Shortly after high king Goraxe was returned to us , he sent his cousin , the mage Neuyru Darkspring into the fey realm in a attempt to locate His missing sister , the half fey sorcereress Cerridwen . Until now what happened there was known only to the high King and Neuyru .

However we, at Hopkinds publishing ( 66 the Highway , tilia ) have come into possession of extracts from the great mages Dairy and have decided to publish them before we can be foreced to return them .

So read and enjoy


Day One in the fey realm 
Today I entered the realm of the fey, in search of my cousin Cerridwen. I had to repress my golem half, as its iron form could not cross the portal. Although I still possess my magic, it has been a long time since I was this vulnerable. To compensate I have bound powerful spells about my person. The side effect of this is that I can be seen for miles by those with the sight.

The first sentient I came across was a female, green of skin, with vines and leaves entwined in her hair. She was a dryad, a beautiful fey woman who dwells within a mighty oak. She was in pain and wounded and quickly I saw why. Two monstrous creatures, resembling elves but with blood red lips and hair as black as shadow were hacking at her tree with axes of pure iron. The Dryad would die unless they were stopped. So I stopped them. The staff of Amen Tep, a powerful artifact from anceint times which i have carried since my recovery from the entropic death, made short work of the vile creatures , whom i have since learned were members of the unseelie court . They were no match for the staff which sucked their souls from their bodies and imprisoned them within . At some point i will turn them into weapons but for now they are tormented by the staff . Then using the magic of healing , which i possess but rarley empower, i healed the tree and thus healed the dryad . She knew nothing about my cousin or where to find her but she rewarded me none the less . Suffice to say had i not possessed a supernatural constitution , i may have deid from the pleasures .

The Dryad whose name is Cealisia , has offered me a bed for the night within her tree . and i have choosen to accept . Tomorrow i will begin my search

Day Two
After a night of unearthly pleasure i had to say farewell to my fey lady and continue on my way. To the north is the fabled Fey City of Bel galadel, where i may find the trail of Cerridwen . The winter is coming in and as i leave snow begins to fall. The Dryad explained to me that during the winter months many of the fey go into hibernation , but the wicked and depraved creatures of the unseelie court are more active . Forwarned i activate my magic trinkets to protect myself. Not more than an hour passess before i am grateful that i did . From the forest they come , riding huge black horses . The leader is dressed in furs with a black helm crown by curved horns . His armor is black and carved with images of debuchery and death. Behind him on simlier horses are several other figures , all dressed in fey made armour . The leader talls me to halt . " i am Arcaz of the unseelie knights and you stranger are tresspassing on my land" he says , his voice like blocks of stone grating on each other . My staff begins to shudder . It sense the danger and powers up, but it also hungers for the souls of these dark beings . One of the other knights , angered at my silence charges . As the horse comes closer i cast my magic and engulf it holy fire . the knight falls from his horse burning but alive . the Horse is not so lucky and bubbles away into nothing . The other horsemen charge and i flee into the forest , hoping the trees will slow them down . The plan works and i take a few minutes to prepare while they seek a wider path to me . By the time they find one i am ready . the first knight passess my hiding place and loses his head to my sword , the necromantic blackfire of its blade searing through his armour , flesh and bone like paper . The body shrivels before it hits the ground . That leaves Arcaz and two more of his minions . I levitate into the tree tops and wait . The minons come first , with Arcaz far enough behind that i cannot get all three at the same time . So i decide to wait , leaving the underlings until Arcaz is below me . As im about to launch my attack i notice the aura around him . A sheild strong enough to repel my magic . So i choose a different approach. I teleport to the base of the tree and hack into it with my blade . The tree is neatly severed from its base as the blackfire shriveless and burns where i strike. I hit the tree with all my streength and it falls . Arcaz looks up as the great tree falls on him, its size and weight overpowering his armour and magic and crushing him to a pulp agaisnt the frozen ground . The minions turn to me , fear on their faces . I summon my power and animate the body of their companion. Rejoining his head he leaps at them with hate and tears the first apart . The other , distracted by the death of his comrade fails to notice me and dies as my staff drains his soul . Letting the undead fey collapse i drag the bodies together and burn them . Then i continue on my way , my sword and staff humming with contentment.

In the trees above sprites that have been following me are sick. They don't know weather to fear me or embrace me after I killed their enemies. I am sure by the time I get to Bel Galadel my presence will already be know to those who rule there . I look forward to my arrival with both hope and concern. I can't wait to find Cerridwen and leave this place

