Prologue

Destruction. Complete and utter devastation. The land had been leveled, ruined beyond comprehension. It took minutes to realise that this wasteland had once been one of the greatest Realms to ever rise out of the ground.

The sky was the colour of a terrible bruise, livid with purples, yellows, and greys of the sickliest pallor. There was no sun, no moons, no light of any natural source. The only illumination came from fire, blazing across the parched ground and consuming anything left alive.

In the centre of the void lay wreckage, the ruins of the mightiest city in the Realm. It sprawled in a mockery of all its former glory, crumbled beyond recognition. Rubble littered the earth for miles around, as if it had exploded in one great fireball. Buildings were no more, reduced to mere piles of stone and metal.

In the midst of the carnage, one thing remained. It stood high, proudly, but it was no thing of beauty, for, in all its majesty, it was terrible to behold. A needle, not hewn of any substance known to the living, but crafted of light. An unearthly blue light, never wavering, but burning with malevolence. It stank of power, raw and evil power.

Horror choked the very air.