Winner!!!!! :D

(PSST! Be sure to read the last gratitude post below).

Today is the last day of NaNoWriMo and this morning I tried to get up before anybody else so I could come downstairs and finish my word count goal. And it worked.

I now officially am a winner of NaNoWriMo 2012! :D I reached my word count goal of 40,000 words and next year I'll be shooting for 50,000.

Of course, my novel isn't done yet, but I'm still working on it.

Here is the Prologue of my novel. Please tell me truthfully what you think! :D

Prologue

    For years, Glaewyn and Yojar lived peacefully as the best of friends. They were known as the best wizards in the entire kingdom of Zundra, and perhaps even the world.
    Yojar lived in his tower just beyond the Forest of Zundra. King Robert had it specially built for him. It was fifty feet tall, made of stone, and had a large wooden door with his name on it, written in silver. There were many windows with a perfect view of the castle and the Forest of Zundra. Yojar painted stripes on the stone in purple, for that was his favorite color.
    Glaewyn preferred life in the Forest of Zundra. King Robert made him a small, but cozy cottage in the exact middle of the Forest on request. He painted it gold and wrote his name on the wooden doors in bronze. There were a few windows where he could look out into the Forest at all of the magical creatures that lived there. All of the creatures lived in harmony, none wanting to upset the others. Unicorns, fairies, pixies, sprites, druids, centaurs, dwarves, elves, merpeople, and many other magical beings lived there.
    Yojar and Glaewyn each created magical spells that would be used for hundreds of years to come. They cheered each other on and complimented each other’s skills.
    But after a while, their friendship slowly began to fall apart. Glaewyn remained as gracious as ever, but Yojar grew more and more arrogant and bitter. Glaewyn kept on creating successful spells. Yojar tried and failed to best him. Glaewyn’s popularity began to shadow Yojar. Yojar would crumple pieces of parchment after failed spells. The stack of papers in Glaewyn’s cottage towered over him. His desk was covered in spells.
    One day, after another spell of Glaewyn’s took off, Yojar stormed out of his tower and headed for the woods. He muttered a spell and the wind picked up.
    The sky became dark and stormy. The trees bent lower and leaves flew everywhere.
    Lightning struck the ground, and with every strike a magical creature would appear. But not creatures that were like the ones that already lived there. No, these creatures were evil. Demons, banshees, devil dogs, gargoyles, ghosts, ghouls, goblins, ogres, orcs, werewolves, vampires, salamanders, mud monsters, and many other evil beings appeared. Yojar laughed and took off for his tower. He watched from his window. The evil creatures ran straight for Glaewyn’s cottage. The salamanders set the house on fire, and minutes later it was no more. His house was ash, and Glaewyn was dead.
    Very soon after Glaewyn was killed, King Robert’s best knights rode into the Forest and killed off as many evil creatures as they could. About half of the evil beings perished, but the other half ran and hid. It was obvious at once who had caused that great tragedy. Yojar had made the mistake of dropping his wand as he fled. No one else in the entire world had a wand like his. His wand was a deep purple and had decorative silver vines wrapped around it. Glaewyn’s had one almost exactly like it, but it was gold and had bronze vines.
    The door of Yojar’s tower burst open and twelve knights ran in and captured Yojar almost immediately.
    Yojar just laughed and did not fight them. He was taken away to the dungeons.
    The kingdom was in uproar. They pounded on the castle gates and screamed for Yojar’s blood. Glaewyn’s name was shrieked all throughout the day and late into the night. They wanted Yojar to be dead. They wanted him to suffer. One man yelled that he wanted Yojar’s head on a pole so he could put it in front of his house.
    Two days later, Yojar had a short trial. In the trial he said that his act was an act he would always be proud of. He was publicly executed minutes later by Glaewyn’s own brother, Fubeth. The axe that cut off Yojar’s head now hangs in King Robert’s great-great-grandaughter’s castle, Queen Talia Snowflower. She often says that the axe gives her nightmares and she wishes that she could remove it. But it has hung there for years, and it wouldn’t be very wise of her to get rid of it. The peasants that live in the Kingdom of Zundra are glad that it is there. It reminds them that they will never live in danger because the Queen and her knights will protect them.
    After Yojar was executed, people began to call the Forest of Zundra the Forest of Yojar. The name stuck and now very few dare to enter the Forest, for they fear that they will perish as Glaewyn had. If the most powerful wizard since Merlin couldn’t stand up against the creatures, they thought they most certainly could not fight them.
    But the kingdom of Zundra had not seen such utter evil since Yojar’s time, and now they live in peace, knowing that their kind queen will protect them if anything like that would ever happen again.