**Marcus arrives tonight**
Dawn broke red and ominous over Eredor, clouds painted crimson by the rising sun. Old sailors called it "blood sky"—a warning of storms to come.
How appropriate.
Kaelen stood on the warehouse roof one final time, watching the city wake. Most civilians had evacuated. The streets below were eerily empty except for patrols—Shadow Hunters, City Guards, nervous guild mages checking defensive wards.
Everyone knew. Today was the day.
"Couldn't sleep?" Lia's voice, soft behind him.
"Didn't try," Kaelen admitted. "Seemed wasteful to spend our last hours unconscious."
She joined him at the edge, and they stood in silence, watching the blood-red sky slowly fade to normal blue.
"I have something for you," Lia said eventually. She pulled out a small object—a silver bracelet, inscribed with intricate runes that glowed faintly. "It's a protection charm. Won't stop a Forbidden Blade, but it'll give you a few seconds of warning if shadow corruption tries to surge beyond your control."
Kaelen slipped it on. The metal was warm against his skin, pulsing gently in time with his heartbeat. "Thank you."
"And this." She placed a small crystal in his palm. "Emergency beacon. If we get separated during the battle, if something goes wrong, crush this and I'll know exactly where you are. I have one too."
She showed him an identical crystal hanging from a chain around her neck.
"Matching jewelry," Kaelen observed. "Very romantic for the eve of an apocalyptic battle."
"I'm a very romantic person," Lia replied, echoing her words from the previous night. "Also paranoid and terrified, but mostly romantic."
"I have something for you too." Kaelen pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Letter. To be opened if I don't survive."
"Kaelen—"
"Just take it," he insisted. "Please. It's everything I couldn't figure out how to say aloud."
Lia took the letter, her hands trembling slightly. "I hate that you wrote this."
"I hate that it was necessary." Kaelen pulled her close. "But necessary doesn't mean inevitable. We're surviving today. Both of us."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
The war council met for the final time at midday. Every commander, every unit leader, every person with a role in the defense gathered around Selene's strategy table.
"Marcus's ship was spotted an hour ago," Selene announced without preamble. "He'll make landfall at the eastern docks around sunset, exactly as predicted. We have approximately six hours."
She laid out the final battle plan with military precision:
"Phase One begins when they land. Harassing fire from concealed positions—crossbows, minor magic, nothing that reveals our real strength. Goal is to slow them down and gather intelligence on their actual force composition.
Phase Two is the fighting retreat. We draw them into the commercial district where our pre-positioned traps and defensive arrays have the most impact. Every block they take costs them.
Phase Three, when they commit to the ritual site—whichever one they choose—we hit them with everything. Kaelen and Lia engage Marcus directly. Everyone else focuses on eliminating his support structure and denying him the uninterrupted time he needs to complete his ritual.
If all else fails..." Selene's expression grew grim. "Phase Four is scorched earth. We collapse the tunnels, burn the buildings, deny him every resource in Eredor even if we have to destroy the city to do it."
"You'd burn Eredor?" one of the City Guard captains asked, shocked.
"I'd burn the continent if it stops the Shadow Lord from being released," Selene replied flatly. "Cities can be rebuilt. Civilizations can't recover from extinction."
No one argued with that logic.
Princess Isabella spoke up: "My scholars worked through the night researching the sealing ritual. They found... something. A reference in the old texts to an alternative method that doesn't require sacrifice."
Every head turned toward her.
"It's fragmentary," Isabella cautioned. "Incomplete. But it suggests that if all three Forbidden Blades can be brought together and voluntarily relinquished by their wielders, the Shadow Lord's seal might be reinforced without anyone dying."
"Voluntarily relinquished," Ronan repeated. "Marcus would never do that."
"No," Isabella agreed. "But if he's defeated, if the blades can be taken from him and the three wielders agree to seal them together..." She shrugged. "It's a possibility. A slim one, but better than guaranteed sacrifice."
"We'll keep it as Plan B," Selene decided. "But don't count on it working."
The afternoon was spent in final preparations. Kaelen and Lia ran through their techniques one last time—resonance attacks, resonance armor, emergency extraction protocols. The Iron Fangs sharpened weapons and checked armor. Guild mages charged their focus crystals and prepared spell arrays.
Everyone found their own way to cope with the waiting.
Some prayed. Some joked. Some sat in silence, lost in thought. A few wrote letters, just as Kaelen had.
Captain Valdris found Kaelen in the armory, checking Soulrender's edge for the dozenth time.
"First major battle?" she asked.
"Is it that obvious?"
