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Holding Power
By “For Sigmar!!” proclaimed Praetor, his blooded hands wielding the holy hammer that had struck down countless abominations in the name of the God- Emperor Sigmar. Praetor's body was filled with a rush of adrenaline as he thundered toward the unholy witch whom had been terrorising the town for weeks now. “NO!” screamed Marial, the sister of the witch, scrambling free from Brother Karl's grasp, clawing her way toward the unholy witch; Marial would soon be free from the dark, controlling magic's her evil sister had cast upon her. Everything had seemed to slow down to a virtual stop and seconds felt like endless hours.
Praetor raised his gold-tinted hammer into the glorious shafts of light being cast into the great hall through the grand colour-stained windows that stretched forever upwards. The witch cowered at the bottom of the shrine making no noise; only wincing fractions of a second before the golden, glinting hammer came slamming down... sealing the witch's fate forever.
Breathless, Praetor stood before the shrine with his hands firmly gripping the hammer. Marial swept over her sister in horror and pain, desperately clutching the witch's dead, cold hands... weeping over her sister's death. Praetor slowly stared down at Marial, thinking silently to himself ‘foolish child', he shook his head and then gracefully turned to face his brethren. “It is over.” Praetor said quietly. Stepping down from the shrine he headed toward Brother Karl. They spoke quietly together barely 9 yards from the shrine.
Marial wept over the witch's body, she placed her arm around the body's neck bringing it closer to her shoulder. Something was attached to the silver necklace of her sister, it pressed softly against Marial's shoulder. “What is this...?” She whispered to herself. Marial cautiously unbuttoned the topmost button of her sister's once beautiful garment. A small, black stone encased in what seemed to be smooth glass revealed itself to Marial. She could see her reflection in the deep, dark depths of the stone. She was obsessively attracted to the perfectly smooth stone amulet. It would be madness to leave it here to be forgotten over time. She had to have it... She would not let anyone else find it... “It's mine!” cried out Marial as she pried the black amulet from her sister's stone cold neck. Praetor and all his brethren quickly turned to face Marial, startled by her sudden outburst.
Streams of black and purple shadows seeped from the witch's corpse to the black amulet that Marial now possessed. Brother Karl exclaimed worriedly “Is she a witch too!?” raising his crossbow level with Marial's head. The evil shadows dispersed from around Marial and once again, the great hall was filled with a deathly silence... “Aarrgghh!!!” Marial screamed in an unholy pitch. Brother Karl let loose the righteous fury of his crossbow bolt before following suit with the others and shielding his ears from the high shrilling of Marial's scream.
For Marial, everything was slow again... her heart was beating so slowly she could not believe it. She felt the agonising and torturous pain as dark, evil shadows penetrated her virginal body. She could not react. She was powerless. Finally, the shadows stopped and she let out an almighty scream. There was so much pain. So many emotions. Countless memories struck her mind all at once. Marial could not muster enough strength to sail through this torrent of pain, emotions and memories. She went limp, once again powerless, her legs gave way and her body fell to the stone floor with one quick, thud.
Composing himself, Praetor rose to his feet. “Karl?” asked Praetor. He reached down to his brother and shook him a little by the shoulder. “Are you alright, my brother?” Karl looked up to Praetor silently... he did not say a single word, he had seen Praetor say something to him but he had not heard anything. He suddenly grasped Praetor's arm in shock. “I can't hear anything!?” exclaimed Karl in a slightly loud tone. “What?” Asked Praetor unbelievingly. Karl could only observe Praetor's mouth move but no sounds were to be heard. “Never mind me... how are the others?” Said Karl loudly. Brother Praetor headed toward the other side of the now darkening hall, he noticed that the stained glass windows had all been shattered and staring outside he saw the setting of the golden orange sun. “BROTHER PRAETOR!” Screamed Brother
Claudios “HELP ME!” Praetor swung
round to the screaming and saw
Marial hanging Claudios high up in
the air, clutching onto his throat with her
Marial turned her head from
Claudios to Praetor, and then stared into
the green eyes of Claudios forcing
him under her ultimate control.
Claudios suddenly ceased to
struggle anymore, limply hanging there
transfixed to the evil women's
eyes. “Kill your Brother.” Marial
whispered softly into his ears and
released him from her grasp; Praetor
quickly grabbed Claudios from her
evil, soulless body. “Claudios, are
you injured Brother?” asked
Praetor, focusing his eyes on Marial.
“Brother?” Praetor turned his head
to the newest member of the
Brethren, Claudios. Noticing that
Claudios' eyes were black, Praetor quickly backed away from the now lifeless Claudios.
“Fell my pain...” hissed Marial as
she disappeared in a swirling spiral
of dark, purple smoke from the
great hall. Praetor swung his hammer
into the dark smoke but managed to
hit nothing. “PRAETOR!” Shouted out
Karl warningly as Claudios hit
Praetor on the shoulder with a jagged,
rough grey stone. Praetor groaned
in pain as bones seemed to shatter
around his shoulder, his collarbone
felt smashed and then he dropped to
his knees in agony. Claudios
raised his hand to take another swipe at
the hapless Praetor... but as his
hand was at its uppermost level he
suddenly shook violently and fell
to the floor, dropping the simple yet
deadly jagged rock onto the flat
stone surface. Standing behind him
stood the deafened Karl, holding
his gold-plated crossbow where the
soulless body of Claudio once
stood. Brother Karl stared down at
Claudios and admired the pinpoint
precision with which he had unleashed the holy bolt into Claudios' spine.
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