Lord of the Rings: Hidden History

Sovalaar. A large settlement, within the even larger world of Middle Earth, teeming with life, and the dead. Vampires have infested this once happy and thriving land, wiping out many of the inhabitants. The king of Sovalaar ordered a clan to be created to defend their world from the 'undead scourge' as they were known. This clan was the Blade, strong men and even woman to bare arms, believing whole-heartedly that they would make a real difference in the world - Not likely. Sovalaar had swiftly fallen into severe corruption, thanks to new laws passed to the king from the leader of the Blade, Luna Blade, and thus, renounced from the rest of Middle-Earth.

Though the world was indeed corrupt, some balance was maintained. Warriors of the Blade fought valiantly against the vampire race, and lowered the numbers dramatically. And the world was beginning to see peace just over the horizon. But, the vampires raged on and defeated the Blade's largest and strongest armies. This pushed peace right out of the question; it was total war against the vampire menace.

Due to the high number of casualties and fatalities, the Blade recruited more and more men to aid them. One of these was a young man named Rakeel. Strong, loyal and very skillful with a sword, he was going to be a fine warrior, at least that's what his trainer, Hydro Blade, thought.

It was a dark and chilly night. The rain fell like nails and the clouds loomed overhead. Rakeel and Hydro Blade were forced, by the ridiculous weather, to stay at an inn for the night. They walked in cold, dripping wet and weak from the trip. They we returning from a small skirmish with some vampires they encountered through what was known as 'The Void', a large un-explored region of Middle-earth, which separated Sovalaar from its neighbouring towns, hidden by the mountains.

"According to our orders from Luna, you're going back out to the Void for a little mission to explore some building some other Blades saw, should be interesting..." Hydro Blade read from a scroll he produced from his bad. They were seated at a table in the bar downstairs. Rakeel watched the rain hail down through the stain glass. The walls were brick, and seemed to support the three upper floors quite well. "Well, with Alpha course complete, Rakeel, I'd say you'd be ready for this assignment." Rakeel looked down and took a sip of his ale. He was weary from the fight, and the walk. He nodded and placed the mug down on the table. Hydro Blade turned around and stared out of the window for a second. "Let's just hope you're able to get through that alright, eh?" He grinned. Somehow, he felt pleased this recruit had done exceptionally well in the training, and believed he would be a great fighter.

"Yeah, if this keeps up I might have to abandon the mission, when is it?" Rakeel asked - he'd paid little attention to Hydro earlier.

"Uhh..." Hydro skim-read through the scroll and found the date. "Heh, it's tomorrow, Rakeel. Better get up early then." Rakeel, looking rather irritated, took another gulp of the drink. "I can't go with you because I've got some other mission I have to see to, but when I finish it, I'll come and assist you if I have time." Rakeel nodded, finished off the ale, and made for his room.

That night, Rakeel didn't sleep. He was thinking ahead about the mission. This was his first solo so he was naturally worried. Though Hydro Blade was fairly confident in him, he didn't believe fully, that he could complete this by himself.

The sun rose, and Rakeel was already set to leave. He took his time putting his armour on. His blade needed to be cleaned of blood before he could wield it. The hilt was beginning to rust too. His shield was damaged badly, but the owner of the inn told him that he would take care of it and repair it.

Outside, Rakeel mounted his steed and started heading north. Hydro Blade had already left on his mission. Rakeel, still nervous, moved across the land, and into The Void.

Rakeel was greeted by dead trees, rotting to their roots at the edge of Sovalaar. His hore began to un-nerve too. The sky was dark over The Void, always. The rain never fell, and the land was blackened. Rakeel, slowly moved through the trees, not seeing any signs of life whatsoever. The air around him was disgusting. That distinct smell of rotting flesh, dying plants and blood engulfed Rakeel. Despite this horrendous stench, he continued to make his way forward.

