The story begins nearly three decades ago when a young Charon was captured, tried and imprisoned in an Orc detention center for a crime he had merely stumbled upon.  At the time the young Charon did not understand the Orc laws and believed he was being put into slavery.

During his incarceration he secretly kept hidden that he still had one rune left in his arsenal, one that he saved for a desperate time.  Over time he managed to scribe the rune down many times while mapping out the entire prison facility.  After several years of backbreaking daily labor to which the young magus was unaccustomed to, he managed to escape along with several other criminals.  Unfortunately the day he escaped was the same day the prison was being inspected by a well-liked local noble. 

During his inspection, the noble, the warden, and several guards stumbled upon the escaping party and attempted to stop them.  Desperation forced Charon to use the hidden rune to attempt to delay them.  But the young magus had no idea how powerful he had become.  A spell that once annoyed the two orc guards that brought him in, killed the entire group chasing him.

The death of the noble shocked the Orc Kingdom.  At the request of the king himself, the mighty Hero TokHa, went after the criminals.  One after the other they were brought to justice…dead or alive.  All except one.  The young Magus Charon had escaped back into Elf territory, but that did not stop TokHa. 

At this time the only hostility between the races was the occasional border skirmish or clash of hunting parties.  So as long as TokHa avoided heavily populated areas and did not attack anyone, they would leave him alone.  Luckily for him Charon did the same.

When Charon found out that TokHa was looking for him and he was the last prisoner alive, he spent several years afterward building his strength making allies on this world and many others.  He gathered all types of esoteric and powerful magics, made pacts with demons and spirits to protect him and gathered a warrior cadre, which he paid well.

Then came the faithful day when TokHa located Charon outside of his stronghold.  The battle began and TokHa easily slew the warriors who were to protect the Magus, yet Charon escaped.  TokHa tracked him back to his strong hold and broken in easily.

With his magic armor, weapons and supernatural strength and cunning he easily defeated, destroyed, and out-witted all of the magus’ underlings.  During each battle Charon would stay around only long enough to blast TokHa with one weapon or another then flee for his life.  For days he chased Charon through his stronghold through all barriers and traps, before the magus was forced to abandon all hope and flee for his life.  Fleeing to escape portal he stopped in a circle of stones and pulled out his last wand.  With 10 charges left he waited for TokHa to enter the far door before he sprung his last trap.

TokHa was tired.  This human has proven to be an opponent worthy of the battle gods, yet he was bound to destroy him for his past deeds.  He knew that if he didn’t catch up to him soon, the human might escape and the last few days would be for naught.  So he pressed on and was surprised to find his quarry had been waiting for him in a stone circle.  It seems the human had finally run out of tricks and would go down fighting.  TokHa tensed, as he knew this is when the man would be at his most dangerous.  When he has nowhere to run, like a trapped animal with nothing left to lose.

But Charon did have one more trick he pulled a lever sealing the entrance that TokHa used to enter the stone circle.  The orc saw him turn toward the only other exist and gave chase, but he was not fast enough as Charon pulled another lever sealing that entrance with another stone doorway.  TokHa was trapped, or was he…  He did not sense any magic in the doorway, which mean with his immense strength he could pulverize it easily.  Then he noticed it.

The second doorway had a small hole in it.  Through that hole Charon stuck the last wand through the hole and released willed it to activate.  The 10^th rune on the wand flashed and vanished and a bolt of lighting streaked outward slamming into the trapped Orc and going past him to hit the stonewall and rebound off to one side where it hit another wall bounced off and hit him again.  But Charon was not done; he concentrated and released the remaining 9 runes one after the other.  The bolts ripped through TokHa bouncing off the walls and hitting him again and again and again.

Even though he had mighty protections and a warriors skill in avoiding injury, the Mighty TokHa, weakened by days of constant assault, could not stand the final bombardment and fell.

As the final bolt of lightning vanished Charon watched his enemy fall and realized for the first time in over ten years he was free from fear of the orcs and vowed he would never be truly afraid of them ever again!  He had escaped from their slavery!  He had taken out their mightiest warrior!  He would show them that he was not to be trifled with and decided to send them a message!

In his euphoria over his victory he made a critical mistake.  Driven by his hatred of the orcs he chanted the hidden runes, which attempt to wake the dead.  Charon was partially successful in that he created a zombie.  But a failure in that the zombie did not have even a portion of the intelligence of the original TokHa.  Charon sent the zombie off with a message, “Tell the Orcs NEVER to challenge the mighty Charon Master of the Shadow Arts again!  Or I shall destroy their cities, their towns, and their temples. I shall destroy them.”

Unfortunately he over estimated the intelligence and memory of the zombie, which only remembered the words, “Charon…Orc…temple…destroy…”

It repeated these words on its trip back into Orc territory.  It repeated these words allowed as it stumbled across a rather large village.  As TokHa entered the village still decked out in his magic armor, people flooded the streets to greet the local hero.  But they were shocked to hear his only words. 

They soon believed that the battle to destroy Charon must have taken much out of him and that he was asking to be directed toward a temple.  Zombies normally feed on the flesh and the Zombie warrior was desperately tempted to attack and eat all of those who were near him, but his fear of the one who summoned him overrode all of that and he eventually found an Orc temple…and promptly demolished it!  Now with his one directive accomplished the Zombie warrior set out to feed on the crowds.  But as he turned the people fled in horror and he could not catch them.

