Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4035821" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 351 THE GENERAL’S SACRIFICEIt was dark, and he was alone.  A hiss of steel on leather, as Valor erupted from its scabbard.  Normally, the axiomatic sword’s glow was subtle, not enough to see by.  But here, the blue radiance blazed around the steel like the light of a torch, filling the room with an eerie pale light. Dar sucked in a breath.  The light from his sword revealed two others in the vault with him.  Lying on a stone bier in the center of the room was Allera, unconscious or asleep—or worse.  And standing behind her, was Marshal Velan Tiros, clad not in the robes of the Tribune, but in the old armor of his legion days, back when he’d won a reputation as Camar’s foremost military commander. Dar was moving forward toward Allera at once, but Tiros interrupted him.  “She lives.  She is not truly here, not as you are.  You cannot help her now.”Dar ignored him, bending beside the bier, touching her face, gently shaking her.  She felt warm, but did not respond to his touch.  “Allera.  Allera.”“What have you done to her?”  There was steel in his voice, and Valor seemed to brighten incrementally in response. “I have done nothing.  She is only here as a representation, as am I.”“You sound like Varo.  Speak your piece then, and get it over with.” “The way out lies there,” Tiros said, pointing.  Dar turned, and saw a black stone slab behind where he’d first appeared.  Runes glimmered faintly, flaring as the light from his sword spilled across them.  “Then that is where I am going,” Dar said.  He started to pull Allera into his arms, but suddenly, with a blink, he was standing and she was back on the bier. “You cannot take her with you,” Tiros said.  “Shut up, marshal.”  He turned and headed for the stone block warding the exit.  There was no seam, no handle, no keyhole.  He smashed his hand against it; it was solid, the pain shooting up his arm from the impact. “Orcus resists your efforts to enter his realm,” Tiros said.  “Only through sacrifice can you break through.”“Go to hell,” Dar said, as he continued his search.  He started to reach for his club, but realized that none of his other weapons were on his person.  Only Valor, which pulsed in his fist.  “The people of Camar... all the world!  Rely upon you, Corath Dar.  You have a duty...”Dar rounded on him.  “Damn you and your duty!  I didn’t ask for this, marshal!  I didn’t ask for any of this!  Damn you and Varo, and all your gods, and this entire freaking place.  I didn’t ask for any of it!” Tiros did not shrink before his fury.  “None of us asked for it, general.  But we can only live the life that is given us.  Who and what we are comes from how we confront the trials that are inflicted upon us.”“I will die before I allow any harm to come to her.”“If Orcus wins, then she and all of the others will suffer.  There are some things worse than death.”“She is just a vision... this is not real...”“In some ways, this is more real than your reality.  You have your sword.  If you strike her down here, then the gods will have their due.  It will be painless, and Orcus will not have her.”“I will not...”  Dar lifted his fists, one still clutching his sword, up to his forehead.  “I will not!”A voice, distant but familiar, drifted into his mind.  He could not tell if the words were from Tiros, or Varo, or himself.  He had heard them once before, in a dream. To confront the demon... the the apostate, the general, and the elflord... must sacrifice that which they hold most dear... and only thus... may the world of man be spared...Dar screamed.  He spun, and with the full force of his strength, he slammed Valor down into the black stone slab blocking the exit.  There was a scream of power, and a noise like the breaking of the world, that enfolded him and tore him away into oblivion.</blockquote>

Verification