Chapter 2

‘No no, Lich not like other undead, no. Lich still have brains-smarts, yes-yes. Yes, Lich haves glimmer-magics. Zombies are slow, skeletons are dummy-stupid, yes, no brains. Bewares the Lich-wizards. They is most cleverness, dangerous, schemes for days . . . YEARS!’

– General Harzel of the Riverland Goblins.

Anakin went going through his pack to ensure he had everything he needed: silver and iron tail blade and battle ax, shield, first aid kit, collapsible 10-ft pole, health potions (you never know), censer, incense, holy water, aspergillum and aspersorium, paper talismans, salt, chalk, and a holy book full of prayers and incantations. All good. When Hathi told Anakin what they were being called in for, he knew it would be a vexing engagement. An entire cemetery in Tacoma had become charged with necromantic magic early in the morning, causing the dead to rise from their graves. Fortunately, the graveyard was surrounded by a sturdy metal fence containing the undead. Still, there were loads of undead walking around, with no sign of the night groundskeeper, an older male tengu.¹

The Department of Adventuring needed as many clerics and paladins as possible, especially clerics as they were adept at dispersing necromantic and fiendish magic.² The best way to counteract darkness is with overwhelming light, the inverse is also true for divine magic as darkness can over take it. Holy sites could be corrupted by potent dark magic, making them vulnerable to incursions by evil and unholy beings that normally couldn’t cross the boundary of a sacred ground. Anakin and Hathi were anxious as they rode in the helicopter to their destination, the Tacoma Headquarters for the DOA. Not because of the prospect of confronting the undead or tracking down necromancers, but because of the smell. Dragons have amazing senses of smell, and if you think the smell of death is wretched, imagine thousands of rotting corpses filling your sinuses, multiplied tenfold.

Dragons can also sense magic³ by scent, and dark magic smells absolutely appalling. It was going to be dreadful; the two had fought all types of the undead before but never an entire cemetery’s worth. Something dreadful had happened; the undead don’t rise on their own. They are either created by a spell or brought forth by an eldritch storm called a mortis tempest.⁴ It wouldn’t be the first time a cemetery was emptied by one of these storms. Anakin remembered a story about mass graves from the 30 Years War being raised by a mortis tempest a year after it ended. But there had been no storms this morning; that meant someone or several someones were responsible. Necromancy and other forms of dark magic were illegal, mostly because of what was needed to cast it—usually the blood of the innocent or a sacrifice of a living creature. That, and not many people were fond of having their loved ones raised from the dead to be used as mindless servants.

Anakin watched the landscape from the helicopter. They were flying over the endless sea of trees surrounding Crux Haxbollarn, some were dark green pines and others were deciduous trees starting to change to beautiful autumn colors. Anakin felt like they were flying over a Bob Ross painting. There was only Anakin, Hathi, and the pilot, a human male, in the helicopter. Anakin decided to flip through the file on this sudden uprising. The pictures from the scene were grisly; he could practically smell the rot and decaying flesh. The visages of the zombies and skulls of skeletons unnerved him. Some had scraps of flesh still clinging to bone while some of the recently deceased still looked alive, except for their eyes, which were vacant orbs in empty husks.

He was thankful he didn’t have any loved ones buried there, not like they would rise anyway since traditionally dragons burn their dead and spread their ashes on the wind or into the water. Despite the potential of undead, people would still bury them if that was traditional in their culture. Anakin hoped that none of the living people who called these poor creatures family or friends would see them like this. No one should bear the burden of seeing their loved one turned into a puppet by dark magic.

Unfortunately, that’s not their dearly departed staggering around anymore; it was a vessel for darkness, nothing more than a servant for whatever monster brought them forth. Knowing the DOA, any civilians were kept away from the cemetery. Anakin had to deal with some people wanting to see their loved ones who were turned into the undead, but he tells them bluntly that they don’t. Remember them as they were, not whatever they were transformed into. From what Anakin could gather from the file, no one had managed more than a far-off recon with binoculars and flybys. No one knew what caused it yet, whether it was a necromancer or a cult. Whatever ritual circle was used was probably hidden out of sight, likely in a crypt or vault to avoid raising alarms.

