World of Iofarona

Chapter 1 The unexpected journey

                                                                     Year 25, 000

It was past midnight. Rain was pouring in the Elf Realm, the capital Meran Alora. Shanyrria Moonwhisperer could not fall asleep, despite liking the sound of the rain drops. All she could think about was the recent events - how her father, Talfryn Moonwhisperer, the king of the elves had departed this world and his last wish: to keep that bright ruby he gave her protected and not let anyone else use it. But what was that ruby and it's purpose? Her father hadn't had the chance to tell her after his sudden death. "Well...morning is wiser than evening," she thought, and then she closed her eyes gently.

The Elf Realm was a place where the elves lived and always have lived. It was their precious home, the land belonged to them and they belonged to the land. Forgotten was the time of the first settlers and forgotten was a great battle. A battle, which turned into vague memories, memories, which turned into myth, myth which turned into a legend. Elfs believed in five gods from which sprouted this legend and their calendar. They respected their gods and spoke to them, even if they did not answer. Notorious temples with marvelous altars were constructed in their name. Iofarona was the name given by the elfs to this world later adapted by other races thus it came to be known as The World of Iofarona. 25 000 years ago, the legend said, the Five Gods descended on this land and protected this race in a bloody battle against the corrupted ones and their leader - Zane Shadowwalker. He had brought tens of thousands unholy creatures to kill and destroy everything that breaths and even the most powerful elven magicians then couldn't confront Zane. Or those who did, never returned. The much smaller army of the elves had no chance and was going to be mercilessly wiped out unless their Gods helped them. When the gods descended on this land, the army of Zane and Zane himself had almost defeated the elves. They began slaughtering Zane's troops, but he was unstoppable and his troops were innumerable, for every one dead, two more popped up. The gods knew how to end this, the solution was to kill their leader. The goddess of Life Iofarona fought Zane using her bow to shoot hundreds of arrows towards Zane, the god of war swung his magical axe multiple times, trying to wound Zane, all of this, unsuccessfully. The gods of Time, Water, and Death, also tried to hurt him, but his skin seemed to be more robust than his armour as if he was sort of immortal. Then the crows pecked his eyes out, but even then he didn't falter. Zane, even with his eyes pecked out, he was able to send a powerful wave of magic against the god of war and knocked him down in unconscious. How can a creature stronger than a god exist in this world? But no, Zane was no being of this world. Iofarona did the inconceivable to stop this evil. She used the very essence of her soul to strike Zane with a magic so mighty that it literally segregated his body to hundreds of pieces. One thing was unaffected, though. Zane's heart. It was still beating after his dead. Unfortunately, Iofarona's body was lying on the ground, lifeless. Her soul had spread around this whole world, renewing the nature. All of the unholy creatures retreated from the battlefield and no one has ever seen them again. And this is how the land "Realm of the Five Gods," and this world's name "world of Iofarona," have received their names. Or at least the legend says so.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake uuuuuup!!!" Shanyrria's younger sister Ialantha kept shouting.
"In the name of the Five, what time is it?"replied with annoyance Shanyrria.
"It's already noon, Shanya. And by the way our uncle wants to see you."
"Fine, I'll go," mumbled Shanyrria. After that she slowly got out of her bed still half-asleep. Her prolonged white hair, bright and alike a full moon in a cloudless night was a mess. It was the first thing she fixed. In fact, it was always the first thing she did as soon as she woke up. Shanyrria's skin was pale, her eyes - lovely yellow colour. They were also positioned on the exactly same range apart from the nose, which was small. She was not very tall for her kind, but her hair was not the only thing that could distinguish her as her figure was thin and elegant, and her face - pretty.A fairy tale beauty - you would say. She put on her slippers and went downstairs where her uncle had waited for her to wake up.

"Morning, uncle Eldar," blurted out Shanyrria.
"Morning, Shanya. Did you sleep well," asked her uncle in a calm and deep voice, staring through the window and thinking. Although elves did live longer than any other race, around 2 millennia, except magicians, off course, Shanya's uncle and the current leader of the elves Eldar The Moonwhisperer, who had succeeded her father, was quite old and and soon had to be replaced by fresh strength. He had many wrinkles on his face, and chestnut long hair, fixed in a rattail as he did not like it swinging back and forth.
"Er...yes. Ialantha said you wanted to see me. What's the matter?"
"I have a task for you. I need someone whom I can trust to go to a convocation in the Valley of Kings to meet with them humans...This race is so arrogant, and so foolish. One day you might succeed me and you have to learn to cope with any situations - difficult or not. What do you think ? Do you want to go ?
"Yes, I don't mind to go. It's all so boring here in the castle anyway. But I have a question, what is the purpose of this meeting, uncle?" she asked with sparks in her eyes, curiously.
"Very well then. I shall send somebody with you, maybe more than one, you know...just in case. You shouldn't travel alone. The road isn't safe enough. As for the reason, I, myself, don't know. It wasn't mentioned in the letter that I received yesterday from the humans' king, king Jorden. You have to set off tomorrow. I'll organize the rest," he answered her as he turned slowly to her, with hands behind his back.

The elves were experts in cures, magic and were renowned for their longevity, wisdom and last, but not least important - their unique eyes. Every elf when born had different colour of the eyes - red, black, green, blue, etcetera. As concerning battles and strategic planning - they were not the most qualified, but they were trained and if it came to battle - they would know how to react, nevertheless they did not like fighting and were a rather peaceful nation, who wouldn't kill even a fly unless necessary. Elves loved nature and had always been its protector. They also used it to drain magic, but not for harm. Most of the times for cures. This is the kind of people they were.

