Hope's End

Prologue

Macedonia, 3586 B.C.

The senate had convened for the trial of one who had broken the most sacred of Eldar laws: no Eldar will ever harm another.

The one who stood accused was as tall as any other Eldar, just slightly taller than the average Adan (who only now began to form true communities). His hair was reddish-blond, and his eyes were black, unusually black. His expression was one of pure contempt and loathing, which was directed straight at his people.

"Moriulundo Fenomseldo, you have been tried and found guilty of... harming other Eldar, going to the full extent of this crime, and causing their deaths..."

"Please be more specific, milord Tyelkatyaro, I want the people to know the full extent of my crimes." Turning to the crowd, Moriulundo eyed them with despise and said, "I killed your kin, I fed off their flesh, but mainly off their blood..." While speaking, he fidgeted with some sort of glove he was wearing.

"Enough Moriulundo! Your crimes are too heinous to be mentioned in full by this court," yelled Tyelkatyaro, filling with rage. "Our hearts demand us that we make you pay with your life, for those crimes. However, unlike you, we keep to the ancient laws, and do not harm other Eldar. For all know that kin against kin wars would sprout if we did. We thereby sentence you to be cast away from the sun, no land this side of the Sylvania Mountains will provide shelter for you, and you will go beyond, as far away from the Eldar as it is possible. You Dragonchild will not offend the first children of the Gods with your foul presence."

"HOW DARE YOU!? HOW DARE YOU PRESUME TO CAST ME OUT!? YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO I AM...WHO I HAVE BECOME! 'Our hearts demand...'? YOU CANNOT HARM ME IN ANY WAY! IF YOU CAST ME OUT, I WILL RETURN, THE BLOOD I HAVE TASTED HAS GIVEN ME SOMETHING YOU CANNOT COMPREHEND! I AM ETERNAL! THE GREAT GOD ARES HAS GIVEN ME THE KNOWLEDGE OF HOW TO ACHIEVE IMMORTALITY. AND NO ELDAR CAN HARM ME ANYMORE!" yelled Moriulundo, menacingly eyeing Tyelkatyaro.

Fearfully, some Eldar soldiers stepped forward, pulling at their swords, seeing this Moriulundo smiled wickedly:

"The secret of immortality was not all that the great God Ares passed on to me," breathing deeply, Moriulundo raised his hand, where all saw that the glove was no more than a holder for a tiny red jewel, and pointed at Tyelkatyaro. At that moment, Moriulundo uttered words that changed the world forever- Avada Kedavra. A bright green light flared, and surrounded Tyelkatyaro, who fell lifeless.

All of the Eldar froze in horror; all knew of the crimes of Moriulundo Fenomseldo, but to have them thrown in their faces was just too much. An Eldar taking a life of another... their hearts wept.

"Now do you understand what I am capable of?" His wicked smile flared again, as he began to walk closer to the crowd. Seeing his movement as a clear threat, the guards stepped forward, but Moriulundo's heart was filled with hatred and spite for these people who had shunned him:

"Avada Kedavra!" The bright green light flared again.

"Tinechor Protego," said a soft voice from the crowd.

Moriulundo was shocked. How could this be? He was supposed to be the only one to know these words, the means to use the magic.

"Surprised Moriulundo? It is not only the God Ares that chooses to share the secrets of magic. Do you honestly believe that no other God is watching the world? Do you believe that Hephaestus would allow his evil brother to plot undisturbed against the favored of Zeus? Now reap that which you have sowed."

"Do you honestly believe that the cripple's powers can match those of the great God of war?" said Moriulundo.

"Has he not he told you? The powers do not come from the Gods, they are born to the Eldar."

"This demands considering..." muttered Moriulundo confused.

"Your time is up Moriulundo... surrender to us and we will be merciful..."

"Mercy? Who needs your mercy? Apparate!" With this, Moriulundo disappeared, and a long time passed until he was heard from again.

For the next hundred years, Aringwen Balador was the teacher for her people, she taught them to sense the magic within them, and to build instruments to conduct that power.