The helicopter landed atop the DOA building in Tacoma like a giant metal bird landing on its perch. The other adventurers only landed once the rotors had slowed safely, circling the building’s roof before dropping to the concrete. Anakin and Hathi trotted into the building into the elevator. The elevator would periodically stop on floors as they made their way down to the lobby. The door would open into a maze of cubicles where various homunculi,⁵ familiars,⁶ and enchanted papers flew about. Some papers flew into the elevator, folding into the forms of airplanes and origami birds, along with silvery metal birds and bats or living clay creatures carrying binders and manila folders.

The elevator then went down a bit more, stopping periodically for passengers to get on and off until it reached the lobby. Some floors were more cubicle farms, others walls of computer screens and desks, some with magical circles and sigils painted on the floors or walls. Anakin and Hathi finally stepped out, greeted by one of the Captains of the Washington branch of the DOA, a female halfling ⁷ wizard named Thistle Surefoot. She was only slightly taller than Hathi, with red-brown hair, large rounded ears, and light skin, wearing a large, purple-pointed traditional wizard’s hat and professional attire.

“Skywalker, Hathi, your chariot is outside with the rest of the Adventurers. Good luck out there, and report any glyphs or signs of any rituals that you find when you’re done,” she stated bluntly, a contrast to the usual flowery language of halflings.

“Will do, Captain,” replied Hathi and Anakin simultaneously.

Their talons clicked against the tile floor as they passed by the front desk and multiple agents of every size, shape, and specialization. Wizards in modern attire with robes or pointy hats, warriors in armor, clerics and paladins with every type of holy symbol, druids adorned with flowers or animal tooth necklaces, monks in gi or kasayas, and rogues in camouflage all went about their various tasks. Also present were chimeric creatures like griffins and owlbears, humanoids like orcs, elves, dwarves, and humans, dragons with or without wings, kobolds, serpentine dragons, fey like centaurs, satyrs, and fairies, and beast folk like minotaurs, gnolls, felidae,⁸ and wulvers.⁹ Anakin and Hathi arrived at the parking lot where five armored motor carriages waited. The concrete was cool on their feet. Several adventurers were preparing for battle: wizards were flipping through spell books, barbarians sharpened weapons, clerics and paladins distilled holy water and honed silver weapons, and rangers ensured they had plenty of ammunition for their blast crossbolters. War beasts were being loaded into one of the motor carriages—riding dogs, elk, giant goats, dire wolves, bears, giant boars, and feathered raptors.

You could tell which adventurer was the new guy—a young human female wearing paladin armor with the mark for Tempastus,¹⁰ the Lord of Thunderclaps, on her breastplate, a clenched fist holding three thunderbolts. She was all hyped up and smiling, while the other Adventurers had sterner, though not emotionless, expressions. Anakin knew this was her first mission from her excitement; all training, no experience. He knew that smile and enthusiasm wouldn’t last when faced with reality: the smell, the unearthly shrieks and moans, the viscera, the horrifying rotting faces or their unnatural gaits. Anakin had been an adventurer for about four years, hoping this wouldn’t end badly for the new agent. Some people just weren’t cut out for this life. He had attended too many funerals and memorials for agents like her who died on early missions.

Anakin stood in formation with the other adventurers gathered in the lot, head up, back straight, ears back, feet together, and tail coiled around his legs. Thick hooves clopped against the concrete as the mission leader approached. Captain Zeb Bramble, an older male centaur, wore riot gear with a heavy blast crossbolter on his back.

“Good morning, adventurers. For those who haven’t been briefed, early this morning the cemetery was subject to a mass rising of the dead. Not just a few zombies, but every single grave and crypt in that cemetery was emptied. It was reported by some civilians when a mass exodus of imps, quasits, and gargoyles fled, along with frantic barking from graveyard grims, and some poor early morning dog walkers who saw the horde. Don’t worry about the minor demons or gargoyles; they’ll come back to roost. The graveyard grims are hiding but safe. Thankfully, the horde is contained since the property is surrounded by a heavy iron fence and the gate is locked. Even if they had all their muscle mass, they couldn’t break the gate down. Whoever created this horde forgot to break the gate lock to unleash their plague on Tacoma. Good for us, as so far there are no known civilian casualties. When we arrive, you will climb a ramp over the fence that’s been set up as a one-way entrance to the cemetery until the gate is opened. What caused this is not known yet. When you clear the horde, I want every last one of you to search the cemetery and not stop until every pebble is unturned to find evidence of who or what caused this. I don’t care how long it takes,” Captain Zeb spoke loudly and clearly, “Now, MOVE OUT!”

