Twin Lakes Valley held the silence of shattered bones.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKoXjzXhyzl
Once a haven of grass dunes and moss-draped stone, now a scarred wasteland.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhV54yinegV
Craters and cracked earth, remnants of battles past, scarred the land.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTgzJULDnJZ
Trees stood like broken sentinels, their stumps clawing at an ash-choked sky.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfr0xQj8ayn
The soil lay torn so deep the sun seemed reluctant to pierce its shadowed wounds.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLYGYxKqDeX
The air hung heavy with iron—like the final breath of a world gasping for life.
Timmy stood still.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAaU7jQRzkW
Seventeen—too young for war, yet too changed to be anything else. His eyes held more winter than youth.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrCfFdcgOC1
In his hand, the obsidian blade—BlackEnd—throbbed like a second heart. The claw-shaped pommel pulsed softly, echoing a heartbeat older than memory.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo3VMJZnlOs
Golden script curled along the crossguard—words Timmy couldn’t read but felt pressing against his soul.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXlD77ogFho
On his chest, the sigil glowed: claws wrapped in a falcon’s grasp. The same mark adorned his shield. Few asked its meaning; Timmy never answered.
They came.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtqkqvAADF2
Eight alien soldiers, sharp and silent—predators in a deadly dance.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCpLUTXUejv
No one knew much about them. They looked mostly human, yet clearly not of this world.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXVYHIIvRWQ
They arrived through portals—rips in reality’s fabric that opened without warning.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHmmO9H5ENf
No one knew where these tears led, only that the invaders came from somewhere else entirely. Another world. A foreign enemy on Midterra’s soil.
Timmy’s first memory of one was burned into him—seared like a brand.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡruL40ferab
Outside Convota, the largest human city in the west, near the shadowed depths of Alderon Forest,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbkpqEb3drn
a single alien mage had stepped through: tall, strange, a silhouette thrumming with power they barely understood.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQvVzqIAzJU
He and Spud had seen it together—one of the first sightings of their kind.
Now, standing before these soldiers, Timmy felt the danger sharper than ever.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC6EcbsITnN
These weren’t mystics cloaked in energy.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeiQjEPN70T
They were killers—cold, ruthless, trained.
And yet... something stirred inside him.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmhZueNX8Wn
A strange calm. A quiet, unshakable confidence.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWnT0qZzoKS
He felt as though he could kill all eight without breaking a sweat.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWYo4uBrsWv
The thought unsettled him—but it didn’t feel wrong. It felt true.
One soldier wore battered ceremonial armor, etched with symbols no scholar had deciphered. He touched a dent on his chestplate with two fingers—a gesture like prayer.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRKoOzW5EJM
Another limped, clad in mismatched plates, scars welded into leathery skin—some fresh, some ancient.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXlyuaRUiCo
Their sun-baked hides shimmered faintly in the breeze, especially along broad, flat noses where flaps of skin twitched like sails caught in sudden wind.
Taller than dwarves but heavier in presence, they cast long, strange shadows.
If the valley fell, there would be no fallback.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbTgywGPxfI
No fort. No second dawn.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9pwGhRhfWm
Only the mountain—and a long, slow dying.
Behind them stretched Hammerfall Forest.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGMJTrhy0h
Beyond that, Morjanon—the dwarven capital, Elron’s home—carved deep into the marrow of stone.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw9aOmFuCKT
Its halls still rang with oaths older than kings, firelit memories refusing to fade.
If Twin Lakes fell, Morjanon would fall too.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdUTrizrVXh
And with it, the heart of the dwarves.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRZXntKE2Me
A loss that would echo through all Midterra.
They could not allow that.
Beside Timmy, Elron shifted his grip on the warhammer.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2iFVk1Csh1
His shield settled on his forearm like a vow remembered.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsfqD631j5D
He drew a deep, steady breath.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFvVxjSs0fY
A nod passed between them.
