War of Light and Shadow - Light's last stand (part II)

While the forces of Shadow converged upon Akuinor, Caldonnas lay in a deep, comatose slumber. His superficial scars had healed, but the wound that Ulhaeron had inflicted upon him went deeper than the body. The champion was wrestling with an impossible foe: the death of his spirit.

This was how the touch of the Shadowsworn afflicted other beings. It was the entropic taint that ate away slowly any attempt to resist it. Now imagine the size of this affliction when inflicted by the sword of the Shadow God himself, especially against his most hated foe.

In this dreamless slumber, Caldonnas fought with the power of the flame of a candle that struggled to remain alight against the might of a hurricane. The will to exist fought against the urge to surrender to the inevitable.

But the experience was not that of death, which was the enabler of change, but the sensation of impending doom and growing misery. It was an altogether different kind of oblivion, one that was unwholesome and wicked. Moreso, for Caldonnas who had sworn that against all odds he would never find rest until Ulhaeron was undone.

It was this bitter oath of retribution that drove him back into the conscious realm. It was the fire of the godlike wrath that sat within him, growing with each step that Ulhaeron made closer to Akuinor.

The Bronze Titan - that was how the other Celestials called Caldonnas. And now he had to rise once more. Don that armor, pick up that sword. Fight the good fight one last time. End that which cannot be ended, kill the Shadow God against all odds. No matter the cost.

And in his comatose slumber, the Titan screamed. And the scream echoed across the cosmos, and it was a frightening, and wrathful sound, like the combustion of a trillion stars, like the echo of a rising fire, coming to drown all of creation in its fury. By fire all had come into existence, and only by fire would it all be undone.

And then all creatures who heard this scream knew that this was the battle cry of the Destroyer. That he who would dismantle the Cosmos had awoken from torpor. And he would murder the Shadow, and all that it had touched. And the Shadow had touched everything. And thus all felt terror.

And more than all others, Kaehir felt horror. For he had loved Creation and had invested much of himself in all he had made. And now Kaehir had forged an armor and a terrible sword for this creature, this being whose only desire was to dismantle, to destroy.

With wrath in his gaze, the Bronze Titan awoke. He walked among the fallen of the House of Restoration, and the wounded there cowered away. Yriel looked at him, and felt regret for all her ministrations. In Caldonnas' eyes there was no kindness, no remorse. She had healed a monster.

The titan left the Wounded and the Dying behind him, as he trode towards the abode of the Smith of the gods. At long last Kaehir had made a pause in his work. He took the Sevenfold Blade, and the Battle Garb of the Indomitable, and brought them both before Caldonnas, silently, watching with reluctance.

Silently, without a word of thanks, or even a nod, the warrior donned the armor and brandished the blade, which lighted with the flame of devastation. Once readied, Caldonnas spread his wings and flew towards the edge of the Ramparts. Everyone who saw him fell silent, and grew uneasy. Even the Cal'ashan did not cheer upon his return.

The Bronze Titan gazed at the emptiness that lay beyond the safety of the ramparts. All had fallen to Shadow, and under the gloom that spread with the conquests of the Shadow God, his endless armies advanced, marching.

Caldonnas spoke. His voice was like the sound of flames gushing forth from a deep furnace. "So you fear me now! That is good!" he said, gazing around him. "I will need you to fear me, when the abyssals arrive. When the Khorgons breach the ramparts. When Ulhaeron and his lackeys trample on your corpses. When the Colgatha devour our dead, I will want you to fear me, and no one else!" he yelled, then laughed like a madman. He flew and stood before the gate of the ramparts, the only guardian, gazing defiantly against the darkness that approached.

"Brace yourselves! They are coming!", that was all the warning they would ever get, before hell would be unleashed. It was all the warning they would ever need.