Orendale
The hooded figures approached Orendale Castle hidden by the cloak of a dark and rainy night. Not one of the many castle guards saw them scale the walls and enter the courtyard. Making their way across the lavish grounds with it's stone pathways, well-groomed hedges, and magnificent fountain, they stopped only a few times to listen for anyone that might be following closely behind them. Their mission was simple: kidnap Princess Lorina and murder her father, King Dorian, thus sparking the war of the century. And afterwards, blaming a rival kingdom, paving the way for their own to move in and take over.
The two adversaries made their way into the main part of the stronghold, past the throne room, and up the stairs to the king's bedroom. The room was very dark, but had there been any kind of light source they would have seen an enormous space filled with all kinds of royal luxuries. There were paintings on the walls that depicted the past kings of Orendale, with one of King Dorian hanging above a large fireplace across the room from where the unsuspecting ruler of the land Kay sleeping on his bed. The bed was large with a beautiful hand carved frame. There was also dresser with an oval shaped mirror, a golden statue of the goddess Arina, and a fancy, woven rug. The rug was red and black with gold trim.
The hooded figures made their way to where King Dorian was sleeping. One of them pulled a ruby encrusted dagger and leaned forward to whisper in Dorian's ear, "Long live Lord Verran of the Outer Realms and future king of Orendale." He then placed a pillow over the king's face and stabbed him eight times in the chest, leaving the dagger in his heart as evidence. Blood ran lime a crimson river over the white silk sheets. And taking the princess with them, they escaped over the castle walls and into the night
The next day, in a small village on the eastern corner of the Kingdom of Orendale, a young man by the name of Torrin was just waking up as the morning light crept through the small window that led to his bedroom. Torrin was the son of a fisherman named Alphaes. His mother's name was Harriet. Torrin's family was poor when it came to finances, but they were rich in love. Even more than most families in Orendale.
News of the king's death and the princess' disappearance had not yet reached their part of the kingdom, but Torrin felt something on the wind that told him today was going to be very different from what he and his small family had been used to. But he had no way of being prepared for what he would learn that day.
Torrin got most of his looks from his father such as his sandy blonde hair, strong jaw line, and slender build. But Torrin's blue eyes came from his mother, who's hair was black. Harriet was also about a foot shorter than both her son and her husband.
Torrin of Orendale rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he sat up and prepared to greet this new day. He looked around his room in their small cottage, crawled out of bed, and got dressed. Torrin's room didn't have much to boast about. His bed was rather small, being just big enough for him. He had a dresser with a few outfits and a desk and a chair. His mother made all of her family's clothing including her own. Harriet of Orendale was a gifted seamstress.
Once he was dressed in his black pants, green shirt, belt, and brown boots, he walked into the main part of their home, grabbed his books, and walked out the door. His parents must have still been sleeping because he didn't see either one of them when he left for the small academy in their village. On the way there, Torrin took his time just like he'd done everyday before to enjoy the pink and purple sunrise as the golden light began to reveal the natural beauty that the land of Orendale was known for throughout all seven kingdoms of Arinia. The realm was named after the goddess Arina, the protector of the Seven Kingdoms.
Torrin breathed in the fresh morning air as he walked down the dirt path that lead from his family's cottage, through the middle of the quiet village, and eventually to the academy. He loved the fact that he could see Orendale Castle during the entire journey. It was far in the distance past the lush, green, rolling hills that were filled with the beautiful and brightly colored wild plants that seemed to cover these same hills as far as the eye could see. It was a beautiful sight.
Orendale Castle was enormous. It was complete with several stone towers, a large wall of stone around the castle that had guard stations on the corners, an enormous draw bridge and a barred iron gate that, when open, seemed tall enough for a giant to walk through.
The towers of the castle were topped with red, black, and yellow flags that bore the kingdom's crest. The crest was two swords that were crossed with the image of the sun above them.
