Legend: Light after Darkness - Book I

Previously...

Lili refuses Jack's token of love and marriage, fearing he will not receive the approval of the court.

After speaking with her father,King Roland, Lili professes her love for Jack. Discovering Jack is a halfling, King Roland fears neighbouring kingdom Gilder may seek retaliation as he may be sole survivor of the battle for Valtoria.

Jack's mysterious past and Lili's love for him compels King Roland to agree into meeting Jack and put him to task as suitor. But, can Lili repair Jack's broken heart?

Part II

Lili gazes at the light glowing from the tree tops. Could it really be Jack, or is her wishful heart simply inventing a welcome place in his?

She thinks to herself, doubt clouding her. It feels too easy that her father would allow audience for Jack. Not only as a commoner, but also as a halfling.

Her father's initial reaction of discovering a halfling alive was not one of welcome gesture. Why would he risk having Jack attend as guest, when Gilder members sat on the court?

' Perhaps I'm over thinking it?' Lili thought. This should be a joyous moment. She is free to love him!

If only she could run to Jack now. Chase his fears away and beg for forgiveness... better now, than morning, she tempts herself. Her mind keeps ticking. She knows better to wait for dawn, but her restless nature cannot contain itself.

With lantern in hand, Lili returns to her chambers and dresses in a heavy robe, its hood cloaking her face and its cape large enough to conceal her lantern.

Quietly, she leaves her chambers and walks along a long winding corridor.

She ponders, sifting through the recesses of a blurred memory.

' ...Theres a tunnel here, I remember as a child... its hidden behind a stone or carving..?'

Searching her thoughts, Lili presses her palm over every interesting stone moulding and pulls at every torch laid upon the hall until... success! Pulling upon a burned out torch, the wall moves, swinging inward to reveal a tunnel leading down the castle tower and beneath the earth.

Lili holds her lantern out before her, allowing its light to guide the way down a spiral stone staircase.

As she enters, the wall seals up behind her. Startled at first, Lili then ventures down the stairs until reaching the bottom.

The once stone layed floor is now dirt and above her, where a ceiling once was, is now a canopy of tree roots.

Despite fear and uncertainty, Lili ventures onward. It feels like an eternity until she finds a brick wall at the end of the tunnel. The wall stands alone, with a burned out torch mounted upon it.

With chance and a guess as guide, Lili pulls down upon the torch. It gives way, forcing the wall to swing open revealing a glittering gold light to dazzle her eyes against the light of her lantern.

Wary, She walks through the door. As she passes, the brick walled door seals shut behind her as before, with no way to reopen. She now stands trapped and abandoned to roam a cave adorned by ancient gold and relics of a kingdom long forgotton... the lost kingdom of Valtoria.

Lili looks around her, enchanted by the cornucopia of treasure. Ahead of her is a book, dusty and old, it sits upon a pedestal with its pages open to a drawing of a tree... The Great Tree, the lair of Darkness himself, once green and fruitful.

" It can't be?" Lili whispers to herself. Could the lost Kingdom of Valtoria now be the merciless and damned kingdom Darkness kept her prisoner in ?

'No! Valtoria was only light. Darkness could never step a foot upon its land as long as King Tiberius sat upon the thrown... Alas, he was killed and all his kin. his queen, his child, his people...' her mind races with conspiracy and a diluted history she finds impossible to recollect.