command, a tall, man-like creature entered the courtroom. Aside from its basic shape and features, it was hardly human. Its long, black hair hung from its scarred black head unevenly. Its eyes were red, and its teeth were brown. Its breath was not to be spoken of. It was a goblin. "Bring the prisoners here to me," Nardek ordered. The particularly large goblin bowed and left the courtroom. Nardek turned to one of his advisors, a tall, hideous creature that looked rather like a half-bat, half-human. This was Jabnul, a Vampire and the most powerful of the Black King's servants. Jabnul looked at his lord, his horrible reddish-yellow eyes flickering. His mouth opened, and a black slime dripped from his sharp fangs. "Jabnul," the Black King said, "Soon I shall crush all resistance in this land, and then I shall control it utterly. Then I shall invade the other kingdoms, and soon, I shall destroy all who oppose me! Gaela shall be mine." The Black King laughed, which sounded more like a cat's claws scratching the surface of a blackboard. Jabnul gave a hideous chuckle. Suddenly Gerlak returned, dragging the three prisoners with him. They were leaders of the Eastern Resistance, captured during Gerlak's last campaign against the rebels. Nardek pointed to the floor by his feet, and the three men were thrown on their faces. They had been bound, hand and foot, with powerful chains. They were wet; they had just been taken from Nardek's horrible water dungeons. Now, festering sores had broken out all over their bodies because of the filthy water they had been chained in for several days. Yet they did not groan or writhe in pain. Nardek spoke. "Look around you," he told them. None of them moved their heads. The king laughed again. "You don't need to see. My power is too great for your pitiful "army" to fight against! Can you not see?" "We can see," replied the middle prisoner. "We can see that you are a fool who thinks that the Darkforce will always avail you! The Shadow is treacherous! Can you not see?" The horrible being gave a hiss. "I shall overthrow him soon," he said. "He was a fool to think that by granting me all this, I would serve him! When the time comes, he shall be my servant!" He laughed again. "You need not go back in the water dungeons," he said. "If you would but give me the location of the rebel base, I would free you and grant you great powers. You could each be generals of armies!" "We would not serve you for all the power in the world," said the man on the left. "Understand that! We will as soon spend the rest of our lives rotting in your filthy dungeons than give away the location of our comrades!" The dark ruler shook his head, sadly. "I cannot understand what drives you to suffer so much. Yet I suppose that is the way it will be! Gerlak," he said to his general, "Take these insolent little insects to the torture chambers! We will see who loses their will in the end!" As the three were dragged off, the middle one called back, "The King's son will return! He will destroy you!" Nardek stood up. "He has no son," the dark one hissed. "I killed them all!" The door slammed. The prisoners were gone. Nardek sat back down. Turning to Jabnul, he said, "I sensed no insanity in his claim. He must be telling the truth!" He pounded his metal-gloved fist on the armrest of his black throne. "How could I have missed one? It isn't possible! But if he is still alive, I will destroy him." Jabnul faced him and said, "If it be your will, sire, I will hunt this rat down and squash him like a bug!" Nardek shook his head. "I will have a party of my best goblins seek him out. They can smell a half-Elf anywhere. Gerlak!" he shouted. Within a minute the goblin was back. "Yes, my lord?" he said, his mouth dripping saliva. "Send out Captain Oruk," ordered the Black King. "Tell him to find Elias's son at all costs." Gerlak saluted. "It shall be done, my lord," he said, and departed. "Gaela shall be mine!" Nardek's horrible laughter echoed throughout the fortress, sending rumbles through the dark clouds that perpetually covered the skies above Carouk. "Gaela will be mine!"
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