Chapter 1 The call to arms

As the rifts joining the worlds of Twilight and Orim begin to expand, a force of evil called the Unholys enters the world of Orim but is confronted by an alliance that binds the world of Orim as one.

Scene 1 Within the council's circle

 

As the Oracle of the Elven kingdom of Forestfair beholds a man by the name of Edrick Wildermen who stands before how now, she judges his character as trustworthy and his devotion and belief in his cause (a cause that in fact linked everyone, evry soul of Orim together as one and in one cause) admirable, she listens intently to his plea of forming an alliance against the newly discovered world of Twilight and that world's overwelming force of evil that calls themselves the Unholys who are bent on the enslavement if not the entire annihilation of the inhabitants of the world of Orim.

 

     As the Oracle of the elven kingdom of Forstfair beheld the half elven and half human male that stood before her now, she watched with both great interest and great concern to the pleas of this man (interest for the plea that this man spoke and concern for the plea as to what it meant mean if the plea was acted upon).

    

     She watched with interest his body language, his every hand gesture, and even his eyes to which he held the gaze of everyone in the room. His words were at times gruff (if not down right rude, when he told of what might happen and what it would mean for them and the world of  Orim, if all the realms were not to act) at other times both his tone and words were quite elegant (his tone then becoming soft and the words to which he formulated his plea as mesmerizing as his gaze).

    

     The man stood at seven feet tall, he was clad in armour of (interestingly enough) dwarven make. He was a massive man, and Gayla (who was the Oracle of the forested elven kingdom of Forestfair) could well imagine that the man exceeded a weight of three hundred and twenty pounds, all looking  (at least to her) to be of muscle. His people (to whom this man belonged) called themselves Anderins, they were a mixture of dark elven blood and human. Their appearance was generally more human than elven looking, but their elven blood gave them powers of magic that no human magic user (in fact very few elven magic users) could even begin to hope to either master or even match. Their lifespan ranged quite easily into the multi thousands of years, it is even said that some of their kind were even old enough to remember a time before their lord god Orim was imprisoned within his own staff (and all knew that to be that old, those of that age were very old indeed). And now he, a member of his race was before the assembled Forstfair council to plead a case that held the very world of Orim (a world that got its name from his people and that of Forstfair and most other kingdom's people's supreme deity of the lord and god Orim) at the brink of disaster if nothing was done (done and fast).

    

     His people had not a homeland of their own, though just before the great betrayal and the imprisonment of their god Orim by the god that almost all now called the god of betrayal, his kind almost had had a homeland (and quite possibly a kingdom someday) of their own, but that was not to be.

    

     With his plea now finally made, the man named Edrick Wildermen (his people taking their first name from their human ancestry and their last name from their elven ancestry) bent his left knee and went down on his right. Bringing his eyes up to meet hers (for as he went to his right knee, he had cast his eyes to the floor directly in front of him) and all the while saying the words "what is your reply" and locking his eyes upon her's (the pleading in his eye's showing the fear and concern for the future and the love he had for all those he sought to protect) he waited for her to reply.

    

     As their eyes locked, his gaze seemed to penetrate right into her very soul. Finding that the words to speak had left her for the moment, she found herself holding her breath. For her abilities as an Oracle meant that she could she into both his mind and soul too. As she peered through his gaze and into his eyes, she saw there an understanding of the two worlds events that he himself knew and understood but was as of yet unaware of this knowledge himself. And...some how as she continued to peer into his soul, she could see by a vision the images of three worlds. This third world to which seemed that no one had ever had knowledge of before (like the lack of knowledge that they lacked for thousands of years of the existence of the second world known now to them as Twilight). From this third world she knew (though the Oracle could not tell how she knew) would come three most important allies that would help turn the tides of war when all then would seem to be lost and the tide turning against them all. As the vision cleared and both the knowledge of this third world and its importance to the world of Orim's fight for survival slipped away, the image of the third world and its importance melting away and the memory of its importance being (at least for the moment) lost from both mind and memory, the Oracle gestured with her right hand to the two guards'  standing by a right hand entry way to come forward.

    

     "Escort this man to a suitable room, one that befits a guest of the Oracle and of the Oracle's council. Make sure that all of his needs are meet, have both food and drink brought to him when he desires them, and he has full access to the city and the elven realm beyond." As she said all this she took one last look at the man before her, her eyes moving from the two guards that drew near him now and finally resting back upon him. She knew of this man (as all assembled knew of this man) that for an Anderin to appear before you with a plea or in the act of showing great concern that it meant that the Anderin thought of the situation as grim (for their kind very rarely involved themselves with the affairs of others believing that they should only get involved if the situation was indeed very dire).

