War of Dark Ages: A Unicorn's Journey
Chapter 1

In a dark and gloomy room, a shadowy mist casts its reflection on ten creatures. Suddenly, a low blue light illuminates from the center of the room dispelling most of the darkness and changes into a globe of this world.

From the left comes a screeching female voice, “No matter what they do, they will not stop us this time!” A high-pitched laugh echoes around the room. “The key will be ours this time!”

“Don’t forget every time we have tried, we are pushed back and it makes it frustrating to lose more of our kind.” From the right a male voice argues. “Tsk, don’t be absurd my friend,”

A low-pitched male voice from the upper right corner speaks as the shadow moves forward towards the light. The light, however, can’t dispel the shadowy mist surrounding him. “We can always make more of our kind, it’s not like it’s a problem.”

“Have you forgotten we can only make ranks that are lower than ours and one of ours was a higher rank that was slaughtered!” Another female voice argues from the north side of the room. Sᴇaʀch Thᴇ (F)indNƟvᴇl.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Everyone stands still as an extra figure casting a large and menacing shadow emerges from the back of the room and moves forward. Trailing this person is another in a smaller frame. His voice dark and rough pierces the room, “Enough of this nonsense, we shall see if we fail or not. No matter what happens, this time we shall find the key, awaken the first, open the door, and control them both.”

A few people stir, unsure of the command while a male from the upper right corner questions, “Are you ever going to tell us what this key is we are looking for? And besides, how can you be sure this time we will be able to enter that area at the wall when all other attempts have failed?”

The large and menacing shadow crackles with laughter that holds no life, as if the sacrifices are meaningless. “Because our key has awakened, but we need to be a bit careful on how to handle it. We can’t afford any mistakes, so I expect all of you to follow my orders.” With one last menacing glare to the remaining standing, he walks out of the room.

The person behind him stares at all of them for a few moments with a disapproving glare. Everyone stands still as the smaller shadow turns and walks away from them.

“I swear he frightens me even more than our general if that is possible. He does not say much but he is a lot more terrifying,” a female voice whispers in the northern part of the room.

“Agreed, so for now let us follow the plan and observe what happens next, while we wait for our next orders,” the male voice from the lower right corner of the room replies.

In the middle of the room a blue light globe turns into a large map showing the area of the Kingdom of Feldorea. As everyone watches, it zooms in on the area known as the Town of Runbay going past certain buildings to see the wall of corpses along with Commander Kail and his men standing at the ready.

In the Town of Runbay, a small town on the outskirts of Feldorea, a celebration is being held. The town center holds several decorations inside and in the center stands a statue of a large beautiful, winged creature representing the festival. Below the statue is a sign reading, “Sacred Dardiyan.”

There are several decorations around the statue as people are putting up lights. On the outside of the town square is a circular wall standing five feet high with an exit on the east and west sides leading into lanes. Many stalls hang red, blue, and gold cloth from the sides of the stables and are being set up.

Standing in the middle of the town square is Commander Kail roughly six feet two inches tall with deep blue eyes that gaze around the area. His short dark blue hair flows back and forth like the sea over his extremely broad shoulders. For a human as impressive as him, even with the thin black armor that blends with his physique, you would think he was a pirate.

Suddenly, a soldier rushes forward from the west side to the impressive commander, “Commander Kail! Commander Kail!” He panics and halts in front of him breathing heavily while putting his hands on his knees.

“Easy soldier, slow your breathing down. Seems you had a bit of a flight of fancy didn’t you now?” Commander Kail teases the soldier and slaps the soldier on the back causing him to stumble forward, almost falling to the ground.

“No Sir, that isn’t it at all!” The soldier agitatedly responds with a scared look on his face. His hands can’t stop shaking and looks up at his superior.

Commander Kail crosses his arms. “Calm down soldier and tell me what happened.”

The soldier stands straight up placing his hand on his chest giving a salute. “Sir, the wall has been activated!”

Commander Kail stares at the soldier in astonishment and lowers his massive hands down to his sides. “What do you mean the wall has been activated?”

“Sir, the wall lit up a few moments ago and there are corpses all over it below the trees. There are a lot of people there and Mr. Durdley’s men is making the situation worse Sir!”

Commander Kail sighs deep from within his chest with a frown on his forehead and looks towards the right of the statue. He places his hands on his hips and uses a frightening authoritative voice as it booms throughout the street, “Riley! Get Over Here!”

From the right lane, Riley rushes towards Commander Kail in a wind-swept gale that nearly knocks the other soldier off his feet and halts in front of him. “I’m here, what do you want?” He stands seven feet one inch tall with grayish shoulder-length hair, very slim features, and pointed ears. His blue eyes pierce at his friend while the leather sash resides across his chest and moves slightly as the wind pushes his green shirt against his tan skin over his leather pants.

