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Chapter 37
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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
The Darkest Hour Chapter 41
The trawler rocked violently. Edwin grabbed the nearest handrail to steady himself. It was all he could do to hold his sea-sickness in check as strong winds buffeted them from all sides. More than one trooper had fallen overboard already and he wasn't about to let himself do the same. Beside him, Lukas barely noticed the choppy seas as he stood staring out into the distance. He pointed to where a large ominous black cloud loomed over their destination. "Look at that Edwin. Whatever do you think might have caused it?"Edwin had little patience for questions he didn't have the answers to. He was more concerned with the task of keeping his rations down. As he regained his footing he looked in the direction his friend pointed. "Do I look like a mage to you Lukas? Do I look like a scholar? If I was I certainly wouldn't have joined the army that's for sure."Lukas shrugged and ignored his friend's sarcasm. Most of it just washed over him anyway. "It looks kind of scary," the big man said
The Darkest Hour Chapter 42
The boarding planks thumped against the dock. Edwin stumbled forward amidst the press of troopers surging towards the shore. Lukas grabbed him by the arm as he felt his feet begin to slip beneath him. He hadn't even stepped onto dry land and already he owed Lukas his life. At the Captain's orders they edged their way along the packed pier towards the shelter of the city. It was then that the first shrieks pierced the air."Get down!"Edwin leapt to the ground and covered his head with both his hands as six dark shapes flashed past them, shrieking and slashing. Edwin rolled onto his back just in time to see Captain Bridgemore locked in combat with the first of the monsters, sword flashing as the creature clawed and swiped. As soldiers rushed to the Captain's aid the creature beat its leathery wings and drew itself high into the air. Edwin watched in horror as the beasts made another diving run. Lukas held out his hand and Edwin allowed himself to be dragged to his feet. "We need to
The Darkest Hour Chapter 43
The fighting on the western wall was intense. Soldiers banded together to try and stave off the furies' attacks as every so often one of the larger beasts would swoop down and send the defenders scattering in all directions. The Magical Isle hadn't seen such bloodshed in many long centuries, and still the dark mage was yet to make himself known.Callum allowed himself the briefest glance up at the sky as all around him men and women fought and died against a foe he couldn't even begin to describe. The fate of the world was balanced on a knife-edge and the furies were just the first move. Though his sword was covered in the blood of at least a dozen victims, the creatures continued to swell in number and swarm the walls in greater and greater numbers. Just then his thoughts were brought crashing back down to earth as beside him, Lena let out a scream. A large creature, quite unlike any demon Callum had seen landed in front of them and let out a blood curdling cry. Aaron swore as the
The Darkest Hour Chapter 44
The fighting was bloody. They had only been on the island for a few hours and already they had seen enough death to last a lifetime. Edwin stepped gingerly past the bloodied corpse of their sergeant who lay face down alongside three more of their former squad-mates. The four men had been cut down within the space of a minute by a particularly bloodthirsty pack of the smaller creatures that had forced them away from the harbour, into the city streets. If it hadn't been for Lukas and a couple of the braver members of their squad, he too might have fallen to their savage claws. By all rights he shouldn't even have been alive, but somehow he had survived where other braver, stronger men had failed. He was just one of the lucky ones, though he wasn't sure if "luck" was the right word for it.As the adrenaline of their latest encounter started to fade, one trooper started to vomit onto the side of the street. Edwin patted the young man on the back as he stepped past him to find Lukas starin
The Darkest Hour Chapter 45
Callum floated on the crest of a wave. The power he had unleashed surged through his veins, illuminating the twilight sky in flashes of dazzling light followed by equally dazzling dark light the stuff of the malevolent powers the stuff from which Varrus' armies seemed to be built. He floated a few yards from the ground, a shining beacon of hope to the men and women who fought valiantly alongside him.This, Callum realised, must have been part of Varrus' plan all along strike at the heart of magic and stop any chance the old world might have of saving itself.Below him, following as closely as they dared, Kiera, Lena and Aaron stuck in close formation and fought desperately to keep the hordes of winged furies at bay. Callum knew now that he was the key that he had been the key all along. By destroying him and all those dearest to him, Varrus would effectively win the day.But Varrus' plan would be his undoing. Phae was gone, and Kiera had nearly died. Such had been the effectiven
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