Prologue: The Battle of Corinthia

        The soft grass was still wet with fresh morning dew when General Salem dismounted his horse. It was unusually dark on this morning, for thick dark clouds from the north constricted the light from the sun. Salem turned to his rear to face his camp where four hundred of the finest soldiers in all of Ashthor still slept in their tents. The general reached a black gloved hand to rub his tired eyes. Salem hadn’t slept last night, he hadn’t even tried. He knew what he and his soldiers were scheduled to face today, and for the first time in his life, his heart was filled with fear.

            For months Salem and his army had been tracking a powerful dark mage who called himself The Earth King, for he was an earth Elemental. The Earth King was well equipped with some of the strongest and most deadly spells and curses which he had used to terrorize the innocent people of Corinthia. The evil king was convinced that he was the rightful heir of the kingdom, and he was set on taking the throne by relentless force. He had already killed the high king, and now he was preparing an assault against all that remained of Corinthia. This was an assault that Salem had to stop.

            The republic army from the war city of Contrahad was the greatest weapon Corinthia had to use against the Earth King. It consisted of four hundred of the most well trained humans and noble elves Ashthor had to offer. The Earth King had managed to slip through their grasps after the assassination of the high king and he had escaped to his temple in the north. The army had followed him to his sanctuary, and now they were all that stood between him and the rest of Corinthia. Today they would move forward and surround the temple so that the Earth King would have no choice.  If he wanted to advance, he would have to fight them.

            Rumor had it that the Earth king had been preparing his own army which consisted of goblins, trolls, and the vile wraiths, which were cursed reanimated corpses without soul or mind. The earth kings army would way outnumber Salem and his troops, but they wouldn’t be as well trained. Salem knew this was his last chance. He had to defeat the Earth King here and now, or all would be lost forever.

            As the day grew longer, Salem’s army awoke and began preparing themselves for battle. Each soldier was well equipped with steel plated armor and helmets, as well as fine crafted steel shields and swords. Some of the elves also had moonstone long bows and eleven daggers. The general had been preparing too, for he had spent the night before scouting around the earth king’s enormous temple and writing plans so he knew exactly where to place his soldiers. If the rumors where true about the Earth King’s army, Salem knew he couldn’t defeat it. He just didn’t have enough troops. But if they could slay the dark mage himself, maybe they would have a chance.

            General Salem knew his enemy was everything but a coward. The Earth king wouldn’t hide behind his army; he would be on the front line fighting with them just as Salem would. It wasn’t a thing of honor for the evil king; he just had a taste for blood. Salem’s troops would be ordered to fight and stall the evil army, while the general himself would seek out the Earth king. The two would go toe to toe, and fight to the death. It wasn’t an extraordinary plan, and it would be extremely dangerous. But it was all Salem had and he would have to make it work.

            It was around the eleventh hour of the day when the republic army surrounded the great stone-brick walls of the Earth King’s temple. The structure was massive, stretching up above the clouds and was built almost like a small castle. It was surrounded with a deep moat of black water, with the only entry point being across a large stone bridge and through a set of enormous wooden doors. The dead bodies of recent sacrifices hung on posts that surrounded the temple. All the surrounding trees and plants were dead, and the air smelled thick of death and goblin stink. The mere sight of this structure filled Salem’s head with doubt.

            Not long after the arrival of Salem and his troops, did the huge wooden doors of the temple slowly swing open, revealing the hungry faces of the Earth king’s dark army. The ground shook as they began to march across the stone bridge towards Salem’s troops. Through his looking glass, Salem could see the shadowy figure of the Earth king leading his army forward. He was escorted by two trolls and was followed first by the wraiths, then by the goblins.

            The Earth King was a tall man, as you would expect any great conqueror to be. He wore heavy ebony armor as black as the realm of shadows and he wielded a large ebony mace. Both his armor and weapons were riddled with large, horrid spikes that added to his intimidating appearance. He walked with great confidence in his stride, and his red eyes glistened as he marched towards his prey.

            General Salem slowly inhaled and exhaled deeply. The sight of the Earth king confirmed his fear and he could feel in in his soldiers as well. As the dark army slowly marched closer, Salem began to seriously second guess his plan. How could a few hundred men and elves defeat an entire army led by the most powerful dark mage Corinthia had ever seen? With every second that passed, this seemed to Salem more and more like a suicide mission.

            The General’s thoughts shifted to his family, His beautiful wife and his two lovely daughters. It had been months since he had seen them, but he could still remember every last detail of their innocent faces. They were the reason why he was here. He had vowed to fight even the darkest villains and most ferocious creatures to ensure their safety. He knew that if he were to fail here today, there would be nothing left to protect them from this tyranny. They would be brutally slaughtered or become forever enslaved to this evil. He had to do this for them. He would gladly die a thousand painful deaths to warrant their freedom. So he pushed his thoughts of doubt aside and proudly turned to face his army.