“The wall has been activated, we need to move out, be sure to observe anything out of the ordinary.” Commander Kail raises one eyebrow waiting for his friend’s reply.

​“The wall has been activated? What does that mean?” Riley queries.

The soldier speaks up in earnest, “The wall lit up a few moments ago and it looks completely awful, it’s causing a lot of panic!”

“Stand still, soldier, and wait for your response!” Commander Kail orders. As the soldier bows his head in defeat, he continues with disdain in his voice, “You remember that wall that everyone has been gossiping about?”

Riley nods his head, and casts a glance at the soldier.

“Seems something is happening at that wall again and I’m sure by the time we get there, it will be another damn prank.” Commander Kail’s expression turns to one of violent anger for being interrupted several times by different people. His investigation into this town and celebration is still in progress for ten years.

Riley folds his arms across his chest. “Nothing much else to do except follow the lead, correct?” He gives a bored look to Commander Kail as they both don’t like where this is going.

“Follow me both of you!” Commander Kail orders and walks down the path west towards the run-down forge covered in dust and turns right down the passageway. They pass a few storehouses before turning right into an alley leading to a wall with trees standing above it. He stops in amazement and dread because never in his life would have imagined witnessing something like this before him.

Riley quickly steps into the shadows disappearing from all sight.

On the wall standing seven feet high and stretching forty feet wide are broken and scattered corpses of all sizes and species across the wall. Corpses portray an image as if they are still reaching out in pain and suffering while looking alive. Above the wall is a field of trees ten feet high with pink petals falling from the trees. Petals fall to the ground as they glisten before touching the ground and fading.

Suddenly, a scream from the left shakes Commander Kail out of a locked trance. To the right, he regards the young woman who faints ungracefully to the old man standing behind her. His gaze switches from the young woman to a few of Mr. Durdley’s subordinates as they whisper something silently to other people nearby. He frowns at them and issues a command in a frightening voice causing everyone to freeze, “Remove all of Mr. Durdley’s men from this site immediately and throw them in jail if they refuse to leave! I will not have any more interference today!”

A few soldiers move forward after a moment’s pause placing their hands on Mr. Durdley’s men and they resist.

A movement from Commander Kail causes them to become motionless. His shoulders slightly moved forward and spread throughout his body, betraying thoughts assuring he would strike anyone down unless they complied.

Soldiers escort them with the people down the alley removing them from the scene. Lieutenant Knox and the remaining soldiers wait by his side awaiting his next command.

Commander Kail magically materializes a large scimitar glowing with a deep blue aura from the ocean sweeping across the blade. “Soldiers! Draw your weapon and stand at the ready. Do not attack until I give further orders!” He places himself in an extended guard stance with his form perfect for an oncoming attack. It seems for a moment; time freezes as everyone waits dreadfully for what is going to happen next.

In a dark room, with rock-covered walls rusted with blood, holds a bloody sarcophagus in the middle of the room. The lid on the sarcophagus lights up with a blue trim line around the border. Small lines leading to the center of the lid light up green as a blue-colored sigil appears in the middle. A small hand at the top of the sigil starts slowly moving south making a tick. . .. tick. . . tick. . . sound while the hand is moving downwards in a clock-like motion. As it reaches the bottom, the hand stops and the sigil glows white as the lid disintegrates leaving nothing behind.

Inside the sarcophagus is a figure naked with flawless pale white skin and long silver hair flowing over her body. Suddenly, her eyes open revealing two silver crystal eyes glittering like the blue moon. She sits up to look around the room, her hair flowing back revealing two long-shaped crescent pointy ears.

Her sight to see in darkness allows her to observe this room without a light. The room is round and smells of burnt ash still lingering as if time hasn’t touched anything. Wall-covered rocks looking a pale yellow with orange rust and blood rust creating a crisscross pattern in the room. By the smell alone, much time has passed.

Rising from the sarcophagus, standing five feet six inches tall crosses her arms and reflects on the last thing the creature remembers, her memories start to develop as they drift into her mind. . .

A dark and silky voice orders with fury, “You will come with me, you damned creature!”

“I will never submit to you!” Reaching up to grab the hand twisting her hair as The First drags her across a room with nineteen doors in a strange octagon pattern.

Eyes burning with rage bore down on her glinting a dark golden red from the First. He tosses her into the chamber.

Her back slams against a weapons rack and blood drains down to the floor. The silver-haired creature falls forward coughing up blood and glares at him with pure and intense hatred. “Do all you want to me, I’ll never give you what you desire!”

A laugh sends a cold chill running across her spine. “You don’t have a choice, my dear, I intend to attack Her Next Destroying her completely!” He stretches out his hand, with a villain of smiles crossing his face. “You can protect her as long as you do as you’re told.”

Glaring at the offering hand, the silver-haired creature senses a weapon lying beside her resembling a long Crescent blade with no hilt. She grabs the blade and swings it around to the piece behind her passing through a barrier before hitting the object.

