The golden hair, green eyes, pointy ears, and fair skin gave it all away. He should've looked gorgeously handsome, but it was all ruined by the fear on his face.
"Hais.. Elves." The ball of smog sighed and chuckled with mockery, "Everyone was saying in my era that all of you are pure and incorruptible. I guess all that was false. HAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed loudly and eerily.
"N-No. P-Please! Don't go near me! I'll give you anything!" Sirca pleaded with fear.
"Then give me your body!" The smog that is Lord Kelbrom shouted with glee and charged straight at the elf's body.
"Aargh!!!" The miserable prince of the corrupted elf resounded across the land, echoing to the chasm.
His body then slowly lost control and energy as it slumped down, dead yet alive. Noticeably, changes on the body started to form. His glorious golden hair turned into that of a gray one. His beautiful green eyes turned to a lifeless blood red, and the once elegant fair skin turned dead gray. Fangs then started to form at the top part of his teeth, and from his long and elegant fingers of his preciously perfect hands grew sharp and pointy metallic nails.
The energy of nature that was present in all of the elves was replaced by the ugly and preposterous energy of death and decay.
Suddenly, the lifeless blood red eyes lit up and became sanguine red. 'Sirca' stood up languidly and walked towards the throne and stretched. He cracked his neck and moved it to remove the soreness. He then suddenly smiled and talked sinisterly, "Wow. Elves really do have great bodies. Although they are lowly, I could get used to this."
The other cloaked man that was near the throne all the time knelt and crawled his way towards 'Sirca' and flattered, "I welcome you back to Aqiartha, Lord Kelbrom!"
Kelbrom turned his head down to the cloaked man, "You have done well, subject. I shall grant you honor." He said. The cloaked man stood straight and bent backwards, as if signalling Kelbrom to give everything to him.
Kelbrom then gave what his subject wished. He grabbed his subject's chest, puncturing it deep and pulled. Now, in his hand was a black and foggy heart. He then opened his mouth and ate it with glee.
After finishing that wondrous meal, he abruptly turned around and spread his arms wide open, and loudly declared, "Hear me, subjects! Our time has come once again! Aqiartha will be ours once more! They couldn't kill us in the Old Age, They sealed us in the Second Age, Heaven and Earth will succumb to our power, for we are Ichtir! Perfect creations of all creations!"
When he shouted, from all over the realm, inside caves, depths, ravines, valleys, and all sorts of dark places, red eyes opened and thousands upon thousands of black monstrous beings emerged, journeying their way towards the Princedom of Sarqisi.
Inside the capital of Sarqisi, Yaedo.
Seeing the massacre that happened outside, the city was tense and filled with fear. Soldiers lined up and archers assumed formation atop of the walls, preparing for the worst outcome.
As it was night, torches were lit all around the place. Instead of being a capital, it looked like it was a fort on the border with the activeness of the military inside.
In the middle of the city is a huge European-style palace– or more like a fort– was erected. Its tall brick walls emanated the olden aura of its glorious pasts.
Inside the throne hall of that said palace, a man wearing golden robes paced back and forth inside the palace with a worrying face. He gnawed on his nails like a maniac.
"Prince Gios, what should we do? The village massacres are terrifying the people and they are slowly losing hope in the royals." Another man reported to him.
"Have the murderers been identified?" The Ruling Prince of Sarqisi, Gios, asked him with nervousness.
The man shook his head. "Everyone who survived that saw them said that they were cloaked in black, so I am afraid not, Prince Gios."
Prince Gios stopped pacing and stood straight. He inhaled deeply and suddenly turned to the man, "Bring me Sally, fast."
"Yes, Your Highness." The man bowed and left.
After a while, a 152cm tall, gorgeous woman of about 12 years old strode inside the throne hall. A long, wavy black hair cascaded down, reaching midway down the lower back. Although her round face is on the smaller side, which should've been cute, her phoenix eyes, small nose with a high nose bridge and a heart-shaped lips made her look absolutely gorgeous.
