• Prologue:
    Prince of Goblins


    This story could be simply classified as a fairytale, but it is so much more than that. It is a story about friendship and love and adventure. It’s about doing anything for those you love, and sticking together no matter what happens. It’s a story about people and hate and joy. This tale could be classified as a fairytale, but then one would be missing the point of the story and shouldn’t be reading it at all. This story has reality stained down in its very core, and cannot be called “make believe”.
    The story begins in an ancient land called Gladkey. The land was settled by an alliance of Elves and Humans many hundreds of years ago. Later, they were followed by Goblins, Vilan, Merpeople, Sootbirds, and Dwarves. For a long time the seven races lived together in peace, until the day that Kigont and Kkillianna came to be the leaders of the Goblins. Now Goblins are creatures with thick, light green rough skin, and large bat-like ears. Though many story tellers portray them as ugly creatures, they are actually almost as handsome as Elves or Mermaids. Their eyes were deep brown or light topaz, and their voices could soothe any crying child.
    King Kigont was the king of all the Goblins at the time and he was extremely popular, more popular, in fact, than any other ruling Goblin had ever been. However, there was a hidden dark side to Kigont that the public did not see often. Sometimes Kigont would resort to trickery and bribery to win the loyalty of his subjects. Kigont made sure that the rest of the people were happy enough that they wouldn’t lead a revolt against him. His wife, Kkillianna, was a greedy goblin whose family was one of the richest in all of the Goblin Forest of Doum. After two years in power, Kkillianna had a son. He was a beautiful little boy and the people loved him. King Kigont came to the birthing room just to tell the nurses that the boy would be called Kigone, and then he left Kigone and his mother alone. All three ate their meals alone in their rooms, with the exception of a few servants, and Kigont punished his son brutally whenever he showed signs of weakness.
    Kkillianna loved her son, but she rarely showed it. She was too busy buying every piece of jewelry she could get her hands on, and showing off her beautiful silk gowns. Eventually, when he was about seventeen, Kigone couldn’t take anymore of the palace life. He ran away and built a tunnel-home all for himself. No one saw him for many months. His mother looked everywhere for him, forgetting to put on her silk gowns and her diamond earrings.
    As Kigone escaped from his miserable life, far away in a different forest, a young elf named Jacob, next in line to rule the Elves, lived in the tree-top palace with his mother and father. The elves had once lived in a beautiful kingdom called Mongatso, but it had been destroyed in a terrible battle of greed. The surviving elves moved to a new forest. After a time, it became clear that the only way the Elves would be able to hide from the danger of their enemies was to disappear into the trees. They built an entire city hidden in the giant forty foot trees of their unnamed forest. The palace was the biggest of the buildings and took up four treetops. All the buildings were connected with wooden bridges and branches. The leaves of the trees never fell off, so the elves were always hidden, and various types of fruit grew along the thick branches giving the Elves all the food they would ever need. The only time an Elf left the treetop paradise was to gather more water for his family, or to hear the news of Gladkey, for the Elves like to keep in touch with their old home. There had not been a single war involving the elves in over a hundred years.
    Jacob was a kind and smart boy. He was loved by all the Elves, and his parents expected him to be a great king one day. Jacob liked living in the palace and learning all the skills of royalty, but he was reckless and craved adventure. He would sit through his studies waiting to be freed so he could get outside and explore the parts of the forest where no one had ever been. It was a dream of his to climb the tallest mountains and swim in the deepest sees. Jacob wanted to see the world. One night, as Jacob lay in bed dreaming of far off lands, he realized that his dream could never come true as long as he was king. He decided then and there to leave the palace and see the world. He began to pack a small bag with necessary supplies. He packed only tools since he could find his own food in the wilderness. When he had everything packed, he set out, intending to return when he felt he’d seen all that he could. After one last look at his home, Jacob climbed down the ladder leading from the main entrance of the palace.
    Jacob traveled over mountains and swam across lakes and walked through forests. He found many strange animals and plants hidden in the deepest corners of the forest. Once, Jacob ran across a golden fish that spit at him from a little stream. Jacob, full of curiosity, had gone over to the fish and examined it.
    “Darkness is coming!” it shouted, startling Jacob.
    “What do you mean?” he asked it.
    “Destruction looms!” it shouted again.
    “What destruction?” asked Jacob.
    “Death is near!” it said. This time Jacob didn’t bother answering, and he left the golden fish wailing about death, darkness, and destruction.
    After he’d been traveling for almost two months, Jacob came to a dark forest full of black trees and ash colored leaves, as if the entire forest had grown from fire. He was in the Forest of Doum. Of course, Jacob had no idea where he was because he had lost his map and was hopelessly lost. As he walked through the dark forest, fear welled up inside of him. When he passed the shadowy trees, he heard a rustling noise from behind him. He turned, but saw only a patch of very black berry bushes.
    “Who’s there?” he asked. There was no answer. Shaking off the feeling, Jacob continued to walk through the woods. After another couple of minutes, he stopped again, having heard the rustling noise yet again. Jacob peered into the bushes, and saw that he really was not alone. A pair of shining, yellow eyes was glaring at him from the bushes.
    Some five minutes before Jacob had entered the Forest of Doum, Kigone, the lost prince of the Goblins, was just coming out of his secret cave to get breakfast. It had been along time since he had seen an elf, but the same hatred that his people had for them rose up inside Kigone. The Elves of the Barbarian Ages had once kidnapped Goblins and used them as slaves. For years the Goblins had been beaten and forced to work. Eventually the Goblins revolted in the War of the Slaves. After that, the Elves used their own people as servants. With the stories of that gruesome war swimming in his head, Kigone had followed Jacob through the forest, picking up a large tree branch to use as a club, until Jacob had turned and seen Kigone’s eyes glaring at him. Kigone jumped out of the bushes and pinned Jacob to the ground, ready to kill.
    “Well, well. What have we here? Aren’t you a little far from home, elf?” said Kigone with a smirk.
    “W-who are you?” stammered Jacob. He was unarmed, and all bravery drained out of him when he saw the huge tree branch that the Goblin held in his hand.
    “A harmless creature walking through the forest and enjoying the scenery, but then you came along and ruined it for me!” said Kigone. His grin vanished and in its place came a cold glare. “You will be dead before lunch. Pity, I’m having stew.” Kigone laughed a cold laugh, and then he raised his club into the air. Just before the branch dropped even an inch closer to Jacob’s face, and arrow shot through the dark forest and pierced Kigone’s arm. Kigone yelped with pain and jumped off of Jacob. Out of the bushes jumped nine Elves, each armed with a sword and a bow. They surrounded Kigone, and King Clarence himself jumped into the middle of the ring.
    “No Goblin is going to kill my son, especially not a shrimp like you!” said the king, raising his long, narrow sword and pointing it at Kigone.
    “Please! Have mercy! I wouldn’t have harmed him if I’d known who he was!” begged Kigone.
    “Even if that were true, I wouldn’t let you kill any Elf, royalty or not,” answered the king, and he used the blunt edge of his sword to strike Kigone’s face. “But your blood would ruin my sword, so be gone, Goblin!” At once Kigone sprinted back through the forest as fast as he could, vowing that he would destroy every single Elf that had dared to stand in his way, especially Jacob. He finally stopped and watched from atop a hill as the king helped his son up and led him away.
    “I’ll get you for this, Jacob! You and the rest of the world for stepping all over me!” cried Kigone, and then he turned and entered the darkest part of the forest.