Echo Fort by Caroline Peckham

The sky is burning.
The Reapers are keeping secrets. Vampires roam the wastes.
And I’m headed down a path of destruction which can only end in death.

I’m a soul cast adrift on a tide of grief and lies. A clock ticking down the moments to my inevitable destruction, and all I can do is race towards it.
The nations are caught in this endless battle for supremacy and it’s hard to see myself as anything other than a pawn in the twisted games I’m helpless to control.
The Waning Lands are screaming, soaked in blood for so long that even the rivers run red with it. But those screams are whispering riddles that only some of us can hear, begging us to see the signs and listen to the meaning beneath the words we chant so obediently.
What if there is something more to this war? What if winning isn’t what actually matters? What if our magic isn’t the thing that truly divides us?
My heart is hardened to the wants of the world and all who occupy it, yet still I hear them call my name. Perhaps it’s time I started listening and found out why the stars have set us this fate. Or if not the stars, then who?
Something is rotting at the heart of our lands. So now I have a choice to make. Will I seek out the decay and work to destroy it? Or will I join it in its destruction of this world in vengeance for all the suffering it has offered me?
I’m starting to want things I shouldn’t want. Desire a man I should hate. Care for a warrior I should only wish to harm. The point is, I’m beginning to feel like more than just another pawn in this endless game. But if I want to be the one who rolls the dice then I’m going to have to pay the price of playing for real.
I only wanted to claim revenge for what I’d lost.
Maybe Destiny isn’t done with me yet.