“Go! Run!! Someone needs to tell Kassan!” the final words of his comrades echoed in the warrior’s ears, a mix of blood and tears was streaming down his cheeks, and his left hand was pressing against the gaping wound that was the stump of his arm.
The locals had attacked, and he was chosen to relay the information back to Kassan Horun, the leader of their camp, but not without losing an arm in the process.
The assault wasn’t on the same scale as the last one, but they had believed the dead zone to be safe, so the first layer of defence was that much less prepared.
The warrior was huffing while running down the tunnel system that led to their hideout, to the former chamber that housed the giant heart.
They had all been forced to remember the layout of the system, to be able to navigate it by heart, even in absolute darkness, so that they could advance or retreat even in situations like these.
His body was in a state of shock, stopping blood from splattering out of his arm, and he could finally see a light at the end; he emerged from the darkness, and immediately fell to his knees...
The locals he had been running from, to warn and get help from the people down here; they were already fighting with them!
A screeching noise drew his attention to the wall of the wide cave, where a claw and then a monstrous face appeared... were they digging through the earth to enter?
“Drive them back!” a voice shook the entire place, hearing it the warrior’s despair vanished, “Master Kassan!” he laid his eyes upon the man, he who had been blinded was still their strongest protector, just like before everything had gone awry.
Light was drawn from out of the lake and washed across the battlefield, gracefully evading the humans, and pouring against the locals.
Even without his sight he was a masterful mage, who the management of this plane had been entrusted to, and now with a source of his own type of particles at the bottom of the clear lake in the form of crystals, he was able to exert his strength without worry!
All the Treemen’s bark, both rank one and rank two, that were struck by Kassan’s light were riddled with holes from which a yellow and white colour shone out, as if each of them housed a radiant core within their bodies that was now revealed.
The holes widened, and the light intensified, until there was nothing left of them, “Leave none alive!” his subordinates screamed as they felt invigorated by the sight!
But as much as their numbers were being culled, there were enough reinforcements to replace every Treeman coming in from the walls around the humans.
The first rank three locals also revealed themselves, “Lady Winny, please help me save as many as we can, we need to protect the injured further in!” Kassan spoke, the rank three observer that had been assigned to Marv was the only one who stayed behind to watch the cave along with him, Marquis Gomon and Daren were out looking for further hearts to battle the plane’s forces, and most others had never returned after heading into the swamp.
“Are you sure? Won’t I reduce morale?” Winny countered, they both knew what magic she was wielding, and how his people might react towards that.
Kassan hesitated, but if it allowed them to keep even one more person alive, then it was the way to go, “Yes, your strength is critical!”
Winny smiled at him, when she talked to him in private about her magic, he was vehemently advocating against her getting involved in fights, so he obviously had to overcome his prior mindset to ask for her help...
“Don’t regret this later on.” she added, then stomped the ground, black lines travelled from the many corpses on the cave floor towards her foot, she raised her hands and moved her fingers individually like controlling a marionette, and then the corpses stood up again, dancing to her tune.
The warriors stared at their fallen comrades in horror... were they alive again? No.
Their flesh was being misused, even in death did they find no freedom to rest peacefully.
The gazes that were directed at Winny, the rank three mage they had pinned their hopes onto, turned unkind, it was outside of their expectations why she had never been seen fighting, but now it made sense; death magic.
Though it wasn’t forbidden, so few mages had any affinity for it, and even some that showed promise shirked away from it, as it heavily relied on the presence of death, of battles and corpses to fuel their spells.
It was said that only the heartless and deranged could learn this type of magic, so their view of her naturally worsened, not to mention that she was proficient enough to become a rank three mage.
While Kassan was focused on holding the Treemen back, the humans that Winny controlled rushed at the rank three monsters, they were outnumbered, but that rarely mattered when outranked, their claws dug into the approaching people, but their flesh was much tougher, and unlike before, they continued fighting even after being cut apart beyond recognition.
The undead humans piled onto the monsters, and after the snap of Winny’s finger, they detonated.
Blood and skin tissue splattered across the cave, but their targets were also reduced at the same pace.
The remaining warriors’ faces were flushed with disgust, they may survive this day, but it was awful knowing that once they bit the dust, they would share the same outcome as their many fallen allies and friends.
With nothing left to bury, how could they feel at ease, how could they honour those that passed away?
They disliked Winny’s actions, even if they knew deep down that in this situation, where they weren’t certain if they could ever return back home, it was necessary to utilise whatever they had at their disposal to fight.
Perhaps Kassan’s treatment and pampering had made them forget how unforgiving reality was, this sight was like a wake-up slap, unpleasant, but so very needed.
“I don’t want to die!” they cursed as they cut into the Treemen.
Winny looked at Kassan, “My supply is limited, and so is yours, we can’t stay here, if they keep pouring in, then all of us will wind up dead.”
The corners of Kassan’s mouth twitched, she spoke the truth, but even if they escaped from the cave, where would they go next?
If even the dead zone wasn’t safe from the locals, then there was nowhere left for them to go... no, even thinking that the dead zone was safe in the first place was a foolish hope he harboured, they were deep in enemy territory, stuck inside of a disadvantageous plane, and there was still so much left they did not know about their foes.
