From: noahidebooksforever@gmail.com   
      
   Kalan Lyant   
      
       
      
       
      
       
      
   ...what has gone before   
      
       
      
   Kalan Lyant, warrior, slew a hobgoblin.  He is a brave warrior.  He is a   
   prince of Kaluvia, and Kaluvia is facing the threat of a dark wizard from the   
   continent to the north, Ky-Keria.  Yalth is the seat of the Dark Wizard's   
   power, and a council was    
   formed to address the threat of this dark wizard and his powers.   
      
      
      
   Prologue   
      
     Gabriel sat with the Theopany in a corner of heaven.   
      
   'It is in a distant place, a planet far from Earth. And its origin is ancient.   
   And I would have you travel there with me.'   
      
   'You speak of this Kalan, as if he is indeed ancient. An angel, or something,   
   you said. And that he is like a firstborn child to yourself.'   
      
   'In a heart of the eternal, perhaps he is, dear Gabriel.'   
      
   'Then we shall go.'   
      
   Gabriel stood, and looked at the portal, and the old man following, stepped   
   through to another world.   
      
       
      
   Chapter One   
      
       
      
   Kalan Lyant rested.   
      
       
      
   It had been a busy time, learning about Yalth.  Learning about the dark   
   wizard, as they now called him, and the dangers he presented to the world.    
   And Kalan had been summoned, to Ejin Palace, sister city of Eijin.  For the   
   Earl of Ejin wanted to discuss    
   things about the dangers of Yalth with him.  For Kaluvia and Karadarak were to   
   be at war with Ky-Keria, now.  And, from latest reports, the house of Rhyan   
   wanted nothing to do with the conflict.  They had rejected them, the   
   Kaluvians.  They had rejected    
   them.   
      
       
      
   Mallintor sat with Kalan, polishing Kalan's sword, watching over his resting   
   charge.   
      
       
      
   'He has changed his name to 'Necronomicon'.  The dark wizard.'  said Mallintor.   
      
   'Why?' asked Kalan.   
      
   'Because it is the very name of death itself.  And his forces have tasted the   
   power of the ancient Necronomica, and have, for creatures of the night, become   
   even more undead, if such a thing verily possible.'   
      
   Kalan shuddered.  Hobgoblin's were bad enough.  An undead hobgoblin would be   
   bloody horrible.   
      
       
      
   'We must find Auar.  And the Aurii,' said Kalan.  'Only their power will   
   defeat Necronomicon.'   
      
   'And for that a questing party must form.  A fellowship,' stated Mallintor   
   boldly.   
      
   'There is a girl I know.  In Lameth.'   
      
   'Yes,' said Mallintor, looking curiously at Kalan.   
      
   'She knows of the Aurii.  Marni Bonniker, a bartender's daughter.  She hears   
   tales.  Lots of them.  She spoke to me once, after we bedded, of a strange   
   creature.  A creature with pointed ears who took refuge one night, and said,   
   in humour about his ears,    
   'Why I am Auarii.'   
      
   'Surely she was jesting,' said Mallintor.   
      
   'But can we take the risk?' asked Kalan.   
      
   'Nay.  For proud Kaluvia rests on such information.   
      
       
      
   'Then to Rhyan we must go.  And to Lameth.  For Necronomicon will be   
   defeated.  As surely as I am of the bloodline of Lyant.'   
      
       
      
   'Caution,' said Mallintor.  'We must travel to Haven first.'   
      
   'And why Haven?' asked Kalan.  'The whirlpool is practically impenetrable.    
   And no man climbs the Iridian Jid mountains and survives.'   
      
   'I know a passageway.  Under the mountains,' said Mallintor.  'It is.' he left   
   off speaking.   
      
   'What old man?' asked Kalan.   
      
   'It is safe,' said Mallintor, but would not engage a look with his young   
   counterpart.   
      
   'Then tell me, what is at Haven?'   
      
   'The dawn of creation,' said Mallintor mysteriously, but would speak no more   
   on the subject.   
      
       
      
   'I have been speaking with Earl Koldar.  Of Ejin.  His son wishes to accompany   
   us, on this quest.  Roldak.  Good with a bow and arrow, and the finest   
   swordsman in the land, so the claim is made.  And Xaddadaxx and Beltaran have   
   promised to accompany us.     
   Those archers will be indispensable.  They are the finest shots in all of   
   Kaluvia.'   
      
   'We need a dwarf,' said Kalan.  'For they are experts in caves and the   
   underground worlds.  The finest of miners.'   
      
   'It is their specialty,' responded Mallintor.  'It is what makes them dwarves   
   in many ways.  Lamgam will accompany us.  I have already considered that.'   
      
   'And thus the fellowship is borne,' said Kalan.   
      
   'The Fellowship of Kaluvia,' said Mallintor in bold words.   
      
   'The Fellowship of Kaluvia,' responded Kalan.   
      
       
      
       
      
   Koldar was an interesting man to Kalan, long moustache and beard, a fading   
   gray from his bright brown days of youth.  But his son Roldak was full of   
   spunk and energy, and Lamgam was a hearty dwarf, full of sarcasm from just   
   minutes in his presence.     
   Xaddadaxx and Beltaran he knew as his own brothers, the twins, full of   
   polished behaviours, perhaps very akin to the Auarii themselves, for it was   
   rumoured, in the close circles Kalan travelled in, that they were descended   
   from the hidden ones.   
      
       
      
   Mallintor looked at the gathered fellowship.  'Sons of Kaluvia.  Proud and   
   true,' he said to them.  'The fate of our world is on troubled times.  And   
   those brown-robed fools who now preach in the streets, those 'Doomsayers' as   
   they like to call    
   themselves, will not be proven true.  Their portents of destruction will fail   
   and this God they glorify, well.  Well he shalt not judge us, for we are   
   children of the Dawn of Creation, the force of power which rules all, and is   
   in all.  And a god of    
   creation, as they speak of, shalt surely not rule our hearts.'   
      
   'Aye aye,' said Lamgam, with his stiff dwarven voice.   
      
       
      
   'I would not be so quick to speak against this god,' said Xaddadaxx.  'For   
   these doomsayers come from we know not were, and it is never a good thing to   
   annoy a deity.'   
      
   'Deity worship is for old wives and fools,' said Mallintor, yet he marked   
   Xaddadaxx's words.   
      
   'God is known to us,' said Beltaran.  Our grandfather Goldrun speaks of him,   
   at night, in tales to us.  He speaks of him as the source of the Dawn of   
   Creation.  That the power at Haven was created by a being of Sovereign power   
   over the universe.  Goldrun    
   has never lied to us.  He served your grandfather faithfully, as we serve you   
   Prince of Kalvay.  And while the world of Lameth has long ruled our hearts, in   
   their progressive ways and thoughts, Lameth is foolish.  The continent of   
   'XXXXX' has long been    
   serving a new agenda as we see it, and while they take the name Lameth now, in   
   honour of that city of scribes and philosophers, who abandon the old ways, the   
   right ways of living in this life, we remember the old ways.  We Kaluvians are   
   of the old world,    
   prince Kalan.  And knowledge of the Dawn of Creation is not just known to the   
   power of the Wizards of Haven.  It is known even in Kaluvia.'   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)