The Nightfall

Warriors chosen by divine hand are ensorcelled into a crystal sleep that renders them immune to the ravages of time, to be awakened into service to the world and its gods in times of need.

PART I: PARAGON

"Have they woken?"

The curtained chamber was quiet, deserted, haunted by soft lamplight, and in the ambers, yellows, and golds of the walls, the tapestries and decor, achingly beautiful.  An elegant shrug was the reply.

"It is to be determined by divine will, Your Grace.  These warriors were chosen by divine hand, and banished from the realms of the living or dead.  So, they sleep, until they are deemed necessary."

The burly  hands--thick, warrior's hands, cut and callused from the years of handling swords, spears, and shields--clenched into fists, the few rings glinting in the lamplight.

"I deem them necessary.  Can they be awakened?"

Unfathomable brown eyes, set against unruly brunette hair, clipped at the nape, and desert dark skin, widened, but only for a moment.  Grijalva adjusted his collar--green, in honor of a favored ancestor--to buy himself time.  He ought to be surprised at the Duke's audacity.  Truthfully, he was stunned.  It would not do to let the nobleman know that.  He chose his next words very carefully.

"Your Grace.  Your every word and whim may be law in your duchy, but it remains that these warriors, preserved in spelled crystal sleep, shall awake only through divine will."  He paused, not for dramatic effect.  "By divine hand."

Duke Fabre looked up and down the length of the vast hall of Gallerria Valhalla.  Gallery it truly was--save that it displayed people, not paintings.  Writings and art of these people were archived in the Grand Libraries, of course.  This hall, these chambers, held the crystals of warriors chosen by divine hand to serve the world--and the gods--as deemed by divine will.  Each one, glimmering softly, all different colors, resembled the people sleeping, like a gold-cast rose.  Their identities had been recorded in history, for the days the paragons would rise again.

Author's Note

Work in progress