Prologue

Post date: Jan 16, 2016 3:56:12 PM

The blue haze of the rising sun cast an eerie glow over the rugged landscape of Caradorynee. The nightly mist of ash from the Dormoan volcanoes glistened beneath the contestant’s feet.

It was a special day, today. A day where billions of bonedoons would be wagered. Most would lose but, for the few who had betted wisely, the gain of riches would be vast.

High up on top of a hill, perched in a tall branch-like vegetation that resembled what he remembered of a tree, the ancient man watched the festivities in the valley below.

He had a keen interest in the race today. Not because he had wagered all but a few of his precious bonedoons, or that if he lost he probably would lose his life. No, his interest lay in the fact that one of the many contestants competing today, was a Human.

Humans were rare in Caradorynee. So rare in fact that the majority of the Caradorynee’s population had never seen a Human before. And those that had, viewed the small, strange looking, walking, talking, and breathing entity as some form of mystical being.

Humans weren’t mystical. He knew that, but he also knew that the Caradorynee people, if you could call them people, were a superstitious breed of creatures.

He himself was a Dueally. Half Human and half Dueania. The byproduct of a generation that had been created when a rift in one of Earth’s many alternate universes more than a thousand years ago had splintered. Although technically born on Earth, he'd been exiled to Caradorynee as a young man more than six hundred years ago.

How the Human had ended up on Caradorynee was a mystery, one he was determined to solve. He liked the strange, the oddities of life, the unique. And the young woman standing at the far end of the contestant line intrigued him greatly.

The long braid trailing down her back was a deep auburn colour. A telltale sign to him that she had been on Caradorynee for only a short time. There were other signs as well. Subtle signs that the Caradorynee’s couldn't distinguish, but they were there. And that gave him a sense of excitement.

The young woman had power. A power that if harnessed could yield amazing results.

He wanted that power. Longed to reap the rewards that would be then easily within his grasp.

But first the girl had to prove herself. And that wouldn’t be an easy feat. The Caradorynee’s people, as a whole, were crafty and devious. The complete opposite of the higher echelon which ran this barren outpost of a province. They were strict disciplinarians and the authority of the Caradorynee’s master absolute.

He leaned back against the surprisingly soft bark of a branch and reached into a pocket of his tattered robes. A smile graced his dry lips as he bit off a section of the wet and salty reed of a suegat. This was going to be fun.