Zander 3: Orcs and Gold Dragons

When he arrived at the front line, he saw an army of orcs lined up to the north and preparing to attack, King Guilliam and the other Counts greeted him and thanked him for coming.

As the invaders faced them and drew their shields and spears to form a wall, the king told his men to wait patiently and their time would come.  

Suddenly, flaming arrows from behind the wall flew into the sky and some of them hit the king's soldiers. Then, catapults threw fireballs at the army and the invaders cheered and shouted and began to chant.

Count Kristoff told the king to pull the men back so that the catapults could not pelt them and the king thought about it and said that was a good idea and he ordered the lines to fall back.

As the army moved back, the army from the north was ordered to charge them and their generals shouted "Charge!"

As they stood up and charged at the castle, streams of fire and ice hit them head on and a dozen gold dragons flew over head led by Oriel. The dragons destroyed the catapults on the first run and then circled back to attack the archers. As the soldiers were being hit from all directions, they panicked and ran, breaking up the wall. Then Zan gave the order for his men to charge, and they attacked the remaining soldiers. Soon the northern army retreated and ran back home with the gold dragons on their tales.

As the army disappeared over the horizon, the king's army cheered. Zan turned to the other Counts and Barons around him and they all congratulated each other, but the king was not with them. He had been struck by a fireball and killed during the charge.    

The army learned of his death and a great silence fell over them. The army had won the battle but lost the king. They marched back to the castle and informed the queen of his demise. The couple was young and had no children and after hearing the story of the battle, the queen asked Zan to take the throne and lead the kingdom and he looked at Malory who was by his side and asked him what the future had in store for him.

Malory told him that he should take the throne, and so Zander became the new king of the kingdom. Zander the first. He took Queen Aria as his bride, and produced many heirs to the throne. His kingdom became known as Zandera, and his first daughter was named after it.

Malory married the queen's mage, Mabella, and their first son Merlyn became Malory's apprentice. Merlyn would learn much from Malory and become a great and powerful mage in time, but that is another story.

Zander 2: The Ogres and the Dragon

After a month had passed, there was still none who could remove the sword from the stone except Count Zander, and his army was still growing in numbers, but Zan had no desire to lead his people into an unnecessary war and was determined not to. Malory just smiled when he told him and stared out the window into the distance. Zan asked him what he was looking for, but Malory told him that he did not know.

That night as the sun was setting the people outside the castle began to scream and fire lit up the sky. Zan looked outside and saw an army of giant ogres attacking his army and they had a large dragon with them. The dragon was gold in color and breathing fire and ice at the soldiers who were bravely trying to protect the kingdom from it.

Malory looked outside and told Zander it was time and only his sword could save the people from them, and immediately Zan pulled the sword from the stone again and charged into the invading army on foot. As he swung his blade at them, the ogres fell all about him and soon began to retreat. As the army ran into the distance, only the dragon remained to face the Count in battle. Zan raised his shield and his sword to protect himself from the flames of the dragon's breath and though the shield was a little warmer, it seemed to be un-phased by the attack. The wooden shield stood up to the dragon's breath without a scratch and it did not burn. Zan glanced back at the castle door where Malory was watching and chanting a protection spell for the army.

How is the fire not burning me like the others, Zan thought, and then Malory shouted out to him that the sword would protect him as long as it was in his hand. Zan swung at the dragon and the sound of the sword slicing the air seemed to hurt its ears badly. And each time he swung the sword at the dragon it cut it deeply, soon the dragon backed away dizzily and fell to the ground. With its dying breath it swore its allegiance to Zan if he would have mercy on it.

Malory approached the beast and chanted a healing spell for it that slowly began to close its wounds. Although the dragon was weak from blood loss, it bowed down to Zan and his enchanted sword and promised to fight for him in the coming battle. The gold dragon called itself Oriel.

Zan looked at Malory as if to say, I told you I dont want to take the throne, and Malory smiled and told him, "Your destiny awaits, my lord."
 
