Shadow of Death

Prologue

This being an exerpt from the Book of Worlds and an account of the Great Wars, as seen from a strictly analytical point of view.

Many, many years ago, before the time of the Great Kingdoms and the Age of Tranquility, the world was in turmoil.

To the east, the land of the Anwaris, so named Anwara, was ruled with an austere set of laws that kept the empire under inflexible hegemony. The emperor, Izyan al Cartak, sought to enforce his ideals upon the rest of the known world, beginning with the kingdoms bordering his own, by way of his vast numbers of mercenaries.

As the unrest in the kingdoms of the east was growing, so too, were the kingdoms of the west.

The kingdom of Sandra had decided that, in order to make room for their growing population, it needed to extend its borders into eastern Andoria. Much of the Sandran Kingdom was made up of the Kabor desert, and the people were also compelled towards enlarging their lands by their need for newer and fresher water resources.

Bordered by the Jasmine Sea to the west, Andoria was a rather large country, although not as big as Sandra. Compared to its large size, however, the total population was rather small, with most of the land populated by widely spread farmland and farms with more livestock than people. Consequently, the Andorian military was largely constructed of volunteer farmers and militia with no real combata or sword training.

In a desperate attempt to stop the Sandran army from seizing control, the king of Andoria, Doran, sent a messanger to the neighboring kingdom of Malikor in the hopes that they would come to the rescue. This messenger was intercepted and captured by Sandran spies before he could leave the kingdom, and the cry for help would never reach Malik ears.

Before the Sandran forces were able to completely overthrow King Doran, they were forced to withdraw from Andoria. The Jangels to the east had begun to invade after discovering of Sandran's campaign, and were descending in waves upon the lower eastern corner of the kingdom and parts of the Kabor desert.

Andoria, with its shriveled and defeated army, could do nothing but sit and watch the turmoil unfold around them. Several years past as they tried to recuperate from their great losses. The king of Malikor, Rhoden, with whom the Andorians had so nearly been allies, spied his opportune moment to claim more land for his kingdom, as well. Calling upon the knights from across the Jasmine Sea in the Malikor territory of Silver Isles, he began his march into northern Andoria.

However, the Arells, long-standing allies withthe Andorians (who had been too busy dealing with their own internal conflict as Andoria had been invaded by Sandra), overheard this ploy and rushed to inform King Doran. Doran mustered up his remaining army, and any man who was able, and commanded them to build a wall several miles into the kingdom.

The laborous construction began even as King Rhoden waited for his knights from the Isles to arrive. By the time his army invaded, the wall was nearly a hundred feet tall and as thick as the hull of a ship, making it virtually invincible. Rhoden's army was forced to a sudden halt, and the kingdom of Andoria on the other side of the wall, which would later become known as Doran's Wall, was preserved.

Soon, however, King Rhoden learned of the Arells' treachery, and in a fit of rage plundered the tiny kingdom, looting it of all its treasures before razing it to the ground and condemning its king, Leldor, to death.

Meanwhile, the kingdom of Tanedra had been battling the forces of Emperor Izyan al Cartak for many years, succeeding only in holding the massive army at bay, not defeating it.

The secluded northern mountain kingdom of Algorana, which had so far gone untouched by conflict, finally decided to join forces with the Tanedrans after King Khedar (the Tanedran king) sent out a requesst for help to his neighboring kingdoms. Al Cartak was defeated, Algorans who had been growing increasingly annoyed with their king's continued laziness formed their own small kingdom of Tsarnia to the east of Algorana and in the northern part of the defeated land of the Anwaris, and the Anwara, with the deathof Izyan al Cartak, became a new land. Seperated from the other kingdoms, it became known as Kishmar.

As the conflict with the Anwaris dwindled into nothingness, other problems arose. The Tanderans were a proud people, and many of them did not agree with their king's choice to send for assistance. Others understood that they would have been defeated had it not been for this choice of King Khedar's.

The two sides eventually drifted apart, so much so that they very nearly split into two seperate kingdoms. They would have, too, had it not been for Khedar's firm ruling. The Indoren, the knights upset at Khedar's choice, knew that the king was aging, and saw their chance.

For several years, political battles became the new center of attention. Indorens against the Peletons - those who had seen the wisdom in Khedar's choice. Both vied for the throne, the Indorens to began a new era of proud kings, the Peletons to continue Khedar's lineage. The strife continued for many years, until a man known as Jakob the Wise sought to end it by suggesting that Khedar remain on the throne until death or retirement, and that they should then cast a vote as to whom the new king should be.

It was around this time that the Sandran forces finally managed to expel the Jangel warriors from their land, and quickly erected a strong fortress along the Jangelland-Sandra border to prevent another invasion.

It seemed as though all of the conflict of the kingdoms had been resolved. Sandra, Andoria, Malikor, Tanedra, Algorana, and Tsarnia, upon surveying the aftermath, decided that something like this should not happen again.

So came into being the Tranquility Accords, and with that the realm of the Great Kingdoms was created.

During this time of peace, come to be known as the Age of Tranquility, that has continued ever since what is now referred to has the Great Wars, prophecies were made. Many of them were utterly absurd ramblings of a madman while only a select few seemed to offer a faint glimmer of truth into the ever-uncertain future. Nonetheless, they were all recorded with great care, in the hopes that someday someone would make sense of them and, quite possibly, cast them into being.

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Sorry if this seemed a bit dull, I just had to write out the history or a lot of things in later chapters wouldn't make any sense.