《DARK WIZARD》 PROLOGUE
PREFACE
Aranor stood there, unmoving, as still as a statue, with his sword raised and his eyes closed, as if he were in a trance, communing with Dontar himself. Rajkal, the necromancer, astride the ice dragon, prepared for a direct attack. He rose dozens of meters to gain momentum, and, like an arrow, the beast launched itself at the human, emitting a terrifying screech, aiming to tear him apart with its claws. Its enraged cry stunned everyone, except Aranor, who stood firm.
Facing his first great challenge as a hero, Aranor¡¯s entire life flashed before his eyes. He remembered the distant days when he was a mere mortal named Gabriel. His first steps, childhood dreams, and the moments of uncertainty and struggle that had transformed him into the warrior now wielding the sword of light, Antherion. Everything seemed so distant, and yet, every experience had led him to this moment.
The dragon lunged from the heights, its shadow covering Aranor. He did not know what the outcome would be, whether he would find victory or defeat, but in that crucial moment, a sense of peace enveloped him. He had come this far, had challenged his limits, and in that recognition, he found profound satisfaction. 1 - The journey begins
2 - An Unexpected Gift
3 - The Enigma of J.V.
As Gabriel stood before the old three-story building dating back to the early twentieth century, he paused for a moment, facing the dilapidated facade. With a mixture of fear, doubt, and hope for a better future, he regarded what would be his new home.
It was Mrs. Zara''s boarding house, an Italian immigrant in her mid-sixties who had never married but had two children, the product of one of her relationships with a former lodger back in her youth.
A week after his arrival, Mrs. Zara surprised him by announcing the arrival of a package. The surprise stemmed from the fact that he hadn''t told anyone his address. Yet there it was, a small box with no sender. He climbed up to the third floor, where his room was located. Sitting on the bed, he tore open the wrapping. Inside was a moderately-sized book of about four hundred and fifty pages: "The Silmarillion" read the title; there was a handwritten note:
"Dear Gabriel,
I''m sending you this gift because I know of your fondness for fantasy works, especially those of Tolkien. I''m glad my previous shipments pleased you (or at least I assume so).
I understand that receiving anonymous deliveries from a stranger over the years may cause you some surprise, and even annoyance, but there''s a reason for it. Soon we will meet (although you have already seen me before).
Warm regards,
Don Anselmo
P.S. The friend of J.V."
It was the first time a letter had arrived signed; before, they only stated: "the friend of J.V." Every time he read those initials, a smile spread across his face, remembering the conversation with Ana, the cook at the orphanage, and her "Jotave." What this last letter said was true; while he loved the books, he was bothered by the mysterious nature of the sender, and no matter how much he pondered who the initials could refer to, he came up with nothing. Some time ago, at the orphanage, he had taken the time to think about all the people he knew, and he had written down their names on a piece of paper. The list mostly consisted of people from the orphanage and some he had met when his parents were still alive, but none of the names matched the initials J.V. This only intrigued him more and gave him an extra reason to be annoyed.
That "soon we will meet" had not come when Gabriel turned twenty-four. He worked during the day at the offices of a supermarket performing administrative tasks and banking procedures, filing endless files. At first, he liked it because he wasn''t trapped within four walls, but soon he found himself caught in something bigger: endless bureaucracy, endless lines, dealing with the municipality, taxes, and so on. Rushing frantically from one place to another, he witnessed the indifference of the employees and the bad mood of the people; the suffering of the elderly waiting for long hours on their feet to collect a meager pension; the insults of the drivers stuck in traffic. In short: generalized chaos.
He felt disappointed. Life was bewildering. The news reflected the constant global turmoil, the continuous conflicts, mankind''s self-destruction due to its unchecked ambition. Millions of people died of hunger, thousands in wars, millions more from diseases. The world rushed recklessly along a narrow ledge, and on both sides, only destruction and death loomed. At this rate, humanity was headed for certain destruction despite technological advances. He felt a great emptiness in his soul, unable to comprehend seeing all of this; he felt like a tiny being who could do nothing to change it; an insignificant being; just another number within that chaotic design. But one day, everything changed. When he turned twenty-six, he finally met Don Anselmo. 4 - The Watchmakers Workshop
"Dear Gabriel:
The time has come and there is no more time to waste. We need to meet urgently. I am living ten blocks from the boarding house. The address is Azcu¨¦naga 320.
