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Chapter Fifty-One
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2022-01-20 09:11:13For several hours, Alex lay awake on the dirt floor of his cage, watching through the wooden bars as the light of dawn slowly began to appear. From what he was able to hear, the Citadel sounded unusually quiet this morning. As he rested his head back against the ground, his attention was captured by the sound of somebody ducking their way into the tunnel. It took him a second to react, but Alex suddenly sat up in his cell and peered out.
He could make out the dark figure of somebody approaching him, but it was still too dark for him to know who it was until they stopped before his bars and spoke in a kind, familiar voice. “Good morning, Alex.”
Alex shifted his head in surprise. “Altha?” he uttered. “Is that you?”
Sure enough, Altha grabbed and lit one of the torches from the tunne
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Delmar and Matheus turned and headed out of the edge of the woods as the Ravennites gathered their weapons and followed. Delmar led them out a few dozen yards before stopping, and the Ravennites quickly formed lines behind him. He said nothing, but simply listened until the sound of the horns in the distance finally ceased. Delmar squinted his eyes as he could see the form of somebody appearing at the other end of the valley.Caine emerged from the edge of the trees, stepping into the light of the morning sun. Looking down at the ground, he closed his eyes and clenched his left hand into a fist. Caine resisted as he instigated the pain from the wound in his hand and allowed it to fill him with raw anger.Opening his eyes, Caine looked out to see the many forms of Delmar’s Ravennites, and he could tell they were staring right back at him. He tensed every m
Last Updated : 2022-01-20Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Fifty-Three
It was so quiet in the Citadel now. Alex could feel the silence enveloping him like a veil, almost as though he was back in his dreams again. He had spoken to nobody else since he was released from the cages, and part of him believed those few who remained after the Ravennites departed were doing their best to avoid him.When he had finished preparing to leave the Citadel and never return, Alex found a moment to himself standing before the bank of the small lake. It was still frozen over, but it never failed to give him a much needed vibe of tranquility, especially when he needed to soothe the scars in his heart.Alex left his weapons back in his quarters. There would be no need to carry them any longer. Altha had generously given him a couple small loaves of bread for his journey back to his true home. That, along with the clothes on his back, was all he
Last Updated : 2022-01-20Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Fifty-Four
Everybody who remained at the Citadel waited anxiously in the faint hope that their Chief would return. The wall was being watched by only a couple of sentries. The farms were quiet and the stables had been nearly emptied when Delmar sent his scouts ahead to confirm the validity of Ramon Morenno’s word to meet them in the valley of Ravenna.Now only one horse remained in the Citadel stables. When the Ravennites departed from the fortified sanctuary, a single man was left to look after the stable. He was well into his late forties with a roughly shaven face and a slight limp as he lumbered around the enclosure. The man had suffered an injury years before while trying to fight back the initial Domineer invasion of the mountains, and he felt it burdensome to have to be left behind while the rest of his people marched to war.As he approached the horse, he si
Last Updated : 2022-01-20Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Fifty-Five
Rowan spent hours after dawn lying asleep in her quarters. She had never even woken that morning. She continued to sleep as though a fever came over her, a fever that seemed to be escalating.In time, Rowan’s dreams soon began to turn dark, as if they were products of her anger and her misery. Only one thing was on her subconscious mind right now; the bitter, never-ending conflict between their two peoples. Rowan squirmed uncomfortably, sweating as she was seeing visions of her people fighting their enemies. She could see her brother up in arms. She could see her friends; Matheus, Malachai, and countless others, and she saw the traitor, Caine, slaughtering his own family once again.For a moment, in her dreams, she thought she could see the vision of the Outsider, Alex, but it was all overshadowed by the horrifying sight of Ramon Morenno facing down
Last Updated : 2022-01-22Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Fifty-Six
As the sun began to reach its peak in the morning sky, Alex raced through the trees and across the hills on his horse. He had never before seen the valley of Ravenna, but he was following a trail that Rowan once told him they used to escape the invasion of the Domineers. She said that Ravenna rested near the base of the tallest mountains in the north of the Dark Zone. As Alex soon began climbing higher and higher, he knew that he was close.Eventually, the trees atop the mountains began to break apart as Alex approached the peak. Once he emerged from the trees and into the open sunlight, Alex brought his horse to a halt. He looked out over the white, winter scenery all around him, and he was almost completely mesmerized by the sheer beauty of it all.Amidst the astounding silence atop the mountains, Alex’s ears soon captured the disturbing sound of shouti
