Page 24 of Sundered By Fate

Townmaster Virida looked around the room, her expression unreadable. "Let's put it to a vote. All in favor of investigating Aric's warning and preparing our defenses?"

Hands rose hesitantly around the table, until about half were raised. But even as they voted in favor of action, Aric could sense the lingering doubt and suspicion in their eyes.

"Very well," Townmaster Virida said. "We will prepare for the worst—and hope that Aric's dire warnings prove unnecessary."

Aric let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. But even as relief washed over him at their decision, an icy pit of dread settled in his stomach.

As the meeting began to wind down, the council members discussing preliminary steps for strengthening Thornhaven's defenses, a commotion erupted outside the town hall. Shouts and cries echoed through the streets, followed by a thunderous pounding on the doors.

Virida's brow furrowed as she rose from her chair. "What is it now?"

Before anyone could answer, the doors burst open, revealing a bloodied and gasping scout. He stumbled forward, his eyes wide with terror as he scanned the room.

"Demons," he managed to choke out between ragged breaths. "A massive army . . . approaching from the east."

The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly from cautious planning to outright panic. Leaders shouted over one another as they scrambled to make sense of the new threat, their earlier skepticism giving way to fear.

Aric's heart sank as he locked eyes with Davin across the table, both of them realizing that their worst fears had been confirmed. The anomaly was not an isolated incident, but a harbinger of something far more sinister.

Chaos erupted in the town hall as leaders shouted orders and civilians outside began to scream. Aric steeled himself for the coming storm, knowing that this was only the beginning—and that whatever dark forces lurked beyond Thornhaven's walls would stop at nothing to claim him once more.

Six

The sun set over Thornhaven, casting long shadows that danced and flickered with an eerie light. Aric stood atop the town's walls, staring out at the horizon as he tried to ignore the shouts and cries of the townsfolk around him. A line of Pureblades was forming near the gates, while Silver Tower mages huddled together in frantic discussion. Somewhere in the distance, a bell tolled, its mournful chime ringing out through the air.

"Hey, you." Davin's voice cut through the chaos, drawing Aric's attention. He climbed up onto the parapet beside him, his usually bright eyes now shadowed with worry. "Thought you might be up here."

"Where else would I be?" Aric replied with a faint smile. But even as he spoke the words, he felt a shiver run down his spine—a sense of something dark and terrible drawing closer.

For all he'd seen and done and failed to do, Aric hadn't truly believed the demons would come here. Not like this. Not with such force. But now, while Aric watched the horizon darken with unnatural clouds, he knew they were out of time.

A sickly greenish glow lit up the clouds from below, and a low, throbbing hum filled the air as if coming from all around them at once.

"We need to prepare," Davin said quietly, his hand brushing Aric's where they both gripped the stone wall. "Thornhaven's ready to fight, but I don't know how much use we can be against whatever that is." He glanced over at Aric, a question in his eyes.

Aric nodded silently; he'd been thinking much the same thing ever since the vision hit him. The anomaly was powerful enough that even now it made his head swim just trying to process it all—it felt like staring into an abyss so vast and deep that he couldn't even comprehend what lay within.

But they had no choice now; they'd come too far to turn back from this fight—even if it meant facing down their greatest fears in order to protect those they loved.

As night fell fully over Thornhaven's walls and dark shapes loomed on the horizon against flames of crimson fire licking up into storm-black clouds overhead Aric felt an icy pit open up inside him—a yawning chasm threatening to swallow him whole.

Aric tried to stay calm, assessing the battlefield before them. The demonic forces massing on the other side of the forest, their hideous cries echoing off the hills. He wondered if he knew this commander whose army pushed toward them.

Aric caught himself mentally listing the faces he'd known, each worse than the last. Vizra and Karthax, and the vulgar siege monstrosities of the Fleshshaper. Zrik, whispering poisoned spells at his back. Raxana, dressing their doom up like diplomacy.

Malekith and his general, Vezera, at his side.

Or someone else entirely, heresy pounding from somewhere deep in Aric's memories; at this rate, it seemed the entire legion could gather in their vanguard for Thornhaven's reckoning.

A thought so poisonous he didn't dare confront it outright slipped into Aric's mind unbidden as he stared into the emerald light: were they headed for Thornhaven in search of him?

Aric watched their forces surge through the forest, a writhing mass of shadows and smoke. The air shimmered with heat and magic, distorting the landscape as if through a broken lens.

"All right," Aric said, forcing his voice to steady. "We can do this. We've faced worse."

Davin gave him a dubious look but nodded. "What's the plan?"

Aric's mind raced, cataloging their available defenses. The Silver Tower mages had woven temporary wards around the town's perimeter, reinforcing the ancient protections that lay buried beneath Thornhaven's foundations. Nothing like the wards that once held on this side of the kingdom, but they would have to suffice. Pureblade knights waited in disciplined ranks, their swords and shields gleaming in the early light.

---