The First lunges for her, “No, you damned creature!”

A large shockwave radiates from the sphere knocking them back into the pillar. The crescent blade follows her and slices through her arm and down her leg as more blood falls to the floor. Collapsing forward and losing consciousness until nothing remains except for darkness. . ..

A frown appears on her face in the dark and eerie room as she can’t remember how she got here, where, or how they are still alive. Raising her hand with the long nails makes a scar on her shoulder. Blood runs down her arm dripping to the floor and the scar instantly heals leaving no sign of a scar or a self-inflicting wound. She flicks her hand to the side removing all the blood on her arm and hands causing the blood to smear against the wall.

A door appears on the side, and the silver-haired creature decides to open it, perceiving a bloody corridor with corpses standing in a few areas. The scent of dried blood, ash, and dust brushes across her senses. Down the corridor is a spiral of stairs leading up and down. Across to the other side resides great painted windows of monsters that are half man and half something else.

Down the stairs is the exit and a thought pierces her mind as this was the last place they put her at to break her. Questions fill her mind, “How did I get here? Who put me in the sarcophagus? And what happened to the War of Dark Ages?” Her thoughts pause as for some reason can’t remember the creature she was before even though a lot of information about this realm is known to her, including the events of the War of Dark Ages.

A shake of her head helps to ward off this feeling of immense loneliness and heads upstairs curious as to the events of what happened here. She stops at a doorway and looks inside this one room. They called this room the Quarters area, where freshly turned creatures are forced to wait for the next command to the area they will be attacking.

Inside the room are two crescent-topped window panes to the left. The windows are closed with a dark shade across the pane. Dried blood-stained curtains reside beside them. To the left of the window panes lies a pile of dust around a few corpses.

The silver-haired creature walks to the corpses lying on the ground and kneels, placing her hand over them using her sensing ability to understand their demise. These corpses have been here for eons, and it seems whatever this dust is that continues to fall from them is not allowing them to die but remain here in this domain. She stands up and walks out of the room pondering how this could have happened.

The staircase winds upwards as another hallway approaches. To the right is a hallway leading to the Torture Chambers where she was kept mostly. However, up above should be quarters and the other chambers used for experimentation. Continuing up the staircase comes to a halt with a look of surprise on her face. The staircase had collapsed inwards with no way of going up or around it. She raises her hand and senses past the debris as the rooms have all caved inside leaving no trace of anything left behind.

The silver-haired creature walks down the stairs to the hallway below, questions fill her mind, “How did all of this happen? Nothing remains up above and I don’t have much time left to explore as this place feels as if it is collapsing inside itself. And yet nothing is dying in here, how is this possible?”

Torture Chambers lie past the rocky arch covered in dried blood with dust on the ground. Several different torture chambers exist on both sides as a path is formed down the hallway one to the right and left. Memories fill her thoughts of how they would take creatures who were turned into lower or higher ranks and bring them in here to ensure the final process. With the final process, it ensured as a creature of the damned, being neither dead nor alive you would serve The First with no questions asked. If you resisted or tried to fight the chain that bound you to him, you were brought to these chambers and tortured repeatedly till your submission was complete.

Another torrent of memories comes flooding into her mind as she gazes into the chamber to the right . . ..

The First drags her by the shoulder and throws her in the chamber causing her to crash against the wall and fall forward lying in her blood. Her shoulder detaches from her skin and blood spills on the floor. Chains on her wrists and ankles bind most of her magic inside her, weakening her greatly.

A deep, dark, and silky voice snarls at a scientist, “Make sure you break her; I need her to submit to me if we are to finish the final phase.”

“Yes Sir! We will break her even if it means some of us will die for it!” An older male voice beamed at his master.

The First walks away grumbling under his breath.

A guard steps forward bowing to the scientist. “Sir, another creature is resisting the Inoculate Procedure, shall we proceed to the Crystal Chamber Torture?”

“Bring the damn creature to the room here,” the scientist points to the room opposite of where the silver-haired creature resides.

Raising herself to a sitting position, the silver-haired creature places her hand on her chest as immense pain echoes throughout her body. Her detached arm disintegrates and materializes on her shoulder spreading another spasm of pain. Vision starts to become a little bit clearer as each second passes and a creature looking vaguely familiar to her except a lot thinner is brought into the room.

Dragging the prisoner by his chains, the guard tosses him into the room. The prisoner crashes against the wall, having one of his hands separate, and falls to the ground. While the guard grabs his wrists and chains them together to the ceiling, a hand on the floor disintegrates to appear on the prisoner’s hand again. Raising his fist, the guard punches the prisoner’s head causing it to fall off and roll on the ground.

Standing outside the cell, a scientist waits and watches this feat a few times till a servant steps forward with a stained dark green gem resonating with evil intent at its core. He grabs the gem, “Start the procedure.”

