PROLOGUE

The dawn, when it came, was one of the most glorious that the old man had ever witnessed. Brilliant in oranges and deep reds, it gradually brightened, invaded by streaks of yellows, and every other hue upon the known spectrum. Even the blue of the sky itself appeared to change with the passage of every single second.
In the distance the city was awakening as the suns rays gradually lit it up. The very first hint of orange touched the spires of the palace, then slowly moved down, until the palace stood alone in the sunlight as if it was a beacon of light within the darkness of these times. For a full minute it almost seemed as if time stood still, until gradually the city itself also welcomed the new day.
The old man had seen much in his time. Indeed, many lifetimes had passed since he himself had lived in this place, and even then it had seemed such a fleeting moment. For when the afterlife is eternal, even a century of life on this world could one day seem just a drop in the ocean.
A tear came to his eye as he watched the dawn. Not because of its beauty, but simply because of its significance. Never, in all the eons that he had stood watch over every creature, living and not across the worlds, had there been a day as significant as this one.
Tearing his eyes away from the beauty of the dawn, he turned toward the plains off to the west. The battle was still raging, just as it had been for the past few hours. Now that the darkness had worn away, the ferocity and immense struggle seemed to become even more real. This was the ultimate battle between good and evil, and the fate of every single dawn for eternity would rest upon its result.
Even from this distance he could clearly see every event that was occurring within the bubble that seemed to consume the combatants. There were no armies. There were no troops. No Generals screamed out orders and no beasts of the Earth graced the battlefield. No, this battle was a simple struggle between a single symbol of evil that represented the three worlds, and the champion that fate had selected to battle against it.
As he watched, the evil rose up, manifesting itself now as a fiery monstrosity, its great arms reaching like massive tentacles laced in flames. Gigantic feet locked it to the Earth and instantly scorched everything within its path as it moved slowly across the plain. A tail whipped side to side in its wake, waiting and watching, as if with a mind of its own, until it sensed an opening and struck like a whip with a singular ferocity.
Amongst it all moved a solitary figure. A man, or so it seemed to any onlooker. Simply a human, armed with a sword on a mission of destruction that seemed doomed to fail in a simple ball of flame at any instant. A small, insignificant insect to the predator above. The last vestige of hope for a world on the brink of destruction.
For many, the battle could not be watched for more than a few seconds, before insanity would take hold and they would lose their own minds. But for the rest, the lucky few that were able to witness the battle before them, they would see more than just a simple human in the fight.
He moved like no one should ever be able to move. Fluid and fast, faster even than the quickest champions that had ever lived. He was beyond nature, and the boundaries that encompassed everyone else on this world seemed not to exist to him.
The tail of the creature, sensing its opening whipped across the ground from the humans blindside. The ruse failed when its target launched into the air, leaping a full fifty feet vertically, back-flipping like an acrobat until he landed again, his feet once again planted safely upon the Earth.
Raising his head he peered through narrowed eyes at the creature, his beard blowing softly in the breeze. He had thought it would have been singed away by now, but as with the rest of him it appeared to be infallible to the creature’s fire. Many times in this battle he had considered himself vanquished, and every single time he had risen again.
The creature moved away in what might have seemed like a retreat, but the fighter knew better. He had spent years studying the evil, seeking out every single book and manuscript on previous manifestations. Its habits, the way it moved, how it struck, and even its chosen forms of attack were nothing new to him. He could almost predict its thoughts before they occurred even to it.
For he was more than a simple soldier. He was more than the Champion of the ten armies. He was a swordsman, a knight, a traveler and a scholar. He had studied in all the corners of the world and trained with different fighting styles across all of the lands. He had become unpredictable to the creature, and he used that to his advantage.
His biggest weapon, though, was not even his fighting skills. He was the chosen one, and the abilities this had gifted him gave him the edge he needed in this battle. For he could call on all of the elements to fight for him, and use them to his advantage.
Raising his arm now he summoned a great wind. Like a typhoon, it swept down from the hills and smashed into the great beast, whipping itself around the evil in a fiery tornado. Faster and faster it spun, the creature’s flames aimlessly burning in different directions as it struggled in vain to release itself from the grasp of the wind.
But the wind was only a diversion, there was no way it alone could destroy the monster. High above its head the sky began to turn black, and as the hero twisted his wrist, monstrous, looming clouds began to form. When he allowed them to release, a virtual waterfall of tropical rain poured upon the creature, and its flaming façade began to sputter and fail.
Roaring with rage the evil redoubled its efforts and sought to break free, moving one gigantic foot out of the tornado and planting it firmly upon the earth. Once gaining purchase it rallied itself for one last push, and as it broke free of the bonds that were holding it in place it burst upon the plain with a scream of rage that echoed off the nearby mountains, flattening mighty trees and causing great boulders on the mountainside to crack in two.
The hero, knowing the creature would seek to escape its bonds, was waiting for it. Touching his sword to the ground he summoned the earth itself to his aid. Answering his call it split asunder, rising like a great splinter up, up into the sky, and as it rose the hero ran like the wind itself. His feet barely seemed to touch the Earth as he sped across the ground, then, just as he seemed to run out of room and approached the edge of the precipice the creature broke from the tornado of wind right in front of him.
The man screamed with a rage that almost matched that of the beast as he launched himself out into space with a mighty leap that would never be matched by man or beast ever again. Across the void he flew until he collided with the beast hundreds of feet above the plain.
His sword, held in front of him like a mighty lance seemed to grow in length and size, infused with the lightning of the very storm that still raged above the beast, and as he drove it deep into the chest of the creature it took on a life of its own. The beast screamed with rage as it fell, its heart bursting within itself and the life force draining even as it plunged to Earth.
The hero tumbled from the sky, his fall cushioned by the winds that seemed to reach out with unseen hands to lower him gently down to the grassy plain.
Everything came to a stop. The winds dropped away and the clouds disappeared. Only the great splinter of earth still stood where it had been raised, like a monument erected to the great battle of the plains.
The hero walked slowly, purposefully over to the body of the great creature. Its flames were dousing themselves now, the life force gone and the source of its power extinguished. Retrieving his sword he moved to the head of the great beast and placed the point of the weapon on its temple. Then, pushing down with a force incapable of a normal human he skewered the great head, ending it once and for all.
A shiver moved through the sword and caused the hero to step away in haste, and, as he watched, the body shimmered. Suddenly, it began to glow orange, brighter and brighter until the glow seemed to detach from the carcass of the beast and vanish into the air.
The man blinked and nodded in understanding. He understood what had just happened, for the evil was not of this world and could not be killed in this world. It was of another place and had now been vanquished back to whence it had come.
Turning, he once again retrieved his sword and began the long walk back to the city. Glancing up at the hill he saw the old man, sitting where he had left him many hours ago. He would join him to celebrate the victory that was for both of them.
His mind turned to the alehouse within the city walls and the cold brew he knew was awaiting them both when they returned. Not once did he consider the possible return of the beast, or another impending battle in the future.
For he was Bremorius, and this is what he did. The beast would return, possibly not even within his lifetime. But when it did he would be ready, and he would slay it once again. For he was Bremorius, and that is what he was destined to do.