“The fires of Cran’s Roost burned into the night. The blaze was so fierce it was visible even leagues away. Ferocious orange hues lit up the entirety of the underground and spoke of doom that was to come. My guide merely sighed and dipped his head in respect. At the time I did not know what I had seen, but only later did I find out that one of the under kingdoms had fallen. What we saw was a sacking so brutal that the horror merely washed over us. For the Echoes had begun their march once more, and this time, I would be there to witness the bitter conflict. ”
- Kallia A’thenorn, Eryinian Scholar, Arterian Academy of History, “The Thenorn Archives: Tales of The Echoes - A Researcher’s Account”
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They shadowed the horde from high ground, watching as the innumerable dark shapes and shadows washed over the cavern like a tide. Sophie was thankful that the elevator had brought them onto a parallel pathway with a large chasm separating them from the horde. A mind numbing cacophony of growls and roars echoed from the horde, eager monsters braying at the chance to snuff out the light of life. Fortunately for the duo, their approach proved easy enough. For aside from remaining out of sight, the presence of so much overwhelming darkness had also served to drive most of the local wildlife into hiding.
A menagerie of creatures both familiar and foul made up the horde. Shadow wreathed hellhounds, large abominations, and countless accursed foot soldiers served as the mainstay of the tide. Interspersed between them however, were monsters that made Sophie shiver. From all too familiar horrors that resembled bone horrors but fleshier and more tainted by darkness. To strange gigantic beasts standing as tall and large as mansions, made of rotted flesh and fear, towering over even the horrors as they strode through the horde. Their every step sent small trembles throughout the ground and Sophie could see that even her counterpart was growing increasingly tense.
Ironically, for the duo, their main struggle was dealing with Sophie’s newly acquired blade which practically glowed like a beacon in the dull colors of the cavern. Its divine aura also proved to be a problem as more than once, she felt the gazes of the titans look up at their position, as if searching for the source of the offensive sensation. Still, with careful application of her own now dwindling reserves of latent void energy, they had escaped detection so far. In return they had gained a wealth of information from simply following the horde.
Scattered even more rarely than the terrifying titans were odd pairs of robed humanoids. From the occasional movement or gesture, they could tell that these humanoids acted as either guides or leaders for the horde at large, directing the flow of the creatures as they advanced. Terrain wise, they had watched as the tide of monsters swept across rocky terrain and onto ill maintained roads, remnants of civilisation but an indicator that they were now in territory more maintained than the wilds of the caverns.
“Move, move.” Sophie hissed and gestured for Sophia to follow.
For her part, Sophia maintained a thin veil of cover for them, occasionally pressing out a small shroud of darkness that shielded the two from detection. Though in this, Sophie could see the toll it took on her counterpart in a non corrupted environment. To mitigate this, Sophia would only do so if truly necessary, relying upon Sophie to lead the both of them.
The two kept their heads low and skulked alongside their ridge-line, avoiding another family of rodents that scattered at their approach. They instantly froze and turned to see if anything had spotted them, but amongst the mass of monstrous faces, they could barely even tell. Not hearing any cries or shrieks directed at them however, meant that they would continue forward for now. With a huff and a sigh they continued their march, one that had already taken untold hours of trekking across harsh, rocky terrain. What little energy they had regained from their nap had already been run through and Sophie worried that should things come to a head, both of them would be too exhausted to act. Nothing we can do about that though. If we lose the trail or are too slow, wherever we’re going might just be a ruin by that point.
That’s the worry, isn’t it? Sophia agreed.
Feeling both their moods floundering, Sophie simply nodded before gesturing deeper into the caverns and away from the chasm. Yeah, and we need to rest. You’re running out of energy and I’m tired as shit.
Sophia frowned, clearly concerned about losing the trail now that she was a little more fatigued and uncertain if she could pick up the traces of darkness anymore. Sophie on the other hand just shook her head and put her foot down. Worst comes to worst we’ll just follow the road and hope that’s where people are. If not… I guess we’ll have to get used to spelunking a little more. Besides, it doesn't seem like we’ll be running out of monsters anytime soon, she cocked her head at the seemingly endless horde.
Hearing that, Sophia tiredly grinned and lowered her head in affirmation, allowing Sophie to guide her towards a small shielded outcropping of rock. Once they were certain that nothing had spotted or followed them, the two huddled up and quickly fell into a contemplative silence. Enjoying the brief respite as best they could before they would have to face danger once more.