And then—Spud’s laughter.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcP5R9BiqQ1
Not aloud. Only in Timmy’s mind.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEYM4YBhwZf
“Race you home.”74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCZLZBJnegm
A memory. Sharp. Bright.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0k6l7nWgLc
Grief polished to glass.
This wasn’t vengeance.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnytLRhnhnA
It was memory—with teeth.
Timmy exhaled.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIQrw4Bedvl
Kill them all.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRZXSBJT39g
Not Spud’s voice.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnNStB3uZSC
Not his own.
The whisper came from the blade. From the seams of his armor.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn0dpwqKboY
He had first heard it not long after he and Spud parted ways, leaving Torin’s Passage with Elron.
At first, he thought it was grief.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUNRGgSBOD
Rage echoing in his head.
But it stayed.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPA5wzKDVa5
It waited.
Not hate.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlFpyt0UHNf
Clarity. Cold. Clean.
He let it in.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtd7XGvBuaU
The fire. The hunger.
It always came before blood—like heat before the spark. It curled behind his eyes.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡovElSs9qJP
He didn’t fear it anymore.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpJ3og2Qf0q
That was what terrified him.
It wasn’t hunger now. It was searching.
“Steady now, lad,” Elron muttered, his voice rough and low, like gravel tumbling in a barrel.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4SZ2besCd
“Let the rage swing yer axe, aye—but don’t let it swing you. Anger’s like molten iron: useful if ye shape it, deadly if ye drown in it. That’s what the Forge Fathers taught—long before we had the sense to listen.”
Timmy’s jaw tightened. His eyes narrowed to slits.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66Q42foqj6
The silence between them was a blade waiting to fall.
He thought of those tales—whispered by firelight, hammered out over ale and anvils.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡysGDf80PwO
The Forge Fathers.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM9LThT0nfr
The first dwarfs to tame fire. To teach steel to sing.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH4w2r4yxtz
Said to have carved their homes inside the earth’s heart, deep enough to hear the world dream.
Four hundred years gone—if they ever lived at all.
Some said they still watched—from the molten deep, from the spark between hammer blows.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ZAN6zh8OQ
Elron believed. Of course he did. Every wrinkle in his brow was a hymn to old stone.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg8CZ8G20ve
Timmy wasn’t sure what he believed.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2GvRmOEapn
But with no walls, no reinforcements, and death close enough to taste—74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7kfMJUf7KQ
He hoped they were real.
Elron snorted.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsNINg5zTgy
“Aye, that’s the look. Same one me brother had before he charged into Deaf Hollow and came out beardless, pride scorched clean off. Don’t mean yer wrong. Just means yer close to doin’ somethin’ bloody stupid.”
The aliens fanned out.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgegC94GBB1
Boots crunched through ash and shattered bone—the remnants of warriors and stories left unfinished.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdI6tOXUUI9
Fifty feet. Maybe less.
The first alien stepped forward, favoring a reinforced shoulder.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevvGcB3Cxd
He dipped low—silent as breath—then surged.
The blade rose through flesh—a brutal, clean line. Twist. Resistance. Warm blood followed.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡequQdyIFs0
The body folded into dirt—a sentence cut mid-word.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi98CIqxSuz
Timmy didn’t look at it. He felt it.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfzEMRzDXY7
And something inside him was proud.
The second alien came broader, its armor ribbed like insect chitin.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZzrzesEf8
Timmy shattered its knee with a boot—bone cracking where it shouldn’t bend.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2UPbwC7PEb
He saw fear.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5k7JrPANg6
And in it—himself.
Its scream was harmonic—multivoiced. Designed for ears not born of Midterra.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyqPSAlznrM
But pain is universal. So was fear.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpXWoeaVQOU
Another vessel emptied—not by rage—but by memory’s echo.
Timmy carved through them—strike, pivot, slice.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95P55VkcAP
No longer grief’s prisoner. Something far worse—its instrument.
