Bloodbane

[Kayne]

The nightmares were returning. At first they were far and few between; vague reminders of his sins from the past. However, this time was different. Kayne could hear the tormented screams of suffering piercing his ears. The smells of fires devouring wood, metal, and flesh stung his nostrils. He could taste the blood, thick and viscous on his lips. Kayne could feel the primal rage of adrenaline and battle lust surging up from within him, boiling the blood in his veins. Becoming aware of this lucid setting, Kayne turned his head and swung around to face his nightmare. There stood the grisly reanimation of his murdered father, pointing an accusing finger at him, "You should have died!"

The Earthsoul warrior thought he was finally rid of the dreams the night of the shipwreck; the day the troll-forged blade sank to the bottom of the Sea of Swords. Kayne opened his eyes and blinked a few times, his body covered in a cold sweat from the vivid dream. There was still some time before dawn and the moonlight shone through the lone window, bathing the room in an eerie din. He stared at the ceiling of the Friendly Arm Inn paralyzed in reticent fear, a lump beginning to form in his throat as he felt a familiar presence in the room with him.

Rolling his head slowly on the cusion, Kayne turned to look at the chair where he laid his greatsword in its baldric before he settled into bed the night prior. There was indeed a weapon sheathed in the belted scabbard, but it was not the finely crafted blade he had traded for a few weeks prior. In the baldric was the weapon he had thought he had lost in the shipwreck, the weapon he had hoped he would never have to wield again.

Bloodbane had returned to him...