Snippet #1743362

Once, in the ancient times when the people of the land were but hunters and tribes men, a great evil fell upon the world. From the south a great plague of beast and monsters arouse. They cast a shadow over the land as they stalked through fields and forest, devouring the hunters and their kin. The people fled in terror of this evil into the cold mountains of the north. There, freezing and starving, they hid from the beast that hunted them and hoped that the shadow could not reach them. With nothing but the cold to shelter them, the people waited, and slowly freeze and fade away into the snow.

But as they waited to die in that frozen land of the north, hope appear for them, in the form of a man who crossed the seas onto the shores of the beast infested land. With him he brought black iron, With which he made warriors. With the warriors he brought white fire with which he made light. He called to the huntsmen hiding in the mountains, with a voice like thunder and full of pride, to unite with him against the evil. They rallied under him, and together with black iron in one hand and white fire in the other they marched against the evil beast of the south. The huntsmen burned away the shadow covering the land and struck the beast with their iron. They drove the evil back to the far south and built a great wall of iron too prevent the beast from returning. With the land united as one and their people victorious, the huntsmen named the man who had brought them iron and fire their new king.

And thus was born the kingdom of Selina.


Clap was the sound as the book snapped shut. Countless times he had read the story, one that many had been foolish enough to believe was little more then a child's tale. But he knew better, and he had searched and searched until he found what it was that he sought. The seal that held the shadow locked away, as it had for hundreds of years since the day it had been built by his father. Ashi placed his hand upon the seal. The runes glowed brightly before they vanished, and the great iron wall cracked.

"It has begun." Black mist streamed out from the cracks in the great wall. The mist flowed upward, expanding as it ascended. Ashi looked up, pleased at his work. All previous attempt at reclaiming what should have been his had failed, but with this mist he could finally succeed. One of his servants, a man in black armor, approached the ancient lord of the dark shroud. "My lord, is this wise? Wouldn't unleashing the great cloud be proving part of the prophecy?" The soldier shrank back as Ashi's shadow expanded and rouse into a swirling black mass.

"I have already prepared for that." The said with a tone of annoyance. With out looking back he snapped his fingers and hissed. "Arise!" The inky black mass behind him split apart. The different pieces shifted and changed in a humanoid shape before kneeling behind him. Ashi had spent years cultivating these creature, ever since he had first heard the prophecy that would spell the final out come of the war between the denizens of the shadow lands and the inhabitants of Selina. each one was made from Ashi's own blood and fussed with a fraction of his power. To strike down the daughters royal daughters Ashi had birthed his 'sons'.

"Each of you knows your purpose. you will each find one of the daughters, you will observe them, learn what you can about them, and then you will bring them to me. I would prefer if they were brought alive, but it is not necessary. No go!" With another snap of his fingers the shadows vanished, dismissed until they completed their task.

Ashi returned his attention to the mist that continued to rise and expand, slowly blanketing the sky.