The Dawn of Dark Times

Wintumber dragged and dragged, with the ground becoming coated in snow and ice throughout the Tree Gnome Stronghold. Some of the younger gnomes built sleds from logs and raced across the ground, while others skated across the frozen river near the Terrorbird pens by the magic trees which were coated in snowflakes.

"Look around you, the only danger is that of slipping on the ice," Ronthin said as he and Veedi crossed the grounds.

"Well if you were going to attack someone, would you make it obvious?" Veedi asked.

"They're children, most of them are around six or seven years of age, who would want to hurt them?"

"The man who wanted me dead."

"What? That husband-man?"

"Yes, him."

"Are you still having the nightmares?"

"Yes, same nightmare every night."

This was only one of several conversations, or debates in fact, as that was what they were turning into now. Veedi could not accept that her dreams meant nothing, and nobody would listen to her; she felt she was going insane.

In a mountain range, some distance from the Stronghold sat a man who was alone in his hut, looking over the gloomy Burthorpe sky. The shovel was balanced against the rotting front door, and it still provided a grisly reminder of that day all those months ago. Outside was a makeshift grave, with a splintered piece of wood marking it.

"What happened to me?" asked the man.

Husband had no name, he had lost this name several years ago. From then onwards he had always been known as "husband" because that was his name to the only person who knew him, for the only person he had ever really spoken to was his wife, Gwendoline; but now she was dead.

"Why did you do it? Why?" he asked, looking in the direction of the grave. "Everything was working fine, like clockwork, but you could have damaged everything we had been planning, for you were weak!"

He found himself staring directly at the shovel he had buried his wife with, and in a fit of rage he picked it up and kicked the door open, and then he flung it out across the rocks and slopes with all his strength.

"Everything I've ever had they've taken from me," he said through gritted teeth.

Putting your finger on a turning point in time is difficult, but for "husband" it was not; he remembered those days very clearly.

It was spring, and the trees were tall and green, each coated in thick leaves which grew in large numbers. Augustus walked through the woodland with Gwendoline, it was a warm day as the Sun had finally returned from its winter hiding, in what had been one of the worst winters. Now the snow and ice had finally melted, and life began to gain a foothold once more.

"These trees are beautiful Augustus!" Gwendoline exclaimed, breathing in the strong scent of the evergreens.

"The woodland out here is much more peaceful, the one out near Fally is full of thugs, but here there's nothing," Augustus, her husband-to-be, replied.

"Just think, this time tomorrow we'll be married!"

"Tomorrow I will be your husband, and you will be my wife. I never thought this day would come, they said that winter would never end, that the snow and ice would kill off all trade and wealth, looks like they were wrong!"

"This was meant to be."

Augustus and Gwendoline had travelled far from Varrock on the morning of the day before their wedding, to the woodland surrounding Taverley where the trees grew freely and human activity was low. Augustus then looked in the direction of Burthorpe, and the mountains.

"That town looks like a pit, I'd hate to live there, it's so isolated; enough to drive a man insane," Augustus stated.

"Well then, we won't purchase a home there! One of my cousins moved to there, she hated it, said she couldn't sleep for all the trolls did were throw rocks at the home," Gwendoline replied.

"We need to return soon, before people begin to worry where we are."

The two embraced and then strolled off into the warm morning light.

Father Meldertyde stood before the altar of his Varrock church, with Augustus and Gwendoline in front of him. The rows of seats were full of people all looking in joy as the couple were bathed in the light through the stained glass window.

"Now, do you, Augustus, take Gwendoline to be your wife?" asked Father Meldertyde.

"I..." Augustus began, Gwendoline went pale in the face with nerves as the pause rang aloud like an explosion in her head.

"Augustus?" Gwendoline asked.

"I do," Augustus replied hastily, smiling to cover up himself.

"Then I am now obliged by the Church of Saradomin, to confirm your status as husband and wife," Meldertyde stated.

The couple began to walk towards the doors of the church while guests surrounded, some casting basic luck charms upon them to begin their married life with.

Some hours later, Augustus and Gwendoline had travelled alone to Port Sarim to spend their final evening together, and they savoured every moment.

"In the church, Augustus," Gwendoline began.

"What?" he replied.

"You, well, you paused."

"Gwendoline, it's not what you think. I was having some doubts."

"About me? Us?"

"No, no, no, I doubted myself. When I leave tomorrow I'm not going to see you for weeks, maybe months."

