Druid's Future

Chapter 3

The Dark One headed deep into the desert.  Slowly the terrain began to
break up into a series of cliffs, jagged rocks and gorges.  Cacti were
growing tall and stately and yet if you ventured too close they would
stab you with their needles; sharp as daggers they were.  These would be
Bron's sentries.  How easy it would to bring them to life.  Bron, the
Dark One approached a forboding and impassable escarpment of sandstone,
a cliff that rose 200 feet in the air.  On top all was flat.  It was
easy to defend, easy to see ones enemies approaching but most of all his
prisoners would not be able to escape.  One question remained, though. 
What was on the other side?  Now was not the time to think of trivial
things such as that.  He would know once the spell was complete and his
fortress stood ready to accept him.  Bron raised his arms.  As he was
about to recite the incantation to create the castle, he heard a noise
behind him.  It was the clicking of many rifles being armed and ready.

"Freeze, mister!  You're tresspassing on a military installation.  Turn
around and put your hands on your head, slowly."

Bron was not going to let anything like a minor soldier tell him what to
do.  This was now his land.  He would show who was the ruling factor
here.  Besides, why use magic when he could create his own slaves to
build his castle.  But he must be careful.  The Dark One knew that these
men with their crude weapons could do him some damage if he was caught
off guard.  Slowly as he turned and obeyed the man's commands he
muttered an incantation.  What the men saw was horrifying.  They froze
not daring to move.  The "thing" that stood in front of them was not
human.  Two snakelike heads emerged from the hood of the robes.  Their
eyes were cold and gleaming and the men were drawn into their depts. 
The men grew pale and they became chilled to the bone as they stood
there transfixed by the eyes of the "thing" that stood before them. 
Bron looked at the men in his cloaked illusion and spoke an incantation
in a language unknown and unheard of for a 1000 years.  The men lowered
their weapons and they fell useless at their feet.  Slowly they began to
change in their appearance.  Long claws and horns appeared.  The hair on
their heads began to grow and become unruly.  Their skin took on a
sickly greenish grey appearance.  Their eyes glowed blood red with
cruelty and the look of death was in them.  Those men were no longer
men.  They became creatures of unspeakable evil; like something out of a
nightmare long forgotten.  Then a wail went up as the souls of those men
cried out for mercy and peace to ease their torment.  They became slaves
to Bron and at the same time, they were the start of the Dark One's
army.  Not all the men would be turned into creatures such as them. 
Those with evil in their hearts would not need to be transformed.  They
were already willing worshippers of the evil One.  Though the evil One
ruled in hell, Bron would rule on earth.  He would become the evil One's
mediator, spreading death and destruction within his wake.  Creating a
new world for evil to flurish.

Within a matter of weeks, Bron had his fortress built.  Hundreds started
to flock toward Bron's kingdom.  The military establishment was
dissolved for Bron had turned many of the men into the creatures that
served him.  Some that escaped his spell became slaves while others were
kept alive to spread the word of Bron's coming.  The country's leader
and advisors were frantic at this new invasion from within.  All their
lives they dreamed the nightmare that someone from outside, another
power, would come to reek havoc, not within their own borders.  Who was
Bron?  Where did he come from?  Questions were left unanswered as the
country prepared for a war that would soon come but they knew not when. 
The world learders new that something was happening; that no explanation
could be given.  Some were overjoyed that this powerful nation was
finally meeting a fitful end.  Others dispared for they looked to this
giant of a nation for support and aid.  Many vowed they would aid the
giant when the time was right, but all they could do was wait 'till a
sign was given that the man called the Dark One would show himself, a
sign that showed that war was beginning.

Bron, however, was not preparing for war, yet.  The Dark One paced
within the chamber of the Bowl.  After his castle was completed, the
Dark One took his Crystal and reshaped it.   He did not want to appear
like the druid with his Crystal.  The Bowl that stood in the center of
the chamber was his way to see.  It was in this chamber that the Dark
One now paced with impunity and impatients.  The key was what he was
thinking about.  He had to find some way to obtain her before his plans
could be realized.  Suddenly, he remembered a spell that could be cast
on twelve men.  The Seekers, was what they were called and Bron knew
they could help.  The Dark One called twelve of his men into the room. 
Though the change to them would be costly, it was worth the price.  To
fool the enemy, they would be cloaked in white and fair of face with the
look of innocence.  They would have the power of the night at their
command.  To succeed would be a triumph and their services would be used
again but to fail would be to perish.  The first four would be commanded
to go after the key and take it up north where another fortress was
being built away from prying eyes.  The second group would go after the
others and destroy them.  If the key should escape, the second would
join with the first and recapture.  The third would find the world's
leaders starting with this country's and destroy all those associated
with them in their homes.  The Dark One walked over to the shelf that
contained the necessary ingredients to cast the spell.  He then took a
glass container and scooped up some of the liquid within the Bowl.  The
vial liquid churned and bubbled as if it was alive.  It was here that
the transformation would begin and it was here that the destruction of
the old and the building of the new would also begin.

Ebd of Chapter 3