Albert stood quietly at the front of his house. Ever since he was a child he had heard rumors about a lost town where everyone was equal and every wish was granted. This had always intrigued him. Now at 45 years old, there was nothing left of his life to do, so he decided to search for the city. As he looked over the sandy horizon of the desert, that used to be a lush forest until the dreaded war started, he closed his front door and started off. He had packed every one of his most valuable possessions and left to find the city.

As he was walking he thought to himself. Considering everything that he had done in his past. Going over his whole life. Thinking of how it all could have been different. How he could have joined the army instead of being a lowly farmer and hopefully died in the war. His life was a mess. This is why he will spend the rest of his life, if it comes to that, searching for this legendary city.

Soon he came across a large oak tree 'probably the only one left' he said to himself. Under the branches of the monster tree there was a skinny, naked man sleeping. Albert came to wake the man.

"Excuse me sir, is there anything wrong?" Albert asked

"Huh? Oh, there is nothing wrong with me! It is you who has the problem."

"Me? How would you know if I had a problem?"

"I can sense it in your soul. You are searching for the lost city of Alatoc, am I correct"

"Yes, but how could you know?"

"Ha! I have many ways of finding information. But I know some very important information that may be of much importance to you."

"What is that old man?" Albert asked starting to get annoyed with the old man.

"I will tell you, but first you must give me all of your water."

"What?! I will die out here without it!"

"Ahh, but you will never reach the city with it!"

"What do you mean old man. What do you know of the city?"

"I know that only the purest of hearts can enter the gates alive," The man took a gulp of water from the flask Albert gave him. "And those who don't never enter, or come back."

"Here, take this." The old man gave Albert an amulet with a large blue stone in the center. Albert twisted it around and it glowed in the blaring red sun. "Now give me all of your belongings. This is all you will need."

"You must be crazy!" Albert yelled. "How am I to survive without everything I own?"

"Man found a way before, you must find a way now, or you can never find the city."

Convinced, Albert gave him all of his belongings.

"Your clothes also."

Albert stood there for a second shaking his head, but finally stripped off his clothes and gave them to the old man.

"There! I have given you all I own. Now how can I get into the city."

"You must forget everything you know and love. Your mind must be clear or great disasters will come to you when you enter the city."

"I will try." Albert said, and sat still for a while.

"Now, take the amulet and point it in a direction until it starts to hurt you."

"Why would I want it to do that?"

"It will show the way to the city."

Albert moved the amulet around until he felt a sharp pain all throughout his body, as if ten people were stabbing him with small knives. He quickly moved the amulet away from the source and the pain stopped.

"There is no way I can stand this till I get to the city."

"You will have to. It is the only way. No person could get there without the amulet."

"Fine. I will do it your way. Thanks for nothing old man." Albert walked in the direction the amulet gave him.

"You will not live long enough to thank me enough." The old man said when Albert was out of site. Then he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Albert followed the pain until he could take it no longer. He dropped to his knees and sobbed into his hands.

"What have I done to deserve this?" He said to the air. Then he looked up and saw the most beautiful city imaginable. All he could do was laugh. He had reached the lost city.

He got up and wiped himself off and went to enter the city. There were large metal bar doors blocking his way, but he could still see inside. There were people all over the place. Some were talking, some were shopping at the curb market, some little kids were playing games in the streets, and lovers were conversing in a small grassed area with a gazebo with an intricate design on it.

As he looked around he decided to try to enter.

"Let me in!" He demanded. A stocky man with a large sword walked up to the door.

"Why should I outsider? This city is not for you!"

"How could you know? I met an old man outside in the desert who said I could get in if I gave away all of my possessions.

"And you believed him? You fool! Well, I guess I can let you in. Stay right there, I will be right back." The man walked behind a large stone column and from there came a loud rumbling sound and the doors creaked open.

