📖 ORIGINAL VERSION 📖
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Relana rushed to the door to see what the noise was.
"Landon! Come quick!" His Mother cried with urgency, "the hogs are into the Prince's pies!" She turned to her son, with an angry glare. "You infernal boy! Why can't you remember to latch the confounded pen!?"
Landon rushed down the stairs. He wore his best clothes; they were clean and pressed. "What in Narmacil's name is going on, Mother?!"
"Get those pigs caught!!" Relana ordered Landon.
"By the Gods! Redkin! Why can't you keep those hogs locked up?!" Landon grabbed his bow and arrows hanging by the door and ran outside.
Redkin ran outside and stole one of the pies in the chaos. He hid behind the pig barn with it.
With his enchanted recurve and magic arrows, Landon created a clear pathway lined with fire. The frightened pigs squealed and ran to the safety of their pen.
Landon ran over and latched the gate. He laughed. "Such crazy creatures."
He turned to where his brother was hiding. Before Redkin could eat any of the pie, Landon aimed his bow and chuckled as he let one more arrow 'accidentally' fly. The arrow ignited as soon as Landon nocked it.
It arched high over the barn and landed right at his brother's feet. A squeal of surprise from Redkin made Landon laugh.
"Ha! Caught you, brother!"
"Hey! That hurts!" Redkin recoiled from the flames.
"Those pies were not for you! They are for the Prince." Landon laughed harder.
"You have gotten too good with those wretched arrows!"
"HA! You want to see just how good? Return the pie now, brother!" Landon nocked another arrow.
Redkin came out from his hiding place behind the pig pen. The infernal beasts could smell the pie and became excited.
They squealed and knocked Redkin over. He fell right into the mud pit with a sick splat. Mud splattered all over his face and the pie went flying.
The pie landed on the ground and the six pigs fought over it. Landon burst into hysterics. His laughter only grew as his brother began to sink deeper into the pit.
He struggled to stand. When Redkin did make it to his feet, he lost his boots to the deep mud.
"Wow, brother! I could not have picked a better way to punish you," Landon's laughter only grew louder.
Redkin became angry, "ugh! why do you make fun of me so?!"
Landon could not breathe, and tears formed in his eyes. His brother was dripping with pig mud.
When he got out of the pig pen, he charged his younger brother. He ran barefooted toward him.
Landon clutched his tummy he was laughing so hard. He did not see Redkin coming. A sickening splat echoed across the farmland as he tackled Landon to the ground.
Landon's laughter was all Redkin could hear as he growled. He knew he had to be careful when wrestling with his younger brother. The two boys continued to laugh as they wrestled in the mud.
Windraven came outside to see what the ruckus was. He gave a growl. He was appalled to see his precious Landon pinned to the ground by his older brother.
He rushed over and grabbed Redkin by the hips and lifted him up. Redkin's arms and legs flailed around in the air.
"Let go of my Landon, you beast!"
"Beast? Me? Look who's talking," Redkin scowled. "Let go of me, you brute."
A pendant around Redkin's neck caught Windraven's attention. It was a gold dragon wrapped around a small glowing orb. The tall man smirked.
"As you wish," Windraven walked over to the biggest puddle of mud in the yard and dropped Redkin into it. He landed face first.
Landon watched the interaction and laughed so hard he started coughing uncontrollably.
Angelo just watched with humor. He knew he would not be privy to such entertainment at Redkin's cost in the future. So, he just observed knowing that Windraven was not going to injure him.
Relana clenched her jaw at the mess that was once her pies. Half of her pies were sacrificed to the pigs.
Her anger turned to fear as the deafening sound of the King's guard could be heard approaching. Only a miracle will save her from the Prince's wrath.
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Xanther's cape rustled in the wind. His long black hair twisted to the invisible force. His black sorcerer robes, made of silk, shined in the bright sunlight.
Tattoos and runes covered his arms and his chest. A dark tattoo decorated his face. The marking was a tree, its roots at his chin. The trunk wrapped around his eye and the leaves across his forehead.
His golden eyes scanned the valley below. Absent mindedly, he fiddled with a pendant around his neck. It was a gold dragon wrapped around a small glowing orb.
A scowl crossed his face. The clenching of his jaw only enhanced his cheek bones. He could not sense his wife here nor the Hellfire. But the evidence was undeniable. He took out the picture sent to him.
"Relana, I love you, but your treasonous behavior will not go unpunished," he expressed his frustration to the wind. "I will find you."
"Father, this world is dying, why do we bother to try and save it? The amount of chaos magic we will gain will be incredible," Haldor appeared next to his father.
His eccentric yellow tailcoat flowed in the breeze. Black leather gauntlets adorned his hands. His grip tightened around the skull handle on his cane. He wore an eye patch over his right eye. His long blond hair swayed to its own rhythm in the sun.
Xanther looked at his son and just deadpanned, "you are not seeing the larger picture. We are seeking the final six starshards. The fate of this planet is only important because it holds the gate to the 13th Realm." He sighed and paused, "you are also forgetting about Narmacil. He would never allow this planet to die. It guards an ancient monster, even we cannot fight."
His son growled, "but Father! You are more powerful than Narmacil!"
Xanther sneered and backhanded his boy, knocking him to the rocky ground.
"You are a fool, Haldor! Narmacil is immortal and can create magic from nothing! He can easily use the Kiss of Death if he so chooses. And if he were to send me to the underworld, Lilith would eat me, and my magic would not survive the stomach of the death dragon herself."
Haldor looked up at him from the ground. He rubbed his cheek, "you are still angry that I could not obtain the boy."
"That boy is now going to be king! When he takes the throne, we will lose control of the trilot mines and possibly all sources of chaos magic. You should have tried harder."
"Father, you had opportunities to take him as well. Why did you not?" Haldor replied with extreme salt in his words.
His father narrowed his eyes at him and turned back to the valley below, "there is something critical I am missing about this boy."
Sarcasm dripped from Haldor's words, "Father, you know as well as I do that Narmacil has granted him protection. I sent Tarnel for him. He was sent to the river of souls as spiritlings. Tarnel is gone, Father, I cannot even summon him anymore."
Xanther snarled, "I know, at the moment I have more pressing matters. Renaldo took the Daemon prince. I do not know what his end game is. But I need to find the last six starshards. For this, we will need Nodran's assistance."
"Do you think he will wake the Starwarden? I mean that seems like such a fool's errand. You would have to be of cosmic decent to want to tangle with that monster," Haldor mindlessly ran his fingers through his hair.
"I do not know, but if we tell him where the white dragon is, he may have no choice but to wake the Guardian King.
"I know that Nitharis has one of my starshards. I am not sure we will be able to get them all. I don't want to, but I might need to give my three Eldritch Stones to the Obsidian Cabal." Xanther crossed his arms.
Haldor chuckled. "That sounds like a plan, but I do not sense the Hellfire, Father."
Xanther focused on the field in front of him, "well, she is here, or at least she was. My spies informed me that FenDarious was spotted."
Haldor stood, "if that blasted beast is with her, it is game over. We cannot fight that monster."
A sly smirk crossed his face, "we will not have to if we get someone close enough to the Hellfire on our side."
Haldor let a wicked expression dance in his eyes that matched his father's, "so, what now, Father?"
"We hunt."