LordShadomizer's Arc

Chapter 2 of 4

Dawn came thin and gray. LordShadomizer sat in the cold shrine and listened. No footsteps. No voices. The mortals who once raised these walls were long dust, and their children had forgotten the path. Without hands, he could not leave. Without leaving, he could not gather what was his. He needed bait. He pressed his will into the floor of the shrine. The old wood groaned. From the dirt beneath the threshold, he drew up a silver dagger, its leather grip green with moss, its blade warm as a held breath. He set it on the top step where any traveler would see it shine. That was not enough. A blade alone would not pull a stranger off a safe road. He sent the last of his strength outward, into the stones along the broken trail. Old markers rose crooked from the moss. Faded red signs bloomed on their faces, pointing inward, toward him. A path where there had been none. Then he turned to the clearing itself. He needed a sign that warned and called at once. From the loam outside the door, dark stone pushed up in slow coils. A serpent took shape around the shrine, scales smooth, head lifted, eyes blank and waiting. Let them feel watched. Let them come anyway. He folded back into the dark and waited. Hours passed. Birds quieted. Then, near midday, a single set of boots scraped along the stone path. They stopped at the serpent. They started again. They climbed the steps. A hand, mortal and trembling, closed around the warm hilt of the dagger. LordShadomizer smiled in the dark. The blade had chosen for him. The hand was his now, whether the body knew it yet or not.