Prelude Part I.
As he put the finishing touches on his uniform, Demecaris looked out the window of his room in his expansive estate. Beyond the glass and metal bars of his room, the sun was coming up over the horizon and casting its light over the land. Walking over to the window to watch the sun rise, Demecaris started to muse over his most recent victory over his hated enemy.
Zephon is finally gone…this time’s Zephon that is. Demecaris thought happily to himself. Now there is no real threat to my plans for domination. Now no one can stop me, not even Oria, or his old dragon; they are nothing without him, without his leadership.
There was a light tapping on the door and Demecaris moved to open it. “Yes, what is it.” He demanded of the puny looking guard that stood on the other side of the door.
“Sir! The generals are assembled as you commanded and now await your presence in the planning room.” The guard stated in a somewhat shaky voice.
“Good, that will be all, you are dismissed.” The guard turned on his heel and quickly walked down the long halls that lead to Demecaris’ room. Demecaris closed the door and walked over to the mirror that leaned on his wall. Looking in the mirror Demecaris admired himself. Though he was only about 5’2” his posture and dark piercing eyes more than made up for his composure.
His face was old and wrinkled, and his many scars stood out clearly on it and even his mustache and hair had an evil way about them being blacker than the darkest night ever seen on Battlefield. As usual he was dressed in black breeches, tunic, and boots and wore and vest that was a combination of blood red on one side and an image of flames so realistic a casual observer might think he was wearing fire instead of clothing.
Finishing the outfit was a cape made to look like the flag of his dark forces, a human head on a pike with the shadow of a black dragon looming over it and a village in the back that was set ablaze. Satisfied, Demecaris left for the meeting to plan the attacks that would end the war once and for all.
Prelude Part II.
Zephon’s eyes jolted open, he sat up quickly, and he almost fell out of the unfamiliar bed, but saved himself with a small table placed next to it. After he recovered he started to look around, afraid that he had been captured. As he looked around the strange room he saw odd devices, the likes of which he had never before seen.
There was a window that had a material in it that was clear and hard (he discovered this when he tried to stick his head out the window) and there were two “flameless torches” in the room. Zephon also noticed that the bed on which he sat was the softest he had ever lain on, and that he was not alone in the bed.
The woman who lay in the bed next to him, had long black hair, a shapely face, and from what he could see under the thick blanket, was sleeping soundly, her chest raising and falling rhythmically. Just as Zephon noticed the woman she began to stir, rolled over and opened her dark green eyes to look at him.
“Good morning darling, did you sleep well?” asked the woman with a voice that was not unlike Oria’s own musical voice.
“Uh, I, we,” at this point Zephon heaved a sigh and decided to try to get a little information about what was going on  from this woman, “to be honest, I don’t recognize you at all milady or any of the strange things here in the room. I don’t know where I am or what is going on.”
At this she looked at him, puzzled for a minute, then a sly little smile spread across her thin face. “Is so sir? Might you be Amish then? Well you may not know this but I think there is nothing sexier then a well muscled man who can work with his hands.” And at that she pulled Zephon back into the large bed, under the blankets, and undressed both of them. Zephon, having lived day to day his whole life, never objected to pleasing his human desires when the time came up, especially with Oria, quickly started to get into it. Then a voice exploded in his mind.
Prelude Part III.
“Enjoying your self Zephon?” asked a familiar voice in Zephon’s head.
Demecaris! The name registered in Zephon’s mind almost instantly as his old master.
In a time, long gone, the Zephon that was now destined to save humanity was very different; he was an agent of evil. When the war started Zephon’s heart was already almost entirely evil, even before he meet Demecaris one day midway through the Battlefield year of 1899.*
After that meeting, Demecaris thought Zephon evil enough to be his apprentice, so he took him under his wing and trained him in magic, close-quarters combat, a*nd riding skills on a wide assortment of animals from Dragons to Omlas.* After some time had passed Zephon realized his mistake in allying with Demecaris and left, with out Demecaris’ approval or consent.
“I hope you are enjoying yourself because while you fool around there, I am going to tear this world apart, Aha ha ha ha!” and with that his presence was gone from Zephon’s mind, and he realized that he had failed to protect his friends and Battlefield; as he had pledged to do years ago. Surely no one could stand Demecaris’ way now.

* On Battlefield the year is about 238 days long and the day is about 30 hr. long. This date is very inaccurate for any establishment of a time line because in the beginning days of the war the past was almost entirely whipped out and for an unknown period of time the sun could not be seen and all track of time was lost. On Battlefield, year one started when the sun could again be seen, today the sky returned back to normal only in the last 600 years.
**An odd animal that looks like an Ostrich except that it has a large muscular tail and short arms (though the arms are short, Omlas have been known to carry wounded riders to safety).