Shadows of Iwote: Prologue & Chapter 1

Prologue

Kingdoms are a fragile thing. One wrong piece of negative news may cause a revolt or bring a kingdom to its knees. So when the Kingdom of Crim's most trusted adviser to King Seifay, Alus, was awoken in the middle of the night, he felt anxious.

"Wake up! Master Alus, awaken! Something has happened to the king!" Alus opened his eyes and saw one of the Royal Guard, recognizable by the thick black armor they wore, standing at his bedside. He was sweating and looked downright afraid.

"What do you mean something has happened to His Royal Majesty?"

"It's dire."

"Out with it. What has happened?" Alus was not one for games. He liked the truth and he liked it fast.

"His Majesty has been vexed by a terrible curse. He has transformed into a large bird."

Alus sat up quickly. His eyes flung open with all signs of sleepyness gone. He thought about what to do and stroked a small black beard that was graying. He seemed to be calculating the political consequences of the king becoming a bird. After all, if news got out that the king had been transformed into a bird it would cause political unrest. Enemies of the king may attempt an assassination or a complete kingdom takeover. The situation had to be handled carefully.  He also knew he had to get help.

"Send word to all our allies and ask for brave adventurers to come forth. We will need help with this matter." He paused for a moment, then added "be sure no one knows about this except the leaders of our allies' towns. I will explain the matter to the adventurers who come forth personally."

"Yes master Alus."

The guard left Alus' bedchamber. Unable to sleep now, Alus got up and paced. Finally he drew the curtains to his massive window back and looked out over the kingdom in the night.

The Kingdom of Crim was the largest and strongest of kingdoms on the continent of Iwote. The kingdom, found in the north-western corner of Iwote, was a technological marval. Unlike the other towns and villages of Iwote, Crim's success and rise to power was mostly due to the large machines built to automate many of the everyday tasks of the kingdom. These machines were created and maintained by engineers--a profession that very few took up and even fewer were any good at. Those that did take up the difficult profession were drawn to Crim in a desperate attempt to join the world's only engineering school.

The castle of Crim sat on the top of a large mountain, most of which that was carved out to house homes and shops. The castle was run by King Seifay, a kind and just ruler. The people were shocked when Seifay was named as the next heir to the throne but just a year after his rule began, there were none in the kingdom that did not praise his name.

Alus pulled his curtains returning his bed chamber to darkness. Help would come. It had to.

         


Chapter 1

From the large trade vessel, Iyouboushi could see the outline of Port Crim. It was a bright and sunny day but Iyouboushi felt nothing but gloom. He shook his head to brush some of his long red hair out of his face and sighed. He was hand-picked by his teacher Gejiti to represent Erutoru on a mission to come to Crim's aid. Oddly enough, he wasn't told exactly what the mission would be, only that Crim needed several people to answer the call and that more information would be given to him when he arrived.

The trip had not been very pleasant despite the good weather. Large sea monsters attacked trading vessels frequently and it was not long ago that Iyouboushi had been forced to help save passengers from one such monster. When questioned about it, the captain only remarked that these were very common nowadays and he should probably get used to it.

"Attention all ye passengers," the captain spoke loudly, "we shall dock with Crim momentarily. Please make sure you have all ye belongings."

The castle of Crim loomed in the distance. Iyouboushi blinked as he felt he saw a black blur bouncing around the mountain up towards the castle. He wiped his eyes and it had vanished.

He shrugged and dismissed it as being nervous. After all, this was his first time visiting Crim and he hoped that it would not be his last.

* * *

"Step right up! Step right up! Take a trip to another dimension, only 600 pieces of silver." A man with a large purple hat and long purple robes was waving wildly in a booth.

"Don't listen to that fool," a man in a second booth nearby yelled back. "A trip to another dimension is one way. He's trying to scam you out of your hard-earned silver. But step up to my booth and I'll give you the power of invisibility for only 450 pieces of silver!"

"Why you! Stealing my customers away from me. I'll show you!" The man in purple began waving his hands in an intricate fashion. A small purple hole opened beneath the second man, who disappeared in a flash.

"You! With the purple! You're under arrest for the use of dangerous magic against another citizen of Crim." Several large men wearing black armor ran from seemingly nowhere to arrest the man in purple.

