The war is lost.
As the demon god Grolfenus consumes their world, Sedge, Greeners, Screw and LP undertake a desperate mission: use an experimental machine to travel back in time and prevent the darkness from taking root. Stranded in a fractured past, they must rally Scitherial's warring leaders against a distant, unimaginable threat.
In Prelmaria, King Daralid leads his people's final stand against an invading force. But when the battle descends into chaos, he faces an even darker, ancient power that threatens to doom more than just his kingdom.
Elsewhere, a disgraced Chingravian legionary heeds divine whispers through a cursed city, seeking a boy who may hold the key to Scitherial's salvation.
As time scatters and divine energies awake, Scitherial becomes the chessboard for cosmic forces, waging incomprehensible battles at humanity's expense.
I invite you into a living, breathing world.
One that will ask you to make impossible choices as you decide:
How far would you go to save everything?
Screw bit his tongue as he flung himself into cover at the base of the courtyard. He felt the blood wash over his teeth and splash into the back of his throat.
“Keep moving Screw!”
Above them a violet vortex swirled, sucking up entire buildings in its wake. Only the Capitol Building of Lorben still stood. That was where they scrambled to.
Small arms fire boomed around him. Screw was hyperventilating, clasping his chest, struggling for breath. The necrox tablets in his system were wearing off, and he could feel the madness of The Darkness tugging at the edges of his consciousness.
Ahead the white pillars of the Capitol Building loomed.
Sedge and Greeners had reached the top of the marble steps, now braced and returning fire to the oncoming Necroprites. Screw focused on them beckoning him on. They were shouting something at him.
He could not hear them.
Peeking his head over the debris, he saw his pursuers. Hordes of Enders, an endless black tide of demons. Their corrupted bodies careened forward to overrun their position.
In the distance beyond them a legion of Bergs marched, their malevolent black armour shimmering in the darkness. Above flew the Floaters, their faceless visages hunting the survivors as easy prey.
A hand on his shoulder, strong, pulling him to his feet. Something somewhere exploded. For a moment all Screw could hear was the screams of burning men.
“Get up there Sergeant.” It was Colonel Brakken. His pale, worn face was tight in a defiant grimace. “All of this was for nothing if you don’t go now.” The Colonel smiled. It was a pained smile. The smile of a soldier who was about to die. “Don’t worry about us lad. Get the job done. Who knows, I might even see you again.”
“Sir, I…” two Floaters hovered down from the sky, dematerialising a group of soldiers into shadow.
“No time for that now,” Brakken urged, “get moving!”
With a shove from his superior, Screw was gone. Daring a glance over his shoulder, he saw men he might call brothers, standing their ground and firing at the oncoming hordes. Cries of rage rang off their lips, filling the courtyard with the essence of humanity’s defiance.
Then he was running, hurtling up the steps at lightning pace. He could hear the Enders behind him now. Their rasping squeals of agony followed him. Unrelenting evil baying at his heels.
Above, Greeners was laying down heavy fire with his light support weapon. Around him were other soldiers, doing their best to slow down the enemy and keep him alive.
They’re all going to die because of me.
They sounded so close. So close he could taste their rank breath on his living lips. Hear them snarling over his shoulder. Above the tornado of darkness swirled and moaned, licking at his cloak and threatening to hoist him into the air.
Inside him he could hear his flock calling from beyond the grave.
He found a new gear. Gritting his teeth he cleared the last steps three at a time. Pumping the oxygen through his lungs, Screw put every last ounce of sanity into his plight.
Wheezing, slick with sweat, he glanced at Sedge. There was no time to stop. The Necroprites were almost upon them. Five soldiers in combat fatigues took their place, pummelling the approaching foe with heavy fire. It was so loud, so loud it made his teeth bounce and his stomach roll.
“Go!” One of them screamed over his shoulder. “Go now!”
They went. Turning on their heels and sprinting across the walkway towards the eastern wing of the Capitol Building. Screw looked left to Lorben.
