From the high balcony of the keep, the young princess, Livia, stood in rigid silence, her gaze fixed on the city below. Flames licked the horizon where towers once stood tall and proud. Smoke coiled upward from the outer walls, choking the sun in a haze of ash. The screams of battle reached even here. The darkness poured through the city gates and swallowed the courtyard in its oppressive maw.
Then a streak of golden light burst through the shadow. Livia's breath caught as Aurelian thundered into the chaos, his sword raised high, the ring on his hand flaring with radiant light. Shadows reeled from his presence. Soldiers who had moments before wavered now surged forward, voices rising in renewed defiance. His charge carved a path of hope through the carnage. The tide had begun to shift.
"My lady!" came a breathless voice behind her. Livia turned to see her handmaiden hurrying into the hall. She clutched the edge of the arched doorway, eyes wide with fear. "You must come," she urged. "It isn't safe here."
Livia's gaze drifted back to the balcony, to the distant flash of light where Aurelian's blade met the dark. Her jaw tightened.
"Is my father safe?" Livia said firmly.
"He is evacuating with the last of the people. But my lady, please, you must join them at once!"
"I'm not leaving!" Livia fired back with authority. "This city is the last bastion of our once great empire. I will not abandon it now."
Before the handmaiden could respond, the heavy doors at the far end of the hall burst open with a crash of metal. A lone guard stumbled inside, breastplate scorched, helmet tucked beneath one arm, blood streaking one side of his face. His breath came in ragged gasps.
"My princess!" he gasped hoarsely.
"What is it? What's going on?"
"Something has breached the palace," the guard sputtered.
"Impossible!" Livia spun around. "What did you see?"
"I'm not sure," he responded, eyes wide with horror. A silence fell over the chamber, cold and sudden. Just then, a faint, muffled cry echoed from the corridors beyond the hall. Livia narrowed her eyes as the guard stepped between her and the doorway. She turned to her servant and took her by the arm.
"Listen to me," she said under her breath. "The bell. Sound it now!"
"What? I can't," the handmaiden uttered fearfully. Another scream sounded, this one much closer, followed by a horrific, guttural shriek that made them all jump.
"Yes you can!" Livia pressed. "Go! Now!"
The handmaiden's breath trembled as she nodded and turned on her heels. Her feet skidded along the marble floor as she sprinted toward the side corridor, vanishing through an arched doorway just as another scream tore through the stone beyond the main hall. Livia turned back just as several more guards burst into the chamber from the grand corridor, weapons drawn and faces grim. One of them slammed the doors behind him, while the others moved instinctively to barricade them. Livia hurried and snatched a sword that was hung on the stone wall, steeling herself for whatever was coming. Outside, something slammed against the main gates. The iron bolts rattled in their brackets.
"Stand fast!" one of the guards cried out. Whatever was on the other side continued to smash against the doors in rapid succession, threatening to break them in at any moment. Then suddenly, it ceased, and everything went deathly quiet.
Livia looked on in confusion. The others refused to let their guard down. Livia tightened her grip on her sword, waiting for the next wave of impacts to strike. The bell suddenly rang out overhead, low and thunderous, reverberating throughout the stone. Livia jumped at the sound of it, a wave of relief coming over her, but that was quickly lost when one of the guards cried out.
"Look!"
Livia followed his direction. A long, thin strand of black mist curled beneath the main doors, slithering like smoke over the stone. Another tendril followed, thicker this time, coiling upward along the hinges. The wood around it began to blacken and crack, as if rapidly rotting.
One of the guards stepped back, sword raised. "What in the name of the gods—?"
The tendril didn't strike. It drifted closer, curling through the air like smoke in water. It brushed his leg, no more forceful than a breeze. He flinched, but nothing happened. A moment later, he staggered.
"What is it?" another guard asked, reaching out. "Are you alright?"
He didn't respond. His eyes darted, unfocused. His breath became shallow. A faint shimmer of shadow traced along the veins at his temple, like ink swirling beneath the skin. He swayed on his feet, hand twitching. His mouth opened, letting out a hoarse, pained gasp. Then his gaze snapped upward, locking with Livia's. His pupils had vanished, leaving only two dark abysses that were once his eyes. He let out a low, rasping sound, somewhere between a growl and what used to be his voice.
He suddenly moved toward the others, like a puppet jerked by tangled strings.
"What is wrong with you? Speak!" another of the guards exclaimed.
The guard lunged without warning. He moved less like a man and more like a beast—low and fast, mouth wide open as he tackled the nearest soldier to the ground. The two crashed against a marble column with a thunderous crack, and before the others could react, the corrupted guard sank his teeth into the man's neck with a sickening crunch.
Two others rushed in, trying to pull the creature away. But it thrashed like a rabid animal, hurling one of them back with such force he slammed into the far wall and collapsed. The other was lifted and flung aside as if weightless, his armor clattering as he hit the floor. It stood to its quivering feet, blood dripping from its chin and breath hissing through blackened teeth. The shadows beneath its skin pulsed and writhed like they were alive. The guards that remained standing moved to fend it off, but it swung its arms with inhuman ferocity, knocking one of them clear off his feet.
Amidst the chaos, Livia charged forward. As the monstrous creature lunged at another of the guards, she swung her sword to catch it. The blade cleaved clean through the creature's neck with a wet, cracking sound. For a brief second, its body remained upright, head tumbling from its shoulders in a slow, grotesque roll before landing on the blood-slicked marble with a dull thud, followed by the rest of the body.
Livia stood frozen, chest heaving, her sword dripping black ichor that reeked of ash and decay. Her hands trembled, but she did not loosen her grip. The hall fell silent. The surviving guards stood scattered across the hall, wide-eyed and shaken as they caught their breath. One leaned against the barricaded door, blood trailing down his cheek. Livia lowered her blade, her breath still ragged, her ears ringing from the bell above.
"What devilry was that?" one of the guards gasped at last. Livia prodded the headless body with the tip of her blade. It remained completely motionless.
"I've never seen anything like that before," another muttered in despair.
"Nobody has," Livia said. "This is a whole new threat."
"What do we do?"
Livia was at a loss for words. Whatever happened to this man just now, she knew it could happen to any one of them. This changed everything and she knew it. Even if Aurelian was able to fight back the forces of darkness, it would only come back more powerful than ever. There was no choice. They would have to abandon the city.
She turned to speak, but before she could give an order, the torches on the walls suddenly sputtered. The flames flickered once and then suddenly dimmed. The shadows deepened. Black tendrils slithered again, emerging not just from beneath the door, but from cracks in the floor, from behind tapestries, from beneath the corpses strewn across the marble.
One of the guards let out a strangled gasp as the darkness coiled around his ankle. Another cried out, swinging his blade, but it passed harmlessly through the smoke. The tendrils climbed up his arm, into his armor, beneath his helm. His scream cut off mid-scream.
"Get away from it!" Livia shouted, backing toward the center of the chamber. "Now!"
But it was too late. The corruption spread like wildfire. One by one, the guards convulsed, dropped to their knees, and rose again, their bodies bent at impossible angles, eyes blackened and vacant. Their lips peeled back into hollow sneers. Livia raised her sword again, her breath quickening. They advanced in a slow, circling formation, cutting off her escape. Their weapons dragged across the marble, shrieking like nails against slate.
From the bell tower above, the final toll echoed—a deep, singular note that vibrated through the very bones of the keep. Livia's heart pounded in her chest as the possessed guards took their final step forward.