The Darkness

The Darkness is not a nation and not, in this age, a face. It is the pressure in the northern forest, the shadow that moves without a body, the army Kael dreams of on a wall he has never seen.

It corrupts animals into shadow-creatures before it shows itself. Hunters call it fever because the other word is too large for a village.

Every thousand years the Five rise to meet it. It has never been a patient enemy. It has been a recurring one.