Swords of Orlandia: RecapRecap of AFO 9 : "What has Gone Before..."
Darker times indeed have never graced fair Orlandia. Her favored family destroyed, her people in dire distress and her sovereignty ruined by the ominous and powerful Yaoguai despot, known to all as simply the Emperor. With King Horus dead, unceremoniously killed by a falling chandelier, the people looked toward his son, Prince Validus, to guide the land back to glory. But a shadowy figure came into the lives of the royal family and with strange words and actions threatened the peace that had been bought with such a high price. The mysterious masked man constantly warned the crown prince that his closest advisor, an old and seemingly harmless sage, was also Orlandia's most mortal enemy.
But Validus was unaware of the old man's secret schemes and actually looked to him for guidance. This folly of youth only proved to highlight the Prince's temerity to come. It was soon revealed that the shadowy figure was none other than Hesperus himself, seemingly back from the grave, conflicted, misunderstood perhaps and still out to take control of the entire kingdom. His pride and lust for power drew him deeper into the darkness. However, Hesperus professed his love for the land and cast his suspicions on the old man in Validus' camp. At the same time the presumption of Queen Raine's truthfulness concerning Validus' father was challenged as Hesperus revealed that the boy was his, not his now dead brother's! With both parties locked in combat over the shattered pieces of the old swords, Van and Nifl, the people of Orlandia rallied behind both sides, going on expeditions to collect the many lost shards.
Alas...all was for naught. For at the end of our journey when last we all met under the celestial moon of Orlandia a trap was sprung. The old man divulged that he'd stolen the shards away from the 'evil' camp of Hesperus and offered them to Validus in the hopes of 'saving the king'. In a desperate bid to free the shards and stop his son from falling into darkness, Hesperus charged after Raine, Validus and the Sage. His attempt was in vain, he was imprisoned and only returned to the great hall once the shards had been reforged into one ultimate weapon. Validus approached the new blade and upon grasping it opened the gates between Orlandia and the dark void beyond. It was only then that the old man showed his true power which had remained hidden and growing within him. The Sage cackled and screamed and bellowed out his victory. For Validus had indeed saved the king...but not the one he had planned on saving! The banished Emperor of the Yaoguai now stood before them, the wolf in sheep's clothing revealed at last. He had been trapped for millenia, his anger had grown, his vengeance was swift. Validus enslaved, Raine blasted into oblivion and Hesperus banished into the very hell the Emperor had languished in for so, so long. But he wasn't finished yet for then he scattered all the adventurers from Orlandia, vexing them with his chides of ruler ship and daring them to return in one year's time and make a choice...serve him or be destroyed!
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