Page 2 of The Immortal Covenant

“It’sneverjust one,” Arem, an older Celestial to Sarilian’s immediate left, grunted.

Sure enough, another of the hound-like abominations shambled from the open portal. This time, however, it didn’t come alone. More monstrous hounds poured forth in its wake. Other varieties of voidspawn soon followed. Hulking bears that shambled on their hind legs, their bodies coated in eyes rather than hair. Sleek felines with tentacles in lieu of legs that undulated from side to side in a slithering advance.

A dozen—a hundred—andstillthe voidspawn kept coming.

Sarilian squeezed his spear shaft to keep his hands from trembling. No amount of training could have prepared him forthis. Each new voidspawn he spied was even more horrific than the last. Such abominations shouldn’t exist in a sane world. He supposed they didn’t—not until their foul essence fled the Void and congealed here into physical forms.

The ceaseless tide of voidspawn had yet to abate when the first of them swept forward in a devouring tide of violet. Their chittering wails choked the air. Sarilian’s chest tightened, Darius’ words replaying in his head.You are the shield that will keep them safe—the blade that shall strike down their foes!

Should the Celestials fail, there would be nothing stopping the voidspawn from slipping through the Shroud and invading the Mortal Realm. This was his sacred duty—the Covenant to which his mortal self had pledged its soul even if he no longer remembered why. Whatever it took, until the last of his dawnflame went out, he would stand and fight.

Sarilian joined his voice to his companions’ wordless battlecry as the wave of voidspawn crashed into their line. Claws scraped off his shield while jaws rent at it in flashes of violet light. Though his shield held against the assault, each blow ate away at the dawnflame sustaining it. He expended some of his reserveto reinforce the magic even as he thrust his spear with practiced precision. Around him, his comrades did the same.

Triumph surged through him when he saw his spear impale a cat-like horror, only for the emotion to dampen when two more abominations instantly took its place. The voidspawn ranks seemed endless, reinforcements continuing to pour from the gate.

Further down the line, he caught a flash of light and risked a brief glance to see one of the larger bear-like voidspawn reeling beneath a barrage of conjured fire. “Steady!” Darius’s amplified voice somehow remained audible over the deafening din of battle. “Remember your training! Let this tide of aberrations break across our bulwark of light!”

Sarilian gritted his teeth and did as his mentor commanded—he held. Narrowing his focus to only the voidspawn in front of him, he slowly fell into the rhythm of the fight.

Block, thrust, recover.

Block, thrust, recover…

Occasionally, a voidspawn scored a lucky hit, rending his chest past his shield or tearing into his exposed arm. Thankfully, however, none proved too serious to mend with his dawnflame. Other Celestials in the front began to swap out with those in reserve, but Sarilian remained stubbornly in place. So long as he had enough energy to keep fighting, he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Look out!”someone shouted.

A shadow swooped over Sarilian, and he ducked instinctively as a pair of massive talons raked the air where his head had been. Glancing up, he spied a mockery of a dragon pass overhead, its tattered leathery wings ablaze with violet voidflame. Its neck ended in a thick tangle of tentacles, each writhing appendage lined with fangs. The creature dwarfed the other voidspawn they’d seen so far, making those monsters seem like harmless pests.

A void lord!

Horror constricted Sarilian’s chest as the pseudo-drake lashed out with its tendrils, engulfing Hilana while she was distracted fighting beside him. She screamed, conjuring a blast of dawnflame to batter the creature, but the void lord didn’t seem fazed. It ignored the spears jabbing at its flanks and rose on a gust of voidflame, dragging the unfortunate Celestial with it.

Sarilian kept his eyes trained on the void lord, hefting his spear to throw. It was a long shot, but he had to dosomething. Perhaps if he caught the abomination in one of its tentacles, he could at least force it to drop its prey.

“Hold your positions!” Darius screamed. “If the line buckles, then so do we!”

Merciful Light!Sarilian reluctantly lowered his spear, his arm trembling with a sense of helplessness. Darius was right—what good would it do to save one soldier if it meant sacrificing yet more when voidspawn penetrated their ranks?

Clenching his jaw, he turned back to the battlefield in time to hastily raise his spear and impale a leaping voidspawn upon it. He heaved its dissolving body aside with a grunt.

Do your duty. Whatever happens, just do your duty.

A scream echoed from above. Though he knew he shouldn’t, he couldn’t stop himself from glancing up. His gaze locked on the void lord as it ripped the captured Hilana apart. Her screams abruptly cut off, what remained of her dissolving into a haze of golden light.

Mere seconds later, a radiant figure held aloft on blazing wings of dawnflame collided with the void lord in midair. Sarilian’s breath caught.Darius. The Aspect of Justice shone like a holy beacon above the battlefield, each blow of his spear accompanied by a thunderousboomand a crackling shockwave of light.

Sarilian forced his gaze away, trusting in Darius. He allowed himself only a brief bow of his head for Hilana’s sacrifice. She had fulfilled her oath and earned her rest in the Great Beyond. Now, it was time for Sarilian to do the same.

Panicked shouts drew his attention toward where Darius had stood before he engaged the void lord. At first, confusion gripped Sarilian when he saw empty space among the ranks. Where had the soldiers there gone? Then, he caught the fading flickers of light, saw the wounded writhing on the ground as they called upon dawnflame to mend their torn flesh and shattered bones.

Amid the bodies stood a massive voidspawn as wide across as a man and at least three times as tall. Unlike the other, more bestial voidspawn, this one possessed the likeness of a human, which only made the differences all the more appalling.

Its limbs were too long, its legs segmented like an insect’s while its claw-like hands hung low enough to brush the earth. Wriggling patches of tentacles stood out along its flesh like sores, with more bristling along the top of its head in place of hair. Where a mouth should have been, there were only eyes, dozens of them in varying colors and sizes. When the creature raised its hands, Sarilian’s stomach turned at the sight of a fanged mouth set into each palm.

Light protect us…

The Celestial army had been well-trained. Already, soldiers rushed to fill in the hole left by their fallen brethren, but it was like trying to contain an avalanche. The void lord—for that’s what this abomination had to be—lunged with inhuman speed, absorbing a dozen spear strikes as it sent the reinforcements scattering. Lesser voidspawn surged into the gap, and in an instant, the Celestial line had buckled, the ordered ranks around the void lord dissolving into chaos that quickly rippled outward as more voidspawn filled the breach.

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