Chapter 1 : The Destruction

It was the year 1376 and on a valley of northern England stood one of the most imposing and flourishing reigns ever seen before.

In the reign of Kaledon all the subjects owned a respectable job and a house, where they were allowed to live in peace with their families. Kaledon, indeed, was a very rich reign, where no sufferance or social discrimination ever existed. In this grand realm all the people, except the king, were considered with no distinction.

All the jobs, from the carpenters up to the loyal guards of the king, were judged as necessary, in order to make Kaledon the most powerful reign of England.

However, this kind of welfare did not develop since the very beginning. Indeed, everything started 19 years before, when Antillius, hailed by everybody as the “good king”, became the new king of Kaledon.

Antillius was elected after many years of war, of pain and hardships. After the election, the good king did everything in his power to re-establish prosperity, turning Kaledon into a true heaven on earth.

Antillius succeeded in everything, and he soon became the hero of all the inhabitants of Kaledon. Everybody loved him; everybody appreciated his effort to present himself first as a man, and then as a sovereign, especially in a period of selfish despots, who did not care about other people’s lives.

Antillius’ task was to bring peace and love everywhere in Kaledon, facing all the people’s needs and troubles. Antillius was also the head of a very powerful army, which was led by the brave Daeniel, the chief of the knights since the election of Antillius.

The good king treated Daeniel as his son. Antillius and Daeniel, in fact, respected each other, and they always agreed in all the decisions, which were to be taken.

The kingdom of Kaledon was backed by one of the strongest army of England; at any rate, luckily no wars were threatening peace and stability at the moment...

Not very far from Kaledon, the wicked king Carnagus had his castle within the dark wood. He was known as the king of the “not –dead” people, and as the biggest enemy of Antillius.

The wicked king hated Antillius, for he was at the head of Kaledon, a place of peace and prosperity since the beginning of his rule. Nevertheless, Carnagus was hopeless full of hate because he was without a soul. All his soldiers and subjects, indeed, were without a soul.

Everybody under his power automatically became a creature of the night without soul and free will!

Since the very first days of Antillius’ rule, Carnagus, realizing the increasing power of Kaledon, started planning an invasion to exterminate the kingdom, and to establish his evil rule.

Despite all, Carnagus was not aware of the fact that he could not attain any kind of happiness anywhere, anytime. Moreover, he would never be able to give more to his wicked subjects.

Creatures without a soul were not able, and would never be able, to have feelings inside; so, they were doomed to watch at happiness without really feeling it!

Carnagus’ distorted vision of life brought to a plan to invade Kaledon: once everything was totally exterminated, he was ready to seize Antillius’ power.

He summoned up all the wizards, asking them to find a way to take by surprise the strong army of Kaledon.

After many conjectures, the wicked wizards, finally, decided to put a spell on Kaledon, enclosing it within thick walls of fog.

The fog was meant to help Carnagus’ army, finding Antillius’ army completely unprepared.

When night fell, Carnagus decided to start all operations, lining up the not-dead soldiers, and commanding the wizards to pronounce the spell.

In the night, the attack started...

Kaledon was, thus, enclosed within thick walls of fog, and the royal guards immediately informed the king. Antillius gave the alarm, ordering the army to act with circumspection.

But no precaution was to be enough; our soldiers were completely doomed by the fog.

There was no visibility, and it was getting colder and colder. Any movement of the body was almost impossible.

After a while, the first troops of Carnagus arrived, sowing panic and terror.

All the people, who refused to obey to the orders of the not-dead soldiers, were brutally murdered. So, after some effort of rebellion, the inhabitants of Kaledon gave up, and Carnagus ordered their imprisonment in his crumbling castle.

Taken by surprise, king Antillius, the chief of the army Daeniel, and some royal guards were also imprisoned.

Meanwhile, Kaledon was falling apart under the brutality of Carnagus, who was now on the throne.

At the same time, in the prisons of the wicked king, The Kaledon’s army succeeded to escape.

They struggled with the few guards outside the prison, they went out, but, then, they realized that the path towards home had been erased. The wizards’ spell had made all the places around unrecognizable.

It was impossible, hence, to find out Kaledon, to take it back.

Months passed; researches were useless. Eventually, the knights of Kaledon decided to conjure up the Spirit of the Dragon, to take back their powers.

Pronouncing the spell, the dragon helped the brave men of Antillius. Once again, they were strong, tough and ready to face new struggles and dangers.

