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Chapter 49
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The Darkest Hour Chapter 50: Epilogue
It was over the demons were gone. An eerie silence fell upon the city. No one knew what to do. Some of the survivors broke down and wept while others embraced companions, or offered up a silent prayer for the departed. At some point during the battle he had lost sight of Lukas and they'd been separated. Though his mind was clouded he was sure he remembered seeing his friend wade into the thickest fighting, throwing himself mercilessly at the demon creatures during what they felt would surely be their final moments on the earth.Suddenly Edwin's eyes widened. As he started to sift through his memories, one image in particular stuck in his mind. Lukas had fallen!Edwin's heart started to race. He searched round desperately but couldn't recognise his friend's face amidst the countless bodies that filled the city streets. Just then a faint voice reached his ears."Edwin."Edwin looked round, anxiously scanning the bodies that lay on the floor. There amidst a pile of demon corpses
The Darkest Hour Chapter 1: The Dark Envoy, Part 1
In the cold dark depths of space, an ancient evil stirs from its slumber...*****"Wake up Varrus, your life is mine."Varrus slowly swam to consciousness. He opened his eyes to reveal nothing save the impenetrable black of space.The voice thundered inside his head. "So, you have come at last. I've been expecting you..."Varrus gulped. He could still feel the sharp stab of pain as he had died at the boy's hands. By using magic to evade death, he had made a terrible, terrible mistake. "Cease your trembling mortal. I am Skargyr and you are mine now there can be no escape. Worlds have lived and died while I have waited for someone of your qualities to find their way into my cursed prison. You shall know me now as your master."As memories of his former life slowly returned to him, Varrus regained some of his composure. "I serve no one!" he spat, "I am my own master.""Foolish mortal I am your GOD! Bow down and worship me and I shall consider sparing your worthless soul."Va
The Darkest Hour Chapter 2
Phae stood wide-eyed and trembling as all around her young apprentices ran for their lives. She searched around desperately for means of escape, but the fire was everywhere. Searing flames leapt across bookshelves and between timber roof supports, stoked by burning texts that exploded like fire-crackers as their magically-imbued pages caught alight and combusted, adding their material to the raging heat of the inferno. Across the room Master Kulgrim was furiously attempting to organise some of the more experienced magic users into fire-fighting teams to try and quench the blaze. It was no good. One by one their exits were cut off, leaving only a single doorway out into the streets. Kulgrim called out to her. "Phae, run! We need to get out of here now!"Phae flinched as she watched the chaotic scene unfold about her, her hands still ablaze with the fierce fire magic that she had been so desperately trying to control. She couldn't move. Her whole body was paralysed with fear.Kul
The Darkest Hour Chapter 3
The night was dark; far darker than it had been for many months now. Even the great pole star Illustus shone dimly, and the old world's moons were but two faded smudges in an overcast canvas of grey. As the night drew on, a cold easterly breeze swept across the island, bringing with it a rolling bank of dense fog that settled on the city streets and enveloped the Magical Isle in a cold, damp, impenetrable mist. Even from his position high atop the tallest tower of the Wizards' Citadel, Callum could only faintly make out the shapes of a few towers and rooftops tall enough to pierce the fog. Not even the street-lanterns of the wizards could penetrate the mist; their bright lights reduced to nothing more than faint, eerie glows as the greatest city in the realm of men was reduced to nothing more than a panorama of dull grey.Callum pulled his cloak tightly around him as the cold easterly wind bit into his skin, bringing with it another rolling bank of fog to shroud the streets in mist.
The Darkest Hour Chapter 4
In her bedroom, Phae paced restlessly.She couldn't sleep. Truth be told, she hadn't been sleeping well for over a week now as her body changed and she sought to control the raging fire that grew within her. This night though, this night was different.Though she hadn't heard the news directly, she knew that poor Master Kulgrim had died in the night, just as she predicted he would the first victim of her frightening power. She had wept bitterly when she felt his passing from the mortal plain, though by now her tears had long dried up. Now all she felt was anger: anger at herself; anger at her parents; anger at her mother for not being there; anger at her life. Why couldn't she just be normal?Phae sighed as she paced her way across her cluttered bed chamber, working her way carefully around the piles of books and trinkets that she had thrown from her desk in an earlier moment of despair. She glanced across the room. In the far corner sat her pack. Ever since her first "accident"
The Darkest Hour Chapter 5
Half an hour later, with two small packages of food clutched tightly in her invisible hands, Phae hurried through the lower hallways of the Citadel. Though for now at least she remained concealed under a veil of magic, she stuck to the shadows as best she could. She could sense already it was only a few hours until dawn, and if she wasn't quick, she might miss her chance to escape through the portal. She arrived at the council chamber and looked down the stone staircase revealed at its centre. Discovered by her parents long before she was born, the stairway led into a secret sanctum that had once been used by the 'Isle's previous rulers, a corrupt group of mages known as the Inner Circle. Though they had for the most part now been defeated, and their few surviving members scattered across the land, their sanctum still remained, and in it, her planned means of escape.When they had first opened up the hidden sanctum, her parents had discovered, among other curiosities, an ancient por
The Darkest Hour Chapter 6
The night was still dark and the city streets still thick with fog by the time Callum descended from his tower to hurry to the far side of the city, right by the city wall, to the small place his two dear friends called home.In any other city in the whole Kingdom, to walk the streets alone at this hour would be asking for trouble, but here in Asturia, things weren't quite the same as they were on the mainland. People came to the Magical Isle voluntarily of their own free will and in so doing, agreed to abide by the charter that had been set in place in order to keep the city streets safe. Of course, after all that had happened with the treachery of the Inner Circle, Callum had had to have the charter amended somewhat from its old, authoritarian style, but the principle was still the same; Asturia would be a safe-haven for all who wanted to keep it that way, and if you didn't like it, you were asked to leave. Naturally, there were still patrols that watched the streets and patroll
The Darkest Hour Chapter 7
With the coming of dawn, the fog that enveloped the city finally began to fade, and the streets gradually warm to the light of the new day. As the hour approached something like respectable, Callum and his two friends ate a quick breakfast and headed out to the Citadel where they knew the Seer would already be hard at work. Crossing the wide stone bridge that led up to the Citadel's entrance they hurried on through reception to the spacious chamber that the Seer had turned into his personal office. As they arrived they found their old friend standing outside waiting patiently for them. "Ah there you are, I've been waiting long enough for the three of you. Good morning Callum, Lena Aaron."The three companions greeted the Seer warmly, though Aaron slightly less so as he watched for sign of reproach from the Seer for their previous falling out. Even after the many years they had known Elidor, none of them could quite get used to his unnatural ability to know when they wanted to see hi
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