Explore Inyourheartshallburn

Gradually, the scene changes: the colours shift and blend, and the various shades of oppressive, sickly green eventually turn into flaring crimson. The sky fills with leaden smoke, with outlines of charred building peeking through closer to the ground. The village of Haven is consumed by raging dragon fire - the first inkling of what is to become of the world as the Elder One's forces march forth, triumphant and relentless.Alexius lowers his head. The Venatori approached him when he was at his lowest, grasping at any chance to undo that one fateful day which left his whole life in shambles. And they gave him that chance - or seemed to, any...

Alexius' second guess about the source of air in the tunnel proves to be correct. After a while of half-mindless stumbling forward, he comes across a section of the passage that lies right beneath an opening in the ceiling. It could have been wider before the avalanche - but now all that remains is a narrow crack, with gusts of snowy powder blowing through it. Lying beneath it, is something that Alexius, his perception still slightly dulled after almost suffocating, first mistakes for a large bit of rubble. When he stumbles closer, however, he realizes that the odd dark object in his path is actually a person. To be absolutely precise, it ...

'And now you know what went through my mind as we faced those wolves,' Alexius concludes with a heavy sigh, slowing down almost knee-deep in the snow and bowing down his head.He is not ceetain how long they have been walking like this (somewhere, in a dream-like plane frozen aeons and aeons away from him, the yellow glow of the breaking dawn appears to spread over the distant sky). But it certainly feels like an eternity.'Most ironic... One boasts to one's companion about casting magic without help from demons; one believes what one says, too, being quite a capable mage, if one does say so oneself. And the next thing one knows, such help i...

And there it is. That final moment. The one that the spirit boy promised to show Alexius. The confrontation between the Herald and the Elder One. The magister is certain that this is what he will see next - and, despite the boy's reassurance that the encounter will not end in his former master's favour, he still feels uneasy, an invisible nest of serpents stirring in the pit of his stomach.The girl stands firm, a tiny black silhouette traced against the blaze and the smoke, bracing herself to face the creatures that laid waste to her Inquisition's home. And they do not take too long to arrive - the Elder One and the black dragon, following...

Bare your blade and raise it high, Stand your ground: the dawn will come...   The song rises over the encampment, a powerful wave that fills the mountain valley and reaches to the starry dome of the sky. The chorus is woven out of countless voices, including that of the young female Templar that was assigned to guard Alexius. He watches her from the shadow of his tent, on the further edge of the Inquisition's sprawling camp: every muscle tense like a bowstring, all of her energy poured into adding her song into the mighty, swelling current of music. The pride and sense of unity with the other singers emanates from her with such force that ...

They traverse the rest of the cavern in silence, both trying very hard to pretend that the remark about Alexius being handsome never escaped the Herald's lips. Their eyes are fixed on the light ahead, and their gait grows ever faster as this welcoming beacon swells in size. Thus, they do not have to walk for very long before the passage takes a steep turn upwards, and they finally emerge out of a gaping opening in the mountainside. The so eagerly awaited surface greets them with a literal slap in the face, hurtling a generous helping of wet snowflakes into their eyes and mouths.'Splendid,' the magister mutters, attempting to make sense of ...