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He prepared himself like when he prepared for losing his beloved wife years ago. The king Alvur wished that his deceased, beloved Queen Lumuna would be alive to hear what she thinks about his idea. As he stood there on the balcony in one of the highest points of the Great Crown Castle Arabor he witnessed the moon and the stars of the night above him. If he knew that the moon and the stars were mourning he might had not had the strength to fulfill his idea and wish to give the final order; the survival of his only heir. He lowered his head slightly and the first that came to view was the peaks of the two northern mountains called primitively The Northern Wall. Alvur lowered his more and each peak of the mountains began to reach each other slowly. For the third and last time he lowered his head so he could see what looked like stars on the surface of the Earth as if a lake was mirroring the night sky but he knew that they were flaming torches of the army of vile creatures, even humans and fewer elves. He could hear the cries from the approaching army like the cries when there was a friendly match but these cries were filled with hatred and evil intentions. The king Alvur and the queen Lumuna had not done anything wrong in their entire, royal life, reining the Land of the Fire Trees. They had both inherited the good will of the royal family like they did to theirs. For centuries the Land of the Fire Trees had been in peace and harmony, even made allies with their rivals from south, the Land of the Elves.

Even with his full army at his disposal it was not enough to withstand the forces his former ally, Arangir the Leader, had gathered to eliminate the capital of the kingdom, Aradûn. Like the prophecy he had been told in his first year of reining his kingdom by his strongest and oldest ally the Great Counsellor Oradin the army was so huge it would be able to eliminate the whole capital in one night, even with the Great Ring Wall that surrounded the capitol Arabor and the four holds that were built on the wall, respectively placed on the four corners of the world; North, South, East and West. Alvur stood and trembled slightly, remembered what the oldest person he ever knew said to him in his youth:

"My king," rattled Oradin who had great fear expressed on his wrinkled face that it looked like he could see his greatest fear with his blind eyes "I have dreamt a dream so dreadful and so ominous it will bring great disturbance of the present peace in this land to unrecognition if it ever came out of these walls!"

"What?" mumbled Alvur surprised and a bit uneasy. Luckily they were the only people in the Throne Hall.

"My king; the Land of Fire Trees will be led by a righteous and great king, even accomplish to make peace between our land and the Land of the Elves which had been impossible in the past generations"

"How is that dreadful?" asked Alvur confused, looked upon his still shaking counsellor as there was an earthquake.

"It is far from over, I'm afraid and I wished dearly that it ended there but unfortunately it doesn't: you will get an heir, a son, but at a terrible cost!" Oradin breathed fast, wheezing. Alvur felt worried and didn't want to hear rest of the dream, or nightmare as he would have called it.

"Your future queen fair as the sun, warm as the Fire Trees and kind as the summer breeze will die at childbirth. This will lead to a depression to not only you but to the royal family and the whole Capital of Arabor" Oradin coughed and took few breaths before he continued with now a voice that sounded apocalyptic:

"You will recover from your loss and get company by a new friend and ally, one who will make it possible to end the rivalry between us and the Elves. Whatever you will come to think about this friend do not trust him anything!"

Alvur remembered that he listened intensely to his counsellor, wished to hear it to the end but at the same didn't want to and was confused: How come that he cannot trust an ally and friend who would make it possible to make peace with the everlasting rival; The Land of Elves.

"He will be driven mad! He will try to make a pact with one of the Four Forces and use it to try to destroy your family and the entire Land! He will awaken the evil inside of many people and creatures; he will gather them and there will be so incredibly many that not even your army will be able to stop the diabolic massacre! Children will be slaughtered, your people will be enslaved, the Fire Trees will go out and the Tree of Life will fail! The world will be doomed!"

Alvur had his mouth slightly open of lesser shock; he had hard time to believe what his counsellor just had told him at the time but he could not do anything else since his father's loyal counsellor only had told small amount of white lies and never failed his father's trust. Oradin expressed fear and sadness both on his face and his white, blind eyes. But there was something that was missing:

"What about my heir, my future son?" he asked hopefully so there might be a chance of a heritage, to take over the Land of the Fire Trees.

"My King..." the sadness was the dominant feeling in this question "There were two possibilities: He will either die at the heat of the battle or die many years later, in his prime, by the hands of your former ally and friend!"

