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Chapter Thirteen
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2021-12-30 13:02:09Alex did not feel as though he was really dreaming, rather he felt more delirious than anything. He was staring out at nothing but utter blackness, hardly able to move or think. As time slowly passed, Alex heard soft voices rising all around him. He was in too incoherent a state to understand what they were saying. However, he soon began to feel his senses returning as one familiar voice echoed above all the rest.
“Who are you?” The hoarse voice of a man spoke up. The darkness surrounding Alex was slowly becoming enveloped in light. As he listened to the voices, he knew that he had seen this exact vision several times before, and soon enough, he heard the woman’s voice give her reply.
“My grandfather’s grandfather was called Janus.” The mysterious light surrounding Alex was as bright as it had always been, but as his sight and senses gradually improved, he could soon see the man from his vision standing before him. Like the last time, the man was standing with his back turned to him and holding the strange sword-like object in his hand as he appeared to look off into the distance. This time, however, Alex could distinctly make out another figure standing by his side, and he realized it to be the woman he had been hearing. Her voice was still very familiar to him, but Alex could not recognize it in his current, dream-like state. She was also too engulfed by the light for him to see any details that defined her appearance. The only thing he could see was that, like the man, she was carrying something in her hand. From what Alex could tell, it looked like some sort of staff. “He is not of this world.”
Her words were exactly the same as the last time Alex heard them just before he regained consciousness. To his surprise, he did not awaken from his recurring dream. Instead, as the light around him began to stabilize, he turned around and realized that he was now looking upon a completely different vision.
His senses seemed to return to him, and Alex recognized that he was standing within the Citadel walls. However, there was something very different about it now. The first thing he noticed was that there was no snow around him; in fact, the air felt warm and soothing. The trees all around him were covered in leaves whose colors varied from green to light brown and orange, telling him that it was the beginning of the autumnal season.
Aside from the astounding beauty of the sight, Alex was dismayed as he looked around to see that the Citadel appeared to be in ruins. The walls had all but collapsed, and the tower that rose up to rival the surrounding mountaintops was nearly reduced to its base. Much of the plateau was covered in various plant life and foliage, as though the Citadel had been abandoned for years.
It was quiet; the only sound to be heard was the singing of the birds in the trees and the soothing breezes skirting along the surface of the small lake. As Alex approached it, he could see something that had not been there before. Near the edge of the lake stood a structure made of light-colored stone that bore the striking appearance of a tomb. Someone was there, standing before it. Alex could not see who it was, but he could tell that it was a young woman. She did not possess the display of the inhabitants of the mountains, rather she was dressed like an Outsider, but she was nowhere near ragged enough to compare to those Alex was fighting against. The white, hooded jacket she was wearing was unspoiled, and her long, fair hair flowed lightly in the breeze. It had been a long time since Alex had truly seen the form of someone from his own world, but who was she? What was she doing in the Citadel?
“Hello?” Alex stammered as he approached the tomb. The girl turned around as she took notice of his presence. For a moment, Alex thought he may have been looking upon the woman from his previous vision. As she looked back at him, Alex could see that she appeared to be young, possibly around the age of twenty. She carried on her face an expression of sorrow, but at the same time, a rather familiar sense of compassion. This expression was sported primarily by her eyes which Alex had suddenly been drawn to. He felt a chill go up his spine as he recognized them; those captivating green eyes, they did not belong to this woman.
Alex glanced past her and toward the tomb. On the surface of the wall, he could make out a series of engravings. He read the first engraving curiously with narrowed eyes: WINTER’S BANE. The etchings just below it read: Natus Ex Tenebrae. Alex did not know what they translated to, but he recognized them to be Latin. The last engraving in the stone read: Praeco Deorum.
The woman appeared to realize what was going on in his mind as she stepped between Alex and the strange engravings. “Do not stray from the path,” she said forebodingly.
Alex turned his attention back to her. He realized that her voice was not that of the other woman he had seen. This one was much softer. Alex pointed toward the tomb. “What is that?” he asked as he attempted to take a step forward.
The girl immediately raised her hand and planted it firmly against his chest. Alex felt a surge of wind as he froze where he stood, gazing helplessly into her eyes.
She stared at him with a serious look, almost as though she was pleading for him to listen to her. “Father, you must not stray!”
Alex jolted from his sleep as if he had been struck by lightning. He gasped in horror, breathing hard in rapid succession as he tried to regain his awareness. It took his eyes a moment to readjust in the darkness of the tent. The fire in the pit was reduced to nothing more than a glowing pile of ashes. Leaning against his side, Rowan was still fast asleep. He could feel her steady breathing, but he stared over at her with wide eyes as his mind was too cluttered by the dream he just had.
“What the hell?” Alex muttered anxiously. He had no idea what time it was, but he felt that he needed to step outside. Moving ever so slowly, he lifted Rowan so that he could stand up. Alex carefully lowered her down to lie on the ground. After covering Rowan with a light, fur blanket that was folded in the corner of the tent, Alex slipped outside through the flap.
