Lightfallen Inquisition - Chapter 2

The old Cleric leaned forward and wove his fingers together. "This was about fourty years ago, when I was a younger lad like yourself," he said. "My father, an important Cleric in the Order of the Sacred Sun, sent me out into the plagued lands of southern Greyshire, to find a woman, strong in the light but with only six blackguards."

I leaned back against the wall, my legs crossed, sitting on the bed. He sipped from his tea, and I did the same.

"I travelled with Sir Coldrin, a knight of the order. Stout, brave, but rather foolish, was he."


  "Konor... Konor!" said Coldrin. Konor snapped out of his daydream and turned his gaze from the monsterous, darkened tower before them, to the knight riding along side him.

"Sorry, sir."

"Pay attention, we are about to enter the Vilewood." He pointed ahead, just beyond the ominous tower, at the blackened forest of charred wood and thick mist.
Konor's hands began to shake as he gripped the reins. He had not been out in the field before, spending much of his twenty years in the chapel of Kingsguarde, training in the ways of the Light with the other students there.

"Put your faith in the Light, boy," said Coldrin, keeping a stern gaze ahead. "Fear is your greatest enemy in this foul place."

"Why are we risking our lives... and souls, for a foolish woman who we don't even know?" Konor asked.

Coldrin glanced his way. His righteous gold and white armour glimmering as they passed a moonlit lake. "We are men of the Light, we answer its call and help those in need, no matter who they may be."

Konor understood, but did not necessarily agree with the knight's principles, although he knew that Coldrin was no push-over, and a greater man of the Light than he could ever be.
They continued along the dirt road towards the forest, past the looming tower. Just before the entrance to the woods, there was a shallow hole with the torso of a man in black and red armour protruding from it, with the sigil of a red phoenix on his tabard.

"A soldier of Sade?" asked Konor.

Coldrin dismounted and knelt beside the fallen soldier. From the scratch marks on the ground and his weapons being several meters away, it would seem that he was dragged into the hole by something from under ground. Before Coldrin could speak his mind, the body shuddered, then began to crawl forwards, towards Konor. It gave a low growl, like a wolf hunting its prey, and then it rose. Its legs were missing, but it walked on its palms, the head hanging low like it was only half-attached.

Coldrin acted fast, lifting his warhammer and delivering a skull-shattering blow to the head of the creature. It collapsed, leaving Konor clinging to his horse with his face buried into the mane.

"It's alright boy, just an undead," said Coldrin.