The Godsfall Chronicles

Wind whipped through the dark night like daggers .

Two young and n.o.ble-looking demonhunters stood out in the desolate wastes . They stared at the sweeping light s.h.i.+ning from the lighthouse ahead .

Luna was around five and a half feet tall, with flaxen hair and pale skin . Her face was pretty and a pair of crystal blue eyes stood out in the darkness like precious gemstones . She held an exorcist staff comfortably in her hand, heroic in bearing despite being a woman .

Raith was a little taller, almost six feet . He was tall, well-muscled, but agile despite his size . Short brown hair sat atop his head above a masculine and daring face . The demonhunter was charming, both in appearance and bearing, only perhaps a little overconfident . He gave the impression of always being ready to leap into conflict .

Two days was all it’d taken for them to get here . It showed their quality and efficiency .

The lighthouse’s beam reflected in the depths of Luna’s eyes . “Should we launch a surprise attack?”

“We are demonhunters, and there are a hundred soldiers with us . Why waste time and effort on a sneak attack against some piddling traitor?” Raith’s handsome features might as well have been chiseled from stone . His words dripped with arrogance . “Besides, this is a sizeable settlement, we can’t be sure where he’s hiding . Kicking the bushes might shake the snake from its lair . ”

He had a point .

Fifty soldiers would surround the outpost and lay in wait, while the rest of them would kill their way in . Eventually the traitor would be forced to reveal himself, but no matter where he fled an ambush would be waiting . Once his location was discovered the two of them would make sure the mission was complete .

Skycloud’s one hundred soldiers separated into two units . The first group of fifty spread out, five men to a team, and established ten points of ambush nearby . Lighthouse Point was quickly surrounded .

Those who were left marched toward the gate, led by the demonhunters .

No need to pretend, no need to skulk . The pride of the elysians and the self-confidence of the demonhunters shunned such practice .

Denizens of Lighthouse Point had never witnessed such a scene . As the resplendent soldiers of the holy lands strode through the gates its defenders simply looked on in astonishment . They didn’t even call out a challenge or raise an alarm .

“What are – ah!”

Screams erupted! An arrow sprouted from the defenders chest and he toppled from the walls .

Raith had lifted his bow, drawn the string and released . A thunderous power struck the barricade and blew it apart . Shards of wood and metal exploded out in every direction, impaling several guards who had come to see what was happening .

The exorcist bow, like the exorcist staff, was one of the lower level relics in a demonhunter’s a.r.s.enal . Both were standard equipment for inexperienced members of the order . Obviously the exorcist staff favored close combat while the bow was more suitable to dexterous and control-focused warriors .

One could tell the demonhunters’ respective styles by the weapons they bore . Luna’s staff showed that she preferred getting in close, meanwhile Raith’s bow revealed a penchant for long-distance engagements .

A relic’s power depended on two things . First was the inherent quality of the relic itself, and second was the skill of the demonhunter who wielded it . Judging by Raith’s display in breaking down the gate, he could use a relic as effectively as Cloudhawk .

The citizens of Lighthouse Point didn’t expect their small and poverty-stricken home to be attacked . More shocking was that these invaders weren’t from the wastelands . They weren’t beasts or some raider gang . With glimmering suits of armor and magnificent weapons they couldn’t be .

Every soldier bore spotless equipment . Each piece was like a work of art .

Striding over the remains of the barricade Raith surveyed the outpost with a cold grin . “Luna, gather up all these filthy barbarians . ”

The fifty soldiers they brought with them began to search the outpost, grabbing everyone they could find and hearding them together like livestock . Before long over a thousand hapless denizens were a.s.sembled in the center of the outpost .

Fifty Skycloud soldiers drew bowstrings . Glimmering arrows s.h.i.+mmered with faint light .

Meanwhile the wastelanders were completely ignorant of what was happening . There were certainly more of them than there were invaders, but none were soldiers . With no fighting experience they were completely overwhelmed by the ferocity and speed of this attack . They could do nothing but huddle together pitifully .

“Wait, wait!” Coppertooth huddled out from the throng . He threw himself to the ground before the two who were dressed as demonhunters . “I was a captain of the Skycloud army, second division, and I offer my respects to the visiting demonhunters . I beg you to see that although these people live in the wastelands they live in the light of our G.o.ds . They are not blasphemers!”

Coppertooth’s reaction surprised them .

Asha huddled near the back of the crowd, her eyes red and swollen . These men in their fancy armors were holy warriors? She and the others did not know what was happening . Their piety had to have moved the elysians to come and deliver them . Otherwise, why would these good and n.o.ble warriors come to this wretched place? What other purpose would they have in their inconsequential outpost?

“We welcome you, lords of the holy city . ”

“Welcome, warriors of G.o.d!”

One by one everyone dropped to their knees in submissive deference . An old man whose hair had all gone white openly wept . “Merciful G.o.d has not forgotten us!”