The blade moved as if guided by something beyond him.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3BKmjM43m
Spud was no ghost—he was memory made flesh.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGzB6BsAUGc
Every strike a lesson. Every parry a promise.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIRSw8GErov
Even the blood-craving voice within couldn’t drown him completely.
Twin Lakes Valley watched—wounded, wary.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxHlIgQXs4M
Cracked dunes, fractured soil, leaves spiraling like discarded truths.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQYtZDVJ4f
To the west, Hammerfall Forest stood ancient and defiant.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNLNDEf6TU
Eastward, Blackshield Woods whispered secrets older than names.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfbHkw8q4Wm
The valley stretched south, bleeding into the Fields of Forever—another scarred battleground of the past.
The aliens shifted formation, eyes fixed on Timmy.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN7ll8iCXPe
Elron watched closely. He saw the change.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFTmqaQAPvP
Respect. Fear.
In Timmy’s fury, he saw the echo of old oaths—the kind dwarves carve into stone.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy39QkHVZRx
They still didn’t understand.
Elron tightened his grip on the hammer.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYE6MPP3TxR
He’d seen fury before—but never like this.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuDxVQMYbjO
Grief had hollowed him once. Now it shaped him.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZVK1KLExMm
Rage gave it edge. BlackEnd gave it voice.
He roared—and the earth answered. Then he charged.
His warhammer crushed a kneecap—bone shattered like pottery.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKIrrdESnmP
A second, unrelenting arc split an alien skull—the defiled grass painted in arterial spray.
The rhythm collapsed. Only carnage remained.
Timmy ducked beneath a flash of steel.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡREK0RAXaGO
Another alien screamed, lunging high.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSujEhzh2lL
Timmy twisted beneath the arc, seized its wrist, and snapped it sharply.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrCkD8XETzS
Its own blade kissed its throat. A gurgle. Then silence—gone before they knew they’d lost.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJX1BIFqc6F
Blood sprayed—a final line written in ruin.
The dying alien looked skyward.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfSwPTLw33A
No god Timmy could name.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYnlsxNrVD
No god he could forgive.
It made a sound—like frost cracking bone.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6fGjYQeJv6
A prayer?74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8bJFOnQxnv
A warning?
He didn’t care.
A blade missed him. No thoughts. Just blood. Just motion.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPdr64UcxhA
Time slowed. For a heartbeat, Timmy stood in the middle of the storm—74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkOzfLygWTu
his pulse quickened, syncing with a memory not his own.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuXMSgyC9IU
Spud’s steady rhythm echoed in his veins.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1D8Cf0DNC
The blade sang, and he moved.
Timmy moved like water.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ12LrnSs9W
Elron followed—bone, iron, and fire.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSrRK1pXAL9
One carved, one crushed.
Together, they sang a song older than war—a dirge of fire and memory.
Elron fought like the mountains mourned.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUv7iK3ec19
Slow. Grinding. Inevitable.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtw7oB8LjO8
But even in his strikes, there was restraint.
Where Timmy cut to the bone, Elron broke with purpose.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Ba2cXKQ70
By the time the formation understood the shape of the threat,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2VKHtgwbZH
they were no longer soldiers—only witnesses to their own end.
The aliens had misread the moment.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKZn2lo8Lid
This wasn’t warfare. It was remembrance incarnate.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6BzkuKDHG0
They hadn’t crossed swords with warriors.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh0x5aolmYL
They’d awakened something older.
One barked a command—sharp syllables like shattered glass.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUmilWkOjV2
The ranks tightened. Too late. Desperation had already unsteady hands.
The voice stirred—the one buried beneath his ribs since he’d taken the armor and BlackEnd.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQOg7A31x9
Rusted. Intimate. Insatiable.
Elron tore through their center like a purpose-driven avalanche.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK89V5gCqXG
Blood painted his armor.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaB6aE6knYI
Each hammer-blow rang—verses in the valley’s final song.
