Fantasy Best Seller "Rage of Night": Chapter 5

Darion remembered how it had been.

The smoke was so thick it occluded the sun's light, turning day into night. The dirt of the small village's lone roadway had been stained crimson by her peoples' blood, as they'd died there, one by one.

All his friends, everyone he'd met, and even those unlucky enough to be passing through; all had been executed. They had forced him to watch each one die.

It did not end there. No, these men were monsters, and their thirst would not be quenched so easily. Next, they had brought forth all three of his darling children. Anna, his oldest, was a beautiful maid, just starting to take an interest in some of the village boys. Darren, his only son, had barely reached seven summers. And Moiré, his precious, sweet baby. She had taken her very first steps just days ago.

They all were brought before him. It seemed like an eternity as they pled for their lives. They screamed, they begged, and they cried, but the bastards didn't let up. Slowly, they tortured and mutilated them in front of him.

He shuddered to remember it. They had started by chopping the fingers off of poor Moiré, one by one...

The ordeal went on and on as they forced him to watch. They screamed for him to save them, but he was powerless. Even when their tongues were cut away, still they howled. And then, his three darling children were beheaded.

Finally, there was Allissa. His wife, the only woman he'd ever loved, she was his world. She was his life.

They brought her before him nude and badly beaten. By the dead look in her eyes, he knew what they had done to her already. Without a word, they cut her throat. They laughed at her as she died.

Compared to that, the destruction of his body was nothing.

Darion shook himself to brush away the last shadows of ancient memory. He had relived his horror every day for the past five centuries. Every time, he was reminded of what he must do, and why.

They shall not go unavenged.

He had seen to it that every beast there that day had met his end at the point of Darion's blades, whether of magic or steel. Yet the debt owed was still too great.