I had promised her a story. I've always liked writting and since my guild and its library are gone I have no where else to write them but in here. My stolen clerical prayer book. I will have to show her later...I hope she likes it but in everything I do...it is a mixture of light and shadow...as it should be as it is, as it was meant to be.


The sun had almost set, its orange and crimson fingers streaked across the sky, offering what little hope it could to the soon to be night clasped land below as she placed the plate of food before her constantly chattering child. She turned to the window and smiled at the beauty of the skies aubade to the light. It had been a peaceful day at the village, crops had been planted, gardens had been tended and the animals been let out for the first time in months. Spring was finally here and that was plenty enough to smile about. So humming a little tune under her breath she placed her supper on the table beside her child and tickled her just for the sheer joy of hearing her laughter. She was her youngest and her last. Her two other children were nearly grown now; were grown in their own eyes and had moved out the year before in search of fame and fortune she missed them and worried about them and prayed the gods kept them safe, it was all she could do that and love them; always. She had just explained an answer to one of the constant questions that flowed from her daughter’s mouth when a high piercing noise shattered the peace of the evening air. Fear gripped her and panicking she grabbed her child and ran outside searching for the source of the noise, for danger and the direction of safety only to scream in terror as she spotted the demons running out from behind the village houses. She ran in the opposite direction her child held tightly against her as her heart beat in her throat, threatening to burst from her chest with fear when her ankle twisted on her as she slipped on a loose rock under her foot and fell to the ground. She turned terror filling her eyes as a whimper escaped her lips and scurried backwards, her feet digging into the dirt as a demon slowly approached her, a cruel vicious smile forming on its ugly face. It raised its halberd and screamed in triumph as it readied for its downward swing only to stumble backwards with a look of shock as it gazed at the large smoking hole that had suddenly appeared in its chest, it blinked once before dissolving into a dark dissipating goo, leaving behind nothing but some armour and its dark glinting blade on the ground. She jumped, startled as a face appeared above her, human and friendly dressed in dark red robes. He offered her a hand up and after checking she and her daughter are uninjured takes her quickly to an area that had been set aside for anyone escaping the attack. She sat, huddling with the other villages in the circle of armored men and woman the early evening air filled with the clash of blade on blade, the soul searing howl of demons and the war cries of the people fighting them and watched in awe as they battled it out with the demons, their armor gleamed brightly reflecting the last glimmers of the light from the dieing sun as they teamed up with men and women in red robes with flashing staffs of raw elemental power, Their attacks were devastating and amazing to watch, demons ran in terror from them only to be attacked by the shadows themselves, shadows armed with twirling and twisting blades, shadows that with a blink of the eye were revealed to be men and woman dressed in dark armor only to disappear again. And amongst them all ran men and woman alight with a holy glow, tending and healing the wounded and injured. These were the protectors of Valorn in all their strength and glory. The woman tucked her head against her child and cried silently, her heart filled with relief, hope and gratitude towards the men and woman fighting before her, fighting and protecting her and everyone else. She wrapped her arms around her daughter and pressing her tightly against herself prayed to the gods; a prayer of thanks and a hymn to the heroes around her.



He crawled out from under the table where he had been thrown, his ankle was twisted and blood dribbled down his face from the head wound, a wound that made his head thump and ache, making him wish it would just explode and put him out of his misery. He stumbled his way across the room, his feet leaving smeared bloody tracks across the floor and fell to his knees beside the bodies of his sister and her son. The attack had been quick the only warning a loud piercing noise in the night, they had tried to escape but had been too slow, the demons for he was sure that was what they were had busted through the door just as they had reached it. They had attacked him first, he had hoped to distract them so that his sister and child could escape but the first demon had simply smashed him with its dark shield and sent him flying backwards. That was all he could remember of the fight as he gathered and held his sisters and nephews bodies against himself, silent tears of anguish, guilt and loss ran down his face. He gently lay his sister back on the ground and caressed her face in sorrow as soft almost inaudible words of apologies and regret slipped mindlessly from his lips. She had been the last of his family and they had loved each other dearly. Their parents had died when they had been children, leaving them orphaned at an early age to be raised by gentle clerics. At their age of maturity they had been given what inheritance had been left them and together bought a small plot of land and an apothecary shop. His sister bonded but their life was too harshtoo poor and too small for the city man she had married and he had ran off leaving behind a new born babe and a broken hearted wife. Their life had been a simple one, a life that like most; had been more then touched with a little sadness but for most it had been a good and happy one,. They had had each other to lean on and her child had bought them both joy. He leant forward and as a soft sob escaped him he kissed her on the forehead. He could not leave them here on the ground like a pair of unloved and inconsequently nobodies. So weak, confused and full of grief he stumbled to his feet, his nephew held tightly in his arms as he stumbled to the door and the clear open sky. Once outside he looked around and once again fell to his knees in shock. The village was gone, house after house was either destroyed or burning, the small village streets littered with bodies, bodies of friends and people he had known for much of his life. It was gone, everything he had known and loved was gone and destroyed, left to rot and burn under the cool silvery light of the clear cool night sky. He clasped his nephew to his chest and screamed in rage, in grief, in loss. He howled his anguish to the night and at the damned gods who had abandoned him when he and his family needed them the most. He howled as a glimmer of reflected light shimmered against the edge of the horizon, as flashes of light and the soft cries of battle once again filled the air. He knew what it was, they came, they always came but this time they came too late, too late to save anyone, too late for hope, for salvation, to be of any use what so ever. He screamed at them in rage and rejection, he screamed only to sob as his nephew’s arm fell limp from his body and brushed against him. He cried, his heart and soul broken as a shadow fell across him. He looked up and looked into the yellow gleam of a demon’s eyes and subconsciously huddled over his nephew’s body to offer that sad body what protection he could. Now silent he watched as the demon raised its axe and noticed just how bright the night sky was behind it. The stars shimmered brightly in the indigo coloured heavens and what few whispy clouds were out were filled with a silvery almost mystical light as the moon, white, full and swollen sent her gaze across the land. He had all the time in the world to marvel at that beauty and no time at all. His last thought was how remarkable the similarities between the stars and the shine of the axe that reflected their light. How cold and distant, how bright and sharp, how totally irreverent, uncaring and… beautiful.