The barrier protected the lives of the people. When you walked passed it, you would die. Beyond the encirclement of flowers were the wastes. In this land the cursed spirits of the dead roam. The eternal flowers repel the Wraiths, stopping them from entering and wiping out those who lived inside.

Yet all was not happy and peaceful. Even though the flowers could never wilt, without outside assistance, they were being killed. The Wraiths slowly sucked the life from the flowers at the outer edges, enclosing the encirclement.

Men and women were sent regularly to clear some Wraiths and replant the flowers, to enlarge the encirclement. But Wraiths would tempt all who came near with sweet words and even sweeter promises. Those who fall prey to their words are called the Tempted. When someone falls but did not fall for the sweet lies, they are the Fallen.

The Tempted exit the barrier and are killed by the Wraiths. But like all children know, they will rise the next cycle as Spectres, unless they bare the curse of the Wraiths. Those who bore the curse will become Wraiths upon their deaths.

The curse is given when one survives the attacks of a Wraith. Wraiths don’t like leaving things unfinished, it is why they exist. They will hunt down the bearers of the curse, even if they themselves did not place it on the bearer.

 Lynn was bored out of her mind. They were in a very ‘important’ meeting. It consisted of the news of the Tempted, and the fact that it were paladins who were tempted. The priesthood had already fled the frontlines; paladins were the only remaining warriors of the gods who fought. And there were already paladins following after the priesthood, those that stayed were mostly the useless or the idiots.

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But without the support of the gods they could only rely on the mercy of the nature druids, but they were just as fickle as the one they served. Meaning they would need more fodder for the frontlines, or they would have to live with a much shorter time limit than they already had.

The meeting came to an end. It was decided that they would send a few men to scout, to see if the frontlines needed more manpower or if they could last.

 Lynn stood before a kiln, waiting for the bread to reach perfection. Enna was out hunting. Of the two of them, she was the most qualified, being a hunter since young. Whereas Lynn was more of the ‘get in your face and butcher you’ type. She had no patience to track and sneak after prey; she much preferred the open battlefield.

She acted quickly, the bread was near perfection. She grabbed her large wooden shovel. In a clean stabbing motion the bread was on the shovel. She, with hurried patience, pulled the shovel from the kiln. She quickly placed the bread on a cutting board and covered it with a thin cloth to keep it away from flies. A cursory inspection made her proud, they looked perfect.

Lynn placed some more dough on the shovel and stuck it in the kiln once more. With a quick twist of the wrist the dough was off the shovel and in seconds the shovel was again next to the kiln. Time to wait once more.

 “I’m home!” Enna exclaimed as she swung open the front door.

Lynn poked her head from a back room into the hallway that lead straight to the front door. She smiled but quickly noticed the lack of any animal. “Didn’t go well?”

Enna stripped her heavy and sweaty clothes, she sighed. “No, the flowers are too close to safely hunt.”

That brought a frown to Lynn’s face. They would have to exterminate some Wraiths to give the local druids some time to regrow the circle of flowers a bit further in. And she hated getting close to the things. Their whispers were annoying.

“Go take a bath; I can smell you from here.”

Enna flinched. She never liked the smell of sweat, especially not when she was the one sweating. She hurried out of the hallway into one of the side doors, stripping the rest of her clothes as she went.

Lynn gave a sigh and walked into the hallway. She picked up the clothes and took them to one of the back rooms, where it would stay till someone took the time to wash them.