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It began to swell, until rays of pale green light burst forth.
Suddenly, the rays stared back at me through the eyes of the dark skinned warriors of Shalkus, and reflected off a ring of polished swords. Muscles protruded from beneath their tunics, and their black hair was long and braided. Fear encircled me as they did, tightening around my throat and clogging my thoughts as they tightened the noose with slow steps.
But the light of my handstone caught my eye and filled me with strength. I stood firmly, bracing myself in a wide combat stance. I lowered the hood of my cloak and swept its long cape back to reveal two scimitars at my sides. I drew them slowly, feeling the power of the handstone grow in me. Poising them in front of me, I tightened my grip around the weapons until the handstone's light was quenched. I gave a cry, and released the handstone's power into the weapon. A surge of green light erupted from my hand and flowed into the blade, which began to glow. The surge spread into the other blade, which crossed like an "X" with the first, until the two blades shone brighter than the handstone itself had. I shouted, "Let the fight begin, all you who challenge the guardian and servant of Sallia!"
They fell upon me in fury, and my blades spun about my body in a deadly dance, leaving trails of light behind them. I cut through the enclosing circle in a charge. I parried a blow with one scimitar and clove off the head of the attacker with the other. The two soldiers on his flanks turned on me, but I deflected both swords with sweeping blocks whose momentum carried me outside the circle of attackers. I turned around in time to stop a head strike and match a warrior's blows one-for-one, until my swift left blade overcame him.
Four more of them were upon me. I spun in circle, blocking, then ducked low and swept the legs of two from under them. My scimitars followed them to the ground and pierced through them into the ground. Snatching up the sword of one, I harpooned the third soldier at a distance, then deflected the lunge of the fourth to go tumbling down the mountainside.
Still a greater number of warriors rushed up, and I turned to face them. Then I became a beast; I fought for what seemed like hours, slashing, stabbing, jumping. I remember little until, with a flying kick, I hurled the face of the final warrior into a rock, and ceased fighting. My heavy breathing was the only sound on the rocky path, as I stood alone amidst the scattered corpses.
The darkness remained. Shalkus musted have unleashed his deepest vats of magic to snuff out the Tower of the Sun. And now his warriors were on the mountainside. Shalkus often sent the dark skinned soldiers as the vanguard of greater armies. I realized what these things meant. "Invasion," I muttered. "A massive invasion. This is the first time that Shalkus has crossed the Dividing Mountains in three hundred years." Then, standing alone on the path to the Tower, I recognized was filled with fear and rage, and I uttered the curse and challenge, "Carndala!" I closed my eyes and squeezed my scimitar.