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Sections of the cavern had collapsed ahead of them, giant piles of rock and ore heaped into dusty piles. Stalactites crashed down on unsuspecting monsters, impaling them and flattening those around them into a pulpy bilely mess. Explosions vaporised crowds of the advancing creatures as more rushed to fill the gaps, the puffs of soot, dust, and limbs raining back down on the horde. Bones crackled under the weight of firepower levelled against it, and even one of the titans was struck down after volleys of explosions rendered it nothing more than a fleshy mess of a skeleton.
From where they were, the two watched the carnage unfold as bright rhythmic flashes from a distant fortress heralded another wave of explosions against the horde. The tide drew closer and closer however, and no matter what happened, they could see that the monsters were fast approaching their goal. A lone beacon of hope stood at the end of a long and broken road. A fortress of stone and iron stood, illuminated by the faint glow of amber.
After another arduous march of what Sophie estimated to be five hours. They had then settled down for another rest when they were disturbed by the sound of explosions. Confused and concerned, they had clambered back within visual range of the horde, only to find that the edges of the dwarven frontier were in sight. For the monster horde had launched its attack and something was finally standing in its way. It was perhaps, another hour away from them, but seeing the goal in itself was already motivating enough to spur on the beleaguered duo.
Their excitement soon ground to a half. They still had no idea how or where to bridge the chasm between them and the main road. Nor were they particularly eager to do battle with such an overwhelming foe, even less so without a clear path to the or pass the fortress. Knowing that there was not much they could do, they simply hid behind a wall of rocks and watched the battle unfold before their eyes. Using this as a makeshift recuperation time as they prepared their legs for the next part of the trek.
The road was filled with thousands of monsters, most of whom had been twisted in some way by the tainted shadows that swirled above them. It was like an endless procession all rushing forward towards their own deaths. Amongst the menagerie of horrors, the duo would occasionally see squads of humanoids trying to separate themselves from the madness. Though she couldn’t quite make out any distinguishing features from this far away, she assumed that they were the strange elves she had seen in the dwarf’s vision, and also the ones who had first chased her at the river. Fortunately, the distant roar of battle had consumed most of the horde’s attention and the duo were safe for now.
To their dismay, after about half an hour, they could see and hear the explosions getting ever so slightly softer. An indication that the dwarven artillery was firing closer and closer to the fortress. It was an ill omen that the horde continued its advance unabated, and when Sophie peeked at the horde’s, her heart sank as a stream of them still continued emerging from the darkness beyond. Her hand grasped the hilt of her sword, her muscles raring to go. But her mind was made up, she knew there was little hope for this fortress and Sophia seemed to agree as well.
Her counterpart merely grunted at her before slinking back below the ridge-line. Sophie glanced pleadingly at her, turning from her to the fortress. But when Sophia looked back, the expression of exhaustion made Sophie’s shoulders sag and she too, shuffled away from the ridge. Only after walking for a few minutes did Sophie pause, her thoughts running through a multitude of fantastical scenarios in which she charged in like a hero and saved the day.
“It’s not worth thinking about.” Sophia chided once they were tucked behind a rocky outcropping that muffled their voices, “We should take this time to rest.”
“Wha-”
“Don’t need to hide it. Even if I didn’t read your mind those thoughts would’ve crossed mine too. We’re as similar as we are different.”
“Then you must understand that we’re just leaving them to die.” Sophie protested, trying as much to convince herself as she was her counterpart.
Sophia mumbled something under her breath and sat down atop a rock, beckoning for Sophie to join her. With a dejected groan, Sophie sat down, still on edge but more restrained than mere moments ago.
“We are.” Sophia suddenly stated.
“Huh? What?”
“We are leaving them to die.”
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Sophie’s eyes widened at Sophia’s nonchalant, her own blood boiling a little at the causal statement. “Then-”
“Then we do nothing. We rest, we wait, then we go help the survivors and enter dwarven territory.”
“But they could use our help now. They’re being besieged right now!”
“And there are two of us. Believe me, I know exactly how you feel. I also know that you’re trying to convince yourself that helping them would change anything, it won’t. You know that and so do I.”
“But... but, even if we help a little, that’s something that could be useful!” Sophie growled.
“Perhaps. But I’m also you, and I know the guilt you feel about all the other times we tried to ‘help’ and just got people killed instead.” Sophia snarked, “I also know that while sometimes we see suffering and bypass it, leaving you with lingering guilt for not intervening, you’ve eventually moved on. But Melisgrad? The Barrows? Hells, the fucking bastard who tried to kill you? You remember them, we remember them.”
