LONG BEFORE THERE EVER WAS A BLACK RIFT DIVIDING RAVKA IN TWO, BEFORE THE BIRTH OF THE FOLD, THERE WAS ANOTHER MONSTER.
Mayhem had once before engulfed the vast land and unleashed upon the innocent, a hell so deliciously wicked. For only the greed of a man could create such destruction. To feed the forgotten gods and Caelestium of The Way. A Warlock hungry for power and a thirst for bloodshed had given life to a being of pure evil.
Or that was the stories orphanages told the otkazat'sya to scare them into doing their chores, the fables that riddled the sleep of Grisha with nightmares of what could lurk within the Fold worse than the Volcra.
But that being had been vanquished in a place called the Evermore Forest. Woods so beautiful and eternal that had survived almost anything. Lies. It had not survived the Crimson Enchantress, nor had it been able to stop her from letting loose anarchy that could rival even the Black Heretic's ambitions and obsessions.
It was said the witch had been killed inside the Fold. No one knew in what way was she defeated, only the stories told by the survivors of her destructive wrath.
Words held a power no form of magic or science could ever obtain. And the truths in some fairytales had always remained a fact throughout history. Stories of villains and heroes, good vs evil, of angry and merciful Gods. The tale of war and the myth of peace had never been stopped, even by the dead.
The slight rocking of the dusky carriage jolted the woman out of her thoughts. She opened her emerald eyes and stared into the shadow of darkness invading the country and pillaging her people of their lives. "Has it grown since the last time we were here?"
The man beside her, cladded in his cape of midnight black, turned his face to glance out of the small window on her right. "It's the same as before."
She hummed and brushed her own dark cloak of any wrinkles it might've obtained in her dreamless nap. She did not speak more and only ever so briefly glanced at the nearing Fold before setting her eyes on her fingers as they glowed a soft hue of red.
His obsidian eyes, however, hadn't strayed far from her ageless face. The eternal beauty gracing her features had captivated his heart long ago. He reached for her hand resting on her lap and brought them up to his lips to press a loving kiss on her skin.