It was burning, but not with flame. Tendrils of shadowy purple smoke licked up from the districts, strangling the city in a firm grip of despair. Thrumming explosions sounded and entire estates were razed into black pits of the Baqshaldur.
A Floater sensed them. Screw saw the broken legs bulging from its pustule ridden sac and ducked low, taking care not to look into its face. It darted over the railing, leaping for Greeners.
With a shriek of defiance one of the last survivors of man intercepted it. Tackling it in mid-air they both careered over the side of the walkway.
With their heads low they kept moving. Everyone still alive knew what they had to do. Get Screw, Sedge and Greeners to that door.
“We’re not going to make it.” Greeners panted. Behind them the Enders had overrun the position atop the marble steps. Now they were on all fours, howling manically as they gave chase.
This is it. Screw thought. We’ve lost. All hope is lost.
A huge figure burst through the doors ahead of them. A massive bald soldier. He filled the doorway with his bulky, muscular frame. Po, Screw thought. The sight of his friend gave him hope. He sucked in a raspy breath and ran harder.
Po had a smoke in his mouth, and a twin cannon strapped to his back. He held the massive implement as the three of them may hold their rifle. Bellowing, he unleashed. Bullets and bright yellow tracers sprayed down the walkway towards the Enders.
When they reached him, Sedge stopped. “Come with us.” He urged, gesticulating wildly. “There’s room for one more.”
The huge man looked at him, a grave smile passing across his chiselled face. “No time for that Commander.” He spat the end of his smoke to the floor. “Get it done. See that all this weren’t for nowt.”
Sedge looked dismayed, as if he was going to ask again, but Po stormed forward. Raising his weapon, he screamed challenges at the oncoming horde of Enders, unleashing deafening salvos of light into the crowd of corrupted humanoids. Screw felt his ear drums pop and bile rise in his stomach.
Around them the lights were dying. The Necroprite influence was taking hold. Soon all would be pitch black, the last bastion of humanity snuffed out like the last candle in some closing monastery.
Again, they were gone. Bursting into a corridor. Panting and gagging for breath. He could hear windows smashing, and the screams of the Enders. They were looking for them, hunting humans for the last time.
He could taste their foulness like curdled blood on the hectic wind. It was ripping at his sanity. Threatening to overwhelm his senses and send him spiralling into the dark void of madness.
It’s like they know. He thought as they struggled on. It’s like they know we’re the last hope.
His necrox tablets had fully worn off. The blister pack of tabs were long since spent, and there was no way of getting more until they were out of here.
His body was beginning to tremble, and thick globules of blood ran from his nose into his mouth. Cursing, he spat, using every ounce of his will to hold back The Darkness.
Sinister images threatened at the edge of his consciousness. Playful, demonic whispers lashed at his sanity like whips to a slave. Screw fought against it with all his might.
“Hold fast the light,” he whispered under his shaky breath, “see me through to the next ten.”
Greeners stumbled and fell, cursing as he went down. Four Enders crashed through a door adjoining the corridor. Sedge and Screw acted fast, using training rather than thought Screw darted in and hoisted Greeners up, propelling him into a run as he threw him forwards.
Sedge unleashed multiple deadly accurate bursts from his weapon, dropping all targets. Screw saw his Commander’s red eyes flare in the muzzle flashes, a grunt of menace tingling his scarred lips.
The three of them pushed on.
Enders emerged from every doorway. Outside Po’s cannon had grown silent, and a torrent of Necroprites poured through the entrance. Their stench choked the Capitol Building, the stench of nightmare sweat and grief. Their long black bodies scuttled forwards. It was truly a maddening sight seeing so many of them in one place.
Screw was panicking, looking to Sedge for guidance. The lack of necrox tablets was making his mind unstable. The edges of his vision were turning black, and he felt unsteady on his aching feet.
“It’s just up there.” Sedge gasped, motioning to a spiral stairway that led to the top. “Keep pushing.”