    

     "Lord Edrick, you shall have an answer as to whether or not we will join in an alliance with the rest of the kingdoms of Orim against the world of Twilight and against the Unholys shortly."

    

     "Thank you. Mistress Oracle." said Edrick as he claimed to his feet once again,"Please, for the sake of yourself, the council, your people, and the rest of Orim please do not delay in the decision to enter the war or not for to long, for the war for our world has already begun and some small forces of both the Dark Elves and the Kin-Ra have already seen battle against those who would and do seek our mutual enslavement or our even our mutual eradication." As he stood a moment longer before the Oracle and looked ever so briefly into her eyes, she saw from within them the pain and worry of the answer that may come and what would bring with it the possible answer and knowledge that the kingdom of Forestfair may choose not to get involved in the war that had already begun (a war that already had begun if not formally, then informally).

    

     As he turned to face the two guards and they started to lead the way towards his quarters. These guards, guards to which no weapon was present since among the elven peoples' those of Edrick's bloodline (the Anderin's) were given (almost by default) a place of high status amongst the elven people's of the world of Orim and even among the human kingdom's the same such welcomes were bestowed upon his kind (though their status amongst the human realms of Orim was not as high as it was within the elven realms). As the guards lead Edrick away down a north leading corridor (a corridor that was off to the right hand side of Gayla) she looked towards the assembled council before her.

 

     The room they were in was circular and had to the east facing curved wall the Throne of the Oracle which was separated from the east curved wall by only forty feet. Before her was were the council of the Oracle was seated, both she and the council separated by a circular ring of wood that rose to three feet off of the floor and went all the way around her leaving twenty feet of spacing between the room's circular wall and the ring of wood itself. The council had seating at the west side of the room and only entered the circular ring of wood when official council business was needed. The only entryways into the circle was through two curved gates, one that lead to the north leading corridor and the guestrooms beyond, and the other a west facing curved gate that lead to a west leading main hallway that lead out into a courtyard and the city of Silverleaf beyond.

    

     The flooring within the ring of wood was a white stone flooring, this stone was called Soft Stone due to the fact that it softened the sounds of footfalls upon them to the point that no one could ever hear them. Ten feet in front of the Oracle's throne was painted upon the stone flooring the image of a yellow sun with wavy flames stretching out from its surface, and it was within this image of the sun that any person wanting an audience with the Oracle would have to stand in. The flooring outside the ring of wood was of a plane wood flooring stained a deep brown, and the circular walls were painted a pure white with green painted molding at the base of the wall connecting both at the floor and the ceiling of the room.

 

     The ceiling was of a typical making, wih a sunlight of glass that was in the form of a ring that started over the wooden ring beneath it and extended to ten feet towards the walls of the council chamber. This skylight had stylized moldings that intermingled with the clear glass of the skylight. The molding's were of the leafs of the Ironwood trees and had elaborately carved pieces of White Ash wood as well. The White Ash stood to symbolize the resurrection of the slain souls of their kin upon the battlefield (as the wood had actually the power to do so) and the leaf's of the Ironwood trees stood as a sign to all how their wooded kingom gave them armour and strength to those that would oppose them in time of war. 

 

     From this first skylight to the last ten feet within the center of the room was more typical ceiling until it reached the center of the room where it gave way to a domed skylight (the doom made of the elven wood Bowstrong as it was named because it was the only wood used by the forested kingdom of Forestfair to make their bows from) this wooden dome stained a lustrous light brown and it was where the sun's brilliant rays entered in through a glass skylight at the very top of the dome.

 

     But the last and certainly the most striking features of the room was the Throne of the Oracle itself. Made of white stone and heavy set, it raised a foot off of the ground on a foundation of white stone (the whole throne cut from the same block). The throne had a high back and great arm rests, and at the end of each great arm rest was itched in the stone the head of a silver feathered bird to which their people called a silver Cockatrice (the bird being called a Cockatrice since it had the ability to turn to stone anything it laid its eyes upon and wanted to turn to stone). The Silver Cockatrice being sacred to the elven people of Forestfair as it was a sign of great power and also was what their people used as mounts in place of horses.

    

     As she continued to eye the assembled Oracle's council for a moment longer, she thought to herself that this would be forever a turning point in her and her people's history. For in the entire history of her people, never had an Oracle lead her people against any other race or enemy that was not the minions of the god Malice, and now this is what she thought needed to be done.

    

     As she decided at that moment to open the debate amongst the council and its Oracle and lesser Oracle, she then rose to her feet and, taking a calming breath, choose to speak to the assembled council.

Author's Note

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