The Realms - D. R. Rosier
Prologue
The rain clouds darkening the sky above were ominous, motionless, and a crime against the natural world. They weren’t just stagnant, they were frozen in place, and had been for weeks.
King Jonas, ruler of all Uradia, which spanned from the elven forests to the great sea, shuddered as he tore his eyes away from clouds and looked at the field of the battle. It was midday but the land had been in perpetual twilight since the capital city had been under siege. The longer the battle went on, the stronger the greatest enemy that Uradia had ever seen became.
No one knew his name, the first indication of him had been when the proud elves streamed out of their forests in retreat, and their queen had begged for aid and succor as their forest kingdom was destroyed. Since then, the elves and humans had been fighting side by side on the walls, something he never imagined might happen, much less in his lifetime.
Not knowing the enemy’s name, or where he came from, was a major issue in this case, since everyone knows the only way to kill a lich was to find and destroy his separated heart. To break the unholy spells that kept the undead mage alive. The lich was also a necromancer, which is why he kept getting stronger. Each battle yielded new bodies to add to his armies, and the broken and defeated zombie warriors would be reawakened once more as well under the dark corrupting magic.
The sun of course, could cleanse the dead and put them back to rest, and even greatly damage the lich, enough to bind and capture him, seal him in a tomb. The dark unnatural clouds prevented that and choked off the sun’s light. None of his mages had been able to break the spell holding the clouds however, nor had the vaunted powers of the elven queen herself been able to make a difference.
The men on the walls were tired, and few in number. The battle never slowed, never stopped, it had gone on for weeks. They’d already exhausted all their reserves, and it was only a matter of time until the few remaining men and elves faltered. When that moment came the city would be lost. His kingdom would become the kingdom of the dead.
A page breathing hard ran out of the stairwell and on the top of the tower.
“Report!”
The page said, “General Liam says two more wizards have burned themselves out. There will be no magical defenses on the wall until the morrow. There are simply none left, the ones remaining are resting and recovering their magic.”
Wizards could burn themselves out, lose their magic altogether, if they exhausted it all to the last. Without their fire magics and spells to enhance the walls defenses against the undead, this may indeed be their last day.
King Jonas sighed, “I’m afraid this won’t be the safe haven you hoped for, Queen Shalia. We will soon fall, and both our kingdoms will be dust and memories.”
He turned and looked at the elven queen who stood proudly at his side. Shalia had long white blonde hair, green eyes, and her thin face held a fascinating alien beauty, along with a good dose of haughtiness despite the situation. Her body was extremely thin, lithe, and toned at five foot seven, except for her breasts which were quite bountiful. She wore a conforming dark green wrap dress around her body, and jewels of magical power around her neck.
Despite the haughty look which never faltered, the queen’s voice was hypnotically dulcet and soft.
“Perhaps the forces we sent will have luck this very morning.”
He held back a snort, even if he wasn’t a pessimist by nature that was just far too unlikely. They’d sent their best warriors and wizards, along with their best trackers in ten different groups almost two weeks ago. They headed west into the eleven forest, their intention to track the movement of the undead army back to the source, with the hopes of finding the lich’s canopic jar, to destroy his heart.
He suspected all the groups had fallen to the lich’s forces. It’d been over a week and a half since any of the groups had reported their progress via magic. All ten groups had wizards that knew the simple spell. They could summon and spell the closest bird, which acted as a messenger.
He wasn’t sure what to say to that at all. The elves could detect lies in the speech of men, and she wouldn’t