Prologue
***
The soft quaking of the shutters was the only sound which filled the night. I laid in bed and watched the light dancing on the ceiling, shimmering as though a thousand pixies were swaying with the wind above me.
And then I heard it, a whisper in the wind.
"Silvia."
I stood up and immediately reached for my daggers, my eyes fixed on the door. I watched and waited, listening for any sign of an intruder. A single trail of sweat trickled down my back, and it was all I could do to remain still, barely even breathing.
The door creaked open slowly, and a small, stout figure stepped inside. The cloak shielded their face, except for the faint red glow of their eyes. A chill immediately crept down my spine as I realised what it was.
A wraithdemon.
"Silvia."
It reached out to me, clawed fingers hooked in the darkness and stretching towards me. I could feel its malice, it's unquenchable bloodlust. It wanted to kill me; I could sense that.
But I wasn't going down without a fight. I flung one of the dagger at its face, but with a simple wave of its hand, the dagger turned to ash.
"Foolish girl," it whispered. "Do you not know death when you gaze upon it?"
"If this is how death looks, then I must confess that I am highly disappointed," I replied.
A hideous, monstrous cackle escaped from its lips, and then it glared down at me with eyes narrowed to slits.
"Eredor will fall," it said. "The seven shall rise again, and the skies will burn with fire as the earth is plunged into darkness once again. Only one will survive the chaos, and the magic of old will regain its foothold once more in the hearts of men. The drums of Eldrida shall ring once more, and the warriors of old shall stir in their graves. The cursed blade has been found, and he who wields it shall bring death and destruction to all."
I thought I knew the taste of fear, but this was something else entirely. This was a terrible sense of panic which gripped at my heart. Eldrida; the cursed blade.
It couldn't be.
It lunged at me suddenly, but I was ready for the attack. I stepped away at the last second, balling my hand into a fist and driving it directly into its side. The attack was weak, merely meant to distract it for a split second. I watched as its eyes shifted to the side I had just punched, and that was just the opening I needed before I plunged my blade directly into its neck.
A terrible shriek erupted from its twisted mouth, and the silence of the night was pierced so violently that I thought my ears would explode. Its screams went up in the air, loud and deafening.
The palace immediately came alive with the shouts of guards as they rushed up to my tower. The wraithdemon curled up at my feet, trembling as it turned to ash. Relieved, I retrieved my dagger and stood up, stepping away from the melting corpse.
"f*****g piece of s**t!" I spat, keeping my distance. I was about to step away when I saw an amulet drop to the ground. It glowed with a bright, emerald light, and it took me only a split second to realise what it was.
A wyrmstone.
And wherever it was spotted, everyone knew what came next.
I didn't even have to look up before an explosion of fire and ash blasted through the side of the tower. A bone-chilling roar ripped through the night air as the sound of beating wings hovered above me.
And all around me, the screams of people running for their lives could be heard, only one word on their lips.
"DRAGON!"
***