All the Adventurers piled into the various armored motor carriages. Anakin was chosen to drive and Hathi was in the passenger seat. Unfortunately for Hathi, in this medium-sized, humanoid-built vehicle, she was forced to sit in a booster seat due to her height being under four feet, a requirement by law. She wasn’t happy, grumbling under her breath. Anakin knew it was demeaning for her, despite being for safety; they were the same age. Her mood lightened slightly when she saw a goblin adventurer also strapped into a booster seat in the back. Hathi felt sympathy; it wasn’t easy being in a world built for tall people. Then again, being in a small person’s world had its challenges too; Anakin had banged his horns on the ceiling at Hathi’s place despite crouching more than once and it was an uncomfortable feeling. Once everyone in the motor carriage was buckled up, Anakin turned the key and drove out of the parking lot. As he drove to the cemetery, he caught glimpses of Tacoma. He was unimpressed by how people treated their city. Graffiti covered every building, many hadn’t been maintained in years, and someone had spray-painted over a nice mural of the Puget Sound wilderness.

There was garbage and homeless people everywhere, some down on their luck, others clearly drug addicts, possibly on fairy dust¹¹ from their wild eyes. It saddened him to see people seeking solace in substances; dragons didn’t partake in such intoxication, it was mostly a mammal behavior. It left a mark on his heart, seeing this. Unfortunately, the solutions for homelessness among dragons didn’t work for many humanoids due to behavioral differences. Dragons had communal homes for those who lost theirs. They were meant to be temporary stays unless the dragon couldn’t reintegrate into society. If society were a puzzle, some pieces just wouldn’t fit, through no fault of their own. Those were the people Anakin pitied most.

Upon arriving at the cemetery, roadblocks kept the public away, quickly moved aside by police for the motor carriages. A motorized ramp was laid against the fence, sturdy enough for war beasts to climb safely. As adventurers disembarked, a chorus of ‘Good Gods, the smell!’ rose above the normal city background noise. Anakin felt like he’d been punched in the face by the stench of old leather, decay, rotting flesh, and death.

 “HORNS AND WINGS ABOVE!” he shouted, with Hathi echoing, “BY ST. ARGMON’S¹² SCALES!”

Zombies and skeletons of every size and race were present. A half-rotting minotaur caught his eye first, still wearing shredded burial garb, bones protruding, eyes vacant, no fur left, wavering in an ungainly walk. Next, a group of mostly intact skeletons, shambling aimlessly, still wearing scraps of clothing and jewelry. Finally, undead were trying to reach through the fence, in various states of decay, including one that looked recently deceased. Anakin’s ears were filled with the choir of unearthly moans, groans, and wails.

Anakin searched for the young paladin among the adventurers, finding her staring in horror at the horde. More experienced fighters were either ignoring it, readying their mounts, or looking with pity, sorrow, or disgust before getting to work. This young woman hadn’t seen real undead before, a stark contrast to footage or pictures. Anakin readied himself with the others, Hathi beside him with sword and shield, Anakin with his tail blade and ax.

Captain Zeb stood by the ramp, “Alright, when I give the signal, all mounted adventurers go over the fence first. After that, the rest of you on foot follow.”

Anakin cleared his mind, recalling his father’s advice: ‘Listen to your hearts, they will never fail you. Trust your instincts, they won’t misguide you. Empty all thoughts from your mind, be without them because you don’t need them in battle.’

“Ready, GO!” shouted Captain Zeb, and a thunder of paws, claws, and hooves stormed over the ramp. Anakin took a deep breath, “Ready . . .” then exhaled, “GO!”

He ran with the other adventurers over the ramp, landing on the turf and charging into the confused horde. Mounted riders crashed through decay and rot, with beasts goring, swiping, and biting while their riders attacked with spells, arms, and weapons. Anakin cast Bless to protect nearby adventurers, calling out the battle cry of Bahamut and Tiamat, “I AM THAT IS!”

 Zombies charged at him, and he raised his necklace, shouting in Draconic for Bahamut and Tiamat to banish the undead, causing them to explode into ash and smoke from holy light flowing out of his holy symbol. He could only do this once per day, but it wasn’t necessary. Anakin engaged stragglers left by the cavalry charge, using his shield to throw a skeleton into others and then unleashing fiery embers from his mouth. His tail blade decapitated a zombie, the silver causing it to sizzle from profane flesh hitting pure metal.

