Chapter_00// Prologue #1

The Obsidian fields.

Nice name if you think about it.

First coined during the early stages of the war. For the bodies strewn across it, the fucking blood. Comrades and Demons fighting to win this pointless war, their flesh mingled with the dirt.

Staining it black.

No one really knows why that happened. I couldn't stand it.

Back home wasn't any better. The famine, the desperation of it all. Humans turning in on each other- the violence, fighting to survive against the starvation.

The kingdom had deployed his elite group as scouts to the neighboring country. Signs of dark energy could be detected and needed to be reported. Upon reaching the location- Abysmal terrors rained down on us- took down the group, blindsided with no chances to fight back.

Few of us barely managed to escape to report to the king.

Only to be sent back out again as soldiers for the war that followed. We couldn't have predicted it, an upsurge of dark energy out of the dungeons. Mana saturated the air allowing demons to invade. Years spent, holding them back- the Heros... spread out across the continent, out-manned and downright f*cked.

I breathed in the stench of rotten bodies, pushing myself off one of the dead soldiers.

His chest caved in. I fell forward and caught myself whilst staring where my hand just went through. Bile and whatever I had digested the day before came up, filthy.

I spat the rest out and got up, taking in the carnage- were there people still fighting? In the distance maybe?. How long was I out?

No, there was nothing left here. It was silent. They must have moved the battle somewhere else.

Acrid smoke, the scent of blood and charred corpses filled the air. I looked at the battlefield, imprinting the sight, turned and left.

I'm not a coward, there's nothing left for me here... I'm just tired; of everything. The Obsidian fields would be the new home for the dead, I wasn't needed there.

I just want to go home, to the Orphanage. Its been 10 years since I was stationed here. After surviving the ordeal of the first scouting expedition to the dark energy readings, my mind and soul were forever damaged.

We didn't even gain any fucking ground. Nothing to show our efforts except the mountain of dead bodies. These demons, abysmal terrors, kept spawning. Over and over and... tears dripping down my face, I couldn't hold it in.

---

The City I came from was called StormHold, one of the first founding cities of the modern era- Built upon the old civilization of ancient magic was a weeks travel away on foot. I had long since dreamt of heading back to the orphanage where I was raised, seeing Sister's worried look, the children. I needed to get back, that's all I could do. My mind long tainted with dark energy, I.... what was I going to say?

I had reached the defense lines. The walls surrounding city. Darkness had covered it.

No one was guarding the lines- the gates broken. What...What happened? The damage, it looked old- the inside of the once magnificent city, devastated. The moonlight had shone down on the broken homes and bodies. When did this happen?

The orphanage... the children. Tilly, Estor, Franklin...

Oh God, Sister.

Is everyone safe???

I rushed to my home, the moon looking down on me- pitied my efforts as it illuminated the cobbled streets of the city.

My face turned haggard as I reached the orphanage.

Nothing.

Nothing was there, the orphanage was gone. Rubble remained. I dug through the broken pile of woods and bricks, tearing my nails off, the glass cutting me up as I desperately search. My eyes stung, I couldn't breath.

Don't leave me, please.