Vegenrage: Dragon Reclaim (19 page)

Reinlith has made his way to the farthest eastern point in Ugoria where the Ugorian Forest meets the Westfall Heights. It is very early in the evening, and he stops, looking over the Westfall Heights, which is the darkest place on Strabalster. The Westfall Heights meets the Western Ugorian Forest and travels all the way west to the Briganyare Sea. It travels north to meet with the Ugorian Highlands and the Ackelsen Desert. It runs south, meeting with the Mogle Lands and the Creshian Forest. It is very easy to tell when you have reached the Westfall Heights because the trees are noticeably different here. They only grow about thirty feet tall, and they are twisted and winding with lots of thorny outgrowths. It is very thick, and you can’t just walk into the woods. You have to search around to find a place wide enough to enter. It is almost like the trees are telling you to stay out. If you do dare venture into the woods, it is a very difficult travel indeed. You have to constantly bend and twist and maneuver your body just so you can weave through the dense thickets of trees. It is not all like this, but a lot of the time, it is. The ground has very little grass and plant life. It is mostly loose soil with the rotting leaves that have fallen from the Westfall trees.

This is not like Verlyle going to Pinitrill or Tornsclin going to the Creshian Ponds. This is a real threat to the life of Reinlith, and he would not dare come here unless Ugoria was in the danger it is in from the dragons. The Helven live here, and they are the dark elves of the Maglical System. The Helven used to be Ugorian elves, but long ago, as the elves became stronger in the use of magic and learned more and more some of the magical order, they started to explore dark magic. Some of the elves tried to summon demons. They tried to summon the beasts of hell to fight against the dragons and protect Ugoria. There was much debate between the high classes, and the then king of Ugoria, Jardilith, decided that this was not a good idea. The price was too high, and ultimately, the security of Ugoria would be undermined by the demons of the inner realm. Arglon was becoming a powerful magic user for the elves, and his equal was Kerben. Kerben was very adventurous, very daring, and very fearless. Arglon and Kerben challenged each other constantly to see who could outdo the other. Arglon and Kerben grew up together and were always athletically competing with each other as they grew up, and this friendly rivalry continued as they learned and became fluent in the use of magic. Limsil, who was recently killed by the dragons, and Reinlith were young and looked up to Arglon and Kerben. Reinlith and Limsil followed Arglon and Kerben everywhere and wanted to be just like them. Reinlith was always favorable to Kerben and wanted to be just like him, and Kerben liked Reinlith very much. Kerben took it upon himself to explore dark magic, always insisting that the elves had to be fluent in the dark magic as all other magic, but this sentiment was not shared by the elves under King Jardilith. Jardilith did not punish Kerben when he first summoned the Liecrawlers into Ugoria.

Kerben gathered all the leadership to the inner kingdom for a demonstration, and all the high-ranking horse riders, bowelves, warriors, and magic users were there, and of course, King Jardilith was present. Kerben summoned three Liecrawlers from the inner realm, and all the elves braced and moved back as the earth split and up rose the Liecrawlers. Kerben told all the elves to watch as he chanted his magic unknown to all except him. The Liecrawlers ran up from the depths of the earth and did not look like anything the elves have ever seen before. They were about five feet long with red reptilian skin and long tails. Their heads were very deceiving. They did not look like you would think. They had heads that looked like bulldog heads with big smiles on their face. You could not see their eyes because they had large tufts of hair like one big eyebrow that grew across the top of the forehead and long down covering their eyes. This hair was golden in color, and they had large tufts of hair that grew in an arch over each leg on the shoulder. This hair grew long about halfway to the ground and was the only hair on the Liecrawlers. Their legs did not grow down from their shoulders to the ground. They went out from the shoulder, and they walked like monitor lizards. Kerben explained to the elves that the Liecrawlers were like pets, and they could be trained. He petted them and played with them, and then the Liecrawlers broke his heart. They attacked one of the horses, and when they opened their mouths, the true nature of the beasts of the inner realm came to be seen. The head and jaw of the Liecrawlers are solid muscle, bone, and teeth. They bit the front leg of the horse in half, and it fell, and the Liecrawlers ripped it apart with their teeth and consumed the horse. The elves attacked with arrows, swords, and magic, killing the Liecrawlers, and that was the end of Kerben’s adventure into the inner realm, at least the end for him in Ugoria. King Jardilith did not outright punish Kerben, but it was clear he was not to practice the use of dark magic in Ugoria at all. Kerben pleaded and begged to study and practice dark magic, but it was forbidden. Ultimately, Jardilith realized that Kerben was going to continue using dark magic and said he could but not in Ugoria. He could only practice this in the Westfall Heights far away from Ugoria.

