Five kings join together to defeat the evils that threaten their world.

SYNOPSIS:

5 Kings Synopsis

The movie begins with a brief recap of the creation story, detailing the Vergeis people and their struggles. This covers the introduction to the people themselves, the concept of imagination projections, the creation of the Auctor Vitae, the stealing of the Vitae and the culmination of the Final Conflict of the Vergeis, Lorian’s return to the battlefield, Quinn’s decision to sacrifice herself to imprison the comatose Vestis, the short explanation of the Heart of Quinn and its purpose, and Lorian’s introduction as the newly ordained “God of Death”.

After Lorian finishes narrating the creation story recap, we move to a young James and traverse his childhood and adolescence. This begins with Prince James growing up under a loving father and mother during a time of turmoil with the River lands’ people. After an unsuccessful assassination plot on James’ father, King Mar-rick, turns into the death of his mother, Mar-rick goes insane and begins his reign of terror as the Black King Nestros. Filled with rage and driven by paranoia induced grief at his loss, Mar-rick, or Nestros as he comes to be known by his people, the Infinite Woods escalates the conflict between nations and brutally murders all opposition to the crown, whether it’s from within or without.

James grows into a young man under this horror and vows to never let the sins of his father dictate the way he treats people. He works underground to ease the pains Mar-rick forces on his people, whether it’s the people of the Infinite Wood or the newly acquired River-lands. James’ charity and overall good will towards all humanity regardless of attitude towards his family or their position for or against the crown earns James the love and admiration of all he comes in to contact with. He becomes a powerful force with many supporters praying daily for his reign to come about. As the years go on under the strain of the psychotic Mar-rick with only James to keep the people’s hopes alive, outlooks sour rapidly and a rebellion begins.

Unbeknownst to Marrick, the rebellion is fueled by a love for James and the wish for him to rule. During this time, James has grown to the beginning of adulthood (around 18 or 19 years old). He frequently goes out on patrols with his father to make sure he can right the wrongs done by his father. It’s during one of these trips to the Riverlands that James and his father come across a farm burning to the ground. James pleads with Marrick, arguing that all of the knights and personal guards would be more than enough to save these people’s livelihoods. Marrick, ever distrustful of the Riverlands for murdering his wife all those years ago, laughs darkly and rides on, saying only that James is still a silly boy and these people deserve everything they receive.

Infuriated at Marrick’s inability to empathize with his people, James stays behind and orders his personal guard to help the struggling farmers. They battle for long hours but are defeated by the fire in the end. Despite the failure, the farmers huddle around James and his knights and sing their praise. After the sad and grateful weeping subsides, James gives the man and his wife his purse of coins and promises to find them a place to stay in the capitol so they can continue to make their way in the world. It’s at this time James is struck with the sight of a simple, yet beautiful, girl. This girl, who’s no less than five years younger than James himself, is the daughter of the farmers. Her name is Sophia. The prince is immediately smitten by the beautiful young woman and promises to help the family with whatever ails them. Upon his return,

James is flogged on his father’s orders for helping the Riverlands wretches. James accepts his punishment with grace, for the pain pales in comparison to his elation at finding the lovely woman in the most unlikely of places. Unfortunately, the father of his beloved Sophia is a key leader in the rebellion against Marrick, and James has just let him into the capitol under his protection.

The next year is spent with Marrick redoubling his efforts to quash the rebellion, not knowing it’s happening closer to home than he would have ever imagined. James spends this time growing closer to Cecilia and unknowingly helping the rebellion through supporting her and her family. The culmination of this happens when Cecilia’s father is found out by Marrick’s advisers. James is sitting at a tavern with Cecilia while a rebellion meeting happens in the cellars. Marrick breaks down the door with his elite guards and advisers in tow and is instantly hit with the sight of his son and a peasant sitting in the location of a meeting of rebel leaders.

Stricken by rage and betrayal he rushes James and begins an epic duel between father and son. The rebels hear the commotion and hurry upstairs to begin a showdown with the guards. The better trained and better equipped knights make short work of the rabble and the outlook is bleak. At this time, Lawrence, the head of Marrick’s guard detail sees an opportunity to defect and depose the king to end his horrific reign. Half of his knights join him and the struggle continues with the surviving rebel leaders and the knights versus those loyal to Marrick. A second wave of rage at the treachery of his most cherished friends and loved ones swallows Marrick and he enters a sort of blood rage state.

