-paid in blood- A Story for the Song
I heard this song and I thought of this story. Enjoy!
With mounting horror, you look over the castle like a petrified statue. Your face grows steadily paler and paler until you resemble scantly more than a ghost. All you can hear is the crackling ice as the moat of the castle freezes over into a solid mass of paralyzing cold. From the darkness the soldiers keep coming, every last one marching towards the palace without any hint of emotion, every last one identical to the dread soldier before it. Another explosion rocks the castle as the upper-right tower is enveloped in another ball of darkness. Rock falls from the catapults scattered among the attackers. One heads towards you, the impact of which would kill you instantly. You have no time to dodge as you are hit with the oncoming missile. Only then do you realize it is no rock as it passes through you, harmlessly. It is a shadow bomb.
With expert timing, you hurl yourself from the edge of the tower to the ground below it, twenty feet away. As you fall, a deafening bang erupts behind you. Yet another globe of shadows forms where the tower once was. Barely escaping its grasp, you activate your sword's flames, hoping to slow your descent. Lucky for you, you don't need to as the orb begins to pull you within its growing depths. Grasping about you for something, anything to hold on to, you grip on to the tower's ledge. Alas, each individual grain of dust is being stripped away from the stone into the hungry umbrage until nothing will be left. With effort, you crouch on to the side of the tower opposite the orb. The pull towers you toward it, but you do not fall, for you have now used the pull to your advantage. You can walk upon the tower's walls like solid ground. You run to the ground, losing the pull of the shadows about five feet before you reach the ground. You fall near the frozen moat that stretches beyond the city for at least a quarter if a mile. To your dismay, the army moves steadily towards the castle, moving along at though it was solid ground. Hiding your fear, you draw your sword and bellow a challenge: "Leave this castle in peace, invaders," you begin, "For it is defended!" Before you know what is happening, a score of soldiers forms from shadow before your feet, ready to meet your challenge. Now begins the battle for destiny, the battle of your life.