A warning alarm sounded from a speaker system. A voice. Strained, dying. “All remaining resistance. Lorben has fallen. I repeat. All remaining resistance. Lorben has fallen.”
The voice was heavy with emotion. Pained yet defiant. Colonel Brakken, Screw thought. How is that old bastard still breathing?
Listening closer, Screw could hear the crack of gunfire in the background of the transmission. “It has been an honour to fight beside each and every one of you.” The voice was all that Screw could hear. “May we meet again in a better world. Stand while you can…” it paused, “then rest at last.” With a crackle the transmission went dead. Screw could have sworn he heard the courtyard erupt.
That’s it then. He never thought he would truly see the day. The last bastion of humanity has fallen.
Greeners threw two grenades back down the stairwell as they romped through another corridor. Two fat explosions, followed by agonised howls proved they had found their targets.
“There.” Sedge grunted through gritted teeth. Bern was standing outside one of the doors near the end of the corridor.
They were slowing down now. Screw’s legs burned white hot and his knees threatened to buckle under his heavy pack. Only his willpower and the efforts of his comrades saw him to that door.
Bern was firing salvos from his grenade cannon into the corridor behind them. “Inside. Now!” He balled.
The three of them crashed through the door. Screw fell to his knees, gasping for air and holding his head.
He spat black corruption from his mouth, smashing it with his shaky fist as soon as it touched the ground. Behind them Bern crashed through the door. An Ender was coiled around him, gnashing at his sternum and legs.
Greeners dropped it with a surgical shot through the head. Sedge held the door shut as a horde of the corrupted humans bashed against it. They gnashed and shoved and scratched, trying to force him aside.
Between the three of them they held the door and heaved the two massive steel bars across it.
“That won’t hold for long…” Greeners said, “where is he?”
Bern lay propped up against the wall, a pool of dark blood encircling him as he tried to staunch the bite wounds. Greeners kicked the shrivelling Ender to the side of the room, cursing under his breath.
“See to him.” Sedge ordered Greeners.
The room was white and entirely sterile, like a hospital or laboratory. It smelt clean, and was a world apart from the chaos outside. Their sweat and dust caked bodies seemed to corrupt it, desolating the cleanness of humanity.
Positioned at the rear of the room was a massive, gleaming metal tube so large it could fit a tank inside. Above it hung metal coils and struts, holding diodes and huge motherboards in place that fizzled and cracked with power.
Inside the tube were boxes upon boxes of various equipment. Weaponry, ammunition, scientific instruments, food and supplies, clothes and more. All that remained was space for five men. A hulking console was positioned in the far-right corner of the room, facing toward the wall in a control station they could not see.
“Doctor?” Sedge called, nodules of fear in his voice. “Where are you?”
Doctor Krammer appeared from the control station. His face was sad and tired. “Ah,” he said, “you are here at last. As always, Lee, you leave it to the last moment to make your appearance.”
Doctor Krammer was older than time. The wrinkles on his face held contours that could put any tactical map to shame.
His pale face and head were free from hair, and he had the classic comforting look of someone’s grandfather. He looked stressed, but not shaken. There was a knowing look in his eyes, an understanding that escaped the rest of the men in the room.
“We’re all here,” Sedge panted, “Bern’s in a bad way though, and we all need to go, now.”
“Certainly.” The Doctor smiled, glancing at Greeners pulling Bern to his feet. “But there has been a change of plans.”
From behind him a young man strode forwards, in his early twenties at most. He was blonde and attractive, his face showing no sign of battle or stress.
He looked shy, and avoided Sedge’s demonic gaze at first. Screw thought he knew everyone in Lorben, but he had never seen this man before. He raised his head to regard them.
“This is LP.” Krammer said, still smiling. “He will be going with you, instead of I. He has been briefed accordingly. Now you will not have to carry an old man through the old world with you. Youth is always better than wisdom in the field.” He chuckled to himself.
