Note: This is the introduction of a character I play in the game Earth Eternal, It in now way reflects the stories and quests in the game itself.

Heart of Shadows

The bright glow of the shattered moon threw a strange light over the city of Earthend.

A young Foxen soldier, a member of the Earthrise Defence Corps, stood in front of an old sandstone building in the Eastern section of the city.

After having been captured by the Anubians in the war, and finally being recaptured after months of siege, the city was still in the process of being reconstructed, and the East End was not high on the list of areas in need of repair, so the moonlight, and the glow of the nearby torch threw strange shadows on the ground due to piles of rubble and debris. He was deeply bored, having joined the Corps after the recent Anubian counter-attack on Bastion Island, up near Corsica, he had expected more action, maybe a few life threatening situations, instead, he had been assigned, along with five or six other fresh recruits, to guard that weird old Mage, Karn Vallen.

When he had first heard about his mission, he had been in awe, everyone had heard of Archmage Vallen, how the Avian's spells and magical know-how had been key in the destruction of the Anubian Teleport Gate, with which they could have gotten their whole army into Earthrise with little problem. But once he had met the old Mage, he had been, to say the least, greatly disappointed; the old man was constantly distracted by something or other, not to mention the fact that he stank of Gaia knew what kind of chemicals. He had grown bored of this assignment very quickly. Bored, just as he was now. It was his boredom that kept him from seeing the mist until it was wrapping around his ankles. What the hell? He thought, looking down at the strange mist. It was putting off a strange greenish glow, and as it began to build around his paws, he noticed the smell, it was faint, almost nonexistant, but to one who had hunted as much as he had, it was still destinct; rotting meat.

CAW!

He nearly jumped completely out of his skin, and looked up to find a crow perching on a nearby oak beam that stuck up out of a pile of debris. It stared at him, knowingly, and he shuddered.

It was at this point that he noticed that the glow from the torch was beggining to dim, he looked over and saw, terrifyingly, that the mist had crawled up the wall and was slowly snuffing out the flame. Then he heard the boots.

Tap....tap....tap......

Someone was slowly, calmly, walking towards him through the unearthly mist. He began to see a figure forming through the mist, a hooded figure, in a long dark robe or coat. A crow perching on his shoulder took off as he came closer.

"H....Halt..." He stammered, clumsily drawing his sword and brandishing it before him, in the direction of the approaching figure. The Apparition did not seem to hear him, and kept walking forward at the same, sedate pace.

"Halt, now!" He said, with more courage, but the Apparition still did not slow.

"HALT!" He shouted, and this time the figure halted, the hood tipped slightly, as though the beast within had cocked his head. Seeing his orders followed gave the young soldier a bit more courage, and, puffing himself up importantly, he said "Who are you? What is your buisness here?"

A voice, low and soothing, came from within the hood, "I am here to see Karn, he is an old friend of mine, I am sure he will be.....Happy, to see me....."

Something in the voice, paerhaps the way it seemed to lull him slightly as the Apparition spoke, or perhaps the pause at the end, set off alarms in the young soldiers mind. He looked around at the still thickening mist, and the two crows now both perched on the beam of wood, then back to the Apparition. "Did you do all this?" He asked, glaring slightly.

The Apparition stood silent for a breath, then said, quitely "You will let me pass, now."

There was a tug at the back of the young Foxen's mind, as though he should listen to the old Druid, after all, surely Karn would appreciate some company in the old cabin, out here all alone in the woods......

Suddenly, he found himself back in the city, leaning against the wall of the building, his head was splitting and he felt like he would be sick, but he was back. He turned back to the Apparition, fear clawing it's way back up his throat. Still, he somehow managed to stand up straight, and said, his voice shaking "No sir, I don't think I will."

The Apparition gave a little snarl. "Get out of the way, peasent!" Having grown up a free woodsbeast, and having never been spoken to that way before, the anger of the Foxen's wounded pride fought with his fear and won.

With renewed courage he lifted his sword so that the point was less the six inches away from the Apparition's hidden face, and growled "No sir, You will not be-" The remainder of what he was going to say was cut off as the hood raised, letting him get a look at the face beneath, but he barely saw it, as his eye's were drawn inevitably to the Apparition's. He saw two glowing red orbs, burning with a cold fire, then everything went black.