“Inquisitor Von Krantz,
I hope this message finds you well. I am writing on behalf of the Argent Curia to inform you that our blademaster assigned to you, has resurfaced and is currently recuperating their wounds in Sturmbreaker. They were instrumental in rooting out several goblinoid infestations and the eradication of a heretical cult within the Highwall regions bordering Arteria and the Ascalon coast. Further details are enclosed within the documents below this letter. They will include the debriefing and overall summary of operational events.
Blessed by the Stars,
Armsmaster Tarion Wintersbane”
- Letter on desk of Viktor Von Krantz
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“Rockbreakers! Fire at will!” Okil’s voice bellowed out into the field, his words followed by the heavy sound of a warhorn.
Fifty odd rangers popped out of their hiding places, cresting the small rocky hill and unleashed a volley of crossbows at the horde. Sophie watched with glee as the bolts found home, piercing into the flanks of the echo monsters and killed more than their fair share. Like clockwork, the rangers reloaded and let loose another volley, taking down more of the echoes even as part of the horde now turned to face them.
The strategy was simple, hit and run. As the dwarves fired, they would flee when the echoes reached halfway, choosing to engage the break off detachments away from the main horde. When that was done, they’d return to loosen more volleys into the horde. It would be a futile but survivable use of their strengths against the horde of this size. Even Sophie had to admit, it was better than throwing everything away in some stupidly heroic suicide charge.
Monstrous roars echoed from the horde and more and more joined the fray, charging the offending rangers as multiple monstrosities prodded their way towards them. More bolts were loosed and as one, the rangers split off into groups as they retreated. On foot they would have a hard time performing the manuever, but with their mounts they could match or even out pace the monsters. Not leaving anything to chance, Okil split them into two groups of fifteen and two groups of ten. The twenty would sprint straight for their boars and rams. The groups of fifteen would cycle fire as the other group retreated to buy some time for the others. Riders would then come in to lift the pressure, allowing the thirty to also mount up.
It had a few moving parts that Sophie was worried about. But seeing them move so precisely in firing their volleys, she felt significantly better about their chances. Even trainee rangers here take things so seriously.
With good reason, clearly. Sophia added with a smirk.
The two of them unfortunately could not join in, much to Sophie’s chagrin. They in fact had two key but possibly impossible objectives of their own. Firstly, they had to find a way to awaken the amber spirits, something that Sophie reasoned would happen if they allowed the crystal’s light shine upon the blade, a task that required the accomplishment of their second task. Destroying the massive eyewall. Neither of them were masters of magic, but they both had the feeling that something the size of a small village would be beyond their capabilities to have Sophie simply absorb with the void in any timely fashion, and that was if the creature didn’t fight back. Worse, they also suspected that to even hurt it, they’d need the blade activated, which required them to pry the creature away from the amber.
A vexing conundrum if anything, but there was nothing more to be done. Just as Sophie tried to move however, her counterpart gripped her shoulder and held her hand out.
“Pass the sword.” Sophia whispered.
“Huh?”
“The sword.”
“Wha-why?”
“An idea I had.”
Sophie was baffled but acquiesced, gingerly holding out her blade and wrapping Sophia’s hands around the hilt. There was a jolt and the two both crouched, their heads aching with a ferocity as Sophie’s mind tapped into her counterparts.
“My people, my vengeance. Release me.” The ancient voice called out to them, radiating the buried anger of centuries.
Sophia thrust the sword back into Sophie’s hands, staggering away from it as she massaged her head.
“By the stars. I remember that sensation, it was unpleasant when I viewed it in your thoughts. But to experience it, stars above.” Sophia grumbled.
The two had been filled with divine fury, burning about within their veins and head until Sophie was the only one to hold on. A dull ache still lingered but she just grimaced at Sophia’s words, uttering a small question.
“How?”
“Figured you’re pretty magically deaf given your void affliction, at least when not in a specific place of power. Reasoned that your lovely dark self over here could commune where you could not. Ugh.” Sophia groaned, “A little too well, it seems.”
