Join Me

The dust of the ambush settled, revealing a scene of brutal efficiency.

Torvin the Tank was a broken heap against the far wall. Elara the Healer was a still form in the center of the room, her light extinguished by Ragnar's own shadowy hand.

Two other Liberators had been cut down by his elite monsters.

And Isabelle Thorne, the Sword Saint of Aethelburg, knelt on the cold stone, her leg pierced by a traitor's arrow, her legendary katana clutched in a white-knuckled grip.

Her eyes, usually burning with heroic fire, now flickered with a mixture of pain, shock, and dawning horror.

Kael, the archer who had shot her, stood frozen, his bow clattering to the floor. The [Dark Induction] had faded, leaving him staring at his hand, then at Isabelle, his face a mask of utter self-loathing and confusion.

"I… I didn't… Why?" he stammered, before collapsing to his knees, head in his hands, sobs wracking his body.