Prologue
I stood silently in the graveyard. Night was falling fast. The white mist veiled the ground making it hard to see the names on the tombstones, but I knew what was written on them.
My black cloak flapped with the breeze. It was a cold wind. It was a type of wind that made you feel uncomfortable. A wind that made you feel as if you were not alone. An evil wind.
The skeletal trees bent down far enough to touch a few of the graves. There was light, but the thick woods blocked out the face of the setting sun.
The only sound was my heavy breathing. I was afraid. I didn’t want to come here, but I had a job to do. That’s when I realized I forgot what I had come to do. I could almost see my dead ancestors lying around me, laughing.
My mind ached; what was I supposed to remember? The mist all around me started moving swiftly towards something behind me, leaving the names of my dead relatives staring up at me.
I turned around to see where all of the mist was going and saw it form together to make a massive vortex. The wind picked up sending leaves, mist and dirt to fly all around me towards the whirlwind. I tried to stand my ground, but the wind kept pulling me toward the vortex. I closed my eyes after I fell to my feet and grabbed a hold of a nearby root. The whoosh of the wind died away along with the pull of the cyclone. It was quiet once again.
I opened my eyes and got to my feet. I wasn’t in the graveyard anymore. I was standing in front of a tower in a large open field. It was huge with a massive wooden wall surrounding it. I had seen the tower before, but I had forgotten where. I knew it was a sign of evil. I was cold and suddenly very scared.
A voice called to me. It was a cold, snakelike voice. It called my name eerily as the gates to the courtyard of the tower slowly creaked open. Inside there was a group of hooded people. They were about 200 strong. They were grouped together staring at me. They called my name over and over again, begging me to join them. I didn’t know who they were, so I just stood there, confused.
Then they started chanting another person’s name. It was a normal name, but something about it started to scare me.
“Aescious.”
I didn’t know how I knew it was the name of a person, I just did. I knew it was the name of an evil person. Probably the owner of the tower.
Suddenly the hooded figures disappeared and a single person replaced them. He was too far away for me to see what he looked like. The tower doors opened up and a cloud of darkness swirled out. It shot out at me like the breath of a dragon. I was quickly engulfed in it and everything went black.
Then I woke up.
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