Disclaimer: I do not own the Fable universe; I am merely borrowing it for the purposes of this tale. Characters you do not recognize are mine however (Von, Azrael, Ezra, etc). This story contains scenes of an extremely mature nature, so expect dark and sexual themes.
***Okay, so I know I said only two more chapters but what can I say, more ideas struck me! I wanted to make the Crawler's arrival intense, raw and powerful…and that meant extending it as far as chapters go! So I hope you all don't mind, but I'm going to run with this and see where I end up!***
A million thanks to every silent reader and kind reviewer who has visited this story. Every comment, critique and suggestion was very much appreciated :) All the best, - Fallon.
Chapter Forty-Nine
"Where there is unity there is always victory." – Publilius Syrus
Kalin drew her blade and slashed through the spawn nearest her, cutting through it in one slash and causing it to fall in on itself and dissipate with a hiss.
The Crawler's voice sunk into her head. She could feel its mangled lips at her ear, its razor sharp talons on her spine. It was inside her but instead of cowering in fear she fought against it, inwardly and physically, attacking his spawns as they appeared.
"The light inside of you will die!"
"It will not!" Kalin screamed through clenched teeth.
It responded with a deep, unsettling laugh.
She snarled, "Damn you to the depths of the void!"
The battle raged on all around her. The men of the Albion Army stood alongside her own, fighting and bleeding with one another as if they were blood brothers. Every Auroran who was old enough to hold a blade was on the field; while mothers and their babes, the elderly and the feeble took refuge in the temple. Young boys barely into manhood stood back-to-back with seasoned veterans, all determined to defeat the creature that had haunted them for so many years and left their very culture on the brink of ruin.
But scattered amongst the outpost were the husks of those who had fallen victim to the Crawler and his minions. Sucked dry of all they once were, Kalin saw their bodies disappear into the sand as the wind swept through.
"Aurora is mine! How does it feel to know all you love will become dust? We will stop the beating of every heart!"
She spun around on her heels in time to block the swing of another of the Crawler's twisted children. It glared at her angrily with its glowing red eyes and she swore as it refused to relent and pressed into her. Its maw opened in a low, guttural wail and their blades screeched as they strained against each other.
Kalin dug in her heels to get leverage and pushed back, knocking the spawn off balance. She raised her blade, keeping it poised and ready to finish off the monster before her.
It regained its balance and gave a shrill hiss in anger.
"You will not have us!" She gave a mighty slash of her blade, "You will not have Aurora!"
The spawn's head flew from its shoulders and reverted back into mist before it had a chance to hit the ground. Its body soon followed, teetering awkwardly before tipping over and spilling onto the sand in the form of ink black mist.
Another rose and took its place.
The Darkness clung to the ocean floor, slipping over rocks and shipwrecks and killing sea-life as it passed. Small fish were touched, their light consumed, and their bodies spit out to float to the water's surface; husks devoid of even the tiniest speck of life. Larger creatures, great and old whales and ancient krakens were stripped down to their bones, the smaller of which floated to the surface to join the desiccated bodies of other marine life.
From above, small birds and gulls looked down on the melting pot of bones and Darkness and, sensing the truth of the evil that lurked below, flew away from Albion with unsettling determination. Even those too small to make it so far from land tried, willing to risk death from exhaustion over the instant, complete consumption the Darkness offered.
Those who lived near the shoreline saw the migration and quickly gathered their children before baring their doors and windows, expecting a storm.
They would get so much more.
One girl did not hear her mother's cries and continued to play near the shoreline, too focused on her new doll and the fantasies her imagination conjured up to notice the thickening fear and tension in the air around her. She laughed and smiled down at her doll while others took shelter in cellars and under beds.
Her mother screamed her name into the winds, but still the child did not hear. Her father heaved his wife back into the house, dropping the bar and turning the lock before dragging the sobbing woman down to the lowest level of their home.
The Crawler laughed and the Darkness grew. Clouds blotted out the sun as the winds came off of the sea carrying sand and dropping it over the sleepy village as if it were snow.
Still the little girl played.
The Darkness crawled onto the shores of Albion, clinging to its beaches and spreading like spilled ink pooling over parchment. Everything it touched, from the tiniest insect to the smallest blade of grass, it consumed. But it yearned for more; more light and more torment. With humans, it could gain both.
It felt the young girl's presence, her innocence and naivety calling out to it like a beacon, and slithered over the sand toward her. It was souls like hers that the Darkness craved. They possessed the most light and when consumed it went down like a sip of fine aged wine. The sand darkened as it passed, the corruption sinking into the tiny grains and using it to spread the taint further, sending it up into the air so the wind could carry it to every corner of Albion.
The child finally looked up, the silence around her alerting her to the approaching danger. She looked to the sky and saw no birds, then to the sea where she saw what looked like ink rising up and approaching her. She quickly got to her feet, her doll clutched tightly to her chest almost as if to shield her button eyes from the danger.
As for the girl herself, her eyes were wide and full of terror. She knew she had to run but her feet remained cemented to the ground, the sand rooting her in place and slowly crawling up her legs. She tried to brush it off, only to have it cling to her hands and start up her arms.
Laughter echoed all around her and the world began to distort. A black mist twisted the world around her and soon enough she was disoriented.