Timmy carved with surgical intent.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ86zfMiPBLb
Where Elron painted arcs of brutality, Timmy worked with precision.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmRZuhDiz83
Rhythm. Ruin. Judgment.
Spud’s smile lingered—not comfort, but warning.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUUZINoddb
Etched deep like a scar. Amber-edged. Heavy as the blade Timmy never dared to sheathe.
This wasn’t vengeance.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuoRKNa19Hw
It was an ancient debt, tallied in bone.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWaWu0WTgtp
A debt these invaders owed in blood.
Shadow and gore clung like a second skin—no guilt, only the ache of endless battle.
He paused.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1SHPC96Klo
Dying light brushed golden sigils—etched by hands long buried, feared even by the learned.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtDxQPvS0B4
His armor pulsed—not in power, but in memory.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUmKzvg0YAB
For one terrible moment, he wondered if the memories were even his own.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFerLci0Bs9
Had he fallen here before?74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ30F5GoLW1z
But not as Timmy.
Dust drifted like ash.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXEj1lNm1pf
For a heartbeat, the battlefield held its breath.
Then the thud of Elron’s hammer shattered the silence again—final verses in a song none would forget.
Two aliens remained—cornered between retreat and ruin.
Timmy stepped forward.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJCYOQO2Dl
His armor dragged memory behind it like a cloak.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVAw6Zuxazl
Every plate felt weighted with a name.
“Run,” he said, voice low.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8PGFli2xDN
“I don’t mind stabbing backs.”
They froze—caught between the stench of death and the illusion of escape.
His armor moved like obsidian mourning—silent, black, absolute.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0hpQCMKhmL
Each footfall a verdict.
Elron lifted his warhammer.
One alien snapped—desperate. It lunged.
They crashed.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiuOOWQ960u
Steel screamed.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtKSkJr97ji
Sparks flared.
The alien’s blade glanced off Timmy’s shoulder pads.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkhGEZJBg7
He surged forward—face to face, breath to breath, hate drawn tight as wire.
The alien didn’t flinch.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8DA1OfOf1M
It fought with grief, not fury.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ02bm1840Ew
Timmy hated that. And respected it.
Blades locked and slid—metal rasping like angry snakes.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKpMcT80Nmt
Timmy twisted.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSk8vYZMGKK
His blade found flesh.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwhFmMIOFOL
The alien staggered, confused.
Dead before it fell.
Its eyes lingered—not anger. Not fear.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiYllnG6G9G
Regret.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqLWtJF4PKr
As if it hadn’t wanted this either.
Ash drifted through the air, fine as snow.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbqV8dftMgU
The scent of scorched earth and blood hung heavy, thick.
Far behind, smoke curled above the valley’s broken rim.
Ahead, the trees of Blackshield Woods loomed—dark, silent, watching.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWGv9UjtdjW
Many tales were told of those woods—ancient stories meant to scare children—74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9YEHeZb0ob
But none matched the truth now unfolding:
The aliens came from there.
Whether they had set up a base or merely camped, no one knew—74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm5srpr7oya
But it was clear: that was their origin.
The whisper pressed again—74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0dtV4Nsuiq
Low. Familiar.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoju13vFqlU
A rasp beneath his heartbeat:
Kill them. Kill them all.
Not a scream. A suggestion.
And this time, Timmy didn’t argue.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRWiFWi0ue4
He gave it space.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6YC85LMV0
His lips parted. No sound. Just breath.
He felt the change—quiet and complete.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXW7nYlGcl3
The world sharpened.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbrjKGmu2yu
The ground pulsed underfoot.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZR65kebU09
Wind tugged at his armor like an omen.
A cry cut the silence.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwXh36eP7JN
The last alien ran—stumbling toward the woods.
Timmy moved.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJDazeG7GPO
He didn’t think.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmIXobElbeN
He didn’t need to.
