A/N: Ok, guys, after a long time of thinking, I decided to delete the revise version and post it under the original version. In short, yeah, the first two chapters will replace the original two. This is due to the fact that I found some new reviewers jumped straight into the original version without going through the profile. Well, at least that's what I think from the circumstances. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you new reviewers are dumb. Rather, I think it's a case of read story first then profile. On a side note, if you all want the real definition of being dumb, you all don't have to look far. The Bush government, the new Iranian president and the Japanese right wingers are just in front of your eyes; figuratively of course.
XXX
Circles of Arven – Prologue: The Beginning and the Ages
Creation and chronicles of Arven
- From the Book of the Seers
In the beginning, the universe was that of void and emptiness. All were nothing, but there resided a spirit, Irunar, who wandered through this void, untouched by any outside powers, for he is the Past, Present and the Destiny which is to come.
Long had he wandered and by his own will, decided to create the worlds in the universe, which out of all, one will be the main gateway to other worlds which he created and would be the world he had chosen to be sacred. Also, he created beings to govern the worlds, those who were now regarded as gods.
Also, to the gods, he gave them the task of creating his sacred world, later known as Arven. The names of the gods, fourteen in all, were known as: Thoren, the Judge, who is the god of justice; Vydor, the Warrior, god of duty and honor, keeper of the centaurs; Eldryth, the Lifegiver who brought forth all life in Arven and chose the elves as his own; Orowen, Lord of the beasts and forest; Aris, the Lady of Wisdom; Olvan, the Ocean King; Varndil, the Musician, who is worshipped by all who love songs; Chantel, who watch over the agriculture cycle and the Halflings; Morave, the Smith, who grant great gifts to the dwarves; Grumash, the god of the orcs; Malak, who ruled over the trolls; Hiuross, the pillar of the Nordens (who were also known as barbarians); Liroth, the symbol of the minotaurs; and lastly, Mylor, the Dark, who betrayed the gods and Irunar.
When Arven was new, the gods tread on its ground, living in a harmonious fellowship. They created everything that was in it, towering mountains, lush forests, flowing rivers and the great ocean. It was not long however, that the gods decided to create the mortal races. However, Mylor at that time felt that their idea was foolish, that the world of Arven, being the perfect world, are only worthy of the gods themselves.
Thus, thinking himself as the correct party, he contested with the other gods and presented his case in the presence of Irunar. Irunar the Creator however saw that Mylor's spirit was filled with senseless pride and rejected his idea, much to the anger of Mylor. Thus, he secretly plotted against all whom he perceived as fools: the gods and Iruna.
To prepare for his revolt, Mylor created countless beings from the earth of Arven, giving them life and bending them under his will. Thus they fought with the gods that shook and marred Arven and was named the War of Spirits. For a long time, the war wages on, with the gods being only able to fight Mylor's forces to a draw due to the nature of his armies. The impact of this long war was felt by the earth of Arven, splitting it apart, portions of the world breaking apart. This event was known as the Change of the World, for not only the originally one land was broken, the environment was also greatly warped in some areas, most notably the land broken to the north, later known as the Northland, where the touch of frigid cold constantly cursed it and to the east, where the land broken off was covered by wilderness, later known as the Wildland.
The war, however was concluded when through the intervention of Irunar, knowing that any further fighting would totally unmake the world, the forces of Mylor was turned back, where in a desperate attempt, he issued a challenge of duel. Unto this, the gods drew lots as to see who would face Mylor. As fate would have it, Orowen was chosen and in the land where Mylor and his forces were forced to, and there, the battle between god and god ensued. For three days and three nights, the battle between Orowen's conviction and Mylor's wrath raged on. Finally, on the fourth day, Mylor was finally defeated and a third of his minions, together with him were cast down to a place Irunar had prepared for them; the underworld realm of the Abyss. As for the land where Orowen and Mylor did their battle, it was no more and forever, it sank down to the Great Ocean and from there onwards, Mylor's name was changed to Marath, which means the Dark One.
And thus, after the catastrophe, the gods set out to create the mortal races, their image according to the will of Irunar and gifted with knowledge and a bond to the gods. The gods, satisfied that their mission was done, left the mortal realm of Arven and went to the realm of Arvalond, which Irunar had created for them, for they fear that should their own powers be unleashed again, the world will be unmade. It was then that Irunar decided to create a spiritual race named the Hardis, who would aid the gods in ruling Arven and its races from their godly realm. Also, Irunar created a new god to take Marath's place. Hiram was his name and he ruled over the shadows, where his followers await in anticipation for the blood of Marath's minions.
Irunar, however, also foresaw that Marath would not give up that easily. That's when he created four great reptilian beings bestowed with wisdom and power, their wingspan covering the skies and the power of their breath unparalleled in the realm of Arven. They were called dragons and the name of each individual was listed as: Ran, the blue dragon, whose breath of lightning could destroy all manner of foes; Fafnir, the white dragon, whose breath of frigid cold could freeze even the hardiest of the opponents; Vulcan, the red dragon, whose breath of fire left a wake of destruction; and lastly, their leader, Gwyren, the golden dragon, whose breath of light could erase all forms of evil. Unto the dragons, Irunar sent them to the world of Arven, where they would be bound to an eternal sleep in their respective resting places until the time came for their awakening, where the seal on them would be broken.
Ran would reside in the northern forest that would be Eden. Fafnir laid his rest onto the Northland. Vulcan's place would be in the mountains that would be the realm of Morania. Gwyren took abode in the place that would be the sacred kingdom of Valia.
