Deep in the depths of the Royal Castle, the Oracle sat on her bed as she brushed her hair. As she did, she thought about the last time she saw the sun. When was the last time she saw her family? Her friends?

It had been many years.

Her Special Constitution caused her to feel the emotions of the past and future. She still remembered how jealous her friends were back then. The power to predict the future? How awesome was that? Well, since she could not control her power, it became a nightmare.

Her body and mind were overwhelmed with sensations. She felt her body be cut, mauled, loved, assaulted, burned, crushed, and ripped apart. She felt the touch of countless lovers. She felt the sting of countless blades. For a young girl, the overwhelming sensations had nearly killed her.

Had an Expert Healer not been nearby, she would have. Even then, it had been a close call. Her family had been forced to call a special Mage, one that specialized in cutting off the mind from the body.

But such Magic was Mana Intensive, and the Mage had only been an Adept. For two sweet hours a day, she had felt peace. In those two hours, she would struggle to gain some control over her ability.

Years passed before she found an inkling of control. Her two hours of shelter came to an end. The Mage had already been an older man. She knew that he had passed peacefully in his sleep, she had felt it.

She sincerely thanked him. His service had allowed her enough time and peace to control her power enough that she was not at risk of being overwhelmed and dying.

She spent years in constant pain as her mind could not handle what she was feeling. Gradually, she learned to both somewhat control it, as well as mitigate the symptoms. She limited her senses as much as she could. She wore a blindfold, kept herself to a cool dark place devoid of people or noise, and even ate nothing but tasteless porridge.

Even with her self-taught control and carefully maintained habitat, it was a fragile balance. And it only just allowed her to live a normal life without constant pain. The few short visits she has from Daniel Redmond forced her to lay down the entire next day.

Many might say that such was a wasted life, but she did not actually mind. Even before getting this gift curse combo, she had always been a bit of a bookworm. And she had long since learned an Ability that allowed her to read even while blindfolded and in the dark.

Though she did wish she could eat some cake.

Instead, she lived in a world of constant sensory deprivation.

In this way, she was able to control her power well enough to get a general feeling for what it meant. While others mocked or pitied her, the Duke saw a use for her power, as imprecise as it was.

She became the Oracle, and her visions had help define the path of the Kingdom on many occasions.

She was content with this. It wasn’t a perfect life, but it was hers.

Day after day, she would wake up and eat another bowl of luke-warm bland porridge, and then continue to read. She already had a mountain of books stacked at the back of her small room. Daniel would bring one or two more every time he visited.

At the moment, she was reading an interesting book about the very nature of Monsters versus Man. What were the differences between the two? What were the similarities? It was fascinating for her.

She had just turned the page when her body seized, the book falling from her grasp as she began to spasm. Her mind and body were wracked with feelings of pain, misery, death, and ruin. Most prominent of the feelings, was horror.

Gut wrenching, blood curdling, horror. The terror that would freeze a person, making them unable to move because they know it would be pointless.

A horror of such impending and unstoppable danger that the Human mind failed to comprehend it. Leaving nothing but a trail of destruction and death in its wake. A threat that could be seen a thousand miles away but know you could do nothing to stop or avoid it.

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She did not feel this for a few people, or even a few dozen. The feelings were too powerful for that.

This was the emotions and feelings of countless thousands. Thousands who all felt their impending death coming for them and their loved ones, knowing that nothing they did could stop it. The terror that it could come for them at any time and at any place. Stalking them from the shadows.

Since she had gained this power, she had only ever felt the emotions and impressions of the past or future. She had never actually seen it. But for the first time, an image appeared in her mind.

An image of the land being swallowed by darkness, consuming both Monster and Man. A bright light blocked the darkness, protecting just a small portion. Within the darkness, surrounded by corpses, a lone figure stood. A black knight wearing intricate armor that could only be seen as cruel and maybe even demonic.

The knight looked towards the last remaining light. Many would say he was glaring at it, furious that it dared oppose him. But the Oracle felt longing and love radiate from the Knight.