Nearby a man with thick goggles and a light silver hair watched the commotion. Despite living in Crim most of his life, this man never got bored of seeing crazy merchant mages fight over customers. He laughed at the sight of the Royal Police Force appearing to arrest the man. "Serves him right" he whispered under his breath.

He began walking down the path towards his favorite restaurant, the Sini-Star, but stopped when heard someone shout his name.

"Taylen."

Taylen turned and looked for the source of his name. He saw one of the Royal Police force with a huge black sword strapped to his back.

"Taylen Zenos, the engineer?"

"Yes, that's correct. Who are you?"

"My name is Lt. John Shadowmurk. I am in charge of the Royal Police Force here in Crim. I've been assigned to enlist your help on behalf of King Seifay." Shadowmurk removed his helmet, revealing a young face with black hair pulled into a pony tail.

"I'm sorry but I'm just an engineer. I don't see how I can help."

"That's precisely why we need your services. You have an invaluable skill that not many others possess. Listen, please go to the castle tonight and listen to what Alus has to say. Then, if you choose, you can decline." Shadowmurk leaned over and gave Taylen a small piece of parchment. "This will allow you to enter the castle."

"I see." Taylen glanced down at the parchment. It bared the king's official seal and had a lot of writing on it.

"Now if you'll excuse me," Shadowmurk placed his helmet back over his head, "I have other business matters to attend to." With a salute, Shadowmurk turned and walked into the crowd leaving Taylen alone.

Taylen laughed out loud to himself while appearing to reply to something he had heard. "Yes, Tori, I do believe I agree with you. This is going to be quite an interesting night."

* * *

"Wake up Quaram. Something awful has happened. I seem to have lost the ability to see."

"Just open your eyes Kurando."

"Oh!" Kurando opened his eyes and quickly closed them again. "I don't like what I see."

"That's because we're in a dungeon. You had us arrested."

Kurando opened his eyes again and saw his surroundings were completely gray. Gray walls, gray floors, gray chains, and gray bars. He also saw a small black bucket helmet laying on the ground. With effort, Kurando stood up and brushed off his black robes to free them from dirt and grime. It didn't work very well.

"Tell me Quaram, why were we arrested again?"

The helmet on the ground spun and began to move towards Kurando. Then it spoke. "Because you can't control your pyromania. You just had to set that bar on fire, didn't you?" The helmet hopped up and landed on Kurando's shoulder.

"But I do love a good burning!" A maniacal laugh echoed in the cell.

His laugher was cut short when the sound of a large metal door creaked open. It was followed by several footsteps that echoed throughout.

"Quaram, what's that?"

"How should I know?"

The footsteps grew closer and closer. Kurando backed up as far as he could in his dank little cell. Two shadows appeared at the edge of the cell.

"Open it."

One of the figures reached forward and unlocked the cell, swinging open the door.

"You'll never take me alive! I regret nothing!" Kurando shouted at him.

"Please calm down." The shadow stepped into a small beam of light coming from a small crack in the ceiling revealing a helmet-less Shadowmurk. "My name is Lt. John Shadowmurk and I'm here to make an offer."

"An offer eh? Does it involve fire?" Kurando felt a small smack on the side of his head. "Ow! Don't do that Quaram. I'm trying to make a deal to get out of here." Shadowmurk stared, questioningly.

"You are Kurando the Black, am I right? The blue-haired man who set fire to The Boar's Head here in Crim?"

"I am."

"Then I am here to inform you that you are to be hanged tomorrow at dawn unless you agree to accept my proposal."

"H..h..hanged?" Kurando fell back against the wall, nearly knocking the helmet off his shoulder. "What's the offer?"

"There is trouble here in Crim and," Shadowmurk's voice grew angry, disgusted, "for some reason master Alus deems it necessary to enlist the help of a wanted criminal.  Rest assured, if it were up to me you would be punished."

"What kind of trouble?"

"I cannot say. Only master Alus knows exactly what the problem is. I'm only here to get a yes or no."

"Do I really have a choice?"

Shadowmurk smirked. "You can always stay here and hang for your crimes."

"I'll help! I'll help!"

"So be it. Follow me."

* * *

Alus paced in his chamber with his window curtains open. The sun was setting. He had been informed that several of the nations had responded and sent their finest adventurers with the others he wanted had been reached out to. Would it be enough? It was a difficult task he had planned for them.

His pacing came to an end when he heard a knock at his door.

"Enter."