Torrin's village had a few residences all around the edges and a town square with numerous shops where all kinds of goods were being sold. In these shops you could find a wide array of weapons, tools, clothing, food, herbs, spices, potions, and even animals.There was a dock where several trade ships and fishing boats were docked while waiting for their journey back to the sea. The library was located next door to the academy where Torrin went to school. When he finally made it there, the young man was bombarded with the familiar sights, sounds, and smells that he had come to love over the years.
The Eastern Village Academy, as it was called, taught just about anything and everything about the world of Arina. Things like potion making, crafting, Arinian history, healing, and even wilderness survival could be learned there. There were even classes that taught about other realms, animals, and ither creatures and their habitats. And that's just a very small percentage of the knowledge that could be obtained by attending.
Torrin went to school with all different kinds of races that Arina housed. Elves, humans, and orcs alike went to school with him. All of them having their own personalities, skill sets, backgrounds, and life goals. Even Torrin's history teacher was a centaur named Gaelon.
The academy's head instructor was one of the sages of Orendale. His name was Master Voderick. Most sages were powerful individuals that were usually very old. Voderick was almost three hundred years of age. Sages were advisors to the king and had wisdom and magical abilities that no one else in the land possessed.
When Torrin walked past the large wooden doors and into the building he saw his best friend. An orc named Gorro.
"Hey!," Torrin shouted from across the hallway. Gorro turned around and smiled, his tusks raised slightly at the corners of his mouth. Gorro was much larger than Torrin and had long, red, braided hair with pale green skin, which was common for most orcs. When he spoke his voice was deep and gruff.
"Well," Gorro responded, "if it isnt my skrawny human brother, Torrin of Orendale! How is your day so far?"
"It's going well, Gorro," Torrin told his large friend. The two had been friends since both of them were very young. Torrin met Gorro after falling into a river that cut through the woods where the orc's tribe had been encamped. Seeing the nine year old human being washed away in massive currents, Gorro caught him up by the hair and pulled him out. Since that day, the two had become best friends. Torrin was now seventeen while Gorro was only about a year older than him.
While they were catching up from about a week of not seeing one another, Torrin's fellow human friend Samuel came running up to greet them after seeing the pair as he was coming out of another classroom across from where Torrin and Gorro were standing. Samuel was a year younger than Torrin as well as a few inches shorter.
Samuel lived in the same village and was exceptionally skilled with animals and other creatures and even plants in the area. However, he seemed to fail miserably when it came to interacting with people. He qas decent enough, but incredibly awkward when it came to social interactions, making him an almost unfair target for confrontation.
Samuel had dark brown hair, green eyes, and was slightly overweight. He met Torrin and Gorro about a year ago when the pair had stopped another group of students from picking a fight with him. After that day, wherever Torrin was, you could almost bet that Samuel was not far away.
"Hey, Torrin," Samuel said, "Hi Gordo. What are you two doing out here? Class is about to start. I dont want docked for being late and I feel like you two shouldnt want to either. I'm about a month away from getting this stupid class over with. Hopefully I dont blow myself up trying to hurry."
The class that Samuel had the worst luck in was called, "Potions and Experimental Medicine". The title makes the criteria self explanatory. The class had an elvin teacher named Ms. Kira and most of the male students had a secret desire for her because of her beauty. And elves never seemed to really age any farther than about thirty years. Ever.
"Kira will not let you blow yourself up," Torrin tried to reassure Samuel.
"You would be surprised, Torrin," Samuel replied, I think that sometimes she allows things to happen to either prove a point or offer examples on why someone shouldn't do things a certain way. In fact, last week some girl tested one of the so called 'invisiblity potions' she'd practiced and...," Samuel stopped, seemimg to remember in his minds eye.
"And what?," Gorro asked, obviously curious.
"Well," Samuel continued, "she mixed too much pixue dust into it by accident. She wasn't invisible, she was a deep shade of purple. She's been sent home until they figure out how to reverse the effects." At this, Gorro started to laugh in that deep voice. Torrin tried to hide the smirk on his own face. And after a few moments, Samuel seemed to see the humour in it as well.
"I thought you were going to tell us that she grew wings or something," Torrin told Samuel as they headed into the classroom and found their seats.
