Reign of Terror (Prolouge)

Prologue1

This is not a fairy tale. Although this has the elements of a fairy tale.2

It has magic, medieval weapons, elves, griffins so on and so forth. No, this story that I tell you is the absolute truth. And you must take me very seriously. Now where to start? I guess with all stories one should start at the beginning.3

War was outlawed. There was a struggling Utopia upon Terra for a thousand years. There was a Balance of Power. But the Good has tipped the Scales of Neutrality and wiped out the "evil" races. Or so they thought. The people believed that if they stopped worshiping the Evil gods then they would-along with he neutral-would disappear and the Good would rule for all eternity. How naive we humans are! We, as always, where wrong.4

The Evil and Neutral gods grew quite to let out the Good gods play out their game. The Father of all, Quilthas, became bored. With no wars that the Evil ones created he couldn't rule his world with efisioncy. He resorted to sex. Human women could not resist his looks. His touch. Except one.5

She was a farmer's daughter. She was sixteen when she first meet the Great god. Flirting ensured but she wasn't swayed. Even by Quilthas's magick she wasn't impressed. But soon enough she was. At the age of eighteen they become wild with drink and a single moment changed the world.6

The woman became pregnant and Quilthas never saw her again until the birth. She gave birth to twins. One boy, a sick and frail child, and one very healthy girl. She named the Boy Aridous and the girl Serenity. they where inseparable. Then Quilthas came back to her and left with the two children in his hands. 7

Serenity grew up to the the goddess of beauty, art, and archery. She was beloved of all the gods in heaven and mortals on earth. Beauty itself was ugly compared to her. The elves say that she is the one who created them. They are partially correct. But this story is not about the Lady Serenity although she takes part in this story. This story is about Aridous.8

For some reason Quilthas hated Aridous and loved Serenity. All the gods in heaven hated him. All except for his beautiful sister. Ever since Aridous could remember the gods were afraid of him. This gave him a sort of pride. Made him feel powerful over the other gods. The only one who did not fear him was his sister.9

There came to pass that on the Left Seat of Power sat Serenity. She became the goddess of advice after her new position. Quilthas, Father of All, also became Quilthas the Mighty Judge, for his mercy that he bestowed on the world. And then, on the right, the second most powerful seat sat Aridous. Quitly agreeing with his beloved sister. The universe was being ruled by a family.10

The gods became jealous of Aridous. Achieving so much before everyone else could. Quilthas was just warming up to his son when the gods demanded a council. Demanded that Aridous was too powerful and conceived a plan to take over the god seat. Lies. Quilthas was infuriated and Aridous fell from grace.11

He was found in the woods by an old woman. He was starving, naked, and crying in the cold. With tears in her eyes she wrapped her cloak around the young man and rocked him to sleep as a mother would do to a child who awoke to a nightmare. In truth, the world dreamt a nightmare that will forever be looked back with horror.12

That happened five-hundred years ago. The darkness that was dwelling in Aridous's soul has escaped his weak grasp and has been covering the world. The gods were powerless to stop it. The gods of Good attempted to stop it. To kill him. The neutral gods prevented that from happening as the gods of evil looked on at their champion. The darkness is about to swallow the Terra in a nightmare that cannot be penetrated by logic, reason, or faith. 13

Aridous, the Lord of Terror, shall make those lies become truth. He will sit at the head of the gods. He will rule with malice and the people will love him. So begins the reign of terror.14