Legend
By Richard Alonzo
Copyright © 2013 Richard Alonzo
All Rights Reserved
There is no greater treasure than knowledge which is why all men fear and envy the scholars
Table of Contents
Foreword
Prologue
Vallen and the Void
The First Age of Men
The Second Age of Men
Epilogue
About the Author
Other books by Richard Alonzo
Connect with Richard Alonzo
Foreword
A few years ago, after one of my many re-readings of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings I decided to sit down and write my own Opus Magnus. An epic fantasy novel detailing the heroic struggles of ordinary everyday folk called upon to perform extraordinary feats of bravery and overcome impossible odds in the age old battle between the forces of good and evil. It remains for now an unfinished project.
However no story exists within a vacuum except perhaps one set in the inky blackness of outer apace, but I digress. In order for the world one is creating to be credible and believable it needs its own back-story, a fantasy within a fantasy as it were. Thus the lost legend was born outlining some of the folklore, legends and myths that would provide a narrative framework for future adventures in this strange and mysterious land. I hope you enjoy it for my travels may yet take me back here in search of more lost legends one day.
Prologue
My name is Scholasticies, the last of the scholars and I have travelled many leagues across treacherous lands to reach the ruins of the Golden Temple, a building as old as time itself. I come in search of a great treasure, not the vulgar kind as found in gold and jewels but a treasure of the mind.
Deep beneath the ruins in the temple catacombs lies a long lost archive full of ancient scrolls, parchments, papers, dusty tomes of long forgotten lore, legend and myth. Tales of great wars and bloody battles that have long since faded from the memories of men, stories of epic quests lost in the mists of time. The titanic struggles of valiant heroes and the treachery of fey villains, noble sacrifices made and the dark deeds committed, all forgotten by those who should have carried the flame to bring light into the darkness.
I Scholasticies have made it my life’s work to recover these Lost Legends to remind men once more of what brave deeds they are capable of, as the darkness of the long night threatens once more to descend upon our fair lands. To inspire those with true and righteous hearts to action and warn those who would seek refuge in ignorance of the fate that awaits them.
Join me then as retell the first and perhaps greatest of all the Lost Legends of how our world came into being and of the heroes who forged the first and perhaps the greatest Kingdom of men and its fall.
Vallen and the Void
In the beginning there was the void and Vallen, the creator of all things, and in it he spied a small cold rock, alone in the dark. The Lord Vallen took pity upon the rock and upon the canvas of the void he painted the stars, named them and breathed life into them so they became the children of Vallen. His children also took pity upon the rock and shone their light upon it to warm it, they told it stories and sang to it.
Eventually the brightest of all Vallen’s Children Shaula came to Vallen and begged him to give the rock life so that it might wonder at the splendour of the universe he had created and know of the warmth and love that the stars showered upon it.
Then Vallen went into his garden beyond the stars and took the sacred fruit of creation from the one tree, the giver of all life that he kept there, and bade Shaula and her brethren to use its seeds to give life to rock. Long and hard was their work and they laboured many days and nights to complete their task. Bringing to life the stories they told and the songs they sang to the rock. When it was finished they called Vallen and asked him to look upon their work. Lord Vallen saw that the rock was barren no longer, but teeming with life from the deepest ocean to the highest snow capped peak and declared it was good.
But Lord Vallen also declared that something yet was missing, so he took some clay from the earth that now covered the rock and moulded it into various shapes and one-by-one breathed life into them and set them down again upon the rock.
The first of the creatures he created were slender and elegant, slim of face and body, with high pointed ears. These Vallen called the elves, the children of the stars, declaring they would live to a great age, worshiping the children of Vallen and be the protectors of all they created upon the face of the earth.
Next he created the dwarfs, stout and hairy, strong both of heart and limb, lovers of rock. They would remind the earth of its roots long ago in the emptiness of the void and protect the foundations of all that lived above it and mine the many gems and other wonders that lay hidden there so that others might marvel at their beauty.
Last of all Vallen created man, a fragile creature, short of span and frail in limb, but to man he gave the greatest gift of all for he created him in his own image, that he might seek the wisdom of Vallen. “For the light that burns the brightest also burns the shortest.” Spoke Vallen . “That is both man’s blessing and his curse.”
His children then looked upon the earth with wonder and saw that it was now complete and as they sang his praises the universe burnt all the more brightly in celebration of the life he had given to it.
But amid all this joy Hadar, Shaula’s brother, grew bitter and envious. Long had he lived in his sister’s shadow and craved his own place in the heavens where his and his splendour alone would be worshiped by all who saw him. So while Vallen’s children celebrated he transformed himself into a dark serpent, black as ebony, secretly he slid into the garden beyond the stars and partook of the fruit of the one tree, with it came the knowledge of life and death, a dark and terrible power that hither too only Vallen himself had possessed.
Hadar having gained the fruit returned not to the stars, but came upon the earth and hid in the caverns beneath the great mountains of the north where the dwarfs did not yet delve and in secret long did he live their attempting to master the knowledge that he had gained and many foul creatures did he create from the bitter sapling he had grown from the stolen fruit. Orcs, goblins, trolls and other foul beasts to do his bidding and trouble the lives of elves, dwarfs and men, but most foul of all were the brenalin, a corrupt abomination of the races that walked the earth. Grey as goblins, slender as elves, but with the faces of men, and strength of an orc they spread terror across the land. Tearing and feasting on the flesh of all living things with their evil fangs.
When the children of Vallen saw what Hadar had done they called a council of war and pleaded with Vallen to call forth death and destruction and wipe the name of Hadar from both the earth and the heavens. Vallen refused revealing that the troubles that now beset the earth were but the first test of men and that he would not wage war against Hadar. Therefore to Shaula he gave a sapling, also from the one tree, as pure as was the one Hadar kept corrupt and transforming her into a golden serpent bade her build a temple upon the earth around the tree as a beacon of light and hope against the darkness and despair of Hadar.
Then he declared that all must choose, and choose freely, which path to follow, that of Shaula or Hadar. That man must prove himself worthy of Vallen or perish in the attempt. Thus began the first age of men.
The First Age of Men
Long and bloody were the battles that raged across the first age. Kingdoms rose and fell, great leaders lost in the mist of time and none prevailed. Many were called to wonder at the beauty of the temple of Shaula and the one tree and pledged their lives in service to Vallen. Thus were born the knights of Vallen. An order that bore allegiance to no earthly King, but gave their lives in service to Shaula
and pledged to uphold all that was true in the world of men and balance the forces of good against evil. But many also had a dark heart and worshiped Hadar and a great fortress arose in the North from whence great armies of fell beasts and men sallied forth to wreak havoc upon all who challenged his will. While the brenalin roamed far and wide striking terror into the hearts of all who crossed their path.
Then when all seemed lost, the dwarfs had retreated deep into their mines, the elves their woods and darkness stalked the very boundaries of the Golden Temple a great warrior, Venhorn, arose from the ranks of the knights of Vallen. His lineage uncertain, his origins unknown, some say he was Vallen himself in human form, but he rallied and united the divided houses of men, elves and dwarfs, drove back the dark horde from the temple, forging a mighty empire from the fragmented kingdoms of men. At the heart of this empire he built a mighty citadel and there he sat upon the throne of