Origins of the Never: A prequel to The Tales of the Neverwar series, with dragons, elves, and faeries. For Young Adults and Teens (3 page)

Teralia

“How could you do such a thing, Tenybris?” shouted Olumé, shaking his head in denial. “Don’t you know how close you came to being killed? If it hadn’t been for Glyran, we might be back at war with the whole of Dragon kind again!”

Tenybris stood in silent defiance. Hadn’t this been his wedding gift to them? And now they were throwing it back in his face. His friend’s lack of gratitude disgusted him. No harm had befallen Eldar or Dragon. If the Dragons had agreed to his request, then there would have been no need to take further measures. The eggs were returned unharmed to the clutches he’d ‘borrowed’ them from, so what was the big deal? The Dragons would get over it.

As he stood before his friend, being lectured like an errant child, Tenybris saw at last the reason behind Olumé’s displeasure. Glyran was Lynnaria’s friend. He must have met with her, and revealed what Tenybris had done. How else could they know...unless?

She is the one!
The voice screamed, its anger spreading into Tenybris.

The sudden realisation sickened Tenybris. This being he had loved since first laying eyes upon her had been plotting all along to turn his friend against him. She was jealous of their closeness. Oh, she was clever. Her public displays of affection, the need to have Tenybris involved in so much of the planning for the wedding itself, it had all been a sham.

Tenybris thought Lynnaria didn’t know how he felt about her, but how could she not, if two strangers from another world figured it out over the course of a few visits. She knew. Not from the beginning, perhaps, but she must have seen the way he looked at her, must have caught a glance when he thought she wasn’t aware.

Which meant that all along she had been laying a trap. It was clear now, the thoughts flying through his mind like a storm, blowing all the cobwebs of deceit away. It was Glyran who swayed the other Dragons in their decision to refuse his request, he was sure of it. And when Tenybris took the eggs, it was Glyran who stopped them pursuing him. He wanted Tenybris to steal them, so Lynnaria could gather the evidence she needed.

Oh, how stupid I’ve been,
thought Tenybris. Now, as he stood in front of the whole council of the Eldar, he looked into her eyes. The reflection was one of compassion, and perhaps a touch of pity, but Tenybris realised now, too late, how well she hid her true emotions.

‘Look at the bitch, standing there so smug and satisfied,’
said the voice, dripping its hatred like venom into Tenybris’s soul.
‘This has been her plan all along.’

He clenched his hands. He wasn’t about to go down without a fight. “The Dragons knew I would never harm the eggs, Olumé. You know this, don’t you? And they got them back, so what is the problem?” He smiled, trying to make light of his actions.

He looked around the chamber, but none of the others would meet his eyes.
She has done this
.
She has turned them all against me. And I let her do it!
The anger threatened to overcome his self-control for an instant, before he quelled the flames of his fury.

“I take it from your silence you don’t agree?” he sneered.

“Tenybris, what is wrong with you?” asked Olumé, his expression begging Tenybris to open up. “All of us know of your dissatisfaction with the decisions we make on behalf of our people. But this was a reckless act, a dangerous one for you, for us all. And after what Or’n has told us of your behaviour on Sanctuary, well, I’m not sure what I should do with you.”

Sadness tinged his last sentence, but Tenybris didn't notice. What had Or’n said about his behaviour on Sanctuary? Had there been witnesses to the altercation between him and the two off-worlders?

He returned to Teralia the night of the murders, and refused to talk to Or’n until two days had passed. It had taken him this long to steady his nerve and renew his link with the Lands. It had been difficult. The flow of magic was there, he felt it the second he stepped back through the portal, but it was like the Land itself knew and disapproved of what he'd done. It took a day of meditation to calm down enough for the Land to accept him again.

Tenybris didn’t reply, however, deciding to wait for the axe to drop.

“Or’n told us how you planned to stay on Sanctuary for a while. Then you disappeared, without the courtesy to inform him. Tenybris, this says as much about your frame of mind as anything else.”

Tenybris breathed a silent breath of relief. Olumé dispelled his fear that the double murder had been witnessed. It was time to salvage something, so he might gain more time to make Olumé and the others see Lynnaria was manipulating them. Unfortunately it was time she wasn’t about to offer.