Sophie pursed her lips. It was an idea she hadn’t really thought about before. She had never actively sought out communion with the Gods but then again, she often had a chance to do so with the Entity. Still, they did at least learn That Which Watches the Small was more than incensed at the current state of affairs. Communing with a divine spirit though, I wonder… how often does that happen? Is it just something that can happen? Could this be why saints are valuable beyond their blessed powers?
“If the backlash was that intense with you there as a mitigator? I suspect few would survive such encounters.” Sophia quipped, her counterpart still in some stage of agony.
Sophie moved to support her but was waved off, Sophia pointing towards the horde. Sophie blinked in confusion, but quickly widened her eyes when she next saw Sophia mimicking a sword. The blade is already divine…
Sophia nodded, the girl slowly steadying herself. The spirit’s certainly angry as hells, might as well see if that’s enough.
But to cut at the eyewall…
No time like the present to find out, eh? Sophia grinned.
Sophie raised her blade and looked over, Sophia offering her a small nod. Wordlessly, the two moved like wraiths and crested past their own little hiding place and towards the horde. Only a few of the creatures noticed their approach and their shrieks did little to alert the others. With an arm coated in shadow, Sophia turned the darkness into a weapon and scythed into the nearby creatures with an elegant finesse. Dancing between slicing and jumping away with a sadistic grin on her face.
Sophie meanwhile was a more traditional bringer of death. She cleaved and jabbed with reckless abandon, knowing that she would soon be in the thick of things and unable to miss. With each swing of her blade, a gust of dark yellow light radiated from it. Every time it made contact with even the skin of the echo monsters, the creatures would writhe in immense pain before perishing, not even needing her to finish them off.
Light and shadow twisted together to form a torrent of destruction. Walls of shadow mist sapped the echoes of their strength, Sophie’s blade setting them alight in the aftermath. She revelled in the power within her hands, bringing her own form of salvation against the monsters. Scars, scratches and wounds appeared aplenty as she relied on this new wellspring of power. Harnessing what divine energies radiated from the blade and shrugging off the pain even as her unarmored form sustained more and more injuries. Her tattered clothes were now shredded, what was left of her modesty was torn off by some creature along the way. But she did not care, she felt alive.
Sophia was her opposite. Darting around with calculated steps, ducking between blows and sliding under larger creatures. Her counterpart was a menacing of a thousand cuts, delivering aimed critical hits almost as often as she would be dodging blows. Where Sophie was cut all over, Sophia had avoided most of the pain, with only a few leather pieces getting scratched up. The girl using the shadows innate to the echoes themselves to fuel her deft movements alongside Sophie’s advance.
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Together, they carved a small path through the horde, pushing dozens of meters more than what anyone had expected. Their display had evidently inspired the dwarves, with more than one creature that Sophie was about to strike at crumpling from a stray bolt or two. She had little time to thank the rangers, for with each creature struck down, another took its place. Most of the echoes here were the shambling type they had fought in the forge town, a few more were of a mutated variant, their multitude of arms or legs often getting the best of her already meagre defences. She was at least thankful that most of the larger creatures including hellhounds and bone horrors seemed to be staying away from the melee, letting their smaller brethren be slaughtered whilst they focused on the city.
She did not know how long they were fighting for, only that her body’s adrenaline was slowly fading, her movements growing more sluggish as even more scars were cut across her body. Her blade was also running ragged, the flames of divine vengeance growing weaker as well. She needed to change up their strategy, and fast. In her moment of hesitation, a shambler grabbed her from behind and bit down against her shoulder. This time the pain was unavoidable and she screamed in agony, quickly smashing her head against its to dislodge it. The jerky movement tore off some flesh and she almost black out on the spot, only saved as Sophia dashed in to keep her covered.
“The hells Sophie, I thought the point of all our…your training was to avoid getting hit.” Sophia growled, using her hands to quickly shield them both in a small whirlwind of shadow.
“I… ngh, can’t…” Sophie gasped.