Don Anselmo"
5 - Tales and Relics
6 - The Legacy of the Five ¡ªThere is something I don¡¯t quite understand. You say that a god could not be in or pass to another plane because he would destroy himself; therefore, Kalhanor, who was a negative god, could not enter the plane of Dontar. That¡¯s why he transferred powers to the wizard Aldirk so that he could do evil. Why didn¡¯t Kalhanor create his own world and do evil directly there? ¡ªDo these words mean anything to you: "In his own image and likeness"? ¡ªIt¡¯s from a biblical passage,¡ªGabriel answered. ¡ªWell yes, it¡¯s from a passage in Genesis that will answer your very good question. Kalhanor, being a negative god, would create negative beings. They would not suffer because they would be born of evil, and evil would be their joy; but since the beings of the world of Dontar were good-hearted, they would suffer. ¡ªAnd couldn¡¯t Dontar destroy Aldirk? ¡ªDontar is a good god and does not destroy; he builds. He also couldn¡¯t destroy him now, because Aldirk, the wizard, has the powers of a god without being one. ¡ªI still have a doubt: if Aldirk is the creation of a positive god, how did evil take root in him? ¡ªI cannot answer that question because I do not have the answer, Gabriel. Some claim that the plan was devised by Kalhanor; perhaps that is true. Perhaps it was not Aldirk who made contact with Kalhanor, but rather Kalhanor who first reached out to the wizard and planted that initial seed of evil that Dontar foresaw. Don Anselmo paused again. He lit his pipe once more and took a deep puff. Then he continued: ¡ªWhen Aldirk managed to obtain extraordinary powers through Kalhanor, nothing could stop him, and he began to create his own creatures, malevolent beings that now serve his cause. Meanwhile, distrust, envy, and hatred began to grow in every living being of the Primordial Earth¡ªa paradise until then¡ªwhich started to experience its first atmospheric changes and the emergence of diseases and plagues that decimated a large part of the population. Dontar once again summoned The Order of the Five to the summit of Danmajera and informed them that they had to fight against Aldirk to the bitter end, enduring his siege until he, Dontar, could find a solution before the world fell. The great wizards did just that, and bloody battles raged for centuries. Thanks to the sacrifice of the united peoples, Dontar found the solution and pronounced his sentence against Aldirk: "A firstborn shall be the chosen one to put an end to the Age of Darkness, and with it, all its malevolent creatures and the serpent that governs them." This filled Aldirk and his followers with dread, and a glimmer of hope shone for the oppressed peoples. But the response of the evil one did not take long. Gathering all the power at his disposal, he launched the most atrocious attack known until then, managing to separate humans¡ªthe firstborn¡ªfrom the rest of the peoples. He placed them in different dimensions within this very plane of existence and made the existence of one invisible to the eyes of the other. Thus, a single world was born, divided in two, both parts created on malevolent foundations. By separating the human race from the rest and remaining in the initial dimension, Aldirk has so far managed to prevent Dontar¡¯s sentence from being fulfilled. This is how we arrived at what is today the world of humans, a world heading directly toward destruction, and when this happens, Dontar¡¯s sentence will not be carried out. In that case, Aldirk will have triumphed definitively. The wizard had to gather such an enormous amount of power to carry out this terrible attack and distort space-time that he nearly destroyed himself. He was left extremely weak. Then he fled and took refuge in the dark lands of Mundark, and his scourge disappeared for centuries. The peoples overcame the terrible loss of the humans, while the humans began a new life, believing themselves to be the sole survivors of the cataclysm. As time passed, collective memory on both sides was transfigured, turning what was once reality¡ªthe communion of different races¡ªinto mere fantasy. Dontar did not rest, and after several centuries, he summoned The Order of the Five one last time to the summit of Danmajera. There, he entrusted them with The Key that would open the portal, allowing only one inhabitant of the united peoples to enter the dimension where humans had been exiled by Aldirk. The mission of The Order of the Five was to entrust this key to a people of their choosing, and the mission of that people was to designate the person who would undertake the journey to the land of the humans. After leaving The Key in the custody of the elves, the five wizards withdrew. They now dwell in the Great White Palace atop Danmajera, awaiting the moment when The Chosen One calls them to the final battle. Aldirk secluded himself in the Dark Lands to gather the necessary power to definitively subdue the united peoples. He no longer worried about the humans, believing it was only a matter of time before they sealed their own fate¡ªa time that was now about to be fulfilled. All this, without knowing until then about the existence of The Key.