The Obsidian Tower

As a result of the amount of people who requested to read this I decided I will just blog this fantasy story I'm writing. The story is based on the Forgotten Realms series of books as they take submissions form any author. I will post each chapter as I finish it

Enjoy

Prologue Part 1

The ground crunched softly beneath the exquisite black leather boots, as the light beat down upon the back of his neck. The handsome elf was attired in a Black vest and a pair of baggy black trousers. Both garments gleaming in the light of the dim sun. The vest hung loosely from his shoulders, its open front exposing the defined muscles of his chest and abs. The short silver hair that adorned his head was immaculately groomed up into small spikes, except for a single stand that fell between his vibrant green eyes. The perfectly balanced features of his attractive face were currently held in deep thought his narrow eyebrows furrowed in contemplation. Idly he rubbed the diamond stud that was twinkling in his left ear. A twin pair of scabbards bounced at his hips as he continued his walk along the barren wasteland of this layer of the abyss. Each scabbard was encrusted with twinkling diamonds that had been designed as falling stars. And his hands were hidden beneath a pair midnight colored leather gloves,
The flat land he walked upon was dry and cracked. But in the distance the sound of a roaring river could be heard, accompanied by the acoustics of a cascading waterfall, the water endlessly running off the sides of the massive platform that formed this particular layer of the hell commonly referred to as the abyss. A Sphere of swirling eldritch fire surrounded the platform providing the soft steady light.
This lithe elf looked out of place on the barren landscape of this hell. Large winged demons patrolled the sky, some took notice of the much smaller elf, but all kept a respectful distance from that particular being as he continued his casual walk towards a palace made of black crystal in the distance.
As he approached the palace the gates began to rise. Two large iron golems quickly rotated the wheel that raised the black iron portcullis, their well oiled joints gliding by each other in utter silence as to not disrupt the tranquil state of the fortress. By the time the elf made it to the entrance of his abode, the Iron Gate had disappeared completely into the wall. He walked through the entryway as the portcullis noislessly glided down behind him.
As he strolled through the courtyard, he finally paused too take in the scene around him. The scenery had drastically changed, where as outside the palace walls the land was barren and dead, inside those obsidian walls was a paradise of natural beauty. Exotic trees and plants blanketed the courtyard, with an assortment of flowers which were allowed to grow freely around the garden. Several unique creatures ran around tending to each of the floras individual needs. The scene seemed to mock the natural order, this beautiful and vibrant garden with its limitless pallet of color, was in stark contrast to the beauty of the artificial obsidian walls which surrounded it. The lone humanoid figure in this artificial natural paradise once again returned to his thoughts, and continued his way towards a pair of heavy oaken doors. Pushing his way passed the doors he calmly entered the well lit corridor that followed.
Attempts had been made to try and make these corridors more sensually appealing, a plush red carpet had been lain down with stylistic torches lining the corridors providing a warm glow. But that hard glasslike stone remained, its cold beauty making these attempts of little use. As he walked passed a passage that trailed off to the side, his ears were assaulted by the harsh cries of the tortured souls. This was the only spot in the castle that such normally demonic sounds could be heard; crude as it was, it still remained a necessity.
As he turned down another passage, out of the corner of his eyes he noticed a half-demon, the elf noticed that this particular one seemed to draw strongly from its Tana-ri heritage. The only trace of the apparent human influence that had been apart of its birth was a humanoid face that was stretched in trying to contain an overly large set of teeth, and a lack of fur. This one seemed to be of glabrezu decent, with two muscular human hands protruding from its chest, and at the end two even more muscular arms that extended from its shoulders, which ended in a pair of pincered hands. As the half fiend passed by the elf, a scroll slipped from its grasp and instinctively it brought about one of the pincered claws to catch the fragile document before it smashed onto the floor. The great limb swung out from behinds its back and would have clipped the elf’s shoulder if he had not quickly moved out of its path. The mighty half-fiend slowly turned its head its eyes landing upon the lithe figure, the bloodshot red eyes widened in fear, instead of the normal string of obscenities such a creature would normally spew forth.
“Lord Zrax,” the half-demon gasped, and began to stammer out an apology.
Zrax’s voice seemed to flow from his mouth, a soothing calm present in his voice “no Qu-izt it is perfectly fine, it was but an accident.” Zrax picked up the scroll and quickly glancing at the archaic writing scrawled upon it in some exotic violet ink, he then preceded to hand it back to the demon. “There now lets not let this happen again” that same soothing melody seemed frightening as a pleasant smile spread across the elf’s face. The twelve foot high half-fiend blinked in disbelief, and slowly backed away bowing an muttering apologies. Comedic Zrax mused to himself
Qu-izt briskly walked off, not wanting to spend another moment with Lord Zrax less his master’s mood changed. The half demon didn’t breathe again until it had disappeared around a corner. On instinct the large half-fiend took a quick nervous glance backward. Zrax had vanished. The demons eyes swirled in their sockets in vein, his desperation straining his eyes. And then every fiber of being which Qu-ist was froze when he felt the cold metal of a blade at his back. The half demon roared in fear swinging its powerful claws in an attempt to eviscerate his master, but that powerful roar became a gurgle. Qu-izt turned and tried to swipe at the smaller figure, the clawed arms falling limply to its sides and the half demon fell to its knees as second cold blade pieced its spine. Qu-izt fell to his hands and knees as the sensation of one of the blades being wrenched from its back perpetrated his senses.
“If you had a next time, I would suggest just accepting it, maybe I wouldn’t make it hurt so much,” the elf’s eyes burned red, it was as if a powerful inferno raged within Zrax’s eyes. “Or maybe I would.” With that Zrax slashed open the demon’s throat, the narrow slit gushed blood, and as the once mighty half-fiend lay their dieing. Zrax ripped his other matching blade from the creatures back, and walked off, he would have to remember to have some of the servants clean the rug.
Zrax took a right and walked down another passage till he came to a dead end. He quietly muttered a command word, and the black glasslike stone peeled itself back, to reveal a spiral staircase. Zrax nimbly climbed the long spiral stair case. Until he at last came to a corridor, adorned with high arched windows set into both sides the windows displayed the lands around the palace. He stopped and looked. He hated the lands of this insignificant endless layer of this infinite hell, dry and barren, the ground cracked like a salt flat, horrible twisted squat trees dotted the landscape. The lone exception to this dreary landscape was around the clear flowing river that surrounded the dark palace. This sole area was lush and green, he had put his gardeners hard at work to slowly convert this land from a barren desert, to a grassy plain, but the transition wasn’t easy. Earth had to be brought in from the material plain, and water was constantly being bled from the plain of water.
He turned from the arched window and headed towards the finely crafted double doors that were at the end of the corridor. The golden handles had finely carved to look like falling stars. He pushed them open and entered the lavishly adorned room. A large plush four posted bed was to one side, draped in red satin sheets, and velvet feather pillows. On each side of the bed were matching oaken cabinets, the varnish that gave them a deeply rich color still looked fresh and glossy. A desk filled with scrolls stood near a stained glass window which depicted a starry sky and a hellish fire, the whole room lay atop an expensive looking red and silver carpet. One set of doors similar to the ones he had just entered lay directly in front of him. Another pair of doors was off to his right; this led to the rest of his personal chambers.