The knight’s blood red eyes flashed. And the corpses rose, as mangled as they were, they began to move. Slowly moving towards the light.

She tried to get closer, to see more, but she couldn’t. Instead, she caught the attention of the Knight, who turned to silently face her. As his gaze met her, she once again felt that terror, but this time, she felt it for herself.

Despite knowing this was not real, she felt as if the knight could extinguish her life with just a thought.

The Knight stared at her for a moment before slowly shaking his head from side to side. He then lifted a hand and waved her away, the vision vanishing as he did.

She opened her eyes, back in the cool dark cell of her room, her chest heaving, her heart pounding in her chest.

Something was coming. Someone was coming.

* * * * *

Far from Zolis, a Guardsman stood at his post atop the wall of Onigas. His duty was to protect the city. An honorable position he was proud to be a part of. But it was not all glory and excitement. In fact, most of his job was to stand at a certain for hours on end. It was boring.

He leaned on his spear, huddling in his cloak. The wall and battlements were covered in snow from the storm that had hit the city just an hour before. Some workers were busy shoveling the snow off, but it was slow work. Not worth simply paying a Fire Mage to melt it all or a Water Mage to move it away.

A stiff wind blew across the wall, piercing through the Guardsman’s cloak, sapping away what little warmth he had. He shuffled closer to the blazing brazier, leaning the spear against his shoulder as he tried to warm his hands. The clear sky and bright sun did little to heat the world below.

Just as he was beginning to feel his fingers thaw, the earth shook, shuffling the logs in the brazier and sending up embers flying. The Guardsman stumbled slightly, gripping his spear once more and turning back to face the forest.

The earth shook once more, causing snow to slide off the pine trees and dead branches. All along the southern wall, Guardsmen were rushing back to their posts while even more were climbing the steps to reach the battlements.

Again, the earth shook, much stronger this time, almost causing some to slip. A deep and loud roar came from the forest before being abruptly silenced. A moment later, a large object flew up and over the trees crashing into the snow covered ground between the forest and Onigas.

The Guardsman looked closer and saw that it was the head of a Basilisk. A giant snake with ear flaps that it could flare out to make itself seem even bigger. It could spit acid out nearly two hundred feet that could dissolve an entire party of fully armored Adepts. Their mouths were large enough to swallow a cow whole, their scales strong enough deflect spears.

But what they were feared for was their ability to turn anyone who met their eyes into stone. Only those with high Intelligence could resist it. If someone’s Intelligence was low enough, they could even become permanently petrified.

The best counter to Basilisk was to use powerful Adept Magic. Even then, a Basilisk was a powerful threat. Not one worthy to alert the entire city, but certainly a threat worthy of the entire Guardsmen force on the wall to be alerted.

Yet here its head lay, detached from the rest of its massive body. Its thick green blood spilling out, melting the snow around it and steaming in the cold air.

A few stunned moments passed before the ground shook yet again. This time accompanied by three Ogre bodies crashing through the trees, crushing the trunks and sending the entire tree toppling over. Two of the Ogres were obviously dead, even from this distance. Large gaping holes, with entire chunks missing. One of the Ogres even had its left arm missing at its elbow.

But the third still lived.

With fear evident on its face, it tried to crawl away, its stomach bleeding profusely, leaving a trail behind it. It only got ten feet before a black knight calmly exited the forest. Skirting the blood trail, the figure held out its hand, a large halberd materializing in its hand.

The figure calmly walked up to the desperate Ogre’s head, rose its mighty halberd, and brought it crashing down, easily slicing through the Ogre’s fat to decapitate it.

With a sickening wet sound, the figure pulled its halberd free and turned to the city. As it did, the Guardsmen felt an aura of dread and fear. A feeling that only grew in strength as thousands of similarly armored figures began marching out of the forest. Behind them, trees continued to fall.

After three months, Alaster had finally reached Onigas. He had exterminated everything within two miles of the path Galmore had planned. It had taken a lot of time. He left nothing but a trail of destruction and bodies behind.

Alaster took a deep breath and sighed, “Its good to be back.”