Eric Gregory’s Age of Sigmar short story The Fourfold Wound is an ambitious, evocative exploration of the Mortal Realms, and a cautionary tale warning of the cost of seeking revenge. Across the Realms, Sigmar’s Stormcast Eternals are not universally loved, and discontented souls carefully watch and share their observations in secret. Shinua Gan travels the Realms sifting through the watchers’ notes for mention of a name, determined to track down the man responsible for the deaths of her family. Disgusted that he should be raised up as a hero by Sigmar, she’s determined to make him pay for his crime.
As Black Library short stories go, this is pretty long, but cleverly structured across four parts representing the four deaths Shinua believes her target deserves (regular BL readers can probably infer the other numerical reference). It’s beautifully written, with a melancholy tone developing as Shinua becomes increasingly embittered and the futility of her quest becomes apparent – to the reader, at least. Gregory flips the usual perspective on the Mortal Realms upside down to show the wild variety of the setting and its core good-versus-evil dichotomy in a different but remarkably relatable light, and for all its considerable bleakness there’s a lot to enjoy in coming at the Age of Sigmar from this angle…especially when the story itself is so well done!
This is currently only available in the Inferno! Volume 4 anthology.
Check out the main Age of Sigmar reviews page on Track of Words.