Hearing the hostility in her counterpart's voice made Sophie wilt, the feelings of shame and guilt gnawing away at her almost as much as her inaction did.
“So you’ve seen the horde, the fortress. You know as well as I do that the defenders are dead. There’s nothing they can do besides running away and I suspect the dwarves don’t much like doing that considering that held on till the end in the forge town.”
“Yeah but… we destroyed the forge, triggered those pulses. You even agreed that we might’ve caused the horde to move and attack because of that” Sophie replied, “How is this any different than when I let the spirits devour the remnants of Melisgrad, or the people I let die in the barrows?!” Her face twisted into a scowl and she glared at her counterpart, “We triggered the monsters, panicked them into a frenzy, this is our mess.”
“Started the march? Perhaps. But it was that or wander around in the caves until we miraculously found a way back up the cave system. Also, I recall very distinctly that you were the one who determined that the strange shaft in a haunted city was somehow the way to go.”
“Exactly! And it was! But that also means that this is our problem now!”
Sophia sighed and shook her head, “No it’s not. We instigated a few things, I’ll give you that. But a horde that size? That many monsters, creatures and abominations? They were going to attack at some point regardless. You don’t just have that many creatures gather in one place to enjoy a relaxing vacation. What we did only panicked them and made them go without adequate preparations”
“So that means we should just wait it out? To let people die simply from a technicality?”
“No. I said we’d go in afterwards and help the survivors. I meant that. All I’m saying is you and I both know how pointless it is to go in now. Not only that, you’d feel even more responsible for what happened because we didn’t just speed up the attack, but we’d also have actively failed the defenders and watched them get slaughtered alongside us. We’d be fine, but they won’t. Then what happens? You cry yourself to sleep again?!” Sophia raised her voice.
The aggression made Sophie even more withdrawn, knowing that these were her own arguments being thrown at her. Though she wanted to help, she could feel the very same debate raging inside of her. Sophia was merely giving these words form but it depressed her nonetheless. Seeing this, her counterpart’s features seemed to soften and for the first time in a while, Sophie saw her own sullen reflection within Sophia’s eyes matching the girl’s own expressions.
“Sorry. That’s a bit too far.” Sophia eventually broke her gaze and dipped her head.
By now Sophie was tired, too tired to argue and too despondent to think. “It’s okay.” She sighed,”You’re not wrong, it’s just… I feel responsible and… you know, I… we’re meant to be heroes. We should be out there helping not just, you know, resting here.”
“We are responsible, and that should be something that pushes us forward. But there’s nothing we can do now that will change anything. For them, their fate had already been sealed the moment the horde begun its advance.”
“I know!” Sophie almost snapped, her rage quickly dissipating as she regained control, “I... know.”
“Just… just think of this like class.” Sophia said.
“H-huh?”
“You remember our assessment? With the dwarf in strategy class?”
“Yeah.”
“Right. We sacrificed him so that we could secure our goal. Right now, we need to bring those artifacts back to a proper settlement,” She gestured at the blade and crystal, “And we need to make it back to Ary who hopefully has our stuff…”
“And if we got involved here we might fall, take a long time to recover and then… we won’t know what’s happening even more than now. And the monsters would still have overrun the fort and probably more.” Sophie grimly finished the thought.
Sophia remained silent but Sophie could feel the affirming look her counterpart gave her. Frustrated, she rubbed the tips of her ears in the vain hope that some far fetched idea would appear and bring them their salvation. None were forthcoming.
“Look. I’m sorry for being so rude, I just… I just don’t need anymore on your or my conscience. Ours, technically.” Sophia spoke after a moment of silence.
Sophie offered a tired grin at her delivery, but her own mood was still teetering on the edge of collapse. “I know. We’ve already played our part. Now it’s for fate to finish off whatever’s left.”
The two fell into a silence, their moods soured and the words already spoken. Together, they sighed at the sorry state they found themselves in and could only speculate about what might come next. However, in their moment of inaction, the strain of the past day caught up once more, and Sophie felt aches both within her mind as well as her physical self. Exhaustion reared its ugly head and she spied Sophia looking ragged. Seeing this she understood that at the very least, the two of them would’ve likely been fairly ineffectual in combat. A pitiful bit of comfort.
Don’t sell yourself short, Sophia quipped.
What do you mean? Sophie replied, somewhat startled by the mental communique.
I know this sucks, but once we get some strength back, we can plan something a bit more useful. After all, past this fortress likely lay dwarven lands. Once there, then we can focus on playing the hero.