Zan looked at the sword and the wooden shield in his hands and walked back to his castle.

The next day, a messenger arrived at the courtyard and approached the Count with a letter. It was from the king and was asking him to help defend the kingdom from the invading army of orcs from the north. Zan realized at this point that the sword was sent to him for a reason, and he took his army to the King's castle to protect it.

Magentas Gift

she tiptoed into the living room and sneaked over to the christmas tree. she picked up one of the gifts and shook it to see what was inside. the gift did not make a sound. she shook it again harder this time. she thought the box must be empty because it was so light. she examined the wrapping paper; it was a dazzling design.

she sniffed the box, but she couldnt smell a thing. she wondered what could possibly be inside. it was so light and it didnt make a sound. mom and dad wouldnt notice if she just took one little peek. she thought she heard something move in the room. she looked about the room, but it was empty. she tore a small hole in the side, and peeked inside. a ray of light shot out from the tear.it filled the room with light. the box disappeared from her hand, as if it had been evaporated. a tall alien -type creature appeared before her. it pointed at her, and she was lifted high into the air.

"what is your wish, master," the alien said. "i am the grantor of wishes," the alien told her. "for setting me free, i will grant you one wish." oh no, she thought. now the box is gone and the gift is free; how will i keep mom and dad from finding out, she thought. "well,"said the alien,"what is your wish? make it quick , child. it is time for me to go."

she closed her eyes and thought really hard. "i wish...i wish... i wish i had never tiptoed into the living room," she said...

"Magenta," her mom called."get up, its christmas morning! come and open your gifts!" Magenta looked about the room, it was true. her wish had come true. she smiled, and skipped into the living room.

Tue, 30 Sep 2003

Zander: The Sorcerer and the Stone

A long time ago in the land of Guilliamia, legend tells of a great warrior who may have been a son of Zeus himself. According to myth, he was a demigod, bourn to a mortal woman who had been seduced by the Olympian and raised by his mother.

The young boy was named Zander, and he grew to be a strong and intelligent fighter and a talented poet and artist as well. His works were often mistaken for works of much more well known sculptors and painters, and he was able to support his aged mother rather well in her latter days. He often performed for kings and dukes at parties and became a very wealthy landowner in time.

Although he was bourn into poverty, Zan became a wealthy Count in the kingdom and lived in a great castle by the River Acheron. He was a good leader and kept his county very happy. 

Immortals are usually born as demigods and live out their lives like mortals only turning into immortals when they die or sometimes, according to legend, they can be transformed into immortals by another immortal, usually after completing a quest, or sometimes just by performing a ritual and casting a special spell that only an immortal or a sorcerer can cast. It’s a little bit complicated and mysterious and so I may be totally wrong about some of the details of the system, but for the most part, immortals are created by other immortals. 

Now Zan was out hunting one day, when he met an old man in the woods, a mysterious man who walked with a cane and told tall tales of great knights and dragons and damsels in distress. Zan and his court became fond of the tales and often asked the old man to enlighten them with his stories after dinner each night.

 The old man introduced himself as Malory and often performed wondrous magic tricks for the court if he was not in the mood to tell a tale. 

Zan became fascinated with Malory’s stories of these great knights and there round table, and so he had a special round table made for the dinner room and nicknamed it Valhalla. It was a large room. Large enough to seat and feed the entire court and the chairs had names from Malory’s stories carved into them. Zan had the village masons to inscribe the name Valhalla over the entrance to the dinner hall, as it was the name of a dinner hall in his tales as well.

In time, the knights of Zan’s court began calling each other by the names on their chairs in jest, and soon they all began to feel like the mighty Knights of the Round Table. The knights kept one chair empty each night in honor of their hero king Arthur, who was supposed to return one day according to Malory.   

When the Counts birthday came around the members of the court had a special battle hammer made for Zan and presented it to him calling it Mjolnir. They had some maidens from the castle dress like Valkyries and bring it to him. Everyone in the courtyard had a good laugh, and Zan smiled and placed it beside his throne, telling them that he would treasure it forever.