"Here, come on in. Welcome to the lost city of Alatoc." Albert walked in, but unbeknown to him, he began to think about his wife and children who had been killed during the war. Everything went quiet, and Albert knew something wasn't right.

Albert pulled the covers over himself in the new bed he had rented from one of the local merchants. The only thing he had to give in return was the amulet he had been given, which he decided he didn't need any more. He was just beginning to get to sleep when he heard a quiet breathing noise coming from outside his window. There were some scratches at the window and then they blew open with a gust of wind. The shutters rattled noisily and the curtains almost blew away.

Then, in front of the bed, there stood a large monstrous figure. It had a large and furry frame with pointed horns coming out of its long head. Instead of feet it had hooves. It had a large serrated sword in one hand, and a blood red crystal in the other. It looked at Albert for a moment, and then leaped on him. It slashed him open every which way until he was all but dead. Albert tried to scream but found his vocal cords had been ripped right out of his neck. Then he looked up and heard the sound of a heart. Little did he know that it was his heart beating in the hand of the beast.

Albert tried to get out all the voice he could. "Who... are... you...?"

"I am the deamon of the night. Be warned. The end of this world is at hand." The beast turned around and leaped out of the window. Albert jumped up and felt his throught. Everything was still there. It was just a very bad dream.

Albert woke up in the morning to the sound of bells, drums, and other various instruments outside of his window. He got up, dressed and looked outside the window. It looked as if a parade was going on in the town center. Albert rushed downstairs to look around outside and see if he could find out about what was actually going around.

As he rushed into the crowd, he saw a float coming down the road. On the float was the most beautiful woman Albert had ever seen. He had to find out who she was. She had long flowing red hair : the color of fire, elvish features, red fingernails, and a gauzy red dress on here that relatively showed off every curve of her body. Her smile made him melt and then she looked in his direction.

It was as if their glance lasted forever, well for Albert it might have well been that long. He felt he had known this woman all of his life, but then she was the largest enigma to his mind.

"Excuse me, sir." He asked one of the men standing next to him. "Who is that woman?"

"Why that is Princess Alassan. Everybody knows that!" He started laughing.

"I'm new here."

"What?! Nobody new ever comes to this town."

"It is a very long story. By the way, is there any way I would be able to meet the Princess?"

"Not that I know of. You might want to ask some of the guards. I know merchants go in the castle every day."

"Well, thanks anyway. Good-bye." Albert walked back into the house to go back to sleep. It was still very early in the morning, and he had had a very long day before. More sleep would do much help.

 

He dreamt of the Princess. He dreamt that he held her in an embrace that would have normally crushed anyone else, but there had been something about her. A sense of power. Not normal power, but a supernatural type power. They hugged and kissed for quite a while, and then they were in bed together.

Then more light broke through the window and Albert woke up.

"Morning always has to ruin the best of things." Albert said to himself. He got dressed and went downstairs to get some food. The merchant was at the table counting money.

"Good morning!" Albert said to the merchant.

"Hello. Help your self to some food. I ain't gonna make it for you."

"Of course." Albert went to the cupboard and got some eggs. He made an omelet and sat at the table next to the merchant.

"Counting your pay?"

"Yes I am. Made a good profit from the parade earlier today." Albert finished his breakfast and left the house.

"Where ya goin?" The merchant asked.

"To the castle to talk to the princess."

"Oh, you think so do you? The princess is very busy. Not a very good chance of talking with her."

"I will try none the less."

"Good luck friend." Albert walked out the door and headed towards the castle.

The castle was a magnificent place. Pillars and statues everywhere. He came up to the front door and there were two guards in front.

"Halt! Where are you going, and who are you?"

"My name is Albert. I want to see the princess." The guards laughed.

"Oh really? Hey princess... there is some one here to see you. OOPS, I guess she doesn't want to see you." Then the door opened up and a young lady walked out.

"Princess! What brings you outside?"

"I saw this man and came to meet him."

