Daniel Guevara [Guevara - Scorched Kingdom

GAIA STONE

BOOK I.

SCORCHED KINGDOM

Introduction.

A world in peace is a world that is weak.

Gaia was a world of peace, beautiful and prosperous, where everything and everyone had its place. Where magic and wonders awaited in every corner and a sense of balance could be felt no matter where you stood.

Every race had its place in this world, and every culture, although different, was in harmony with each other.

The Elves: Ageless beings of immense wisdom, who, through their knowledge of nature magic, were in complete contact with the planet and the immense powers it possessed. Small in number but large in experience, they ruled the great flat lands in the center of the world - a large place with the best soil for agriculture, the most species of animals and an aura of tranquility that flooded the spirit of anyone who entered, and in the center the great Elf city of Cylarias, a majestic city that served as home for the entire Elf population of the world, ruled by Queen Alagossa of the Elves and her High Council.

The Dwarves: Strong, stubborn and proud; their knowledge of metallurgy not only made them the best blacksmiths in the world, but also the most technologically advanced of all the races. With steam machines to help them in their everyday lives, they ruled the mountains to the south from their famous stronghold Nel Badhur, a citadel mostly made of metal so strong and robust that it was rumored it could withstand a siege for a thousand years. This stronghold stood in the bottom of a cold and snowy mountain chain as vast as the cave network that connected them underneath. The caves served as the best place for mining iron, coal, gold and the hardest metal in the world - Bronium, a metal that was mostly collected and immediately stored, as it was so dense and hard that not even the Dwarves could process it.

And the Humans: The largest of the races, who through their faith kept their huge numbers together under one goal and one kingdom. Humans had small settlements all over the world but the majority of them lived in Logrant City in the valley to the west, named after the first king of men, Logrant White Knight. This city was said to be so large that some Humans could go their entire lives without ever leaving. And in the center of the valley city stood White Knight Keep, a gem of architecture and art, a beautiful castle that stood not only as a fortress but as a symbol of the glory and virtue of the Human race and their faith, with seven towers so tall that you could see to the end of the valley from them. It is from there that the White Knight family had ruled the Human kingdom since the dawn of time.

Yes, a perfect world in perfect harmony. At least until two thousand years ago, when the arrival of a new race split the world and upset the balance. No one knows how they came to be or where they came from, but what it is known is that they brought war and destruction everywhere they went. Approximately eight feet tall and stronger than an ox, with large tusks and skin thicker than leather, these beasts where humanoid in appearance, but animalistic in behavior.

This race had no name but its members were referred to as Orcs, due to the sound they made when communicating with each other. They were a race so savage and strong they seemed to overpower the others; their thirst for blood was so great that they would kill, rape and pillage even when they had no need for food or shelter. And it was this behavior what terrified the other three races and brought them together with a common goal, to destroy every last Orc that stood on the earth.

This new age was known as the Great War.

United by a common enemy, the Humans, Elves and Dwarves joined together - not only as an army but as a race; the Dwarves opened the gates of Nel Badhur letting the few Humans from the nearby settlements seek shelter inside, and opened a trading route with the Elves and Human cities allowing them to use their armor, weapons and technology. The Elves mobilized small elite units of soldiers to the Human and Dwarf strongholds to protect them and teach them how to fight, since it was said that one Elf fighter was worth a hundred Human warriors. And the Humans deployed large numbers of builders to each city to help them repair and fortify. But probably their biggest contribution was the deployment of clerics, priests and paladins, known as The Order, to the battlefield, Who, through the use of their faith and Holy magic, where able to heal wounds and fortify the spirits of soldiers that had never seen battle and where now confronted by the horrors and atrocities committed by the Orc horde.

At first it seemed as if the combined effort of the three races would be enough to eliminate the new threat, but the Orcs where strong, savage and relentless - they could fight for days without getting tired and where able to overpower a Human or Dwarf warrior with ease, and when they were not fighting they were mating in order to create new warriors for their horde. This made them impossible to defeat in open combat and forced the now overpowered Humans and Dwarves to retreat to their strongholds and face what it seemed was an endless siege. The trading routes where disrupted and only small groups of smugglers or Elf-protected merchants where able to move from one city to another. Despite their best efforts, without the metal from the Dwarf mines it was almost impossible for most strongholds to rebuild and withstand the constant Orc attack. And without the food provided from the Elf and Human cities, most strongholds, castles and towns began to experience hunger and despair which caused them to flee from their shelter to open fields were men would be massacred by Orcs and women would be raped before being killed. There seemed to be no end cruelty and brutality of the Orcs.

Yet as bad as the Orc horde seemed to be, there was a ray of hope in the form of the Elite; a new hybrid force composed of the best Elf warriors and the Human Order, fortified with special dwarven armor and technology. This new armor was incredibly durable yet light as a feather and so easy to put on or take off, that squires were completely unnecessary.

Wearing red uniforms and golden armor, this small elite units would quash any Orc raid no matter how outnumbered they were and they moved from settlement to settlement offering food, healing the wounded, eliminating nearby Orc threats and comforting those whose spirits had been broken, with the power of their faith. It was because of the Elite that the war lasted as long as it did. For over a hundred years the Elite kept fighting and giving hope to the small remaining population of the world, but even they eventually grew tired of the endless conflict.

Humans from all over the world began to renounce their faith; some strong warriors migrated to the cold lands to the north where only the strongest and fittest could survive, a land so harsh that not even the Orcs cared to venture there. These men would later be known as the Outsiders. Others sought comfort in the Elf ways, learning nature magic and fusing it with the power of the light, creating what would later be known as Druids, strong spiritual combatants that had small healing capabilities due to their ties with the light and the incredible ability to shape shift into any animal they desired. This new clan of Humans was led by the red-headed beauty Lizandra, a woman so fierce that she was rumored to be just as good of a combatant as the best Elf warriors.

This new manifestation of magic was quickly seen as an atrocity by the high council of the Elves, but the Elf Queen Alagossa saw something different, an opportunity to end this war once and for all. So the Elf Queen summoned the high council to discuss a matter of extreme importance - if they should share their greatest secret with the world of men.