Chapter 1 - Prologue (2/2)

Eventually, I broke free from the black cloud again to see that the entire village was swallowed by darkness. Behind me, the darkness spat out my father. His face was cut, but otherwise, he was fine.

He immediately took charge of the situation. Calling out orders left and right. ”Who is missing? Has anyone done a head count?”

”Já, Brandr. Erik and the other two guardsmen are missing. Everyone else is here only has minor cuts and bruises.”

”Thanks, Asmund. We should camp outside and wait for It to leave.”

”Good idea. Well boys, start making camp.”

We returned to the village the next morning and found Erik and the two guardsmen at the center of town. Their bodies were a far cry from their former states. Their bodies, once strong and sturdy, were now black, withered, and lacerated to the point that we couldn't bear to look at their disfigured forms any longer. Their tools were carted to their funeral pyres and I watched as the three men joined the afterlife. My small town was forever changed. We lost three of our bravest men, our protectors, our friends. I was eight years old at the time.

Persephone

Khoron

We called it the skiés thanátou. It plagued the town for days. Everyone I cared for was dying. My mom: dead. My brother: dead. I watched them die in front of me. Huddled into the corner, It loomed over my brother and me. I saw tears rolling down Mom's cheeks as she clutched a knife with both hands, shaking. She was terrified, it was obvious. My brother was crying, his screams piercing the air. The scene was burned into my mind. The splatter of blood, the clang of the knife hitting the floor. I closed my eyes, but it did nothing. I already knew what was to come. I heard my father screech from the other room.

”Crono!”

I felt warm blood pour onto me and a searing heat. I opened my eyes. Laying upon me was my brother. He was coughing blood. I was not sure if I could do anything, there was so much of it.

”No, no, no.” I repeated numbly. I stared at my brother, dying in my ŀȧp, unable to do anything. His stomach was torn open, blood pouring out. I could see his innards. My mother laid beside him, her eyes closed. She wasn't breathing. Her throat was cut wide open. I could only stare hopelessly at her. More coughing racked Crono's body, reminding me that he was still alive.

”Goodbye.” His voice had a slight tremble to it. He was trying to reassure me, trying to remain calm.

Afterwards, most of the town took shelter in the church. I was with them, catatonic with grief. I couldn't take it anymore. I had one thing left to live for: my father.

We held out for days, praying fervorously. Occasionally, a skiés thanátou appeared nearby, but our prayers did not cease. The skiés thanátou stayed away from the church as if they were deterred by an invisible force. We rarely stopped to eat, sleep or drink, praying nonstop during that week. We heard reports of an army coming to help. We held out, praying for them to arrive soon.

A low voice entered my head.

”Death approaches. Survive 10 years and find the shadows that plague the world under the capital.”

The pocket watch glowed and the engraved inverted torch was set ablaze in a burst of light. The light blinded me, forcing me to look away. When I opened my eyes, I was on a hill, overlooking a forest. I heard the screaming of men as flames descended from the sky. Only two men were left standing, corpses littered on the ground around them. From one of them, a light emitted from his scale-covered body. Magic swirled around him, pulsating with energy as he pointed at the other man. The other faced him, and his form began to distort. His body blackened and horns sprouted from his head. He cackled, his body violently shaking as he shouted.

”You fools!”

”It appears Lord Kalkarath came over personally. The portal was a success.”

I turned around. There stood a man with youthful features and a cruel smile plastered on his face. His piercing gaze slid past me. I looked down at myself and saw that I could see the ground through my hand. I blinked and saw my father praying again. I shook my head, thinking I was tired. My father stopped praying suddenly.

”Do you feel that?”

A sea of heads nodded in agreement. There was a tremor in the floor. It grew stronger, reverberating through the walls. The skiés thanátou stopped moving. They stared towards the forest. Flames fell from the sky. We heard the shouts and cries of battle.

”The soldiers are here!” Cried the town. Relief swept through everyone's faces as they rushed out, eager to be free of this curse. A strange sense of dread overwhelmed me. I stood, rooted in the church and watched the town celebrate. My father was among them, praising the gods above. In the crowd, there was an unfamiliar figure wearing priestly robes. He stood off to one side and carried an inverted torch. I stared at him. I worked in the church, but I did not recognize him. My gaze drew his attention, he turned to me and smiled. His eyes were a deep obsidian and he began to glow slightly. The crowd didn't notice him.

Another figure walked into town. Now he, I recognized. He was the man from the vision. He donned the same cruel smile. He raised his hands and shouted, ”Let this town be the first conquest of the demons!”

Hundreds of skiés thanátou rose up behind him and began slaughtering the town. Panic saturated the air. I hid in the church, praying to the gods. An hour passed and silence. Cautiously, I raised my head to look out the window. The man with the inverted torch from earlier was still there. The glow surrounding him grew brighter until it became a brilliant blue. Wings sprouted from his back. He kneeled down and reached out with his hand to touch the ground. Cracks spread out from behind him, forming a large rectangle. The ground swung down and a blast of cold air washed over me. Was it a door?

From all over town, people began to rise up, only to jump down the door, leaving their bodies behind. The hole closed up and the cracks receded. The figure stood there, a silent tear fell to the floor. ”So many untimely deaths.” He sighed and looked right at me. ”Remember my wishes, Persephone Xenith”

A week passed and soldiers came into town. They were here to investigate the annihilation of the First Regiment. They found me in the church, bȧrėly alive. I was brought to the nearby monastery and raised by friends of my father. I was delirious for weeks with shock. My family's death caused my life to spiral into despair. Everyone I cared for died. I was cursed, everyone I loved was doomed to die. I had no one. I will never have someone again. Nothing. I felt… hopeless. But after a time, I realized that there was only one thing to do. I changed my grief into fury, and bent that fury to my will. My first act after my transformation was to begin the task given to me by Thanatos.

Mordred

Earth, California

Cruising around in my convertible was a good way to calm my nerves. I usually drove to the University in the early hours, when there were no people to pester me. Earlier in the year, we were ȧssigned by the professor to make a model of an ancient civilization of our choice. My sculpture, a miniature replica of the Parthenon, was near completion. Of course, since the model was mine, it would be nothing short of perfect.

I bȧrėly registered entering the shared space granted to us, the students, for the purpose of working on our projects. After looking at the other students' models, I allowed myself a smile. It always felt good, being around art, even if it was of questionable quality. I wondered how the citizens of old felt like, I had no idea how they survived being without the comforts of the modern age.

Stopping my admiration for the creations of… I hesitated to call them my peers, I swaggered to my own station and reached for my nearly finished sculpture. Just as my fingertips touched the clay, a shudder ran through the room. An earthquake, perhaps?

I darted to the edge of the room and looked through a window only to see... Nothing. I was confused. There was nothing wrong. It was just a normal dark night, so dark that there didn't appear to be any stars. Come to think of it, no moon either-

Wait, wasn't it just morning?

Suddenly, vertigo overtook me. The room around me spun faster, faster, and faster still! Then I realized that the entirety of the sky was not pitch black. There were two disturbances in it's homogeneity: two large, yellow, malevolent eyes that just begged for the destruction of all things good.

I found myself in a room that was decorated a very tasteful purple. In the center, there was a comfortable-looking bed. Hung on the wall were torches that lit the room in a warm glow.

”My-my lord! Are you alright?” Some weirdo cried out from behind me. I spun around, taking note of the robes that hung around me.

”Who the hell are you? Where am I!” I demanded, raising my hands in anger, only to have my attention pulled by a light shining in my eye. A ring, bedazzled with a single scarlet ruby, lay wrapped around my left index finger.

”Sir? Galia, in the town of Shiria.”