I suppose we’ll also get the chance to figure out where we are, find Ary too if we’re lucky. Now that you mention it, I guess we could also try and out pace the horde and warn the dwarves of what’s coming. Sophie nodded.
Exactly so! Sophia grinned, It’s like what we learned in class. We’ve been thinking too tactically, ‘help them now’, ‘elevator immediately’, ‘what can we do now to stop the horde’. But if we thought of the bigger picture we might be able to do even more for them instead of pointlessly fighting here.
And how exactly might we do that? Sophie asked.
Well for one thing, the power of the demigod in your sword seems intrinsically connected to whatever Amber crystals or what not that the dwarves revere. So if we go deeper into dwarven territory, there’s a chance it might get more powerful. Sophia replied.
Pfft, some logic. Sophie scoffed at such an indignant response but found herself agreeing nonetheless. Perhaps she was simply weary and wished for a simple out, regardless you took this opportunity to plop herself against a rock and close her eyes. You get some rest too, and stop trying to hide how tired you are. After all, despite being a shadow clone or whatever you actually are, you are me. And I can tell when I, you, we, are getting tired.
Spoilsport. Sophia shot a glare at her, I was only trying to cheer you up.
The two shared one last giggle before resting, preparing themselves for whatever hells they will undoubtedly have to wade through when they awaken.
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She felt thoroughly helpless by the time they woke up, sore if refreshed. For the first hour, while Sophia managed to nod off, likely due to exhaustion from her magic use, Sophie couldn’t stay still as every explosion and roar continued to startle her. Only once the fortress got closer to being overrun did the noises grow even more distant. By hour two, the monsters were likely braying at the walls or scaling them. Hour three spelled the end of the horde at least, and whatever guttural growls and cries from the horde’s advance had now faded away. Only then was Sophie able to ease her nerves a little and succumb to sleep.
Her counterpart was kind however, and let her sleep away the guilt, staying up for two hours on watch whilst Sophie continued to sleep. According to Sophia, only when a giant rodent skittered about nearby did Sophie finally rouse from slumber.
After spending another few moments simply orienting herself, she shot Sophia a nod and the two stood up. Slowly but carefully, they returned to the ridge-line and found themselves unable to look away. Strewn across a now deserted pockmarked dwarven highway were thousands of corpses of the shadow monsters. Blasted apart remnants and fallen titans half picked apart by their own kin scavenging for food. Further ahead were cave in’s and likely traps that had ended the lives of hundreds more. Beyond that, they could vaguely make out the details but could guess that another few thousand met their end there. It was a grim sight and from where they stood, they could also see the once proud fortress walls partially breached, its battlements silent and the air around it still.
“By the Goddess…” Sophie inadvertently whispered aloud, “They killed thousands and still…”
“This is what I meant when I said what would we have realistically added to the defence." Sophia whispered, a hint of awe in her voice.
“Goddess preserve us, stars guide us. To think this horde is still going…”
“I know.”
The two shared a forlorn look, a desperation in their eyes as they realized the importance of stopping the threat here and now. They would have to find some way to warn the rest of the dwarves and fast.
Ahead of them the fortress grew closer. Two giant fortified stone towers acted as the main gate house and were joined by a wall that easily stood half the height of Arteria’s towering walls. They acted as a chokepoint barrier that guarded what seemed to be the main approach from here into the dwarven realms. The fortress was surrounded by thick cavern walls and its own walls were embedded into the cavern itself, creating the impenetrable barrier. Behind the towers stood stone keeps and a plethora of other stone structures that likely housed the hundreds if not a thousand dwarven warriors.
The further they walked along the ridge-line, the more brutal the carnage they were exposed to. Whatever vain hope they had of helping survivors vanished the closer they got to the fortress. Along their hike, they found rows and rows of bloodied stockades in front of the fort. Hundreds of armoured dwarven warriors torn apart outside the walls, brave defenders who took down many times their number but fell either way. Though Sophie wanted to chastise the dwarven tactics, she could see that the battlements appeared packed to the brim with corpses, many half eaten corpses clinging desperately to the parapets with just as many monsters lining the walls with their corpses. She shuddered thinking just how many had been assigned to this fortress and even worse, that they had all fallen.
Goddess help us all. Is this what a Dark Tide is like? So much death... and if they are really coming from beyond the Frostwinds back home. She grimaced, trying her best to shelve the thought. One problem at a time. One problem at a time.