The Dragon was the divinity, which protected Kaledon, and it was also the great advisor of king Antillius.

Despite the help of the mighty Dragon, Kaledon was hard to find. One year was already passed, since the escape from the prisons of Carnagus.

The knights of the good king were to give up, when, suddenly, the gods of the sky decided to help the heroes.

In a moment, a striking and sparkling path opened the sky, guiding in few days our soldiers to the destroyed and barren Kaledon.

Once the path towards home was found, some messengers were sent to the prisons of Carnagus to inform Antillius.

Perfectly disguised, the messengers entered the prisons, bringing the good news to the tired good king.

Heard the news, Antillius thought at the devastated land of Kaledon as a place to strengthen his army. It was the time to finally defeat his biggest enemy.

But they were only abstract projects. First of all, Antillius and the others needed to be liberated.

Therefore...

Chapter 2 : The King's Rescue

In the year 1356 appalling wars were destroying those lands. The kings-to-be Antillius and Carnagus harshly struggled one against the other, but the former, eventually, won. Yet, before dying, Carnagus made an agreement with the evil powers that granted him eternal life in exchange for absolute loyalty. The agreement was made with the mighty Azrael. The lord of the night transformed Carnagus into a wicked and soulless creature without feelings. To get, therefore, endless life, Carnagus became Azrael’s servant, and he swore revenge towards Antillius, who, however, did not properly weigh Carnagus’s vow. But Antillius was wrong. He did not know yet that they were both destined to be the two most powerful kings of England.

…Once entered the prison, Daeniel and his soldiers started looking for the people of Kaledon. Their intention was to free, first of all, the already tired king, and then the subjects. They found, indeed, Antillius, but to their surprise he was now very feeble, ill-treated, dirty and undernourished. The good king immediately recognized his soldiers, and a dim glimpse of hope, the same hope that one year before had disappeared, suddenly, illuminated his face. Without being noticed, Daeniel brought Antillius out of the prison, while the other soldiers were freeing the subjects, who had survived. Unfortunately, the survivors were very few, since they did not enjoy the same treatment, which was guaranteed to Antillius, that is a daily meal and a cell just for him. The subjects were abandoned to their doom.

Eventually, half of all the prisoners were rescued. Carnagus’s unspeakable cruelty was immeasurable: the vultures devoured the rotten corpses of the dead people. It was, however, too late when the soldiers of Carnagus noticed that all the prisoners had fled. The people of Kaledon were already approaching home. Once Carnagus himself knew of Antillius’s escape, he became furious, and he summoned Azrael’s spirit to help him. The spirit generated from the belly an evil creature, conceived to chase after Antillius and to get him back. The evil creature, indeed, immediately caught up with Antillius and his soldiers, who were not too far away from Carnagus’s castle. The creature, then, seized Antillius with the talons, bringing him back to the prison. Antillius’s screams were useless; his soldiers were motionless and unable to counteract such wickedness. Yet, few moments after, they marched back to Carnagus’s castle to free their sovereign once again.

Carnagus was literally exulting for Antillius’s capture. At any rate, Daeniel and his soldiers were immediately back, and, pitilessly, entering once again the grimy prison, they killed all Carnagus’s soldiers. Their king was, finally, free. Then, they, quickly, got out of the prison, marching one more time towards their land. Yet, this time the march was safer, and the sky as well as the earth was, carefully, watched. A week after, the journey was concluded. Antillius and his soldiers were back at Kaledon. Yet, once arrived, Antillius cried bitter tears. True, he was happy to be back; nevertheless, his land was now completely destroyed.

The day after, Antillius fully recuperated his strength, and he was ready to exercise his power as a king. He summoned up a meeting with his army and all the subjects, who had endured the devastating effects of the war. He cried aloud the name of Kaledon, and he swore revenge on his enemy. Although by nature the good king was not revengeful, this time he felt his duty to revenge his subjects, for all the suffered pain. Immediately they all start working. The town was completely rebuilt; new soldiers came to support the older ones; and the army became the hugest and most powerful army ever known in history. In the valley, the new soldiers were drilled. Daeniel, the head of the army, expected the best from each of them. The ones, who were not enough prepared, could not take part of the army. The risk was too high.

