he thin rays of sun hit Ananke's face, his eyes twitch, but he does not open them.
With his eyes shut he mutters something under his breath.
"I swear to stand between the innocent and malice.
Fear shall not guide my blade, nor ease my judgment.
In my darkest time, this oath is mine to keep."
"I swear to stand between the innocent and malice.
Fear shall not guide my blade, nor ease my judgment.
In my darkest time, this oath is mine to keep."
His oath was the only thing anchoring him to his sanity.
Finally, he opened his eyes staring, at the wooden ceiling of his small, congested quarters with nothing but a bed and a table. His corrupted armor stood in a corner looming over him like a shadow.
It was a small house in the middle of the outer city.
Beads of sweat formed on his forehead. He feared reliving the same dream again.
This place was cursed. A paladin of mercy like him now craved flesh, his nightmares filled with desire for blood.
Sighing heavily, Ananke got up from his bed.
He opened the door a few minutes later. A Cambion child stood before him, waiting.
Neino.
Cambions were vile offspring of a fiend and a mortal, these disgusting abominations did not deserve to live, or so he thought before meeting his new companion; A short, two-horned child dressed in rags.
Ananke's oath forced him to see the innocence, even in an abomination.
Neino shifted, hiding something behind his back.
"What are you hiding?" Ananke asked.
"I found this!", he stretched his arms up with excitement.
It was an orange kitten.
Ananke smiled softly and said.
"How did you get this?"
"They said it was small and not tasty looking, so I picked it up"
The kitten Looked up at Ananke with its small green eyes and let out a squeaky meow.
"Can you look after him? My shack can barely cover me," Neino asked.
"Yes," Ananke replied.
Barely able to contain his excitement, Neino ran into Ananke's quarters and placed the kitten on his bed.
Soon after, Ananke parted ways with Neino and went on to see the library now defiled by the forbidden symbols on the wall. The great library of Graven has fallen to a new low, the shelves were stripped bare, holy texts replaced with the cult's practices.
As he walked through the library he spotted the book he had come for.
It was written by a cultist.
Willbore Hammerborne.
Ananke picked it up and began to read.
"The fall of Rivendalle, once a pure, untouched city, respected by mortals now defiled by lust…".
Ananke's eyes halted at the word "Rivendalle", the city of centaurs.
It was a place the most people seek to go, for the centaurs who inhabited it were said to be the children of Luminere, the Mother of light.
Centaurs of Rivendalle possessed a natural ability to empathize with all beings. They were left untouched by the conflicts of other mortals.
That changed when a naked man was given refuge. His flawless alabaster skin, porcelain body, and unnaturally attractive face drew the attention of many among them.
Soon after, a group of Paladins of the Crown were dispatched to investigate the centaurs' recent unnatural behavior.
What they found there shook them to their core. A once pure race descended into madness.
Flesh was worn as skin. Bones were used, then discarded for pleasure. Mutilated corpses filled the streets, their faces twisted into expressions of corrupted ecstasy.
They no longer followed their mother.
The paladins were ordered to execute them all and purge the city, even the untainted.
Of course, how could Ananke forget?
He was their bane.
Soon after, he took an oath of mercy.
Ananke did not seek this. He turned the pages, and then he found it.
"The Abaddon."
"For a place of ruin and destruction, it possessed order, something which our world lacked yet not something we should ever desire." Ananke's eyes remained fixed on the book.
"Abaddon is not only the home of fiends and it's Seven Arch Devils, but also the Infernus, a strange mechanism which powers the sorcery of fiends." Ananke sighed softly.
"If you want to survive Abaddon, strip your heart of— " rest of the pages were torn finishing the book abruptly.
Ananke stood motionless, a low scream penetrating his ear.
The world crack, he thought.
—————————————————————————————————————————
Neino let out a sharp grunt as he fell to the ground.
The fiend in front of him with curved ram horns and an ugly face— made his heart race.
"Listen here, your piece of shit. If you rest during your shift your head will be used to hold candles, do you understand?" Neino nodded quickly.
