Rise of the paladin

The prologue, spoken by the almighty demigod Udel the wizard, shows the world’s creation after a male God meets his female counterpart. Seas, mountains, animals, men; everything is a game for them, a game of love and passion. Their last and greatest creation is a boy, Leoric, who grows up into a fierce warrior under the guidance and training of his father, while at the same time, he turns to a handsome man, as a result of his divine origin. As Leoric grows up, his mother falls in love with him and this is why she crafts a powerful artifact, the Sargerite band, a gift to decorate his wrist. The moment the Creator finds out about this, he decides not only to banish Leoric into a world of his own, but also transforms him into an ugly Orc, destined to fight for his life until the end of his days. Leoric’s mother, unable to transform him back into his previous state, comes up with a plan to save Leoric from his orcish misery; find someone strong enough to kill him, because being dead is better than being an Orc. Although there is no equal to her son’s abilities, she knows that the only man that stands a chance against Leoric, is Alexander, a Helion bearer, one of the few divine artifacts that men possess. But Alexander can’t defeat Leoric alone, this is why she manipulates everyone to march against him; humans, elves, dwarves, wizards. But how can she make Alexander fight for anything the moment he chose exile just to live in peace alongside her beloved Naia? The only way to do it, is lethally wound her somehow, and make him fight for her life. Among the races of men, humans are the easiest to sway. And this is where the Goddess’ plans starts. The younger son of King Lamariel is about to die due to some illness very soon and no one can treat him right. However Matthias, Lamariel’s older son and the heir to the throne, comes up with a suggestion; ask the wizards for a health artifact similar to Alexander’s Helion. Although magic artifacts are crafted by the wizards every thousand years and handed to the Lords of men with the sole purpose of preserving peace, one for each race, Matthias desires one more for himself, disregarding the wizards’ rules. Lamariel as a King knows the wizards will most probably deny his request, but as a father, goes for it nevertheless. Matthias takes no chances with the wizards’ decision and sends a group of soldiers to kill Alexander and retrieve his Helion afterwards. The soldiers fail, but one of their arrows injures Naia. At first sight it looks like a flesh wound, but moments later the lethal poison’s results become evident. Meanwhile Vaerin Lord of the elves and Onmer Lord of the dwarves have arrived in place, driven by the call of their Helions. To save Naia, their only hope is IndTuviar, King of the elves and his healing abilities. Once the humans’ request gets to the wizards, Udel’s apprentices, Tuviar and Olegast argue about their response to the humans’ request, something that makes Udel himself wonder about his final decision. Meanwhile the latter’s voices in his head, voices of deception and manipulation from both Gods, make him think of his decision twice, thus he asks the humans for a day to think of it. The Helion bearers get Naia to IndTuviar, who is unable to treat her right, due to the fact that the poison is not manmade; instead it is a product of a very wise and skilled wizard. Alexander, Vaerin and Onmer rush to the kingdom of wizards looking for both answers and the antidote, but just before they get to the castle they meet with a portal connecting their world to Leoric’s and a horde or orcs jumping out of there. They engage right away; the orcs are no match for the Helion bearers, still more questions arise by the portal’s appearance. Once they get inside the castle, everything looks clear to Udel; one of his two apprentices is corrupted and Alexander must undertake a series of tasks to retrieve the antidote. Alexander is determined to do everything necessary for the survival of his wife, Vaerin and Onmer join his quest and Udel sends Tuviar –the fourth Helion bearer- to assist them, while Olegast will stay back and forge the ring of health for the human prince. Udel notifies everyone that the portal connecting Leoric’s world to their own can be triggered only by him, or any other person possessing divine blood, but everyone is unaware of that person’s identity. The four companions take on a series of quests that include among others dungeon fighting against mythical creatures and such, until they meet Ember, and kill him. At the same time, Leoric, aware of the portal, sends a small portion of his huge army to attack the upper world, but