Marrick’s wild swings and inaccuracy allow James to land the killing blow to the throat of his father as everyone on either side watch in awe and dismay. The evil feelings and betrayals from this conflict, in addition to the natural decay of morals through the abuse of power over the last 5000 years, tipped the scales and unleashed a darkness the likes of which Taeva Vangla had never witnessed. This darkness laid dormant deep within the earth for 15 years and bides its time so that it could emerge and cover the world in blackness.

Fifteen years after the death of Marrick and the succession of James, our movie continues. Through the time lapse, James had been working tirelessly with his new Queen, Sophia, to right the wrongs of the Black King and set his realms back to a peaceful state. The efforts more than succeeded. Trade in all forms flourished with unparalleled success and prosperity. Be it timber, agriculture, food and drink production, or attracting outside tourism and trade, everything in the country was at a peak. We pan to James helping a group of farm hands to fix a broken fence. He is approached by a distraught rancher. The rancher claims to have seen a massive dire wolf kill off some of his animals and drag them into the woods.

Always trying to protect and serve his people, James agrees to take a company of knights to investigate the problem. He finds the den of the wolf and finds out the mother is sick and trying to feed her pups. She’s in no shape to hunt effectively, which is why she must be so close to the towns and steal easy prey such as livestock. The knights urge James to kill the beast for the safety of the realm, but he refuses, stating that he will personally hunt for this animal and keep everyone alive at all costs. He brings food for the mother and pups until the mother is healthy enough to hunt on her own. She shows deference to James and leads her pups away from the towns and deeper into the woods.

While this was happening, the Dark Goddess Vestis broke free from her prison and set to work to destroy the world and everything in it. Her first stop was an abandoned city where the people of the Bronze Peaks had once lived a few thousand years ago. In this city was a massive dragon statue. The Bronze Peaks denizens had once worshiped the idea of this dragon as the god of death. Their love and affection for their physical deity had actually given life to the statue, just as the imagination projections of the Vergeis had been given life, albeit brief life. The dragon was trapped eternally in the stone that it was hewn from but was content to watch over its people as they went on with their day to day lives.

Unfortunately, the people gleaned all of the resources from the area and left it, along with their once beloved god. For thousands of years, the dragon sat building and nursing its hatred for the humans that had abandoned him. That is, until Vestis came and freed him from his prison. She set him on a warpath against the North and traveled southeast to awaken her special project. She was going to spawn the evil dragon, Nestros, and set him against the one king who still exemplified the good left in the world, and, as such, still posed a threat to Vestis. This king was James.

The first region to feel Vestis’ wrath is the Blazing Mesas. The runoff from the statues created by the Re-animator dragon is flooding the Mesas and the Shaman Council must take drastic actions to save their people. Luckily, one of the Council members is a relative of Nymivolk, the king of the Bronze Peaks. He convinces the council to relocate to Skjoldis and help stem the tide before the north falls for good.

Pan back to James and the wolf leaving. James turns to leave the woods and alert the rancher that all is well and not to fear the wolf any longer. On the way, he gets stopped by a group of frenzied villagers. They beg him to come with them and help with an unspeakable horror that’s just happened up river from their position. James sends for knights to assist him and heads immediately to help the villagers. The knights join him before they reach the problem because they were on horse and James chose to walk on foot with the villagers. When they arrive at the scene, they see a dam built of bloating corpses blocking off the river and stopping the flow of fresh water to the downriver towns and the capitol. High in a tree, an unseen threat lurks to survey the scene.

James goes immediately to work with his company of knights to destroy the putrid dam. All the while, a second pair of concealed eyes joins the men. After disgusting, arduous work, the knights and James manage to clear the blockage. While they speculate who did this and why, an unknown object flies from above and kills one of the knights standing next to the king. They stare in horror for a second before their combat instincts kick. The knights form a shield wall around James and attempt to assess the situation. Their attacker is invisible so, as more of their brothers fall, they make the decision to cover James’ retreat at all costs.

A handful of knights, led by the aging Captain Lawrence stay under fire from the monster as the rest of the company literally drag James away from his longtime friend. James watches in abhorrence as Lawrence is struck down by what appears to be a bone dagger to the neck, followed by two more to the chest and a final blow to the forehead. The invisible monster had been moving closer to the ground the whole time so the trajectory was almost flat. The leftover knights started to falter after seeing the brutal murder of their captain. They broke rank and began to run for the horses, which were shot down before their eyes. A moment later, the second pair of eyes revealed itself.