"So?"

"If I'm away so long, what kind of husband am I? We won't be together properly for some time, you do know that?"

"Of course I know, but you're doing a good thing. The help you are providing to the Void Knights is a role of honour, you will be saving lives and banishing evil. When I speak of my husband I will always be proud, and so will those whose ears it falls upon."

"I could die."

"I know, but you've always said this is your chance to prove yourself to your father, he wants you to be fighting like this, just like him, he will respect you for what you are capable of. The respect of a parent is one of the highest things you could wish for, and you cannot throw it away, not through weakness, or love, or through fear."

"Then tomorrow I shall go, and I will fight in both your names, for you've showed me the way to victory, even if it is only a victory for myself."

The boat had been sailing for several hours, and Augustus stood on deck looking for the tiny island in the distance that was the Void Knights' Outpost.

"Still no sight of land," Augustus stated.

"What's that? There's something on the horizon," said another man.

"I don't know, but it's moving towards us, it can't be land, must be another boat."

The object began to get closer and closer, moving at a fast pace. The features of a charter ship came into view, but strangely it appeared to be heading directly for Augustus' boat.

"It's getting a bit close, what on Gielinor are they doing?" asked Augustus as he pulled out a small telescopic device.

He looked through the lens and glimpsed a group of gnomes brandishing cocktails stumbling about the deck, with their gnome captain being slumped over the ship's wheel drunken.

"The idiots are drunk! They're all drunk!" Augustus exclaimed.

"Captain! I order you to head starboard immediately before we all die!" yelped the other man.

The captain grabbed the wheel of the ship and thrusted his arms on to it with all his strength. Sensing their inevitable fate, Augustus closed his eyes and jumped off the deck and into the icy waters, and as he plunged beneath he heard the tremendous blast of the ships colliding. Then his world went dark...

Amidst floating wooden planks, dead bodies and even a cracked cocktail glass, a lone figure drifted about above the surface opening their weary eyes which had become clogged with salt water. Augustus spluttered and turned to his right, something was holding on to him, and that something was the hand of another sailor, whose face was now pale and lifeless.

"You killed them, all of them, you bas-" Augustus began, only to be drowned out by the sound of wooden oars splashing against the water as a small boat travelled past with a group of gnomes onboard.

"What a fine mess we have here," said one of the gnomes, as he tucked into a slice of cake. "Though you humans have a fine cuisine I must say."

"Let me on your boat now and save me!" Augustus snapped, keeping himself afloat with a plank of wood.

"Not enough room sir, besides, we're a gnomic rescue team from Catherby, we can't help you."

"I'll die!"

"Farewell, and good luck sir."

The boat began to move away quickly, though Augustus could still hear the sounds of the drunken gnome captain who crashed his ship hiccupping and chuckling as he downed a bottle of vodka.

"Saradomin save me!" Augustus exclaimed as he realised how alone he was beneath the orange skies of the Southern Sea.

By sunrise the next morning, Augustus was washed upon the shores of Port Sarim, having lost conciousness from several hours of trying to paddle westwards from the wreckage.

"They'll help me," Augustus murmured to himself as he tried to get on his feet, only to stumble and fall upon his back coughing up seawater.

The splashing he had caused attracted attention from the local food store, and a figure emerged, that of a man, followed by his wife who was clearly pregnant.

"Not too close sweetheart, he might be something of a madman," said the woman.

"It's okay Anna, it's okay, I know him," said the man.

"Who is he?"

"Dennis?" whispered Augustus as he looked up at the man. "Little Dennis."

"It's you, but how on Gielinor did this happen to you?" the man, Dennis, asked.

"Dennis, my boat crashed, in the Southern Sea."

"Who is he?" Anna asked.

"He's my brother," Dennis replied.

"I'm the uncle of that thing growing inside you. Thought of a name?" Augustus asked.

"We were thinking Cleo if it's a girl, or maybe Matthew if it's a boy," Dennis answered.

"Matthew? I don't like that name, what about Mark?"

"Why are we even having this conversation? Look at you! Augustus Theobald I've never seen you in such a state!"

"It's those gnomes, those bloody gnomes! I need to find Gwendoline."

"Gwendoline?"

"She is my wife, and I am her husband."

In the present day, the lonely man that was Augustus still liked to be called "Husband". This he was not, as his wife was dead and gone forever, and it was all his fault. Time may pass, but people do not necessarily change.