“Tenybris, you are clearly disturbed over something, and if you will not tell us what it is, might we suggest you retire to your island for a while, to rest and recuperate?” Lynnaria smiled. “We all love you, my friend, and want nothing more than a speedy recovery, so please, accept this advice in the manner it is given, in friendship and concern.”

A murmur of agreement travelled around the chamber as all the voices joined in, but this didn’t fool Tenybris.
She wants me out of the way. The bitch wants Olumé all to herself, so that she, through him, can influence the council.
Well, he would go, but he would return, rested, as she appeared to want.
And when I return to this Citadel, it will be on my terms.

That was the night the dreams started.

Teralia—A Century Later

The pit called out to Tenybris. In his dream, the depth of utter darkness expanded around his sleeping form, leaving him hanging unsupported above the chasm. He sensed the hunger lurking below, a greed as old as Teralia itself.

The pit had lain dormant for thousands of years. Its last attempt to gain precedence over the accused Light had ended in utter failure.

The Chaos Wars had been spectacular. Over the course of centuries, the Darkness succeeded in turning all the races of Teralia against each other. Dwelf fought Faer. Elves went to war against Dragon kind. Fire burned across the skies, in the forest and deep underground.

The magic unleashed the elements, pitting sky against ground, and water against fire. Volcanoes spewed fire and ash into the heavens, even as hurricanes and tornadoes ripped the forests asunder.

Darkness had been on the brink of victory, on the cusp of attaining mastery over the power which flowed from this land, but the forces of Light had chosen their hero well. Olumé’s grandfather, Praevé, ended the war Darkness had engineered, but at a cost. He expended his life energy in an act of desperation. Throughout the long years of war, he had fashioned a spell, but even at the last moment he quailed.

What he had to do went against all he thought right, but it was the only way to end the stalemate of destruction. His spell, once cast, shattered his soul, throwing the fragments outward. The shards found their targets; the dragons. Within a few short weeks the entire Dragon race were enslaved by the Eldar. They used the huge reptiles to end the war, bringing the other nations to their knees.

The Darkness remembered the feeling of triumph, the taste of victory with bitter recollection. At the last, when Oraevé, Praevé’s son, stood ready to take his place as ruler of the Lands, he did the unthinkable. He relinquished the hold on the dragons. For an instant, the Lands teetered on the brink of war once again, before the Dragon chieftain, Glyran came forth from above. The huge golden beast flew, talons bared, at Oraevé, who stood undefended on the battlements of the Citadel. There was nothing to stop him ripping the Elf apart, but instead he stopped his strike, inches before impact. Glyran hovered before Oraevé for over a minute, and the multitude gathered on the plains below the mighty fortress waited.

Nobody knew what passed between the two beings, but the Darkness felt his grip on victory slip from his grasp even before the Light burst over the plains. The gray clouds were driven asunder, and the light of the sun shone upon the Lands for the first time in decades. Hope filled the hearts below. Any thoughts of war and conquest left their hearts and minds.

Over the years, Darkness was banished to memory, and the Light took steps to ensure it stayed there.

Olumé grew up with Light’s energy flowing through him. He became the embodiment of the forces of order, which protected the People of the Lands from any taint of evil. His link with the Land reinforced both him and the Light, so any attempt by the Darkness to emerge again met with unassailable resistance.

Until, that was, Tenybris met Lynnaria and fell completely in love with her. The Darkness had been waiting. Though diminished and starving, it still existed. Love is an easy emotion to twist, so it latched on to the subconscious spark of jealousy, and over the years nurtured it. Eventually the jealousy grew deep enough that the Darkness could increase its influence. It created thoughts of dissent and dissatisfaction in how Olumé ruled Teralia. It couldn’t provoke a reaction at this early stage, but by the time of the wedding, the Darkness had such a grip on Tenybris that it twisted his deeds, in such a way he would take the first steps on a spiral path downward.

The theft of the eggs to coerce the Dragons was the first conscious act of evil on Teralia in millennia; but it wasn’t until Tenybris returned from Sanctuary, with the taint of two murders on his soul that the Darkness exerted its full influence. The act of violence weakened Tenybris’s link to the Land, so while he meditated, the Darkness anchored his soul deep within the pit. Tenybris thought he retained his link with the Land, with the forces of Light he had followed forever, but it was Darkness which possessed him now.

