The hellish landscape before him was a sign of how much devastation the battle had caused. Darkness gritted his teeth as visible frustration showed on his sleep face, was this really worth it? All this destruction scoured the landscape of any natural resources. Before everything that happened this had been lush farmland that bolstered many people's livelihood, now it was a cracked and ugly looking desert of stone and clay, the rivers had since dried up and all that remained was the Cathedral on the horizon, a stark Ivory tower in a dusty and dry world.
A female figure approached him from his side, it was Charlotte, his best friend and sometimes lover. She wore her plate armor with pride staring at the White Cathedral shining in the wasteland of their own creation. She was a beauty of a warrior, firm tanned muscles and a lock of blonde hair that showed like spun gold.
"So we are really doing this? Attacking the Church of the Sun?" She looked down to him with a hint of worry on her face.
"We have to, for Astrea." He had mentioned the name of the goddess of the world several times in their bedroom before, but she always found his wording to be troublesome. She found value in sound strategy and battle prowess, not some blind faith in a deity that no one knew about, except for the Warlock.
Setting out, The Man's company approached the Church. Only to be face to face with an army, Bridgette's. "The Hero, here? How unfortunate that it has to be her." Darkness and Bridgette had been close when they were children but life had other plans for them.
When they were growing up, and entering into their later then years their village was attacked and sacked to make room for an imperial garrison.
"Turn back Sorcerer, I am giving you a chance to redeem yourselves in the eyes of the Empire. Don't make me kill you." Bridgette's eyes pained to see her childhood friend now a traitor to the Empire of The Sun. He, who had promised to marry her when he fought off bullies in their village.
"Bridgette, I am sorry but for the sake of this world, I can't. The Church has destroyed everything I held dear. Tainted your heart, and now it's come to this, fighting on opposite sides." Darkness hardened his heart since her betrayal of his heart, their own village had not been far from where they did now. Yet she seemed to not even remember the murder of his family, let alone hers to the Imperial knights.
"This is the last warning before I am forced to kill you, don't make me do this." Bridgette notched an arrow and aimed it straight at his heart. She was serious, realizing he meant to keep up his advance she let it loose, only for it to crack and split as an illusionary force ripped it apart before it ever touched him.
"So be it," She hiked her heel into the rump of her mount and charged at his group with a lance aimed at him. He then braced himself, closing his eyes for impact that never came, looking ahead he saw Charlotte's shield blocking the lance as his companion engaged the hero in battle.
Darkness muttered out syllables that seemed like music as he prepared for battle, his volley of flames bombarding the field, taking out some lower ranked calvary knights. And then that's when he saw it, Charlotte was cut down by Bridgette.
Anger welled in his heart as he began to chant out a spell loudly, Bridgette crying out about the Forbidden taboo of using that spell before everything went dark and hazy, he found a knife in his back.
He had been betrayed by one of his own, the spell fizzled as he no longer could concentrate on anything but the pain.
Everything went Black.