At the same time, Carnagus learnt of Antillius’s escape. His reaction was shattering. All the sentries of the prisons were executed. The defeat was hard to accept. His plan proved to be a complete failure, since the gods helped Antillius’s troops, to find the path towards home. At Kaledon, thus, everything was proceeding well. Daeniel was dexterously drilling all the soldiers, who were now able to face any kind of difficulty. The spirit of the dragon acquiesced with Antillius, offering him protection and help. Gods, unknown nowadays, protected the reign of Kaledon. The dragon was the spiritual guide of the knights during the battles, and it also wisely advised Antillius. Kaledon, reborn from its own ashes, was now ready to move revenge towards Carnagus and towards his army of ‘undead’ people.

Antillius, for Kaledon’s sake and for the sake of all the people, carefully planned an effective action, in order to destroy forever all the seeds of evil. The attack was divided in three parts: firstly, Carnagus’s reign, hidden by magical powers, was to be discovered; secondly, Carnagus was to be captured and killed, since his death would mean the death of all his subjects; and, thirdly, the soil, where the evil had been generated, was to be immolated to the Good, to prevent the rebirth of Evil. The task, however, was not easy at all. Everybody knew the high risk of death; but no one gave up.

The war started when Antillius blessed his soldiers, providing them the protection of the gods. The spirit of the dragon was to watch over them. At dawn, all the subjects at Kaledon were still in their houses, resting and ignoring that the great fight was about to break out. In the royal palace, Antillius and Daeniel were checking the war’s plans. Nothing could go wrong. The army was deployed in front of the palace; the soldiers were willing to start the war, waiting, anxiously, at Antillius’s and Daeniel’s orders. The troops started marching when the first rays of the sun illuminated the sky. The first step of the plan was to be accomplished: Carnagus’s reign was to be discovered. After a four-days journey, the army got nearer the death-valley. After having surpassed the thick fog, the troops arrived to one of the many Carnagus’s castles.

Carnagus’s second fall was approaching. The troops were bravely marching, and Carnagus’s castle was gradually nearer. Carnagus, thus, asked ‘IT’, the creature generated from Azrael’s belly, to help him, and he succeeded in escaping. Nevertheless, Daeniel noticed his flight, and with his brave warriors he chased after him, finally, capturing him. Antillius’s troops entered the castle, and the good king, was, finally, able to hold Carnagus as a prisoner…

Chapter 3 : The Way Of The Light

Though Carnagus was defeated, there were two things more to do to fulfil the whole plan: Carnagus had to die; the land of the reign of evil had to be blessed.
Brave soldiers were guarding Carnagus when Antillius and Daeniel met: it was time for the tired king to open his heart to his dear friend. The king revealed to Daeniel the burden that was weighing down his soul for many years. Antillius had no heir to the throne; his beloved queen Elizabeth died too soon, for an incurable disease, before a child could be born. After the death of Antillius there would be no legitimate heir for the throne of Kaledon. It was a painful recollection for Antillius: the memory of his wife was still too vivid.
Antillius married her after only one year he met her for the first time. In the beginning she was under Carnagus’s control: he commanded her to kill Antillius, but the good king made her discover the good side inside her. Elizabeth fell in love with Antillius, and it was such love that marked Carnagus’s first defeat.
But suddenly a fatal disease consumed the poor queen. Antillius was completely at loss; helpless and bewildered he prayed and prayed for a miracle, but nothing could save her from death. Nothing availed: physicians and magicians were powerless. Elizabeth stopped fighting against her own disease, and Antillius was left alone to rule the kingdom.
It was a tale that struck Daeniel deeply. He sympathised with Antillius, but he was also proud to be under the rule of one of the wisest king of all time.
Antillius officially asked Daeniel to become his heir to the throne. He wanted to make the news public only after the end of the war, after the blessing of the valley of the death. But while the two were talking two vultures, standing on a beam of the castle, were listening carefully to their conversation…
Well, the two vultures were the result of Azrael’s magic. They were there to discover some secret news, and, after having heard the striking revelations of Antillius, they immediately flew to their wicked sovereign to tell him everything.
Through mental powers Azrael let Carnagus know the truth, and then he decided that the only thing to do was to kill Antillius before the news about Daeniel’s succession to the throne was spread. Though loved and admired by the Kaledonians, Daeniel’s word would not have been enough to become the legitimate heir to the throne of Antillius. The wicked king, therefore, hoped for a vacancy of power at Kaledon; he hoped for another chance to seize the throne.
But Carnagus was usually underrating the strength of the Kaledonians. He was still a prisoner, and despite his efforts the valiant soldiers were guarding him closely.
When Antillius and Daeniel entered the room where Carnagus was confined, the latter vehemently cried, “Well? Are you going to take his place? Isn’t that true?”
Daeniel was puzzled. He glanced at Antillius, who could not believe in what he had just heard.
Carnagus, then, with a proud voice asked Daeniel to join him in the plot for killing Antillius so that both of them would have had the chance to rule Kaledon together. He flattered Daeniel, telling him that he needed such a valorous knight, and that the evil would have made him immortal. He said, “If you join me we will rule Kaledon as father and son!”
His words struck Daeniel, but Carnagus fixed his eyes and said, “Don’t tell me that your dear friend Antillius has never told you who’s your father…”
There was silence in the room, but suddenly Daeniel turned his eyes towards Antillius and took his sword. Though he knew Daeniel could not betray him, for a moment Antillius feared the worst. But Daeniel’s eyes reassured Antillius.
With all his strength the knight held tightly the hilt of his sword and with a quick jump and great vigour he rushed upon Carnagus chopping off his head from the body. The body of Carnagus fell heavily to the ground, and Daeniel, putting his foot over Carnagus’s head, took an oath of eternal loyalty towards king Antillius and the reign of Kaledon. From outside, cries of joy rose from the crowd. Daeniel went to the window and what he saw filled his heart with joy.
After the death of Carnagus the undead subjects ceased to live, falling to the ground like a heap of lifeless bones.
Antillius and Daeniel joined the army, and after having congratulated the soldiers on the success of the battle Antillius revealed his will to all the subjects. Daeniel kneeled down in front of the king, and Antillius put his sword over Daeniel’s shoulder, asking him to take an oath of eternal allegiance to the reign of Kaledon. At Daeniel’s saying, “Yes, I swear”, a roar of cheerfulness and joy immediately rose up. When the ceremony ended up, Antillius continued saying that there was one thing more to do before a total victory could be claimed: the land of evil had to be blessed, and Azrael, the source of all evil, the maker of Carnagus’s wickedness, had to be finally eliminated. 