"As fast as she left the academy, she might as well have," Samuel said. This got Gorro laughing even harder.
A few moments later the three friends found their desks at the back of the room, Ms. Kira walked in.
Kira had a lovely demeanor when she dealt with others in any kind of way. Even when those 'others' were not so lovely at the time. The tall and beautiful elf had long, almost silver hair and was wearing clothing that showed off her nearly goddess-like figure. Ms. Kira's eyes were the color of smoke with two small, black pupils. Even though she was probably one hundred and fifty years old, she resembled a twenty six year old at the most. Just like I said, that was one of the perks of her race of people.
"Good morning, students," she greeted them, her voice sounding like a song composed by angels. Torrin, just from the experience of being a human, teenage male, imagined that half of the population of this school would sleep with her if the opportunity presented itself. Maybe except for the orcs. Orcs did not see beauty the same way humans did. Not in potential mates at least. But they saw more beauty in nature than most humans did for the fact that the earth was like their mother. And elves were strange in the way that they perceived beauty in everything that life had to offer them. Even in war and death. And they were incredibly compassionate, even to their enemies. Torrin secretly wished all races thought that way. But unfortunately, they did not.
As Ms. Kira spoke to them about the importance of weights and measurements when making life saving potions and medications while in the field, Torrin quietly read another one of his books from his class with Mr. Levarin called, "Creatures of Arinia." The book talked about all kinds of animals found across their realm. He opened it to the first page which talked about trolls. The picture they provided above the text was a hand drawn image of a large, menacing monster that was gorging itself on a group of people. The victims' faces looked horrified. And it didn't get much better as he began to read about their appetite for unsuspecting travelers. The book went on to describe them as having an immeasurable amount of strenght, the reasoning skills of a bear robbed of her cubs, the intelligence of a brick wall, and an extremely short temper. The author wrote that trolls smell like death from a hundred feet away and its so strong that you can smell them before you can see them, giving their victims one last chance to get away before becoming lunch.
Torrin seriously doubted he would ever have to use this knowledge of trolls, but it interested him none the less. He hadn't even really been outside the safety of Orendale at any point of his incredibly sheltered life. In fact, he most likely would never use the knowledge he had obtained in this class either. But he decided it would be good to have the experience anyway just in case his boring and mundane life suddenly became more more interesting. Then, just maybe, knowing about certain plant properties and homemade poisons would come in handy.
Little did young Torrin of Orendale know that a strange turn of events would one day alter his and his friends' lives forever. And the three of them most certainly did not have any clue that a fateful chain of events had already started and that today would be the day that none of them would forget for the rest of their lives.
Torrin continued on in his book reading about goblins, different types of dragons that had been discovered in the last hundred years, sirens, and on and on until he heard a gentle tap on the edge of his desk. He looked up and saw Ms. Kira looking down at him. And from the silence in the room, he could also feel the eyes of his fellow classmates on him. The feeling made him very uncomfortable.
"Mr. Torrin," his teacher said, "I realize this class may not interest you as much as it probably should with it's life saving skills and several different remedies for almost everything you could encounter. However, I would also like to remind you that there are other students in here who would like to learn and do have an interest in these topics. And when I have to stop the class to get one person's attention, it affects the learning process. Now, even if it's just out of respect for them and myself, would you please save that book for Mr. Levarin's class and pay attention in mine?"
"Yes, Ms. Kira," he told her, slightly embarrassed.
"Thank you, Mr. Torrin," she said, smiling at the look on his face that said he'd been caught off guard. And with that, he put the book away as his instructor walked back to the front of the class to resume her lecture on safety.
A few moments later, yet another interruption made itself manifest. But not from Torrin or any of the other students. This one came in the form of the Eastern Village Academy's founder, Sage Voderick. He made a motion to Ms. Kira that said he would like to speak with her out in the hallway, away from the now curious students. When the teacher came back a few moments later, silent tears could be seen streaming down her face. Which meant she had terrible news.
"I'm afraid," she addressed the room, "that I will have to send you all home for the day. It seems that... Our beloved King Dorian... Has been murdered..."
