Marker of Faith

CHAPTER 37

CHAPTER 37

The Nothingness seethed and writhed with dark shapes that crept without sound. Invaders in the neutrality between Dark and Light, the shadows explored the barrier searching for a break, a crack in the binding between the two worlds. This used to be Their place, Their domain, but once the war started so long ago it became neutral ground. Neither side was to have dominion. The Void Gate was growing weaker but still held, rigid with the protections set down thousands of years before by the Guardians. 

A testament to their power.

The fact that the Old Ones could even enter the Nothingness again now showed that power was waning. Blood magic eroded the boundaries to finally fully open the way through the gate. It would fall and soon, very soon, the dark time would come again.

A triumphant hiss rippled through the Nothingness as the shadows oozed over the shriveled form a man, the Scion, the Bringer of the Chasm. Lem. He floated idly, his body warped and twisted in the ragged shell of bandanna-wrapped clothes in which he'd been destroyed. His consciousness was still very much alive and entombed within the corrupted framework now held prisoner in the aether. The darkness poured into his eyes and mouth, trying to reanimate and reclaim their possession, but was repelled by a flash of light.

Lem moaned in agony as the Light seared through him and shadows erupted out of his body to flee back into the void with angry, defeated whispers. The Light faded, leaving Lem once again hollow and empty, abandoned by everything to the numbing existence of the Nothingness. Both punishment and mercy -- salvation from the void and damnation for the war to come, Lem was finished; others would not be so lucky.

The Old Ones pushed against the Void Gate, focused and eager; the dark time was coming. Humans were being gathered like a crop for the growing Shadow Army, and the Guardians would pay for damaging the Chosen One. Oh yes, the dark time was coming.