Raith’s eyes turned a bitter cold . With a wave five glowing bows released their arrows . Every one of them hit the old man, striking him so hard that he was flung up into the air and nailed to a distant wall .

The old man’s mouth trembled as blood leaked into his snow white beard . He struggled for a few seconds before going limp, all the while confused and unsure of what was going on .

Why? Why did they do that! Why would holy warriors slay the faithful in cold blood?

Coppertooth’s face went ashen grey . Asha stared in disbelief . Everyone’s faces changed when they realized what happened .

“They killed him! The soldiers from the holy city just… killed him!”

A handful rose to try and flee, but they couldn’t outrun arrows . The lethal and perfectly accurate arrows cut them down . In a blink dozens more were dead .

“Lowly worms, your rotten faith only sullies our mighty G.o.ds!” Raith took up an exorcist staff, and devoid of expression, approached their holy tablet . With a single swing he reduced it to dust . That which represented the faith and hope of the town, destroyed . Cold, heartless, he spoke again, “Who gave you heathens permission to pray in their names?”

The crowd huddled in shocked silence, as though struck by lightning . Already in awe of the demonhunter’s frightening power, his cruelty made them speechless . Everything they thought they knew of their faith was a lie . They couldn’t believe their eyes .

Raith placed his bow aside and addressed the frightened ma.s.ses with savage tones . “I already know you are harboring a traitor to my people . Where is he? Speak quickly!”

“Impossible! There’s no way!” Coppertooth sputtered, trying to force the words out as quickly as possible . “How could we have a traitor here?”

Raith dismissed him with a wave . “Kill them . ”

The soldiers drew their bows . Another round of screams rang through the outpost .

A dozen more bodies littered the ground, pouring blood into the dirt .

Like the worms they were said to be, everyone lay p.r.o.ne on the ground . They s.h.i.+vered uncontrollably for the Skycloud soldiers seemed to kill at random . Anyone could be the next victim .

Asha’s wide eyes stared at the nearly one hundred fellow residents who now lay dead . Unarmed men, women, the old, the young . Before this moment they had admired these soldiers, had yearned to become a part of their world . But now? This domineering young tyrant had destroyed the emblem of their faith, as small and pathetic as it had been . A demonhunter, who they had wors.h.i.+pped as an agent of the G.o.ds, treated them with only cruelty and contempt .

Asha wept bitter tears . Wastelanders were born into sin, but was there no path to redemption for them? Why were these n.o.ble men and women refusing to even give them a chance? Why would the representatives of the holy lands slaughter innocents?

Raith did not look at them as humans . They were like beasts that needed to be exterminated . However many he killed would not be enough, and no matter how cruel he would not feel guilt . In fact it filled him with pride, for to him he was cleansing the world of their filth . “I will count down from five . If no one answers I will kill more of you until I get what I want . Five . Four . Three . Two!”

“I know!”

It was to be expected that someone would break when the threat of death was so clear .

Coppertooth’s face was crestfallen . He didn’t know whether there really was a turncoat, but he knew how zealous the people of the elysian lands were . They couldn’t admit it, they couldn’t! If they did, they would all be killed . If this traitor was never found perhaps a few of them could be spared .

If, on the other hand, this traitor was found, or if they admitted to hiding them – intentionally or not – them and everything they’d built would be destroyed .

But it was too late for him to stop it .

“Someone came from the wastelands today that might be who you’re looking for . Coppertooth greeted him himself, and I saw Asha lead him away into the camp . He’s in the lodge! That’s all I know, I beg you not to kill me . ”

Raith’s lips twisted into the model image of a sneer .

Luna took several soldiers with her to search the lodge . Several minutes later she returned empty handed .

“It’s him, but he’s already gone . ”

“Escaped?”

Raith’s grim scowl made the man with loose lips turn pale . He staggered backward a few feet before throwing himself to the ground .

“T-this has nothing to do with me! I told you everything you asked!”

“Yes! Indeed you did… but I never said I would spare you . ”

An arrow struck the citizen in the center of his head and pinned him to the dirt . A pool of blood quickly pooled around him .

None of the slaughter registered on the female demonhunter’s face, for she could see nothing wrong with her compatriot’s methods . She was focused on spreading her senses wide, her hearing as accurate as sonar within several hundred feet . She was instantly familiar with every nook and cranny of the s.p.a.ce around them .

The traitor knew they were there but none of the ambush teams had raised the alarm . He had to still be hiding somewhere nearby . Good news for the demonhunters since Luna’s perception was exceptional . She would find him before long .

Raith, however, had never been a patient man .

He wanted this mission completed as soon as possible . Rather than slowly making his prey uncomfortable, he would do something drastic to force him out of hiding . Rage was always the best tactic .

The traitor would have to show his face . Raith would make sure of it .

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