The Flames of Rage - an Enchantica story (novel) by Peter Van Mol

Prologue

As winter slowly departed the lands surrounding the Burrief Mountains, and the first rays of spring's sun warmed the countryside, farmers and their families ventured out into the meadows for their annual celebrations. Little did they know that, deep within those mountains that were always in their sight, a far greater and infinitely more dangerous source of heat grew stronger with every passing day.

At the heart of what the villagers and farmers believed to be a long dormant volcano, evil plotted it's return to the lands of Enchantica - evil bent on the destruction of those who'd tried to destroy it generations ago. To the people of Enchantica - whether they were human, banf, or goblin - peace had only recently been restored thanks to the joint efforts of Jonquil the Wanderer and his allies, and they were in no way prepared for another upheaval of similar proportions.

The source of this evil was well aware of all that'd transpired over the past years, however, but considered Vrorst's grasp for complete domination of Enchantica as nothing more than a small prelude to what it had in mind - after all, domination was for weaklings, whereas destruction was the true measure of power. Yet, all of this could've been prevented with relative ease, if only those who - in the mind of this evil - were to blame, had taken greater caution in dealing with the problem.

As a matter of fact, over the centuries, several "problems" of the same nature had arisen when the Lords of the Seasons had been forced to select their ambassadors from among to few candidates - and all of those problems had been dealt with quite easily. As a matter of fact, the great wizards who'd been the four Lords at that time had interpreted this incident as just one of a series - little did they know what the consequences were to be.

- - - - -

Carefully, clearly afraid of the hooded figure he was approaching, the otherwise raging Ogre stepped before his master's throne and kneeled down. "We have completed our mission, master." the giant almost whispered, "My fellows and I have scouted throughout the lands to listen and learn, but not once did we hear any mention of you or your powers. Everybody seems to have forgotten about us. We'll take them completely by surprise."

Pulling the hood down from over his head, the dark haired man stroked his beard and smiled in satisfaction. Leaning forward, he waved a hand across the maps he'd spread on the ground between them. "The element of surprise will only help us in the first phase of our plan, Durrogh, but it will be more than enough. By the time we've achieved our first victories and our enemies have seen a sample of my power, I'll be glad to have them know what will follow. Their fear is but one of the many things I want, but it's not to be neglected, not even in the larger picture of my grand scheme."

Sweeping his gaze over the miniature representation of the lands surrounding their underground fortress in the heart of the Burrief Mountains, Durrogh's eyes wandered from that spot to the Eastern Kingdoms and even further, to the great Dragongorge. Somehow he knew nothing good could ever come from this, but he also realized he had no way of stopping his master. Keeping his head bowed to hide the sadness that filled his eyes, the great Ogre rose and turned to leave his master to his contemplations.

"Just a few more weeks, Durrogh", the man shouted at the Ogre's back, "Just a few more weeks, and we'll show those high and mighty Lords what the flames of rage can do. I'll show them how wrong they were to turn their backs on my ancestors when they tried to enlighten them, and how mistaken they were to think they'd destroyed them once and for all."

On to the first chapter of "The Flames Of Rage" by Peter Von Mol

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