The sun was disappearing behind the horizon.

  In the pre-sunset twilight, wild, aggressive shadows appeared among the trees of the forest. They rode alongside him for a while, keeping his pace, then overtook him, rushed ahead, and met him at the forest’s exit. Ten knights in dark armor, mounted on horses. An aura of otherworldly evil radiated from them, making the bark of nearby trees crack and the leaves wither.

  The rgest knight, with bck runes etched into his armor, said, "Mortal! You are now in the Domains of the Bck Knight. Your life path ends here. You will follow us to the Bck Knight’s Courts, and he will decide your fate in the afterlife. Resistance is useless."

  A sword appeared in the hand of the Cursed. He lunged at the helm of the rge knight, but it was caught by the armored hand of the knight.

  The Cursed swung again, and the bde passed through the knight’s neck. The dark helm fell from the armor, hit the ground, and rolled across the withered grass. From the armor, where the head should have been, rose bck darkness, swirling continuously.

  "I told you: resistance is useless," came the knight’s voice from within the bck void.

  The Bck Knight’s Courts covered more area than any castle. Stone walls, three stories high, stretched for hundreds of feet. Sharp spikes and spears protruded from the top, impaled with severed heads—some fresh and bloodied, others half-rotted, their skulls cracked by time. Above the dead heads, unknown creatures with membranous wings flew, crying out in hunger. The building bore the taint of alien, unnatural architecture, slowly poisoning the surroundings and creating a sharp, nauseating sense that inhuman beings dwelled behind its walls.

  Across an ancient bridge, the riders crossed a moat filled with bubbling bck liquid, passed through the main gates, and emerged in the inner courtyard, where blue mists floated.

  The Cursed was led through giant double doors into a rge, half-colpsed hall. Rows of motionless helms and suits of armor lined the space. A grim escort of ten knights guided him further. They passed several abandoned dark halls, climbed a stone staircase to the second floor. Terrifying faces, twisted with inhuman malice, emerged from the walls.They were constantly moving, spinning wild, insane eyes, and opening their mouths in silent, elusive screams.

  They reached the third floor and approached rge double doors, adorned with a bck helm.

  The doors opened. The Cursed stepped inside, and the doors closed behind him.