• Let me tell you a story from a time long past. This story is a part of history that you will not find in any history book. Yet remnants of the events of this story still echo through time. Many myths are remembered as facts, many facts are remembered as myths, and many stories that needed to be told were forgotten. This is a recollection of one of those lost chronicles. The Crombe Chronicles.


    The morning was crisp, chilled as the cold night air clung desperately to the last few moments of the night. The moon had retired, but the sun had yet to rise, leaving the marsh in a semi-darkened state. Not a single creature could be seen nor heard, for the night creatures had gone to sleep, and the day creatures were still in their dens.

    In an alcove that was formed in a gigantic rock lived a hermit who wore dirty, torn rags, and whose skin was so grimy from sweat and mud that his own kin couldn’t have recognized him. It was this time, the hour of twilight, that he roused himself to go hunting.

    The hermit grew quite still, as he listened to the surrounding marshes. He drew his double edged sword from a hidden sheath faster than would have been believed and held it in front of him. The sword was quite beautiful, having a silver blade and a golden hilt with a diamond pommel, and a wing shaped guard.

    As the hermit began to relax, he screamed in agony, piercing the silence as a black blade pierced his heart. The black blade was a straight, double edged sword and was serrated on one side. He heard a foul laughter from behind and before he died, he heard a beautiful and terrible voice whisper, "I found you, Jasper..."


    The emperor stood at the tall window of his throne room, watching sadly as his once beautiful city was torn apart below. Walls were torn down, buildings burnt, people slaughtered, and the great and terrible army was at his doorstep. He knew he would die; there was no debating that. He had accepted it without argument. He only wished that his people could have been spared.

    He heard the doors thrown open and the heavy metal footsteps that drew near. "Make it quick. I have business in the next life."

    And the dark assassin stabbed the emperor in the heart and watched with satisfaction as he drew his last breath.