            “Great warriors of Ashtor!” he called out to them. “The time for us to fight our greatest enemy is finally upon us. He is here, and we have come all this way to stop him once and for all. I will not lie to you my brothers; many of us may lose our lives here today. But I believe I speak for all of us when I say, we will not die without a fight! We will rise up together and fight this evil with all of our might! Our children and our children’s children will tell stories of the battle to take place here today. We will have victory for Corinthia!!!” His army roared in applause and stomped their weapons against their shields and chest plates. As Salem turned to face his enemy he softly whispered under his breath, “Arcadias be with us all.”

            The earth king chuckled bitterly at the enthusiasm of his opponents. He raised his mace and gave the orders for his army to begin their attack. They all screamed in their wicked languages and began running towards Salem and his troops at full speed. “The time is now! Kill or be killed!” Salem shouted at his troops and they too began to run. When the two sides clashed, the sound echoed like thunder throughout the land. Swords crashed against shields, maces tore flesh from bone, and arrows pierced skulls as the sounds of pain filled the air. No matter how hard the dark army pushed, they couldn’t work their way through Salem’s troops.

            The Earth King grew angry as he watched his soldiers fall. He whispered a spell, and large tongues of white hot flame shot from his hands and engulfed a group of Salem’s troops, burning them to death in seconds. Their sickly screams of pain and the scent of burnt flesh exited the Earth King and brought a smile to his cold lips. He whispered another spell and a large gust of icy wind swept in and knocked a nearby cluster of republic soldiers to their knees where their cold bodies were ripped apart and devoured by the trolls.

            Salem saw what was happening and he rushed to the fallen soldier’s aid. With a mighty swing of his trusted steel great sword he took one of the troll’s heads off clean. He spun around and jammed his sword into the other troll’s chest and the creature howled in pain.

            The now furious Earth King shouted a curse which overcame the mind of one of Salem’s men who immediately drew his blade and drove it into Salem’s gut. The wounded General fell to his knees as blood splattered the ground. He looked up to see the pale body of a wraith rushing towards him with its battle axe drawn and ready. Salem tried to reach for his sword, but he was just too weak. The wraith slammed its axe hard into Salem’s head crushing his skull and killing him instantly. The Earth King exploded into deep, cold laughter.

            The republic army continued to fight hard, but without their commander to direct them, they slowly began to panic and lose their footing. The wraiths and goblins were relentless as they carelessly hacked away at their opponents and by this point a group of club wielding trolls had arrived from a nearby forest to aid the Earth King’s army.

            The Earth King used to his magic to fill the sky with dark storm clouds that poured sheets of rain onto the battlefield soaking everyone. He then summoned great bolts of lightning that struck the ground and sent waves of electricity throughout the bodies of the drenched soldiers, paralyzing them. Unaffected by the lighting, the wraiths continued to slaughter the paralyzed soldiers.

            The tides of the battle were quickly shifting in the Earth King’s favor. It was certain to the republic army that without Salem to lead them, they didn’t have a chance. But even now, in this time of darkness, there was still a ray of hope. His name was Arthur Boultimore.

            Arthur Boultimore was a young noble elf, too young in fact to legally fight for the republic army. He had lied on his application to get into the ranks in hope to fulfill his dream of fighting for peace. Boultimore was the smallest and weakest of the soldiers. But what he lacked in strength he made up for in wits and talent, more specifically magical talent.

Arthur was a mage, the only one in the republic army. He was a brilliant at enchanting weapons and armor, and he often aided in nursing the wounded by performing weak healing spells. Boultimore loved magic, and he had studied it since his early childhood. He also feared it, knowing what could happen when used in the wrong hands. It was for this very reason he spent months writing a powerful shout that could literally strip a mage of all their magic and separate their body from their mind. He had never performed this shout successfully, but this seemed like the right time for him to try it. If he didn’t try and stop the Earth King now, Boultimore knew he would never get another chance again.

Arthur drew his sword and rushed at the evil king, dodging the blows of all nearby attackers. He jabbed his sword with all his might at the Earth King’s torso, but it wasn’t enough to pierce that powerful ebony armor. The blade shattered into fragments that cut the Elf’s face and blinding one of his eyes. The surprised Earth King swung his mace against Boultimore’s chest, slicing deep into his flesh and cutting into his lungs. The evil king grabbed the young elf by the throat and he instantly saw every thought and memory that had ever crossed Boultimore’s mind.  “You are strong, and have much potential in you young elf.” The Earth King’s voice was deep and cold. “It would be a shame to kill such a strong willed creature.” Boultimore began coughing violently as blood seeped into his lungs.