"What? This street trash? You surely don't want to talk to him."

"Well I do, so move away so that he may enter the castle."

"Yes your majesty." The guards moved away from the door.

"Please, enter the castle Albert."

She was even more beautiful up close. "How did you know my name?"

"Come with me and I will tell you everything."

"OK." The princess went back inside and Albert began to follow her, but the guard caught his arm.

"If you do anything to the princess, I will personally kill you. Understand?"

"Gulp, yes."

"Good." The guard let Albert go and he ran inside the castle.

 

Inside he met with the princess. The princess looked at him and then ran up the stairs. Albert followed and the princess still led him on.

"What do you want with me?" Albert asked.

"Come on! Hurry up!" The princess ran into a room and closed the door. Albert went and opened the door. He found the princess sitting in a large, plush chair in the back a large bedroom.

"What do you want to tell me?"

"Have a seat, you will need something to hold onto." Albert looked around and went to another big chair near the princess'.

"Albert, you came not to long ago right?"

"Yes, so?"

"There is a prophecy : There will be one man who will come from the desert with nothing but an item given to him by a desert traveler. He will be shunned by the all the populace except two : The princess and a merchant. Treat him well for he holds the power to destroy or save the city."

"I have an idea that this person might be you."

"Me? I am just a nobody. Except for surviving the war, nothing interesting has happened to me."

"That is just that. The prophecy also states the man will not seem interesting, but will have been one of the few who have made it through a very hard situation. I think that hard situation might be your surviving the war."

"Wait, wait! This is to weird for me. I am supposed to save this city? How?"

"The prophecy didn't say. It just said something very bad will happen here and you will be the only one who can stop it."

"Geez! I come to ask you out and you tell me I am supposed to save this town!"

"What did you say?"

"OOPS! I guess I should tell you anyway. I think you are the most beautiful woman on the face of this Earth. I couldn't keep you off my mind. Princess or not I had to talk to you somehow. I wanted to get to know you better.

"Oh, I'm flattered, but you know how busy princesses are. You know, without my parents, I have to run everything by myself.

"Of course. I knew it was a stupid question."

"Oh no!" She got a little closer to Albert. "I would love to get to know you better too." She got up and looked into his eyes. Then she brought her face closer to his and kissed him on the lips.

Then there came a rumbling from the ground. The castle and the rest of the city shook. A voice, seemingly coming from nowhere was heard in everybody's minds.

"Humans, I will destroy you all. You stand no chance against me and my minions. Surrender now and no one will be killed. Ha, ha ha ha!!!" The voice left and the rumbling stopped.

Oblivious to him before, Allasan was laying in his arms and sobbing onto his now wet shoulder.

"It can't have come so soon! What will we do? Albert, you have to save us!"

"How can I? I was not ready for anything. I have no weapons to fight it with. All I had was an amulet given to me by an old man in the desert."

"Where is it? Do you still have it?"

"No, I gave it to a merchant for trade in for a room in his house."

"We must get it back. It might be the only thing to save this city."

"By the way, what is so special about this city that monsters will attack it and no other place?"

"There is another thing I haven't told you yet. A thousand years ago there was a large war. Unlike other wars this one had two completely different sides. The first side, The Evil Ones, as we call them, used technology vastly more powerful than anyone else. The would attack small villages and burn them to the ground, slautering everyone in it. The were ruthless. Then there was the second side, The Enlightened Ones. Us. Instead of technology, we used a special power known as Majick. We channeled this power from the very Earth itself. It was very powerful, but not powerful enough against the Evil Ones. We fought bravely, but in the end, we lost. The ancients, who were at that time the leaders of the Enlightened army, constructed this town to keep the Majick alive. In essence, this town is now a power house of Majick energy. Living here I have grown accustomed to it."

"Now the monsters want to take the energy to destroy the world."

"I had a dream."

"About what."

