[u]Somewhere in the densely forested foothills east of Amaryth, two days earlier.[/u]

“The army is tunneling beneath the mountains as we speak. Will you be in place to do your job, Weaver?” The strangely uniformed man said, clearly a bit impatient. “Patience, commander. You will have your darkness. If your army is in place, then I will provide your distraction. No one will see your army coming. The Kalesian Empire will soon rule this region, have no fear, Commander.”

“Good.” As the Commander departed, he muttered beneath his breath “If it had been up to me, you would have been in chains.” In his mind, the only good Evoker was a chained evoker. And there was that guard who ran away along with one of the suspected relics. He wanted that one back where he belonged. In fact, that had been the final straw he used to convince the empress, may she live forever, to invade this pitiful realm. The only institution worthy of any respect here was that church, but even they had the wrong ideas about evokers. Evokers should be used, not killed.

Just before he stepped into his tent, he saw that the Weaver was leaving on foot, heading straight for their first target, the city of Amaryth. The shadows around the Weaver were just a bit denser than elsewhere. Not enough to be noticed by the untrained eye, but as a commander in the Imperial Kalesian army, his eyes were very much trained.

[u]Inside Amaryth, present day.[/u]

Slavómir smiled to himself. He had found the perfect spot. Excellent view, but still concealed. Reaching within himself to the core of his power, he smiled. At first, nothing appeared to be happening. But then, over the span of several minutes, the light everywhere began to dim. It took a full quarter hour before he was done. Though it was the middle of the day during late summer, it now looked like it was in the middle of the darkest night of winter. No one would see the commander’s army marching out of the tunnels in the hills and to the city. Nothing could stop it. Nothing.

He had seen the armies for himself. Thousands of the Empress’ best trained infantry companies. Heavily armored Kalbeasts by the scores. Mauler cavalry by the hundreds. He did not care much about the policies of the Empire, but they paid well and at least they did not kill his kind on sight.

[u]Elsewhere in Amaryth[/u]

Thora did not understand what was happening as the light dimmed. At first she had thought it was night falling at last. She had often lost track of time, so that could have been it, but once she reached the doors and saw how people were panicking, how the torches being lit gave off less light than they should, she realized it had to be something else. She did not know what, but if it meant less of the painful sun, she approved of it. As such, she decided to head out and away from the building, intent upon figuring out what was happening. She just hoped the Thirst would let her.