Ten Years Ago...
"Maroka, take Caula and go fetch me some water from the well!" An old grizzled voice shouts as he returns to pounding away at a long piece of metal, this voice belonged to Gildar a blacksmith from the town of Camig. His head glistening with sweat that began running down his singed black beard onto his burgundy overalls, he takes a moment to wipe his brow with a black apron he has on before returning to his work bringing his hammer down with the force and passion of ten strong men. While he was rough looking on the outside Gildar cared deeply for the ones he called family and would seldom harm anyone, even those who had wronged him.
Gildar has been producing enchanted equipment for the last forty years, ever since his dad handed him a hammer. The sale of Gildar's crafts are enough to support the entire town as magical equipment is hard to come by outside the cities of Gyldra or Novar, and a reliable smith to forge it is even more of a rarity. For this reason Camig had been peaceful and prosperous even though it was small and still considered to be a young town in terms of age. Camig had only been established around eighty years ago, Gildar's father Sorvir was one of the first people to settle there. Having built a small home on the outskirts of a forest Sorvir practiced his smithing skills and soon people had gathered. Some came simply to buy his finely crafted wares and others to trade various goods and services for his equipment, from this the town of Camig sprung to life.
"You got it Old Man Gil!" Maroka shouts grabbing a metal pail from the workbench as she quickly runs out of the shops front door, heading towards what she knows as home.
"I really hate when she calls me that.'' Gildar quietly thinks to himself with a smile.
"Caulaaaaaaaaa!!!!" Maroka yells from outside small wooden home, the door splotched with several colors from the girls childhood games.
"Gil wants us to go get him some water from the well hurry up let's go!"
"Alright alright relax I'm coming already," Caula states through her long yawn as she opens the door to their home, the sun causing her to squint and attempt to block it with one hand.
"Caula your hair! It's ridiculous!" Maroka shouts through her laughs.
"Ughhh I hate having curly hair." Caula replies through a sigh before she finds herself smiling at her sister.
Caula and Maroka are twins both nine years old and the youngest in the town of Camig. Gildar looks after both of the girls, as their mother died giving birth and their father perished in a hunting accident only two weeks after. He believes that Caula and Maroka have given him a new purpose, one which he felt he lost when his wife Eleayne died of illness five years prior. Caula, only seconds older stands a few inches taller than Maroka, has fair skin, long blonde hair, and green eyes. Maroka shares the same fair skin; however she has shorter wavy black hair and light hazel eyes that always seem full of curiosity.
"You're always sleeping Caula what's the deal?" Maroka asks.
"Better than working." Caula jokingly replies. "Now let's go!" she yells towards her sister as she begins to run towards the town gates.
The well stands at the top of the hill just a few minutes outside the town overlooking a vast valley, and at the edge of that valley lies The Forest of Ghan. People from Camig told their children stories of these woods and how nothing but death lingers within warning them to never go near.
The girls make their way outside the town waving and smiling at the townspeople they pass by. The people of Camig loved both Maroka and Caula, believing that they deserved a happy life after such a hard childhood.
Once they reach the well Maroka fills the pail she brought from the shop with water and sits it on the ground and lies down in the grass staring up at the open sky. Caula decides to join her and as they enjoy the beautiful day they are both happy, even without parents they still have family and a place to call home.
"Do you remember that time Gil burned his hand?" Caula asks while observing a cloud passing by above them.
"Of course I do!" Maroka replies now sounding excited. "That's when he used that magical rock thing to fix it and.."
"An Aurostone" Caula interrupts her sister. "Small stones, some no bigger than a pebble enchanted with all sorts of spells." She continues to explain.
"After that he gave us each a book about things like that, have you been reading yours?" Caula asks her sister as she stands up, again using her hand to block the sun from her face.
"Not really, I'd rather see them get used, reading about them is boring." Maroka sheepishly replies as Caula begins to scold and lecture her for the next several minutes.
At the first chance she gets Maroka interjects "Guess we should head back so old man Gil doesn't come looking," as they have been at the well a little longer than they should have been.
"Yeah you're probably right he's so quick to worry." Caula replies with a smile and laugh deciding to save the rest of her lecture for another day.
As they begin their descent down the hill they see a great dark cloud lingering over only Camig, they look at each other both shocked and confused and begin racing towards the town. As they get closer they notice a bone chilling feeling, some sort of pressure in the air. This pressure was being caused by a form of magic, dark evil magic that had been considered long dead, magic that brings nothing but destruction. The girls both see Gildar now wearing his old plated armor frantically searching around town as if he's lost something dear to him.
"Old man Gil what's happening?!" Maroka yells as she gets closer to the gate with her sister.
Gildar turns to meet both of their eyes full of fear and concern, and yells out his final words. "Girls Run!"
With that final statement a mist of darkness enshrouded the entire town inside the gates, draining the life of anything caught within. Trees and flowers wither, as bodies crumble to dust. In shock both girls are frozen unable to move or comprehend what they've witnessed from just outside the town gate. The happy life they had merely hours ago extinguished in an instant.
"Well, well, what ever do we have here?" asks a menacing voice several paces behind the girls. This voice belongs to Hildran a dark mage from The King's Court.
The girls turn around to see a young man dressed in all black leathers with matching boots as he begins to pace towards them. As shadows begin to wrap around Hildran he raises his right arm palm facing towards Maroka.
"Shadow Spike!" He yells as a long jagged looking dark shadow shoots forward from his palm.
Maroka feels two hands on her side before being pushed to the ground. As she is falling she sees Caula flash a faint smile in her direction before the shadow pierces her chest and blood begins running from her mouth. Maroka is helpless as she watches the life drain from her sister's green eyes.
She scrambles to catch the body of her slain sister, but as she prepares to make contact Caula's body quickly turns into ash that blows past Maroka in the wind.
"CAULAAAAAA!" Maroka cries out as tears begin streaming down her face.
"Pity I thought about making her my plaything before killing her, but I guess you'll do fine." He starts walking towards Maroka with an evil intent.
Maroka's sight sharpened as tears continued pouring down her face, it was in this very moment that her eyes shimmered and changed from their normal hazel to an almost scarlet color.
As she stands up Hildran stops and says "Good girl, it looks like you know how this is going to go so don't make things difficult."
Maroka who was looking down at the ground where her sister stood moments ago quickly shoots a piercing glare in Hildran's direction. She slowly raises her right hand above her head palm pointed towards the sky and the dark mist surrounding the town vanishes in what seems like an instant.
"What's this!?" Hildran thinks to himself surprised as he begins walking towards Maroka once again.
She lowers her hand and falls to her knees shaking, a swelling storm of emotions and power inside her.
"Whatever it is looks like she isn't in full control" Hildran continues to think to himself.
"Impressive but now you die!" He shouts as he raises his hand once again pointing it toward Maroka.
"Shadow Spike!" He once again yells as another dark jagged shadow shoots from his palm toward her.
From her knees Maroka cries out at the top of her lungs "STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!!!!"
A light immediately begins radiating from Maroka and engulfs the entire town along with Hildran, wiping away any shadows that remained. Just before the light reached him he was able to send a message through a magical thought link to the King, "Beware the girl with red...." As the light fades Maroka collapses to the ground as her eyes return to their normal hazel color before losing consciousness, the only survivor from the town of Camig.