The guard stops and grabs a pike standing at the side. He thrusts the pike to the ground slightly before the prisoner and grabs his foot forcing it down through the pike. While the prisoner’s body wriggles in pain as its head is regenerating, He grabs the other foot forcing it down through the pike. Blood drains down the pikes as the guard stands up grabbing two small metal grapplings. He places one on each side of the prisoner’s stomach. The metal grapplings extend sharp points and pierce inside his stomach area and extend deep inside the resting at his spine.

Servants return with freshly brewed corpse blood and stand outside the cell awaiting their next orders.

Meanwhile, the guard steps back as a scientist moves forward to stand in front of the prisoner. “Let’s see how long this game of ours can last?” A gleam of fascination spreads across the scientist’s face and places a gem on the prisoner’s chest.

The gem pierces the skin attaching itself to the prisoner causing him to throw his head back and open his mouth displaying a scream. At the same time, other creatures in their cell can’t hear anything while they watch with sorrow.

In addition, the gem strikes out white lightning whips reaching around the prisoner and chaining itself to him. It lights up an evil blighted dark aura sending a wave into the prisoner causing ripples of blood to stream down the pikes resting on the floor.

After a few seconds, the gem stops and the guard steps forward opening his mouth.

With a motion of hands from the scientist the servants move forward. One servant steps forward placing a small round device in the prisoner’s mouth. The other servant brings in a large vial of the freshly brewed corpse blood and pours it down his throat. They step back in the hallway.

They watch as the gem lights up again, this time bringing up the blood on the floor in small rivers connecting to the grapplings piercing his flesh repeatedly as the first phase of this torture resumes…..

The silver-haired creature shakes her head to ward off the painful memories of torture. To the right is the Turning Chamber and to the left is a maze of torture chambers and a larger chamber at the end. She closes her eyes, and senses the area of the Torture chambers and stiffens in astonishment. In these chambers rest no corpse, dust, ash, or dried blood. Feeling somewhat confused turns left and proceeds down the maze.

Winding up and down the maze, thoughts about this place drift into her mind. Any prisoner who tried to escape from their cell was caught by the guards. The guards would play a game of how many times they could knock off the prisoner’s head and the prisoner would be given a small amount of time to go into a nearby cell that held no one as the decapitation would keep commencing.

A large arch doorway stands in front past the mazes leading into an incredibly large dome area called the Observation Room. Further ahead is a small walkway from the entrance that surrounds the dome with different stands used for research on magical creatures turning them into abominations.

The silver-haired creature walks off the ledge down below and freezes in her tracks at the horrific sight in front of her. A fenrir’s head with its mouth open on its hind legs as its spine connects the head to the tail. Parts of a basilisk’s tail are wrapped around the fenrir’s legs as its skeletal body is wrapped around the dome wall and several other misshapen creatures. Several fairies, sprites, nymphs, and other creatures have their arms, legs, heads, and wings entangled together. All these creatures are encased in some sort of stone different from the corpses.

Despite that, she walks up to an earth dragon’s head and lays her hand on its stone nostrils. Her eyes close as more memories surface of the torture they did to her here…..

A scientist looks up from the tablet towards the entrance at the Lower Decks. “Bring her to the Observation Room.” She orders a guard standing nearby.

The guard grabs the silver-haired creature roughly and drags her from the cell to a stand nearby. They are teleported to the Observation Room standing up high on the walkway and the guard moves to a stand where a group of scientists dwell.

A scientist points to the wall, “Put that on her and make sure it’s tight.”

Thin chains are placed on the silver-haired creature’s back and it pierces her flesh binding to her very bones. As the guard releases her, another scientist presses a switch on the tablet causing her to move forward falling into the pit below. Several different abominations charge forward to kill her and her chains force her to behead each one. Blood stains the floor as the rage inside her grows hating the experiments forced on her. Her hand reaches down and picks up a broken arm of the abomination raising it to her mouth. She refuses to open her mouth.

A scientist orders, “Eat your kin!”

The silver-haired creature still refuses to obey.

Another scientist presses a switch sending a small circular drone to fly over her. The device stops overhead glowing a dark red and shoots a beam down on the silver-haired creature. Shortly after the beam disappears on her head, a vine-like tattoo blooms from the top of her head spreading across her body down to her toes. The vine forces her to eat her kin even though she resists with all her might.

A hoarse voice sounding like a smokey whisper startles the scientists in a group, “Perhaps another tactic might work if I’m allowed to work my madness over her.”

“Fallshmere. I should have known you would show up. You know the rules, the First doesn’t want you anywhere near her.” A scientist called Stabih steps forward standing in front of Fallshmere.

Fallshmere gives a low chuckle and resumes watching the scene, “I’m well aware. I was just passing by to give my report.”

