Chronicles of Legends- Book One-The Ghost

Prologue

REVISED 4/27/24

It was beautiful.

The black appendages swirled and writhed around all that was there, small lights of a dull red pulsed through them occasionally, illuminating the throne room in the massive underground fortress. An ominous rumbling that eternally shook the fortress toiled in the background.

On the massive, metallic throne was a shape. It took the shape of a man but it was built in the form of a Minotaur, huge arms, thick legs and a well shaped face that had seen thousands of years.

Yet, this was all a shell to fool his close dealings and make his enemies scared out of their skin.

The King stood up and walked to the cage near his throne. It might even be called a room if a cage, it was huge, big enough to walk around in comfortably, but built with nearly indestructible material. In the corner of it, sat a-once great-man.

It was psychological, the cage was built to practically invite it's occupants outside, but the Master of it kept them at bay. It was impossible to break out of. The strongest magic was guarding it. The King only hoped it never rained.

"I hope you're quite comfortable." The King said, mockingly. His voice smooth and controlled, yet behind each word was feral hate.

"If we hadn't found you, the dragons would have had a juicy meal."

"How?" The prisoner replied, glancing with the thing you could barely call his head. His wheezy voice about to break. "They don't live in the Under-Earth anymore. You chased them all away. And I don't think the City helped either."

Even though he was beaten and nearly starved, he was still quick-witted.

The King chuckled, his deep orotund voice sending rumbles through the throne room. He summoned a small, bright flame to his hand and held it before the broken man's eyes.

"Care for another session?" He said, before building the fire, larger and larger until it was the same size of the man in the cage.

"Not really." The man replied curling into a ball, preparing for the pain ahead 

The screams echoed in the fortress. The King's guards always heard them , day in and day out. It still sent shivers down their spines.

                                                                                           ---

It was a few hours before Uncath was summoned to the throne room. It's small, troll-like figure shuffled inside to see the charred prisoners frame in the cage whimpering like a kitten.

It sighed, if a shadow could sigh, shook its form of a head, and slithered up to the throne.

"Is everything going according to plan?" The King asked the unearthly creature.

"Everything. my lord." The advisor hissed, it's hunched over back gave off the air it was a monster, but was once quite human. Now after centuries of darkness and evil scheming, it was truly a monster.

The King gave it infinite life in exchange for knowledge from over the years. Uncath had no idea how the King obtained this Life-Well but it knew there were only three Life-Wells in the known world. The First Great Wizard, Ablos, built them to give life to those who needed it the most, but its would take life from immortals such as Elves or other Wizards. So it was somewhat balanced out, if you enjoyed learning about that sort of thing.

"How is our Ghost doing? Is he succeeding in all the missions?" The King asked, playing with his rings as if merely touching them made him feel more secure about his power. Indeed, he was powerful, the most powerful king Uncath knew.

"Yesssss..." Uncath hissed again. It hissed more than spoke, in fact it was a slight more snake-being than human now. His bloodline was ancient and rare so he was well taken care of. Lodgings fit a for a prince, food made for a banquet and even his own harem of concubines. But many woman were ill-favored toward him. Then again, what female is drawn towards slit eyes and scaly flesh with a forked tongue?

Uncath wasn't the worst thing in the world, there was an area in the fortress even he wasn't allowed. Screams, growls and a terrible noise that shouldn't be told was heard all night from this place. Uncath suspected his King of experimenting with life and soul.

All these thoughts zipped through Uncath's mind. Then the King spoke again.

"Let us have some fun. Send out the worst trainees we have. Don't kill, just harass."

"Yesss, my lord.." the advisor to the most powerful being in the world, bowed and slithered out. "Oh, yes. It will be wonderful." The King laughed again and the rumbling grew more inte