Nobundo vomited thick blood onto the orc’s face and chest. He closed his eyes and frantically, desperately hailed the Light, beseeching it to neutralize the orc long enough for him to mount a defense. He called out. And for the first time since he had contacted the Light and been graced by its blessed radiance. There was no answer. Terrified, he opened his eyes and looked into the manic, fire-pit orbs of the orc, who opened his great mouth and bellowed, drowning out all other sound and threatening to shatter Nobundo’s eardrums. It seemed as if he was suddenly plunged into some kind of terrible, silent dream. The beast reared back and slammed its head into Nobundo’s face. Nobundo reeled backward, his arms flailing, the rain pounding down, those blazing eyes searing into his own as he fell… down, down, down through the mist, crashing into something large that grunted as it gave beneath him.
Still trapped in the silent nightmare, Nobundo saw the orc disappear from the edge of the wall. Nearby, the ruined buttress gave way, and a massive section of the upper ramparts fell, blocking out the rain and the sky and trapping Nobundo in a world of quiet darkness.As he lay there, he thought about the ones who had gone into hiding, those he prayed would escape slaughter, those he loved and respected, those for whom he had given his…Life. Somehow, he still clung to life. Nobundo emerged from the black pit of unconsciousness only to find himself trapped in a choking, sightless  confinement. His breath came in ragged, shuddering gasps, yet he still lived. He had no idea how much time had passed since… since the wall fell.
He reached out with his mind. Surely in the tumult of battle he had simply failed to concentrate hard enough to reach the Light, but now, now he could make contact, now surely he could. There was no response. Nobundo had never felt so helplessly lost and utterly alone. If the Light was out of reach and he died here, what would become of his spirit? Would the Light not receive him? Would his essence be condemned to an eternity of drifting through the void?