Fantasy work in progress

I started writing a sequel to WECU and was embedding a fantasy movie in the story, but decided that it was not really working. I'm now just trying the fantasy part as a standalone story. The first two paragraphs are from the beginning of the timeline. Then, the link below is to a fairly complete subplot of the story that starts a while after these two introductory paragraphs.

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The remaining oil lamps were fading, as were the hopes of defeating the first wraith to be spawned in the Deadlands disaster. Obergon, the oldest of the Khouri sorcerers, tried to hide the sadness with determination. He would soon begin the transfers of the last of his companions. They had retreated to the deepest part of the temple, built in the cave at the center of an extinct volcano. They blocked the entrance with furniture and rocks that were light enough to pile up by hand or move with their waning magic. The wraith’s minions were mindlessly tearing at the barricades from the outside, and it would not be long.

Obergon mused about how the end had come surprisingly quickly. It was less than a month ago when Candal came to him, having been the first to witness the beginning of the end. She was excited when sorceress training got to the lesson in seeing through the eyes of birds. It was ever so much more than she expected. While not everyone experienced it the same way, she didn’t just see. She felt the wind rushing across the feathers, the warmth of the sun, and the biggest surprise was how much better, farther a large bird which hunts while riding the updrafts can see. It was with this excellent eyesight that the bird she was with spotted something way out of the ordinary. A red and black column was rising far to the north. It stretched much higher than Candal’s ride was flying and it was starting to produce a flattened cloud of dark gray with occasional flashes of red. In a few weeks, it would spread over the entire land and remain that way for decades.