As he was about to strike another skeleton, a druid’s Lashing Vine spell whipped it apart into a spray of shattered bones. Anakin scanned for more undead until he saw the young paladin casting Lightning Bolt in a scared frenzy. She didn’t notice the massive undead troll approaching from behind until Anakin shouted a warning. He leapt onto the troll, clawing his way up, using his weight to topple it, and finished it with his ax and tail blade. He instructed the paladin to follow him to Hathi.

“This is nothing like-” she started, “Your training?” Anakin finished.

“How did you know?” she asked, startled by this statement.

“You’re not the first new adventurer thrown into the deep end before they were ready. Stay with me, I will help you live to see your second mission,” Anakin replied.

They joined Hathi, who was slashing at zombies’ knees, then running them through. “Another first-timer, huh?” she asked rhetorically. “Circle up, stab out.”

They stood back to back as more undead approached. Anakin cast Holy Fire, a ball of white fire and light shot from his palm and burst like a grenade, setting undead aflame. The young woman struck with her war hammer, causing zombies to burst into viscera and skeletons to shatter. Hathi perched on Anakin’s tail, swiping with her sword now blazing with divine fire, casting Spears of Ice from her hands to pierce and freeze undead. Over time, the horde diminished, but fatigue set in, causing some sloppy moments. A skeleton managed to claw at Anakin, damaging his robes but not his scales. He used his horns to throw it, shattering it upon impact. A shriek made him turn to see the young woman grabbed by a zombie kitsune,¹³ biting into her shoulder. Anakin and Hathi acted swiftly, Hathi finishing the creature with her sword. Anakin healed the paladin with a Prayer of Healing, stitching up the nasty wound.

“You did well for your first mission,” Anakin reassured her.

She looked up at him, “How did you know this was my first mission?”

Anakin crouched down to look at her, “Because of how you acted. You were excited to fight the undead, most Adventurers who know what they are doing aren’t that thrilled to put down the unholy. You were also horrified the first time you saw the horde, telling me that you are all training and no experience,” he answered.

The woman slumped over, “All they talked about in training was how we are doing the work of Tempastus and the other gods by putting down the vile undead. They never talked about the smell, the horrible faces, the sounds they made. It was terrifying.”

She looked up at Anakin with tears in her eyes, “I was so scared. I was a coward. I’m not worthy to be a warrior of the Lord of Thunderclaps.”

Anakin rolled his eyes, “You are not a coward and you are worthy of Tempastus. You were scared, but you fought on despite it.”

The woman turned away, “What do you know of Tempastus? His way is simple, ‘Stand strong against the storm, no matter how hard the wind blows.’ I shuttered in the wind and he’s probably left me,” she buried her face in her hands in shame.

Anakin raised an eyebrow, “If he left you, then why did you still have magic? Last I checked, when a paladin loses favor with their god, they are rendered powerless.”

The woman perked up in realization, “You’re right, I still have magic. He hasn’t left me, despite how scared I was. I did stand against the storm!” She stood up more confidently and Anakin followed as he began to walk to a group of clerics forming.

She paused for a moment, “You said earlier something about helping me live to see my second mission? How many adventurers-” she was cut off by Anakin.

“Too many. It wasn’t just paladins. Wizards, druids, sorcerers, rangers, you name it. They were either too foolish or too brash to think before they leaped or they allowed fear to take hold and didn’t see Death coming for them before it was too late,” Anakin stated as he looked down at the paladin, she was at least 2 feet shorter than him.

He began to walk away, his large deer-like ears swiveling around to pick out any noises. From the sounds of battle disappearing it was safe to say that the horde was gone.

“What I’m about to tell you is what my dad told me when I was learning to fight. ‘Listen to your heart, it will never fail you. Trust your instincts, they won’t misguide you. Empty all thoughts from your mind, be without them because you don’t need them in battle.’ Remember that when you’re in a fight again. Thoughts don’t do you any good, just instinct,” Anakin told her, then he turned away and went to the clerics getting ready to cleanse the graveyard of unholy magic.