Three priests had barely survived the destruction of the Temple to Obsidius.  These priests promptly surrounded the Zombie warrior and using their innate powers, dispelled the force that had taken over the Hero’s body.

When news spread, once again the Orc kingdom was shocked and appalled.  The death of his brother brought Sou-ken ‘Ha out of the pit of self-pity and despair he had been in upon losing his sight to a mysterious illness.

Sou-ken ‘Ha realized that if he had not been so self-pitying that he might have been able to help his brother in the quest for the human and that his brother might still be alive.  He has never forgiven himself for that.   He knew now there was nothing he could do, but he also knew that vengeance breeds vengeance and that that TokHa’s wife would never let it rest.  He began to fear for the life of his niece and two nephews.  The oldest, LaTok, swore an oath of vengeance and left school to train under the Elemental Lords.  Eventually he became a great priest and was blessed with the Chi ‘Hian, The Forger of Destinies by Obsidius.

To protect the other two, Sou-ken ‘Ha garnered a teaching position at a prestigious private school and convinced TokHa’s wife that the best thing would be for her to secure her children’s future with a good education while LaTok took care of revenging his fathers death and desecration.  She acquiesced and sent them to the private school that he taught at.  He promised to teach them magic skills that would be useful later on in life and he kept that promise.

However, he did not anticipate his nieces’ rebellious attitude and did everything he could to keep her in check.  It was made worse when LaTok’s first attempt to exact revenge upon Charon ended in failure.

LaTok developed an elaborate plan that involved following the magus with several orc magi.  When target had settled into an area for an extended period of time the magi would set up several pre-written runes, which would shrink the building to only a small portion of its size.  A few brave warriors volunteered for what they knew to be a suicide mission to enter the building to delay the magus.

Once the building was shrunk, an elemental priest could use his given powers to relocate them all to a hidden cavern several leagues away, where LaTok and a regiment of soldiers were waiting.  Once in the cavern, the inn was restored to its original size and the soldiers would enter taking the magus by surprise before he could use any elaborate defenses.

So confident was LaTok of his plan that the night before he boasted long and loud about how he really needed no help to take the human magus, but wanted the soldiers there to look intimidating so few people would do something stupid and get hurt.

That night he was punished by the Elemental Lords, he was stripped of most of his strength and allowed to only make one or two requests of them during the battle.  Without all of his vaunted strength and skill and without the backing from the Elemental Lords, which he was dependent upon, he was easily defeated. Not by the mighty magus who slew his father, but by a mere apprentice who happened to be in the room.  

The mighty Chi’ Hian was bequeathed to a follower of the Elemental Church who happened to be in the battle, his name was Pendran.  He accepted the present, but soon learned that just because he was given a powerful weapon does not mean he was worthy enough to use it.  He repeatedly found that the power of the hammer far exceeded what he could handle and that over time he would have to learn how to harness it’s incredible power.

After the battle LaTok returned to the temple for training vowing to reclaim the Chi ‘Hian after he had proven himself worthy and destroyed Charon.  His defeat drove the entire family wild.  But still Sou-ken ‘Ha kept them all in check.

Then one day the unthinkable happened.  A group of humans appeared in the private school that was so exclusive most orcs didn’t even know it existed.  Many were injured, luckily no one was killed, but one of the humans was Pendran carrying the Chi ‘Hian and he had the misfortune to come across TokHa’s only daughter and Sou-ken ‘Ha's niece, HeTok.

HeTok was in her rebellious phase and had joined a local gang.  She had even taken to bringing her pet Tracara, Flamerider, which she raised from the egg, to school with her.  HeTok and her gang slowed the invaders down until her uncle could appear and take them into custody.  When she discovered Pendran carrying her brothers lost Chi ‘Hian she nearly killed him trying to get it back.  Sadly she found that it is not so easy to take away such a powerful weapon when the owner was still alive.

The humans escaped and Sou-ken ‘Ha was implicated, but his involvement in the scandal was covered up and he was forced to resign and take a position elsewhere.  Once freed from the relatively stabilizing influence of her uncle, HeTok went wild, her hatred of the humans blazed brighter than ever before.

When the war started, rumors began circulating that there was a man who skulks around battlefields raising the dead and adding them to his army.  The descriptions were of the legendary Shadow Walker, a creature who only existed to corrupt the souls of the living and take the souls of the dead.  For HeTok along with many other children in the kingdom, who grew up listening to stories of how her father fought and died, the Shadow Walker and Charon were one and the same.

She left school and took up the chase where her brother left off.  She found Charon in the company of the same apprentice who managed to defeat her brother.  She engaged the pair with her pet Tracara and was narrowly defeated.  While her life was spared, she lost track of the two when they disappeared from the forest. 

Her hatred for humans flared again when her favorite uncle (though she never told him), was banished because humans again appeared at his school, almost as if they were following him.

Then the barrier came up and all rumors of the Shadow Walker vanished and HeTok was forced to give up the chase for both Charon and her uncle and return to school.

Pendran returned to training with his long time traveling companion, Dayal, in hopes that one day he will be able to master enough of the hammers power to be able to defeat LaTok when he comes forth.

Recently, rumors spread that Sou-ken ‘Ha has resurfaced in the orc kingdom trying to cause a rebellion and start a war against the crown and was captured by the kings men.  The Orc king has flatly denied these rumors.

Unbeknowst to HeTok and the rest of her people, Sou-ken ‘Ha has indeed returned, but not to start a war, but to stop one…