Stabih crosses his arms glaring at Fallshmere. “You could have just handed it to the guard, you always seem to be trying to defy him and he will hear of this.”

Fallshmere displays a frown on his face while his eyes never leave the prisoner.

A shudder in the room causes the silver-haired creature to snap back from the memories and stands up. Something wet is felt against her cheeks as blood tears fall from her face down to the floor. Her hand wipes across her face and flings the blood to the ground. With one last sorrowful glance, she moves back to the ledge, jumps up, and departs.

Winding back through the maze of the Torture Chambers, thoughts drift into her mind reflecting on what she felt from the Observation Room. “The stone creatures carry the same scent as the corpses. Not being able to die inside this place and yet what is preventing them from dying? Is it the dust or is it something else?”

The silver-haired creature leaves the Torture Chambers and enters the Turning Chamber. A curving walkway leads south and steps to the right lead into the room below. They would take species of all types to see if they can be turned into a damned creature like them. Only the general’s rank and above could turn them and require their blood. The scientists would take their blood and mix it with something called Tainted Mors. By injecting this mixture into the creature, and placing them in the middle of the room to observe if the blighted aura either took over the creature turning it, or exploded leaving a mess for the servants to clean up.

Casting a slight frown at the scene, the silver-haired creature walks south spotting a display tablet hanging above the wall. The display is blank and forges ahead trying to forget more of this empty feeling inside as a hazy memory surfaces. Bright-lighted rooms with her kin being killed because they could not put a chain on them. It pains her greatly, not being able to remember what they looked like.

In the next hallway displays a row of corpses sitting on the side of the wall with their hands stretched out to touch anyone passing by. Hurried footsteps usher her into the next room and glances around nervously unsure of what this chamber is called or what it was used for. A row of large cylinders standing twenty feet high with an eerie blue glittering liquid resides inside them. They are made from glass with a dark metal frame surrounding the top and bottom of it.

The silver-haired creature takes a few cautious steps forward spotting another row of cylinders on each side to the left. After passing a few of them, one is perceived with scattered crystal glass shards lying on the floor and no blue gel-like liquid inside. Not sensing or smelling anything different down here, takes a few steps further down and pauses as an eerie presence causes her to look to the other side. An incredible sight intrigues and terrifies her at the same time. She slowly moves towards the device and stops, giving great consideration to the creature inside.

Sharp long horns stretch from the creature’s head two feet outward with blood as their color. They attach to a blackbird face with no facial features to be seen and a slight shadow is cast over the features revealing a dark ash-black color for its face. Feeling a strange shiver run down her spine, continues gazing at it. Its shoulders carry a jagged line down them with no arms to be seen. The body is black and muscular as it goes down to its hips. On the legs are feathers and scales mixed together that are twice as large as his body with red blood veins descending downwards in a spiral pattern stopping at the ankles. From the ankles down to the feet casts a red blood shape liquid flowing up and down.

The silver-haired creature looks up, and a thought reaches her mind, “What type of experiment is this?” A light causes her to look at the cylinder beside this one and glimpses a human inside. She remembers a few guards gossiping about human experimentations and how they weren’t doing well with them.

A large form of the tablet without a metal around it appears in front of the glass hanging midair catching her attention. The words before read, “Experimentation failed, ready for removal.” Below the words is a red button with the words, “Press to send.” On the side, a strange button with words below it, “More Options.” Curiously, the creature presses the button “More Options.”

“Unable to comply, resetting configuration.” A neutral voice echoes throughout the chamber causing her to jump back. The screen blinks a few times, “Configuration failed, please enter a different command.”

A distasteful expression crosses her face and walks to the north brushing her arms up and down as a shiver goes down her spine. She never wants to hear that creepy voice again.

As the room turns around to the other side casting another row of cylinders leading back to the Turning Chamber, a wall to the right catches her attention as the doors are caved in by rocks. Behind her, a clear staircase with red outlines appears before the cylinders by the caved-in doors. She walks up and stops slightly before the door smelling fresh blood and fresh corpses. Without using an incantation or symbol, a light spell appears beside her dispelling any shadows down the hallway.

Fresh blood covers the hallway with another door slightly down the path. She levitates herself walking over the blood still not sensing any other creature around and pauses at the entrance to the room. On the floor of the room is covered in blood with several hands with no fingers, smashed detached faces with no eyes or mouth, and several organ hearts lying around. Before her on the wall are several cut-off legs pointing upwards in an octagon pattern. To the left are fingers displayed in a pointing spiral position scattered across the wall.

Raising her hand to the wall uses her sensing ability. “These corpses have been dead for eons and yet why are their parts still fresh? What happened here?” She turns around and a sight causes her to stand still in her tracks. On the other wall rests a creature with a shapeless form with a lot of black dust surrounding it. The black dust feels somehow familiar and moves closer to touch it. It gives off an immense aura of the blight from the War of Dark Ages. As her hand moves away, the horrible dust of this blight tries to follow her and falls to the floor eating the blood and leaving nothing behind. She steps out of the room never looking back.

