Esmurus (Original Draft)

Chapter 18: Dragon's Will.

Strider knelt. Watching the fallen guard as he continued to gasp for air and eventually die in his arms. As the last breath came from the guard's mouth Strider stood, made a cross with his arms in the air, and drew his sword.

[Strider] "To arms men..we have an Undead army to slaughter."

Strider slowly walked down the steps and faded into the unbroken city of Khaso.

Meanwhile in the city's library. Sarah was stood behind a dusty old bookshelf, scouring and hunting through all sorts of different books. Obviously she was in a hurry.

[Sarah] "The Philosophy of George Sunkiller..The Red Flag..The Foundation of War..The Battle of the Gods. Nope."

She walked further down the aisle of books. Still rummaging through old bookshelves. She began to scurry impatiently and then. And then she found it.

[Sarah] "White Winter..The Rules of Order..The Teachings of Magna Grave the Gall! That has to be it. This has to hold the magic Acutus was talking about."

Sarah reached her hand into the bookshelf in front of her and wrapped her fingers around the spine of a book. Then she pulled it out. A charcoal coloured book of dark magic; a book that held the most evil and corrupt forms of wizardry. She held the book in her palm and pulled open the cover. She began to force her eyes over the contents of the book closely; however anything beyond page 60 was unreadable - it read:

The Teachings of Magna Gall the Grave

Contents:

1. Mind Tracking.

7. The Link Between Worlds.

16. The 12 Crystals of Creation.

40. The Gods of Esmurus.

50. The Intorsion Realm.

63. The Resurrection of the Damned. 

[Sarah] "Acutus, I know you can hear me. If this is what you're looking for. Please give me a sign."

Sarah looked around the room. Waiting for something to happen. Then slowly but surely the spirit of Acutus Malum gave her a response. A book tumbled from the bookshelf behind her, hitting the floor hard and creating a loud bang; which scared the life out of Sarah causing her to jump backwards, hitting her head on the bookshelf and falling to the floor.

[Sarah] "Ugh..no need to be rough..wait, what's this?"

Sarah placed the book of black magic into a small black bag on her side, one she bought from the market before entering the library, and crawled over to the book that fell to the floor. She placed her left hand on it and brushed away the dust of years past. As she brushed the dust away the writing and illustrations on the front of the book became clear. "Shadowfell: A Tourists Guide" 

Sarah stared down at the book that was hundreds of years old. A book that in it's time was a guide to the old capital of the Human Race, A book that in the future would hold great information for historians, but a book that in the present...was about her home. Tears began to run down her face and drip on to the surface of the book. Then in a sobbing voice she began to speak.

[Sarah] "I un-understand. I'll meet you at my home. Back at the tomb."

Then after a moment of silence. A voice could be heard in the distance; which made Sarah panic, wipe the tears off of her face, and place the second book in the bag on her side. Then Lyraesel came running into the room and began speaking in a fast, panicking voice.