Author Disclaimer: I own no rights to this story. All characters (excepted for the appearances of new ones added to the story) belong to original creator Richard Rich and Nest.

Prologue

In the kingdom of Chamburg, Uberta was preparing for her departure towards her son's kingdom to celebrate Odette's birthday tomorrow. It was late in the afternoon and Uberta was still preparing for her visit. She was going to be staying for a few days because of the celebrations. Derek wanted this to be the best birthday celebration Odette will ever have. But she feels as though he is overdoing things a little because she didn't want him to make a big deal out of it, but he insisted upon it anyway.

Now Uberta is in the middle of going through her jewelry trying to find the necklace that her husband had given to her many years ago. It was the only thing
she has left to remember him by. A-nd she was getting pretty upset about losing it.

"Chamberlin!" Uberta called out. A few moments later Chamberlin came running into the queen's room.

"Yes, your highness?" he asked nervously.

"Where is my husband's necklace?" she said. Chamberlain could see how upset the queen was. "You know how important it is to me. The king gave it to me the day he left."

Chamberlin immediately went into action and began searching the entire queen's room. He had searched everywhere but couldn't find it anywhere.

"Oh, where could it be?" Uberta cried. Chamberlin was about to say something to comfort her when he caught a glimpse of something shining under her pillow from the lights. He ran over to the queen's bed and checked under the pillow.

"Dear Queen, I think I found it!" Chamberlin said. But before he could pick it up to give it to her, Uberta had pushed him out of the way and immediately grabbed the necklace.

"Oh thank goodness!" Uberta exclaimed, placing the necklace on her neck. "Back where you belong."

Chamberlin stood up from the floor and made his next to the queen. "I'm happy to see you have everything you need your highness." But Uberta wasn't paying attention to him; she was still looking at her necklace. This was, of course, the very same day that her husband had died. It only took a slight tap on her arm from Chamberlin to bring her back to earth.

"Oh Chamberlin," Uberta said, "Would you bring my bags to the carriage? If I leave now I shouldn't be too late." Chamberlin bowed and did as she asked. He lifted the bags that were on the bed, with great struggle, and made his way towards the door. As he was carrying the queen's bag he passed by her window. It caught his attention out of the corner of his eye and he made his way to the window. He couldn't tell what it was, but it seemed to look like a light out in the far distance. Night had already fallen so it was easy to spot from the Queen's bedroom. Apparently Uberta had noticed Chamberlin staring in the distance and made her way to the window as well.

"Chamberlin, what are you doing?" she asked him.

"Just wondering what that light is in the distance, dear queen," he answered. Uberta looked out in the distance and saw the light too.

"Oh, probably just another carriage," she said with a knowing voice as she turn away.

"I don't think so, your highness," Chamberlin said. Uberta turned back and narrowed her eyebrows.

"And why is that?" she asked in a stern tone.

"Because three more lights just came out," he said as he dropped one bag and pointed out the window. Uberta, wondering what he was talking about, decided to go back to the window to find that Chamberlin was right. There were now four lights in a row out in the night, one on the left and two on the right of the first light. And as both the Queen and Chamberlin stared at the lights a moment longer, more lights began to show in the dark. There were now a few dozen on the horizon. They both just stared out in the distance with confused expressions on their faces. Then, unexpectedly, the first light in the center began to rise in the sky and grow larger. It was then that both Queen Uberta and Chamberlin realized what those lights were and what was going on now: those were fireballs and that the kingdom was under attack.

The first fireball landed right on top of a house and was immediately set ablaze. It was followed by a shower of fireballs landing all over the town and some were even hitting the castle itself. Then Uberta and Chamberlin heard the warning bells ringing in the town and saw people scattering. Chamberlin dropped the queen's bags and grabbed Uberta's hand and took her out of the room.

"We have to get you to safety, your highness!" Chamberlin said to the queen as they were running down the stairs. As they made their way down the stairs they noticed the guards were making their way down as well to fight off the attackers. They rushed to the main hall where they meet up with the captain of the guard, a young man in his early twenties. He stood in front of the queen and saluted.

"My lady," he said in a tough, authority-like voice. "I'm sending out the troops to hold off the invaders long enough for you to escape."

"Do you have any idea who these attackers are Captain?" Chamberlin asked. The captain frowned and shook his head.

"Not yet, but our main concern is to get the Queen to safety." He turned to Uberta. "The carriage that was supposed to take you away to Prince Derek's kingdom is still out front. If we hurry, we can get you out quickly and safely."

