This is the prologue to my story. I didn't mean for the prologue to be so long but it just kind of happened. Critique is welcome, but please keep simple negative comments to yourself. If you don't like this kind of story just move on. For those who stay I humbly hope you enjoy my story.

Thank You >.<

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Prologue:

Graham tiredly walked through the dark forest. They had been walking for hours and the wound on his back only made the going slower. They had to find the castle, before it grew dark. Graham looked upwards, the leaves covered most of the sky, yet a few strands of sunlight still pierced the dense foliage. Judging by the amount of light he guessed it was close to sunset. They had to hurry. Graham forced his sore legs to move quicker. After only a few paces Graham’s back gave a spasm of pain and he lost his footing. A small yet strong pair of hands caught him.

“Lieutenant, are you alright?” a tired voice asked.

“I’ll get by,” Graham suppressed a grimace, “let’s just keep moving, Lila.”

“But, sir, the claw marks on your back went deep; we should rest for a bit.” Lila replied.

Graham looked fondly at the young spell caster. In all his years he hadn’t seen such a brave young girl since Bryn herself. She was only nineteen years old, but Lila had experienced far more war than any youth should. Even now she had been assigned to a mission that had a low chance of success and even a lower chance of survival. Graham felt the pain in his back where the werewolf had clawed him. Indeed, three of the five members of the squad were dead, and he wasn’t sure how long he’d last himself. He felt sorry for Lila and all she had to go through, but the mission had to go on. Every second they wasted was another person dead.

“It doesn’t matter how deep it was, as long as I can keep moving, we will move.” Graham looked hard at Lila, “Even if I can’t move, you will keep going.”

Lila didn’t meet Graham’s eyes.

“Am I clear Lila,” Graham grabbed Lila’s shoulders. “You will keep moving on, even if I can’t, understood!” He half shouted at the end.

After a moment Lila looked up, tears were in her eyes, “Understood.”

Graham silently turned around and continued walking. Lila followed.

After an hour more of walking, they both froze at the sound of a howl nearby. Graham looked at Lila and whispered one word, “Run.”

They both began to ran, Lila in a burst of speed, and Graham in a sort of jog/quick walk. Lila quickly passed Graham but she turned around and began to half carry him. He tried to refuse but she in turn refused to let him go. Only a few minutes later they began to hear the sounds of the pack closing in on them.

“Lila, leave me, I’ll hold them off as long as I can.” Graham said as he turned his head and saw yellow eyes staring through the trees behind them.

“No! Look ahead, I can see light!”

Graham looked and relief flooded him as he also saw the clearing only a few dozen paces away.

“Sir, we’ll hold them off once we get to the clearing.” Lila said in between quick breaths.

Graham nodded and pushed his body forward for one more burst of strength. After what felt like an eternity the two broke through the forest and landed in a clearing. Quickly, they turned around and began to cast spells, ready for one last stand. But the glowing yellow eyes stopped at the edge of the forest. Growls could be heard and the scraping of claws but the werewolves did not move forward. A few moments passed and the pack faded back into the forest. They stayed in battle positions for a couple more minutes but the pack did not return. Graham began to relax if only for a moment.

“Sir, look.” Lila said in a voice of awe.

Graham turned and saw the castle. It was large, larger than most of the castles he had ever seen, its only equal was the royal palace of Vitru. The castle was made from blocks of grey stone, but the lines were perfect, it spoke of great master craftsmanship. As the last bits of light faded from the day, the castle’s stone began to glow an eerie blue. Once the sunlight completely disappeared the castle was undoubtedly glowing a soft blue, specks of light began drift up from the castle. It was as if they were in the Fae realm from legends. Graham quickly amended his previous judgment; this castle was not the equal to the royal palace, this castle, was far superior.

“So the rumors were true, Lunae Castle really does glow with lights of dead fairies,” Lila said.

“Don’t be foolish, it must be some sort of enchantment is all,” yet as Graham spoke he saw the strange lights floating from the castle and he began to doubt his statement.

He gave the forest one last look and then began to walk towards the castle. But even before he took a step he staggered and like before Lila caught him.

“You really should rest, sir.” Lila said worriedly.

“No, not when we’re so close.” Graham said in heavy breaths.

Lila simply nodded, placed an arm under Graham and began to walk forward.

They eventually drew up to a river that separated the castle from the surrounding land. A clear crystal bridge connected both sides. Lila stopped at the foot of the bridge. She gulped as she began to realize the implications of what would happen if she took that first step onto the bridge. She would be well and truly in the domain of the Rain Traveler.

