The Quest for the Five Crystals of Heroism
Being a vile and cunning creature, the Evil Lord immediately set his forces loose on the
surrounding lands. Taking the form of a human soldier, he blended in with the soldiers that came
to subdue the monsters. The soldiers quickly realized that these monsters were different from
any they had previously encountered. It was a struggle to simply keep from being overrun, the
monsters were victorious in battle after battle, slowly corrupting the land with fear and darkness.
Monsters appeared throughout the land more numerous then ever, overrunning the human troops
in a steady push towards the Capital. Chaos began to spread throughout the world as the Evil
Lord slowly made his way back to the King’s Castle, all the while spreading his mischievous
machinations throughout the land. The King and Queen called on their army, then their reserves
in an attempt to push back the Evil that was so completely overwhelming their once peaceful
realm.
In a short period of time the Evil Lord had made his way to the King and Queens’s castle,
Radiant Dawn. With chaos, discord and dissonance running rampant through the land the King
and Queen had reached the end of their troops and their hope that they could defeat this evil on
their own. Watching their kingdom falling around them, they called for a meeting with their top
level Officers and trusted Nobles. Looking worn and wane, the King, Queen and their Loyal
Advisors began to discuss the best way to call upon the 5 Heroes of the past. Due to the
sacrifices the Heroes had made for their country in the past, the King and Queen only decided to
call on them because all hope seemed lost. As the meeting continued and drew to a close a loud
pounded sounded on the door of the Chambers. It opened to a young man at arms, bloody and
barely able to stand. The room erupted into chaos as the sounds of distant battle echoed through
the door. The messenger delivered his dire news, someone, or something was trying to steal the
crystals of Heroism!
The King and Queen with their elite troop of bodyguards rushed to the vault that had
housed the Crystals of Heroism since the time of peace began. The first thing they saw were the
heavy metal doors that been twisted by some unknown force into unrecognizable sculptures,
beyond that troops of elite guards and soldiers had fallen, defeated, and a Shadow, darker than
Midnight, standing before the crystals of Heroism. The King, being the first on the scene,
confronted the Evil Lord. “Halt, Thief! What business does an immoral being like yourself have
with such pure objects!? Reveal thyself shadow!” With that the Evil Lord turned slowly to face
the king. Face to face his body seemed to coil around with a sinuous movement, fused with the
darkness surrounding him. It was the darkness emanating from his very being. The Evil Lord
locked eyes with the King and all of the others in the room shuddered. With an evil grin, the
Evil Lord responded to the Noble King. “I? I am the Evil Lord. I am the Lord of Shadows; I
am the Umbral King, the Ruler of Monsters, the Bearer of Discord, Chaos, Dissonance and all
things Malevolent. I am your Despair o’ King of Amaranthine, here to bring Desolation to your
lands. I. Am. Lord Validar.”
In response the King spoke in a commanding voice “Lord Validar is it? We have nothing
to fear, no matter how strong your evil powers, for the force of the Crystals of Heroism will
purge your darkness from the Land.”
With the slightest of smirks Lord Validar said to the King “These are the Crystals of
Legend, the Crystals of Heroism that once brought peace to the land? I see no saving grace for
you here King, these Crystals are as useless to you as they are to me no matter how brightly they
shine, but I will be taking them for my own and I WILL find out their secrets. These Crystals of
Heroism will become Crystals of Villainy, casting a dark void instead of an intolerable radiance.
Then my monsters and loyal subjects will be the ones to rule the land!”
Charging at Lord Validar the King shouted “No, I will NEVER let that happen!” With a
gesture, the darkness immediately intensified around Lord Validar “Too late King” he said,
giving a dry, rasping laugh. The soldiers and Queen cried out in fear as the darkness engulfed
everything in the room fading everything to darkness and silence. In the depths of that darkness
all the King could hear was Validar’s evil laugh. When the darkness finally faded, the room was
empty except for the King, kneeling in the center of the room.
“What shall we do now?” Croaked the King filled with despair when he saw the empty
velvet cushions the crystals once laid upon. “We have no Heroes and no means to empower
them.” At that moment another messenger came running into the Vault. “Five Nobel Questers
have appeared at the Castle Gates, Your Majesty.”
