sry hvað kaflinn er seinn kennið blizzard um, hvað eru þeir að koma með svona massívt expansion?
allavega enjoy

45th chapter
the light and how to kill it

The heat in the desert was, for those who have become accustomed to a cold, nice and cooling gale coming every other moment, unnaturally hot.
The wind blew of course, but this wind was neither cool nor refreshing, but rather humid yet dry, full of sand, heat and more sand.
The sand gave way every time they set their feet down, and the waves of the sand forced them to climb up mountains of the thing the whole and entire day.
The sun stung in their eyes, the sand made them thirsty and the heat wore them down.
And this was still just first day.
Ankthar was breathing heavily, frantically sucking on an ice cube that he’d gotten from Mizra.
Although the ice cube had begun at the size of his head it was now only an hour later a bit smaller than his thumb.
Ankthar was now in a frantic race with the heat to get every last drop of water out of it.
Finally the heat got the better of him and the cube was but a few drops of water on his fingers, soon to be evaporated.
He bravely took a few steps but felt the thirst and the fatigue getting to him.
He’d changed into his elven form to cope better with the sun and the heat but he wasn’t made for this kind of climate.
He was of both elven and dwarfen origin, races which had neither business in the deserts or reputation for being quick to adapt to different situations.
Even so the blood elves were doing a lot better than him, looking as if they were somehow driven by an inner force that forever replenished them.
In ankthar’s eyes they were cheating, the bloody bastards.
Finally he gave in to his thirst, “Mizra”, he whined, “give me some ice cubes”.
“No, it aint good for you to drink this much, even in the desert.”
“Oh come on Mizra I’m positively dying in this dratted desert.”
“No, at least an hour until you get another.”
Ace runner, the chosen name of the paladin, pulled out his right hand, mumbled a few words and with a beam of arcane energy, conjured a bottle of water, and then floated it to Ankthar.
Ankthar took the first sip and then realized: a paladin had made this! Paladin couldn’t use magic, much less conjure edible food and water.
“What in the….” Ankthar started but Mizra cut in: “ how did you do that?”
“What? This? “Ace said surprised and conjured another bottle.
“I’ts simple, “he said , “magic.”
“But you’re a paladin” Exen’tor said dumbstruck, “you can’t do magic, you draw your powers from the light!”
Ace shrugged: “why not? After all it’s just another form of magic, aint it?”
“What? No!” Exen’tor said shocked” the light is….. well… the light is….”
“Divine, is the word you’re looking for. And no its not divine.”
Ace stopped walking and looked Exen’tor in the eyes.
“The light is just another form of magic.”
“That’s absurd, Exen’tor retorted, the light is a divine protector of the good and just, it heals protects, leads the way for those that are waylaid.”
“Rubbish, that my friend is what is absurd.”
“Why should the light be anything else than magic that can heal and prevent harm?”
“ mean think about it; what has this so called light ever done?
Priests and paladins claim that the light is divine and omniscent, that it guides us helps us, but the thing is whenever you see the presence of the light, there is a priest or a paladin wielding it.
The light does not present itself to anyone, it has no voice, no face , nothing.
what are its principles? It’s law? Does it endorse or ban murders, is it for or against rapes? What would the light tell someone who’s lost everything?””
Exen’tor was stunned, he’d never thought of it in that way.
“But the light heals and supports us, it destroys undead and evil.”
“Does it? Think on it for a moment the light heals, but its not the only energy that does that, druids and shamans can heal with the force of nature can’t they?
What’s the difference to a healing spell made by a druid and a priest? The color?
If you think about it the light is just another magical energy whose properties are life and death in its essence.
in the end the light has no regards for good or evil, pure or defiled.
It’s simply another magical energy with no rules, philosophy or divine properties.”

Ace continued walking forward, silent as before, and pointed to the roots of the mountains that ha been to the north of them for some time.
Over yonder are the noonshade ruins, we’ll rest there for the night.
This cheered most of them up, and they felt their pace quickening.
But Exen’tor was lost deep in thought.
He’d never though of his precious light in that way, and now that he began to think he’d never heard any of the priest talk about what the light said or wanted, what it condoned and what it punished for.
Suddenly it seemed as if a big part of his world had become a dubious lie.
He had to wonder though: why would a paladin have spent so much time and energy in finding creaks in the light?

The sun had set and the desert cold had taken over when they finally found noonshade ruins rise over the horizon.
Ankthar had changed his favourites from Mizra to Sira’dreth pleading that she made a fire dance around him.
“No” she kept repeating and then finally added: “aren’t you used to this kind of climate? Didn’t you spend your life up in the mountains?”
This stirred something in Ankthar and he slowly changed into his dwarfen form. He said nothing for the remainder of the night, looked somewhere in the sky as if haunted by something.

When they finally reached the ruins of noonshade an ancient artefact from the height of the troll empires, everyone except ace were exhausted.
Sira’dreth threw a fireball at some plants and then fell down on her sheet, completely done for.
Exen’tor felt the same way but still had a hard time finding his sleep.
So many things were racing through his mind, he felt so little and alone in a world without light.
But finally sleep claimed him and he fell through the darkness of his thoughts to land in a desert much like he was sleeping in.
Around him sand ravaged the ruins of a city much like stormwind, and a voice as old as time seemed to echo endlessly in every stone: “you’ve come at last, heir, you’ve come at last.”

A figure appeared before him.