Kerben accepted this, and there were those that followed him. About sixteen male and female elves went with Kerben. Reinlith loved Kerben like a father and wanted to follow but stayed in Ugoria to study with Arglon. Kerben and Reinlith were very close and parted on good terms, and for the most part, Kerben was given the choice to stay in Ugoria or go to the Westfall Heights if he wanted to continue studying dark magic. He decided to go, and over the past millennium, he and his followers have grown into not a separate species of elf but a much darker version of the Ugorian elves. They have survived and thrived to a few hundred and are now known as the Helven. They follow dark magic and can summon demons and minions from the inner realm. Their skin is starting to darken to a shade of light brown, and their hair is long and dark. They do not war with the elves of Ugoria, but the two elven groups have not stayed in contact with each other, and whether a uniting will be welcomed by the Helven is unknown. Reinlith has been chosen to seek out Kerben because these two were always close, and the hope is that Kerben will not hurt Reinlith. Reinlith is both anxious to see Kerben again and apprehensive as to whether he has changed into something that he will not like. It is known that Kerben was the leader of the almost twenty elves that took to the Westfall Heights, but now the Helven are led by Dona’try, who has become a very powerful magic user of the dark arts. In fact, all the Helven are magic users with no warriors in the traditional sense among them. Not much more is known of them outside of this other than Kerben has married Weesilibith—a beautiful young elf who followed Kerben to the Westfall Heights so long ago.

Reinlith remembers his friend and heads into the Westfall Heights. He uses telepathy to try and contact Kerben as he walks through the thick dark forest. Unlike most places in the Maglical System, it is dark here, and the moon has very little presence in this dark place. It is not pitch-black like the Mindsunk Bog and the Wickenfall Forest, but it is dark, and thankfully, elven eyes can see very well in the dark, but still, he can barely see ten feet in front of him. The land here is quiet and eerie. The smell of decaying wood is all around. Reinlith moves slowly, bumping into trees and branches, and the walk here is very frustrating.
How can anyone walk through this forest?
he thinks to himself. He moves on using his staff that he wears on his belt like a sword and magically creates a staff of light, helping him see in the dark. He keeps using his telepathy, letting the Helven know he is here peaceably and seeks audience with Kerben. He sends out the message that the third Dragon Feast has begun, and all the races of elf, dwarve, and man are in danger. After a couple hours of treacherous travel, he is visited by none other than Kerben himself.

“Reinlith, is that you, my old friend? What is this you speak of? Another Dragon Feast?”

“Kerben, it is you.” Reinlith sees Kerben as he walks into his light from the dark forest. Kerben looks very different from the last time Reinlith saw him. Mainly it is the clothes he is wearing because elves age amazingly well, especially magic-using elves. He is wearing all black. A long cloak that ties around his neck and falls to his ankles. When he reaches his arms out to greet Reinlith, the cloak falls to either side of his arms, exposing the black leather pants and shirt he is wearing.

“It is good to see you have grown well and strong, Reinlith.”

“I wish you had not left us so long ago. I have missed you. The dragons are attacking again, and I came to see if you and the Helven would help in fighting the dragons. There are great fears throughout all the humanoid races that the dragons seek to wipe us all out. King Trialani has permitted me to search for you and see if you had any of your old magic still in you. We still do not allow the use of dark magic in Ugoria. No demons or minions of the inner realm are tolerated, but your help outside of that is greatly needed.”

“The dragons are attacking, and not only the races of man are being attacked, but the demons have attacked the dragons as well, and now the dragons know the demons are actively trying to make their way to the surface. I was so foolish when I was young. So stupid in thinking that demons could ally themselves with the races on the surface. They will only cause death and pain. That is all they know and all they want.”

“You mean the demons are making their way to the surface? I thought that was not allowed. I don’t know how but I thought they could never reach the surface.”

