Table Of ContentThe Land: Alliances
By
Dr. Aleron Kong
The Land: Alliances
A self-published book by Aleron Kong
Copyright ©2016
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission except in the case of
brief quotations embodied in critical articles or
reviews.
This book is dedicated to my father, Basil Waine Kong. He is an amazing man
who didn’t see a street light until he was fifteen and yet still became the CEO of
a multi-million-dollar company! I personally could have done with less ‘Why
can’t you be like Tiger Woods’ references when I was growing up lol, but I still
love him dearly! This one’s for you dad!
THE LIGHT COURT
The King retired back to his private room. The Royal Chamberlain
followed him and they left the other denizens of the Light Court behind. The
‘room’ was not just four walls, a floor and a ceiling of course. When the door
closed, the two powerful beings were effectively alone in a shard universe of the
King’s own creation.
“I have instituted the first phase of the plan, my King. I am curious
however, why you did not want the High Chancellor or the rest of the Court to
know.”
The King of Light stood silently on a balcony. In front of him was a sea of
raw Chaos. Most beings would go mad just staring into such primordial soup for
more than a few minutes, but the King gazed unflinchingly. Hours passed with
no response, but what was that to immortal beings? The Chamberlain waited
patiently.
When the King finally spoke, the Chamberlain heard something he had
never heard before in his liege’s voice, hesitation. “Those weaklings are not
worthy of knowing my thoughts… also, it would not be… prudent.”
“What does it matter what they know, my King? You are the strongest
being in creation. That is why I serve you.”
The King of Light just nodded in response to his Chamberlain’s
Machiavellian reasoning. There were no illusions as to the nature of their
partnership. He was quiet for even longer this time. He searched for answers in
the sea of grey Chaos which had seemed more turbulent of late. When he spoke,
it was softly.
“Once that was true, my Chamberlain. The Universe though, is shifting in
its slumber. I feel that none of us are safe anymore.”
CHAPTER 1
“You need to get more sun, Randy.”
“My Lord!” He stood up quickly and bowed, “No one told me that you
were back.”
“Sit down, sit down,” Richter said. “That’s certainly what I plan to do.”
He plopped into one of the chairs in front of the desk. “There is a lot that I need
to tell you. It looks like we are at war. In addition, Hisako tells me we can start
expecting more monster attacks. And last but not least, there is a plague of giant
insects called the scourge that we need to eliminate ASAP. Before we get into
ALL of that though, Hisako said there are some things you need to tell me.”
Randolphus’s eyes grew wider, and his expression more incredulous as
Richter spoke. The last seemed to take the wind out of him though and he
dropped back into his chair. The chamberlain opened his mouth and closed it
several times before speaking. These eaters certainly are well known and widely
feared, Richter thought to himself. When Randolphus had composed himself, he
said, “You are correct, my Lord. There are several things we need to discuss.
The first however, is what you want to do about the prisoners. We can’t just
continue to keep them under lock and key.”
“Derrrr, what prisoners?”
The chamberlain took a deep breath, “In the weeks that you have been
gone, the hunters have begun to notice people traveling along the western border
of the mists. It appeared they were searching for weak spots in the enchantment.
I ordered the hunters to observe them from within the mists. One night, a hunter
got close enough to overhear them talking. The news wasn’t good, my Lord.
They were mercenaries hired by Count Stonuk.”
“Okay,” Richter said. “So how did we get to having prisoners? Did the
hunters attack?”
Randolphus nodded, “One night, our hunters did shoot at them, hoping to
thin their numbers or at least frighten them away. The mercenaries started firing
back blindly into the mists. At least one was a magic user. Our people had to
avoid both arrows and offensive magic. One of the hunters was struck in the
shoulder by an errant crossbow bolt. The injury was not life threatening, but
after that, I ordered our people to simply observe. The truth is, my Lord, our
hunters were not equipped to attack a well-armed force. They continued to
follow them from inside the enchantment. After a few days, two of the
mercenaries wandered into the mist and became lost. The hunters were able to
capture them.”
“Good!” Richter asked in a strained voice. His tone barely concealed the
truth… he was pissed! It apparently wasn’t enough that the Count had both
emotionally and physically savaged Isabella. It wasn’t enough that he actively
partook in the slave trade. No! Count Asshat apparently now felt the need to
come after the few nonhumans that had escaped his clutches. Richter was
furious that the man was threatening his people!
Of course, if Richter were being fair, he would have to admit that he HAD
infiltrated the Count’s home, enspelled his guards, and then robbed the noble
blind, but on the other hand… the guy was a total asshat!
Richter controlled himself, “So we caught a couple of mercenaries, huh?
Well I can’t say that I’m completely surprised that the Count came after us.
How many were there total?”
“I am unsure as to the total numbers, but the hunters saw less than ten,”
Randolphus answered.
“Ten?” Richter asked confused. “What was that supposed to do? Even if
they could penetrate the mists, what did the Count think ten fighters could do
against three hundred of us? Were they all very high levels?”
“I cannot speak to the capability of those that remained outside of the mist,
my Lord. Mage Zarr knows a spell similar to your Analyze skill, however. He
was able to tell us that one of the trespassers was indeed a Professed Warrior,
level twenty-eight. The man would have been formidable in battle. The other
prisoner was underwhelming. She is only a girl and level six at that. Her name