Shadowmurk walked into the room and bowed. "Master Alus, the last of the adventurers have arrived. They await you in the great hall."

"Thank you Shadowmurk. Please go ahead of me and make sure our guests are comfortable."

"Yes sir."

The door closed. Alus sighed and threw on a red cape. With one final glance out the window he opened his door and walked out.

Down some spiral stairs, around the bend, the castle seemed a maze to those who did not know the path. Finally he reached his destination, the great hall. The great hall was a large room with a large map of the continent hanging on the wall with several dots to represent the cities and kingdoms. In the center of the room was a large table with seven people sitting around it with a bucket helmet sitting directly on the table. There were no windows in this room, only small lanterns hanging from the ceiling to give the room any light.

As Alus stepped into the room, Shadowmurk gave a salute.

"Attention everyone," Alus began. "The kingdom is in trouble and you have all been summoned here because you are the best that your city has to offer. Now before we began, let us introduce ourselves to one another shall we? I am Alus, the head adviser to King Seifay. I do believe you all have met Lt. Shadowmurk." Everyone nodded.

A short, black-haired man wearing thick scalemail and holding a large polearm sitting to Alus' left stood up and cleared his throat. "I am Kaiten the Dragon Knight of Tinnei here on behalf of Queen Faria." Alus nodded and Kaiten sat down.

"I have heard that knights from Tinnei are often companions with dragons and wyverns. Is this true?"

Kaiten nodded and smiled. "It is. My wyvern companion is resting in the room your kingdom has provided us."

"Understood. So who's next? How about you, with the silver hair?"

Taylen stood up and spoke quietly. "I am Taylen Zenos. I was born and raised in Crim and I'm an engineer. I honestly don't know why I am here." He sat back down and sighed.

Alus nodded and continued on. "I see we have an Elf with us. What an honor. Do tell us your name, sir Elf."
A tall man with bright but short blond hair stood up. His ears were pointed and his words slow and deliberate. "I am Aolos Cest. I would like to point out that I am only half-Elf."

"My mistake. From which nation do you hail?"

"I am from loyal only to myself and to that which will pay me the most."

"I see." Alus nodded. "Well rest assured you shall be rewarded handsomely for this task. Please, may we introduce who's next?"

A short man wearing two bandannas, one over his head and one over his mouth, stood up and glanced around nervously. "I... I'm.. well.. I'm Slade" he said very unassured of himself.

Taylen leaned over to Kaiten and whispered "that's an alias if I've ever heard one." Slade glanced in Taylen's direction menacingly. "Eep!" Taylen straightened himself back out.

"Yes, well, as I was saying, I'm Slade." He adjusted his face bandanna and sat back down promptly.

"Welcome Slade. It seems you do not wish to talk much about yourself so we shall not ask you any further questions. Let us move on."

Iyouboushi stood up and placed a katana on the table. Taylen once again leaned over and whispered to Kaiten, "look at those clothes. Where is he from?" Kaiten did not answer him.

"I'm Iyouboushi of Erutoru. My master Gejiti sent me here at the request of Crim. So it is with great honor that I serve you."

"It is I who have the honor of your help, master Iyouboushi." Alus stood and gave a half-bow before returning to his seat. Iyouboushi picked the katana back up and returned to his seat.

"We're next Quaram!" Kurando stood up and brushed off his robes again and ran his hands through his blue hair. The bucket helmet did not stir on the table. "Don't get shy on me now." He poked the helmet with his hands.

"Wow, this guy is a total nut case isn't he Tori?" Taylen whispered to no one in particular. Kaiten and Aolos both turned to look at Taylen. "Eep!" Taylen sunk into his chair.

"So my partner is a little shy, I can do this without him." Kurando stood up taller and grinned. "I am Kurando Madoushi, the Black. I'm a very skilled and powerful mage. My little companion here," he pointed to the helmet on the table, "is Quaram. And I guess that's all you need to know." Kurando reached over and picked the helmet up and placed it on his shoulder before sitting back down.

Shadowmurk snarled and stepped forward to the edge of the table. "You forgot to tell them you're convicted criminal." He slammed his fists on the table, causing everyone to jump back.

"A convicted criminal?" Taylen stood up. "You mean I'm going to be working with criminals?" Nearby, Slade's eyes narrowed and glanced feverishly back and forth between the various people sitting at the table. "I won't do it."