The whisper led.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwnth5riBRq
And he followed.
He moved like vengeance made flesh—armor clanging, grief burning.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkFG8E2rVOz
Rage had legs, and it was faster than fear.
Master Fronan, Timmy’s old mentor, had said:74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9NzX0iveNw
“Never chase a fleeing foe. The worst ones run straight to the next ambush.”
Timmy ran anyway.
Ghosts flickered at his shoulders—Spud, the others.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOtA1xK1den
The alien sprinted like it carried the dead on its back.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs5G7fuxRQP
But Timmy’s grief had found its stride. It wasn’t done.
This one doesn’t escape.
Behind him, Elron lowered his hammer—not from fatigue, but respect.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV2C7i9Sw20
He’d seen this before: the sprint, the fury.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMHwUlkqb9s
Each time, he wondered what would return.
He didn’t interrupt.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzCggj1nNgb
He just whispered,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE4ZuWghvhW
“Let’s hope he finds his way back.”
Timmy crashed into the trees.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjMTarQrTq
The world hushed. Leaves swayed.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW9n63AxL5z
His breath thundered in his chest.
Spud’s smile wasn’t a memory now.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUUgfrJhdL
It was a command:74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpuDJl81MaL
Don’t just avenge. Live.
But vengeance had its own will.
He slammed into the fleeing alien.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNPGcafpf9b
They tumbled. Metal screamed. Blades clashed—each one a howl.
Timmy fought like pain made flesh.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVWUur3JdyW
The voice rode every swing.
Kill. Kill. Kill.
The alien fought harder than expected.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGoLkz3f8Z
But the end came fast.
BlackEnd slipped past its guard.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDpzvxT2jpv
The throat opened.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP4IS4dzyNo
The light vanished.
Silence.
The whisper quieted.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7gSATAKVus
For the first time, it asked for nothing.
The wind stirred the trees again.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡemWrcDRYvh
A bird called.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDigSWa4ED
Somewhere, a leaf drifted to the forest floor.
But Timmy still didn’t feel whole.
A raven circled once, then vanished into the grey sky.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡee0XHwFuTH
No rain. No thunder. No justice.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5BVkSAdmSS
Just the quiet endurance of the world.
Timmy stepped back into the clearing.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKPZJWQKlPq
Elron rummaged through the fallen.
Timmy’s eyes settled on the corpse at his feet—not just an enemy now, but a mirror.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYYcyKrHZAu
His fingers trembled—not from fatigue but something worse: doubt.
If this was vengeance…74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0CTypUnFZo
Why did Spud’s smile still feel like a wound?
Nearby, Elron nudged a body with his boot.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMwEG5FSkCe
“Would’ve liked one breathing,” he muttered.
“That one’s faking,” Timmy said, motioning to a collapsed figure.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqBugMUengU
Its chest rose—barely perceptible.
Elron crouched, joints crackling.
“What’s the point if we can’t understand their screeching?” Timmy snapped.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhPuSsElaNy
The words bit harder than he meant.
“Dead men don’t talk, lad. And silence gets us nowhere,” Elron replied.
Timmy’s breath came in sharp bursts.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWupBz2mQH8
The space between them filled with heat and steel—a crucible where rage met reason.
Elron tossed a jagged alien blade aside with a clatter.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1gPc0KNiqY
“You keep guttin’ ’em before they jaw. We’ll never learn a damned thing.”
“They deserve only death,” Timmy growled.
Elron exhaled slow, like he was settlin’ a long weight.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡInX2gmP6Hz
“Help me haul ’em, lad.”
Timmy shoved past him, forcing Elron off balance.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDVmM3LVG0e
Then, without a word, he hoisted the unconscious alien over his shoulder—swift, efficient, brutal.
Timmy’s hands trembled as the rage ebbed, leaving only hollow exhaustion.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7etKLuZUGS
The alien’s weight across his shoulders felt heavier now—not just flesh and bone, but the weight of what he’d become.
