Prologue


    It was a dark and slightly cloudy night. The air felt as if the world was about to change.


    As a matter of fact, it was.


    Albus Rigengaurd, wizard of Eldoria, rose out of bed dressed in  only his nightgown, a streak of panic strewn across his old face. As he ran, the old man’s mind was in a tumult of thoughts. How could this have happened? The location of the Winged One’s vault was the kingdom’s best kept secret. I didn’t even know where it was before the queen told me, begging to keep the secret safe until the right moment. Then the prophecy. I couldn’t make head nor tail of it. The order to send it through Sir Jakequine was even stranger.


    Queen Aerlene was young when she was proclaimed queen yet she ruled with a firm hand. Peace and prosperity flowed throughout the kingdom. When the tyrant Valdis sought to rule the land of Eldoria, she did not hesitate to rise against him. But he proved a more significant threat than expected, and a bitter war struck out.


    Now, in the dead of the night, the old, famous wizard, Albus Rigengaurd, hurried as fast as his legs would let him. He could sense what was about, and he must see the queen. Unfortunately for him, Valdis already knew Rigengaurd''s plan to warn her. The wizard opened the door into the night.


    “Going somewhere, old man?”


    Stepping into the torchlight was a band of twenty soldiers. At their head was Methuselah, Valdis’ most feared general. In one hand, Methuselah held Hopecrutcher. A black sword feared by all nations.


    As Rigengaurd gripped his staff, one of the soldiers came at him, lunging his sword at the center of Rigengaurd’s body. He was a fraction of a second too late as Rigengaurd pivoted, hooked his staff under the man’s sword and tossed it to the side, disarming him. Then in one fluid motion he brought his staff to a blow at the man’s neck. The second came with a slash from the side. Rigengaurd parried it, jerked the man’s arm up catching him off guard, and then with magic blasted him to the side, knocking him unconscious. He then ran to mount one of their horses, blasting soldiers to the side as he went. As he had just mounted, an archer took a shot at him from his left. Rigengaurd laid flat on the horse’s back to dodge it and then while lying down, he redirected the arrow to hit the soldier to his right. He spurred the horse, hoping to gallop away from the battle site, but the same archer who tried to shoot him hit one of the horse’s forelegs. Rigengaurd managed to kick free of the horse, but his staff caught onto the reins as he jumped. It rolled about ten yards from him in the grass.


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    As he went to reach for it though, Methuselah himself brought Hopecrutcher down on it and split it in two.


    They dragged Rigengaurd to the queen’s castle below the tower’s cliff.


    Methuselah laughed. “This castle belonged to a weak young girl, now it belongs to the mighty king Valdis, ruler of all lands!”


    “It is not over!” The wizard cried, “There is the Prophecy!”


    “The what?!” Methuselah screeched, “Why is there always a prophecy?!”


    The wizard could see this as his only way to delay their trip to the castle, so he recited,


    “ ‘Five Eldorians shall meet in the night,


    To the home of the Winged Ones they must take flight,


    A gift from the sky shall show them the way,


    To open the vault and seize the new day,


    Trials encased in stone await them there,


    A glowing treasure chased by the Tyrant’s snare,


    Unlikely friends will show them the trail,


    For the fate of Eldoria, they shall prevail.’


    Thus it is said in the book of prophecies.”


    “Pah!” Methuselah scoffed, “complete rubbish, if I do say so myself. Though, Valdis should hear this. I declare, how about you recite it for him? It will give you more time with your head still on your shoulders.”


    “I will never say anything or do anything for that snake!”


    “We will see about that! Your sanity depends on it.”


    The soldiers continued dragging the man. When they lumbered to the gates, Methuselah turned on Rigenguard, pointing the tip of Hopecrutcher at his neck.


    “You do everything I say, or with a slight movement I kill you. Understood?”


    The wizard gulped and nodded. Without his staff, he was powerless in the face of Methuselah’s men. It seemed it was over for now, but he knew that this was the night, the night unlike others. Tonight was the night the five Eldorians would meet, and if his somewhat hasty estimation was correct, history was about to begin.