"Gentlemen, please." Alus stood up once again. "Kurando's criminal actions were by mistake. He has been cleared of those charges for his services to Crim."

"That's..that's right! I'm not a criminal. I'm a loyal citizen of wherever we are." A large audible smack was heard. "I mean Crim. I'm a loyal citizen of Crim. Please don't make me set you on fire."

Shadowmurk scuffed and stepped back.

"Will everyone calm down? We have one final guest to introduce. The man sitting to my right."

A dark, sun-tanned man stood up. He was wearing loose, brown cloth clothing. "Tekoja of Eyi." He spoke his words slowly, as if he was having trouble with the language.

"It's quite all right Tekoja, I shall tell them for you." Tekoja sat back down. "You see, Tekoja speaks a different language, the language of his people, the language of the desert."

"I still don't understand why I'm surrounded by criminals and warriors of all nations," Taylen said loudly, annoyed. "Can we please get with what's going on?"

"Yes, I agree. No more wasting words." Alus coughed and cleared his throat. "My liege, King Seifay, the beloved king of Crim has been touched by powerful and dark magic. He has been transformed into a large bird."

There was silence in the room. Taylen opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again, unable to find the right words.

"I assure you," Alus said as if reading his mind, "that this is not a joke. I have witnessed it myself first hand. The king has, indeed, been transformed into a feathery version of himself."

"How was this done?"  Iyouboushi spoke up for the first time since his introduction.

"A very good question.  I believe this was done by a follower of evil.  A cult member who still worships Hoonleex."  Alus stroked his short beard.

"I've never heard of them," Aolos said, "and I've been all over this continent."

Kurando spoke up again, loud and proud.  "It's a very secretive cult, only a few people even know they exist.  They struggle to find a way to bring Hoonleex back into existence."

Shadowmurk glared.  "Are you a member of this cult, criminal?"  Slade's eyes glanced at Kurando as he twitched nervously.

"Of course not.  If I were you would not be alive now."

"I don't mean to interrupt," Kaiten said, "but who is this Hoonleex?"

Alus waved his hands for silence and spoke again.  "Hoonleex The Beast was an ancient demon that once ruled the world.  His power was so great that it was said he could move mountains and shape the planet.  It was a dark time for civilization until he was sealed away by five powerful mages."

"So why would this cult transform the king into a bird?"  Iyouboushi asked.  He had a very confused look on his face.

"To cause chaos?  To try to and destroy the kingdom?"  Alus shrugged, "I'm afraid I do not have that answer.  All I know is what I know."

Taylen now spoke, regaining his composure, "so what do you want us to do about this?"

"Ah, now the real reason why you are all here." Alus gave a half smile.  "There is but one way to undo the curse.  There is a powerful gemstone that has the ability to undo all curses."  Tekoja nodded upon hearing these words.  "Tekoja believes he knows the location of the gemstone." 

Slade's eyes opened widely at hearing the word 'gemstone.'  "Where is this gemstone?"

"Osoph Desert."  Tekoja spoke slowly.  "Worm."

"Worm?"  Kurando asked confused. 

Alus nodded and resumed speaking.  "Tekoja believes it was originally burried in the desert whereupon it was swallowed by one of the desert worms.  In other words, it resides in the belly of a beast and that is why you are here.  You must retrieve the gemstone and bring it back to me."

"So I have one more question," Iyouboushi said, "if you know where the stone is why not go retrieve it yourself?  Surely the Royal Guard is strong enough to kill a worm." 

"There are two reasons master Iyouboushi.  First, should word of Seifay's condition reach the public and our enemies, it would cause panic and quite possibly an attack.  Should such a thing happen, we will need all able-bodied men to help keep control.  The second reason," Alus glanced at each and every person in the room, "you all possess an ability or power that will make the task easier than brute force."

He paused for a moment to allow the words to sink in. Kurando poked the helmet on his shoulder while Iyouboushi closed his eyes in thought.  Slade continued to look nervously and twitch at each person in the room and Taylen shook his head in disbelief.  Aolos and Kaiten merely watched.

"Tekoja and Shadowmurk will lead those of you who wish to help the kingdom tomorrow into the desert at dawn.  Think about this carefully, brave adventurers and reach your conclusion by then.  I thank you all for coming to Crim's aid."

Aolos bowed before being escorted out of the room by Shadowmurk.  The door to the great hall slammed shut behind him echoing throughout the castle.