"A deamon, who called himself the deamon of the night, came in and killed me. He said the end of the earth was near and then he left."

"Odd, no one has become accustomed to the Majick this quickly. Only citizens of Alatoc have seen deamons in there dreams. It is always a very disturbing nightmare. You must be the chosen one. You must defend this town against the monsters."

"I will do anything I can. Especially for you." He hugged her tighter and she went on crying. "I will do anything to stop these monsters."

Then a bright red light came through the windows. The red light stopped just as it hit the side of the castle. A second later an explosion occurred. Every one was thrown back and the castle wall crumbled. Albert looked up and the only thing he could see was rock in front of him. He couldn’t find Allasan. He screamed her name, but to no avail. Then something came down on him. It was the deamon of the night.

"I have come to take you away human. You do not belong here. You do not deserve to die quite yet. My master has a more devious plan for your demise than this."

"What will happen to the castle?"

"It an every one inside will be destroyed."

"You monsters! I won’t let you get away with it! I will destroy you all!"

"Ha, ha, ha! You, a puny mortal, wishes to take on a deamon?" The deamon got off of him. "Try me!" The deamon pulled out a long spear like weapon with many barbs on the end and pointed it at Albert.

He wished he hadn’t said anything, but it was too late. Then he remembered the amulet could stop the deamons, but the merchant had it. Oh did he wish for that amulet now.

Then everything seemed to stop. The deamon stopped in mid-thrust and everything was quiet. Then a bright white light descended upon him. He shielded his eyes from the brightness.

"Why do you hide your eyes from me, human? I am here to save you." Came a light voice that sounded like ringing bells.

"Who, who are you?"

"I am what these people call one of the ancients, the founders of Majick itself."

"But how is it that I can see you?"

"You are here for a very special purpose. Your are to be the savior of this city."

"But why can’t you ancients do it. I mean with all of your powers?"

"There is too much you would not understand. We have grown weak. I, myself, am spending the last of my life force to give you this." She handed him his amulet.

"Also I will give you these things so you can defend this town." Then she handed him a white-glowing short sword and shield. "These things will only defend you against the evilest of hearts, and the sword will only work on the evilest of beings. You must never use these items for wrong doing."

"What does the amulet do?"

"The amulet is a kind of Majick battery. We have spent the last 10,000 years channeling our energy into this amulet. This is the only thing, along with your weapon, powerful enough to defeat the head deamon, Haides. This you must do, for the sake of humanity itself."

"But there is so much left unanswered!"

"You would not understand it anyhow. Now, destroy this deamon quick. My power defending you will not last longer." The light disapeared and the spear came crashing down on Albert’s shield.

"What?! How did you block that? No human can withstand the power of a deamon!"

"You are right. But an ancients’ can!" He swung his sword right into the gut of the deamon. Greenish blood spurted out and oozed onto the ground. The deamon doubled over and disappeared, leaving only ashes and the spear. But then the spear turned into a large two headed snake with a barbed tail and six inch long fangs.

It lunged at Albert and he held his shield up in defense. The impact sent Albert back against the wall. Dazed, but fine he got back up and went into a military stance so as not to get knocked back again.

"He readied his sword and jumped at the snake, but it stealthily dodged. Albert turned around and swung his sword again. This time he lopped of one of the snake heads. It squealed in pain and thrust his tail into Albert sword arm. Miracuously, his arm suffered no damage. He lunged with his sword and ran the snake right through its eye. Blood splattered everywhere. The snake writhed, but finally died in a pool of blood.

Exhausted, Albert got up and looked for an exit. He moved a couple of stones and found an exit where the wall used to be. He looked outside and found the whole city almost completely in ruins. People were trying to collect the populace and counted heads to see who was missing. Albert saw dark red clouds coming from the south and ran towards them.

"Fine. If they want to fight away from the city, I will give them that fight." Albert ran off into the direction of the cloud and soon disappeared.

Allasan looked around.

