@Ethereal-Star It was night in the kingdom of Ellendrar. A cloudless summer night which was chilled enough to cause the night dew the freeze lightly on the grass and leaves.
The cities and villages were silent and in every house, light was emitted. Either by lamps or candles. A strange feeling lingered over Ellendrar. The few who were outside, seemed to be in a rush as if afraid. And they
were.It was not safe outside after the clocks hit their 10th night hour.
The current king was a vile and cruel man. Using black magic to control the people of Ellendrar and in the night, all outposts belonged to his men. Those outside were never certain if they'd see dawn. For the king sometimes ordered whole wipes to remove homeless from the street. Nobody knew what happened to them although rumours had it that they were sacrifised or used in wicked rituals.
But lately another rumour had traveled from outpost to outpost; the king was sick. And was dying. His three still living children, Erian, Anise and Gradius all had an equal call to the throne. The rest of his offspring, were killed by the others. But these three somehow got along. In some way though. All posessed dark magics, and ruled over one of the three provinces the country had to offer.
There was Gradius. The oldest. Master of wicked ice magic, Earth and Lightning. Then, Anise. The youngest child and only woman. Somehow she was capable of binding almost every man to her will. She took handsome men. Had fun with them until she grew bored and they ended up as members of her fathers magic army. Last but not least, Erian. He had not always been the middlechild and because of him Anise was the youngest too after eradicating some of his lesser favourite siblings. Erian was a manipulator. Illusion magic user and could control a significant amount of dead corpses to do his bidding. He was also the general of his father's armies.
But tonight, there were no purges or raids. They had decreased significantly as the king grew weaker and this night, he had summoned his three children. Knowing he was dying.
''My three... children.'' he spoke. Coughing severly and spitting blood as he did so. ''My age, caught up with me and it is time for my body to crumble. Alas I will not be there with the coronation. We rule with an iron hand. And the coronation process will soon begin. Just like my father before me, magic will activate when I die. There will be tasks you three need to perform. You may not want to kill one another though, Erian.'' he said with a devilish grin.
Erian's siblings looked at him but not suprised. ''For some tasks you will need one of the other siblings. Or both. Allowing you three to kill eachother off would be to easy.''
Anise cursed beneath her breath. But let her father speak further.
A magic artifact will activate upon my death and spread into multiple beams that will hit various places in our lands. Go to those places. Find the tasks. Complete them. The one with the most objects, wins the game and becomes the new king or queen.'' he coughed again.
''During your tasks you will discover too what has made me so powerful.'' he laughed, coughed again. ''Good luck, all three of you.'' he grinned before he made a more and more choking sound and died after a few painful minutes.
At first, nothing happened but then, the old king's body turned grey and black before turning into what seemed to be coal and a strange magic came out. Burning red and white like a strange jewel before it shot into the sky