It took over a century, but now it was time to reveal itself. Tenybris stirred in his sleep, but instead of waking up screaming in terror, as he had every night for the last decade, he opened his eyes to see the pit stretching out around him as far as the eye could follow. He felt the hunger and greed emanating from below, and he bathed in its twisted aura.

What are you?
His dream-self jumped when the reply came.

‘I am Power!’
It hissed in his mind.
‘I am Power unlimited, Power for you to command, my Master.’
Tenybris was so far gone he believed the lie. Over the last few decades the Darkness had turned him into a recluse, twisting his belief and trust in his friends so much he banished them from his island home. Over the years he had turned it into a fortress. He had wandered the halls alone for years. Even his faithful servants avoided him to escape the tempers he often flew into.

What do I have to do?
he asked the Darkness, impatiently.
What power can you give me? Tell me, Now!

The Darkness would have laughed, if it possessed a corporeal body. Its puppet's fall was almost complete. There remained just one small step for Tenybris to take.

‘I require sustenance, my Master. I have waited so long for the energy I crave to make you greater than you ever thought possible.’

What energy?
responded Tenybris. He already knew the answer.

‘Life!’

A tiny sliver of Tenybris’s soul balked at the word and its meaning. The life the Darkness craved could be provided by one method alone, but his overwhelming lust for dominance over his enemies allowed Tenybris to ignore his weakened conscience. His first two murders had served no purpose other than to assuage his fury. But from now on, the deaths at his hand would increase his power, so he might return to the Citadel, to force all the fools there to see the truth. Then, that bitch Lynnaria would suffer. Oh, how he would enjoy that!

He awoke with a smile of remembered satisfaction on his face. At breakfast, his servants saw a new man before them, but the transformation was frightening. As their master looked at them, and caught their eyes, they perceived a hunger lurking behind his expression of contentment. A hunger for what, they couldn’t conceive, but within a few short hours they all agreed to not walk the halls of the castle alone. Their master’s new demeanour scared them all. In fact, it terrified them. Enough so, that several members of the staff, members who had served Tenybris faithfully for centuries, secretly departed the island fortress for the mainland.

Tenybris watched them attempt to flee. He delighted in their joy as they stepped foot on the mainland, thinking they were free, and he revelled in their despair as he wrenched them back to the island.

It took Tenybris less than a day to hunt out and kill his servants. If he had any regret for his actions, murdering beings he’d known and grown up with since childhood, then the emerging power growing within him drowned it in greed and lust. These beings were insignificant. All that mattered was getting back to the Citadel. All that mattered was freeing his friend from the influence of the witch.

The Darkness rejoiced as the life energy flowed through Tenybris into it. It became so easy. Tenybris was beyond redemption. He and the Darkness fed off each other, developing a symbiotic link which increased each other’s power. It knew it would need more than the handful of souls it had just consumed. Tenybris was also aware he would need more power to confront the defenders of the Citadel. By now, Lynnaria was sure to have it under her control.

He would need an army.

Thinking he was the true master, Tenybris ordered the Darkness to release a portion of one of the murdered souls, just enough to reanimate a body, so he might experiment with it. The Darkness did so, and watched with delight as Tenybris fell deeper and deeper into depravity. He tortured the soul, bending it to his will, so when it returned to its body, all that remained was a mindless slave. Tenybris did this with all the servants, so within a week he had a small, but deadly army. During his experiments he refined his spell. When cast, it would rip the soul out of its victim, the majority of the energy passing into Tenybris to increase his power, and through him, the Darkness. The spell returned the remaining corrupted and defiled part to the corpse, which then became a conduit for the spread of this plague of subjugation.

Tenybris and his army ravaged the coastal villages of the mainland, its ranks increasing with each murder. It wasn't enough for Tenybris, however, as his hunger increased along with his power.

Within a month, all thoughts of helping his friend, Olumé, escape the influence of his witch bride left him. All life on this world would be purged to serve his will. And once his army captured the portal to Sanctuary, the universe, all of creation, would be his for the taking. Tenybris’s mouth watered at the thought. He would have power to rival the Maker himself.

The Darkness laughed.