"Albert? Where are you Albert? You can’t leave me here alone! Some one, any one, help me!" The sound of rocks being pushed away was heard to her left. Sunlight poured in and a hand entered the hole.

"Grab my hand. I will help you out."

"Albert? Albert, is that you?"

"Yes, I am here. Grab my hand and I will get you out of here, and to safety." She grabbed his hand and he pulled her out. She hugged his chest tightly.

"Albert! I am scared. I thought we were all done for."

"It’s ok now. The monsters ran away. But it is not all done for yet. I must follow them."

"Where did you get that armour, and sword and shield?"

"One of the ancients gave it too me to fight the demons."

"An ancient? What did it look like? What color was it?"

"Settle down!" Albert laughed. "Come with me, you had better sleep this off. I will come back for you later, if I do."

"Don’t say things like that. Of course you will come back! You can’t die..." Allasan fell asleep in Albert’s arms.

‘You are so beautiful when you are asleep.’ Albert thought. He took her up to one of the bedrooms and put her on the bed.

"Farewell my dear. I will hopefully see you soon. May the ancients guide me and you forever." Albert picked up his weapons and walked out the door.

"Take that monster!" Albert said as he gutted another monster. The other four monster around him looked at their dead comrade and ran.

"Come back! I will destroy you all. For Alatoc, the ancients, and Allasan!" Albert ran after the monster only to be stopped by a larger rat-like monster with a spiked ball and chain.

"Going somewhere, human?"

"Out of my way, or I will have to kill you!"

"Oohh! You threaten Balogg the mad? You will die for that!" He started twirling his ball around and swung it at Albert. Albert jumped over it, but got hit in the back when it came back around. He was thrown into the side of a building.

Albert shook his head. "You bastard! You will pay for that!" Albert picked up his sword and ran at Balogg.

"Ha, ha. Stupid human." Balogg put his weapon in front of Albert sword and deflected it. But Albert cam around and stabbed Balogg in the back.

"Ack! You hurt Balogg? That make Balogg mad! You die!" Balogg turned around and swung his weapon around.

Albert put his sword in front of him and took a defensive stance. Then a bright, white light surrounded Albert and his sword. All the light syphoned into Albert’s sword until it was glowing extremely bright. Then a large white fireball flew out of Albert’s sword and struck Balogg.

 

Balogg fell over. "You killed the mighty Balogg? How could a normal human kill Balogg the mad? You will never reach the master! You will die long before then. Remember that human." Balogg died on the ground and a small blue object fell off of his belt. Albert picked it up and found it was a small ring. Even though he didn’t know what it would do, he put it on.

The ring glowed for a short time as it was being put on. Then a bright light shot out of the ring and went into Albert’s eyes. The light only lasted for a couple seconds, but in Albert’s mind it lasted for hours. He could see people dying, cities crumbling, and even planets being destroyed. It seemed that he could see everything that the monster could see.

Then he felt a little weird. His body pulsated and he fell to the ground. His clothes started stretching, and he could feel the armour fitting a little tighter around his body. It was as if he was getting larger, when in reality, he was.

He looked down at himself when everything seemed to stop happening. His arms and legs were huge, his chest was larger than before. He looked down at the amulet and it had changed. Instead of being blue, it was red with a large black dot in the middle. He could see it pulsing like a heart and the amulet even moved a little, like it was alive.

Albert got up, dusted himself off, and continued past the city. The city now was a large pile of wood, rock and dead people. There was almost nothing of the once beautiful city for people to recognize it now.

He passed through the gate and through a little field. When he passed over a big hill he looked into the horizon. There stood a large, almost organic looking, castle. There were black clouds above, and monsters all around the front.

"This must be the home of all these monsters! I will have to destroy this to save everybody." Albert drew his sword again and headed toward the castle. He felt like he could take on the whole castle at once. With his new form, he could probably easily do it.