She has a slim figure but that didn't even help lessen her beauty because of her hourglass-shaped body. Her skin was tan, possibly due to training, but it also instead accentuated her beauty instead of diminishing it!
"Father, the outside villages are currently in chaos! Bloodshed is rampant outside the major cities! What are you inviting me for and not solving this hellish situation?!" She shouted angrily.
"That's what I am doing, Sally." Prince Gios sighed.
"Hmm?" Sally crossed her arms and waited for his reply.
"I am sending you to Hayle with haste with twenty men and some villagers. Report to the new Ruling Princess and prepare for war, I am thinking that there's more to these events." He ordered.
Sally thought deeply. Even if she was just the Ruling Prince's daughter and was spoiled by him, she didn't just succumb to being spoiled and became a fighter and a strategist. She knows how to analyze things properly and decide the next action correctly.
After a while, she sighed and nodded, "Okay, Father. I'll depart tomorrow."
"No, Sally." Prince Gios shook his head, "You must depart now. This is too urgent to be left for tomorrow."
She was stunned and shocked. This was the first time she heard this much urgency in her father's voice, "Do you know something about this, Father?" She narrowed her eyes and questioned him.
"Unfortunately, no. That's why I am sending you to Hayle." Sally repeated the questions but her father's answers were still the same with insistence.
"Alright." Sally resignedly nodded and returned to her room to pack. Gios then called the man earlier and ordered twenty men to go together with her.
Sally returned to the hall, packed with a lot of things. A sword was strapped at her side, and her hair that once cascaded down was now tied into a ponytail.
"Father, we're going." She knelt and said goodbye. "Wait." Gios walked to her and gave her a sword sheathed in gold. "Father?!" She exclaimed.
"Take it, Sally." He pushed the sword to her, "It should at least protect you from any evil." He insisted.
"But, Father, this is the Heir Sword that casts protection over the capital! What if the killers reach here?" She asked worriedly.
"Don't worry, Sally." He smiled gently, "I still have my personal sword. That itself has protection from our ancestors."
"But–"
"No buts." Gios reprimanded. He then suddenly softened and sighed. He reached towards Sally's face and caressed her cheeks, "My daughter, you will become the glory of us humans. I know it." He said gently and dotingly.
"What's with you?" She put on a disgusted look jokingly. Still, she returned to her gentle face and smiled, "I know it."
Tearing up, Prince Gios hugged her tightly and caressed her hair, "My girl is all grown up." He sniffled.
She broke the hug and smiled. Afterwards, the twenty men and a caravan of villagers arrived outside the palace, signalling their departure. They immediately journeyed northeast, to where Hayle stood.
When they left, Gios clasped his hands at his back and looked at the red moon in the sky with solemnity, "The blood moon heralds the return of the Age of Chaos. It's really happening." A small tear slid down from the corner of his eye when he closed it.
The surviving people from the outside were then saved by roaming soldiers. By now, those survivors were blank and lifeless, traumatized from what they saw. The others were crying madly and attempting to kill themselves.
Looking down from the palace, seeing what his subjects were experiencing, Gios crumpled his fist tightly and slammed it on the wall.
Seven hours later, in the middle of sunrise, the growls of hundreds of thousands of monsters thundered all over the Princedom of Sarqisi. Trumpets and horns bellowed from the cities of the princedom.
Hearing that, Prince Gios, now cladded in bronze armor, clasped his sword and walked out of the palace solemnly. Outside, 500,000 armed soldiers stood straight in their formations. Spears were erected straight and tall with blue flags and banners with the symbol of a silver helmet similar to that of the spartans fluttering on the horizon. The solemnity in the air sent shivers down everyone's spine, but they cannot falter in front of their ruler.
Sweat trickled down their foreheads, their hands were slippery wet, and their feet were slightly shaking.
Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.co(m)