Chapter 18: Dance of Shadows

The kingdom held its breath, for the celestial alignment was weeks away, and already the land had plunged into weird twilight. Ariadne and her advisors had been strengthening the ley lines to all they could muster, complex wards and protections interweaving about the borders of the kingdom. But beneath all these preparations was an edge of unrest, a feeling that some trials lay ahead.

Within days, dark happenings increased throughout the realm. The villagers spoke about shadowy figures that watched them from the forests, while on the wind, whispers were heard telling tales of ancient evils rising once more. Harvests withered, streams ran dry, and it all seemed to say that the land itself recoiled at that impending darkness.

Ariadne entered the war room, its table now cluttered with maps and reports, and met her companions. Before them stood the celestial relic, aglow now, though dimly, yet constantly—a beacon in the face of the dark that seemed to press hard upon them from all sides.