A new day began. Two hooded figures were standing on the road, in this rainy day. It looked like as if they were waiting for some event to happen. After a while one of them, dark skinned and rather old sit down on a trunk nearby. His ears were lengthened and curved, just like his nose, perhaps - to match them. On his right hand's index he had impressive shamrock green coloured ring with a wolf as a symbol. Belmorn was a famous and respected magician of the elf race. The other figure, Pharom was also of the elf race, like Belmorn, but not famous at all. However, he was at least 2 feet taller than him, and also was young-looking. He was light-skinned and freckles sprinkled across his nose and his northern cheeks. With a heater shield in his left hand, a long sword in his right hand , and a huge sack on his back, he appeared to be fully-equipped, while the magician barely carried anything. Well he did actually carried something - his staff. It was made of hardwood and at the top shaped like a human hand, tightly covering a small shiny crystal with its fingers.

Suddenly they turned their eyes to the cloaked figure walking on the road towards them. As the figure made a few more steps, they recognized in it the person they were waiting for, Eldar's niece. She carried a bow, a sheath of arrows, and a not very large bag on her back, stuffed with supplies for the journey. As she approached, she greeted them in a considerably thin and feminine voice:
"Hello fellow elves, are your names by any chance Belmorn and Pharom? I'm supposed to meet them here," she said.
"Yes, we are the ones you've got to meet. King Eldar sent us on a mission to guide you to the convocation in the city of the Seven Crows, Krefield, the Valley of Kings. I'm Pharom Greenstorm and the quiet one is Belmorn Blackoak," Pharom replied, answering her question and eager to get going already."
"I'm glad to meet you, Shanyrria," finally spoke up in a hoarse voice Belmorn.
"It's nice to meet you both too."
"Shall we set off already Princess? I guess you don't want to be later for the conference thing, or...do you?" Pharom said, somewhat interrupting their conversation.
"No, off course."

After the trio gathered they departed on foot. The elves were fond of the nature and animals, thus they didn't like abusing them for their own sake. The trio's destination point was many days away moving on foot, considering that the weather wasn't in their favour and the rain had already caused big water holes to form and there was mud everywhere.

-Plop!

-"Arghhhh!" - Shanya shouted.

-Pharom made a remark : -"Be careful prin..."

-Plop!

"Damn it! My pants are all wet now...damn those water holes!" angrily growled Pharom.

The princess burst into laugher.
"Yes, yes, I'll be careful. You should be too," she smirked in triumph.
Belmorn, undisturbed, kept walking with the same tread, thoughtfully. It was obvious that he didn't like chit-chatting much. A few hours passed before he decided to clear his throat, and then spoke up, "It has already been raining straight for 3 days. However, this is not what bothers me, it is the mist that has been increasing its thickness bit by bit. Soon we will need to set a camp fire, and rest. It will keep the animals away from us, hopefully."
Pharom in confusion asked, "Hopefully? I for sure don't want to be bitten to death by some wild beasts."
"Then maybe you will be on guard all night"
"Ha-perhaps-I will."
Belmorn looked at Shanyrria and asked her: "Are you tired? If so, we can stop for a while to take a break."
"No, no. It's fine, we can keep going."
"Okay, as you wish."
At last darkness set in, and they agreed to stop for the night, and continue tomorrow early morning. They lit a camp fire and both Shanya and Belmorn fell asleep. On the other hand, Pharom stood on guard cautiously, ready to encounter in battle any moment. The night was pleasantly silent, except for grasshoppers and owls from time to time. Two magnificent full moons and myriad shimmering stars were embellishing the night sky and faintly illuminating the world of Iofarona, where many races lived: elves, humans, goblins, orcs, and others. Pharom was immersed in thought, he envisioned himself as a chief of the elves's guard. For now, he was only a skilled soldier, but with no leading positions. Maybe King Eldar desired to test him with this task. Shanyrria was worried about the ruby her father had gave her. She didn't want to leave it at home, so she took it with her, concealed inside a medallion on her necklace. She was simply afraid of losing it. There was something strange about that ruby, at times, it felt like it's alive, and this was quite bizarre. After half-hour struggling with her thoughts, she fell asleep.

Meanwhile King Jorden had a lot on his plate right now. A couple of human villages were burned to the ground and looted. Only a small group of people had survived. On top of that, he just had his first newborn son with his wife, queen Theresa. Except for this child, they had a grown daughter, just in the age for marriage. The last king was a tyrannical type, and used to exploit the peasantry for his own good. King Jorden, luckily, wasn't anything like that. In fact, he made a peace treaty with the orcs and thus put an end to this never ending war between humans and orcs. Furthermore, he tried to be in good relations with their race, despite the humans didn't look elated of that fact. King Jorden was physically strong, tall, and very wise. His grey hair hinted that he wasn't that young any more. He was in his room, drinking aged red wine in the afternoon, when somebody knocked on the door and disturbed his tranquillity: "Your Highness, may I come in? I'm bringing the information you required."
"Come in," he said after savouring the last gulp of his precious red wine.
The first counsellor of the King entered the room, and without delaying, he spoke up: "The casualties of the last attack are: 24 killed, 7 injured, and 18 houses burned down to the ground."
The King bashed his fist against the table, knocking down his empty glass. His face wrinkled up and he asked grumpily: "Is this a deed of them goblins again?"
"Yes, Your Highness," the first counsellor answered furtively.
"Let all goblins be cursed then, send as much as possible scouts to locate their hideout. I don't care if they have to go through every single cave and every single land. I want results immediately! Did i make myself clear enough?"
"Yes, Sire." replied the first advisor, Killian.
Killian attempted to walk through the door, but the King yelled: "And bring me another bottle of red wine."
"Okay, Sire."