The wolf James had shown mercy and kindness had emerged from the brush and charged what looked simply like a tree. She leaps through the air and began to wrestle and bite at what seemed like air. The men sat and stared in dumbfounded awe at the spectacle. The wolf began to bleed from gashes and puncture wounds from the mysterious dagger-like bones and the knights figured out it was actually fighting another beast. The men still couldn’t see the monster, but they assumed the wolf could smell it. In a last ditch effort to save the knights that showed her such kindness, the dire wolf left herself unprotected to land a savage blow against the invisible creature. She died for her efforts, but they produced results.

Her dying act caused her fangs and claws to rip deeply into the creature, revealing gushing wounds and scales that are as dark as night. Knowing it was revealed, the monster rushed away before more damage could be dealt to it. The knights leave and return with James and more soldiers to witness the final carnage and the knights divulge what they had seen from the graces of the wolf’s final deed.

The sullen James rides back to Borovica with the corpses of his slaughtered friends in tow. They set a pyre to the fallen soldiers in the city square and wander off to a restless sleep. In the morning, cries and screams wake James and Sophia. James rushes from the castle to see what the fuss is about. The monster, which we now know as Nestros the Stalker, begins his reign of terror on the city. Day in and day out, Nestros uses ruthless and inhuman psychological warfare against the citizens. Anything from writing messages in blood to blackmail respected members of society to commit atrocities and acts of treason and forcing people into committing public suicide to draining his victims of blood and spraying it across crowds at public gatherings and torturing children and the elderly is used to destroy James and everything he’s built since the coup.

After extensive damage has been done to the city, the kingdom, and James’ reputation, the people of the Infinite Wood leave in droves. James, seeing his work fall to pieces and the people he loves abandoning him, loses all hope. It’s at this time that Lorian, the God of Death, approaches James and offers him something of immense value. Through thick and thin, James has been the king that this world needs, and Lorian decides to him a piece of Quinn’s Heart. Lorian explains to James that Quinn was the goddess who created this world and is the physical representation of the world itself.

She imprisoned another goddess, Vestis, within her, in the hopes that she could never get out and regain the Creation Stone for her nefarious purposes. He goes on to explain how the corruption and evil from the other kings and people of the world gave enough power to Vestis to rise again, and with her, the dragons she so dearly loves. James accepts the piece of Quinn’s Heart and enters a sort of dream state where he sees a strikingly beautiful older woman. She introduces herself as Quinn and explains the gift she is giving to him is the gift of True sight. This will allow him to see things as they truly are, both physically and metaphorically. Quinn says her farewell as James gets swept into another hazy dream. This time, he sees the Re-animator dragon marching towards Skjoldis and killing everything in its path.

James wakes from his vision and sees the horrific face of Nestros for the first time. He’s sitting on the vertical surface of a tall building, watching the chaos he spread. James charges the dragon and confronts him, and the final battle ensues. After an arduous battle filled with destruction, mayhem, and mortal danger, James lands the killing blow on Nestros. He slips into another dream-like haze and sees his father, King Marrick, before him.

Marrick explains to James that Vestis resurrected him to exact his revenge for being betrayed and murdered. She turned him into the dragon and gave him the powers he would need to tear down his ever-virtuous son. Right before Marrick dies again, he apologizes for never believing in the world that James sees and fights so hard to bring to fruition and that he’s proud of the man his son is and will continue to be, despite the fact that he’s killed him twice now.

A teary eyed James thanks his father and lays him to rest. He comes back out of his True Sight vision as the dragon dies on the streets of Borovica. James sets immediately out to help restore peace and order to his city and bring the people back from the outlying lands. The people celebrate as they begin restoring the town. James and his remaining knights lend a hand and all people are invited to a feast held by the king in what’s left of the royal banquet hall. Everyone attends and they have a wonderful time sharing their meager remainder from what had been destroyed or spoiled. James rises to give a speech of thanks and a promise to do whatever it takes to give everyone their lives back, but is taken by a vision.