“Lila, we haven’t come all this way to stop now.”

“I know, but…” Lila looked at the foreboding glowing gates only thirty feet away.

“Lila, the captain and our squad mates didn’t die for nothing, we must continue.” Graham knew it was a low blow but they had to move, every moment was vital.

Lila took a deep breath and stepped onto the bridge. Suddenly a wave of water sprung out from the river and crashed unto the bridge. Lila and Graham were too tired and surprised to dodge, the wave slammed into both of them. As they picked themselves up the wave formed into a mass of water.

“Water elemental!” Graham shouted as he shot bolts of frost at the elemental. The cold energy pierced the elemental and formed chunks of ice in its liquid body. But the elemental simply pushed the ice outwards. Lila quickly shot a stream of fire at the elemental. As part of its body began to boil, the elemental growled. It was a sound like a torrent of water scraping rocks. The river on both sides began to rise and joined the main body of the elemental. The elemental which stood at ten feet now rose to a size of thirty feet. The monster’s arm went over the spell casters, forming an arc of water from the front and behind. Graham and Lila’s only form of escape was to jump in the river, which in itself was suicide.

This was bad, they had no escape, Graham wouldn’t be able to defeat an elemental of this power with his full strength, and he definitely couldn’t defeat it with his mana well almost empty. Lila didn’t nearly have enough power or the skill to defeat it either. They were in simple terms, fucked. As Lila prepared another stream of fire, Graham shouted, “Stop! We are from Vitru! We bring a message for the man known as Sorin!”

The water elemental simply drew in more water and prepared to attack.

“Stop!” a feminine voice shouted. The elemental stopped. Graham saw a hooded face from a window in the castle’s wall. Graham quickly pulled out his medallion, which showed that he was a spell caster from Vitru, and showed it to the person at the window.

“Please, my companion and I have traveled very far to speak to your master. Please, just let us give him our message.” Graham pleaded.

After a few moments the hooded face replied, “Let them pass.”

The water elemental drained back into the river as quickly as it had appeared. The glowing gates slowly began to open. Lila and Graham cautiously walked into the castle.

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As soon as they entered the gates closed behind them. They were startled and even dismayed about having no way out, but they supposed it was better than their previous situation. The inside of the castle was white marble that shined in the light of the glow stones that decorated each wall. Hallways spanned in each direction and silver doors lined every wall. The hooded figure from the window appeared from their left. The stranger wore silver armor covered by a white cloak. The stranger took off the hood to reveal a beautiful face, skin like porcelain, hair like autumn leaves, and dark brown eyes. The pointed ears revealed what she was.

“You’re an elf,” Lila replied without thinking.

The elf stared at Lila until her gaze made Lila uncomfortable. Finally the elf said, “Follow me.”

Graham leaned on Lila as they followed the elf. Graham was definitely at the end of his strength, he just hoped it would last until he saw the infamous spell caster.

“What are your names?” The elf said in more of a command then a question.

“Lila and this is my leader Graham.” Lila spoke for Graham who was having trouble breathing.

“Leader? There are only two of you.”

“There were more,” Lila spoke sadly.

The elf paused in her steps, “My name is Aria, a guard of this castle.” Then she continued walking.

“You’re wrong Graham.” Aria said.

“What?” he asked hesitantly.

“You said you brought a message for the man known as Sorin. You’re wrong. Though my master is male he is not human.”

“But all spell casters are human.” Lila objected.

“My master was human, but he has far surpassed such limitations,” Aria replied calmly.

Lila and Graham didn’t know how to respond. The rest of the walk was silent; after going through a series of doors they came upon a door of plain wood, it stood in contrast to the other doors made of silver and decorated with gems and beautiful designs. Aria turned and faced the two weary spell casters, “I don’t have to tell you what would happen if you try any act of violence while in his midst.”

“We know the consequences,” Graham said.

Aria gave a short nod and opened the doors. They were led into a throne room of sorts. The room was large and several pillars lined each side. Several guards in similar attire like that of Aria stood beside a pillar each. The room was sparsely decorated, with only a few glow stands here and there, but the arrangement drew the eye to the throne at the end of the room. The throne was made of etherean crystal, fragmented light of soft colors coursed through it in sharp shudders. Five well dressed women stood around the throne, each had an exotic beauty that far surpassed even Aria’s elven appeal. But it was the person that sat on the throne which made Graham and Lila stop in their footsteps. The master of castle was a sight not easily forgotten. He had black hair so dark that it had tints of blue in it. His olive skin complimented his fine features, but his eyes, his eyes were the ones that stopped men’s hearts in fear. His eyes were a goldish yellow, with an outer ring of orange that accented the yellow, crimson flecks spotted the iris here and there. As a whole the eyes seemed as if they were on fire, and as they glowed it truly seemed as if they were.

