First Chapter of The Eternal Struggle (The Black Phantom Chronicles #2) Silence… The silence of impending death filled the air. No light broke the thick blackness. Not even a chisel of starlight on a moonless night seeped into his tiny, entombed—could it even be thought—coffin. Air gradually exhausted itself in the abysmal space, and Arnacin’s uncontrolled shivering, his gasping breaths, the very heat of his body, betrayed him. He sat crumpled against what used to be the entrance, sealed shut out of spite. Already, as he forced sleep away, the pain of airlessness allowed no more movement than the last futile twitch of his fingers in the place a doorway had once existed. Crack! A flash of light brought the windowless cabin back. Something in the back of his mind told Arnacin the storm bashing against all four walls was reality. His trembling body, however, insisted that the sound was wishful thinking, a last hope granted before he died in darkness. For hours on end, it was impos