With haste, he picked up the pickaxe lying on the ground beside him and walked towards the mines. The mines were located northwest, beyond the outer city.
But before he could reach them, the miners were ordered to gather outside the entrance.
Many of them were Cambions, with only a few exceptions.
A Fiend draped in a Red shirt and black leather pants stood before them. His shirt dazzled as the sunlight fell onto it— a stark contrast to his terrifying face.
"An Enemy has infiltrated us. If you spot any Eldari behaving differently— " before he could finish a fiend whisperedf something into his ear.
" Reciting oaths, Carrying symbols. Inform us and you shall earn your freedom."
A board with a few oaths written in Infernus and common tongue were placed beside the entrance. Neino glanced at it and walked towards the entrance.
————————————————————————————————————
Ananke leaned his back onto wall.
He let out a heavy sigh.
Practicing the spell of invisibility from the morning to dusk exhausted him.
I think it is perfect, he thought.
He left the library and walked toward the fortress through the stone road which bore the stains of blood— some new, others ancient.
He halted when he reached the inner wall. Nowadays, not many patrolled it's walls, since it lay at the heart of the city.
Hidden behind it, he cast the spell of invisibility and climbed the tall stone wall facing the world crack.
There he scouted the way towards the world crack, It was colossal, its expanse stretching thousands of miles.
It was created to welcome millions of fiends.
Its low, screaming noise created an unsettling atmosphere.
Ananke decided to go through it tonight.
He had been honing his arcane stamina to remain invisible for long periods. Finally, it was time.
Ananke wanted to bid Neino farewell, so he made his way home. But the strange looks he received from the cambions as he entered the outer city planted paranoia in his heart.
"What if its him?"
The whispers he heard only increased his paranoia.
It was night by the time he reached his home.
Soon, Ananke stood before his house and opened the door.
He was met with a kitten leaping onto his shoulder.
Ananke's heart stopped for a moment—then, regaining his composure, he gently petted the kitten with a finger.
"You little gremlin," he muttered. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."
He placed the kitten down on the table. The bed creaked as he sat.
He took out the dried strips of bacon he had brought from his camp and began eating. The kitten, without permission, started chomping on them.
Ananke's heart warmed for a moment. Soon after, reality returned.
If you want to survive Abaddon, strip your heart of—
The words from the book echoed in his mind.
Strip my heart of what? he thought.
A moment later, his gaze drifted to his armor, still yearning for flesh and blood.
He walked toward it and halted right in front of it.
Images of flesh and blood flashed through his mind-- yet this time, he did not recoil. Instead, he lifted his greatsword.
Its broad white blade, specially crafted to control crowds of enemies, caught the moonlight. The hilt was wrought with the Lady of Light on either side, each bearing the crossguard upon her shoulders, and the pommel was engraved with his wife's initial.
He sighed, placing it down. An unsettling feeling plagued his mind but he dismissed it— he was close he could not let his mind sabotage him now.
But the feeling of unease grew in him forcing him to kneel.
His hunger for flesh and thirst for blood grew. He gritted his teeth hard and recited his oath.
"I swear to stand between the innocent and malice.
Fear shall not guide my blade, nor ease my judgment.
In my darkest time, this oath is mine to keep."
He repeated it twice, aloud, before coming back to reality.
As he opened his eyes, Neino stood frozen in the doorway.
His expression unreadable enraging his paranoia.
What if he reports me? the thought screamed in his mind.
Before Neino could grasp what was happening, Ananke caught Neino by the neck and dragged him inside. Fear clouded his mind guiding his hands around the child's neck. With every passing second Neino's breath slowed until finally coming to a stop.
What followed was silence.
until Ananke arched his back in pain and eyes rolled back.
A ebony clad figure stood before him and spoke.
"Oath broken."
With coldness in his eyes, Ananke picked up his greatsword and cast the spell of invisibility.
Without looking back he stepped outside and closed the door behind him. The kitten meowed.
Navigating through the city was not hard.
Soon, he stood before it— the world crack.
Strip your heart of—
Now I know what it means, he thought, and stepped into the world crack.
What lies behind the crack would be answered soon.
—Prologue ends—