Before the Fire (for 5.10.12)

He strides before his waiting army, dressed in black armor. His face is painted black and he has a handprint in blood on his face. The Shadow glares at his men. They fidget under his gaze. His shouts echoed over the valley.

“Why do you quake under the gaze of your leader? Cowards! You must fight as you have trained. If your comrade turns to run, you kill him. There is no fear. If your comrade falls, you slay the one who killed him. There is no grief. If anyone gets in your way, kill them. There is no mercy.”

The Shadow part 3 (for 5.9.12)

Those soldiers were trained like no other warriors in the world. They were taught to murder the innocent without a moment of hesitation. They devoted their beings to the Shadow and furthering the cause of their leader. The only thing they lived for was the Shadow and they were willing to die for him. There was nothing that would give any of those warriors greater pleasure than to cut their one-time king, into bits for their new ruler. One dreadful day, the Shadow deemed his army ready for the attack.

The thumbprint of blood stained each of their foreheads forever.

The Shadow part 2 (for 5.8.12)

Slowly, over years and years, the Shadow created an army. Some say he had the most powerful army in the world… but you could also argue that he had the only army in the world. The king’s army had slowly gotten smaller and weaker, because many of his men deserted to prove the tales they heard of the Shadow’s powerful army. The Shadow promised those soldiers great riches, power and glory if they would only help him conquer the entire world. He marked his soldiers with a black smear across their face and his thumbprint in blood on their forehead.