“No, it is not allowed. The Maglical System has a unique balance in place that makes the demons weak on the surface. The light weakens them. The nature of the forests and lands weakens them, even the water is poison to them. This does not stop their desire to conquer all. They have been working on ways to use the living beings on the surface. They try to infect the mind of animal, beast, or race of man and use the host to move freely on the surface while controlling the mind, giving the demons a loophole in their quest to rule the surface.”

“Can they do this? Are there demons walking with us right now?”

“No, they have tried with no luck, but they keep trying, and this is very disturbing. I learned how to summon demons and have actually met with the demon lord of Strabalster. I will not say his name. The demons have created structures that allow them to walk on the surface as long as they remain within the structure, and this is very bad for all. They can imprison us on the surface and materialize, making their presence and power known. They have already tried this on the dragons and successfully killed some of them. I have realized that I cannot break free from the hold the demons have on me nor can any of the Helven. If we venture out of the Westfall Heights, the demons will possess us and use our bodies to their means. I am sorry, Reinlith, but I and none of the Helven can ever leave the Westfall Heights, at least not yet.”

“I hope you find a way to come back. I miss you, and so does Arglon. He still talks about all the good times you and he had. Limsil and Rollbolis have been killed by the dragons already, and all of us in Ugoria are preparing for the worst.”

“I miss you all too. You should be getting back because this is not a place for you. Before you go though, I will let you in on a little demon knowledge. The demon master of Kronton whose name I will not say has been killed by a human. It is said that this human has great power and is the slayer of dragon and demon. If you know or hear of this human, befriend him and make him your ally. The demon who took over in the inner realm of Kronton has been slain by the dragons, and right now, there is a great power struggle going on in the inner realm of Kronton. This is good because the demons will be occupied with this. This will at least hold the demons back so the races of man will only have to deal with the dragons for right now, at least on the world of Kronton. Here, let me give you something.” Kerben reaches into his Bag of Holding that looks much different from all the other Bags of Holding. This one is solid black and does not have a gold chain holding it to his waist. This is a thin black-like rope that stretches as he pulls the bag from his hip. The thin rope goes right through rubies that encircle his waist, lots of them, and this is the only color that breaks up the solid black leather clothing under his black cloak. He pulls out a golf ball–sized sphere. It is very heavy and metallic blue in color. Kerben drops the ball into Reinlith’s hand, and Reinlith looks at it.

“What is it?”

“
This is a Dragonball. Very few of these exist and only here with the Helven. If you throw this ball at a dragon and hit it with this ball, it will kill the dragon in fantastic fashion. Just make sure you are nowhere near the dragon after you throw this at him. This Dragonball will cause the breath attack of the dragon to attack and destroy the dragon form within, and trust me, run far away very fast, or you may get caught in the mayhem.”

Reinlith takes the ball and puts it in his left pocket on his leather coat and shuts it with its wooden button.

“Go now, Reinlith. Be safe and give the dragons hell. I will make my way back to Ugoria someday. Until then, take care. You can teleport yourself back to the Ugorian Forest from here. It is not that far.”

“Thank you, Kerben. We will see each other again someday.” Kerben watches as his old friend vanishes. He looks around very quietly for a while, remembering the good old days before he foolishly set off to summon demons and now is in their inescapable grasp. He takes a deep breath and heads back deeper into the Westfall Heights.

Reinlith makes his way back to the Ugorian Forest and is relieved to see that first of all, he is still alive and, second, that Kerben, the one he looked up to so highly when he was young, has not lost all sense of Ugoria and his time before he left to practice dark magic. Reinlith teleports to Dunsk to see how the bowelf guard is doing, and all is quiet. After a short greet, he walks through a Dimension Door that takes him back to the Ugorian Kingdom where he can update Arglon and Trialani on his encounter with Kerben. He makes his way back and finds Arglon and Trialani in the entrance hall with the top Ugorian warriors and fighters, planning for the next day. This room is very large, and they have set up a huge table in the center of the room with a map of Ugoria on it. The elven leadership is standing around the huge map, discussing how to fortify against the likely dragon attack in the morning. Reinlith enters, and Trialani asks him how things went in the Westfall Heights. Trialani is very glad to see Reinlith has returned unharmed. Arglon approaches him.