Carnage (Remastered) by Vladimir Duran

ARK-001: Carnage
     
    -Darkness birthed him, a blade fathered him, Death was his
first lover. He was baptized in fire and blood. He will save
you.
     
    July 15th 1:37am(EST)
- 1 Year, 2 Weeks, 1 Day since first
contact.
    79 degrees. Turning in the eternally
graceful cacophony of the universe, stars in Choirs and multitudes
peered down into the city of New York. Their course was set in
motion eons ago, they knew the way as they knew the end and the
beginning. Beyond them, in a place of shadows and power, a crowd of
gods watched over their shoulders. Song stood at their fore, her
form youthful and ancient as befit she who set the stars on their
journey, dictated their course to make her music. Eyes like the
first melody you hear after heartbreak watched the play taking
place in the city far below. She had set this thing in motion,
caused the first domino to fall. Yet, she had not power to control
this tune. It belonged to a power far beyond that of the assembled
divinities. All she could do was give her blessing to the brief
little things flitting their lives on that spinning ball of rock
and mud. Clear skies or stormy did nothing to affect her vision.
Yet the skies after heavy showers that had started at midmorning
and continued into the early evening. Balmy night winds from the
southeast brought relief after the sickly, sticky heat of the day.
Mud caked untended seams and cracks in New York City sidewalks.
Bless and hope and watch.
     
     
    Shadows dappled the forest of metal bones that
would one day be a building on forty-fourth and sixth. Forty wizard
soldiers moved through those shadows, keeping careful watch in
every direction. Another ten moved in pairs around the perimeter.
Their job was to be ready to reinforce or retreat as necessary. For
the moment they busied themselves keeping humans away from the
construction site. Simple shadow spells affecting simple minds
helped with that tremendously. Human guards lay slumped at their
stations, tranquilized by more spells. The invaders didn't care one
whit about the safety. They only cared about taking down their
target without warning, without as few casualties as
possible.
    Human eyes, staining to their limit might
have seen shadows moving in strange patterns. But only if they
strained hard. To the eyes of a wizard the soldiers appeared like
darkness wreathed in light. They wore dull gray uniforms under
breastplates, greaves, gauntlets, and helmets glowing faintly with
protective spells. Tendrils of multicolored light twisted
themselves into spell webs around them. Their swords had a fine
phosphorescent sheen that promised a harder bite than mere
sharpened steel could have delivered. A fist clutched a broken bolt
of lightning on field of violet stood out arrogantly on their
chest.
    Hunters. Not the underpaid castrated cannon
fodder that made up the regular wizard army; trained professional
soldiers. Knight Hunters. Broken Bolts. The men and women who
hunted monsters in the dark.
    A scout moving alongside
the main body looked carefully into every shadow before moving on.
The Spell on the Hunters' armor could hide them from humans but
there were better spells. No one in the Hunters could work them but
a Knight would have the skill. And a Knight wouldn't be limited to
weaving one spell at a time like a normal wizard. Even if
Ilom could weave a
spell to hide his presence, he wouldn't be able to do anything
else. A Knight wouldn't have rely on his armor or
protection.
    This wasn't his first hunt. No one took
chances when it came to Knights. He checked every shadow twice,
shifting his eyes through every spectrum they could perceive. His
sword was drawn and he had a long dagger ready to pull if he had to
drop the longer blade. Deadly cords* of fire and lightning
encircled his shield arm*, ready to launch but not yet ignited.
Nothing to be done about the witch-light from his armor, but he
could deny his prey a perfect Reigh shadow.
    Ilom was bait. His job was to wait until he
made