Malory saw the hammer and just smiled then he told Zan that he had a special gift for him and that he should like to give it to him personally if Zan would ride out to the lake with him. 

Zan agreed and the entire court rode out to the lake with them and there sticking in a large rock was a beautifully crafted sword laced with gold. Recalling the tale of Excalibur, the knights laughed and pointed at the sword and some of them tried to pull it out of the rock, but were very surprised when it would not budge. One after another tried very hard to remove the sword from the stone, but none could budge it.

Malory turned to Zan and told him that there was only one in all the kingdom who could pull the sword from the stone, and Zan laughed with glee, thinking it some kind of magic trick that Malory had set up for his birthday.

Zan walked over to the sword and pulled it straight way from the stone, almost losing his balance as he thought it should be harder to pull out than that, and pulled too hard as a result.

The court was awe struck and kneeled before him, vowing their allegiance to him. Zan laughed in delight still thinking that it was all a hoax created by Malory.  

Malory announced that Zan was destined to be king of the kingdom. The entire court bowed down to Zan and vowed to put him on the throne. Zan laughed, thinking it a joke, but was deeply moved by the gesture.     

As the sun began to set Zan and his party returned to the castle with the stone and the sword and placed them in his courtyard to display. Zan returned the sword to the stone but no one else could remove it. Over the next few weeks Zan's army grew in numbers and more than a dozen Barons and Dukes swore their allegiance to him, despite his having no desire to actually take the throne. Zan's army camped around the palace and waited for him to lead them to victory. Malory told Zan that he was the one chosen to rule by the gods and that he could not lose. Zan told Malory that he was not interested in taking the throne but he would think about it.   

U may B a NetHead

If u can only laugh by saying lol- u may be a nethead
If ur family can only get in touch with u on facebook- u may be a nethead.
If u n ur significant other sit next to each other while cybering in a pm chat- u may be a nethead
If u go to bed when the am alarm goes off and u just left chat and ur too tired 2 go in 2day- u may b a nethead
If ppl can only contact u in chat- u may b a nethead
If u change ur top 40 daily- u may b a nethead
If u and ur wife of 3 years have never physically met- u may b a nethead
If ur only income comes from paypal- u may b a nethead
If u clean the house by logging on 2 ebay -u may b a nethead
If ur bff is Tom - u may b a nethead
If u finally met the woman ur going to marry last night in chat and her pic looks just like Jessica Biel - u may b a nethead
If u change ur status every 5 minutes -u may b a nethead
If all ur favorite shows are on youtube and myspace -u may be a nethead
If u spend 10 dollars a day on mobile web -u may b a nethead
If u take ur date to singshot for karaoke night -u may b a nethead
If u spell to 2- for 4- be b- and you u- u may b a nethead
If u ever cancelled a party because project playlist was down 4 maintenance -u may b a nethead
If Tila Tequila has a restraining order on u -u may b a nethead
If u got ur masters degree without ever leaving da house -u may b a nethead
If u hire sum 1 2 update ur status while u r on vacation -u may b a nethead
If ur friends with Britney Spears just so u can tell her how much u hate her -u may be a nethead
If u got ur doctors degree at dad u -u may b a nethead
If u find all ur dates at yahoo chat - u may b a nethead
If u practice safe sex by cybering - u may b a nethead
If u have 2 get a new keyboard every xmas -u may b a nethead
If u have 200 pics of urself on ms taken with ur phone -u may b a nethead
If all of ur friends are bi lesbian gothic wiccan poets and artists -u may b a nethead
If ur bff isnt talking 2 u because she isnt on ur top 8 - u may b a nethead
If u lost ur cherry in a private chat room -u may b a nethead
If ur alias is Buffy the vampire slayer and ur carrying Spikes baby and fighting the trio and the master with Dark Willow and the charmed ones- u may b a nethead
If u spend ur weekend writing comments to all ur online friends -u may b a nethead
If u only eat when the modem is out- u may be a nethead