Orowen and Vydor, seeing what Irunar had done, took Irunar's cue and created the two new races, where they will be sealed in a slumber at Arvalond until the time came where they would be needed when the seal would be unmade. From Vydor came the race of giants, who were massive in size and great in strength. Orowen's created race was the Wolvaan, humanoids who were a cross between human and wolf, whose strength and speed were legendary.
And thus, the First Age of Arven started, where all the mortal races live amongst each other in peace and carved out kingdoms by themselves. Marath plotted his forces against them through his minions, the shadow wraiths who were the remnants of his forces and were under his orders to retreat during the War of Spirits. But thanks to the unity of the races, all attacks by the dark forces were repelled. Seeing that force alone couldn't achieve his goal of domination, Marath sought to create chaos amongst the races, starting with the vast kingdom of Senlir, where through temptations of great power held the rulers in awe. Thus, the Senlirese, through deception, set the races of elves and dwarves against each other, sundering the long standing alliance between the two races.
The elves, after a long war, managed to defeat the dwarves, pushing them back to the mountainous realm of Morania and from there, they pursue no more. It was then that the kingdom of Senlir started to attack the greatly weakened elves, which resulted in the destruction of the great elven kingdom of Cassanoria and splitting the elven race apart. However, the Senlirese were bent on destroying the elves, but before they could do that, they faced setbacks in the forest realm of Eden, where a combined force of elves and the Edenish repelled all their attacks. Finally, the last King of Senlir was slain and the remaining forces of Senlir were forced to retreat, where once back into their home kingdom, Irunar proclaimed judgment upon the fallen kingdom, where he rained fire upon it and the kingdom of Senlir was no more, for it sank down to The Great Ocean. Marath, however, foresaw it and managed to evacuate a third of the Senlirese. Most of them moved further inland while others sailed off towards the humid jungle island of Carmbir.
But the damage was already done, as all the other kingdoms and races were unsettled by the turn of events, not knowing whom to trust. Soon the tension was escalated to the stage where physical conflicts were becoming more frequent, even though they were that of a small scale. Very soon, some of the races, namely the trolls, orcs, minotaurs and halflings, felt that it was best if they were to be out of contact of other races. The orcs, trolls and minotaurs left the mainland towards the Wildland where they managed to live in harmony. The halflings, however, remained in their home country of Yorklin, refusing contact with all the other races. Thus the Second Age started from the moment of Senlir's downfall, where the madness of distrust continued.
For ten thousand years, the conflicts raged on to a stage where the kingdoms and races were on the verge of open war. See this scene, Irunar stepped in, where in a show of wisdom, he sent forth his seers, who advised the individual rulers against the course of war. The rulers, although reluctant, defer to the seers' advise, thus prevented the world from exploding into a great catastrophic war. And thus the Second Age ended. But the damage was done, as Marath had gathered a large number of followers. Apart from the Senlirese, he also gathered to himself the Oraks, who rejected the noble ways of the orcs prior to their exodus to the Wildland; the dark elves, who were more commonly known as the drow, who break away from the elves; and the Darkenkin, humans who forsake their humanity, both appearance and soul in exchange for power where they were spread throughout the world of Arven. Thus from there on, the Third Age began, where Marath plotted his attack on all that was good and just.
Facing the evil onslaught, the individual kingdoms began to form an alliance to stand against them called the Great Alliance. From there onwards, the world was baptized in the flames of war and heroes raised from the neverending bloodshed. However, despite their best efforts, the forces of Marath held the advantage, especially through his mortal minions, who could now summon greater evil from the Abyss through their powers. For a thousand years, the war ravaged all in its path. Then one came, whose existence would end the war.
From the forest realm of Eden came a ranger of great might and valor; one whose eyes were that of shining amethyst and hair of silver. Thelanor was his name and together with his faithful friend, Fenris the elven archer, they fought countless evils and prevailed against all odds. With Nemmaril, Blade of the Wind, none could stand before him and survived. Due to his valor, strength and skill, he was given the title of the Silver Wolf. The turning point of the battle was soon at hand, for the seal on the four dragons and that of the Wolvaan and giants were broken by Thelanor. Also, another great blow was dealt to the legions of evil when the dark elves turned over to the forces of good, defecting their cause from evil. Upon the onslaught, Marath's forces were forced back and in the final battle at the Plains of Pelanis, Thelanor slew their champion, Argath the Damned. But before Argath breathed his last, he cursed Thelanor; that through his might, he would know the greatest sorrow known to him.
No one paid heed to his curse, for to the victors, they assumed it as an empty threat, no more. For three days, the forces of good celebrated. Then tragedy struck unto them, for Elaynia, the fair maiden who obtained Thelanor's love, suddenly went mad and filled with the power of evil. Onto the realms of Arven, she wreaked terrible havoc, leaving a trail of death and destruction. No one could lay a blade on her, for all the wounds inflicted were healed in an instant.
Then through the words of a seer, Thelanor knew that he was the only one who could kill her. Thus began the fateful battle between the Silver Wolf and the woman he loved, where finally, Elaynia was lain low by Nemmaril. Remembering Argath's curse, he knew that it was much more than an empty threat, that in his dying breath, he had inflicted a wound on Thelanor that would not heal for eternity. Thus, Thelanor departed into the forest of Eden with Elaynia's body, never to be seen again. From there, the Third Age ended and came the Fourth Age. No one knew his fate, but there's one thing that they believed to be true; that when a new threat arose, there would be someone who will inherit Thelanor's legacy, where a new legend would be created and the howl of a new wolf would resound through the world.