Gloryhammer - Kingdom Fall [EN]

The Storm

The only thing the young knight heard was a long-distance scream. A burning desire to go back to the fortress fulfilled his chest and mind, he couldn't just leave his friends behind, but he had no choice. That was an order. When Cornus left the labyrinth beneath the Crail it was already an evening. The sky burns red with sunset and inky darkness spread from the east. Back in the distance, the towers of Crail were standing like beacons of an unreachable dream. Cornus couldn't even look back, the tiredness got him through and through, but there was no time for rest. He promised to move forward, so the young knight did.

After a few hours of walking, he fell down in tired. Wrapped in the traveler's coat the knight immediately fell asleep. But it was no calm sleep. His mind was twisted, wild real dreams spread through his head; dreams full of painful screaming and dark venomous whispering. Even dreams were calling the young knight back. Regulon's voice resonated in him; giving him an order, calling him back to Crail. The Regulons voice was shut and from the darkness stood a grandmaster Proletius with black eyes, giving Cornus a hand and the young knight wanted to accept, he wanted to let Proletius pull him back to the fortress. But he made a promise, got an order, and swear to the hammer! The voice of Regulon came back, louder with tens of other voices of Crail knights, shouted at him, tearing his mind apart. Man covered his ears, but voices didn't let go, cut to his brain like a sharp knife of remorse. Cornus woke up screaming and heavily breathing. He sweated and shook a little. With intermittent breathing, he touched the little box in his bag. It calmed him a little, but the bad feeling of leaving his "family" back in the fortress was still crawling through his mind. Cornus looked up, the darkness covered everything around him, stars were nowhere to be seen and a dark silhouette of Crail fortress was growing higher under the valley. And for him, there was no way back.

Suddenly the sound of feathers and screaming of eagles came to his ears. The great mass of big birds appeared higher in the sky over the Crail fortress. Cornus stood still, looked directly at the formation over his head. The bad feeling cross his mind and when the mass of flesh got closer, he covered himself with a travel coat and laid on the ground. Lying under a nearby bush he watched silently the formation of great eagles flew over his head heading to the north. They were leaving the Crail, the question was why? The Buzz of feathers was loud and terrifying. Cornus shake in sudden fear when shadows of eagles cross over the bush he was lying. For one moment he wanted to shout at them, let them know he ran away well, but this need was silenced by an unknown bad feeling. Why would they leave Crail when the sorcerer was on his way there?

Running horse pulled him out of his thoughts. The sound of hooves on the stony road was loud and heavy, the creator must have been big. Cornus turn his head and saw a great unicorn running the same way eagles flew. He covered his mouth and hold his breath, hoping the rider will not spot him. His coat had the same color as the grass he was lying on. The great black creature ran around with sorcerer on its back. The unicorn ran down the stone road and disappeared in the distance. Cornus waited since the unicorn will be out of his sight, his heart and breath slowly calmed down. He breathed out.

A heavy silence covered the land when the unicorn and eagles disappeared in the distance. The sudden relief spread through his mind. When eagles flew under him a hard bad feeling like a giant hand grabbed him and mashed him, but now the great pressure vanished and he felt free. And with that feeling, he started to understand what was going on. While knights left Crail side by side with an evil sorcerer. What was the whispering in the back of his head? A great misfortune felt on Crail. The sorcerer must use some terrible spell on them to force them to serve in the army of chaos. Cornus cried and tightened his knee closer to his chest. After a while, in absolute darkness and silence, he threw away every caution and set up a campfire. The cracking of fire was a pleasant sound for a young knight who just lost everything. No, he still had his purpose, reminded the young knight to himself, and touched the little box in his bag. The smell of fire and wood fulfilled the air, for a moment the atmosphere wasn't so heavy.