The corruption of Delinia - Chapter 1

Long ago the was a planet called Delinia and before it’s corruption and final demise there were two parts to it, two sides who lived in peace. The first of witch were the Lacians who discovered the planet, they were but a group of pirates before discovering Delinia, but once there they evolved into a master race, they became some of the most feared fighters in the universe, but never ventured of there beloved Delinia, for they had vowed only to defend it. Hundreds of years later though, the Lacians finally met their match; and that came in the form of the Therinians a barbaric race that’s fighting had destroyed their home planet Kankurg. After seven years of war the leaders of each race made a truce, they decided that they would share Delinia, and vowed that neither race would interfere with the other, and so for centuries there was peace, and both races; the Lacians and the Therinians lived in there own part of Delinia and got on with their lives. This peace didn’t last long, the Therinians elected a new leader called Le’Kjarja, who for the first few years as the therinian leader was fine, but soon greed took a hold on him. He told his people that he had received a message from the stars and that it spoke of them winning a glorious war and becoming the ultimate race, he told them the message spoke of power and wealth and that it didn’t involve the Lacians. The Therinians loved their new leader because he had been so very good to them since he was elected, thus they believed the Le’Kjarja story and declared war on Lacia.


I wasn’t much good at motivation, but at the and of the day I was the army general and it was my job, My motivational skills was not why the lacian leader l’rod Hanthur hired me though, him and I both new that he hired me for my skills in combat, but of course I have to forget about these floors in me, when trying to get the floors out of my troops. “Ok, listen up people, I am not happy. May I remind you that this is not a time to be Thankful, this is not a time to make friends, this is not a time to talk about are families, and why? Because it’s a weakness, if you keep all that in the back of your mind your worries and fears will blind you. Gentleman I am sorry to inform you but this is war, and war is necessary to regain our peace, that’s why we’re here, and you will do well to remember when face to face with Kajara, as he is the reason for it, NOW!! Let us end this war and end his life.” A tremendous roar erupted from the camp, an eruption that fueled our lusts for unity.
          “Ok if you have all read your strategy documents, you will know that we have received a tip that there is a secret entrance to the castle, under the river Naryr.”
“General Ganahl, how do we know this isn’t a trap?” Comforting my men was another of my less polished properties, so I don’t often do it, “We don’t know if this operation will be a success, as is the way for every other operation we put to into practice, but I understand this one carries the convention of a betrayal of some sort, and that’s why I have chosen to lead this operation,” I left a couple of minutes for people to discuss and ramble about what they had just heard and then resumed. “Ok, all units to standard positions except for unit f who will accompany me.” Following this was mostly sighs of relief, together with the occasional disheartened face, I did feel bad, but my face didn’t show it. “Unit F follow me, every one else to work,” I waited a few minutes for Unit F to assemble and the turned my back on the camp and headed towards Naryr.
          To get to Naryr we had to walk through the Braken Realm, the Braken Realm was a huge wasteland, covered by the clouds of the great Smoke Tower; the Braken Realm is situated in eternal darkness. It was said that the first Great War between Therinia and Lacia ended here, it is supposedly where the two leaders made their truce, it had never been confirmed because both leaders mysteriously died soon after, I couldn’t help wondering, thinking about what might have happened here, it took my mind off things for a short while.
           I didn’t know what to expect inside the Therinian temple, I didn’t even know what to expect underneath Naryr, but I did know that everyone wanted to go home and nobody wanted to fight this war any longer, this was my motivation, my only motivation. We marched on, Silent and scared. Traveling through the Braken Realm is notoriously difficult as their is absolutely no light, the legend is that if you walk in a straight line from one end to the other, you will get to your destination; however, if you stray from this line then you will forever be lost in the darkness. There were three members in unit F, there was Kanros, a very strong man with a lot to say, he seemed to scare easily though. Their was Ellerin, a female archer with skills unlike anything I had ever seen, she was my second in command; and finally Assira, the Dragon Rider, his skills in combat were even better than my own. Assira was once a member of the Therinian army, he had bad mouthed Le’Karjara shortly after the war begun, he lost his tongue as a punishment, and he then fled and ever since has been a loyal member of the Lacian army.
          Our silence was broken by the sound of a mass sprint, their where thousands of running paws coming are way. It was Ellerin that spoke first, “General Ganahl, what is that noise?” she spoke calmly, unaffected by what she was hearing. “ What you are hearing is the running hooves of the black hounds, protectors of the Smoke Tower,” although I had told them the truth, it was impossible to put across just how much danger we were in. “ But we not going to Smoke Tower,” Kanros said slightly panicked.
“I don’t think they care, we need to flee, this mission is as good as over if we don’t, we cannot fight what we cannot see,” I said with great fear.
“ General they are coming at us from the west, are only option is to run east; General you know as well as I do that if we veer from our straight line we could be lost here for ever.” Said Ellerin, showing signs that she was starting to loose her cool.
“I think I will take my chances in the darkness. Come, let us flee. Listen for my footsteps and if you value your life, make sure you keep up.” With that I started to run, I slammed my feet on the dirt as hard as I could so my troops could here me. We ran and ran into the endless night, the sound of the running hounds getting louder, my fear of a fate worse than death getting stronger and stronger. I could sense the distance between me and unit F growing and growing. I had just about given up all hope, that’s when I heard, the deafening sound of a great horn echoed through my ears, but I kept running. A couple of minutes after the horn had almost deafened me, the sound of the Black Hounds faded. A couple of minutes after that the sound of the Black hounds stopped. My run became a jog and eventually I halted. I heard my troops come to a stand still behind me. “Everyone ok?” I said, as a way of checking if I had lost anyone.
“Yes, Sir!” Ellerin and Kanros answered promptly, shortly after Assira grunted to let me know he was their as well. “Then let us continue,” Although I spoke in an assured tone, I was far from sure about are chances of getting to Naryr now, and even more worryingly, are chances of survival. I turned to continue but I lost my footing, as I fell off what appeared to be some sort of ledge, I franticly swung my hands around to try and grab hold of something; but it was no use. I was falling and falling and falling, until I eventually lost my consciousness.