In the next room is a small teleportation portal lying ahead that was used to call meetings into the next area. Past this small room is the General’s Quarters with nineteen different doors. Nineteen doors are caved in with large windows residing above with black ash covering them. At the end of the room stands sixteen out of the nineteen generals covered in stone.

In the front stand three generals whose rank rivals the First. The one standing before her is known as General Stabih and was the person in charge of torturing her. Her hand reaches out to touch the statue with a frown resting on her brow. These statues possess the same scent as the corpses and other stone statues.

A piece of General Stabih’s cheek falls off his face and turns to dust landing on the floor below. Simultaneously, an earthquake trembles the ground causing her to stumble and grab a stone leg steadying herself as part of the ceiling falls spreading a large wave of dust in her direction. Dust and debris brushes against the walls falling to the floor and the light spell fades illuminating the dark room again.

The silver-haired creature looks up spotting the dark ash existing past the windows letting her know this is a domain inside a territory. She stands up and moves past the statues into the next room, aware there might not be much time left to explore.

Proceeding to the next chamber is where the First dragged her, her last memories. Large amounts of dried blood reside on the floor near a pillar and dust spread ahead near the object that was destroyed. “When I destroyed the object, I gathered it was called The Source. Was that the source of their power or darkness? Why is no one here and what happened to this place?”

She steps forward and gazes around at the room looking for anything that might give her a clue as nothing remains. She faces the door and takes a few steps back and jumps forward being surprised by a soft male voice.

“Time is of the essence, we do not have. . .., Time is of the essence, we do not have. . ..” a male voice repeats below her. Looking down is a small round tablet displaying a male scientist with a lab coat flickering as the scientist repeats himself.

The silver-haired creature kneels in front of the device and reaches her hand out to grab the device. A huge shudder causes the room to tremble and shake as pieces of the ceiling fall down towards her. She jumps backward as the device breaks. Magical shields surround her while running back through the General’s Quarters casting small teleportations to enter the room of cylinders.

In the room of cylinders, the ceiling has collapsed with a blue-gel liquid rising towards her. A series of small teleports are cast through the chamber past the Turning Chamber and stops as the entry way to the Torture Chamber because it is blocked.

Her hand raises and uses spatial magic to remove the debris allowing her to pass through the area unaffected by surrounding areas. She moves quickly through the Torture chamber descending the spiral staircase using more teleportation down to the exit.

Another great earthquake ripples throughout the floors causing large cracks throughout the steps. Continuing down the passage are two huge doors leading outside. Debris comes up at her in all directions and casts teleportation passing through the debris. The silver-haired creature steps on a stone and jumps through the door as the domain finishes crashing inside with parts of the debris following as she lands on paved ground.

Bright light envelopes her along with a cloud of ash. She stands up breathing a huge sigh of relief. A thoughtful expression rests on her face and waits for the ash to settle as this place used to be a forest area covered with many varieties of different trees and vegetation. With the decay and rot that still exists inside, the forest would look dead with broken corpses scattered around. The light passes as an abundant number of creatures can be sensed around her. These creatures didn’t smell like her, and as her eyes adjusted a man stood in front of her with a few other men behind him, weapons drawn.

With a confused expression crossing her face, continues to glance at these creatures realizing she is somehow inside a town.

Commander Kail lowers his stance and magically puts away his weapon. “Lower your weapons!”

The soldiers hesitate to comply.

“Now!” Commander Kail’s voice doesn’t rise but his tone hardens towards his men.

Lieutenant Knox and the remaining soldiers sheath their weapons standing silently.

Meanwhile, the silver-haired creature glances to the left spotting buildings along with a large wall at the end. Magic in this area feels dark and incredibly familiar to the place inside, how can a town exist outside? Her gaze turns back to the man before her. “Do you serve His Lord, The First?”

Commander Kail gives her a baffled expression and crosses his arms . “I’m sorry, His Lord, The First?”

The creature of Fenrir on his shoulder catches her attention. “Whom do you serve?”

“I serve the Kingdom of Feldorea.”

Her gaze rests upward spotting a few other creatures up high as a few of them are ready to attack her. A frown rests upon her cold eyes as she looks behind Commander Kail at the two hiding in the shadows. “I suggest you order your kind to remove themselves from the shadows, for if they attack I will show them no mercy.”

Commander Kail looks behind him and nods. “Riley and everyone, come out of hiding and lower your weapons.”

​Quite a few hidden rangers reveal themselves up on the rooftops and lower their weapons. Two emerge from the shadows in the alley behind them on the ground. Riley stands beside Commander Kail while the other man standing behind them wears a brown hood covering him down the legs and stands at five feet six inches tall.

