Banished - Alexandre Rivest (ebook reader for surface pro TXT) 📗

Prologue

When did the filthy human race become stronger than us? How could Kalath, the powerful empire of the demons, be beaten by mere humans? Many years ago, the demons were ruling Aereth. This huge continent was inhabited by many races: Humans, goblins, trolls, orcs, wood-humanoids and the elves. But one time, the demons have found an artifact, allowing them to store part of their soul in exchange of being able to use others energy. A law was passed, which dictated every single demon to store their souls to make sure that the demon race would be superior. With the artifact, a single well trained demon would be able to kill one army by himself.  They named it:

Enind - the Soul Sharer.

 

Other atifacts of great power called relics were found, but none was as powerful as the Enind. By making research and experiments, we learned that these relics could use the energy of the user to generate additional power. By connecting it with the user's body, some of them could even create magic such as elements control. Yet, none of them was as powerful as the artifact Enind.

 

For centuries other races tried to steal the Enind, but they failed. The Elves who possessed a lot of magic relics fought until their race was almost extinct, yet they never succeeded. Orcs and Trolls once made an alliance to get the Enind. They have had no chance. Only the Necromancers put a hand on it. During the year 291, those users of unknown relics came from the other side of Eefuth, the mountains in the south-west. However, the Therom Guardians were able to disperse or kill all of the fiends.

 

In 392 of the Kalath calendar, the demons learned that the Enind wasn’t the only artifact.

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Auron

 

'Captain Auron! A human group has just breached the main gate. Thousands of them! ‘, said a Therom guardian, having a serious expression on his face. I was standing on top of our fortress, having a perfect view over a wide area of Kalath. The sun had just sunk down and dip dyed the last few inches of a town in a deep red. I was being attentive long before the soldier arrived to alert me. The sounds of screaming were unambiguous: War.

I turned around to look the soldier in the eyes.

'Everybody get ready to battle! ', I yelled. 'You may use your relics at will. '

 

The Therom Guardians were the elite of the Kalath Empire. Every member of the army was in possession of a relic. The relics we owned and used were those of the elements. With these we were able to control the basic elements: wind, fire, water and earth. Some of us were even able to handle the mighty thunder.

We were in charge of the protection of the Enind, the Soul Sharer - with our very own lives. I was the Captain of this group of soldiers, because I was the best at maintaining the strong element of fire. My relic was a bracelet made out of silver, with a big ruby embedded in it and a chain attached to my upper back. I never had issues in a fight, because my relic was linked to my demonic blood, seething with power.

 

'Something's wrong', I thought and started my way from the top of the fortress to the back side of it. How did this happen? Humans never were able to reach so far into our land; nor to overcome all the guarded borders.  We must be prepared for anything! And now the weak human flesh breached our main gate?

As I reached the other side, I went to five soldiers, who were looking out from the top of the fortress.

'You five, follow the vice-Captain Sahari and go to the main hall to protect the Enind. Don’t forget the vow of the Therom. It is our duty to protect the Soul Sharer with our lives.', I entrusted them with a rigorous voice.

'We chained our soul, we are the Kalath, the demons of Aereth!', they proudly answered  and stood still for a second, then they moved forward to Sahari's side.

 

'Let me stay with you Auron', said Sahari. 'We need to fight them with our full strength.' Sahari was the vice-Captain of the Therom Guardians for over 10 years and a fire mage like me, with a lot of skill and experience in fighting. She wore a little red robe, the hood of it was so big that it almost looked like a scarf around her neck.

She was not too tall, had long orange hair and an eye-patch. She once told me she was blind on the hidden eye. The doctors apparently tried to fix it out, but she didn't want others to see, leaving her face with only one dark red eye.

 

Sahari had two, slightly downwards bent horns on her head showing through her hair.  A long, ox-like looking tail grew out of the end of her spinal cord, showing through a small hole in her robe. Above her head there were three little clouds. They were dark and if you kept an eye on them you could see them blinking red from time to time. They didn't have water like normal clouds in them, but fire. You could somehow read her mood from the fire clouds. Right now, they were almost bursting with fire.

Sahari was the one I trusted the most.

 

'Listen to my order and go! If something happens to us, we are leaving the Enind without anyone to defend it. Move!', I bade her and furrowed my brows.

