CHAPTER 2

"That much is true, and I will agree with the cretin on that. No wizard has been seen since the Great Days of Baelund the Wild!" says the man known only as Stinking Beetle.

The fire slowly roasts the pig. "I have seen a Slayer. Do such things not exist anymore?"

He scratches his chin "I will not doubt you. However, I will ask you this, how many will believe you?"

You stand up. "I have been told by my elders; by the people of the East, and for you that may be meaningless, but for me that place is my home. And it is not called the East, but Illidon, aye, and in Shadumbra I have seen the dark ugly face of omens, before, and now here at this place again. Commanded here, to be my home, to defend it! Then all I have left is this igneous fire, a boiling supremacy; the fingers of Death are clutching me, and they are a noose! But no Law ordered me to be hung! Brother, this is Evil! The End of Times!"

"Then if it is as you say; we men have no word in it. I too have left my quarrels with the Law behind, you see, brother, I too see a looming hand grasping at my throat. But I am powerless to stop it."

"Maybe we are not so powerless as you think! The Gods have given men the weapon of faith! The weapon of superstition, aye, this may be fate, but belief guides my hand! And if I am to die, I will believe. Believe and the very foundations of the world will crack like ash upon finger. But if I am to live, so too shall the world bow whenever I take a step, for I will wander not aimlessly, but with that fire guiding my hand and my heavy heart!"

"Maybe they have the same goals as you?"

"Then we have come to the same conclusion. The wizard has misled then. Coiled a strand of hair and puppeteered them around, whipping them to assail their fellow man!"

"If that is true...No...Brother I refuse to believe that a man is that powerful, and that men are so easily devoid of will."

"Maybe in this we disagree, but brother, you must escape! It came to me like prophecy! We will die here!"

"Escape? To where?"

"A dying man told me, rather, his eyes told me; that we will die here...but whoever manages to reach this so-called Eden...Will become King of Kings!"

"Now you have lost me..." he laughs

"I know it to be true...I believe it!"

He tosses the fire over and over.

"If you believe, sure...But these northernmen nay care. A world separates you. This world will grow ever bolder I feel, until all is unshackled and burned...And no belief or will born from men will escape the lashes of steel that guide their hands." he tosses the fire with a greater force "And maybe the world has made us all prisioners, and we, men, shall endure it's cruel irons alone, not as brothers."

"I never expected that...you misunderstand me."

"Is that so? Then maybe we truly are worlds apart. I will let you free, I will not pursue you. But understand that you are alone in this. I feel...like the jaws of the wolf have already closed shut...And all I can do is try to rip them open! But you...you are above me, somehow different. That is why I will not stop you."