“Fine,” he said, the word scraping raw across his throat.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoSExJTLdqx
The alien shifted slightly in his grip.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP0HU4kA7V5
Something in its frame stirred a memory.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkXE4nAbAXN
His hand faltered.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡankrsCvtai
Not fatigue. Recognition.
“Let’s be done with this,” he muttered—cold, sharp, denial shaped like a blade.
The body sagged—too light. Too familiar.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTzwIyIcrvR
Beneath the scorched tunic, a wooden pendant swung free, worn smooth by memory.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCacCfdSENC
Its weight was more than flesh: a reminder. A reckoning.
Timmy marched in silence, the weight across his shoulders steady, but inside, the ground shifted like loose sand.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqJpSm7WKeJ
His armor clanked with each step.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtasfMjKOr9
Branches cracked beneath his boots.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJS63tVHHH
Still, he didn’t look back.
Weakness, the voice hissed. Crush them.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIjl1tMHnLQ
But it wasn’t his voice anymore.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4oRwnsQnfQ
And it damn sure wasn’t Spud’s.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYn2VtWgZ8H
Just hunger—wearing grief like a mask.
He pushed back, asserting his will—74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrtr1pAEPuw
But the argument inside wore him thinner than any blade.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDyZgBlu2dP
Whispered curses spilled from his lips in broken rhythm, echoing through ancient trees like a hymn of contradictions.
Elron followed a few paces behind, eyes sharp beneath fatigue.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbvjt835sJF
He studied Timmy’s rigid, powerful gait—carrying the alien like something both hated and revered.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAy2QNJJQKc
His mind churned through strategies, camp logistics, and the unspoken question:74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWWzFVfN0Le
Can I reach him before he breaks what might matter most?
At the camp’s edge, firelight flickered.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwZ3UHneMQK
There stood Doonrul, eyes gleaming with mischief even amid ash and aftermath.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3UUbHKbEO
He greeted Elron with a firm clasp and a grin that refused to die.
“Well now,” Doonrul said, rough but laced with sly humor,74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7q2XvV0NW0
“Did the lad truly spare one? Or just take on extra trouble?”74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEbTlM5RWNA
His gaze flicked to Timmy, lingering just long enough to pry beneath the surface—74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8V5msHTTYl
Between Timmy’s hard scowl and the limp captive draped over his shoulder.
“Not sparin’,” Elron replied, blunt and steady as stone.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBEPpjs05hZ
“Just draggin’ a headache through the woods.”
Timmy’s words cut sharp, carved from ice and steel.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE1NLnB4O2D
“I haven’t decided if it lives.”74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqmpR6TnIey
The warning hung heavy—a promise wrapped in frost.
Armor clanked with each fierce stride.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTF35HrJMwU
Timmy marched—shoulders squared, head high.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwVpIi5IVUJ
This wasn’t duty. This was judgment.
Dwarves watched him pass—some uneasy, others silent with understanding.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ31xHwnFwju
They saw what Timmy carried: grief, fury, fractures beneath steel.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVOqwkFtAzf
He was storm and scar—fury made flesh.
Grim-faced, brow furrowed, Timmy stalked to the cage.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzff8nfe9K
He ripped it open and flung the alien inside—more rage than man, more motion than mercy.
“He’ll kill it,” Doonrul muttered.
Elron didn’t argue.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnjjAbn6bqM
His gaze swept the camp, searching for any soul bold—or clever—enough to decipher the invaders’ language.
“We need a translator,” Elron said quietly. “Before he does.”
He scanned the camp. Only a few had dared study the symbols etched into alien steel. Fewer still tried to speak their forked tongue.
Then the air shifted.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWdeMu0g41s
A flash of flame-red hair darted between tents—Ina, moving with the sure-footed urgency of a seasoned warrior.
