Chaos Unleashed Read Online Free Page A

still recognized and respected—though not necessarily trusted or liked—by virtually all the clans. His presence at the meetings of the clan chiefs was a nod to his reputation though he didn’t always attend.
    Of course he’s here tonight. He always has to make things difficult.
    She had been hoping Terramon would skip this meeting; she suspected things would go much easier if he weren’t here. But there was no point in holding off; Vaaler was already worried they had waited too long.
    “Welcome, my thane-chiefs,” Shalana called out once the audience had settled back down after her father’s late entrance. “I know you are all eager to hear the reports from the hunting parties we have sent out. Soon enough I will turn the floor over to Roggen, who has been coordinating their efforts.
    “But first,” she continued, “there is something we must tell you.”
    She paused, and cast a quick glance back toward Vaaler, who nodded his encouragement.
    “As you all know, Vaaler was vital in our victory over the Danaan invaders. Without him, none of us would be here right now.”
    Her words elicited a spontaneous burst of cheers from the crowd, and she couldn’t help but smile. Vaaler was no longer an Outlander; he had become a hero to her people. Which made what she was about to say all the more difficult.
    “But Vaaler didn’t come to the clans to warn us against the Treefolk. He, along with Norr and their companions, came to seek the aid of the Stone Spirits in something far greater.
    “Long ago, a great evil rose up,” Shalana explained, “a tyrant named Daemron the Slayer. He unleashed the horrors of the Chaos Spawn, and caused a Cataclysm that nearly destroyed the world.
    “Now, after centuries of banishment, the Slayer threatens to return. That is why Norr and Vaaler first came to us: They seek a way to defeat him once and for all.”
    An awkward silence had fallen over the room as the thanes tried to wrap their heads around what she was telling them.
    “The war against the Danaan is over,” she continued, plunging forward. “But there is another war that must still be fought. And the clans must still be a part of it.”
    At first nobody spoke out though she could hear grumblings of confusion and discontent from the crowd. And then Terramon gave voice to what she knew many of the thanes were thinking.
    “We have enough real problems to overcome without worrying about myths and legends,” her father declared.
    “How can you say that after what happened on the battlefield?” Shalana demanded, looking to quash her father’s argument before others joined him. “You saw the Guardian give his life to save us! You know the legends are real. We’ve seen the proof.”
    There was a murmur of assent among the crowd. The image of the magnificent, blue-skinned titan emerging from the mountains to grapple with the monstrous ogre was one none of them would soon forget.
    “Even if some of the legends are real,” Terramon argued, refusing to back down, “that does not change anything. Winter is here. The only enemies we must concern ourselves with are frostbite and starvation!”
    “You cannot turn a blind eye to this,” Vaaler warned, joining in the conversation. “The ogre slaughtered too many of your people to pretend the threat is not real.”
    “The ogre was born in the forests of the Treefolk,” Terramon countered. “And the Guardian was a remnant from a forgotten age. They may have fought in our lands, but they had no place here. And now they are both gone—vanished like the ghosts of ancient history that they were.”
    “The ogre was not the first Chaos Spawn to rise,” Vaaler warned. “And it won’t be the last. Before I left my people, I saw a dragon awaken and level an entire city before it was slain.”
    “You only prove my point!” Terramon shouted. “The prophecy you and Norr follow came from the Order. You let your actions be guided by the blind monks who rule the Southlands, and you