“You can’t die. But you’ll still hurt dumbass. Now focus, we need a plan. Do you have one?”
Sophie replied with a pained nod.
“Okay, on three.”
“Th-ree.” She affirmed.
Sophie clutched at her wound with one hand and unsteadily held her blade with the other. When Sophia mouthed the word three, the two immediately sprang back into action. The wall of shadow burst forth like a bomb and allowed them a temporary reprieve as the echoes were pushed back. Sophie spun around and quickly set her sights on one of the larger echoes; a half formed bone horror with many live components still in the process of fusing together into an unidentifiable meat slurry.
She needed to get the attention of the eyewall and release the amber light. Her plan was a gamble, hoping that the monsters would react to the presence of the void being released. A big one should do it. With her sword arm practically useless, she instead rammed two shamblers out of the way, narrowly dodging their clawing hands. Blood flecked onto her face as she let go of her wound and practically leapt at the bone horror, her hand landing in its mushy abdomen. Without pause, she tried her best to concentrate and ignore that pain in her shoulder, channeling her own willpower and forcing herself to begin drawing in mana from the creature.
At first she despaired, for the creature wrapped its bony hands around her and lifted her in the air, as if trying to examine the pest in its grip. Continuing to try, she clenched her eyes shut and tried dragging every little mana strand or mote that she could feel from within her. Then it wobbled, or rather, its fleshy bits began bubbling and the whole creature quivered. With a roar from its necrotic throat, Sophie could physically feel as the dark magicks used to bind the creature together began to rupture. It’s bones cracking under its own mass as the monster let her go, its wrist simply snapping off
As Sophie dropped to the ground, trying to pry off the still bony fingers that were locked around her, the world seemed to tremble. The very stone itself rumbled and cracked, reality itself buckling under the weight of indignant fascination. No, she knew the feeling well, jealousy. The massive eyewall remained latched to the city, but a few of the eyes had shifted to gaze over at her, the ravenous hunger within them matched only by the inquisitiveness at her presence. But that was enough, the tiniest sliver of amber flowed past the dark creature, a ray of hope against the fetid backdrop.
Her arm moved on its own accord, the sword now lifted above her head to catch the glint of the amber glow. The world stilled as she felt the gaze of the eyewall upon her, the pressure being emitted by it capable of burying her completely in its spell. Yet, before it had realised what she had done, the amber light found succour in the blade, a familiar and burning connection erupting between the two. The solitary sliver of light bloomed into a brilliant yellow hue, its very existence vaporising the parts of the eyewall that blocked its path, the monster recoiling in shock more than pain.
Heat, burning, fire, was what Sophie felt coursing throughout both the blade and her veins. She could feel the ancient call of something inscrutable steering her body. Unable to control her arms, something forced her to grip the now radiant blade with both hands and she felt a soothing but sweltering calm wash over her. Her blood coated the blade itself as the sharp pain made her scream. Just as quickly, she then slammed the blade point first into the ground, her eyes widening in terrified amazement as it seemed to simply melt the very stones under it, embedding itself into the rock.
The display culminated in the nearby echoes recovering from their surprise and screeching at her. A dozen or so monsters rushed to tear her apart as the massive eyewall seemed to shudder out a command over the horde. Then, there was only whiteness as a blinding light exploded from her blade. She felt oddly serene, as if she was but a child being swaddled to a state of rest. The pain in her body faded away, her wounds, though not healing, ceased to pour out blood. A gentle breeze washed over her and she felt a soft hand touch her shoulder. Confused, she opened her eyes, still disorientated from the blast of light, to find Sophia next to her and the two of them surrounded by an ethereal yellow glow. Looking around she saw that they were currently in the rocky palm of a being, high above the horde of echoes below, and that where they had been was a giant circular clearing where all the echoes within had been atomised during the blast.
