Darker Days Ahead

Mayhiros Tesos surveyed the scene with a furrowed brow. Seven men lay dead, all of them trained soldiers. Their wounds were not those inflicted by conventional weaponry. Not conventional war weaponry, anyway. The wounds seemed to be lashes, inflicted by a whip. This was no ordinary whip however; whatever horror this tendril brought to bear was able to pierce Marukan's finest steel with its length, leaving behind reviling wounds. They reeked and festered, long after the men were dead.

"At the risk of stating the obvious, this assault appears to have been born of Thorns' vile womb."

Arbogassu Remus, the Voice of Marukan to the Council of the Concordat, stood to Tesos's right, and slightly behind him. Though Tesos, a Dragon-Blood, was impressively framed for his old age, he was dwarfed by the ambassador's seven foot stature.

"Do you suspect an attack is forthcoming?" inquired the Mayhiros clan elder.

"It is difficult to say if these men were sought out for attack or if they stumbled upon something they shouldn't have. We would be hasty to conclude that war is eminent, and foolish to call to arms our might just yet. I will say, however, that I believe --"

With a sickening eruption of baleful gas from the ground, Remus was interrupted by a hazy blue light. From the earth surrounding the bodies emerged four beings of unspeakable horror. They were picturesque in a perverse sense; they characterized everything the night's veil was intended to hide. Ravenous and pustulent, the creatures possessed vaguely humanoid forms, devoid of skin, humors, and organs. They turned their tattered and bloodthirsty maws even on one another as they scrambled towards Tesos and Remus. Even Tesos, a mighty Horselord in his younger days, leaped back with a cry.

Remus, however, was not so taken aback. Within seconds, a blaze of golden flame erupted forth as the goliath cast aside his diplomatic robes, unsheathing a dragon of a blade and revealing breastplate of craftsmanship far beyond anything Tesos had ever witnessed. Its contours were infinitely detailed and intricate, engraved with murals and stories of past lives, tragedies, and triumphs. It reflected the light of his anima banner to a blinding extent, and even the hungry ghosts, mad with hunger and agony, were withheld momentarily as they bore witness to his heavenly glory. Not to be so easily foiled, however, they hissed loudly, as cornered animals do, and redoubled their efforts, lunging at him with claw and fang.

The orichalum dragon set about its work calmly, possessed of a controlled rage. Its scales perfectly protected its wielder from every attacked directed at him, flitting from angle to angle and batting aside the limbs of the impure. It dispatched justice swiftly, with disapproval, but not hatred. Its fangs sliced easily, though not carelessly through the dying flesh of the ghosts, producing a whirlwind of steel and flame as it attacked time and again, each strike blazing a trail of light through the darkness death had cast upon creation. Mere seconds later, the ghosts had been decimated, and Remus lowered his blade, turning one head over his shoulder, looking to a startled Tesos. Steam hissed from the blade as its perfection burned away the rotting flesh it had taken with it, leaving the weapon as it clean as the moment it had been hatched from its sheath.

Mayhiros Tesos was, to say the least, surprised. "A... A daiklave?"

"You forget, Tesos, that before I came to speak for these lands, I commanded armies of men."

Tesos, clearing his throat slightly and resuming a more neutral stance, dusted off his robes and eyed the pile of cloth Remus had shed. He had seemed so unassuming in those dignitary's robes...

"Aye, I thought that seemed a bit much for a diplomat to be carrying."

Remus replied calmly, now turning fully to face the elder.

"Swords and pens are no more different than bows and axes. They are but two of the many tools men use to wage war."

Remus let his statement linger for a moment before speaking again.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine... We will return to Celeren and arrange for a proper funeral for these men," Tesos replied, still a bit dismayed by Remus's display of martial prowess.

The two of them briefly surveyed the area for further intruders before mounting their horses and riding towards the torches of Celeren, mere dots of distant light against the night sky.

Shortly into their return trip, Remus broke the silence.

"As I was saying, Tesos, while we would be rash to assume war, I do believe that this will get worse... before it gets better."