The Dark Pact
Tarin stood before the council, his voice shaky as he recounted what he had witnessed. “I followed Aeron’s forces as they made camp for the night. I thought it would be routine—just soldiers resting before their next move. But then I saw… him.”
Kael and Elara exchanged a glance, sensing where the story was headed.
“General Aeron was alone, standing in the center of the campfire,” Tarin continued, his voice growing quieter. “And then the fire went out. Just like that—total darkness. But I could still see him, like he was… glowing from the inside.”
Elara felt a chill creep down her spine. “What else did you see?”
Tarin swallowed hard. “There was something with him. It wasn’t human. It was like a shadow, but it had form—arms, a face, eyes. They were talking.”
“Talking?” Kael asked sharply. “What did they say?”
“I couldn’t hear everything,” Tarin admitted, his face pale. “But I heard enough. Aeron was asking for more power. And the shadow—it promised him everything. It said that soon, all the light would be gone, and Aeron would rule over the world in darkness.”
The room fell silent.
Elara’s heart pounded in her chest. “He’s made a pact with them,” she said quietly. “The same shadows we fought before—they’ve latched onto Aeron. They’re giving him power in exchange for spreading their darkness.”
“Then we have to stop him before it’s too late,” Lira said fiercely. “If Aeron is truly working with the shadows, this isn’t just a battle for territory—it’s a battle for everything.”
Kael’s hand tightened around the hilt of his sword. “We can’t wait for them to come to us. We need to take the fight to Aeron, before he gains any more power.”
Elara nodded, though a sense of dread filled her. She knew that fighting Aeron meant more than just defeating a man—it meant confronting the darkness that had haunted her for years. And this time, it wasn’t just hiding in the shadows. It was alive, and it was growing stronger.
“We need a plan,” she said firmly, looking around the room. “We have to weaken Aeron’s connection to the shadows. If we can break that bond, we might have a chance.”
Kael turned to her, his eyes filled with determination. “We’ve fought the darkness before, and we won. We’ll do it again. Together.”
Elara met his gaze and nodded. But deep down, she knew that this battle would test them in ways they had never faced before. The shadows were not just a force of nature—they had found a human heart to corrupt, and that made them more dangerous than ever.
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Shadow's Embrace
Fantasy"In the heart of darkness, love is the light." In the mysterious woods beyond the village of Amaris, love blooms in the darkest places, where light dares not tread. Elara, drawn to the forbidden shadows, finds herself entangled in a centuries-old cu...