Behind them, what appeared to be a gigantic amber coloured golem stood tall, gently lowering the two back down. Sophia seemed equally as rattled but recovered quickly enough, taking up defensive positions around Sophie as the half elf staggered towards the blade that was still sticking out of the ground. Beyond the golem, the two of them seemed to be the only ones moving, the echoes around them warily eyeing them. Even the cannon fire from the walls had ceased and the massive eyewall now had all eyes on them. Awkwardly, Sophie fumbled slightly as she pulled the blade back out, wearily wielding it with her off hand as her sword arm still ached.
“Together, we fight!” The golem roared.
Sophie traded a look with her counterpart and the two wordlessly nodded their acknowledgments of the golem’s words. The golem was massive, though only half the size of the eyewall, its body formed by massive ghostly rocks that were almost see through but somehow substantial. Clad with a glorious robe of amber, it seemed to regard the duo kindly, though its stony head had no true face of its own. Is this… That Which Watches?
The tense pause was interrupted by a massive cheer from the dwarven lines. The raucous joy of the city being sieged echoing even within the deepest crevices of the cavern. Hearing this, the golem seemed to crackle with renewed spirit, slamming its hands against the horde around it, the act itself crushing dozens upon dozens of the creatures, their pulpified remains returning to the stone as the golem began its rampage.
Letting out a hoarse battlecry of her own, Sophie joined the fray and waded into battle alongside the golem. Though truthfully only stragglers faced her in battle as the golem’s presence along fended off most would be attackers. Sophia had turned her attention from the delight of slaughter to the protection of Sophie, an act that the latter felt more than grateful for as fatigue began to take hold. As one, the strange trio pushed their way past the enemy lines, the golem leading the charge in annihilating almost any and all resistance. So great was its power that upon grappling an errant bone horror, the echo began to burn and crumple under the divine might of the amber made manifest.
Breaking the stalemate, the thunderous roar of cannon fire and shrieks of monsters filled the air once more. The siege began anew with a faint hint of desperation as the echoes reacted on instinct and began to panic ever so slightly. The massive eyewall too seemed to gain in speed, the giant monstrosity peeling away from the city with bits of rubble and bodies still glued to its viscous surface.
Amber light from Kar Druzara’s crystal shined even brighter than before, now fully emitting a glow that basked the entire battlefield in a yellowish haze. Tens of thousands of echoes all recoiled at once, their moment of opening allowing the golem to pummel its way through their lines, the duo hot behind its trail. It was their turn to make the ground quake beneath their feet as every step the golem took seemed to disorient the echo monsters even further. By now, the massive eyewall was also heading towards them, and Sophie could feel her heart race as she was about to bear witness to another clash of titans. Though unlike in Melton, she was significantly closer.
Sophie felt the air being sucked out of her lungs as the eyewall began its own attack. A massive tentacle gushed out from its flank and reared up ready to smash into the golem, the act itself dragging a torrent of air away from the battlefield. Like a battering ram, it swung back in with such force that numerous monsters were sent tumbling from the air pressure behind the attack, even the duo could feel it as it whipped towards them. With a furious roar, the golem blocked the attack with one of its rocky fists, smashing down the second one soon after. The eyewall recoiled with a small amount of pain and Sophie rejoiced. For she now knew that even without a magical forge, these things might be killable.
The eyewall shot a bolt of lighting from its central eyes, the electricity crackling as it zipped towards the golem. The golem staggered back as the bolt seared the surface of its ethereal skin, reacting with twice the strength as it continued to pound at the restrained tentacle. Below the titans, Sophia danced between two shamblers and expertly decapitated both of them with her shadows. Sophie meanwhile, struggled to fully land a critical blow as the divine power that was infused within her sword had dissipated. It was now just a normal blade and with her injured body her strength had depleted rapidly. Annoyed at her blade being caught in one of the shambling monsters, she lunged forward with her free hand and snarled. She willed the creature to an untimely end as she used the void to drain its magics, but that was the exact moment she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand at attention.
An unwelcome gaze had landed on her. Before she had time to regret carelessly using her void powers, a voice that brought forth hatred and dread in equal amounts emanated from the eyewall.
“I knew there was something familiar here.”