2026-06-14 13:34:46
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Chapter 20: The Road of the Forgotten
"Down!"Draeven tackled one of the children into the dirt as something exploded through the trees.The creature hit the road where they had been standing a heartbeat earlier. Stone cracked beneath its weight. The horse pulling the lead wagon screamed and bolted.People scattered. Weapons appeared instantly. Draeven rolled to his feet and drew Mournhook.The thing crouched in the middle of the road. Too many limbs. Too many eyes. A body stitched together from different creatures. Wolf legs. Human arms. A deer skull fused onto a twisted neck. Black veins pulsed beneath pale skin. Witchcraft. No question."Stay back!" Severin barked.The survivors retreated toward the wagons. Oric grabbed the nearest child and shoved him behind cover.The monster's head snapped toward them. Then it smiled. Not a predator's grin. A human one. Wrong. Everything about it was wrong."That's new," Oric muttered.The creature launched itself forward. Draeven moved first. Mournhook swept across the road.The ho
Chapter 19: The Tomb That Shouldn't Exist
"You're telling me an entire church order is protecting a grave that doesn't exist?"Oric's arm was wrapped in fresh bandages, but his voice carried more strength than his body. The group had moved away from the ridge and taken shelter inside the ruins of an abandoned watchtower overlooking the valley. The dead church soldiers had been stripped of anything useful. Weapons. Maps. Seals.Answers had been harder to find. Nerez stood beside a cracked stone wall. For several seconds, he said nothing.That silence worried Draeven more than any speech could have."Aurek died four hundred years ago," Nerez finally said."Then he was buried somewhere," Severin replied."No."The old hunter looked toward the distant black glow hanging above Varnholde."His body vanished."Nobody spoke.Even the children seemed to sense the weight behind those words. Malgraves frowned."People don't just vanish.""They do when gods interfere."That earned everyone's attention. Draeven leaned against the wall and
Chapter 18: The Price of Three Days
The first arrow struck Oric's shoulder.One moment the group was staring at the distant black light above Varnholde. The next, blood sprayed across the hillside. Oric hit the ground with a curse."Ambush!"Draeven was already moving. Mournhook swept through the air as he charged toward the nearest rocks.A second arrow slammed into stone where his head had been. Crossbows. Multiple shooters. Elevated positions. He counted three firing angles immediately. Professional. Not bandits. Not monsters. Hunters.The surviving children screamed and scattered. Severin grabbed two by the collars and dragged them behind cover. Malgraves threw himself over another.A third volley came. Bolts hammered the hillside. One struck a hunter beside Nerez. The man collapsed instantly. Dead before he hit the ground. Poison. Wonderful. Draeven slid behind a boulder."How many?"Nerez crouched nearby."Eight. Maybe ten.""Church?"The ancient hunter peeked over the stone. Silver light flickered briefly across
Chapter 17: The Hunter's Mark
“Down!”Draeven moved before the warning fully left his mouth. The black-armored figure vanished from the road below. Not stepped away. Not retreated. Vanished.A heartbeat later, stone exploded beside Malgraves. The old priest crashed into the dirt as a black spear punched through the boulder behind him.The weapon buried itself halfway into solid rock. Children screamed. Hunters drew steel. The figure stood among them now. No footsteps. No sound. Just there.The distance between road and hillside should have taken minutes to cross. It had taken him less than a second. Draeven's hand closed around Mournhook. The black veins beneath his skin pulsed violently.The stranger's helmet hid his face completely. No eye slits. No visible skin. Only smooth black metal covered in ancient symbols.The air around him seemed wrong. Bent. Distorted. Like reality itself disliked his presence.“Move the children,” Draeven said.Severin immediately obeyed. No argument. No hesitation.The survivors ret
Chapter 16: The Road of the Dead
“Keep moving!”Severin's voice echoed through the collapsing tunnel.Stone crashed behind them. Dust rolled through the passage like smoke from a battlefield.Draeven ran near the rear of the group, Mournhook balanced across his shoulder while his free hand dragged a wounded hunter forward. The man could barely walk, but leaving him behind would slow the others when panic started.And panic was close. The mountain continued shaking. Each tremor sent loose rock tumbling from the ceiling.Behind them, somewhere deep beneath Blackwater, something ancient was breaking.Something that should never have broken. Oric stumbled beside him.“Tell me I'm imagining this.”“You aren't.”“That wasn't encouraging.”“It wasn't meant to be.”Another tremor hit. The tunnel groaned. Everyone accelerated. Draeven glanced backward.The darkness behind them wasn't empty anymore. Something moved inside it. Not one thing. Many. Thin shapes crawling across the walls and ceiling. Keeping pace. Watching.The s
Chapter 15: The Breaking Seal
Stone exploded from the ceiling.Draeven threw himself sideways as a slab the size of a wagon smashed into the floor where he had been standing a heartbeat earlier.The impact shook the entire chamber. Dust filled the air.The ancient symbols surrounding the abyss cracked one after another, their fading light spilling across the floor like dying embers.Someone shouted.Oric."Move!"Another section of ceiling collapsed. This time toward the remaining children near the tunnel entrance.Malgraves ran first.The old priest slammed into the nearest child and knocked him clear just before stone crushed the spot where he had been standing.The impact threw everyone off balance. Draeven planted Mournhook into the ground to steady himself.Pain shot through his arm.The black veins had spread halfway up his neck now. Every heartbeat carried another pulse of heat beneath his skin. The curse was changing.Again.Valen watched the destruction calmly through the little girl's body. As though non
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