​Commander Kail looks at the young naked woman standing before him, “Who is this Lord, The First?”

Without answering, tries to use her sensing ability to measure the area. Immense darkness prevents her from measuring the magic to see how much time has passed. The dark aura comes from behind her and stills at the sight. She walks up the wall and touches the corpses, feeling the same presence from them as the others. But the wall is their prison, so where is it being consumed from?

​A long cape is draped across her shoulders covering her up. Simultaneously a startled expression from the silver-haired creature glances behind spotting Commander Kail with a gentle expression across his face. Withdrawing her hand, turns around. “You are a strange creature.”

​Commander Kail steps back. “I get that a lot. From your troubled expression, the wall troubles you?”

The silver-head creature tilts her head at Commander Kail, sensing he is an honest person with high morals. Still unsure of herself answers honestly, “Do you know how many creatures the wall has held prisoner?”

“Prisoner?” Riley questions with an irritating gesture placing his hand on his hip.

Commander Kail glances at Riley, “Calm down, Riley. What do you mean prisoner? If they were surely we could have freed them?”

“Let me ask you this question. When someone dies, they don’t look alive while they look like a corpse?”

Commander Kail and Riley exchange puzzled glances and look at the wall.

After a moment’s pause, the silver-haired creature continues, “This wall didn’t kill them, but something else did and it’s close by. The wall is a prison to ensure the death cycles throughout this place. It’s why they are not permitted to die.”

Riley’s expression turns to distrust and gazes at her, “How do we know you’re telling the truth? After all, you’re the one who came out of the wall.” His hand twitches to his backside ready to draw the dagger.

A look of disapproval rests on Commander Kail’s glance and rests his arms at his sides.

Her eyes grow colder with pure hatred inside causing Riley to grab his dagger. “Your ancestors captured me, experimented on me, and tortured me.”

A soldier starts to draw his weapon, “You Lie! We did-”.

“Enough! Lieutenant Knox, restrain your man at once!” Commander Kail orders with a brief wave of his hand betraying his irritation.

Lieutenant Knox moves forward forcing the soldier to put away his weapon.

“Could you explain what you mean by that? No one from our Kingdom even knew of a place existing beyond the wall.” Commander Kail gives another disapproving glance to Riley causing him to let go of his dagger.

“You seem to ask a lot of questions, let me ask you a few. What do you call this place?” The silver-haired creature turns around and gazes up, spotting a few trees.

“The Town of Runbay.” Is Commander Kail’s reply and continues watching this strange creature before him.

“Do you know of an event called the War of Dark Ages?” Gracefully, she jumps up landing on the ledge, her feet making no noise as they softly touch the ground.

Commander Kail places a hand on his hip changing his stance. “War of Dark Ages? I am sorry but I have never heard of that.”

“I’ve never heard of that either, Ragnar have you?” Riley questions the hooded figure standing behind him.

Ragnar shakes his head.

The trees standing before her emit the same death and decay as the corpses. It seems they are retaining the death inside. The branches above catch her attention as they have been scratched at and even feasted upon. “What do you know about these trees?”

“There is a celebration held to honor the trees. Creatures called Dardyians descend from the forest above the Ruins of Talmeshia to the North. However, not everyone is happy with the celebration or creatures. Are the trees responsible for killing anyone?” Commander Kail glances at Riley with a worried expression noticing his agitated state.

She turns around and sits down with her legs hanging off the ledge. “Celebration? And creatures that can consume death?” Her hand raises to her chin pondering this. “What do these creatures look like?”

“They are a bit hard to describe. There is a statue in the middle of town. Can you answer my question, what are those trees?”

“Perhaps I should go up there and find out.” Riley jumps on the ledge landing beside her.

“I wouldn’t go near them unless you want to end up like a corpse resting inside the wall.” Her voice drips cold, and lowers her hand. She glances at him.

Riley places his hand on his hip and glowers at her. “Very well then, do you have other methods of showing us what you mean?” He kneels before her his other hand on his dagger. “You seem to know a lot more than we do about them. Give us a good reason to believe you.”

“Riley, that’s enough.” Commander Kail looks at him.

Riley ignores him and continues to try and intimidate her.

The silver-haired creature casts a cold gaze at him and looks back at Commander Kail with annoyance in her eyes.

“She could have let you just go to the trees. Riley, remember we are here conducting an investigation, not a brawl.” Commander Kail scoffs at him.

Riley sits back with a bored expression. “Fine.””

With a glance up at the trees, Commander Kail crosses his arms. “Lieutenant Knox, how many disappearances concerning the trees have appeared here in this town?”

“None, Sir,” He replies with his hands behind his back.

“Could you explain what you meant on those trees? Surely if they attacked anyone, people would be raising a fuss about it?” Commander Kail questions, his voice sounding more unsure by the minute.