Albert walked up to the castle and looked around. Develish outcroppings were all over the windows. Feathered deamons were flying around near the top where lightning was shooting from a large black cloud looming around.

The door started creeking open and a cloaked figure walked out. He almost floated over the ground. He had a short sword strapped to his side, and a staff in his right hand. At the top of the staff was a baseball sized smokey quartz crystal. He beckoned for Albert to come in. Then he went back inside. Albert followed him in.

Inside the castle was a very gloomy place. Dark portrates hung from the wall. The only light were from the few lit torches down the hall. Along the wall were huge pillars of stone and at the top of each one was a horrifying gargoyal, each different in a strange way. Their eyes seemed to follow Albert as he walked, and he swore he say one of them move.

They passed some doors and came down to the end of the hallway. There was a door that seemed to Albert as infinitly tall. The skeleton walked up to the door and touched his staff to it. The door slowely swung open to reveal a large throne room. Mighty statues lined the blood red carpet leading up to the throne. Windows had all of their curtains closed, and a little light came from 4 torches on each side of the room. The only other light seemed to eminate from the throne itself.

Sitting in the large throne was a monstrous figure in robes. Next to him was a large knarled sword with a large red jewel at the end of the hilt. The robed head lifted to reveal a shrouded face. The only thing showing were two bright red eyes that seemed to blaze with fire. A large hand scaly hand came up and took off the robes head peice to reveal a large head.

It’s eyes were fire and he had features like that of a demon wolf. He opened his mouth to reveal a mouthful of 2 inch long teeth. The figure got up and reached for his sword as he through off his robe. The skeleton bowed and left the room, then shut the door behind him.

"So human, you have come to chalenge me? The all mighty Demon lord." Albert sized up the demon. He had hooved feat, large scaly, clawed hands, and fur all over. At the top of his head were two foot long horns pointing slightly backwards that he did not see when the demon took of his head peice.

"You are the one who destroyed the city?"

"I am the one! You think you can destroy me? Ha, give me your best shot!" The demon lifted up his sword in went in a kind of semi-defensive stance. Albert unsheathed his sword and ran at the demon lord.

The demon sidestepped at hit Albert in the back with the blunt of his sword. Albert tumbled over the steps to the throne.

"Is that all you’ve got? You have know chance againsed me with that much lack of skill!" Then Albert remembered the amulet. He held onto it and concentrated.

 

Albert felt the power rushing to him like last time. First his torso swelled up, than his arms and legs. Finally the pain stopped. He stood there staring at the demon lord.

"What is this? Who are you? Either way I will kill you! No one can defeat me!"

"Think again! This time the tables will turn!" Albert picked up his enhanced sword and swund it at the demon. The demon ducked and slased at Albert’s legs. With great swiftness, Albert parried the blow.

The demon got up and jumped to the back of the room. He stood there and held his sword pointed downward againsed his armour. A bright red light started eminating from him. The room seemed to wave, and started to shake. The demon raised his sword up and looked at Albert. His eyes were in a red blaze that shot out at Albert as though his soul was being torn apart.

He pointed his sword at Albert and through it him. Albert looked at the sword and prayed. Then a flash of light entered the room. The curtains ripped open to reveal the sun and all the desert outside. The sword fell short.

"What kind of majick is this? You should have died!"

"You thought wrong demon. I have the power of the ancients behind me. Now you will pay for all you have done. I will avenge the city, and the rest of the world... With your Death!!" The light circiled around him and he held his sword high into the air. The light was channeled, with the power of the room, into the blade of the sword.

"Now you die!" Albert jumped into the air and strait toward the demon lord. Albert thrust the sword completely through the demon’s dark heart. Then there was a huge flash of light. A few seconds later the light cleared. The last think Albert remembered was the look of fear in the demon lord.

He looked around the room. Instead of the gloomy throne room he had just done battle in, there was a majestic palace room, fit for a king.