“We’re not leaving you,” Screw said at once. “We need you if this is to work.” It wasn’t just that in truth, each of them loved Doctor Krammer. He had practically raised both he and Sedge, and his guiding light had steered the resistance through many a storm.
“If only it were possible,” Krammer breathed. “In my construction of this device I made a slight… miscalculation.” He sighed, his face growing sad. “Someone needs to stay back and operate the machine in order to get you out of here, that someone is me.”
“Leave him.” Sedge blurted, nodding to LP. “He can do it for you.”
LP frowned, allowing a look of anger to dance in his eyes. Krammer shot him a careful glance. “He does not know how to operate my system, no. The only way is for me to—”
“We have to go.” Greeners interrupted, hauling Bern’s bloody body over one shoulder. “They’re getting through.”
Behind them the door was starting to collapse inward. The steel bars were bending and groaning under the pressure of the Enders outside. Their growls were deafening, and the lights in the room began to flicker.
“Enough.” Krammer said, his tone allowing no debate. “Each of you inside now, before it is too late.”
Sedge stepped forward, gripping the old man by the shoulder. Tears glistened in his dark red eyes. “I’ve lost too much,” he mouthed. “I’m not losing you too.”
The outburst shocked Screw. He was so used to the ruthless nature of his best friend, it was shocking to see him so emotional.
“Ah, but this will not be goodbye.” Krammer said, grinning knowingly. “Besides,” he pulled a pistol from his pocket, “it will be an honour to be the last man to kill a Necroprite in this world.”
Both of them clasped shoulders, looking into each other’s eyes. Greeners was already sitting Bern down in the metal tube.
“Make sure that bastard himself hears it.” Screw said, holding the old man’s soft grip in his own calloused hands.
“He will.” Krammer chuckled, impossibly calm. “Watch out for them, your Commander especially. He has seen so much. He needs someone like you to temper him. I know you know him well, but…” Krammer winked, “I know his human side better than anyone.” He paused, glancing to the door with a wise look of finality.
“Keep the boy safe above all else. The fate of everything depends on what’s inside his head.”
Screw hesitated, then nodded. Krammer leaned in closer so that only he could hear. “I’m glad you came back, Jed. I know you loved those people… you did the right thing.”
Screw stammered, trying to formulate a response. Doctor Krammer waved him away, turning away from men he might have called sons.
He joined his comrades in the tube. Krammer disappeared back into the control station.
Lights and sirens began to whir and bleat. Ahead, the door’s bars were almost spent. Crackles of lightning fizzed and popped around the room. Screw shielded his eyes and shrunk back into the tube.
In front of him the door was closing.
“He can’t go with us.”
Screw turned around. LP was studying Bern. The injured warrior was going pale, and his veins were morphing into dark cracks against his skin. “He’s turning.” LP said. “We have to leave him.”
“Fuck that.” Sedge shouted over the crackle of the machine whirring into life. “We’ll administer necrox when we get there. He’s coming.”
“He can’t.” LP shouted. “It will be the death of us all.”
“He’s coming.” Sedge growled, but Bern could hear them. He was already trying to stand.
LP made to grab the injured man, but he found his feet on his own.
“His taint will mess with the vortex,” LP said, “we’ll never make it.”
Cocking his rifle, Bern looked at them all. Greeners watched in silence, and Screw gazed deep into the man’s river blue eyes. “Knew I’d never have the luck to leave fucking Lorben, cursed shithole it is.” He stammered over the electrical buzz, clearly fighting back an intense pain.
His ginger moustache rippled in the energy surge, like it always did when he laughed. “I’ll see you lot another day, a better time.” He flashed his stained teeth, a harrowing look of acceptance in his eyes.
Before there was time to protest, he was gone, sliding under the shutting door into the flurry of lightning outside.
Screw’s last view of their home was of Doctor Krammer and Bern. The bleeding ginger warrior stood in front of the ancient doctor, firing bursts from his rifle at the open doorway as the Enders entered the last safe haven of humanity.
Then, the eternal years of sleep came.