After two millennia, a granddaughter of Aringwen Balador fell in love with a member of the Adan world. From that union were born the first two half-Eldar, Faan Adan Balador, and Anarmakil Adan Balador. It was Anarmakil that left the lands of the Eldar, on the region known as Macedonia, and lived his life amongst an Adan tribe south of Macedonia, he settled in a city of peace, called Athens. From him came the first human wizards and witches, his descendants spread the magic across the world for the next few centuries. Within hundreds of years, none could remember a time when magic was not amongst the Adan. However as those centuries passed, all in the Adan world forgot the name Adan Balador.

As the time passed, none amongst the Eldar forgot Moriulundo Fenomseldo. All remembered his threat, and the fact that it is very hard to defeat an enemy that is eternal.

The Gods, however, demanded their attention, for a titan had started a rebellion, calling all titans, and their sons the giants, to his side. Atlas made his lands the base for an all out war with the Gods. The Eldar were called to fight for the Gods. After the victory over the Titan's rebellion, they were offered Atlas' land as reward. From then on, the Eldar settled in the island continent of Atlantis.

In Atlantis the Eldar lived ever since, a prosperous people in a rich land. However, with the beginning of the rise of the Roman Empire, they needed to hide their presence from the world, to keep from being involved in the conflicts of the Adan.

Romania 1289 a D.

Two figures clad in grey cloaks walked the streets of Constanta. The city's streets were full of men clad in iron armour. All was ready for the imminent march.

The two figures moved discretely amongst the soldiers, discussing the purpose of the war.

"The castle of the son of the dragon grows stronger each week."

"Yes, Yaviorosta, he has infected many Adan with his thirst for blood and with promises of eternal life, and the possibility to feed off of maidens convinced them to follow him. I have gathered information that a man called Vladimir Walach stands at his side as his second in command."

"I have heard it also, Uevanandy, but I have, however, heard other news even more disturbing than the dragon's son taking an Adan as a lieutenant."

"I have heard them too Yaviorosta, but I dismissed them as impossible. The gods would not allow such evil to breed."

"Well, that is neither here nor there... what we need to determine is this: is Khalovando ready to take on such an enterprise? "

"Yes, most definitively, I truly believe he is the best amongst our young."

"He will not fail us..."

"No, Yaviorosta, he will not, I trust him not to."

A few weeks later, the siege of castleCastle Dracul was coming to an end. Khalovando, a young Eldar warrior, led an army of men into the castle and managed to beat its defenses. Only an elite group managed to penetrate deep in the recesses of that den of doom. Six warriors advanced, five clad in white tunics emblazoned with red crosses, while the sixth wore a golden tunic, with a pegasi on it. As they reached the door to the throne room, Khalovando stopped and turned to his companions.

"My friends I do not ask you to go any further... the beast that lies on the other side of this door is worst that any of those we have faced for the last weeks."

"General, we chose to follow you into the beast's lair... we will not leave you now."

Khalovando looked into the eyes of his other companions and saw the same resolve in all of them.

"Very well, let us enter."

Khalovando pushed the great double door open, and as he and his companions entered, he dropped a book, just on the entrance.

"Yes do drop the book boy, for it will not help you here," said a cold voice. Startled, Khalovando and his companions looked up, and straight ahead from them, in a room lit with candles, was a tall man, with reddish hair, and whose eyes where black as the night.

"Welcome gentleman, to the hall of the Count of Dracul."

"You seem to have claimed titles in the time you have been hidden from the Eldar, haven't you... Moriulundo Fenomseldo?"

"Indeed I have, I have long since given up that filthy elvish name. I am now known as Nosferatu Dracul. The time I spent with the Romans was enough for them to grace me with that name."

"Night Beast... figures."

"Yes, much like the elves the Romans didn't take well me drinking their blood," with this comment Dracul smiled, showing his teeth...no not teeth...fangs.

"What is this evil?" shouted one of the knights Templar, which accompanied Khalovando.

"Why child, you brought gifts..."

"Keep those fangs away from them, beast!"

"Oh, you have nothing to worry about, they do seem quite...tasteless," raising one hand, Dracul simply repeated five times, "Avada Kedavra!" And each time he spoke, one of the knights fell lifeless.