Sahari stood still for a second, flabbergasted through my harsh reaction. But just a moment later, she rallied herself and answered: 'As you wish…, Captain.'

She left with the other guardians for the main room.

 

The Therom Guardians had defended the Enind since it was found.

'As the fifth Captain', I told myself, 'It is my duty to not let it be harmed by anyone'. Only a few soldiers were left at the top of the fortress, so I made clear that they needed to hold their positions. After I ordered my men, I left the fortress's top to protect the main hall. I heard my soldiers scream and howl, I could already feel the air bursting around my skin. They would be using thunder quite soon.

 

Just a second before I entered the main hall the doors exploded into a thousand pieces and human warriors immediately started rushing in. I built up a wall of fire to stop them and then the Therom guardians started to shoot various spells. Human bodies were falling one after another. We were having faith in our chances victory. I felt the fire rushing through my body, the heat of the power of the Enind filled my body with ecstasy. I heard the cracking of my soul-chain, it was loud and aggressive. Even though I put a lot of power into my relics' magic, the wall of fire suddenly disappeared.

When I realized that my magic was blocked for a short period, it was already too late: A group of crossbowmans became visible after my flames were gone. Too paralyzed to react I hesitated for too long:

A human voice yelled: 'No prisoners', and a wave of bolts ended their race in the Therom Guardians bodies. It was instant death for most of them. As I regained my composure, Some of the other Therom mages and me had time to create a shield just in time. It was combined with the relic power of wind and fire and thrust under the ceiling. Our fortress was made out of heavy metals and we could hear the cracking of the melting structure. Even though the power of elements was combined, our shield broke down and some other guardians were shot. I couldn't believe what I had to see. Were we losing?

 

'Something is wrong!', I told myself, 'Why don’t we feel the Enind anymore? Normally, we sense its presence and can use it at will. But now, it feels like it isn’t there anymore. I'm starting to feel weak. Did they get to the main room without us noticing it? No, it’s impossible, Sahari is there guarding it and there is no entrance except this one!' My heart was beating, almost trembling. Something definitely went wrong. 'Keep the position on defense!', I ordered with clenching teeth.

 

'These demons aren't half bad', a voice behind the crossbowmen sounded, 'Some of them managed to survive it without the aid of their precious artifact'. I heard nothing more than the blood rushing in my ears, the cracking of the melting ceiling and an utterly creepy laughing.

'They are much easier to manipulate without their vow.' I yelled: 'Show yourself, you rotten man!'

 

A man stepped out of the group and took a few steps. He was tall, ripped and well armored. However, he looked quite smart for a human. He was wearing a large golden ring in shape of a snake eating a black gem on the ringfinger of his right hand, with chains going up his arm. 'These chains...Does he use a relic? That can't be!', I thought and bit my lip.

 

'Nobody has taught you the good manners? ', he asked. 'I wonder how could demons become the leader of Aereth. Oh, now I remember! For the same reason me and my fellow humans are here today killing many of your kind.  Hand us the Soul Sharer and we might spare your life.', the man explained and looked down at me like I was a little boy. I clenched my teeth. Did he not know to who he was talking to?

'Enind is ours! You have no right to claim it for yourself. Humans can’t even use it and you know this. Your soul isn’t big enough to separate it.'

'Who said we wanted to use it? I could take the rest of the day to explain it to you Auron, Captain of the Therom Guardians, but demons are too stupid.' I painfully swallowed down a sassy answer and moved myself into a non-defensive position.

Even though I was quite tall, that human was taller than me and his shoulders also looked bigger. I felt – in fact – a bit small.

 

'How do you know my name? ', I asked quite surprised, 'It's a good sign filthy human know my name, though.'

The human started laughing out loud. He seemed quite confident for the fact he was standing in the middle of the demons empire.

 

'Do you really think we would come here unprepared? ', he asked. 'We know everything about this land, this fortress, the Therom Guardians and you, Auron. Clearly, you are asking yourself where we got this information. Why don't you ask the vice-Captain of your little army?'

 

He pointed to the other side of the room with a huge smile on his face. I turned around and saw Sahari, with her hands covered in blood, holding a semi-transparent green box with the Enind in it. My heart stopped for a second. 'That's what you get for trusting the weak', quickly came to my mind,

'What is she doing?!' 

She walked past me