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It was still the middle of the night. Alex figured he must have been asleep for only a couple of hours at the most. The campsite was quiet, with only a few of the Ravennites on watch around the site’s boundaries. Alex gazed around with the cold, nighttime gusts gnawing against his face, and he noticed Matheus standing near the edge of the campsite behind Rowan’s tent. He was just standing there, looking off into the dark distance. Alex walked over casually to stand by his side.Matheus looked over at him. “It’s been a long day, hasn’t it?” he muttered quietly.Alex nodded his head tiredly. “Exhausting, to say the least.”“Where is she?” Matheus asked, referring to Rowan.“Asleep by the fire.” Alex ge
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When Alex woke that morning, the camp was still dark and quiet. For a few minutes, Alex lied on his thin, ragged mattress on the ground and stared blankly up at the roof of his tent. His thoughts were wandering aimlessly; thoughts about what the day ahead would have in store for the Runners. Ever since their encounter with the Domineers the previous day, Alex had been highly on edge, and he hated the idea of allowing whatever message that they were carrying to be delivered to Ramon Morenno.Nearly twenty-four hours had gone by at this point. By now, the Domineers would be nearing the outer layers of their territories, if they had not reached it by now. The Runners would have to traverse more than twenty miles before they caught up with them. Alex knew they were more than capable of doing it. The only thing that concerned him was the risk of having to rush into enemy lines. With the Runners’ num
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Just like the previous day, Alex found himself out in the cold, wintertime wilderness as the sun began to rise. The Runners had been through many expeditions much like this one, tracking down the Domineers, and he was certain that they were already catching on to their tactics. He knew this had to be true, given the surprise the insane Domineer had waiting for them the morning before. It made Alex all the more nervous to be out here again with depleted power among his ranks, and he was not sure if having Rowan along this time was reassuring or just made him feel increasingly uncomfortable.It took a couple of hours to retrace their footsteps. Even in the dark, Rowan was a natural at following the day-old trails marked in the snow. At first, she led them back to the spot where the Runners fought the Domineer scouts just the day before. Alex could hardly stand to look around at the bodies sprawled upon the s
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As they drew closer to the walls of the camp, they were quickly spotted by the Domineers patrolling the borders. Rowan lowered her head casually. The Domineers sent a small party out to greet them. As they approached, one of them stepped up to Kota and gave him a prying stare.“Who the hell are you?” the man uttered curiously.Kota hesitated briefly as he glanced past their confronter and noticed that the others accompanying him were placing cautious hands on the weapons at their sides. He swallowed nervously as he tried to work his disguise as well as possible. “We were separated from our scouting party,” he said, trying to think of what an Outsider might say. “We followed their footsteps back here.”For a second, it seemed as though this man was not about to buy his story one bi
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Outside the outpost, Alex and the rest of the Runners had separated in their efforts to close in on the site unseen. While Kota’s team was infiltrating the camp, Alex had scaled as far up the adjacent slope as he could. From his height, he would have been able to take a glance over the walls of the outpost, but it was not yet bright enough for him to see what was going on inside. He froze when a commotion rang up from within the walls followed by the cry of a familiar voice.“Rowan!” Alex gasped in horror. Without thinking, he hurried his way down the slope and toward the walls of the Domineers’ outpost, sliding on the snow most of the way. He could only hope that the rest of his team had taken up their own positions around the camp, and that the guards perched atop the walls would not see him coming.Rowan resisted futilely as the Domin
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As the sun rose over the hills of the Dark Zone, the sky still appeared to be darkened by the deep, red overcast. Atop the tower lookout at the Citadel, Delmar stood as he gazed out at the sky with an expression of concern. The mornings had been greeting the mountains with the crimson precursor of the anticipated storm for the past several days, but things were quickly becoming more and more severe; the temperature was reaching a dangerous low that had even Delmar shivering, and the cold gales were beginning to pick up. They were blowing away the strip of hair covering the haunting scar along the side of his face. Something was terribly wrong, Delmar could feel it, and he was more concerned now than ever because not all of the Ravennites had returned to the Citadel yet. He was thinking particularly of his sister.“Delmar?” a voice called over the sound of the winds. Delmar turned around to see
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Rowan did not hesitate to leap to her feet and attack when the Runners sprang into action. In a rather grisly action, she grabbed hold of the head of the nearest Domineer and snapped his neck with all her strength. She picked up his sword and dove right into the fight with Kota and the others by her side.By themselves, the Domineers did not stand a chance against Rowan, let alone the rest of the Runners. They knew it, too, and Rowan intended to exploit their weaknesses. She took them one by one, fighting with the ferocity she learned from Alex as well as using her natural harmonious movements to confuse her adversaries. The Runners had completely breached the outpost, and now it seemed they had taken control of it with ease. Rowan killed several opponents who had foolishly engaged her before she heard a threatening voice behind her.“YOU BITCH!” th
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Many voices were echoing throughout the depths of Alex’s mind. They were uttering the same thing over and over; a name. They were speaking a name, and Alex could feel himself shuddering as he recognized it very distinctly.“Winter’s Bane.”Alex did not know the meaning of these mysterious visions, and why they continued to haunt his subconscious. He lied still in his current, dream-like state as the voices around him began to fade away until only one was left; a young woman’s voice he had heard before. He remembered it from his last unnerving vision when he saw the woman in the shattered remains of the Citadel, standing before what appeared to be a strange, white tomb.“Winter’s Bane,” he he
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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
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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
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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
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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,
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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
