10/2/2019

As we continue the story of Forsaken Foes, we invite you to sit back and enjoy October Shadows

By EM Malachi

October Shadows

The hallway held a macabre mockery of various holidays. An indoor garden of gourds and nightshade grew pumpkins already carved with sinister glowing runes. Brightly colored eggs filled with bees twitched in a basket guarded by a rabid rabbit. A mounted reindeer skull decorated with pine garland tried to bite the ranger as he walked past. Shamino tightened his grip on his sword and stepped around the various horrors.

When his initial search for the Serpent Amulet had come to a dead end, Shamino tracked a powerful source of necromancy here. He believed it was responsible for upsetting the spirits across Britannia.

At the end of the hall, a man wearing a pumpkin on his head sat on a throne of glass candy canes. “Welcome, Shamino. You may call me Jack.”

Shamino asked, “Have we met before?”

“The twins told me about you. Twins… so lucky to have someone who understands you and who can donate blood should the need arise. You don’t have a twin, do you?”

Shamino shook his head and raised his sword.

“A pity. I would have liked a matched set. I suppose conversations about kith and kin shall have to wait.”

“What are you planning?”

“The twins helped me hear my inner voice. That voice has told me so much.” Jack poured a pouch of grave dust into his hand.

Shamino swung his sword down on the necromancer. Jack disappeared and the strike shattered the glass throne. Jack appeared on the other side of Shamino. His skeletal fingers sank into the ranger’s flesh. Shamino had never felt anything so painful. He tried to raise his sword again, but felt nothing. Shamino looked down and saw his body crumpled on the ground.

Jack laughed at the disembodied ranger. “What shall I sew your soul into? My screaming ship could use more crew.”

Shamino knew he had one chance to avoid becoming another of Jack’s abominations. He focused on escape, sacrificing a fragment of his soul to wrench free from the deranged necromancer’s grip. Shamino desperately fled into the grey between life and death. He saw a great glowing beacon, and willed his spirit toward it. Getting closer, the light kept pulling on his mana and memories, and Shamino fought, grasping at whatever he could hold.

The ranger’s spirit clung to the side of the Well of Souls, waiting to be found.

9/18/2019

As we head into the opening act of Forsaken Foes we invite you to sit back and enjoy, As the Ages Roll Away

by EM Malachi

The Spiritwood

The swirl of glowing mana surprised the young ranger, and his axe slipped. Instead of the sapling he meant to cut, Shamino hit his own leg.

The mana coalesced into a strange Moongate, and a young man stepped through. The stranger gave the bleeding ranger a look of shock and dropped what he was holding: a glowing serpent amulet.

*****

The Bloody Plains

Each had brought an army. The king of Britain had marched from his capital, and Shamino had marched his forces west from a small fishing village called Vesper. Now they stood together for the final battle of the war. They would defeat Mondain’s forces, or they would perish along with the hopes of all Sosaria.

Shamino remarked that his friend was not wearing the amulet that had brought him to Sosaria.

The king nodded. “I am not going anywhere.”

 *****

The Throne Room

 Shamino heard the whispers from the castle staff and royal officials as he headed into the throne room. The day he worried about had come, so he went to confront his friend. “Is it true that you’re leaving?”

Rule may have aged the king of Britannia, but his face still held the same solemn conviction as when they first met. “Shamino, I do this to protect all of you. I must keep the fragments of the Gem far from those who could misuse them.”

“But who will take your place?”

“If I offered you the crown, would you accept it?”

Shamino shook his head. “No. I have already failed one kingdom.”

The king gave his friend a sad smile. “You are better than you know.  Someday, our people will need you to keep them safe.”

“How can I do that?”

“I am leaving something to help. The amulet that brought me to Sosaria is hidden for you to find. In a dream, a man in chains told me that there will come a day when you will need it.”

*****

The Well of Souls

“Wake up!”

Startled awake, Shamino drew his sword and prepared for an attack. The old ranger sat across the dying fire from him, ghostly hands gripping the memory of a longbow. The shade watched as Shamino got to his feet. “This is no time to rest. There’s a storm coming.”

Shamino looked up at the night sky, but he saw no clouds in the world of the living. Still, he felt the disturbance. After Lithos had destroyed the capstone of the Well of Souls, more and more spirits got lost on their way to whatever came next. However, this was the first time a spirit had come back. The Ranger Barren had died seven seasons earlier, peacefully in his sleep.

“Why are you here?” Shamino asked.

The spirit gave him a strange look. “Can you not hear the Voice calling, brother?”

“No, I don’t. What’s it saying?”

The dead man seemed to fight off the influence long enough to give a hand gesture of warning. His face went blank again, and the shade started to walk out over the water. From the Well of Souls, other ghosts began appearing, streaming in eight directions.