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. The elves had to guard it and choose the envoy who would carry out the mission; but Aldirk awoke and began to spread evil once more. Resentment, hatred, and plagues began to ravage the now disunited peoples. Civil wars followed, and diseases led immortality to be thought of as a myth. Only the elves managed to preserve it, but at the cost of their exile; they had to leave the beautiful Valari¨®n and entrust The Key to a group of noble half-elves who sacrificed themselves to fulfill their duty of delivering it to the designated envoy. Time passed, and in the beautiful Valari¨®n, the great council gathered and, by common agreement, chose me to embark on a crucial mission: to find the right man. I was designated the Envoy. I hold the Key that will open the portal, allowing only one person to pass into the other world¡ªthe Chosen One. This Key was named the Legacy of the Five. What I never expected was that my search would take so many years. Let me explain why: The mission was not meant to last more than two thousand years¡ªenough time to find the Chosen One. But the secret of the Key¡¯s existence reached Aldirk¡¯s ears. In his panic, and in another display of power, he distorted human space-time even further. That¡¯s how my arrival in your world was drastically altered¡ªI emerged at the cradle of civilization, at the dawn of humanity. Of course, I didn¡¯t know this at the time. I only knew that within two thousand years, I had to find the Chosen One. Centuries passed, and I realized with horror that something had gone wrong when I crossed the portal. Everything depended on me and how long I could stay alive. The centuries passed. My eyes have witnessed nearly five thousand years of human history. Throughout my stay in your dimension, I have seen entire civilizations rise and fall; I have been a direct witness to unique moments. Gabriel, I have traveled this world far and wide hundreds of times¡ªthousands of times. I know practically all the written and unwritten history of humanity. In my relentless pilgrimage, I have learned much from every culture and every people; I have spoken hundreds of languages and dialects; I have fought alongside great heroes in countless battles. Thousands of years rest upon my weary body. All these centuries, I have fruitlessly searched for the Chosen One among those whose lives bore a heroic essence, among those who have shaped history, among those who have filled pages of glory with their deeds at the cost of their own sacrifice. But no. I was never able to find him. Then I understood that our hope lay in the common man, in someone with well-formed values¡ªsomeone simple, unaware that deep within, in the very depths of his being, a seed lay dormant, waiting to sprout with these values and ideals that would drive him to fight to the last consequence, beyond the unimaginable, to make them a reality. That person, at first, would not know it; he would feel like just another among the crowd, someone struggling to survive, witnessing in despair the slow decline of his species. And today, after so much, so much searching, I can finally tell that person that they have a unique opportunity to change the course of things¡ªto bring an end, once and for all, to all of humanity¡¯s suffering. ¡ªWhat are you trying to tell me with this fascinating story? That I am the Chosen One? ¡ªhGabriel said with a hint of sarcasm, unable to believe a word of the old man¡¯s tale. ¡ªI know you don¡¯t believe me, boy. I know it¡¯s hard to open your mind these days. In the past, humans were too superstitious. Now, they are too skeptical. I only ask that you grant me the benefit of the doubt. Don¡¯t close yourself off completely or succumb to total disbelief. ¡ªHow do you expect me to believe you? I don¡¯t even know you. This is only the second time I¡¯ve seen you in my life. You sent me those books all those years I spent in the orphanage, and I had no idea it was you. Now you summon me to your house and tell me this legendary tale, trying to convince me it¡¯s true, and on top of that, you tell me I have a role to play in it. Who do you take me for, sir? I don¡¯t mean to be rude, but I don¡¯t like being treated like a fool.¡± ¡ªI¡¯m sorry, Gabriel. I truly am, and I understand your anger, but I have only fulfilled my duty. I don¡¯t make the rules¡ªI follow them. And if my role was to find you, then I have done so. It is not my fault that your role in this story is the central one. I am old, very old, and I have little time left. I could simply throw my hands up and say, ¡®Enough, to hell with it.¡¯ If you want to accept it, accept it. If not, do as you please. But no¡­ I won¡¯t settle for that. I have values, and I have friends who still hold onto the hope that I will keep my word and that you will fulfill the role meant for you. If you want proof, you shall have it, boy. Now leave and think about it. ¡ªYou speak of proof. Show it to me, and perhaps¡­ perhaps I might start to believe your words. ¡ªI am not human. I could show you my pointed ears, and you still wouldn¡¯t believe me. But I do have a gift, one that most humans do not: perception. Something will happen this week¡ªsomething that could hasten the end of the human race. I don¡¯t know when or where, only that it will happen sometime this week. Be attentive. And if that convinces you, I will be waiting for your answer. The old man said nothing more. He took an old book from the table and began reading, leaving Gabriel confused and furious. ¡ªI can assure you, I will never set foot in this house again. The old man did not respond. Gabriel climbed the stairs and left, slamming the door behind him. Don Anselmo closed the book, took a deep puff from his pipe, and, smiling, said: ¡ªOh, yes! Yes, you will be back!
Si necesitas ajustes o quieres un tono diferente, dime y lo perfeccionamos. ??