Out of Light, Into the Dark

[Proto Man]

The woods of the Pale Moors were actually pretty similar to the dying forests of the Tangled Green.

The trio trudged across dried earth, eying desiccated and withered trees along the way. Every now and again, they’d hear something creak or rattle in the distance, but aside from a few jumps, they went uninterrupted as they traced the path taken by the Darkshire garrison soldiers.

It took them a few hours, but they eventually stumbled across what looked to be an unearthed graveyard. As far as the eye could see, the area was covered in shattered bones, broken weapons, and tattered rags. The only thing that would have told them this was a recent development was the fact that there were two somewhat fresh corpses within sight. One of them was twisted, grayed, and somewhat shrunken beneath what had once been fully-fitting chain mail. The other bore a few dozen stab and blunt trauma wounds.

“This is horrible,” Mireya muttered as she crouched down next to the partially shriveled corpse. “What terrible sort of creature do you think did this to him? It is as if the life had been drained right out of him.”

“Probably nothing quite as bad as whatever happened to his friend over here,” Snake Man shot back as he looked over the second victim. “This is definitely where those soldiers fought their necromancers, but there doesn’t seem to be any indication as to what direction the monsters came from.”

“The same place we’re going to send you,” a menacing voice whispered from the trees as the trio rose to attention and turned their eyes toward the surrounding woods. All around them, sneering, slobbering darkspawn stepped out from the trees. From where the voice had emanated, a taller creature emerged, holding a heavy staff in his left hand and a book in his right.

“What are you?” Proto Man shouted as the barrel of his Proto Buster started to shimmer.

“Your demise,” the creature replied as he threw forth his staff and released a bolt of lightning at the trio.