Jackal Among Snakes

Argrave dismounted from the white wolf, and without a moment of reservation the creature raced on without him. He’d discussed his plans with Anneliese and the others, and though there were loud and vocal protests from all, the unstoppable advance of the Hopeful proved an undeniable fact.

That terrifying smiling face moved through the opposing armies of Shadowlanders, the clash between Law and Gerechtigkeit serving as background. The god of justice was proving a far stauncher opponent than they’d expected from him—indeed, his countless years of experience coupled with his consolidation of vast amounts of divine power were coming into full display at this pivotal moment. The calamity’s frustration was tangible. Far more tangible was the hulking giant of shadow, now without any more obstacles.

Well, that was untrue. Argrave was the last obstacle.

Argrave could see and feel the Hopeful’s shadow growing to consume this realm, fighting valiantly against the sun of souls high in the sky. Their licking hunger was deprivation incarnate, the very tongue of consumption. The darkness tasted his battered body for the swallowing mouth soon to come. But things had changed from their arena in the Shadowlands—this time, Argrave had the sun of his own design high in the sky. If the Hopeful tried to swallow him, the thing might well choke.

“Just when I was starting to feel a bit normal…” Argrave muttered to himself, the words half in jest and half in despair.

Once more, Argrave tapped into the state he’d devolved into to face Gerechtigkeit full-heartedly, and ran forward into the swallowing mouth.

#####

Anneliese had to resist the urge to flinch from the devastating power that soon erupted from behind. She had seen the depths of the power Argrave had displayed against Gerechtigkeit, but now she could feel it whipping winds through her hair and projecting its strength against her back. It was like a tailwind for their flight from this place, enabling them to press on.

“He’ll be okay, Sophia,” Anneliese reassured the girl squirming inches ahead on the back of the white wolf they sat upon. “So long as we do our job, he’ll be okay.”

“I won’t make any mistakes,” Sophia promised, clinging tightly to the wolf’s fur. “I’m feeling better. I think… I think he’s all free.”

Before Sophia could express her happiness, Elenore’s voice frantically cut into Anneliese’s head. “Put up a ward to block sound, now!”

Anneliese processed the command and heeded it without a moment’s hesitation. Her wolf stopped in place steps before coming free of the ward. Seconds later, she saw something fly overhead. Its mouth was an extremely bizarre shape, like a cone with several obstructions. When she looked back at the army, however, what she saw was utterly baffling. Thousands had died in place, and seemingly without any obvious source. Those same creatures flew around with reckless abandon.

“Those flying creatures are using… sound to kill, somehow,” Elenore explained. “Lorena says that all of people’s organs are vibrating so intensely they rupturewhenever those creatures scream. The distance… it’s not insignificant, either. And even if it doesn’t kill, it can break someone in countless other ways.”

Hearing that sounded intensely frightening. The enchantments Artur had placed on his armor likely would’ve protected her, but those things could kill ordinary people like nothing else she’d seen. “Where are they coming from?” Anneliese questioned.

that her kin could fight them without significant risk. But you’d need to prepare Sophia for their arrival so they

nodded at once. “They could get us to Blackgard

to pause,” Elenore said. “I’ll do my best on

#####

that he was a true obstacle to the Hopeful. But

the Hopeful, staring into that smiling face as he raged with power born of his own flesh and blood, he thought there might’ve been some hope. The hungering shadows were weaker here under the

tide was

taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report

stranger to combat. He baited, feinted, retreated, advanced—he was versed in power of this magnitude, and he knew how to use it to his own ends as well as he knew how to fight against it. Argrave had instinct and the vague direction of his logical mind… but the power that he wielded was too extreme, too foreign to him, to fight the Hopeful as an equal in

He tried only to be a wall—something that needed to be broken, destroyed completely, before this enemy force could pass.

ceased to be, that Argrave’s brain rattled, that his eyes split and he bled from every orifice. The tide of vitality rushing in from the fight against the hunger replaced all that was lost, but it chipped away at the wall, bit by bit, wearing it down. Amidst this hellish resistance, Argrave began to hear a voice, whispering to him from the

of judgment is no wheel, said

great game of tug-a-rope, life and

far, you can count on another tug back to the

the sensations in him draining away, one-by-one, as the hunger beat back the power of his blood. But that voice could not be heard, could not be seen, could not be felt. It merely was, pervading his mind

of dark or you drink of light,

greed or for creed, we

when the dust has all settled, we’re but fools and blunt

tests beyond our ken

that smiling face, that swallowing mouth… and

cannot master its labyrinth, nor appreciate its

submission will grant

to feel the hunger, the endless desire. Instead, he felt the thing tear into him, eating him well and whole. His body was made a part of a larger whole—an ancient being that’d existed long before the cycle of judgment, and would continue to do so even should they succeed.

Argrave’s