Elron’s chest tightened—the weight of news settling heavy as a warhammer.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW4rjkgM9YD
A voice, rough and low like distant thunder rolling over stone, cut through the camp’s murmur.
“Elron.”
He turned sharply, recognizing the tone—hardened by battle, forged in years beneath mountain halls.
Ina stepped into the firelight, stance firm, eyes sharp with hard-won knowledge.
“There’s word of Timmy’s brother,” she said, voice steady but edged with urgency.
Elron froze, eyes narrowing.
“Spud?” His voice cracked, the name striking like a blow from a dwarf’s axe—long buried, now raw and alive.
Ina nodded grimly.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS3TdsclarB
“I think so.”
Silence wrapped the camp like a cloak. Spud’s name was a blade—fresh, cutting deep into old wounds. Every dwarf felt the weight—the sting of hope and fear tangled tight.
Doonrul raised a brow, voice rough but laced with surprise.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVzhZKM0pUp
“Timmy’s brother? I thought… Spud was dead.”
Elron exhaled slow, the sound like stone grinding beneath a mountain’s weight.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXHAKARCQ4V
“Nay. Can’t say for sure,” he murmured. “Timmy believed it—that belief shaped him, drove him. Fought like a man already carrying loss in his bones.”
*
Far from the firelight, beyond names and thrones, something cracked—not prophecy, but pressure.
A thunderclap shattered the silence over the Witlon swamps.
Beneath twin suns—one gold, one red—the sky simmered in a haze of copper. Shadows split in two beneath the burning light, sharp and short. Nothing was soft in Witlon. Not the glare. Not the ground. Not the work.
Yet still—they labored.
Bodies slick with sweat, skin baked into leather. To stumble was to vanish. To falter was to die unseen.
A wall of pale logs curved around the wetlands—more a suggestion of defense than a true barrier. At its center, a worn stone staircase climbed upward, its steps carved by suffering, dividing torment from illusion.
But even here—color fought back.
Bright bamboo swayed in defiance. Their leaves whispered, almost songs—a lullaby for the damned.
Another tree fell. The Tiama. Black-barked. Ancient. It groaned as it died—deep and slow, like the swamp itself was mourning.
Birds shrieked like omens.
Predators slipped through reflections too small to hold them.
And still, the insects sang.
The Tiama trees stood tall—trunks bleeding amber sap, limbs like mourning hands. Vines coiled them like old regrets. Wind stirred. Beauty flickered in the rot.
In this graveyard of giants, the slaves of Witlon worked in silence. Not submission—focus.
Four voices, low and hoarse, spoke in unison.
“Tiámas kul dron.”
Wood to ground. Spirit to sky.
The overseers watched from the shadows—whips like leashes, eyes like knives.
Years of labor had carved these souls into lean instruments of survival—scar-striped, sun-hardened, shaped by necessity. They moved with a precision born of desperation—fluid through roots and swamp-water, barefoot and unbowed.
Their features bore a signature: flattened, broad noses with four subtle folds crossing the bridge. Humanlike, but not. Reverent, observant, sharp-eyed. Always watching. Always calculating.
The Tiama tree lay shattered. Even the swamp seemed to hold its breath.
Then came the cry.
Alexi’s voice split the stillness—anguished, raw, defiant. Too human for a place so alien.
The swamp struck back—stench and silence. Rot, stagnation, muck. The air itself turned hostile. Alexi gagged, head spinning, muscles quaking beneath grief’s weight.
But he did not break.
Twenty-eight, shaped by hardship. Lean. Unyielding. Each breath a declaration: I remain.
He pushed. Against the tree. Against despair.
Beside him, Spud strained—seventeen, younger but not weaker. Molded by resistance, not nurture. Jaw locked. Eyes lit. Muscles trembling—but never surrendering.
They were the only Midterrans in the camp. Perhaps the last on Witlon—captured and enslaved here, taken nearly the same time.
That fact bound them like blood on a battlefield.74Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLDP119VmDG
and then Add to home screen.