The Kal’Dalrek Chronicles

Here is an excerpt from a book that I am entitling Kal'Luthorian. I hope to use the concept to spark off some short stories that take you into the past of one of my characters in the book. The short stories will be titled "The Kal’Dalrek Chronicles" Enjoy:

“No, but I would show you a history that is about to repeat itself, leading to the deaths of thousands, and perhaps the destruction of your culture.” Kal’Dalrek answered. “So, you may say that it could be comparable to a religious event. It would be easier if I show you, rather than explain it all. May I, I mean you no harm.”

“What do I have to do?” Delri asked, hesitantly. “Close your eyes and open your mind. You may sit, because it may take some time,” Replied Kal’Dalrek.Delri sat down and closed his eyes. As he waited, he tried to clear his mind. He felt a cold feathery touch of Kal’Dalrek’s hands as they cupped at his temples. Slowly, he felt as though he was being pulled into a deep sleep.

When Delri awoke, he instinctively knew that he was in another time. Everything had a haze, as though he was looking through someone’s eyes. His actions were not his own, he was caught up in someone’s thoughts and emotions. It was like a dream, but he was more coherent. In his subconscious he spent the day in the memory of Kal’Dalrek, seeing his children and wife, feeling his love for them, the sweetness of family connection. He saw his duties to the king that he served, felt the friendship and respect between the two men. It was a nation of elves, one of many from the old empires. It was known as the Kalpronnen Empire, which was an empire that Delri knew little about from his history lessons. From Kal’Dalrek’s memories, Delri learned that men of power, both political, religious, or magical were bestowed with the title of Kal, to indicate that they where honored within the empire. So Kal’Dalrek was born and named Dalrek, once upon a time. Momentum began to build, and Delri was swept from scene to scene, showing him messages of disaster. The political climate began to change in the empire throughout Kal’Dalrek’s 450 year lifespan. Intrigue and petty schemes replaced a just system of government. The elven nobles began to covet the power they had. The magical knowledge and artifacts became hidden or stolen. The documented knowledge of the spirit realm was horded away, and political power was coveted at any price. Many civil wars sprung up, all in the name of expanding the power of one faction or the other. Events spanning centuries, flew past Delri quickly. Shadows were shown to be working behind the scenes of the corruption and the destruction. They were said to be called the Mollorrok, an etherean race, able to possess a weak minded person and control them as a puppet. They were once worshipped as gods, in a dark and nearly forgotten time. By the time Kal’Dalrek discovered the identity of his people’s betrayers, it was too late, and he was already a mistrusted outcast. One of the few factions that had survived the wars already had enslaved the rest. Time shifted again, and this time, looking through the eyes of Kal’Dalrek, Delri was in chains. He had been tortured and his magic was disabled. The pain was excruciating. Then a man approached him, showing a sneer on his lips. “Kal’Dalrek, I presume.” He jeered. “Or, great, great, great grandfather. I really didn’t bother to count how many generations. ”You don’t know me, although you should, since I am descended from one of your own sons! How did you manage it? To stay alive for centuries, while your own family grew old and died! Was it painful when your wife and children died, did you learn to detach yourself from the later generations as they stayed mortal while you lived on?”“What do you want from me Lorun?” Delri heard Kal’Dalrek say from his own perspective. “That’s Kal’Lorun to you! I am a man of political power. What I want from you is your power of course! You are the last of the wizards from your order to hold your legacy. I want to live for centuries as you have! Give me this power and your torture will stop, you will be treated well and be given your own room to live out your life in comfort. I only wish to benefit our people, to end the atrocities committed to them.”“You only wish to serve your self and perhaps the Mollorrok?” Kal’Dalrek replied, ceiling his own death sentence. Lorun’s face mottled in rage! A shadowy silhouette lunged at Kal’Dalrek from Lorun’s body, and then seemed to catch itself and recede into its captive. “You found me out, how intelligent of you. You have no allies, I have killed them all, the wizards of your order, your family who was loyal to you. And my disguise, Lorun, he was willing to give himself over to me, for the promise of power, your power. But you will die, slowly, painfully. I will live on through the centuries, and you will sleep with the dead. I will become greater, while you will be no more. Does this make you despair? No? I was there when your wife drank the poison 300 years ago. You thought it was a sickness? No, it was a slow acting poison. I couldn’t have you making any more offspring that could inherit your magical legacy. I was so entertained to see that your grief caused you to never seek another love again. Of all my enemies, you were so hard to kill. Take him away!” Tears of frustration flowed down Kal’Dalrek’s face. He was immediately taken to the lower dungeons and tortured. It was a cycle that lasted for two weeks. Each day, he was given medical care, to prolong his life, so that the torture would continue. One day as various implements were being prodded into him, the pain seemed less and less, and then everything went black.Delri began to awaken from his unconscious state. As he opened his eyes, he discovered that he had been crying, tears streamed his face, and he was sore and cramped from sitting for hours. Kal’Dalrek looked at Delri and said, “Now you know my story, but what you don’t know is that the Mollorrok continue to exist. My country was invaded and conquered and eradicated because after centuries of civil war they were no longer able to defend themselves. The Mollorrok move from empire to empire, sometimes they accomplish what they did to my country. Occasionally, they are discovered and defeated. That magical legacy that Lorun was asking for is just what I want to give to you!”“Why, am I descended from a hero or a king?” Delri became impulsively exited, “or was there a prophecy about me, am I a chosen one?
"Kal’Dalrek shook his head and sighed. “I wish that were so, I would feel better about what I am going to give you. The crux of the matter is that, there is no one else. After 500 years of old wives tales about this cave and my entrapment here as a spirit, I have no one to turn to. Everyone is afraid to even come here. Why not give it to you. I wish to slumber, and you are at least a good person. I have read your memories as you have been reading mine.”