The star-chain corridor linking the Nostramo Sector and Saramas was officially named the Tax Road by the Imperium.
The people along the star-chain called the region linking fifty worlds the Road of Blood and Tears, an accusation of the brutal exploitation of the "Night Lords."
Chagualsa was the starting point of the Road of Blood and Tears, and it was also a tomb.
Chagualsa had once been a tomb only in the physical sense. It lay far from its star, shrouded in dim light.
The black mica deserts covering the planet's surface were the rubble left after giant midnight Obsidian had weathered and eroded.
The Night Lords demanded that everyone capable of taking up arms or serving become slaves.
After the people of Chagualsa refused the demand for near-total conscription, the entire world was destroyed.
It was given the uniquely Nostraman, poetic name of Corpse World.
Librarian Brout raised a staff forged from nine thousand nine hundred skulls, pointed at the great pit before him, and berated the captured rebels.
"Jump!"
The people looked at the spikes inside the pit in terror, lifted their feet, and backed away.
A shadow quietly spread from the head of the staff, covering the nine thousand people before him.
A man in the front row forced open the dark, sunken bags under his eyes and looked up into the distance.
A torturing giant in midnight-blue armor clamped one hand around a woman's throat and lifted her up.
His fingers squeezed with just a little force, and the choking pressure in her throat left her unable even to let out a scream of pain.
Her heart pounded like thunder, and her legs kicked against the midnight-blue armor.
Click-clack, click-clack—
The Night Lord's other hand swung the blade with blinding speed.
A complete sheet of human