The Dark Nexsus

Part One

A portal opened on the forsaken plain of Azziariah, the portal sang it's black song to the vast nothingness. A creature stepped out of the portal. "It is good to finally be back." said the dark lord Azzrius. The portal slammed shut and the winds howled around the evil mage. "Cursed place!" he said through gritted teeth.

The monks of the light sensed something amiss that very day and they began to talk amongst each other. Even the Mages sensed that something was horribly wrong. "Something is blocking the light!" cried one monk, who could no longer heal since the light flowed through him weakly, the stronger monks also noticed a power reduction. 

The skies began to darken and the Kings of the East began to suspect that the Golden Age was at it's end. They all rode to Menachem, the great Elvish Hall and held a Meeting of the Crowns to discuss the sudden change. 

"Men, these dark skies can only mean one thing! It means that the dark lord has returned!" said King Ulias. The other Kings nodded and some disagreed; "No, rather this is a sign of some great sin." said King Tirias. "No my lords, King Ulias was right, the dark lord has returned from exile." said the Elvish God-Emperor, Kirthas. "I have seen his form, moving about in our lands in my dreams." said the God-Emperor. "We can't very well kill him and exile seems to be ineffective, what are we to do? If we wait any longer, he'll rise an army of the undead and night creatures and utterly destroy man kind!" exclaimed King Pentathiel.

"I know of a man, he was a great hero in the first attempt to exile him. He is a wizard of great reputation. I shall call upon him." said King Pentatheil. "Do not call upon him! His family claims my crown!" cried King Ulias. "Put aside your petty political fighting. If we are to keep everyone safe, then we need to work together." said King Hermon. "King Hermon is right, for if we remain united against this threat, the Kingdoms shall not fall." said the God-Emperor. "Everyone call on your best mages and Paladins and have them gather here." said King Firihas. A black storm glittered behind the eyes of King Firihas. "We shall send the Great Army of Light after the dark lord and exile him once more." he said, not of himself. The Kings nodded in assent and the God-Emperor dismissed the assembly. 

Azzrius, enthroned in his new Onyx Tower on the Plain of Azziariah, laughed as he watched the assembly through the eyes of his flesh-golem, King Firihas. He began a chant to resurrect all the fallen armies throughout history that fell in battle on the plain. The skeletons of the dead clawed their way through the hard-baked clay of the desert floor and reassembled. The flesh was then added but none of the undead soldiers possessed a soul. They were all flesh golems of Azzrius. The dark lord then rode out to the new army and chanted another spell and the million-undead army was clothed in black-enchantment armor. "Forward!" he cried and he mounted an undead, armored charger and led his army of darkness to the small Kingdom of Wintrax. 

The helpless subjects of Wintrax fled or fell before the undead army. Everything was utterly burned and leveled to the ground. Millions of refugees flooded into the Kingdom of Doneitz, all bringing stories of terror and woe. 

The Kings assembled their great Paladin Army at Menachem. Just as the Kings where about to give their speeches to the Great Army, the sky darkened and a shower of brimstone came out of the sky and destroyed the Great Army. All the Kings where slain, including the God-Emperor. Great booming laughter was heard all over the land as the skies became blacker than midnight. 

The Wizard Hadrimar, who had exiled the dark lord the first time, had been wise enough to stay away from Menachem because he knew the first move of his opponent. He had been studying the dark lord for years and had figured him out. The young Princes tried to keep their Kingdoms from dropping into total anarchy and had declared martial law. Hadrimar looked for supporters amongst some of the most reclusive sects of wizards and monks and found a few followers. Dorian the Blind was the first "hidden monk" to step forward and volunteer. Allan Magnus the Enchanter and finally Ragnoor the Besieger came to his aid. Ragnoor was a "mixed arts" Paladin who kept getting expelled from Paladin orders because of his refusal to stop dabbling in magic. Allan Magnus was a genius with an IQ of 310 and Dorian the Blind was a Seer who could see possible future paths within an hour of a major event. 

"So shall we pay our opponent a visit?" asked Hadrimar. "You can count on us!" said the men. They were given supplies by the Kings and as much potions as they could handle. The dark lord had already sent undead riders to the Kings with these terms: "Join me or die" and the new Kings all had refused this one-sided offer. 

The party set out, under the guise of invisibility, northward to the Onyx Tower. They reached the Tower within a week of travel while the armies of mankind vainly fought the million-undead army. "We need to hurry, more Kingdoms have probably fallen by now." said the Seer. "This dark lord has a weakness. He has a massive power drain after every battle. It lasts for ten hours and he hides himself in his tower during his recharge. If we can get into his tower, we can defeat him while he is weak." said Allan Magnus. "How do we get past his honor guard?" asked Hadrimar. "I think we can teleport into his main chamber without a problem. I sense no defenses." said the Seer. "Okay, we teleport in and distract him long enough so I can get a portal up and exile him." said Hadrimar. "Is he impossible to kill?" asked the Seer. The group looked at him in surprise. "No point, these dark lords have been known to self-resurrect from their very ashes!" said Hadrimar. "And yet there might come an opportunity. What destroys even ash?" asked the Seer. "Great heat, all mages know this." said Ragnoor. "Exile him to the nearest sun. He shall not be back." said the Seer. "We'll try it." said Hadrimar. The group pressed on and teleported to the main chamber during the "power-drain" period. The dark lord was lying down on a slab of black rock. "Quickly, push him off and open a portal to the sun!" said the Seer. The portal was opened and the wizards used their telepathic spells to draw the sleeping dark lord into the portal. The ruse worked and the dark lord was no-more. The portal was quickly closed and the heroes nodded. "Something is wrong. That was far too easy." said the Seer. 

"And you are right. That was a trap" said the dark lord. He appeared before them. "You merely exiled my shadow, which I have many of. Now to deal with all of you." and Azzrius cast the wizards into crystal globes. The wizards were more clever than that and cast a counter-spell and once again appeared in the main hall, their quarry had vanished. "Come on! I sense he fled to a hall of mirrors." said the Seer. Ragnoor was hit by a brilliant idea. "We could bottle him up into the Tower using an arcane dome spell." he said. "We'll try it because fighting him here is a time waster." said Hadrimar. The wizards teleported outside of the Tower and began to chant an arcane dome spell. After thirty minutes, a shiny, translucent, purple-color dome appeared over the Tower and the wizards tested their dome. They tried to get in using every spell they knew and it remained as firm as a rock. "He is bottled up in the Tower. He will not be able to leave short of opening a portal to another realm but I doubt that he'll escape since the drain of the arcane energy upon him will eventually render him mortal and powerless." said Allan Magnus. The skies began to lighten and the undead army, deep in a battle with the two-million man strong allied army, fell apart on the battleground, literally. The humans and elves cheered as the darkness rolled back with a great noise and daylight was restored. 

The heroes returned to their Kingdoms and received their honors and awards and after awhile, everything returned to normal for the wizards. The Golden Age was over though and soon the new Kings where fighting each other for the right to rule the entire land. The new Elvish God-Emperor was powerless to stop the feud and it seemed that the victory over Azzrius was a hollow one. The Elves quickly rebuilt the crystal Tower at Menachem and for good measure, they built a wall around the Tower to keep the humans out. 

End of Part I