Chapter 4 : Twilight of the gods

...after Antillius’s speech and after the party to celebrate Daeniel, the troops finally started planning the attack to liberate the land from Azrael’s tyranny.
The soldiers did not go back home but they gathered all together in the Death Valley for the ritual of blessing and sanctification of the whole land. It was a terrifying experience. The ritual in God’s name woke up the evil spirit, which gradually faded away. Older and more powerful spirits were the last ones to leave the land, but the rite was eventually successful. Something unexpected was about to happen though…
While all the troops were dutifully carrying out the rituals, Azrael from the mountain of evil started throwing deadly thunders against the people of Kaledon. The thunders hit Antillius too, who dangerously fell down on the ground. The troops, thus, realized the gravity of the situation and started shooting and fighting back with all the means available. But Azrael retired to his mountain, though just for the moment.
Daeniel saw Antillius almost breathing his last, he went next to him and tried to speak, but it was too hard. The king however gently touched his face with his hand full of blood and begged the loyal soldier to protect the reign.
“I swear to God, I will be the one in charge to protect the holy land of Kaleodon”, Daeniel finally uttered.
Antillius feebly smiled and closed his eyes forever: the land of Kaledon would now have a new king and protector.
As the dead body of Antillius was moved aside, Daeniel took control of the situation and summoned up the war committee. It was now the time to attack and defeat forever the evil power of Azrael.
The dragon made its appearance and revealed to the troops that it would be in charge of the expedition against Azrael, but first everyone would have to bid the last farewell to the almighty king Antillius.
At dawn the preparations for the funeral started.
Antillius’s corpse was placed on a bench, elevated from the ground, ready to be burnt into ashes. Daeniel, the new king of Kaledon, made his speech to commemorate the good king and then put the wood and straw on fire. The troops were playing the last farewell to the great king Antillius.
The dragon too was there and after the funeral it flew towards the place where the last battle against Azrael would have taken place.
Looking at the dragon up in the sky Daeniel and the troops reached the same place, ready to fight and finally defeat the evil power of Azrael.
But Azrael was already there, waiting for them…
He created from his own abdomen hundreds of creatures that went fighting against the troops of Kaledon, and then he flew up to the sky to face the holy power of the dragon.
The troops fought hard to control the ferocity of Azrael’s creatures. The two titans up in the sky were also harshly fighting: it was a cruel and difficult battle.
Daeniel, thus, went towards a hidden corner and shot some powder up in the sky. But luckily the dragon saw what he was doing and moved just in time…
There was a huge blast: Azrael was finally destroyed.
The holy dragon thus came down on earth to help the soldiers in the huge battle against Azrael’s creatures: the troops of evil were defeated and annihilated, and the ritual of sanctification immediately followed. The seed of evil was extirpated forever from the valley.
Daeniel was glad and proud for the victory, but also so sad for the death of his friend, the great king Antillius, who couldn’t share with him anymore the joy and the satisfaction for this important success.
But as the troops were going back home, suddenly on the ground a huge void came into sight. After a horrifying scream, IT emerged from the earth. The battle wasn’t over: IT managed to escape during the battle and now it was still there.
IT was a creature generated within Azrael’s abdomen, and its evil powers were unknown. But it didn’t fight back; it quickly disappeared. The only hope for the Kaledonians was that such kinds of creatures wouldn’t appear in their land anymore.

