Snow rained down peacefully on the icy plains of Lakonia. It delicately and gently made its way down until it reached the carnage below. The battle was in full swing, men and goblins being hacked apart. Screams filled the air, mixed with the gruesome sound of clagling weapons and flesh being torn. Isaiah whispered a solemn prayer to his god Zaen as the battle raged on. The hordes of hob- goblins were advancing and breaking apart the lines of men. The priests and paladins rallied the soldiers to fight as they cast divine spells upon their warriors. The Quixian squad consisting of fifteen heavily armoured paladins, dressed in beautiful white robes, broke through the goblin lines, tearing apart at the small creatures. Shrieks filled the air and the battlefield was strewn with lifeless bodies, scattered with gore. The Quixian squad advanced through the ranks slicing apart the advancing hordes. The goblins were now retreating to fire points amongst the rocks in the large frozen battlefield.

"Move forth! This hell spawn is no match for the children of Zaen, deity of men!" screamed Caeon as he cast a celestial paladin spell, sending a great white shockwave over the mass of goblins, vanquishing many instantly. The men advanced, fighting viciously against the hordes of evil. The men were obviously losing the battle despite their valiant efforts. Squads after squads of goblins kept appearing from the hills. Isaiah stepped out from behind the Quixian squad and ignored the arrows, spitting across the bloody landscape. Goblin after goblin lunged at him trying to slay the mighty paladin but Isaiah's lightning quick sword blows were too quick and many goblins were cut down as he strode through the ranks. He felt the power of his god running through his body. He clutched his holy symbol, a beautiful sword built of a gleaming white metal. He concentrated the thoughts of his god, his prayers and his energy and released it all… A great white aura radiated from Isaiah and every soldier on the battle field felt the beautiful energy flow through them. They fought on, now replenished. Caeon, a large man of many summers strode over to Isaiah hacking at the retreating goblins.

"We may win this my friend!" he laughed despite the bloodshed.

"For Zaen!" cried Isaiah.

"For Zaen," echoed Caeon.

The battle raged and it seemed like the humans would win. Then Isaiah felt it, a great evil presence was advancing through the air. All the preists suddenly became hesitant. . Even the non-magical common soldiers felt something. The priests began to scream.

"We must retreat while we still can!" screamed a priest. The goblins were retreating now into the safety of the hills. Then Isaiah noticed it; a large black shadow of a figure had formed across the snow covered plain. The shadows began to rise from the ground into wisps of dark energy. They flew and twirled until they had formed into a figure. A dark black knight stood around a hundred metres from the now alone, army of men. Priests began to run and the soldiers began to retreat but they all seemed to be cut down by sum unknown force. They fell to the ground and began to decay as if they were living a century in several seconds.

"Demon prince…" whispered Isaiah. Only a handful of the bravest paladins stood. Among them Caeon was Caeon and like the others, they all seemed strangely calm. .

"We - we- must fight it! Come! With Zaen under our aid, nothing can harm us! Those cowards died because they do not follow Zaen! Let us fight brave paladins!" screamed Isaiah. However, none of the paladins moved. They all stood, transfixed in terror. The dark being was advancing.

"Don't you see Isaiah? He is offering us life! Eternal life all we have to do is…" said Caeon as he turned to Isaiah. Isaiah stared in absolute terror at Caeon. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"No! How can we turn over to this evil! All the years Caeon!"

"I'm sorry Isaiah. You know of my vision of foresight. I foresaw this. I told the other paladins and we decided it was the only way. We knew you wouldn't ever be deterred. You are too loyal to Zaen," said Caeon, a faint smile creeping over his face. Isaiah stared in horror at the Paladins. These soldiers had spent years of their life for this one god, they had dedicated so much time and pain, now only to succumb to evil. The many battles they had fought in the name of Zaen, the many loyal battalions of paladins which had died in his name and all the pain and suffering these men had gone through. It all seemed to be crashing down around the one paladin. Isaiah stared in horror. They all began to change, their bodies morphing and twisting. Their once clean white armour changed to black studded fatigues. Their faces changed too, slowly deformed. Until all that was left was a group of dark warriors. The demon prince, edged closer, his shadow mass swirling in darkness.

"We have been friends all our lives Isaiah. You were always better than me, always excelled at whatever we did. It was a constant competition. You do not understand how much pain I lived in. Always, in your shadow," said the now deformed Caeon as he smiled at Isaiah maliciously, " I know that you would rather choose death than to become a chaos warrior but unfortunately we have a different solution." Isaiah stared in absolute terror as Caeon, his once best friend deformed into what only barely resembled a humanoid figure, his once proud holy blade, curved and twisted into a dark scimitar. The black being was only inches away. Its power was overwhelming. Despite his greatest efforts Isaiah couldn't move. His body stood frozen. Caeon edged closer, he laughed manically. The other warriors laughed too, an evil death chant. Caeon grabbed Isaiah and plunged the blade straight into his heart. Black blood began to spill from the paladins wound, his eyes turned a black, his body began to deform and rot. The once proud paladin felt his soul, darkening. He thought that maybe one day there would be revenge but after the evil consumed him there would be no turning back. He tried hard to resist but it was no use as shadow enveloped him. He felt himself sink into darkness…