"No!!! You beast!" Blinded by grief, Khalovando drew his long sword, which was decorated with a great blue jewel on the pommel.

"You will die for your crimes, like you should have long ago!"

Suddenly there came a cry from a nearby chamber.

"No!! Father!" A girl, fair like no other Khalovando had ever seen, came through a door.

As she neared her father's throne, she saw the five bodies lying in front of it.

"Oh father... he killed them? Who are these men, and why did this fiend killed them? How can someone be so evil?"

Rolling his eyes Dracul smirked, "Oh, don't worry child... I will make him pay." Then he called out, "Vladimir!!"

A dark haired man clad in red armour and wielding a massive two-handed sword, entered the room.

"You called for me master?"

"Yes... dispose of this" he said calmly pointing at Khalovando.

"I hear and obey."

Vladimir raised his sword and prepared to end Khalovando's life, however, the Elven warrior was a good swordsman. Khalovando pulled Vladimir's attack to his right, and raising his left hand he yelled:

"Stupefy!" Vladimir was jerked behind, and fell unconscious to the ground.

Finishing with the infamous Vlad the Impaler, Khalovando turned to face the count Dracul. However, before he had the chance to demand that the Dracul either surrender or face him, the girl stepped towards him.

"Stop! We are people of peace; we mean no harm to anyone..." Khalovando was shocked; remembering something she had said, he stared at Dracul and asked him: "This is your daughter?"Dracul nodded, agreeing.

"And you lied to her?"

"Father, what does he mean?" asked the girl, confused.

"Never you mind Norwawen, back away; you do not need to see this."

He stood and pointed his hand at Khalovando and uttered a curse. "Crucio!" It felt like one hundred knives being stabbed and turned into his body. Khalovando dropped his sword as he convulsed with pain. Dracul stepped to him, picked up the sword and raised it above his head.

Despair entered Norwawen's heart, she couldn't understand why she felt this, sure torturing and killing people were wrong, but this feeling was deeper. Forgetting everything else, she placed herself between her father and the stranger he was preparing to kill.

"Norwawen, get out of the way!"

"I would rather die than let you kill one more person!"

Thinking of the power he craved, Dracul thrust the sword downwards, stabbing his own daughter.

Norwawen fell into Khalovando's lap and looked up into his eyes. For the first time, in her life, she saw everything clearly.

"It's you," Khalovando was confused, but Norwawen smiled. "I recognise you. It is a pity it is too late, but we will meet again on the other side."

And with these words, she died.

Somehow the pain, that Khalovando felt at the death of this absolute stranger, was greater than any other he had ever felt. He just sat there for some time, holding her lifeless body. He was suddenly startled by the sound of metal hitting the ground next to him.

"Our battle isn't finished boy!"

Easing Norwawen's body gently to the ground, next to the sword that had killed her and that was still soaked in her blood, Khalovando looked up in rage.

"Nosferatu Dracul! For your crimes you are sentenced to die. I am your executioner."

"Foolish boy, have you no idea who I am? Stupefy!"

"Protego!" The bolt of red light bounced off it, shattering the shield, but not managing to hit Khalovando.

Looking wary of the power Dracul might wield, Khalovando backed away for the door. As he did so, Dracul taunted him and cast spell after spell in his direction.

"Well, boy, I thought you were going to make justice... Petrificus Totalus!" Khalovando managed to cast another shielding charm, just in time for the full body bind to hit and destroy it.

When Khalovando reached the book he had dropped by the door, he took a pin from between the page. Breathless, he turned again to face Dracul, who was now smirking at him.

"I see that the Eldar have forgotten much in the time that I have been away...is that the only shield you know?"

"What? Think it isn't enough? I have kept all of your spells at bay with it."

"Yes, indeed you have, but I'm curious if..." aiming his spell just enough off of Khalovando not to hit him, but to hit the shield he said, "Avada Kedavra!"

"Protego!" the shield collapsed, but the jet of green light continued to speed at the wall.

Dracul's smile widened, this boy wasn't good enough to beat him.

However, much to Dracul's amazement, Khalovando smiled too, "Yes, we have forgotten much, but we have also been hard at work, and have devised a way of defeating you!"

