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Chapter Sixty-Five
Terakhir Diperbarui:
2022-02-22 15:52:53Alex 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
Bab terkait
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
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2022-02-22Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter One
January 2005It was a cold January night. The winter wind was blowing throughout the valley village of Ravenna. The nine-year-old Rowan was lying in her bed in her family’s cottage. The window by her bed was closed tight, but she could still feel the freezing wind creeping in and gnawing at her beneath her blankets. This hardly bothered her, however, as she had lived through many winters just like this one in her young life. In fact, Rowan often found the cold to be rather soothing, as it helped her to drift off to sleep, but she was having trouble closing her eyes tonight.Rowan sat up in her bed, keeping her blanket wrapped around her, and stared blankly around her room. It was dark; the only source of light came from a candle flickering somewhere outside her room. It was quiet in the cottage, as it was every night. Being the youngest of the family, she had been put to bed f
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2021-12-29Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Two
Delmar hurried off with his father toward the eastern edges of the village. Many of their people were running the other way, carrying what little they could as they made their way toward the mountains. Those who were running with Delmar and their Chief, however, were armed with what weapons they could gather. Delmar scanned his surroundings, trying to figure out what was happening. He looked straight ahead to the east and, to his shock, he could see an orange light beginning to grow. His first thought was an obvious one: their attackers were trying to burn the village. “The Outsiders!” the Chief called out over the noise of the mayhem. “They’re attacking our lands!” Delmar was speechless as he listened to his father’s words. It was only several months before that he remembered the young Morenno brothers arriving in the valley with their parents, the leaders o
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2021-12-29Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Three
January, 2012Somewhere in the north-centralregions of the Dark ZoneNight falls early in the heart of winter, casting its shadow over the vast mountains with a deep blanket of darkness. To the eyes of a small child, the end of the day is terrifying and fills their young minds with nightmares of the unknown. However, there are some who have never been bothered by the dark; those who have been molded by it, and welcome the darkness each day as both an old friend and an unfeeling enemy. So it had always been to the people of the lost Seluitah tribe, and their descendents, the brave and passionate Ravennites.For many generations the Ravennites’ civilization thrived in a vast, secluded territory of the Adirondack mountains known to the outside world as the Dark Zone. The name was given to the Ravennites’ territo
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2021-12-29Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Four
As dawn approached, the cloudless sky above the tree canopies was tinted a deep shade of blue like the mystifying depths of the sea. The stars were still scattered across the night but were growing fainter as the morning sun was not far below the horizon. The winter air was cold and whistled through the trees along with the early morning gusts, but it hardly fazed the party of men traveling through the dark woods.Early in the morning, the Runners had awoken and prepared to head out into the frontier of the Dark Zone once again. Over the past few months, the Ravennites’ campaign had been on the offensive after they struggled to push Ramon Morenno further into the eastern territories. Sensing that they had him on the run, the Ravennites attempted to chase their enemies down and push them out of the Dark Zone for good, but the defensive circle Ramon managed to establish around the Domineers’ terr
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2021-12-29Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Five
They had been running for a couple of miles, stopping on a few occasions and only for seconds at a time to catch their breath. After training and fighting with his team of Runners for many weeks, Alex had built up incredible levels of stamina and endurance. The freezing air no longer bothered him as much as it had the previous winter. He had become so acclimated to the cold now that he almost felt as though he was a part of it as he ran across the snow as rapidly and stealthily as a deer.Alex’s focus was set solid on their objective to track down the Domineers, but at the same time, he thought about Rowan much of the way. While her brother, Delmar, maintained his authority at the Citadel, Rowan had spent much of these months out in the mountainous frontier with Alex and the other strong Ravennite warriors as they pushed the Domineers back. Delmar had certainly become more confident in his sister tha
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2021-12-29Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Six
Sure enough, the Domineers were not far away. The sky was starting to brighten as dawn approached, but it would be a while yet before the morning sun was able to illuminate the woods of the great Appalachians. The Domineers were hiking through the hilly, snow-covered terrain in the form of a party consisting of over twenty men, armed lightly but dangerously. Most of them were extremely anxious about crossing back into the vast realm of no-man’s land after all the Domineers’ encounters with the Runners.The majority of the Domineers in this company were originally grouped under Ramon Morenno’s command when they had been gathered in the southern regions of the Dark Zone, but that was before his younger brother had fallen. Ever since then, all of the Outsiders had regrouped under Ramon’s chain of command and moved back up north along with the newly reformed Ravennites. They had heard a
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2021-12-29Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Seven
Hearing the commotion from the base of the small cliffside, the hairs on the back of Rand’s neck suddenly stood up. The rest of the Domineers were jumping to their feet and murmuring anxiously amongst themselves again. “They’re here,” Rand muttered to himself. The messengers from the other Domineer party were growing increasingly on edge. Rand suddenly turned his attention back to his company. “What are you doing!?” he scolded them. “Spread out and find them! Kill them all!” With that sentiment of authority, the Domineers immediately drew their swords and hurried out into the woods.Rand stepped closer to the Domineer messenger. “Listen carefully,” he said as he surreptitiously removed one of the many pouches from his belt. “You say your message is very important, and the Runners are very dangerous, but if you listen to what I say, I can see
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2021-12-29
Bab terbaru
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
Ice Cold - Part Two: Winter's Bane Chapter Sixty-Two
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
