((Closed to my partner, Logan; Non-canon Intros))
"She is mine now!"
The proclamation echoed through Braden's mind as he stood his ground against the amassing forces of Malsifer, the Shade Demigod. The deity had possessed Braden's kid sister, Josie, using her to connect herself to Althanas from the Shadow Realm. Braden had fought desperately to free her from Malsifer's clutches, but ultimately failed. Those words were the last he had heard before barely escaping with his life.
Now he was being hunted down by Malsifer's foot soldiers, the shadebeasts. They stepped through the nearby shadows by the dozens, their lanky forms and featureless faces staring holes into Braden. Their skin was the color of obsidian, dark and smooth. They carried themselves like animals, crawling and shifting as a lizard would on the ground. Their mouths, huge gaping holes full of rows of razor-sharp teeth salivated at the thought of shade meat. Golden eyes glowed from inside their heads.
Shadows clung to them as easily as they did to Braden.
Braden positioned himself strategically with the Jagged Mountains at his back. He had come to Corone in search of an old friend -- Marshal Letho Ravenheart, the man that had helped him save Josie originally from the Syndicate, a band of murderers and thieves that spread corruption through the city of Radasanth like a disease. When he had arrived he was amazed to find that the nation had been in a state of civil war. The government had stolen power and declared the nation an Empire, a title some didn't take lightly.
The shade had heard from some locals that the resistance had begun pooling their forces in Concordia Forest near a small logging town named Underwood and that Marshal Letho was among them. The old man that had given Braden the information eyed him warily and asked him a question.
"Ain't you that Braden boy? Garret's son?"
To which Braden replied, "No." He didn't need word circulating that he had shown his face in Radasanth. He was pretty sure that the Syndicate had put a steep price on his head, and although Braden would have loved to have shown their thugs the end of his blade, he had neither the time nor the luxury of dealing with them.
So Braden began his trip to Concordia Forest. He stepped through the shadows and ended up in his current predicament. Malsifer must have found a way to redirect his travel in order to spring her trap. There he stood, mountains at his back, shadebeasts at his front.
Braden knew that alone, shadebeasts were useless, but in droves, they were deadly. They fought with a single mind, single purpose. They didn't care for their lives, and that made them dangerous. They would swarm their prey, taking a few casualties here or there, but always received their prize in the end. Braden was one such prize, but he wouldn't let them have him.
He had killed scores of them in the Shadow Realm, their home, and he could do so again. Now they were in his home and he sought to kill twice as many. The beasts sensed his resolve, drank it in like a dark, frothy ale.
"Surrender...to us," they whispered. Their voices hissed as one, as if they were talking through the same mouth, talking in sibilant gasps. "You are...no...match. You...will die." They began creeping towards Braden, fully expecting his answer.
"I think not." He said, pulling Midnight from its sheathe on his back. The darksteel blade began bleeding shadows in his hand, hungering for the shadebeasts' black blood. They began screeching and charged towards him, winding their way to him.
Braden decided to meet their charge. He ran towards them, brandishing Midnight as he and the blade trailed shadows, and began cutting a bloody swath through their ranks.
The first shadebeast jumped at him, and Braden met the attack with a horizontal slash cutting the creature in two. It fell to the earth gagging and spasming before finally dissipating into shadow. He cut and slashed, dodged and retaliated, never losing his frenetic pace. The sound they made as they died started to sound like an orchestra of battle. He impaled a creature to the ground and withdrew his blade from the earth. He performed a semi-circular slash with Midnight as he spun away from an attack, killing three more.
He raised his blade high to cut a beast down the middle, and received a deep gash in his thigh. Braden lost his footing and fell to his weak knee. Two more cuts at his back and shoulder. He cried out in pain and swung wildly with Midnight. The attack was poorly aimed, but still managed to kill two of the shadebeasts as they started to swarm him. A cut traced along his jaw and nearly severed the skin from his bones and began leaking shadows. He grunted against the pain and shadowstepped away from the battle to a small copse of trees nearby.
He fell against the old oaks and tried to heal some of his wounds, but only managed to stop the bleeding. Too much pain clouded his mind. He tried to shadowstep again, far away, but something blocked him. It must have been Malsifer. She prohibited him from traveling long distances by shadow with some sort of magical ward. Braden looked over his shoulder, through the cover the trees provided him and watched the shadebeasts as they searched for him, sniffing the air, the ground for his scent.
It wasn't long before they caught it. They followed the scent with their golden orbs and spotted Braden, slouched against the trees. They started their charge anew and it wouldn't be long before they reached him. Desperately Braden felt along the ward, trying to find a way to slip the magic and travel...anywhere. The beasts closed in, eating away at the distance. Braden focused harder, searching faster.
The beasts began to surround him once again as he found a connection and rode the shadows away.