Day three
The Fabled City of Bel Galadel, jewel of the azure sea was beautiful. Built among the great trees of the forest, its marble spires and walls shine with inlaid silver and gold. The city filled a natural harbour and was partially underwater, where merfolk and selkies dwelt. I entered the city under armed guard. The Lord had been told of my exploits in the forest and wasn't taking any chances. I could not blame him. Anyone with the sight could see my demonic heritage. I was taken to his palace, amongst a ring of ancient and gigantic oaks. Lord Golyndil was huge, standing near eight foot in height and built like a predator, all muscle and little body fat. He looked vaguely elven, save for the huge antlers growing from his head and his green hair. He bid me to sit, but as I did an explosion came from the harbour. From the palace we could see several black ships firing magical weapons at Bel Galadel. Lord Golyndil grabbed his weapons and apologising to me, he leapt upon his horse, a huge beast that made our own warhorses seem no more than ponies. He rode, followed by his guard to the harbour and I followed, my magical boots keeping me level with the fey knights. The harbour was a place of carnage. The black ships had come into port and disgorged their cargo of ugly, deformed unseelie fey. Toadstools and kelpie and other beast roamed the harbour killing as they went. But what surprised Lord Golyndil most was that demons were giving orders. Demons in Faerie were unheard off. Even the unseelie fey hated them. But here they were, commanding the unseelie in this raid. We had no time to wonder on this as battle commenced. I unsheathed my sword, the purple fire of its blade dancing as it sensed dark souls to feast upon. The first demon was taken by surprise as my sword sliced through its stomach and its soul was taken, the physical form it had assumed crumbling to dust. I forced my way forward towards the demon captain, my blade felling unseelie and lesser demon alike. I was joined by a beautiful fey woman whose skill with blade was unmatched by any on that dock. It turned out she was the daughter of Golyndils . Alas the demons had weapons of pure iron and magic of the darkest sort. Lord Golyndil was unseated by an iron spear to the shoulder and this distracted his daughter long enough for the demon captain to strike her down. I ran forward casting magic as I came, calling upon the light. White bolt after white bolt leapt from my hands and demon and unseelie fey alike were blasted to the floor. But I was too late. The fey princess was taken aboard the ship and the captain left his unseelie troops as cannon fodder to keep us occupied while he made sail. I Opened my senses in desperation, hoping what I needed was nearby. Luckily for me the palace of Golyndil was built upon a junction of the fey realms ley and I ran to this nexus. Quicker than I would have liked I used the power of the nexus to open a link to my tower and called for aid. It caused me considerable pain to cast this magic so quickly but the need was great. Within a few short minutes the nexus opened like a yawning mouth and the flying bulk of the Darkspring slid through into Faerie. I leapt aboard and headed back to the docks. From the hand rail I shouted to Golyndil" I will bring back your daughter". And then the Darkspring gave chase. You may wonder why I did this, bearing in mind wars between the fey factions were of no concern to me and I tell you honestly this. My sister had been raped and killed by evil men and I was not about to let that happen to the fey princess. Call me obsessed but I had the power to aid her and I was not about to do nothing. This may surprise those of you whom think me evil. But then I care not for your opinion.

Day four
As fast as the darkspring is, we could not get close to the fleeing demon vessel. Foul magic was used against us and powerful storm winds buffeted my ship. But we persevered and kept the Demons within sight. Finally the storm broke and after a long exhausting day we reached the Unseele land of Ta'hurkis. The cliffs of Tahurkis were white as snow and high , with jagged rocks along their base . Only the harbour of the city of Ta'hun allowed access to the continent. Unless you have a flying ship that is.

day five
With the ship waiting in stealth mode we entered the city in disguise. Although we could not pass for fey, because of the demon presence I was able to affect a good disguise. Through my magic I located the princess in the black castle of the fey Lady who rules this city. Taking the shape of my demonic heritage, I was able to bluff my way into the castle and we soon found ourselves near the great hall, the mistress of Ta'hun was there with the fey princess at her feet. Neither of them looked to happy as a human looking man gloated over them. Human was the form he took however, my sight showing me his aura and the foul stink of demon kind assailed my nostrils. The Lady of Ta'hun , a beautiful woman , resembling a white skinned elf, with dark red hair and lips and wearing clothing that could only be described as strategically placed leather held together by many straps Cleary hated this man in front of her and he knew it . He took every opportunity to belittle her and abuse his captive. From what we over heard he was a champion of the dark and had decided the best way to cause damage in my world was to bring demon and dark fey together in this one and use it as a staging ground to invade Albion herself. I had heard enough. My soldiers took out the guards and I boldly entered the hall. "Ah lord Darkspring you were expected "the man demon said and I found myself in the middle of a concealed circle of great power." Bugger"