“No one would see it, the trees are that fast. Your reaction would be too slow.” She stands up and glances at a couple of trees before her. “If I give you an example, would you allow me to destroy them and this area?”

“Destroy the area?” Riley grows angrier by the minute.

“Calm down. Riley, get down here. Now!” Commander Kail orders him, and after a few minutes complies standing beside him pouting.

Meanwhile, the silver-haired creature turns around to face the trees, and a ranger teleports himself between the trees. In the same moment before anyone can blink, the roots lift from deep within the ground and pierce the ranger from both sides. As the roots glow dark ash, they drink the body’s essence. In a split second, the body grows thin while the roots drain all the blood, flesh and then bones afterward leaving nothing behind. The clothes shred into pieces falling to the floor, disintegrating before it touches the ground. The roots dig into the ground spreading the grass back upwards leaving no trace of anything occurring.

A few screams are heard from below and a corpse appears at the wall stretching his hand outwards to them. The corpse is screaming in pain even though no sound is heard. It edges back into the wall with the other corpses looking alive and yet dead at the same time.

An eerie silence continues with a few soldiers on the floor. Commander Kail draws in a deep breath.

“Now do you see why I told you not to go near them?” The silver-haired creature stares down at the corpses with no smile residing on her face.

Riley looks up angrily and grabs the dagger.

Commander Kail grabs Riley’s hand and shakes his head at him. “How come you are not affected?”

With an angry expression, Riley lowers his hand glancing to the side.

She gives a sad smile that doesn’t change the coldness in her eyes, “As I was experimented upon and turned, I no longer qualify as a creature of the living or the dead. I am something else.”

“You mentioned destroying the trees and what is inside? Is there anyway for us to explore that area?” Commander Kail questions.

“No, that area has crashed in on itself and will spread something far worse than the trees you observed.” She hops down off the ledge landing on the pavement. “I can destroy it but something tells me there is more going on here. I would need a bit of time to ascertain information to destroy these trees and leave the town intact as the spell is quite powerful.”

“Very well, how about a truce?” Commander Kail ignores the glares from everyone including Riley and Lieutenant Knox.

“Truce?”

“Let us say we grant you the agreement of destroying those trees and the place inside the wall without asking any questions from our soldiers under our command. Under the truce, I’m sure citizens and other people will try to do you harm as this town has been under investigation for a while. Could we ask in return that you don’t kill anyone while the truce stands between us?” He is not sure what to expect as the feelings inside him are strange to understand. This creature gives off a unique aura unknown to him.

The silver-haired creature tilts her head in his direction and gives him a thoughtful nod of approval. “Very well, I will under the truce destroy the trees and leave these townsfolk alive. Does that meet your approval?”

Commander Kail relays an order to those under his command. “Yes. Soldiers and Rangers, be sure to tell the Citizens about the truce we have. I will not tolerate any interruptions from them while the investigation is still ongoing.” His authoritative voice booms over the alley causing both soldiers and rangers to gaze at him with the utmost respect as well as unyielding anger at this order they could not refuse.

Ragnar departs with the soldiers and rangers down the left lane. Simultaneously, more soldiers and rangers depart on the right side.

Commander Kail turns towards Riley, “Riley, are you alright?”

Riley nods and takes a deep breath. “Just mad at myself. From all the pranks we have had, I just assumed those trees were toys. I think we need to investigate more of this Durdley fellow as something tells me he is involved in all this somehow.”

Commander Kail frowns. “I don’t know. I feel as if we have been hindered repeatedly.” He places his other hand on his hip.

Afterward, they look towards the spot where the silver-haired creature once stood and isn’t there. They look up and down the alley.

Riley gives an irritating look toward his friend, “Fine mess we stumbled ourselves onto.”

Commander Kail shrugs, “At least we have a lead to answers about what is really going on here. Still, the presence she gave was interesting, to say the least.”

“What do you mean?”

“There was a different scent about her, I’m not sure as I’m having a challenging time describing it. I wonder who she is and where they came from. But more importantly, we need to ensure we can save as many as we can with the little information we have at the moment.”

“Are you sure it didn’t double-cross us?” Riley questions as they continue down the lane passing the wall of corpses.

A hint of amusement rests on Commander Kail’s face and glances at Riley, “Worried about your pride?”

“Of Course NOT!” Riley scoffs and kicks forward with a shoe.

Commander Kail replies with a stern expression, “I’m sure she is nervous about being around us. I, for the life of me, could not fathom why she of all people would hate us so much. And who is this, The First?” They turn left out of the alley glancing at a few soldiers. “How did we torture her? Experimentation? How much of this town did they know about it? I think we should focus on the town first while we wait for her to come back and destroy this place. Protecting the town is my responsibility and I will not have anyone else suffer.”

Riley shakes his head in amazement since his blood brother can be so bold and stubborn at times. He admired him the most because Commander Kail was the protector of the people of Feldorea even with all their faults.

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