"How presumptuous of you," answered Dracul, sure of himself, "considering I have actually reached immortality."

Khalovando began running towards Dracul, while chanting, "Oira lav ampartauurimaulke."

Stopping in front of Dracul, he aimed the pin straight at his opponent's heart.

"A mere pin will not harm me boy!"

Khalovando ignored him and continued chanting, "Uulume tulka il finim."

Suddenly Dracul's eyes widened in understanding. He quickly raised his hand and shouted, "Avada Kedavra!" Just as the jet of green light hit Khalovando's chest, his pin struck Dracul across the heart.

Khalovando fell lifeless at Dracul's feet, and then it happened... Dracul turned into a blaze of red light that was sucked into the book, which slammed shut, sealing Dracul inside.

Thus was accomplished the defeat of Dracul, by the sacrifice of two who were meant to be together, but were separated by fate.

Hours later Vlad recovered consciousness, but he felt uncomfortable. Both the castle as well as its surroundings were silent as a grave. At first Vlad was confused and didn't remember what had happened.

Seconds later he remembered, "That bastard used magic, I wasn't ready for that. But surely master has..."

Then Vlad understood what had changed in the castle: while Dracul had lived, the castle possessed an aura of itself, alive all around the castle... that aura was gone. Dracul had explained that this aura was connected to his own life energy. "Old fool, you let yourself get killed by that elvish scum".

Looking around, Vlad saw something that caused tears to swell in his eyes, Norwawen's body lying lifeless on the floor. Puzzled Vlad looked around, she wasn't supposed to be here, let alone dead. He had to understand how she had died. Then his eyes came across a long sword, stained with blood, dropped near the body, "his sword, I recognize it." Now he understood "The Elf must have killed her, before killing master, somehow the bastard... I never got to tell her I loved her... I will extract my revenge off him if it's the last thing I do. I will strike at him and at his people, none shall come unharmed."

Vlad walked determined to the door, halfway there he stumbled on something, he picked it up, it was merely a book, and he could look into it later.

Continuing his path, he glanced at the floor just a few feet away from where the book was, and by the wall, next to the window was another body.

"Probably master... the old fool, letting himself get killed by an elf, of all things". Turning the body, he saw its face, and rage swelled inside his chest "HOW DARE YOU? HOW DARE YOU DIEING BEFORE I HAVE MY REVENGE?" he tossed the book out the window and continued rambling, this time talking out loud, "I will have revenge for Norwawen if it's the last thing I do. I loved her like no other thing I ever loved, I even loved her more than the power... though master would frown at this, I did. I will make the Elves suffer as I do. I will take my master's title, from now on I will be the count Dracul, and all will learn to fear that name."

No other survived the battle of castle Dracul, however, the Eldar knew that Moriulundo Fenomseldo had been defeated and didn't bother to investigate the rumours of the survival of the last of the vampire race.

Three hundred years later, the Eldar nation was horrified at the sudden disappearance of one hundred of its females and thirty of its male population.

In a few decades Atlantis was overrun by monstrous beings that the Eldar couldn't bring themselves to attack and only kept away from their cities the best they could. This race was known as Yrch, the orcs.

All amongst the Eldar knew who had been responsible and what other horrors had this being caused onto the Eldar that had been captured. But it was only in the 1800s that the disillusionment charm upon castle Dracul was broken, and that an Eldar man and woman entered it. These two, united by their love, killed Vladimir "the Impaler" Walach, Count of Dracula.

Despite the death of Dracula, his survival had enabled him to spread the vampirism curse, making it now impossible to destroy completely. Stories were even told that one day Dracula was famished and had feasted upon a pack of wolves that dwelled around his lands, and that one of those wolves despite bitten had fled, carrying the curse, and somehow mutating it.

However, the Eldar no longer cared, some blamed the Adan of the actions of Dracula, others were merely tired of the world, but somehow along the way, they stopped caring about the world. Except for the death of Dracula, they no longer ventured into the outside world. They enclosed themselves on their island and kept hidden from the rest of the world.

Dark Lords rose and Dark Lords fell, but the Eldar remained hidden, for none of those lords had powers or weapons that could merit their attention.

Until now...