In this vision, he sees a massive dragon of fire and brimstone massacring the Mage’s College in the Sulfur Estuary and carrying on to the capitol of Uminoken and destroying the people of the Coastal Colonies. When James comes to, the hall is silently waiting for him to finish his speech. He apologizes and calls an emergency council meeting to organize his remaining knights to ride hard to Uminoken and King Taka. Sophia takes sovereign control in James’ stead and they prepare to depart. In the south, the mages witness Vestis giving life to the terrible Inferno and the Arch mage gives the order to prepare for battle.

THE FIVE KINGS, THE FIGHT FOR TEAVA VANGLA

Story 1:

After years of turmoil under the reign of the Black King Nestros, his son, Prince James must put an end to his tyranny and bloodshed. 15 years after the death of his father, King James’ reign has proven fruitful.

Crime is at an all-time low and his people are prosperous and happy. Unbeknownst to the world, the evil done by Nestros and others in the land have awoken an evil from deep within the world itself.

The Dark Goddess Vestis has risen from her slumber and imprisonment and brought with her a looming terror for not only James, but the Mesa People and others across the world. As the bodies begin to pile up, a dragon of stealth and psychological manipulation threatens to tear down everything James has built.

Will he be able to defeat this beast or will his kingdom be reduced to its former heartlessness?

Story 2:

Even with James’ recent victory, there is no time to lose. Gifted with True Sight from the God of Death, Lorian, James knows he must unite the world against the dangers, starting with King Taka of the Coasts.

The new dragon, dubbed “The Inferno”, made of pure fire and brimstone, has destroyed the mages of the Estuary. Wounded by the mages and unable to fly, the dragon makes its way on foot. Each step it takes brings wanton destruction, turning sand to glass and solid rock to lava.

Meanwhile, as James toils in the East, the stone dragon in the North draws ever closer to its target. Every day King James spends trying to save Taka, the Re-animator lumbers forward. Will the formidable power of the Mesa People be enough to slow the Re-animator and its army of stone?

Can James make it in time to bring salvation to the People of the Coast?

Story 3:

With the help of King James’ trebuchets, Taka was able to defeat the Inferno and send backup to the North. To the West stirs a dragon of Jurassic proportions, bringing with it a cloud of noxious gas. To defeat this new threat, James must take Taka and ask the help of the Thief King Itzal Gizon.

Even though Itzal has his own agenda, will he be able to put it aside to take down this dragon of death and save his people? With the help of Taka’s ballista, Fang of the Seas, and its lethal tempered steel bolts, he just might. Even with the support of Taka’s soldiers, the Re-animator is undeterred on its war path in the North and time draws short.

Story 4:

James, Taka, and Itzal must make their way farther West to the Dunes. Armed with the Estuary’s most famous and deadly venom, the Kings must recover a primeval artifact from a long forgotten civilization and save King Protathlitis and his people from the brink of ruination at the fangs of the terrible Sand Worm.

Mixing the poison with the ancient artificer magic that the Dunes people possess, via bomb or spear, may do the trick, but only if they can convince the obstinate King and contend with a threat from not only above, but below. In the meantime, the Re-animator is mere days away from the Bronze Gates of Skjoldis, the Northern Capitol.

Will James survive the onslaught of the Worm and recover the sacred artifact from the treacherous ruins buried by the sands in time to save the North?

Story 5:

Even with Protathlitis’ help in acquiring the final piece of the puzzle to defeat the Re-animator, time ticks ever onward as the Sand Worm bears down on Kabiratan and the lives of the Dunes people. Protathlitis must bear the responsibilities of the King of the Dunes and save his people from extinction. He must do so with all haste, for the Re-animator and its massive army are crashing against the walls of Skjoldis and breaking into the city itself.

Will James and the Kings defeat their enemy in time to save King Nymivolk from the Stone Terror, or will James’ luck and time finally run out?

Story 6:

James and company succeed in their daring charge and rescue Nymivolk, the Mesa tribesmen, and the volunteer armies from Uminaken and Aindamm from the mouth of the Lord’s Mine and the brink of certain destruction. Rejoicing and celebration spread throughout the land, but James’ True Sight was unable to reveal what was to happen next.

In her rage at having James systematically thwart her plans, the Dark Goddess Vestis sacrifices herself to put all of her essence into one final attempt to destroy her former prison and its inhabitants. Her power manifests itself into a hideous eldritch dragon and its army of dimension warped monstrosities.

Can James hold together his loose alliance or will old habits and evil ways come back to the forefront in the face of unbridled dread?