"You're checking your weapon obsessively. Classic nervous energy." Valdris leaned against the wall. "Word of advice from someone who's survived fourteen major engagements: don't think about the big picture. Don't think about armies and strategies and world-ending consequences. Just focus on the person beside you. Keep them alive, let them keep you alive, and worry about everything else later."
"That's your secret to survival?" Kaelen asked.
"That, and always having an escape route planned." She grinned. "But mostly the first thing. Wars are won by individuals making individual choices to protect each other. Everything else is just logistics."
Two hours before sunset, Selene pulled Kaelen aside privately.
"If this goes wrong," she said, "if Marcus breaks through our defenses and starts the unsealing ritual, I need you to promise something."
"What?"
"Don't sacrifice yourself to seal the Shadow Lord unless there's absolutely no other choice. Give us time to execute Princess Isabella's alternative. Give the scholars a chance to find a better answer." Selene's silver eyes were intense. "You're young. You have decades ahead of you if we survive this. Don't throw that away for a heroic gesture."
"But if there's no other choice—"
"There's always a choice," Selene insisted. "Sometimes it's just a choice between bad and worse. But as long as you're alive, as long as you're fighting, alternatives exist. The moment you accept sacrifice as inevitable, you stop looking for them."
"I'll keep looking," Kaelen promised.
"Good." Selene clapped his shoulder. "You've done well, Kaelen Voss. Better than anyone had a right to expect from a drowning mercenary who stumbled across a cursed sword. Whatever happens tonight, know that you made a difference."
"If that's supposed to comfort me before a battle—"
"It's not," Selene interrupted. "Comfort is for after victories or before funerals. Right now I'm just telling you truth."
She left, leaving Kaelen alone with Soulrender and his thoughts.
*Nervous?* the sword asked.
"Terrified."
*Good. Fear keeps you sharp. Overconfidence gets you killed.* Soulrender pulsed with that familiar dark awareness. *We have fought together for weeks now. Learned each other. Adapted to each other. Whatever comes tonight, we face it as partners.*
"Partners," Kaelen agreed. "To the end."
*To the end,* Soulrender echoed.
As the sun began its descent toward the horizon, the defenders took their positions. Shadow Hunters scattered to concealed positions along the eastern approach. City Guards manned the strongpoint walls. Guild mages activated their prepared arrays. The Iron Fangs settled into ambush positions with the patience of professional soldiers.
Kaelen and Lia stood together on the warehouse roof—their traditional spot, now serving as a command post. From here they could see the eastern docks, the commercial district, the paths Marcus's forces would have to take.
"Last chance to run away and become cabbage farmers," Kaelen said.
"Tempting," Lia replied. "But I look terrible in overalls."
"I think you'd look beautiful in anything."
"Flatterer." She turned to face him. "When this is over—when, not if—we're taking that vacation. Somewhere warm and peaceful and boring."
"Deal," Kaelen said, and sealed it with a kiss.
The sun touched the horizon, painting the world gold and crimson.
And then, in the distance, a ship appeared. Larger than any merchant vessel, black-sailed and ominous, it glided toward the docks with unnatural speed. Shadow magic propelled it, dark energy crackling along its hull.
Marcus Blackwood had arrived.
"All units," Selene's voice crackled through the communication network. "This is it. Hold positions until they commit. Make them think we're not ready. Make them overconfident."
The ship docked with practiced efficiency. The boarding ramp descended.
And Marcus stepped onto Eredor's stones, Hearteater and Soulrender's sister blade gleaming at his sides, power radiating from him like heat from a bonfire.
He looked directly at the warehouse, directly at the roof where Kaelen stood, as if he could see across the distance.
And smiled.
Behind him, his forces disembarked. Forty cultists in full regalia. A hundred corrupted creatures. Three shadow mages radiating mid-Saint tier power. And something else—a massive construct of pure shadow energy, vaguely humanoid, that towered over the docks like a dark colossus.
"What is that?" Lia whispered.
"Trouble," Kaelen replied.
Marcus raised Hearteater and called out, his voice magically amplified to carry across the entire district:
"Kaelen Voss! I know you're watching! I offer one final chance—bring me Soulrender voluntarily, and I'll spare this city! Resist, and Eredor burns! You have five minutes to decide!"
The defenders looked to Kaelen, to Selene, to their commanders. Waiting for orders.
Kaelen raised Soulrender high enough for Marcus to see.
"Come and take it!" he shouted back.
Marcus's smile widened. "I was hoping you'd say that."
He gestured, and his forces surged forward.
The battle for Eredor had begun.
The storm had broken.
And for better or worse, there was no going back now.
*Here we go,* Soulrender whispered.
"Here we go," Kaelen agreed.
Phase One commenced.
And the longest night of their lives began.