You are standing alone in a dark, damp hallway. Ominous shadows writhe around you. You feel pursued and can hear the sound of your footsteps echoing in the darkness. Evil laughter reverberates through the hallways from time to time.
Your footsteps become faster and faster. A cold drip of sweat runs between your shoulder blades. Your hand reaches to your belt but you have no weapons, nor spells to cast. The presence you sense is near you, you can feel its fetid breath on your neck. You turn screaming but all you can see is shifting darkness. The laugh rises again from the shadows.
Suddenly, the darkness swirls and begins to puke black armored men, wielding swords and daggers, their faces hidden by large, horned helms. The black knights attack you, ripping your face, destroying your armor and breaking your bones. Though pain grasps you, beyond the men you can see a circle of light and a corpse on a cold floor, which resembles an old bearded man. Just above the corpse, on a decorated pillar, you can see the face of a gray wolf laughing insanely. You feel you must reach the body but the armored men prevent it. Suddenly, a blade of light appears in your hand. The blade rips through the armor of the black men as if it was made of paper, but it is not enough: you begin to fight with your fists, your fingernails and your teeth.
The helm of a man falls to the floor, hit by your fist and, suddenly, everything slows down. The helm seems to take an eternity to fall to the ground. When you glance at the unmasked man you see something too horrible to remember. You begin to scream...
You awake, covered with sweat and with the blankets grasped in your fists.
A servant slowly opens the door and stares at you with concern on his face: “Did you have the same nightmare again, sir? King Redeer would be pleased to see you as soon as possible. He’s waiting in the blue parlor on the east wing...”
“Welcome my friends, come in and please sit with me, I have ordered something to eat. I’ll get straight to the point, my friends: the Draman army is in serious trouble. General Adran is withdrawing toward the Svariji Forest as quickly as possible, with all that remains of the army. Something terrible must have happened. I have information that at least four of the Black Generals have entered the battlefield, joining the Zenith horde led by the mad commander Krozadai and his vicious companion, the witch Zinaida. This is very bad news: it means the generals no longer fear the power of the Guardian Sword. Yes, my friends, Gadrath must have been killed and the Guardian Sword is now in the hands of the forces of evil. It is only a matter of time before the Draman nation will fall. I see a very dark future here, my friends. We need hope, some small hope in order to continue our battle. Do you have any ideas, any plan? Is it possible that Gadrath is really dead?”
