Kingdoms in Chaos Read Online Free PDF

leaving the old and the young to care for each other while she led her people to war alongside the dark elves and their monstrous creations.
    They had lost.
    Eadon had been defeated, and Aurora’s entire army destroyed by Whill and the armies of dwarves and men. She had died in that battle, and in those moments beyond the realm of the living she had stood in judgment, naked in mind and body, before the barbarian gods. And they had cast her to hell. Zander plucked her from the abyss, raising her body once more, and enslaving her with his dark power.
    Now her life was a living hell, and she was helpless to escape it.
    A surge of energy from Zander to all near to him jolted her from her tormented pondering. “—for tonight we shall have such a summoning of the spirits as has never been seen before! Flank them from all directions, and attack with the rising of the moon!”
     
    Aurora stood before her army on the hill overlooking the sleepy village. Everything had a greenish tint to it, due to her glowing eyes. She wore the same furs she had died in, the same armor as well. In her hand she held a seven-foot-long sword, its blade stained red with the blood of her victims. She had been forced to kill untold multitudes over the last months as Zander slowly made his way across Northern Uthen-Arden and around Shierdon, destroying all who stood before him, and then absorbing them into his legions. There was no elven magic left in the world, but the power at Zander’s disposal had never been of Orna Catorna; his was a dark, ancient power.
    The horizon glowed with the light of the coming moon, and as the first sliver of light broke over the treetops, the undead hordes charged forth silently through the foggy valley. Aurora raised her sword and began across the recently sown fields of barley. As she gained momentum, she felt the ground beneath her begin to rumble—thousands charged behind her.
    The warning cry went up at the wall. Power surged through Aurora as Zander’s commands echoed in her mind. She screamed against the pressure and charged the wall. A command rang out from the wall, and the twang of bows joined in the chorus of shouting voices. An arrow hit Aurora in the shoulder. She shuddered. Another one hit her in the leg and she cried out in ecstasy. The archers frantically tried to reload as the army closed in with inhuman speed. Aurora’s long legs propelled her seven-foot frame faster than any of the others, and she was the first to reach the wall.
    A wagon had been abandoned outside the gate when the charge began. Aurora leaped off the wheel and cleared the ten-foot wall easily. She landed on the wooden battlements and came down hard with her sword on the first man she saw.
    The soldiers stared in awe at the dark, giant beauty with glowing eyes standing before them. One of the men sprang forth with a spear and stabbed her through the gut. Aurora cried out as she reveled in the cold, sweet, burning pain. Another guard charged and she impaled him with a lightning fast strike. With another swing she chopped the shaft protruding from her gut in half and batted two men off the battlements with a swift blow. She was ordered not to maim the soldiers but kill them clean.
    Aurora obliged.
    By the time her forces had scaled the wall, a dozen men lay dead at her feet. She leaped from the wall and landed on the cobblestone. Alarm bells, shouts, and screams were ringing out all over the village. Aurora roared against the nightmarish sounds, unable to stop herself from exacting Zander’s will upon the people. She found herself charging through the streets and cutting down men and women alike.
    Two soldiers blocked the way into a two-story cottage. Inside, she could hear the pathetic mewling of the frightened civilians. Her sword cut through the body of the guard to her left from neck to torso. The other stabbed forward, and Aurora grabbed him by the throat and snapped his neck with a quick jerk. Her wound glowed bright green and