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[h3] [color=DarkGray]T h e  C i t y[/color]  [color=DimGray]O f[/color]  [color=DarkGray]K o l a n t i s[/color] [/h3]

[img]http://orig11.deviantart.net/48f3/f/2011/208/a/b/divider_by_canzeda-d41w92p.png[/img]

[h3][color=DimGray]C H A P T E R[/color]   [color=DarkGray]I I[/color][/h3]
[h2][color=LightGray]M E R C I L E S S[/color][/h2]

[img]http://orig11.deviantart.net/48f3/f/2011/208/a/b/divider_by_canzeda-d41w92p.png[/img]
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The two suns fell below the horizon with a nearly audible snap; the world seemed to go silent upon the last ray of light vanishing below Ansus. It was as if the land itself was afraid of nightfall, as though it was privy to information that the inhabitants of Kolantis simply were not. 
The shadow that had gathered over the capital in the last hours of light were concerning to few, many attempting to explain it by stating that it was simply a trick of the light dancing behind low clouds. Yet the gathering of darkness had continued unabated by the feeble explanations of optimists and scholars alike. It had swollen like a well gorged insect, pulsing and throbbing and stretching from a small point above the city, to covering almost the entire area; blanketing it in an ever thicker shadow than that afforded by night. 

Life went on as usual in the unsleeping city: peasants hurried through main walkways and narrow alleyways, and late-workers hauled bricks and wooden planks to various trade stalls lining the streets. The city nobles strutted through the upper echelons of the city, steering clear of the limits; patrols of guards walked in endless circuits through their assigned areas (some still searching for the ever elusive fox-eared woman who was still running amok somewhere in the metropolis). The night seemed like all others, with the exception of the unusual and obscuring darkness that seemed to be falling upon the city like a thick, black fog. Yet the docks were being pounded by furious waves borne of a storm that did not seem to exist, and a chilling wind began to howl through the city streets, filling it with an icy cold that was never felt so far South. 

The sound of roaring wind grew quickly. The crashing of waves upon the docks deafened the sailors and the traders. The sound of the living city simply ceased upon the bellow of a horn: hellish and demonic, it resounded across the entire capital, shaking it to its core. The people stopped: the peasants sought cover, yet they did not know why. The nobles scrambled for the safety of their decorated homes, yet they did not know why. A terrible sense of dread fell upon the land, and chaos reigned. Madness ensued upon the tolling of the horn. Blind panic filled the air: stalls were abandoned and purchased goods were dropped. The streets became chaotic as people ran amok like wild animals that had been agitated within an enclosure. Even the guards were separated from their duties, and many simply dropped their weapons in favour of running home to their families. 

Yet nobody knew why they felt such blinding panic. 

And then, from the recesses of the city, from dark corners unexplored and clandestine hideaways, poured forth a force of... [i]people.[/i] Draped in obscuring robes and hoods entirely in black, and wielding wicked and thorny demonic weapons that surely were not of this world, the mysterious men and women swarmed like insects. They came forth from their hideaways with reckless fury, and all caught in their path were immediately cut down with savage abandon; mortal flesh giving way to demonic steel in the same way that butter gives way to the cutting power of a hot knife. Within minutes, the death toll was in the hundreds as a tide of black washed over the winding streets of Kolantis. Eviscerated bodies were left in the wake of the otherworldly cult, and the muddy colour of the earth underfoot was instead stained incarnadine with every kill. They showed no signs of slowing, and with each minute they pressed closer and closer to the city's heart; not even the guards stood a chance against such a savage force. Even the royal knights who put up a decent fight were left torn apart after only moments of resistance. 

They pressed deeper into the city, wiping out all life in their path. Hundreds of them. Perhaps more. 

And all the while, they said nothing except for a single, chilling chant, repeated over and over with no respite:[/color]

[center][h3][color=Black]"[b]H A I L   T H E   K I N G   I N   B L A C K ![/b]"[/color][/h3][/center]