Chapter 3

DursTor is an enchanted palace in the Land of Moonga. It is the home of two clans: The Luminnatis and the Obscuras battling to take control of the only gate of the palace: The Light to protect the world from the Darkness and the Darkness to escape and experiment the sweet taste of freedom.

In order to begin to understand the existence of such a place as DursTor, we will need to travel back in time, far back into The Great History. More than 70,000 years before the conquest of Four Continents. During that time, the world was divided into seven lands named Primus, Secoundus, Tertius, Quartus, Quintus, Sextus and Septimus. Three of them: Primus, Secundus and Tertius came to be what we now call the continent of Atariorus. The country of Quartus became a continent and Monastia was created for what we call Quintus and Sextus. The continent of Hyriel was a vast territory named Septimus.

In Sextus lived Domerica Anta, a petty monarch, powerless but certainly ambitious. He had many surprising qualities, but what interests us today - and remains the most famous of them - was his lack of discernment.

The kingdom of Domerica Anta had been at war for endless years with its neighboring country, governed by Eakaan who was not known for its fine strategic ways. He had avoided the invasion of his land only by his numeric superiority. Years went by, years of blood and tears, axes in backs and poisoned wine.

The day came when Domenica had an idea, far from clever but that could be beneficial to his own agenda. After careful consideration (in a blink of an eye) He decided to share his thoughts with his advisors. Firstly confused, they resigned themselves to the idea to stop their own untimely accidental death. In two days, the talks with the enemy had ended, armed conflict had stopped and the news was grandly proclaimed: Dursa Anta, daughter of King Domenica was to be married to Torrence Eakaan from the powerful clan of Eakaan.

This union, innocent in appearance, unleashed a curse that was to be kept until the year 730 after the conquest of the Four Continents. It was indeed written by the Ages that Dursa and Torrence were never fated to love each other.

Torrece had fallen in love with Dursa since the first time he laid eyes on her. They were six years of age at that time. Even then Dursa was already smarter than her father and was far from interested in such a thing as love. Years went by and every time they met –during the never ending failed tentative peace between the two kingdoms- Torrence feelings for Dursa grew deeper and stronger. Dursa on the other hand could only see Torrence as a friend as she had fallen in love already with someone else.

So everything was set, one dreaming of this union and the other one wishing to die.

The marriage was pronounced, began and consummated .Torrece began to build a home for his beloved wife. The house was a small magic palace to entertain its inhabitants by changing its appearance regularly. Torrece hoped to fill the void that was slowly eating Dursa’s heart. But it was too late, the bride no longer went out, nor did spoke and she barely eat.

When the palace was finally built, Dursa and Torrece took possession of the place but they only lived together under the same roof for one single night.

The next day, Dursa ended her own life. Torrece, mad with grief, locked himself in to the palace. He buried his beloved Dursa in one of the numerous gardens and announced the news to the clans Anta and Eakaan. When they all came to visit Dursa’s grave, Torrece had cleaned and destroyed the knife that Dursa had used to end her life but he forgot a single drop of blood.

Fancece Eakaan, Torrece older brother, had loved Dursa with all his heart and Dursa had loved him back. When he heard the sad news he held Torrece responsible and started planning his revenge. What he’d not have given to go back in time and to marry Dursa! She should never have pushed into the arms of death!

Not being able to kill his own brother, Fancece cast a spell on Torrece, trapping him forever inside is strange palace. Meanwhile, Torrece aware of his brother’s plans cast another spell on Torrece, transforming him into a deer, knowing that deer were the clan’s favorite game during their hunting parties. These curses, which both brothers had cast, kept them alive forever, punishing them both for eternity. This type of spell is known as Time-chasers, but we will talk more about it in another chapter.

Light was born in DursTor from the immense love that Torrece vowed to Dursa. The Darkness then used that forgotten blood drop, to emerge and oppose the Light.

Over time, Light and Darkness, fundamentally contradictory, threatened and provoked each other, but the presence of Torrece inside the palace prevented the two sides from killing each other. The palace meanwhile began to act as an autonomous entity and stopped respecting Torrece orders.

65,000 years after the death of Dursa, Fancece finally found a way out of his "prison." He undid the spell, took human form, found his brother and killed him. From then on Fancece’s name was never mentioned again.

On the death of Torrece, Light and Darkness were unleashed and fought a battle to the death. Time passed and the Palace kept the balance between Light and Darkness, making sure that no creature borne from this madness escaped. War turned into a fruitless and endless battle.