"I'm coming for you," he said, gazing out of his window in the direction of the Tree Gnome Stronghold of the west.

Wintumber had passed, and the ice was melting and turning to water, flooding the grass. A toad broke the surface of the water in the small swamp to the north of the Stronghold, which Veedi picked up and took away with her, for she would cook it.

Night was drawing in, as the sun began to sink beneath the horizon, miles away in the distance.

"I need to adjust back to my life," Veedi muttered to herself.

Cooking had always helped her, because it was a passion of hers. She made her way back to her home and decided she would make a Toad in the Hole.

The dish had not taken long to prepare, and she tucked into it immediately, delighted that she had not lost her talent to cook. As she devoured one last leg she smelt smoke, and hurried to her stove.

"Something's burning," she said, and observed the cooking equipment carefully; none of it was burning.

The trail of black smoke had just begun flowing through her home, and at a rapid pace. The smoke was coming from the outside of her home, and she had no idea where from. She stared over the balcony and tried to look, but the cloud was too thick.

"What on Gielinor is it now?" she asked, hurrying down her ladder.

Veedi was joined at ground level by Paula and Ronthin, who had come from their nearby homes, equally concerned.

"Me too, it started when I was trimming the branches off my home," Ronthin said, in conversation with Paula.

"What direction is it coming from?" Veedi asked.

"I'd say the south, it certainly looks like it," Paula answered.

"I wouldn't like to say, the smoke seems to be coming from everywhere," Ronthin noted, as it billowed above their heads.

"Out of the way, out of the way at once!" ordered an officious gnome clad in a guard's outfit, who was leading King Boelryn towards the source of trouble with another guard, having sighted danger in advance.

"This perposterous Your Majesty, will you look at this?" asked one of the guards who pointed at the flaming bonfire in the distance.

The crowds were gaining more and more onlookers as they progressed towards the gates of the Stronghold to see what was happening.

"Come on, before the crowds engulf the view," Veedi said, pulling Ronthin and Paula out of the way as more guards cut through, armed with small halberds designed for use by a gnome.

It was an eyesore outside the grand gates of the Tree Gnome Stronghold. A hastily constructed wooden statue with a small bronze plaque that had the words THIS' IS KING BOLERYN engraved into it, looking as unattractive as the spelling and grammar.

"Let me see, let me see at once!" snapped King Boelryn as he barged through.

"No Your Majesty, let us dispose of it, really, there's nothing to see," called a guard, desparate to stop him.

The firelight twinkled in his eyes, which were filled with sorrow. This was not the most pleasing of things to see, and he shed a small tear of fright as the statue's wooden head tumbled to the floor, burning the surrounding grass. Small cinders danced about, reaching nearby to Boelryn's feet.

"It's nothing, a practical joke, a mistake, maybe even a present! It's not what you think I'm sure!" called his guard reassuringly as he greeted him by the gate and led him back through the gates.

"No, I know what it is, it's a threat," Boelryn said.

"It's coming," murmured Veedi; and the crowd fell silent.

"You there, Veedi Limstrood, come here if you will."

Veedi walked through the crowd that split apart on the King's orders, and stood before him,

"Do you think this could, in any way be connected to the things you have witnessed, both in captivity and dreams?" Boelryn asked, nervously awaiting the inevitable response.

"Yes," she replied.

The answer had set off a trail of murmurs, as Paula looked fearfully at Veedi who had been right all along. The prophecy had been fulfilled.

"They have come, your dreams are completed, and now I fear, worse is yet to come," Boelryn said.

It was fast approaching midnight when Boelryn came to address the crowd that had gathered outside the Grand Tree, each one as terrified as the other. Veedi was also with him, as was one of his closest guards.

"Miss Limstrood was correct, they were coming, yet we ignored her. They will come again and again, because we have enemies, enemies far more dangerous than any monster of the night, because these monsters are our monsters, they hate us, and this is personal. They will not stop until they have exterminated gnomekind, and this could take them a few weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, ages, I've no idea... Though rest assured, this time, today, is a new beginning, and not a pleasent one. We are standing at the dawn of dark times, and now, with Veedi at my side, I will work until my death trying to correct this, and I'll need the help of every man, woman and child here to do so. Thank you," King Boelryn said, stepping back into the Grand Tree as the crowd split, with a new mood hanging in the air.