About half and hour from the egde, Rakeel reached the intended destination. The house seemed derelict, empty. But, in some perverse way, it seemed thriving with life. The walls seemed to be alive as the wind forced the entire structure one way. Rakeel gradually descended from his horse, took a hold of his sword and stepped into the building. Inside, he was renounced rather suddenly with the real world. The house seemed unrealistic. The walls had disturbng images scratched into them: bleeding hearts, people dying. Rakeel swiftly looked to the other side of the room. A table, with a lit candle stood. A small stool sat next to it. The floor was brick, and un-naturally cold. The door behind him hung off its hinges. The ceiling was low. A small glow emitted from the stairs. Rakeel noticed this, and cautiously moved forward. Something was upstairs, and it knew he was there. His breathing became more and more apparent, as the adrenaline pumped vigorously through him. He made his way up the stairs, all the time clutching the hilt of his blade tight. Time almost seemed to slow down, as each breath seemed to last an hour. At last, Rakeel, frighted, found a door at the top of the stairs. A thin line of light glowed from the bottom. He slowly pushed the door forward, and moved his sword back, ready to strike. The door swung open, and Rakeel was welcomed, strangely, by piles of boxes, little light and a small wooden table, similar to the one downstairs. He moved over to it and noticed three pieces of paper on the table. Before he began to read them, a voice met his ears suddenly, forcing him around. His eyes darted around the room.

"Welcome to my home... I trust you know who I am, do you not?" Rakeel, still searching, answered.

"No, but if you are of vamperic blood, I shall destroy you!"

"Indeed you shall..." The voice seemed calmer. Rakeel looked confused.

"Who are you then?" Rakeel demanded.

"Relsian. Leader of the Vampires, and I trust you're the Blade I was expecting." This confused Rakeel further.

"Show yourself, demon!" He ordered. A huge burst of smoke exploded at the other end of the room. And from it stepped Relsian. He was wearing a black cape and robes. His body glowed; the light seen from downstairs was now explained.

"Why must you threaten me so harshly, child?" Rakeel squinted, and looked to one side, thinking. "Surely you have learnt of Sovalaar's history? That this land was once the home of thousands of Vampires - that is until your kind settled here. We were even trying to preserve this land from your polluting structures. But, you grew too powerful, and forced us to live alienated in this wilderness. We didn't mean any harm, we just wanted to save our land... from you..." Relsian explained.

"Lies! This is another of your vampire tricks, isn't it!?" Rakeel denied these facts.

"I am telling you, we are the true saviours of this world! We were, and are, protecting it from you! Human Kind is trying anxiously to grasp this entire world in its firm clutch, not realizing that, many were here before them! The many has become the very few thanks to the violence that was witnessed in the great battle..." Rakeel thought for a moment... "Only Vampires could ever preserve the land we stand on. It's the Blade who is stopping this preservation from even commencing. Prejudice had forced us from our duties. The utter contempt for the unknow is common in humans, Rakeel, and this contempt is little more than ignorance. You must know and learn as much as possible for as the saying goes, knowledge is power. What you don't know, you fear.

When will you humans learn that Vampires are those noble enough to live once more and help make a real change, only then will we ever realize freedom. Our souls are stored and waiting for the moment we emerge from this planet as a righteous figure, noble enough to leave this world and pursue release." Rakeel had lowered the sword, and realized that all this time he had been fighting for the wrong cause. "You must destroy the Blade, Rakeel. You have to kill Luna Blade, and order shall fall from existence. Then, we shall become present in out land once more. Will you help me...?" Rakeel slowly nodded, turned around and exited the house.

The Castle of The Blade. Home to the most powerful man ever to grace the land. His defiant look blessed upon him granted him the role as the ruler of the Blade. He was strong, valiant and noble, at least to the average human being. In reality, he was little more than a man with muscle. Rakeel entered the grand hall, and stood before his master as a stronger man. Next to Luna stood Hydro Blade, standing bewildered as to why Rakeel had come.

"You, Luna Blade, are a cancer upon Middle-Earth! I shall rip your beating heart from your blackened chest before this day is done!" Rakeel called. Two guards leapt in front of Luna Blade, but were ordered to stand down.

"Let the boy speak..." Luna Blade said, resting back in his chair.

