EPISODE 19: Be Forewarned
Broderick Zayne had never worked so hard before. In his former life, fitness was not fashion. Men and women labored, ate to live, practiced hygiene when necessary, and trusted in God’s word to sustain them. But centuries had taught him otherwise: there was strength in the shaping of the body, as much as in the strengthening of the spirit.
When first hearing of the coming war, the fight against the dark, he imagined it spiritual or dogmatically, never considering it’d consist of actual fighting. And so they prepared. Gérard Roux was enthusiastic about it. Decades and centuries living under the Vatican, and he trained with gusto. Likening it to his days in the crusades. A sound body, was as good a weapon, as a sharp mind.
At the monastery, Heng Shao and his monks embraced balance of mind, body, and soul, through exercise and martial arts training...Zayne resisted at first, then begrudgingly followed along. But slowly, repetition became ritual, and his body answered back, strong, ready, alive.
Heng Shao even incorporated lessons woven with the Disciplina Arcani, helping Zayne use the mystic arts to manipulate time. Working to increase his speed, intuition and reaction time. Before long, Zayne moved like smoke through corridors and courtyards. A master not only of concealment, but of channeling currents of magic that made his every step a weapon in waiting.
But for as fine-tuned as he felt in body, Zayne’s mind troubled him. The dream of the man in the field grew more vivid with each night. The mystery of the Spellbinder gnawed at him. When sleep eluded him, he turned to training, running in particular. And there was something about doing it beneath the stars, high in the mountain air of the monastery...quiet, endless, beyond peaceful.
Night runs became a habit, sharpening his speed, bending time to his will. Yet under the same cover of darkness, he began to notice another figure. A mysterious man, clad in strange armor, practicing elegant and calculated swordplay over and over. Zayne never dared to approach the man, as the monks disliked interruption during meditation or the rigors of training. But the man didn’t seem to be part of Sangha. There was something different about him.
For months, Zayne observed him. Always after sundown. Always beneath whatever moon hung in the sky. Rain, snow, or still night, he was always there. And always gone before dawn, retreating to the monastery’s shadowed halls.
One night, as Zayne trained, he noticed another presence, Death, perched calmly upon a rock, watching the man in armor. Familiar now, Zayne stopped, catching his breath, and he and the entity spoke.
Zayne and Death watch the mysterious figure - © 2025 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
ZAYNE: He’s out here every night, as I. Who is he?
DEATH: Renmaru. A Samurai.
Zayne had read of the Samurai, a warrior class of Japan, bound by a code of bushidō. They rose to prominence in the 12th century, only to be abolished with the Meiji Restoration in 1868.
ZAYNE: Is he in hiding?
DEATH: In a way. This place is a refuge. For he’s not only a Samurai...he’s also a Vampire.
ZAYNE: I thought those were nothing more than creatures of fantasy?
DEATH: And yet, after all you’ve witnessed, of the strange and the uncanny, does their existence truly surprise you?
Death’s words rang true, but unease took hold. For all Zayne had heard of such creatures, they were said to live only on human blood.
DEATH: Worry not, he’s a warrior like you, preparing for war.
ZAYNE: He fights for the side of the Light?
DEATH: There are to be many battles on many fronts...Be forewarned, yours will begin sooner than you know.
Before Zayne could ask for clarity, Death dissolved into a wisp of black smoke. Turning back, the Englishman locked eyes with the Vampire. The two regarded one another in silence...soldiers of the same war.
Hours after his conversation with Death, Gérard Roux rapped at Zayne’s door, at dawn, with news of their first mission. Orem Black, whose name Zayne knew all too well, was at the height of his power. He and his Knights of the Black Serpent, armed with fragments of the Processions, were already moving to enact their dark designs.
Zayne and Roux’s task was simple, but vital -- follow the Knights, track their every step, gather what intel they could. It wouldn’t be glorious, but intelligence was half the battle. Reinforcements from Roux’s allies in the Church would soon join, those born with or trained in magic, eager to take the fight to the dark. Zayne himself remained in contact with what was left of the Order of Wormwood. All joining forces, they would form a light brigade, ready to strike when the time came.
Their first battle came in 1915, in Belgium. The Knights of the Black Serpent were hunting the Eater of Souls, a figure whispered of by the Oracle. Europe was already drowning in the War. Germany had pushed into Belgium, and the world read daily reports of their savagery, gas attacks, in violation of every treaty, leaving fields littered with the dead.
In the press, French Marshal Alard Foch condemned the attacks as cowardice. German General Erich von Falkenhayn’s reply was colder still: his soldiers, he said, would “Eat the souls of the weak French.” The words were no mere taunt, as they caught the ear of Orem Black, who knew that to be part of a Procession.
So it was, during the Battle of Kitchener’s Wood, amid clouds of poison gas and brutal combat, Orem struck. He and his Knights possessed an entire battalion of French and Canadian soldiers, forcing them to turn upon one another in a slaughter without reason. Seeking to root out the Eater of Souls. But could not find the entity they were looking for.
Depiction of the Allies turning on each other during the Battle of Kitchener’s Wood, 1915 - © 2025 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
Zayne and Roux, watching from the shadows, could not stand idle. They revealed themselves, wielding their own magic to counter the evil doings by the Knights — A battle ensued, quickly laying waste to Orem’s plan. Forcing him to retreat.
Shocked to face opposition, Orem Black declared war on the unknown faction. But Zayne, Roux, and their allies had mastered concealment. For the greater part of a decade, the light would torment the dark. Employing surprise attacks and guerrilla warfare against Orem and his followers…Again and again, they slip away, foiling his plans at every turn.
The Grand Hotel Kronenhof, 1932 - © 2025 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
Things would come to a head in 1932, in the Swiss Alps, at the Grand Hotel Kronenhof, a popular spot for Europe’s wealthy elite. Nadia Roshev, who had served as spiritual advisor to King Ferdinand of Romania, was in hiding, taking up residence there. She was a mysterious woman who had years before saved the King’s wife, Marie from the throes of a Demon, by way of an exorcism. Marie was never the same and Ferdinand died soon after. Following that, Roshev was exposed as a fraud. Raised a gypsy, rumored to have knowledge of the mystic arts. She was accused of being a witch, extorting money from the royal family, and stealing their souls.
The speculation caught the attention of Orem, believing he had found another possible candidate as the Eater of Souls…The Knights kidnapped her, preparing a ritual in her blood. But in the midst of their rite, Zayne and Roux made their move, slipping through the hotel, stealing Orem’s copy of the Book of Amar from under his nose.
They battled. It was chaotic as supernatural forces tore through the halls. The Knights suffered grievous losses, including the Oracle, Fredrick Frost. Only Orem and Joseph escaped...though empty-handed.
Showdown between the Dark and the Light - © 2025 Headless Horseman Productions, LLC
And worse still, as the battle raged, a second team of Zayne and Roux’s light brigade struck the Knights’ estate in Ireland, setting fire to their vast library. Countless grimoires burned. Dozens of copies of the Book of Amar, destroyed.
For the first time in a long time, Orem Black was defeated. His precious books lost, archives reduced to ash. For he and Joseph, the only hope now was to find another copy of the Book of Amar, an effort soon entangled in the chaos of a second world war. And with it...came the rise of a new and formidable adversary.
TO BE CONTINUED…