shadows

0-01

Blood night. The night when the moon turned red as fresh blood. And paints the night in its shadow. A red hue.

Scientists call it an astronomical phenomenon. And they are not wrong.

But down in the night, there is more. Legend has it was a full moon under which the ancients summoned a celestial. They believed it was an angel. They were wrong. What they had summoned was a devil. A devil that slaughtered everyone. There was so much blood, that it painted the earth and the heavens red. By the time the gods arrived, the devil had had his full. And disappeared. All that remained was the moon stained red by the blood of the ancients. A stain that wouldn’t be washed off. A stain that gave this particular full moon and this particular night its name. Blood night.

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The assassins arrived outside the woods in a team of twenty four. They exchanged silent glances. Split into twelve pairs. Each racing off to the designated point of ingress. And at the exact same moment, entered the woods.

The woods weren’t dense. But they gave ample cover. The assassins were at home in the environment. Or so they thought.

The moment the assassins set the first foot past the boundary, they were discovered. They had made ample preparations. And they had still underestimated the enemy. The wide area spell was the most rudimentary spell that one would not expect to encounter outside of the first lessons of children. It was the perfect disguise. For the spell was also so faint that the assassins had missed it even with their minds open. The spell caused the faintest energy distortions. Indistinguishable from a faint nightly breeze. And the spell had one thing to do. Pull the trigger.

The soundless siren awakened the eight elementals resting among the high branches. They were the first line of defence. The woods their responsibility. Each one of them had committed to memory the map of the woods, with the locations of the spells. Every time an assassin tripped a spell, they were informed. And they had the plan of action set in place too.

The first pair of assassins died without knowing what happened. They had triggered a spell that activated the trap. The spell might have been easy to miss. But the trap couldn’t be masked. Which was why, the trap had to be manually activated. An elemental was in place, waiting. And activated the trap by pushing in a wisp of his mana. The circle of blue hell, a spell that invoked the hottest blue flames inside the marked circle, burnt the assassins to a crisp before they could let out a cry.

The second and third pairs of assassins were caught in a swamp spell, that turned a wide area of earth into quicksand. Not the most terrifying spell, except that the swamp spell was only the first of two. The second was a landslide spell, that sent earth rushing like a waterfall. The four assassins were torn to shreds. Not even their enchanted armour could save them.

The fourth pair of assassins were electrocuted by a high grade lightning spell that wouldn’t let off until the pair was ashes.

The fifth was the last pair to falter in the woods. And it wasn’t a spell that did them in. They were caught in freeze spell. But they were too powerful. The destroyed the spell. Found the elemental who cast the spell. And attacked. The elemental put up a fight. But one elemental was no match to two assassins. The assassins split. One attacking from the back and the other head on. It was a quick death. The elemental’s limbs were broken first. And a moment later, the elemental’s neck snapped. Leaving the elemental collapsed on the ground, the assassins moved on. They didn’t get far.

The fight had attracted other elementals. It was now two assassins against five elementals. A fight that was impossible for the assassins to win.

The elementals fired off five spells at once. Both of the assassins had to take on the five spells. One couldn’t, knocked off his feet by a wind blade spell, and then knocked unconscious by an earth fist spell, and then turned into a porcupine by a steel needles spell, and finally burnt to death by a blue flame ball spell. A miserable end. But not one entirely unexpected. An assassin was prepared for a violent end.

The second assassin was the stronger of the two. And luckier. Escaped four spells. Took the fifth head on. Didn’t flinch as the blue ball of flames came at him. Didn’t flinch as the flames engulfed him and burned him. Didn’t stop either. He rushed the surprised elemental. Used the elemental as a shield, as he put off the flames. And then rushed at the nearest elemental, thrusting a blade through the heart of the elemental he held and throwing the already dead elemental at the others while taking the second elemental hostage. This elemental was much more decisive. Cast a spell of lightning strike upon them both. The assassin wasn’t one to give up so easily either. He jumped toward two other elementals standing near enough. And when the lightning struck, it struck down the four of them. One assassin. Three elementals. The elements were indiscriminate like that.

Five elementals were taken down. And ten assassins had failed. The remaining seven pairs of assassins crossed the woods, entered the clearing.

Only one of the remaining three elementals was unhurt.

All of the blue castle was under a veil. An extremely powerful enchantment. An enchantment that allowed outsiders in, but didn’t let anything out. And so, the devastation of the woods remained inside.

Under the red hue of the blood night, the fallen trees, the flames and the smoke, the deformed earth, the charred remains, it was all looking like the re-enactment of that night from the legend. Like the devil had returned. Thirsty for blood. And it was only the beginning.