Golems and constructs¹⁴ gathered the remains into a pile for purification, preventing lingering necromantic magic from corrupting the area. It could infect the ground and cause a magical corruption that will allow evil to enter the world. Whether unseelie fey, evil fiends and celestials, dark angels or demons of evil gods, or some other sort of abomination from outside normal space. Anakin put his weapons away, and rummaged in his pack and grabbed his decanter full of holy water. He poured it all into his aspersorium and placed the aspergil into it. He took out his censer, placed a block of incense into it and gave a quick and small burst of flame to light it. Then grabbing the ring to allow it to swing back and forth from its chain in his hands. He wrapped his tail around the handle of the aspersorium and picked up the aspergil. Anakin swung the censer around and let the smoke swirl around him.

Anakin began to walk around the massive pile of corpses and periodically dipped then flung holy water onto the pile. Whenever droplets hit the pile, they caused purplish black wisps of magic to curl up and hiss. The smell of dark magic hit Anakin’s nose and it was a wretched scent, like caustic chemicals, metals, and fresh blood. Dragons were attuned to the rivers of magic that flowed through the universe, he preferred the scent of divine magic and nature magic. Nature magic smelled like fresh flowers and divine magic had a light, pleasant smell. As he walked, Anakin chanted out prayers to Father Bahamut and Mother Tiamat in Draconic. Calling for them to purify the poor victims of the machinations of vile spellcasters or whoever was the cause of this upheaval in the natural order.

Anakin wasn’t the only cleric who was doing this. Some clerics were throwing salt, others were holding their incense burners, some were flicking holy water for decanters with their fingers, and all had totems, amulets, talismans, or reliquaries either in hand or worn. All were chanting prayers to their gods or invoking the names of Saints, important spirits, angels, or demons to their deity. Some prayers are in English, others in the native languages of the cleric.

There were races of every size, some towered over Anakin and others were small enough that he worried about tripping over them. It didn’t take long for the smoke to stop rising from the pile of corpses. That was the sign that the dark magic was all gone. When that happened, some of the adventurers began dumping flammable liquids all over the mound of death. Finally, wizards and sorcerers gathered around and cast fire spells at the pile. Some cast Fire Bolt, creating motes of fire, others cast more powerful spells like Burning Hands or Scorching Ray. It seemed a bit much to Anakin, but at least none of them were stupid enough to cast Fireball and cause an explosion. The mound went up fast, the final part of the disposal had taken place. All the corpses that had risen were to be burned until there was nothing but ashes left behind. It was the best way to give a thorough cleansing.

Anakin didn’t stay to watch the pyre but looked for the injured. All were being healed by others with magic or first aid. He noticed graffiti on a mausoleum, written in Under Tongue,¹⁵ which was odd. It was a rare language, at least outside the Underground. Unfortunately, he could neither read nor speak Under Tongue. Anakin walked over to the mausoleum and searched it. The mausoleum had several carvings of cerberus on it as well as little cubby holes on top of the mausoleum and around the base. He looked into the little cubbies and found bedding as well as a large black dog with glowing green eyes and wisps of shadow flowing off it like steam. Anakin was a bit surprised then realized it was a graveyard grim¹⁶ that resided in the cemetery. The grim looked into Anakin’s eyes, as if it knew he was a cleric. The graveyard grim did not leave its cubby hole, it looked rather rattled from something.

Grims guarded cemeteries from magical threats, it seems the necromancers had something on them to ward them off. Anakin looked up to see inside the cubbies by the roof, they were full of large nests. This must be where the gargoyles lived, they preferred stone buildings as they reminded them of their natural cliff nesting grounds. Anakin then remembered that there were no signs of any ritual circles in the photos he was given before the mission, the ritual circle might be in here. Anakin wrapped his talons around the door handle and was about to open it when he heard footsteps in the grass.

He looked down and Hathi was standing behind him. They looked at each other for a moment, silently confirming each other’s suspicions that they might find something down there. Anakin opened the door and light flooded into the dusty stone vault. The only sound that could be heard was their footsteps on stone. The mausoleum was dark, but dragons had night vision. They walked down the stairs to a great stone room full of tombs and vaults. The chambers were pried open from the outside, there were scrapes on the doors that sealed the dead in them. It seemed that the necromancers broke open the vaults, crypts and other resting places to release the undead. The only thing that seemed to be left alone were the cremation urns. The air was thick with dust and the smell of decay. Wait . . . no, there was something else there. The smell of blood, fresh blood. It was at the end of the stone vault.

“You smell it, too?” asked Hathi.

Anakin turned to her, “Yes, I do. I think this is where the ritual took place.”

