title: Winter Darkness: Azrael, death and the Underworld
author:  Jyade Cythrawl 
description: It has stirred deep within my soul<br />Jennifer Thorp<br /><br />Your writings have stirred the sleeper within my soul to re-awaken again. <br />Thank you for awakening the "Dragon" within, once more.<br />Nyte CrowSinger<br /><br />Upon reading, I felt like I could feel every excruciating yet darkly beautiful moment of her transformation. <br />Harsh and beautiful truth<br />~DarkRose, The Dark Rose Journal
zlib_text: FORGOTTEN REALMS
  
  THE TWILIGHT WAR, SHADOWSTORM
  
  BY PAUL S. KEMP
  
  CHAPTER ONE  
  11 Uktar, the Year of Lightning Storms (1374 DR)  
  The freezing wind howls despair into my ears, rips through my meager clothing,
  cuts like knives against my flesh. In the bleak distance I hear the rumble of
  falling ice, the groan of gigantic glaciers grinding one against the other
  like the bones of titans. The pained screams of the damned rise above the
  noise and soak the air.  
  "Welcome to Cania," my father says. His voice comes from everywhere, from
  nowhere, and worms into my soul.  
  The power in his tone causes Erevis and Riven to clutch their heads and groan.
  The blood that leaks from their ears freezes a crimson streak down jaw and
  neck. Erevis leans forward and vomits onto the ice. It steams for only a
  moment before Cania turns it hard and cold. Riven does the same and the wind
  devours the curses he offers between heaves. My ears, too, might be bleeding.
  I cannot tell. I still feel the sting in my fo