Chapter 5 : A New Era Begins

As the whole territory had been blessed after the death of Azrael, everybody throughout the kingdom of Kaledon felt happy and relieved. After years of excruciating suffering, destiny, finally, seemed benevolent.
Daeniel was now the new king of Kaledon. All the soldiers celebrated the event, loudly invoking his name, filling the king’s heart with pride and joy.
The first task for the new king was to reorganize the army, and Martin, the trustworthy captain, was the one, who received the honour to take over Daeniel’s previous duties, as the novel sovereign could not, anymore, take care of the daily military routine.
Martin – for his brave and loyal nature, repeatedly shown in wartime – was the right person to follow Daeniel’s steps, as he had been trained by the new king himself, and thoroughly acquainted with military strategies, so dear to both Daeniel and the late king Antillius.
Hence, Daeniel decided to inform the whole army of Martin’s new role, in the same way Antillius previously announced his successor to the throne.
The widespread sadness for the death of the beloved king Antillius was also increasing, as more sad news reached Kaledon. The Dragon, still in the battlefield, was seriously injured, agonizing and on the verge of death. Azrael had, in fact, managed to hit the Dragon, causing a very deep cut just below its right wing. Despite its strength and vigour, the Dragon could now hardly breathe.
Daeniel ran to its rescue, and as he approached the enormous creature, he could hear the Dragon trying to whisper something. It was an important message. The Dragon warned the new King that what they previously saw coming out from the earth was not IT. It was just something with the outer appearance of IT…
Nobody in Kaledon was, in fact, concerned of its escape. The widespread belief was that IT, now alone, was seeking refuge in some remote area, to die far away from both kingdoms. But it was not in this way.
During its stay within the bowels of the earth, the creature, generated from Azrael’s womb, had been in contact with demons, who gave IT immeasurable power and strength. IT was, indeed, now invincible.
The evil creature, aware of its limitless power, changed its name into Mozul, and took over the position of its own creator, the late Azrael.
According to the Dragon’s report, Mozul’s plan was to perpetrate Azrael’s plot to conquer Kaledon, depriving the people of their happiness and freedom; he would have put together a new army, and be ready for a new war.
The Dragon wanted to make sure that nobody in Kaledon would have underestimated Mozul’s power, as it was limitlessly more dangerous than Azrael’s previous deeds.
The good, green creature was very weak, and, as it painfully completed its speech, it also made sure that Daeniel would have been ready to face the unexpected within few months.
The Dragon, then, peacefully died.
Few instants after its death, the massive body of the Dragon ascended up to the sky, transforming itself into greenish, pure energy, which took possession of Daeniel’s body, leaving the new king rolling down and unable to control immediately his new, immense power.
After few minutes, Daeniel regained consciousness and realized that he was the one, whom the Dragon had chosen as its successor. Daeniel was not simply the new king of Kaledon; he had now divine power.
He would have become the landmark for many people, and his responsibilities would have limitlessly increased. To the people of Kaledon, he was now their new king, their new God, and finally their new hero.
But many things were coming up…
All the soldiers had to leave the battlefield and return to Kaledon, where Daeniel would have informed the subjects of all the impending novelties. It would have been, thereafter, the right time to organize a new attack against the new enemy.
Nobody knew how and when Mozul would have manifested his power. Daeniel and his soldiers had to hurry up, and prepare the final strike, to prevent any unexpected attack from the evil forces.