ometheus, reward me with the news that Troy ... me stand before my King and Pledge him Sword and Life for his Gl...asting and a Daimon with an

Fall of the Shadow-King ...isode X: The Shadow-King Reborn ... of dusk descended. With nightfall, the imperial army's countless torches, braziers and cookfires illumined the dark plain before the fortress like a coruscating sea, painting the stygian heavens the colour of flame. And the high summer's night passed swiftly. At length, the dawn approached tentatively, and with the first signs of the newborn sun etching its promise upon the skies, the martial preparations commenced in earnest. A brief and perfunctory exchange between the Imperial Herald and the fortification's Watch Commander held no surprises, and the Emperor's banner was duly driven into the seared earth before Gul-Kothoth with a chilling finality. Vast siege engines and powerful ballistae were hauled inexorably into position, alongside a battery of katapelte and petrobolos. The one hundred thousand strong Imperial Frontier Army, having planted their regimental blazons into the arid soil, waited with a disciplined patience born of never having met defeat in pitched battle or siege, the dreaded Imperial War-Leopards straining noisily against their iron-link leashes to the rear of the cohorts of conscripts and auxillieries. The pitiless Iron Phalanx and their Lord Militant Commander had assumed position at the head of the army's Alpha Wing, polished swords, spears and poll-axes reflecting the glow from the myriad torches and braziers which still burned about the Imperial Host. And behind them were drawn up the legendary Legion of the Ebon Tiger, Pride of the Emperor, the infantry and cavalry famed throughout the Great Northern Continent, personal regiment of the feared general Baalthus Vane. True to their martial reputation, the six thousand strong Legion were inscrutible in their jet black armour, their sable banner billowing in the chill breeze which skittered over the plain. And finally, astride his azure-shaffroned warhorse and surrounded by his elite guard, the silvern-armoured Emperor Koord himself studied the precipitious gates with a disdainful scruti... and shuddered, not with fear, but with an awful and night-...ge of this campaign with the rising of the sun. This war which has raged for decades shall finally be decided here, before the hoary walls of ageless Gul-Kothoth. The Imperium's last and most glorious victory is at hand. The procrastinating sybarites of the bureaucracy have been threatened and bribed into compliance over this venture. This more than anything else is why I have deigned to grace this final battle with my Imperial presenc...e Court of the Over-King has warned that the...ached, and the Over-King himself shall stand...I have been blessed with foresight enough to prepare a contingency should the foe fulfil that fearful potential which has been weighing heavy on my mind. But now, the sun rises! Let it begin...An age of fire, sword and shield, ...t, the Sceptre, the Sword and the Ring! ...neous battle raged, with no quarter asked no...eged fortress, and, with the shadows of dusk lengthening upon the field of war, the centuries old Primary Gate of Gul-Kothoth was finally sundered amidst an earsplitting cacophony of shattering oak and iron louder than any storm-born thunderclap. With the rending of the ...Until at last, with the armies poised to clash, and with dusk painting the s...isarray, and, faced with the unthinkable pro...w of these bastards with us! Onward, my Legi...he legendary Shadow King himself, whose ebon circlet's power they even now sought to thwart. The incantation they gave voice to in the midst of that sanguineous turmoil which engulfed them was not so much heard by those within earshot as perceived, sensed as a vague disturbance in the fabric of reality, as fuliginous ripples on the surface of a hitherto still and placid pool, growing ever larger and more far reaching; an unnerving and unnamable sense of change which insinuated itself into the mind of the listener and suggested with a cold and disturbi...isode X: The Shadow-King Reborn

end told my beloved sun light the dragons e...glory I'll honor my sword...inally happened the sun lit their eyes...For the king for the land for th...rch for the emerald sword...Only a warrior with a clear heart...to be kissed by the sun...oul I can reach the sword...glory I'll honor my sword...For the king for the land for th...rch for the emerald sword

He was the sun of champion, ...must live by sword in hand. ...deranged with disease. ...His father act with fury, ...His strength grew with every stride, ...and die by the sword. ...wed daughter of the king. ...The king who cast the misfit...He casts his blade with vengeance ...and die by the sword.

dried her out. The king's beloved is no mor...Alone with princess angel-sent...ave changed and the king is old and weak. ...me has come for the king to die. (Lead Guita...g the loss of their king. ... of sadness sing... with broken wings. ...And with death came disorder... tame a land, a new king must be ...he incarnation of a king in ...Another man with a will as strong de... blood-red sky, the king still sup- ...Oh, the sun is stolen. ...zone, dethroned the king unpure. ...he fought without a sword. ...All those who died with you by their side w...For the king had showed them it ...he queen was filled with langour, her decisi...it of their beloved king ho spoke unto his m...sillusioned servant with great knowledge in ...born earth, blessed with the gift of birth c...A king with her clear-blue eyes

to the shape of the Sun and the Moon ...ho wielded a deadly sword ...With the finest lace on ...he bastard son if a King ...words of the Mighty King ...mor gleaming in the sun ...The Mighty King was pleased

the king of the island ...from the dragon king ...Hail to the king ...there's a dark sword cold as ice ...Armed with weapons awaiting th...the sun will never rise ... the sky the dragon king is flying ...Hail to the king of Melnibon

I ever with Thee and Thou with me Lord ...n me dwelling and I with Thee one ... my breastplate, my sword for the fight ...High king of heaven my treasu...Oh high king of heaven, when bat...o me, bright heaven sun

g in my fuckin face with that shit...t class leavin mics with a cast...Mentally paralyzed with hits that I devise...With voltage of an eel, ...Gorillas injected with strength of eighty ... post-its hypnotize with hypnosis... chumps crumbs deal with graphic...me massage ya brain with slang that's king...Projects filled with young men cause thr...rs, stay surrounded with foreigners...eace to jail niggaz with charges... layin in the guard with la...m japan to Atlanta, with stamina...With 50 other niggaz on ...ally I catch bodies with cordless shotties...I bomb facts, my sword is an axe

h. And He cried out with a loud ...Like Henry Morgan with the pirate code ...Nuff a dem a trod with Satan heavy load ...ake dem evil at the sword ...I'm just like the sun

Cross my armored sword...My king is at the kitchen...Plays with that in mind, hangi...emons going for the sun

re stands the chief with ...With a skull like sound ...With every line in its d...priest intones, the sword ...The white sun turns to stone ...With hangings rich of ...Nobles stand with their wine ...ting me and she the King's queen ...And with small lips

I once planted as a king I abandoned ...is banner by God my sword and my name ...And the land with me, it will change ...root in the present sun

Be Thou ever with me and I with Thee Lord ...n me dwelling and I with Thee one ... my breastplate, my sword for the fight ...High King of heaven, Thou heaven's bright sun