Anakin and Hathi walked towards the smell of blood, unsure of what they would find. Finally, they saw a form on the floor in the distance. They stalked closer, it was a body. It was the body of an older tengu male, they found the groundskeeper. His clothes were stained with dirt and grass. His body was sprawled out on his side, his beak opened in a silent scream, broad wings splayed out on the ground, and taloned hands lying lifelessly clutching his throat. Anakin and Hathi stepped closer and noticed that the body of the tengu was inside a ritual circle.

Unfortunately, they didn’t need to be able to read the symbols to tell it was the source of the undead. The circle oozed and bubbled with malevolence, it was etched into the ground with chalk and glowed dimly with witchlight. Any other ingredients or items that were used in the ritual were gone and the area was swept clean. Loud, rhythmic hoofbeats could be heard coming down the stone steps.

“Hey, what did you find?” someone from behind them asked, it was the voice of Captain Zeb.

Hathi turned to Capt. Zeb, “We found the source of the undead. There was a ritual. I’m afraid we’re going to have to call a coroner and police.”

Anakin just stared at the body, it wasn’t the first time he saw a dead body. This line of work made you familiar with Death. This poor victim was one of the workers at the cemetery and whoever did this murdered them out of convenience. It sickened him that to these monsters, this poor tengu wasn’t a person with a life and family or friends, but a means to an end. He heard the clop of hooves coming down the stairs and a light from behind.

“Why? What’s going . . . by the Gods . . . ,” said Captain Zeb, he saw the body.

He clicked on his radio, “I need uniformed police, detectives, and an M.E. here yesterday. We found the missing groundskeeper.”

Captain Zeb walked up to the pair, shining his light on the area. This caused Anakin and Hathi to squint as they had just gotten used to the dark.

“I mean, I knew they had to have blood for the ritual, but an entire body? It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone murder a person for a ritual. Usually, people go for something easy like stray animals or stolen livestock,” Zeb stated.

After the police did their investigation, an officer came up to Captain Zeb, Anakin, and Hathi, who were all standing near the investigation as witnesses and the first to discover the remains. The officer was a human female. “The deceased is named Hajime Osogawa. He was a groundskeeper at the cemetery. He was killed with a long, asymmetrical blade to the throat,” the cop told the three.

“Did you find any footprints? Were they wearing shoes or barefoot?” asked Captain Zeb.

“All the footprints we found around the ritual site belong to several individuals, all of them were wearing shoes made from giant spider silk,” the cop replied.

“So that narrows it down to about half the population of the Underground,” said Captain Zeb in an annoyed voice.

Pretty much all of the clothing that dark elves wore was made from giant spider silk, the creatures were a lot like how sheep are for people on the surface. “Was anyone able to glean anything from the graffiti?” asked Captain Zeb, “Could anyone read Under Tongue?”

The cop looked at the centaur and sighed, “Unfortunately no. No one in the precinct can read Under Tongue and there aren’t a lot of people in the area who can either. We also found something that you guys missed.”

The cop showed the three adventurers some photos. It was an emblem of a ram skull with sharp teeth, jewels for eyes, two pairs of curled horns, and a snake for a tongue. Oh dear, Anakin recognized that emblem. He saw it when he was an initiate, in history books as a student and in story books as a young child. “That’s the emblem of Moloch, the queen of liches,” Anakin said with a hint of fear in his voice.

Everyone went silent. Moloch is the oldest and most dangerous lich in written history. An undead wizard who was immortal, sustained by a phylactery which held their life force and fueled by souls of others sacrificed to it. Any time a lich’s physical body was destroyed, they would just go back to their hidden phylactery and eventually reform a new one until the phylactery was destroyed. Moloch has terrorized the world for a VERY long time but her lair has never been found. Many adventurers, since the days of the earliest guilds to modern day, have gone searching for her when she appears. None of them ever came back alive and no one has ever found their remains. Anakin could feel his blood run cold, he had only read stories about Moloch but they shook a primal, innate fear in him whenever he did.

The one that stuck out most to him was during the Black Death, when Europe was in the grips of one of the worst diseases in history, entire mass graves rose and Moloch almost caused the entire continent to turn into her kingdom of the dead. However, with the combined might of several powerful dragons and their warriors, the army was destroyed but Moloch escaped. Anakin looked down at Hathi, she had this thousand yard stare on her face. It had been a very long time since he saw fear on her face, the last time was when they were very young. If this was caused by the followers of Moloch, there would be more to come.