The dark king knew that Arthur could be a powerful ally and he tempted him. “I could surely save you from your death, and offer you unlimited power if you will only bow to me and call me your King.” Boultimore breathed deeply before spitting blood into the Earth King’s face. “I will never pledge myself to your filth!” he choked.

            This remark infuriated the Earth King who threw Boultimore to the ground and slammed his heavy armored foot onto the elf’s wounded chest. “You dare defy me? I am the rightful ruler of this land. I will not stand for such insolence! I will make an example of you, and the people of your homeland. No one in Corinthia will ever stand against me again!” the evil mage screamed in anger.

The Earth King focused all of his energy and screamed the words to a powerful curse that shrouded Boultimore’s hometown in darkness. Dark spirits rose from the shadows and snatched the souls of the town’s people dragging them into the realm of eternal suffering. With a thunderous explosion of dark energy the shadows dissipated, and all was silent.

The Earth King hit his knees and gasped in a ragged breath. His curse had drained him of all of his power, and for the moment, he was weak. Boultimore knew that this was his only chance, so he mustered all the strength in his wounded body, and screamed the words to his shout. A great beam of blue light flew from his mouth and blasted the Earth King, ripping through his armor and into his chest. The force violently ripped the evil king’s soul from his body and Boultimore banished it into a deep, dark place where no one would ever get to it. Without his soul, The Earth King’s body fell, dead.

Boultimore had done all of this expecting his own death, but not even he knew the power of his own magic. He instantly absorbed all of the Earth King’s powers and his knowledge of these powers. Blinding light surrounded Boultimore curing his wounds, and saving his life. He was suddenly filled with strength and he jumped to his feet.

With the Earth King destroyed, his shadow magic faded and the army of wraiths disintegrated into dust and blew away with the wind. The remaining soldiers of the republic army quickly surrounded the army of goblins who dropped their weapons in full surrender. Mercy fell upon those creatures that day, for not a single goblin life was claimed after their yield. The trolls, which were confused by the commotion, quickly fled back to where they came from or were killed by remaining soldiers.

            The Earth King and his army had been defeated and the people of Corinthia bowed to Boultimore, making him their new high king. He used the powers he had taken from the Earth King and created for himself a grand city to which he gave his last name. Boultimore city was built from solid stone ad was surrounded by a great stone-brick wall 50 kilometers high. It was the grandest city in the entire Kingdom, and it was built in less than three hours which proved the sheer greatness of this new power.

            Boultimore feared this power and he decided no creature, not even himself, was worthy of it. So he crafted eight magical rings of precious stones and he enchanted each one with a different ability. He then shipped them off to the corners of Corinthia so they would be hidden and could never ban together again.

            For years Boultimore desperately tried to find a way to free the cursed souls that had been banished into the realm of eternal suffering, but it was to no avail. He blamed himself for their fate, and felt that he was unworthy to wear the crown of Corinthia, so he gave up his throne and exiled himself, never to be seen again.

            A new king took the throne, and rebuilt the republic army making it stronger than ever before. Corinthia had finally found peace and managed to prosper for over nine hundred years without the threat of evil. The truths of Boultimore’s battle against the Earth king slowly became legends as the people of Corinthia forgot the meaning of fear. Life moved on as usual and the world became silent. But quiet cannot survive forever. Wherever there is light, there will always be darkness waiting to rise up once again.

Author's Note

Remember this is only a first draft! Comment and tell me what you think!

Reviews

[Cheshire]

Since its the first draft, I won't comment on the grammatical or spelling aspect, although if you do want some editing tips, let me know.

Decent ideas, but sometimes the plot seems a bit rushed. Try to transition changes of setting and characters a bit smoother, and flesh out the story some. At points, it almost seems like a constant firing of straight information, rather than a story unfolding. It started off well, but then it was like you were just trying to get the story out of your head as fast as possible. Imagine the story in your head as you are writing it, almost like a movie. If you constantly jump around, or can't picture what is happening (after writing it, during proofread) then it probably needs a bit more detail.

[Dave Vaught]

I find it difficult to not rush the story as I write it because I myself know the story so well and don't know exactly what details are the most/least important. I sat down the other day and ran through my paper copy of my book (I write in a notebook and then type it to give me more opportunities to revise) while playing it like a movie in my head as you suggested. I think that helped me some. Hopefully you'll retread after the final revisions are made and you'll find it more enjoyable. I appreciate your feedback!

[Dave Vaught]

*re-read

[Anonymous00]

I can really only repeat what I left on your FB profile. There is a program online called Google docs that'll allow us both to parcel out your intro in real time on the same document. If you're interested, message me on FB, (that what I get it faster), and at some point we'll head in there. To reiterate, you've got some talent as a writer Dave, you already know how to write well. The only issue I'm seeing is that you're growing impatient with your own story, and not allowing the plot to come out on it's own, but rather giving it all away to your reader.