The world forgot about the existence of the Palace of DursTor until the year 722, when Marnordir sent his Protégé Aodh to the continent of Monastia. Aodh, whose mission was, to study Monastia (as his colleague Ileina), began to climb and explore Askians Mountains. He did not have time to see much of the kingdom of Askarh, barely a dragon or two, before he stumbled upon the great door of DursTor.

Aodh’s hours inside DursTor were both brilliant and destructive. The first Spell he created was for the Luminatis, being of Light. He discovered their customs and tried to understand their origins, as he had never encountered before so many Divins. For those who do not know, the Divins are creatures with extraordinarily rare powers that the Ages have only given to very few beings.

Aodh could not believe his eyes when he first met the Divins Luminatis and their antithesis born from Darkness, the Obscuras. "All this power trapped inside these Spells, Marnordir will be delighted!”He thought. The Luminatis, who had been locked in the palace for years, rejoiced in the presence of a stranger among them. They treated him like a king, agreed to let him pursue his experiments with small pieces of parchment. Four years passed and Aodh had created a multitude of Spells. He kept in mind that he was on a mission to Marnordir and should return to Juzil. When he informed his new friends of his imminent departure, the Luminatis locked him in a tower. Indeed, after all he had seen, he could not go and unlock the secrets of DursTor to the world. The Luminatis attached great importance to not to letting anyone out of the palace. All the knowledge and power that Aodh had imprisoned in his Spells were too dangerous to ever leave DursTor.

In addition, Aodh had created Spells from the essence of Obscuras and nothing that concerned the Obscuras should escape the yoke of Luminatis. Ever! According to the children of light, the Obscuras were the absolute evil and the world was not strong enough to face them. Thus from the top of the tower and deprived of his precious freedom, Aodh cursed the Luminatis.

One night, while the Obscuras were hidden in the heart of the palace, one of them flew to the tower where Aodh was kept captive. He awoke Marnordir’s protégé and offered him a contract. The Obscuras would help him escape in exchange for a year of his life. Aodh refused without even thinking. One just cannot make deals with devil. The same Obscuras returned every night, escaping the surveillance of Luminatis to offer the same deal to Aodh. The Obscuras told him the story of Dursa, Torrece and Fancece and the birth of Light and Darkness. Slowly, Aodh found himself enjoying the company, not as a friend, but as a person who shares the same interest in fascinating stories.

As you have guessed, Aodh eventually relented and agreed to give a year of his life to the Obscuras. And as easily as that, Aodh joined the Darkness. The years passed and Aodh changed. He forgot his mission, the Alliance and the Empire of Marnordir as he now fought for Obscuras now.

Marnordir began to worry about the long absence of Aodh. Ileina had not returned either from the floating islands, but the great magician had received the Spells she had created while she was in Densara as well as letters. Aodh on the other hand, was gone for good. Marnordir decided to search for his protégé, which he did for four years. He looked across the continent of Monastia. He also had other adventures, but this is not the subject of this chapter. However, when it was certain that Aodh could only be inside of DursTor, he returned to Juzil and sent the two most promising warriors to the enchanted palace: Declan, Knight of Shadows and Lanna, heir of the Kingdom of Waters.

Marnordir did not tell them why he refused to go there himself, nor the history of the palace. He kept them in the dark of ignorance, as he shared the popular belief that DursTor was a country and not a palace and that nobody could get out alive. At the time there was even a rumour about DursTor involving two dwarves, a golem and the Emperor himself, but do not ask me to tell you, it is too stupid to be included in these pages. We cannot explain why Marnordir behaved that way towards Declan and Lanna. All we know is that these two were strong and pure and, perhaps, Marnordir wanted to test their bravery and the depth of their souls. But these are just our thoughts.

Lanna and Declan then travelled together to DursTor and learned to their cost, why Aodh did not want to come back...

The War between the Obscuras and the Luminatis became uncontrollable and the palace was destroyed from its very heart. Many souls perished during the war between Light and Darkness and those who survived escaped and hid all over the Lands of Moonga.

Lanna and Declan went home and told their adventure in the palace DursTor to Marnordir. Life within Marnordir’s Alliance resumed its course and other concerns occupied our heroes.

It was the year 731 after the conquest of the Four Continents and the Emperor Daryen reserved for Marnordir a nasty surprise involving four princesses from the country of Lymronia in a battle against the Alliance. Four princesses more commonly known as the Poison Sisters from the country of the Four Seasons...