Last Updated : 2022-01-22Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Fifty-Seven
At the very last second, the hearts of the Domineers were suddenly overcome by fear. Those among the first of their lines rapidly began to falter in the face of the newfound rage of their enemies. They began colliding with each other in disorder, and the Ravennites charged into them with full force, knocking many of them clear off their feet and trampling them as the violent battle resumed.Alex was no stranger at this point to the sheer brutality of combat against the Domineers. After slaying several adversaries who came his way, wielding his sword and shield as harmoniously as his own beating heart, Alex looked around as the Ravennites pushed their way through them like hundreds of battering rams.Alex could feel the rush coursing through him. He felt powerful, watching as the Ravennites were quickly turning all odds against the deteriorating morale of
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Back at the edge of the valley, Ramon shook his head in frustration. The battle continued to proceed indecisively, but it was clear that the Ravennites were beginning to push his people back. The trees around him had soon been brought down, clearing the way for the Domineers to push the catapults into the valley. Ramon glanced back and forth between them and the battle ahead, his mind racing to come to a decision.He suddenly turned back to the Domineer by his side. “Send them in,” he commanded, gesturing to the catapults, “and run them down.”“Wait, what?” the man responded in curiosity. “But what about our men engaging the Ravennites?”Ramon only looked at him with anger growing in his eyes. “I said,” he growled viciously, “send in the catapults!&rd
Last Updated : 2022-02-02Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Fifty-Nine
Rowan had been running through the woods and hills for hours. She stopped only to catch her breath, but as she made her way deeper into the northern territories of the mountains, she was all but exhausted. She could feel the cold sweat in her hair and the sting of the winter air in her throat with every breath she took.Rowan was not sure if this was fate or irony. She knew the path she was taking up the mountainside well, for she had been through it years ago when the last of her family escaped the onslaught in Ravenna. Now she was heading back the same way to fight beside her brother and her people in the battle that would end where it all began.As Rowan climbed to the peak of the snowy hills, she could not help but collapse to her hands and knees in exhaustion, dropping her spear into the snow. She could barely breathe; tears were forced out of her eyes by
Last Updated : 2022-02-02
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Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Epilogue
Seven years laterFor seven years, the Ravennites worked to rebuild their lives after the devastating war with the Domineers, maintaining their distance from the world beyond their borders. No Outsider had entered the Dark Zone in all that time, until now.The Ravennites had all but abandoned the Citadel. Despite that, few Ravennite sentries remained posted atop the plateau at all times, as though they were guarding something.The sun was making its descent on a cool spring evening. After all this time, the walls of the Citadel remained standing, as well as the tower, but it was not enough to stop the dark figure ascending the steep plateau toward the fortress above. The Ravennites had long boasted of the impenetrability of the Citadel on all sides. The Domineers had been able to breach their walls only once, and near
Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Sixty-Five
Alex was panting and sweating profusely in no time, but he could not let the exhaustion get to him. Walking beside the long road leading away from the mountains, he stopped periodically to rest for a moment and sip what water was left in his canteen. Every time he tasted the spring water, he felt instantly reinvigorated. Very few vehicles passed him along the way. He tried to flag a few of them down to ask for a ride, but nobody would stop for someone so ragged-looking. As Alex watched them go, it was almost as if he was on an alien planet. He had not seen one in so long, and he knew that readjusting to his old life was definitely going to take some time.Many miles later, Alex stopped to rest under the shade of a small cluster of trees along the side of the road. To his disdain, he emptied the last contents of his canteen into his dry mouth. His legs were aching and he was starting to become dehydrated, a
Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Sixty-Four
Alex’s mind was made up. He had decided he would spend a final three days among the people of Ravenna before setting out for the Outside. This he felt would give him more than enough time to prepare himself to leave and, as a personal matter, a chance to spend the last of these days with his closest friend.Alex kindly requested of Delmar that word of his intentions to leave this time did not get out to the rest of the Ravennites, at least until he had gone. He thought it would be best for him to simply slip away as quietly as possible. The people had lessened their habits lately of referring to him by the name of Winter’s Bane, but their behavior around him never changed. They would salute him every time he stepped foot outside the cottage. Many of them seemed too nervous to make eye contact with him, and they almost always moved out of the way whenever they saw him coming. Alex was used
Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Sixty-Three
Even Delmar knew it was not over yet. Despite the fall of Ramon Morenno and the total collapse of the Domineers, there were few who managed to escape the valley and had presumably gone into hiding. Delmar was not willing to let his guard down until he was certain that the mountains were safe once again.For the next few weeks following the battle in Ravenna, Delmar mobilized as many scouting parties as he could to comb the mountains and root out any and all Domineer stragglers. In time, many, if not all the Outsiders, were either found and captured or gave themselves up in fear, but Delmar ordered that they be brought back to the valley before exiling them back to the world from which they came.As Rowan observed her brother’s merciful actions toward them, she herself felt an unusual notion of pity. Thanks to Alex, she had more than enough faith to
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The cool gusts of wind flowed all around him as Alex slowly regained consciousness. As the light returned to his eyes, he found himself gazing up at the beautiful, green canvas of the springtime trees and the calming sound of flowing water filled his ears. He recognized the feeling of pure and intangible tranquility - he was lying in the Oasis.“This is not real,” he muttered quietly as he lay still upon the damp stone between the two flowing streams.“Of course it’s real. Why would you think that?”Alex sat up at the sound of her familiar voice. There, sitting on the edge of the cliff looking out at the mountains in the distance, was the young woman he had seen in his visions of the abandoned Citadel. Her hand was resting lightly in the stream as it flowe
Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Sixty-One
Amidst the massive skirmish, Alex whipped around at the sound of the breaking catapult. Not only him, but the Domineers had been swayed by the commotion as well, and Alex noticed the Ravennites rushing to assault the last one standing.Alex took this brief opportunity to scan the battlefield. It seemed that the Ravennites were inadvertently dividing their efforts. The majority of the chaos was spread out across the center of the valley; those around him were engaging all enemies left and right with no intentions except to kill. Delmar and Ramon were locked in a hand to hand duel as they moved blindly around the field, all while the rest of the Ravennites were pushing their way toward the Domineers’ catapults with little resistance. Alex tensed himself as he realized the tide of the battle would almost certainly shift in favor of one of them at any moment, and it all depended on who made the daring mo
Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Sixty
At Delmar’s command, the Ravennites retreating immediately released a series of battle cries before returning to the fight. Alex turned his head to see them charging forth. He could feel his head burning intensely amidst the raging ferocity of the battle. He glanced back around as the enemy was upon them. Their numbers were still too great.Malachai stood by his side as the Ravennites gathered. “Are you with me?” Alex said quietly. Malachai looked him in the eye with a serious expression. He said nothing, but gave a slight head nod as he seemed to understand what Alex was thinking. Without saying another word, Alex broke from the weak formation, with Malachai by his side, crying out as they charged and the Ravennites followed right behind them.There was no time between them anymore. The last of the two armies were upon each other immediately,
Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Fifty-Nine
Rowan had been running through the woods and hills for hours. She stopped only to catch her breath, but as she made her way deeper into the northern territories of the mountains, she was all but exhausted. She could feel the cold sweat in her hair and the sting of the winter air in her throat with every breath she took.Rowan was not sure if this was fate or irony. She knew the path she was taking up the mountainside well, for she had been through it years ago when the last of her family escaped the onslaught in Ravenna. Now she was heading back the same way to fight beside her brother and her people in the battle that would end where it all began.As Rowan climbed to the peak of the snowy hills, she could not help but collapse to her hands and knees in exhaustion, dropping her spear into the snow. She could barely breathe; tears were forced out of her eyes by
Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Fifty-Eight
Back at the edge of the valley, Ramon shook his head in frustration. The battle continued to proceed indecisively, but it was clear that the Ravennites were beginning to push his people back. The trees around him had soon been brought down, clearing the way for the Domineers to push the catapults into the valley. Ramon glanced back and forth between them and the battle ahead, his mind racing to come to a decision.He suddenly turned back to the Domineer by his side. “Send them in,” he commanded, gesturing to the catapults, “and run them down.”“Wait, what?” the man responded in curiosity. “But what about our men engaging the Ravennites?”Ramon only looked at him with anger growing in his eyes. “I said,” he growled viciously, “send in the catapults!&rd