"Thank you Captain," said Uberta. He bowed and led them through the front doors. Uberta was shocked and horrified at what she was witnessing. Her kingdom was burning in front of her. She could hear the screams of her people within the town and tears began to form in her eyes. She was about to reach the bottom of the stairs when a fireball hit the carriage that was there. The whole thing was engulfed in flames, but remarkably, the horses were untouched by it. They ran off in shock and fear. The captain ran off to try and seize one. Although two guards were standing right by the carriage and were blown back from the blast. They were knocked unconscious and couldn't assist.

Uberta made her way to the bottom of the stairs. She could hear the battle taking place in the town. She knew that there was almost no time for her to escape and that she might not make it out alive. Her fears came true when she heard loud yelling and saw a large group of enemy soldiers heading towards her. There must have been at least forty of them. Fortunately a group of guards made it out of the castle in time to intercept the enemy. Both sides clashed. As they fought, these invaders fought as though they had no minds, but fought so viciously.

As Uberta watched the battle take place in front of her, she noticed something strange about these invaders. They did not look like men, more like monsters. They had strange armor and swords and made snarling sounds as they fought. They also had dark green skin and long pointed ears and looked as though they had no noses but the nostrils were still there. Their teeth were sharp as swords and they had the eyes of snakes. She then knew exactly what they were from the stories she heard when she was a kid. They were goblins.

Chamberlin took the queens hand and tried to lead her away when they were cut off by another battalion of goblins. They were now surrounded and had nowhere to go. Uberta looked at the guards that were fighting close by but then realized that they were now overwhelmed. There was nothing that they could do now. Chamberlin and she waited for what was to come next and were horrified. The goblins began to separate to reveal a large man in a black suit of armor with a thick cape behind it, and a large horned helmet and glowing red eyes. They both know who he was. Both Uberta and Chamberlin began to back away, more terrified than they had ever been in their lives. Without realizing it, they had backed up into the stair and stumbled to the floor. The large warlord stepped closer to them and was no less than three feet from them.

"Hello there, Uberta," the large man said with a voice that sent chills up both their spines. "It's good to see you again. How long has it been? Twenty-two years?" Uberta, as terrified as she was, did not back down to him. She stood up and faced him.

"How dare you come here!" she said in her most queenly voice. "How dare you show your face in my kingdom?" But the dark knight just laughed.

"I dare show my face because I wanted to see and old friend of my father's," he said in a calm voice. Those words made Uberta quiet mad.

"You have no right to speak about him as he were you father!" she shouted at him. "He was one of the most generous kings I have ever met. And you betrayed him! His own son!" But the large man just smiled under his helmet. He was unfazed by her remark.

"He was a weak fool," he said wickedly. "He didn't have what it really takes to be a true king."

"And neither do you!" Uberta said sternly. The large man chuckled.

"Perhaps," he said coolly. "But at least I'm still alive and not rotting away underground as a worm's feast." This enraged Uberta. Because she knew that not only was he talking about his father, he was also referring to her husband. In a blind rage, she swung her left hand in an attempt to slap him but was instantly caught by his own. There was really no point though, his helmet would have received the blow and he wouldn't have felt a thing. But he wanted to make a point that even if his helmet was off, the attack would've been thwarted.

"Now, now, now," he said slyly. "Wouldn't want to damage that queenly hand of yours now, would we?" He then spotted the necklace around her neck. He recognized it the instant he saw it. In a single motion, he threw Uberta's hand away and grabbed the necklace and snapped it off. "And I see you kept this piece of trash all these years," he said looking at the object in his hand.

"How dare you!" she shouted. "Return that immediately!" she made an attempt to reach for it when the large man raised his right arm, pointing his hand in her direction.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you," he said in a very stern voice. "You know very well the power I possess. And I'm not afraid of giving you just a little taste of it, because that alone will be enough to destroy you." The both just stared at one another for a moment when they heard a horse whining. They both turned to the direction of the noise to see Uberta's captain charging through the crowd of goblins and made his way to the Queen and Chamberlin. Uberta grabbed a hold of Chamberlin, with ease do to his size, and lifted him up.

The captain reached out for Uberta's hand at full speed. Uberta managed to grab hold of his hand as he lifted them both up onto the horse. The large man just took a step back, not even trying to stop him. The captain took out his sword and cut down a few goblins as they separated, trying not to get hit by the horse. The captain, Uberta, and Chamberlin were now free from the crowd and heading away from the kingdom. A battalion of goblin archers readied the bow and prepared to fire on them when their master raised his hand to stop them.

"No need my servants," he said. "I know exactly where they're heading anyway. And besides…" he smiled under his helmet, "I think it's time to pay a little family visit to Swan Lake."

A/N: Wow! that was intense. I hope you guys enjoyed this, please tell me what you thought of this dark lord.