LordShadomizer's Arc

Chapter 3 of 4

The mortal stood on the steps, dagger in hand, still shaking. LordShadomizer felt the bond hum through the wood. Then, far off, he felt something else. Hooves. Boots. Iron. The hunters had read the beacons and come. He reached out through the new mortal's eyes. On a ridge beyond the trees, a tall stone marker had been raised. Carved arrows pointed down the slope, straight at the shrine. Around its base, the hunters had built a low camp of stone and hide. Penned beside it, chained and hissing, crouched dark scorpions the size of plow horses, their red eyes fixed on the trail. The shrine was his only anchor. If they reached it, he would be smoke. He spoke into the mortal's mind, calm and cold. Inside. Now. Bar the door. The mortal obeyed. They stumbled in and dragged the heavy door shut. LordShadomizer poured what little he had left into the walls. Iron chains rose from the floorboards. They climbed the posts. They wrapped the beams. They sealed the door from hinge to frame in cold black links. Outside, the first hunter crested the rise. He shouted. Boots pounded down the slope. A scorpion shrieked behind them. They struck the door with axes. The chains held. They struck again. The wood groaned but did not split. The hunters drew back to bring fire and beasts. LordShadomizer felt the shrine hum, sealed and his, for now. He had bought hours, not days. The anchor stood. But he was spent, and the things outside were only beginning.