Lux in Tenebris

The sun was starting to dip beneath the horizon as the hero approached, painting the evening sky a bloody orange-red, with the purples of the night slowly creeping up. A few dark clouds steadily crawled across the sky and lent to the ominous atmosphere that hung suffocatingly around the valley. Towering trees cast dark, crooked shadows across the path and seemed to almost reach for the walking figure, wanting to draw her back into the darkness.

Daeris swallowed hard as she strode across the gradually darkening path, lit only by the fading sunlight and a few scattered torches. ‘Whoever’s the gardener around here should really be fired…’ She mused to herself, eyeing the rotting wood planks littering the overgrown grassy areas around the road. The place was obviously meant to be hidden; being placed in a valley hidden by all sorts of plant life, and took Daeris hours to find even though she had been given the location. Hence why it was nearly night now.

The place itself was obviously a fortress; made of worn pale brick with gold accents that lined the walls reflected the bright torchlight, and cobalt colored roofs on the towers that each tapered into a sharp point. As she approached, she spotted a man pacing back and forth in front of the large battle-worn oaken doors. He was tall, with striking, slicked back red hair and armor unlike anything Daeris had ever seen. It had clearly seen as much battle as the doors the man stood in front of; with deep gouges all across the gold and ashen metals. A few red belts crisscrossed his arms and torso, and keeping them together were shining golden buckles that bore the same insignia Flash had shown her earlier in the week. A crisp scar was gouged across his nose, and an odd tattoo; two black bars, lay above his right eye. She would have examined him further (way to be creepy, hero) but the man looked up, finally noticing her, and smiled welcomingly as Daeris closed the distance between them.

What struck her first was his eyes. They screamed Shadowsycthe. The sclera was pitch black, and his irises were a dark crimson red not unlike his hair. They seemed to not hide any menace that often came with the signature eyes of Empress Gravelyn’s forces, but she could not be sure. She decided not to stereotype, because maybe this man wasn’t evil and just had some weird eye disease. Yeah, a disease. that seemed about right. Another sudden popped into her head. Why was she freaking on whether or not this guy was Shadowscythe? Wasn’t SHE Shadowscythe? Oh yeah. She was.

‘Welcome! I take it you received my Master’s letter for help?’ He asked suddenly to shake her out of her stupor, standing in parade rest with a friendly smile still on his face.

‘Uh, yeah, I did. But it was kinda really vague about what exactly was in distress. Another cliche evil? Some dark force? Your cat got stuck in a tree? I have no idea, and I’d really like to know.’ Daeris said, attempting to break the ice and disguise the awkwardness of staring at his face for like 3 minutes..

The man chuckled. ‘I’d love to tell you, but we don’t have much time to go into detail. I’ll try to explain as I go, hero.’ He turned on his heel and threw open the large doors, the lack of effort involved making Daeris smirk and raise an eyebrow. Nice.

She followed him into the looming archway, as he began to talk as they walked through the high-roofed corridors, etched with various detailed scenes of battle, men and women locked in conflict with armored undead, that took Daeris’ breath away. The murals were clearly cracked and worn, with paint peeling off in various areas, but that did not retract from the harshness of battle that was shown.

‘My name is Darkon. I represent an ancient Order; the Seraphic Paladins. We have long been charged with keeping Lore safe from powerful Evils.’

Daeris internally groaned. Cliche powerful evils. Of course. Wasn’t it always? Fantastic. Just… fantastic. And of course paladins were involved. Ugh.

‘However…’ Darkon’s voice lowered slightly, which she noted dutifully. ‘In recent years, we have not been as successful as we wish.

Scoffing, the Hero crossed her arms. ‘Tell me about it. The Underworld invasion, the Undead Army attacks, the fact that Sepulchure existed…’ She counted on her fingers as she listed them off. ‘I never saw any of your Order, and you’d better believe I could have used some extra blades a few times!’

Darkon did not disagree, and waved a hand. ‘And there you have it. We need your help to repair the Seraphs.’ They had stopped in front of another pair of doors, much smaller than the first. ‘Something…’ He seemed troubled, but then continued, ‘Is not right here. It did not used to be this way, that’s why we need your help.’

Daeris was about to make a remark about she always had to go fixing other people’s problems, but bit it back when she looked at Darkon closely. He did seem deeply unsettled, and concerned for the fate of the Order he was part of. Darkon stared at her expectantly.

She sighed.

‘Alright, what do I need to do?’

The paladin’s grin widened. Did this man ever stop smiling? She hoped not. It was vaguely reassuring in a way, but made her feel like she had to go dragon kick a baby just to feel manly again.

‘Find out what darkness lurks inside our home.’ He started, beginning to pace once again. ‘Perhaps… perhaps, if you were to pretend to be a new recruit - You would have a plausible excuse for asking questions and meeting people. One of our most trusted knights, Thomas, will act as your sponsor.’ He paused for a moment and turned to her. His voice dropped even lower. ‘Once you discover something - ANYTHING - of interest or concern, return back to me.’

‘Got it, bro.’ Daeris nodded solemnly.

‘Good. However, it is late- you may not be able to accomplish much tonight. You may retrieve your recruit armor from Thomas; he should be in the armory. He can answer any more questions you may have.’ Darkon finished, and crossed his arms.

‘Okay… sounds like a lot, but I’ll get to the root of all this, I promise you.’ Daeris said with determination. These people needed her help urgently, and she could not let them down at any cost.

‘I hope so, hero… You seem like our only hope at this point.’ The man sighed.

‘That’s not a lot of pressure on me at all.’ The hero said snarkily.

Darkon only laughed, but then turned serious and stared solemnly to her, a hint of fear flickering in his dark eyes. ‘Good luck to you, and may the angels light your path.’

With those parting words, the commander turned heel and walked off down one of the dim corridors, leaving Daeris alone in the flickering torchlight.