Shadun

Prologue

Prologue

Dawning

"You're late Kvrath!" The dying man laughed and wheezed. "Oh you are late you pathetic zealot! I have already summoned her. The Queenwitch is in the realm as we speak, her karma is in the air. It won't be long till she returns and take us in her comfort arms...... In her sweet darkness where our loss and our pain and our strife will not matter again.

"See for your eyes you dimwit, I told you of this day, I warned you. Her children are already stirring in the wombs of the earth at her scent,"

"Vhoms, oh vhoms!" Ila prayed panting heavily, her eyes wide with terror as she took in everything in the cave. "You.... You have damned us all you crazy cultist!" she jumped at the man, kicking him, but Kvrath caught her before she could do him any harm.

"Leave it," he told her gently.

The cave floor was covered with a magic circle, drawn with black chalk, barely noticeable. Reif was laying in the middle of it, vomiting blood, his green eyes glazed with madness. Aside from his condition though nothing was special about him; He was a bald old man in black robes like the rest of his followers. At his head and the center of the formation stood an alter where the sacrificial offerings were burning with a strange red-black flame.

Kvrath made sure Ila will not attack the man again before letting go of her. Then the priest cautiously approached the laying cultist and crouched before him. "What did you do?"___ no reply came__ "In Sain's name what did you do Reif?"

Reif bursted out in laughter again. Not the painful grating one from earlier this time. But a bubbling pleased giggle. "Sain's name?" The mad man asked as if greatly amused. Then his face hardened and he hissed harshly. "Soon they'll be no fake gods! This time she'll make sure of it!"

"Nonsense!" Kvrath shouted over the cultist. "Nonsense, vile demonic cultist, Marina cannot return..... The gods made certain of it!"

"Don't be so sure, ha ha ha ha, this time there's no stopping her. I made a hole through the Allpower with my own karma you know. I'm done! I'm a worse abomination than even an Halfsoul now..... You listen insect___ This is no half incarnation like your puny gods made sure of. She'll return complete;

"The dark lord shall have his queen, the gods of Dia will be subjugated, the world will finally have Shadun...... The world will finally have peace. And all of us that died for the cause will be returned to her arms,"

Then he fell silent.

Kvrath paused for a moment staring at the dead man then stood abruptly. "Kvrath?" Ila asked unsure. She was leaning by the wall, her face streaked with tears. Her blond hair cascaded beside her face.

"I need to think girl....." Kvrath scolded . "The children of Marina, four of them, where in the world where they buried.....? Nothiefen, Srome, Sheash.... Sheash?"

Ila suddenly wept and shrank like a dog cracked with a whip. "Protect me oh Rea!" She cried, trembling. "Protect your faithful servant from dark and shadows please goddess."

The ground shook suddenly.

"Oh shadows!" Kvrath cursed.

"Stop cursing," Ila cried out.

"Really priestess, now?"

"Especially now," Ila bawled. "We wouldn't want the goddess displeased with us in such unsure time,"

The ground shook again.

"Well dark and shadows! We got to get out of here before the tunnels collapse on us!"

"You are still cursing!"

"Save it Ila!" Kvrath snapped. "I'm sure the goddess can forgive a few curses. Come, now!"

They ran out the cave room the way they came, back into the winding tunnels. The body of the cultists, in black robes, they had killed earlier to get to Reif were scattered all over the place. The exit was just ahead.

"What's happening Kvrath?" Onis asked as the two burst out of the cave. With a loud rumble the Devron mountain started collapsing on itself.

The three priests ran into the woods and only stopped when they felt they were far enough into the forest not to be harmed by the mountain collapse. Not by coincidence too as it was at the location they hide their horses.

"I'm going to ask again high priest," Onis said panting, wide eyed. He was a big black man with a scar below his left eye. "What in Vhoms and Sain's name is happening? Did you kill the cultists?"

"They are dead if that's what you mean," Kvrath frowned. "We didn't kill Reif.... Bastard killed himself with the ritual. He claims to have summoned the dark queen of all people,"

"Blah! Mad tales,"

"I hope," Kvrath walked to his horse, untied it and mounted. Holding the rein he stirred it eastward, towards the highway, his eyes were distant. "I only hope. Sheash was built atop the Devourers tomb. I hope.... If not, if what Reif said is true, the greatest city in the world is now nothing but ruins."

The others mounted. "Where are we going?" Ila asked. In her voice you could hear loss, glimpse uncertainty and smell defeat.

"To Sheash, at gods speed." he rode off.

[Five days later when the priests of Fen arrived at Sheash, they found a ruined city. What had happened that day was already called the dawning by common folks. The day the greatest fort of humanity had vanished. No sign of the Silver knights that had once protected the city, no sign of the buildings, glassy and tall, reaching out to the sky as if supporting it, and finally no sign of the 'invincible' royal family that some even called gods. Everything had vanished into the belly of the 'Ender'___ what the common people called the Devourer.

[The beast itself was no where to be found. Some said the heroes of Sheash had vanquished it before their demise, some say the gods had trapped it in Abyss. While others says it has fled back into the earth after flexing, waiting for the return of its mistress.

[This is all just conjecture really. What can we do anyway? We can only await the return of the architect of Shadun while making guesses.

[We can only await the dark queen.]

_________ from the chronicles of the Queenwitch. By Von Kiel. The son of Shrafv.