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Chapter 32
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The Darkest Hour Chapter 33
Edwin exhaled deeply, his breath billowing in the biting cold. He put his axe down for a moment and risked a glance around him. Three days. Three whole days they'd been chopping firewood to feed the great fires that had been set up in the squares and assembly points in Lambros. Three whole days and still the sergeant hadn't explained why half of them were chopping firewood, while the other half had been set to law and order duties in the city. At least that was proper soldiering. Edwin sighed as he picked up his axe from the floor, dusted it of snow, and turned his attention back to the task at hand. All around him recruits strained and swore as even in its last gasps of life the giant leafy oak did its best to hamper its attackers.Leafy.It seemed strange to be turning an axe on a tree so abundantly full of life, still in its summer bloom; seemed strange to see snow covering fresh green leaves.Beside him a particularly vigorous soldier cursed loudly as he caught a splinter
The Darkest Hour Chapter 34
The trawler rocked gently as cold winds buffeted it from the east. Though a passenger craft by trade, its rooms were instead filled with provisions crates of aid sent from the mainland to provide what meagre support they could for the residents of the ancient 'Isle. Aside from the small crew, the forlorn trawler carried only three passengers: two of whom stood out on deck, huddled together for warmth, lost in their own bleak thoughts.Though he was without sight, Aaron stared out into the distance, out into the impenetrable dark that marked the boundaries of his world. "A storm is coming." Beside him, Lena stirred. "What makes you say that?""You can't feel it?""I can't feel a thing," she replied. Aaron nodded and squeezed her hand a little tighter. It had been a stupid question. They had both been struggling of late, but these last few days Lena had been suffering particularly. She had always been so strong, but now, confronted by the absence of her gift the absence of her
The Darkest Hour Chapter 35
They came from the skies.Winged demons the colour of the night, shrouded under the cover of the ominous cloud, swept down on leathery bat-like wings, striking at the defenders looking out to sea.Somewhere along the wall, the first soldier died. A high-pitched scream pierced the night as two of the foul creatures, each about the size of a small child, seized a helpless soldier and carried him out to the sea.Elidor gasped. It was far worse than he could have imagined. This was no ordinary threat this was an evil drawing on a magic the likes of which he had never encountered. Demons weren't supposed to exist yet here they were, hundreds of them swarming down from the sky. MagicThe thought played on his mind and nearly brought about his premature end as a group of clawing demons swooped down upon them. One young recruit, barely out of her teens, bundled him to the floor. "Master Elidor watch out!"Elidor's heart raced. One of the bat demons let out a wailing shriek as it was
The Darkest Hour Chapter 36
Their journey by sea took longer than they hoped. Choppy seas and a darkness few Captains would have dared to come to port in meant the trawler crept its way into harbour with as little sail as the Captain could muster, and more than a small amount of luck. Lena stood as she had done for much of the journey, staring out into the distance, one hand gripped firmly to the hand rail, the other placed firmly in Aaron's own. Though she knew he was keen to learn what she saw, she did her best to delay her response. As she considered her words, Callum emerged onto deck to join them. His eyes were red and bloodshot. "Ready?" he asked.Lena nodded. They hurried down the boarding plank and along the pier towards an area where crates were being unloaded onto carts. Aaron looked anxious."What do you see? It's bad, isn't it? I can tell you know; you don't have to hide anything from me."Lena stopped and sighed, pulling Aaron aside as carts laden with supplies ferried goods into the city or wh
The Darkest Hour Chapter 37
Elidor slammed his cup down on his desk, splashing tea over a pile of important looking papers stacked neatly beside it. Lena reached down and picked up the first few sheets that fell to the floor. "She's what?!" He stared wide eyed at Callum who just nodded sadly."She's gone," he replied."It's not possible, I don't believe it, I" Elidor paused. "I'm so sorry Callum, this is truly awful I"Callum did his best to maintain his composure. He sucked in a deep breath. "Don't worry about it Elidor. Goodness knows I've done enough grieving of late. I we all need to be strong now the fate of the world rests on a knife-edge."Elidor was lost for words. He stood up and started to pace. As he did so he knocked more papers from the desk. As she was already on the floor, Lena picked them up and placed them carefully back on the desk."I just don't know what to say. I never for a moment predicted a development such as this To think Varrus would stoop to such a depth. To think he would have
The Darkest Hour Chapter 38: Darkness' End, Part 1
Varrus folded his arms and allowed himself a small sigh of satisfaction. Far below him, stretched out along the length of the coast, his vast army was arranged and ready for battle. To his left, along the island's northern shore, a horde of winged furies stood waiting his instruction, biting and gnashing their jaws in anticipation. He had already unleashed an initial wave of the demon creatures, and if the results of the first attack were anything to go by, he might not even need to call upon the larger creatures he had added to the furies' ranks. A little way down the shore his personal cadre of hell-forged demons loomed ominously above the smaller creatures. Of all his creations these were the most powerful, though it would be with his ceramic warriors that the war would be won. Silent, relentless and incredibly strong, his ceramic constructs were all but impervious to traditional arms, forged as they were in the heat of the volcano. Though they lacked the speed and tenacity of the
The Darkest Hour Chapter 39: Darkness' End, Part 2
Dawn if it could even still be called that had barely broken when the dark shape washed up on the shore. Pausing in her work, Petra placed her barely-filled bag on the ground and peered intently through the gloom to where the shape lay. Even from this distance her keen eyes could make out the outline of a naked body sprawled on the shore amidst the sea-weed and detritus the tide left in its wake.She has seen it many times before. Every so often the bodies of the dead washed up on the long stretch of flat sandy shore of the bay. If the bodies hadn't already been dumped in the water naked, they were soon stripped of their possessions by the scavengers that patrolled the bay like vultures. For many, the small amount of money or the few possessions they managed to secure might even be enough to buy a meal.To Petra and her poor family, to find a few coins washed up on the shore was like finding the greatest treasure on earth. Though she saw the body was naked, there was a chance it ma
The Darkest Hour Chapter 40
The archives were strangely silent. Where normally Lena would have expected to see teams of mages working diligently at their desks, now all that remained were stacks and stacks of untended books. The more she thought about it, the more the thought of the empty archives made her sad. She drew in a deep breath and turned her attention back to the task at hand. All around her lay scattered manuscripts and piles of notes she had furiously scribbled as she sought to make some sort of sense out of everything that had happened. Her current line of research followed a rather radical theory that the sources were not "sources" at all, but more like sluices, or dams that controlled the flow of magic into the world. From her perspective at least, the theory seemed sound, however many centuries had passed since then and the theory had fallen out of favour. Information on the subject was incredibly hard to come by; though at least she was having better luck than the Seer.A short distance away, at
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