Prologue

The full moon hung high above the trees of the forest. In a secluded grove, a Dark Elf woman stood alone, her armor glittering in the moonlight as she moved around silently. Taking several lengths of rope from the saddlebag on her horse, her lips twisted into an evil grin as her thoughts drifted to what she had planned. She had been planning to take action against those disgusting surface Elves for some time, and now the day had finally arrived for her to set her plans in motion.

Xania Shadowweaver had been planning revenge on the surface Elves ever since she was a small child. As her thoughts drifted back to that fateful day when every member of her house had been slain, she felt her blood begin to boil. Xania remembered how one of the Weapon Masters of another of the households had taken her in, claiming her to be his own to keep others in the household from killing her, and taught her the skills of the Shadow Warriors, highly skilled warriors who combined their raw physical powers with the dark powers of Necromancy. Xania, who had taken her hatefulness of the surface Elves and used it to fuel her training, had labored so hard in her training, quickly moving up in the ranks, could conjure up any number of unthinkable deadly creatures of the Underworld to do her bidding in a mere instant. She was considered to be the deadliest woman alive in Darkonia, stronger than any of the other warriors of both sexes, and even more powerful magically than any of the High Priestesses of Lolth. And though it was uncharacteristic of the Dark Elves, many cringed whenever Xania entered a room.

As Xania placed the many lengths of rope in the patterns needed to summon her dark creature, she felt a moment of uncertainty arise in her mind and fade just as quickly. Xania shrugged it off as being nothing and continued with her work. Finished with the placements, she glanced up at the moon, making certain that there were no clouds covering it at all. Satisfied with her work, Xania stepped back to be sure that no shadows fell over the odd patterns, and took a small pouch from her belt. Taking some of the white powder from the pouch, she then created a wide circle around the rope patterns. As Xania started to recite the necessary incantation, the white powder glowed briefly before erupting into a bluish fire.

Xania raised her voice as she reached the peak of her incantation, all the while, using her hands to weave the spell in the air in front of her, strengthening the spell even more. Something was still amiss as Xania finished the incantation and sharply clapped her hands, bringing the spell to an end. Looking over the result of her spell, Xania swore under her breath in her native tongue.