thanks!
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Travelers
Joron stepped onto the podium and made his speech to the people. Afterwards, once spirits were raised and hearts were pumping, he left the scene to return home and was never seen again. All he left behind was a handwritten note in his bedside drawer, completely contradicting everything he had said during his speech. It read:
To the people of Garrleway,
I'm sorry. You're doomed, and so am I. Torrel has destroyed everything and everyone we're able to reach, and who knows beyond that. We're on our own, and won't survive. That's why I'd rather take my chances in the wasteland, a slim chance is better than no chance. Again, I'm sorry.
Yours fearfully,
Joron Edgarte.
This did not help morale.
A few hundred miles south of Garrleway a wretched soul from another time and place stalked the desert, not belonging. For the convenience of it's grisly troops it called itself Torrel, but it had no real name. Torrel and it's army of degenerates marched north with murder in their minds and Old Harog at their backs. Old Harog was Torrel's otherworldly keeper and spurred them on with bloodlust and hate.
With sheriff Joron out of the picture things would be a lot easier for Torrel; Joron's cowardice had condemned Garrleway to whatever fate Torrel and Old Harog so wished. There would be no prisoners, no survivors. Garrleway would be razed to the ground and it's very existence hidden by the winds of time.
But things weren't as simple as Torrel assumed. Back in Garrleway, a blacksmith by the name of Earl Sunwick chose not to ignore their impending doom at the hands of Old Harog's strange hordes and stepped up to the challenge, assuming military control of Garrleway and replacing Joron as sheriff. With a wife and child, he had to fight for the future of his family; they wouldn't survive in the dusty, harsh wastes outside of Garrleway.
Using the best patchwork radio they could fix up, Earl contacted Old Harog's marching masses and eventually found Torrel itself.
"Speak." It's voice crackled over the radio.
"My name is Earl Sunwick, sheriff of Garrleway. I must insist that you leave our town out of your plans, we have no quarrel with you." Earl said tentatively.
There was a few seconds of radio silence before it replied with: "Your fate has already been decided. You will be destroyed. Old Harog demands it."
"There are civilians here, innocent women and children. Please." Earl begged.
"Define 'innocent'." Torrel answered.
"They have done nothing to you! They don't even know who or what you are, neither do I!" Earl retorted desperately. "Is that not enough to spare our miserable lives?"
"No." It said.
Earl remained silent for a moment, thinking. Maybe he could bargain with them?
"Don't bargain with me. It's insulting. Do so and I will drink your soul." It said curtly in reply to Earl's thoughts.
Earl, slightly shaken by it's telepathic powers, asked a question.
"...What are you?"
From within Earl's own mind, it screamed 'I AM IN YOUR HEAD' causing Earl to fall off his chair in shock.
"Don't do that." Earl said after recomposing himself.
Torrel laughed through the radio almost demonically, tapering off into a guttural roar. "URGH, pathetic! Today you all die! TODAY! How dare you defy me! Defy something you do not even have the slightest understanding of! All of you have done nothing for the human race! All of your men, and your women, and your stinking children, today I crush you all and torture your collective consciousness for all eternity! Such horrors you have yet to endure, that you will never comprehend. It excites me, for I will be delivering them. How do you expect to survive the corrosion of time? Such fragile, bendy creatures. Such ignorance. They do not understand, they never will. It offends me! But the deadline is fast approaching. Old Harog will defile your souls!" Torrel babbled and snarled this inhumanly, it's voice seeming to grow tremendously in volume as light bulbs in the vicinity of the radio overpowered and popped.
Suddenly the radio violently exploded in front of Earl, cutting his face with flying debris. He immediately rallied the local militia, the only defence they had.
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hopefully i'll finish this tomorrow.
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