"You banned the use of the history books to stop people finding out the true past! The Vampires were the noble ones, not you, not me, not even our 'king'!"

"You'd do well to watch your blasphemous tongue, Rakeel!" Hydro Blade called.

"Blasphemous?! You're one to talk! This world was the land of Vampires before our blind goal of domination drove them out! I'm here to put an end to this insanity - Thousands of noble men and women of both causes have died because of this ridiculous ambition of yours. I'm throwing you from power, and even our 'almighty king' if I have to!"

"Treason! He'd plotting against our king, he threatens to take over our fair land!" Hydro exclaimed. Luna stood up and stepped down to the battle-ready Rakeel. He drew his mightly sword and stood in his usual defiant pose.

"I hope you know how to use that 'stick', child, knowledge, after all, is power."

"In that case I must be the most powerful man in this room!" Rakeel bellowed.

"You know nothing, and there's no more learning for you now, your brain will be all over that wall before I'm even half done with you!" Replied Luna. He lunged at the recruit with the blade high in the air, and slammed it down, missinf Rakeel as he leapt out of the way, he rolled over and slammed his sword into Luna Blade's back, he ripped through the armour and sliced through the skin. Luna screamed in pain, and raised the sword, slashing continuously at Rakeel, mindlessly swinging the blade around, frantically trying to hit his former comrade. Rakeel raised his sword and blocked one attack, then struck Blade in the stomach, impaling him. He withdrew the blade. Luna slid off of it and fell limp to the floor.

"That man has killed our leader! Destroy him!" One of the guards called. Both guards and Hydro began an attack on Rakeel, who promptly made an immediate escape from the throne room, and returned to Relsian.

"You have done well, but there is still much hidden from your eyes, my boy."

"I think I know, Relsian, I have to kill Hydro who no doubt has taken over Blade and it's over, then just the king to sort out, esay!" Rakeel was getting fed up of this act.

"Oh, such narrow vision. There is far more you shall uncover during this quest. Just take this..." Relsian handed Rakeel an orb. "... it's the soul orb. It will release a devastating attack upon any blade that attempts to kill you. It contains the fighting-for-freedom soul of every vampire in this world. They will aid you in whatever possible way. I hope it helps." Rakeel placed it in his backpack, and made his way downstairs, where Hydro Blade found him.

"I thought you'd become my best studen. But this act is unconscionable! How dare you kill your own master! Why I should..." Hydro Blade was cut off by Rakeel.

"He is not my master! He is nothing more than a pawn in this game, as are you. I'm the one here to get you off this fraud, permanently!" Rakeel drew his sword and swung hard down on Hydro Blade. The blade sliced clean through his shoulder, and severed his entire arm. He screamed and fell to the floor. Rakeel raised the blood-covered weapon in the air, and drove it through his former partnet. He took his hands from the sword, and watched as Hydro rolled over, blood flowing from his mouth. Rakeel returned upstairs, as the two guards fled.

"You have done outstandingly well. Thanks to you, my soul is free, I must go now. My kin will find a peaceful resolution to our predicament. But for me at least, this is the start of a whole new journey." Relsian's arms shot out, and his entire body was engulfed in a huge white flash, and fragments of his body fell to the floor. Rakeel had freed one of his true friends from his world. He walked over to the papers agai, and made a startling revelation.

"Dear Rakeel, You have completed your task, and I'm proud, but there is one more secret you have yet to learn. I told you the saviours of this world could only ever be vampires. And you are one of many saviours. Be careful the next time you leave the house during the day, okay? Though a fledgling, you will soon grow the appropriate features. Enjoy your gift. Relsian" Rakeel thought back. His uncomfort in the outdoors, the feeling of home in darkness. The memory loss as a child. It was clear now. He stood up, and smiled. He had to free his soul now, on a new quest. What it was, he was yet to learn. How to complete it, a new mystery. But he knew that one day, soon, he would be reunited with his true father. He stepped outside of the building and took a deep breath.

"Well, I guess I've always wanted pointy ears!"