David Annadale’s short story The Keys to Ruin is (along with his Shattered Crucible) one of four stories from the Legends of the Age of Sigmar: Fyreslayers anthology, intended to introduce readers to the Fyreslayers as a new faction. Battling through legions of daemons and landscapes twisted against them, the Fyreslayers of the Drunbhold lodge follow a little-known prophecy and march to join with another, long-separated lodge. Leaving the great magmahold of Sibilatus and following the ever-present song of the wind, they seek out a realmgate to speed them towards their prophesied destination.
As an introductory story there’s less emphasis on explaining or demonstrating the specifics of the Fyreslayers compared to the other three in the anthology, but while that means there’s perhaps less detail, instead there’s more room for the narrative. As long as you can remember the difference between runefathers, runesons, runesmiters and so on, that is. Structurally it’s a classic quest story, nicely paced albeit heavily action-oriented, and it’s full of Annandale trademarks like the creepy music motif and an ominous sense that all isn’t what it seems. It’s not subtle, but then neither are the Fyreslayers themselves, so if you’re after a quick blast of epic, action-heavy Age of Sigmar entertainment then you could do worse than this.
Check out The Keys to Ruin as a standalone e-short on Amazon, or the Legends of the Age of Sigmar: Fyreslayers anthology; anything you buy via these links will help to support Track of Words.