Day six
I was trapped and it appeared this man knew me, although I knew little of him. "I knew you would be in fearie after your mad cousin sent you to find his sister". I smiled at him "so did most of Albion "I replied" tell me something new". He summoned a chair and sat in front of me, ignoring the two fey next to him. "Very well Darkspring I will tell you all, tell you of the plot that has lasted generations and come to fruition here". I stood and listened, it wasn't like I had a choice. "Your ancestor, founder of the house of Meridian was destined to bring fourth great and powerful descendents. We knew of the great prophecy and the important part the house of Meridian would play so we planted the seed of darkness within it. Every generation, that seed would be past on to the male heir, taking all their dark emotions and attributes and growing stronger with each host. Until the time it came into your cousin and we would have corrupted the prophecy and brought Albion to its knees. But something went wrong. Instead of Your uncle getting the darkness it passed to your mother, who was a daughter of the light and become a sorceress of the temple order. Any child she conceived would be pure and innocent and our seed would be destroyed. In an effort to prevent this and salvage the situation I arranged for the formorians to kidnap your mother and paid he who was your father a great deal of souls and weapons to rape her. And despite Nathan darksprings rescue of her, we had succeeded. She was pregnant. One twins of light the other of evil. That would be you." I listened to this story with rage growing within me. "But your sister stifled your darkness and the masters at that college you attended kept you on the side of light. So we arranged for a fellow student to kill your wife and child and when you struck him down and took the infernus draconis from him, we saw your light grow dimmer. The only obstacle was your sister and her death proved the catalyst for your descent into evil. "I was mad with rage at this point and it was only the bonds of the circle that held me, that prevented this man death." But still you struggled against it, you embraced the light and even when the light betrayed you and took your gifts, allowing the entropic formorian to kill you and turn you into one of its agents, still you clung to that last spark of light "By this time my form was changing. Under the power of the circle, this so called seed I carried had germinated. Dark emotion filled my head. Hate, envy, unending lust for power and sex and dark vengeance were my companions now. My body grew in size and vast demonic wings sprouted from my back. My skin turned black and reptilian and seven horns burst from my skull. I was no longer a half breed but a pure blood demon with the power of a lord of hell at my command and my soul was dark as the pit itself. "So when you came to fearie I saw my chance. I lured you here knowing how much you would want to rescue the princess and you walked into my trap and now you are mine". The circle collapsed and I was free. But no longer was I the half breed wizard clinging to mortal dreams and hopes. I was a demon lord. I was darkness in form and thought and I was ready to serve my master

Day seven
Unfortunately for that egotistical champion of darkness in front of me, my master was not him. He had made the mistake of many people and assumed I was afraid of my dark side. He was wrong. Long ago I had embraced the darkness within me and accepted who I was. Long ago I had given up fighting against either the light and dark and instead allowed both to be part of me and so even though I was now a demon , a creature of the pits I was still also Neuyru Darkspring , loyal to my cousin and my own master . The second mistake he made was unleashing the power of the dark side of the meridian line within me. My forefather's evil, taken from them and distilled had granted me great power. I lunged forward and grabbed this champion of darkness. "You caused my mothers anguish" I roared, tearing his left arm from his body. "You caused the death of my wife to be and my new born daughter" I wailed gouging his eyes from their sockets. "You're the reason my sister was raped and murdered" I hissed tearing his manhood from his groin. I threw his broken body onto the floor, his screams echoing around the hall. The demonic legions burst into the great hall and I killed the first and second waves easily. The demon captain entered and I smiled. He tried to fight but I had the power of a lord of hell and was far superior to him. I tore his head from his shoulders and ate his flesh in great big gulps. However this gave the champion of darkness the time he needed to regenerate and assume his true form. The darkness had gifted him and he was a demon. We threw ourselves at each other, casting magic as well as trading blows. I tore into his ribs as he clawed out my stomach. I lost my eye and he lost his arm. Blow after blow we traded, our bodies regenerating the damage almost as fast as we could cause it. But I had one ace up my sleeve. As I said earlier I had long ago managed to balance the forces of darkness and light within me, so while my dark magic did nothing to him, he was surprised when I threw a bolt of utter radiance into his face. His eye melted in its socket and the skin bubbled and burned. "How" he stammered as I fired another, then another. The power of the light tore into him again and again. . Finally he fell, his body taken beyond its ability to repair itself. The dark withdrew its power from its champion and he became human once more. I pushed the evil within me back, pushed it into its seed and shut it within my soul and I too became the man I was. I stood over the battered remains of my foe. "Now I believe we have much to do. You caused my mother to be raped, you caused the death of my child and wife to be, you had my sister brutally raped and executed. YOU SHALL SUFFER ". My roars of rage and anguish and hate drowned out his screams of pain and before long it was over. He was dead. But I was not prepared to let this go. I took a crystal from my pouch and muttered an incantation. I saw his soul break from his dying body and scream as it entered the crystal. I Then cast another spell and opened a portal to hell. A demonic figure turned to me and recognition flickered in its eyes." Grandfather "I said bowing for he was a lord of hell and father of the formorian who fathered me" this is the soul of a champion of darkness. He has failed the dark and I give him to you." My grandfather laughed as I threw him the gem and we both looked at one another for a moment before the portal closed. I turned to the fey in the room, ignoring the decayed remains of my adversary. Already the demons he had summoned were returning to hell. The Lady of Ta'hun freed the princess and I sent her back to the ship with my soldiers. Turning to the lady of Ta'hun I smiled. "Now what to do with you". A look of fear crossed her face and she fell to her knees before me. "Please I had no choice. How can I repay you for freeing me from his service"? I smiled "well why you're down there......"