Aria immediately went on one knee as she entered, “My master, I have returned with two visitors, Graham and Lila, from Vitru.”

The spell caster looked at the two scared visitors. First he glanced at Lila and then his gaze rested on Graham.

“Tell me, why after all this time, does the kingdom of Vitru send its regards?” His voice was soft but it carried across the room.

Graham took a deep breath and answered, “Greetings Sorin of Lunae Castle, I am a spell caster of Vitru and this is my fellow spell caster Lila,” Graham looked directly at Sorin. “We weren’t sent here to say hello, we came because Vitru needs your help.”

Sorin tilted his head, “Vitru wants my help? The kingdom with one of if not the most spell casters in the continent, wants my help? And they send a wounded mage and an inexperienced low mage to convince me?”

This was bad, Graham knew Sorin wouldn’t most likely accept the call for help, but he had to try anyway. Graham replied carefully, “Vitru doesn’t want your help per se, Vitru needs your help. They would have sent stronger spell casters but Vitru needs every spell caster they have. An a-avatar has appeared.”

“What? A high or low avatar? How did it get into this realm? Where is it now?” Sorin asked questions in rapid succession.

“A high avatar, Fador, avatar of war. A traitor of Vitru summoned it. When we left it was in the outskirts of Vitru, heading towards the capital.”

Sorin thought for a moment, “And why would I help? Why should I risk my life against, possibly at the moment, the strongest entity in the realm?”

Graham replied in his most pleading voice, “Vitru needs you and Bryn herself asked for your aid.”

“Bryn did” Sorin mocked. “So the proud grand archmage is so desperate she asked for my help? Really how coul-”

“Please, help us. People are dying every moment we stand here!” Lila interrupted.

Sorin looked at Lila, “Ah yes, the child. You are weak but,” Sorin looked at her more closely “Attractive. Nevertheless you are a mageling without manners.” Suddenly a serpentine tail attacked Lila from behind. She didn’t have enough time to cast a spell before the tail coiled itself around her body. Graham spun around to see a Lamia wrapped around Lila. He quickly summoned an ice bolt.

“I wouldn’t shoot that if I were you old man,” one of the woman surrounding the throne spoke warningly. She had gold hair and emerald eyes and her voice held a melodic tone, “If you even such as make a shooting gesture that Lamia queen will bite you’re subordinate’s neck and inject her with venom that she will never recover from.”

Graham looked at Lila. Her face was turning blue from her inability to breathe. The Lamia’s mouth drew closer to Lila’s neck and her tail constricted tighter around Lila’s body. Graham could see the Lamia’s glistening fangs only an inch from Lila’s neck. Graham dispelled his ice bolt and angrily looked at Sorin, “Coward.”

Sorin laughed, and everyone but Graham stood rigid in fear. Sorin stood up from his throne and spoke in a chilling tone, “I’ve been called many things, but a coward now that’s something I haven’t heard in a long time.” Graham felt an enormous pressure settle in the room. He tried to move his hand yet it moved slowly was as if he was underwater. Sorin walked forward, unhindered by the effect that seemed to affect everyone else. With a fearful understanding Graham recognized the phenomenon known as inertia field. When an enormous amount of mana is released it would create an effect similar to being deep underwater. But the amount of mana necessary for an inertia field would be that of hundreds of mages.

As Graham looked at Sorin he had a terrible realization that all the rumors were true. This was the Rain Traveler, destroyer of Telez, slayer of Karn and countless other spell casters, and the master of monsters. This was Sorin, a man who had surpassed human limits.

Sorin looked up as if pondering, “Yes, I think I’ll refuse Vitru’s cry for help.” He looked at Lila, “I’ll take you as a pet, with a little training you’ll be crawling at my feet,” then he turned to Graham, “and I suppose I’ll end you.”

“I’ll die before you touch Lila!” Graham shouted despite the terrible odds. He created an ice bolt in both hands but before he shot a vibration swept through the air in the blink of an eye. Graham’s head fell off, as his body tumbled to the ground.

“Yes, I suppose you will,” Sorin said as he watched his slave Lamia bite into Lila’s neck.