“Ah, could it be? Could those possibly be the 5 Heroes we have been praying for?
Only People who would go on a Heroic Quest would be able to help us now, this might be
exactly what we need!” said the King. The King, Queen and all their vassals ran out to meet the
new guests at the gate. The 5 Questers knelt in front of the King, bowing their heads before their
monarch. “Rise, so that I may look upon your faces,” bade the King. Upon standing, the King
became perplexed. The Queen and the rest of the castle staff were waiting with bated breath to
hear if their prayers had been answered. With a crestfallen look, the King sighed, “I cannot
believe this….but I simply do not remember the faces of the Heroes of Legend. Though I see
before me a Chivalrous Knight, a Nimble Adventurer, Erudite Spellcaster, Kind Healer and
Brave Warrior I am not sure if they are the ones we seek. Lord Validar’s darkness must have
taken its toll on me. Regardless, you 5 have great power, it is possible that you are indeed
Heroes and we have a need of you, will you accept this Noble Quest from your King?”
The 5 strangers answered in unison “Of course!”
“I need you 5 to go and reclaim the 5 Crystals of Heroism from Lord Validar, he must be
stopped and peace brought back to our lands. I know my request is a truly insurmountable task,
5 in the face of so many monsters, but I will continue to fight Lord Validar and his monsters
across the land, truly we need your help, you are our last hope. I pray that the Crystals bestow
upon you 5 their great power if and when you find them.” And with that, the Epic Adventure of
the 5 begins, setting forth immediately they leave the castle and begin to travel the long,
dangerous and fun road to The Worlds End, to get back the Crystals of Heroism, defeat Validar
and return peace to the Kingdom of Amaranthine.
After many perilous adventures, The Knight, Adventurer, Spellcaster, Healer and Warrior
find themselves at the end of their Quest. Validar’s castle lay before them and darkness
surrounded them. Using all of the skills at their command and with constant help from their
friends, the 5 managed to enter the castle, defeat all of Validar’s vassals and confront him in his
throne room. Validar was sitting on his throne, surrounded by the Crystals of Heroism. As the 5
entered, he rose, shrouded in darkness and addressed the Noble 5. “You have come a long way
and have overcome many obstacles, but you shall never defeat me, I have tainted the crystals
with my evil powers. They can no longer save you.” Regardless the 5 began their final battle
with Lord Validar. Though they never gave up hope, Lord Validar proved to be an impossibly
strong foe. No matter what the 5 did they could not overcome him, but in their darkest hour they
still held onto hope. As Lord Validar moved in to deliver the final blow, the Crystals of
Heroism, whose light had gone dull due to Validar’s evil magic, began to shine brightly once
again. “What!? But….but that’s impossible!” Shouted Validar as the light filled the room “You
cannot possibly be the Heroes sent to save the world, it cannot be!!!”
The power of the Crystals filled the 5 Heroes, giving them tremendous powers, enough to
overwhelm the Evil Lord. As they threw him down, he raised his hands in surrender. Still
despite everything, it was not enough to vanquish him, “The power of the crystals has been
compromised due to my dark magic, even now you still cannot win!” exclaimed Validar.
Laughing victoriously, he began to unleash his most powerful ability, opening a rift in the fabric
of space itself. Still, despite all that had occurred, the Heroes did not give up. Surrounded by
darkness, they used all of the powers at their disposal to entrap Validar in a sphere of light,
locking him away in a separate dimension. They then blasted the Dark Lord’s Prison into the
depths of space. The last thing the Heroes saw was the Villain disappearing into the starry
depths, as the special rift closed behind them. They had been cut off from their world, unable to
ever return. Although the land of Amaranthine had been saved from great peril, the Heroes had
also been lost. Years later, when the armies finally managed to restore peace to the land and
defeat all the creatures unleashed during Validar’s campaign, they attempted to make their way
to Validar’s castle. In the years that passed the castle had fallen into ruins, and the 5 Crystals of
Heroism were no place to be found. Without them, the Kingdom of Amaranthine eventually
dissolved. Tales of Heroism became Myths, Myths became Legends and Legends turned into
Ancient Fables of Old.