At the time Alvur's heart felt a lot burdened than he should for a young king and it never really relieved even with his compassionate and beloved wife and the declaration of peace with the Elves. They both agreed to keep it between them but king Alvur secretly enhanced the defenses and made sure that there were no corrupted members in the counsel. Oradin knew Alvur's actions but sadly kept it for himself. For years he tried to convince himself that it was just a dream and not a prophecy but as the time went by he got an important ally and friend who made it possible to make peace between the two rivals. He remembered that he continually said to himself that his friend was incorruptible and was not evil in any way. Counsellor Oradin continually said to not trust his friend but Alvur ignored the warning and even the Life Tree Azra did not make any signs of change which it did when there was evil around. The cries of the evil army came closer and louder where Alvur then decided to go inside again and sat on the Throne of the King and closed his eyes, remembered more: The magical law that was bound in the royal family made it possible to follow their predecessor's steps: To have a human king and to have either an elf queen or anthro queen. Whenever the baby of heir was a boy it would be a human and whenever the baby of heir was a girl it would either be an elf or an anthro. The tradition said that the human, male king had to marry a female elf or female anthro no matter the origin of the female and the female queen had to marry a male human no matter the origin of the male. This tradition made it sure to follow the predecessor in any generation. So as Alvur grew up he never really fell in love with either an elf or anthro before he passed his 30thbirthday. As Counsellor Oradin predicted she was the queen of his dreams. He remembered the happy days with her, walking through the Royal Fire Flower Garden in every season of the year and the many visits the Great Arabor Library. He kept the prophecy as a secret until he was informed by her that she was pregnant. It was when she wanted to know what gender their unborn baby had. He remembered that he told he knew the gender of their unborn child and the reason he knew it. Like he was when he was told the first time she was shocked but as the birthdate approached she accepted her fate, lived her best moments in her life in the few months she had left. Alvur asked Oradin many times how his queen would die but Oradin only said that the lurking evil beneath the surface would be enough to kill her. It is a common knowledge that elves and anthros were easily affected by negative people but it was never documented that any elf or anthro had died of evil intentions. He knew she was strong and wouldn't be affected so easily or strongly by this unknown evil. In the end she did die right after childbirth and for her sake he named their child with two names which were rather unusual in the world. He named him Angus Elian. As Oradin predicted the Land and Alvur himself went into a depression which Alvur knew was the event that triggered the time of the end. He talked with Oradin several times about Angus' future and they decided to spy on Arangir the Leader of the Royal Army.

"My King," said a familiar, rattling voice "it is time"

Alvur raised his face which apparently had been covered by his troubled hands and saw his oldest friend who had an extremely worried but firm expression. He sometimes wondered how Oradin could be alive for so long.

Alvur was despondent and it seemed that he could fail at any time but he gathered his remaining strength and asked:

"Will my only son, my only heir, survive?"

"I am really sorry, my King, but my dream had been true all along" Oradin went to the open balcony and watched the flaming army come closer to the border of the capital "He cannot evade his fate but we can give him a chance to live his life a bit before the true fall of this Land and the world"

"Can even the Life Tree Azra not do anything about it?" asked Alvur desperately with a breaking voice.

"It failed along with our beloved queen, my king..." Counsellor Oradin's voice sounded a lot weaker than just few seconds ago. Alvur managed to see enough that his oldest friend was at his deathbed. As Oradin was about to fall Alvur barely catch him. Not him too thought Alvur for himself.

"Oradin!" crackled Alvur and looked into eyes that couldn't see "Ciril! Come!" Ciril was the elf they had to care of Alvur. An elegant elf in dark blue clothes came in and as she saw them she quickly ran and crouched right beside them.

"Counsellor Oradin!" she yelled, alternately looked at her king and the Great Counsellor.

"It is inevitable... my king"

"Don't leave me now, not now..."

"I may only be your servant but... can I get my last wish?" wheezed Oradin whose eyes were about to close, forever.

"Anything!" yelled the king as if it would give more time to his dying friend. He felt his heart break more than it already was and Ciril shed a tear silently.

"Bring Angus to... safety..." Oradin used his last energy to point at the room where the last heir was sleeping who didn't know the danger he was in. Right after the hand fell lifelessly on the floor and the body felt like an empty shell for Alvur. He cried inside. His heart felt like pierced by millions of ice where it already got pierced by his wife's death and by the prophecy his dead counsellor told years ago. As he realized the last words of the old friend the battle at the border wall had already begun. He could hear metal clashed against marble, creatures and men cry in battle and pain, the people of the capital ran for their lives.

I must be strong! I have to thought Alvur as he laid Oradin's body on the floor gently.

"My king" softly she laid a hand on Alvur's arm. For some odd reasons Alvur regained his strength and will, decided to fulfill Oradin's and his own wish.

"Miss Ciril, we have to follow Oradin's last wish" as he finished his sentence he gave Ciril a telling look which was enough for her to understand the meaning of and went immediately into Angus' room. Meanwhile Alvur went into his own room where he had his armor and weapon ready to any situation; a safety precaution he had from his deceased queen. He went into his armor incredible fast and took his sheath to his waistline. He could hear his son complaining about why he had been awakened at time of the night and Ciril gave an explanation which Alvur didn't fully hear but nonetheless he prepared a lie to make his son more cooperative with them.

"Father?" mumbled his still sleep son who luckily didn't pay attention to the noises and the light outside their home.

"My son" Alvur went down on one knee and placed both his arms on the side of his son's arms and continued "we're going to play a game"

"What game?" Angus rubbed his eyes "and why do you have your armor on?" There was no time.

"We're going to play hide-and-seek with Ciril and a big one" Alvur tried to make authentic; sounded happy and enthusiastic.

"But why now?"

"Because it's better to hide at night, my son" Alvur could see out of his eye corner that Ciril was about to make the trip to the southern part of the Land ready.

"Now follow your caretaker and go hide from me, right? If you don' get found in one day I'll take you to the Cirith Aradûn!" Cirith Aradûn was the harbor of the Land which was many days trip to the east and in that harbor laid a amusement park which was Angus' favorite.

"Really?!" sounded Angus all happy and a bit surprised.

"Yes, my son! But you have to hide from me in a whole day and Ciril can help you achieve it!"

"Yay!" burst Angus, all excited.

"Now I'll count to 200 and then you go hide with Ciril!"

"Come Angus!" called Ciril, tried to sound calm and firm.

"I'm going to Cirith Amusement Park, father!" exclaimed Angus energetic and went outside the Throne Hall with Ciril.

If you only could, my son thought Alvur quite heartbroken.