There is an old story that our world is like a wolf’s den. It protects and provides everything for its wild children and is also incredibly dangerous to those not born from such wilderness. Man however, is an adept creature and has attempted to settle in the wild and beautiful lands of the den.
On the continent Sheol within the Kingdom of Cardesnia lay the Dukedom Pylos. At its heart was the city of Lucern where the Duke and Duchess resided. Two healthy children were born in the house of the Duke. A little boy named Wolf and his older sister by three turns of the seasons, Lady. As the children grew they did their best to listen to their parents and understand the nature of their world. Lady took to the sword like her father and did her very best to imitate him, while little Wolf busied himself with the many secrets held within the books of the great library. However, as they grew, strange things began to happen in the lands of Sheol.
Reports first came to the castle of miners encountering hostile creatures, emerging from the stone deep within the mineshafts and attacking without prejudice. Shortly thereafter, the giant spiders in the deep forests, never before having paid any attention to travelers within, began to attack when the night fell upon the land. These stories, while alarming, were dismissed as tavern lore.
The dukedom was forced to recognize its troubles as tragedy struck a small village to the south. Initial claims reported the recently deceased rising from the earth, searching out those of the living and devouring them. When scouting parties failed to report back from their investigations, the Duke himself left the kingdom to travel to the village with his best men. What they found was a devastated village, all of its inhabitants missing. The signs of fighting were all around them, but not a single being, living or dead, was left behind.
The Duke and his men returned home troubled, but found no time to rest. That same night a scout arrived to inform them of another village still under attack. The Duke and his men left at once, but none of them were prepared for what they would face.
The very villagers that they had come to rescue set upon them with mindless anger. Though the hoard was repelled, there was little they could do to console the surviving villagers who had witnessed the dead walk among them, seeking their lives for their own nourishment.
The Duke’s advisor, Sigurther, believed that a disease must be spreading across Sheol, and no person was safe from its effects. The Duke ordered his armies to lend support to settlements near the inflicted lands, and to protect them from whatever came through. Doctors issued quarantines and sought out possible cures for those who were showing signs of infection, but to no avail. The Duke’s very best engineers spent their days designing and building massive walls around the surrounding villages and Lucern, in a desperate effort to protect its people from a seemingly unyielding force. All within the Kingdom came together in this grave time.
Despite their efforts, the doctors could not find a cure for the disease, which turned the skin green and created an insatiable hunger for flesh within the victim. Many of the infected were thrown into the dungeons and kept alive, in hope that someday they could be returned to normal. And for a short time the Dukedom survived.
Then the day came, when the orchestrator of this evil made itself known to Sheol.
The evil called itself Mardok and promised to bring the world back to its origin, wiping humanity clean from the lands. Heroes rose and legends were built as the first people tried to resist the advancing monsters. However, as more and more fought and lost, more creatures were born, strengthening the enemy masses. The people’s saving grace remained the walls, which held the creatures at bay.
Mardok and his sorcerers began to dabble in the forgotten lore, thought to have been lost to the people of this realm. Within that lore he found the Nether, and soon new and ferocious demons rose into the world.
Humanity was not blind to these actions, as the Duke’s mages used their magic to observe the efforts of this evil. Diamond enforced weapons and armor were forged from deep within the oldest mines, and great engines of war were constructed using the newly discovered Redstone. New and more powerful defenses were placed along the city’s battlements, and traps once thought too dangerous for use became common.
Knowing that he had to defend his city, the Duke said his goodbyes to his wife and two children. Lady was fast approaching adulthood, but had two turns of the seasons to go, while Wolf, who was still a pup, seemed all too aware of the events that had taken place around him, showing maturity far past his years. The Duke gave his final goodbyes, encouraging them to remain strong.
The battle lasted nearly a fortnight, but in the end it seemed that Mardok’s forces would lose. The Duke’s gamble had paid off, as the wall’s defenses proved too much for the monsters to penetrate, even for the hissing assassins. But when all seemed over, a new creature emerged from the depths of the monster ranks. In the dead of night, the silent shadow creatures approached the wall, and began to tear it apart, brick by brick, as though it were made of children’s blocks. While the Duke and his men rested, the hole was made, and the silent shadows made their way to the camps of the Duke, unseen by sentries on the wall.
The entire kingdom mourned the loss of their Duke and warriors who were lost in a single night. The golden crown was passed to the Duchess, who had little time to console her children and grieve over the passing of her husband. Mardok’s portal grew in power, and more strange creatures emerged at a higher rate. New horrors were met as weightless monstrosities floated over cities and set fire to everything sight, their horrible wails heard for miles upon end. Then the shrill shrieks of the half decayed pigs that walked upon two feet devastated everything in sight.
It seemed that all was lost until the diamond was put against the menacing portals to the Nether. It was discovered that the very same diamond that was forged for weapons and armor could be used to break through the almost indestructible stone of the portals. Miners banned together with warriors and set out to seek out all the portals, using the suns energy as cover. Victory was again in sight.
However, Mardok had yet to field his strongest forces, and lashed out an attack at the heart of the Dukedom. Using the same monsters which had pierced the wall, a hole was made into the cells of those who were infected with the green disease and all chaos broke loose. Using this distraction the monster forces managed to open one more portal sending a hoard of the squealing dead pig-men loose inside of the castle.
The Duke’s children were hidden in a trap door under the throne while their mother and the knights defended them. When the night was over, the monster ranks retreated wounded, but had managed to deal a near fatal injury to the people. Their Duchess’s life had been taken from them.
And the eldest child’s body shook in fear and anger as the golden crown was placed upon her brow.
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