Vertigo and corruption playing with her mind, she tried to turn and run only to stagger and drop her doll before falling to her knees with a weak grunt. Sobbing, she reached back to grab her friend only to have the Darkness itself grab her hand.
With what little energy she had left, she screamed.
The Darkness laughed. It was drunk and full from her light and like any addict, it craved more.
The girl laid down her head, weakly pulling her doll into her arms as she sunk into the sand.
Her parched lips parted ever so slightly, "M-Momma…"
It stole more of her life essence with every passing second and soon the child was weak and lethargic, the pull of sleep becoming more and more difficult to fight. The Darkness covered her and her doll like a blanket and the Crawler mimicked the voice of the girl's mother, whispering for her to go to sleep.
"Rest your head, my flower," choked the Crawler, "rest your head…"
The child felt the weight of the Darkness on her but did not have the strength to fight it. She sighed heavily as her eyes fluttered; the allure of sleep winning out over her will to live.
She murmured her final plea for her mother before closing her eyes for good. Beside her tiny form, her doll shriveled into nothing.
The Darkness had claimed its first soul from Albion.
It ripped across the landscape like a plague of locusts, devouring everything with any spark of light it passed. It was fast, merciless and unrelenting. Each soul it claimed, however small, only fueled its rage. Trees withered, wildlife retreated into their dens and villagers hunkered down in their homes as a blanket of shadow passed over them.
In Mistpeak, Brightwall hunkered down and every rifleman stood ready and alert, manning the battlements and defending the Academy. Once a place of salvation for scholars, it now housed every man, woman and child from the city as well as those of Sabine's people who were too young or vulnerable to fight. Women from Brightwall and the Dweller camp huddled together with their children, their heads bowed as they prayed for salvation. A young Dweller woman heavy with child sat next to an old woman from the village and held her hand to comfort her. Many of the children from Sabine's camp were without their parents, as they'd taken up arms to defend Brightwall. They sat huddled around a fire, mucus and tears covering their dirty faces as the village schoolteacher read to them.
Outside, Dweller men and women stood next to the soldiers and town guards. The clouds were so thick above them with sand and Darkness that not a single ray of sunlight was able to reach them down below. The only real source of light was the bonfires that had been spaced out throughout the streets but deep down in the hearts of everyone there, they knew it would do no good.
The approaching shadow had blocked out the sun – mere fire did not stand a chance.
And yet not a soul wavered. They remained at their posts, rifles loaded and blades sharpened, ready and willing to fight to the death for everyone sheltered in the Academy.
In the distance the Darkness rolled over the mountainside like a tidal wave. Its vile gaze fixed on them; they readied their rifles and sounded the alarm.
Their enemy had arrived.
Maya heard the bell tower ring out as she was leaving the throne room. She stopped and looked out one of the large windows in the grand hall and saw storm clouds roll in and blanket the once clear blue sky. Light withdrew from the hall and the nobles milling about stopped dead in their tracks. The ladies nearest her began whispering and Maya saw panic spread through them. She had warned them all and soon all doubt would be erased, they would know she spoke the truth.
She walked slowly down the grand staircase, ignoring the questions of nobles and servants she passed. The sand of the previous day had been but a warning and she was almost certain this was it, the moment she had been preparing a year for.
As she neared the double doors to the front courtyard, her guards opened them for her. She stepped through and the ringing of the bell tower was louder, but even then it could not be drowned out by the panicked shouts coming up the hill from the market.
Fear settled in her belly and she felt like she was standing upon the edge of something she could not step back from. She had to leap and she had no idea if what waited for her at the bottom was worth it all. Whether she was ready or not though the time to jump was now.
She looked up at the sky and saw a massive flock of birds flying away from the city.
They know what's coming…
A strong, firm hand grabbed hers.
She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at Von, squeezing his hand tightly. As tremendous as the task ahead of her seemed, the look in his eyes reminded her that she was not alone. In every corner of the land, the army she had built would be defending the villages and her allies would be striking out at the enemy. They would buy her the time she needed to defeat the Crawler once and for all.
Time...that was all she needed.
Maya held her head high and looked out over her city. "Send for Logan, Walter and Ben. Tell them to meet me in the war room. Tell them our enemy has arrived."
Von nodded, bringing her hand to his lips and placing a kiss on her knuckles.
"Yes, my Queen."
He hurried off and Maya watched him until he was out of sight. She knew what the Darkness wanted – everyone and everything. It wanted to take from her everything she held dear, turn the land she loved into a wasteland and its people into ash. It wanted Ben, Jasper, Walter, Logan…it wanted Von.
It wouldn't have any of them, not as long as there was life in her.
"And your friends? The Captain is dead...my children are feasting on him as we speak. Your wolf friend on the other hand...now he is going to prove to be a challenge! Some things are so stubborn to hold onto life, when they really have no right to live..."
The Crawler's voice echoed in her mind, its taunts igniting the same anger in her they had when she'd first encountered it in Aurora. But this time, Maya was determined to use that anger to her advantage, to push herself to the brink if it meant saving the ones she loved from the Darkness.
"You will fall to me soon, Princess, very soon..."
Maya turned and started for the war room. "We shall see."