this is actually just a test of the men’s defenses. The Helion bearers complete their quest just to return and find themselves in the middle of a massacre; orcs attack the armies of men, butcher everyone. They engage too, but it looks like a lost battle until Udel himself, although unwilling to interfere for his own reasons, steps in and ends the fight with a single swing of his scepter, a move that drains most of his power and makes Leoric himself march against the men’s world in full force through the Fandol Span. Upon his return to the castle Tuviar reveals Udel that Alexander is the one with the divine blood, something that became evident to him during their dungeon quest. Udel informs everyone about Leoric’s plans and the armies of humans, elves and dwarves move to Fandol span to face Leoric. Furthermore Udel lets Alexander know that he was deceived by the Gods and the only way to save Naia is to kill Leoric and use the Sargerite band on her. To achieve that and become even stronger, Alexander must acquire a powerful weapon, but first he must challenge his greatest adversary so far, the dark side in himself, through another quest. While the armies of men move to Fandol span, Udel checks on the rings of health that Olegast crafted, supposedly three, one for each race. Olegast however, crafts four, three rings of health and one more ring, a ring of power for himself. Udel instantly knows, that the corrupted apprentice of his and the one to make the poison is Olegast and not Tuviar. Although his strength is depleted, he goes on to confront Olegast; he manages to banish him but almost dies in the process. Leoric and his army move to Fandol span, face the armies of men. The outcome of the battle looks obvious; the orcs run over them. The moment Leoric himself looks ready to advance, Alexander appears out of thin air holding the Heavens shield, alongside a huge monster companion. Leoric is not impressed, however his Sargerite forces him to flee, so he reorganizes his army and fights on his own kingdom. The armies of men win the Fandol span battle, but Alexander doesn’t really care as he lost the chance of killing Leoric and retrieve his sargerite. It’s all about revenge at this stage, so he goes after Matthias. No one stands on his way, but just before he kills Matthias, Tuviar intervenes under Udel’s orders; Alexander is not a murdered, he is a noble warrior after all, plus Naia is pregnant and Alexander has at least another reason to live for. Tuviar persuades Alexander to lead the army of men against Leoric on his own ground. He knows the way; Udel will exchange his own life for a passage to Leoric’s territory. Alexander agrees, and the battle moves on to Leoric’s territory. Of course Udel knows that this cannot be done without the help of both Gods, who actually want to see such a fight occur for their own reasons. It’s just a game for them after all. Every one moves to Leoric’s kingdom and the fight starts. The legions of orcs outnumber and outmuscle the armies of men. No one touches Alexander though, Leoric wants a one-on-one fight. The orcs destroy the army of men with ease, this looks like a lost fight. Leoric overpowers Alexander in their battle, there is not too much Alexander can do to survive, even with his Helion and the Heaven’s shield on. This is until the army of wizards decides to take part in this madness and fight the orcs too, something that may cost their own existence, a prophecy they disregard nevertheless. Their interference comes with a cost; one of the Gods attacks the wizards himself! The wizards expect this, the only thing they’re after is to offer Alexander some more time in his confrontation with Leoric. However, this is still not enough. The only one that can actually help Alexander, the wizards or the army of men, is the Goddess herself. She has to engage too. And she does! She doesn’t need a weapon or anything; she grabs her male counterpart’s hand and makes peace with him instead! Love conquers everything and Gods retire from fighting. With any of the Gods’ assistance, the orcs stand no chance. Alexander armed with the wizards’ magic and one more divine weapon kills Leoric, who turns into initial stage, transforms back to a dead human. The orcs flee; the armies of men celebrate their victory. Although previously badly injured from the fight, Alexander wakes up on a boat in perfect physical shape, ready to sail for the undying lands. Naia is next to him, poison free, holding their baby into her arms. Udel is also there; his smile is more than enough for Alexander to get it. Alexander and Naia may go on with their lives, but their child will have to stay back, away from them.