Their numbers continued dwindling, food was getting scarce, at least if Plamus wasn’t lying about that, and all chances of them ever returning home felt so far removed.
Maybe they could go and reclaim their old camp, perhaps they could get the portal to work again?
Eh, who was he kidding, with no one around that had a clue about space magic, it was impossible to repair the connection on their end without investing years...
“Kassan!” Winny shouted to pull him out of his thoughts, this was not the moment to wait and ponder, he needed to make a decision, and fast!
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His lips parted, drawing in a breath to issue another order; he could not see, the rest of his senses had heightened, especially his hearing and his sense of touch, as well as his connection to the particles around him, they all allowed him to be the first to notice the changes the cave was undergoing.
Before he could call out, a deafening boom and a shockwave hit the people in the vicinity where the floor of the cave had opened up to reveal a green figure, it looked like a woman, yet its body was made of plant matter, and there was a thick stalk that disappeared into the ground where its legs should have been, the same creature that had forced the portal to Astafor shut reappeared in their midst!
Kassan did not need to see it to understand, the presence that it was emanating was unmistakeable, as cool-headed as he usually was, his anger flared to the maximum, “ITS YOU!” he roared, without a care for preserving his light particles he pulled everything he could out of the lake.
At the flower-monster's appearance the rest of the locals halted their advances, especially the rank three type, they looked in its direction, like the warriors did whenever Kassan issued a command.
Without exchanging as much as a growl the Treemen and the clawed creatures all turned to leave, to head back into the tunnels they had freshly dug.
“Everyone! Duck!” Kassan’s words shook the cave, the veins all across his face and neck bulged out, and those that heard him dived to the floor, even Winny was no exception.
The giant cloud of light particles behind Kassan moved at his call, they surrounded his hands and were being sent forth in bursts, each one turning into an arc that spanned much of the cave, they travelled horizontally, cutting through the rocky pillars like paper, and similarly the Treemen, as well as the rank three monsters, but also the moving corpses of their comrades!
The flower woman received his attacks, each one more devastating than the last, tearing through his reserves, but not the petal shield that stood between him and his target.
Kassan’s face contorted as he felt his attacks being blocked, he extended his hand, then slammed it against his chest, a puff of light burst forth, after which he disappeared from the humans’ view, then reappeared next to the monster he was battling, his hands were glowing brightly and closing in on the creature’s body.
The woman pushed out her own hand in response, and the two collided, bursts of air shot out from them, shoving the surviving Treeman, the low-ranking warriors, and mages out of the way.
They were forced apart by the other’s strength, the monster directed the petals from shielding to going on the offensive.
Kassan slammed his chest yet again as the sharp petals drew close like tiny razors, they tore through him with ease, but his figure simply vanished, then another formed just a step to the side, then another, and another, tens of afterimages circled around the flower-creature, each one winding up another force palm attack in sync!
A purple veil hung over the monster, Winny was betting everything she had left on Kassan’s attack and looked to support him by weakening its physical defence with a curse.
One palm connected after the other, the monster was knocked back and forth, and its mouth opened for the first time, revealing a pair of thin fangs at the top and bottom of its jaw, then it let out a hair-raising shriek.
The bright spots the strikes left behind dissolved, they were eroding the flower-woman’s form, but it spread the petals in retaliation, cutting into the afterimages and destroying them, only the real Kassan remained, but he was forced to retreat far out to stay unharmed.
“Kassan!” two different voices called out to him, one of them willed the water of the small lake to move to his whim, while the other unleashed a gust of visible cloud-like wind, both of them targeted the monster at the centre of the battlefield.
Daren and Marquis Gomon had returned from their excursion, just in time to finish the wretched fiend, but as their spells closed in on her, she was suddenly pulled back into the cave’s floor like a puppet.
Both spells missed, or rather, struck each other, their might clashed, vaporising the other, their gazes washed over the cave, all the remaining locals had either perished or successfully fled back into their holes.
Daren, Kassan, Marquis Gomon and Winny all rushed to the hole the monster left behind, all but one peering down into the bottomless darkness, “I can’t feel it anymore, is it really gone?” Kassan asked with disbelief, it was so fast that none of them were able to stop it in time.
“Gone yes, but not for good, that thing might still be alive.” Winny grumbled.
Daren nodded, “There were several of them when they attacked our old camp, even if this one dies there are plenty where they came from, but to think it could withstand your attacks when even I was able take one down previously.“
“Ah! I didn’t mean to insinuate anything!” Daren followed up, to make sure there were no misunderstandings.
Marquis Gomon crossed his arms, “Should we follow it?”
“Go ahead if you are tired of living, this might as well be a trap that it's trying to lure us into.” Winny frowned, “We could toss Plamus down there, since darkness is his element, he should be just fine.”
Kassen turned towards her; he had a disapproving look, “There is no time for that, those things wouldn’t flee without a damn good reason, because I doubt that they would run from us when they can just reproduce in a short while.”
“Come to think of it, Daren, what is the situation like outside? You just returned, so you should have come across the dummy-camp led by him.” he added.
Daren nodded, “Yes, Marquis Gomon and I just returned from our mission, Plamus was injured while holding off two of the rank three monsters.”
“Hah, he was beaten by just two of them?” Winny chuckled, but Marquis Gomon scoffed, “The boy is half your age, what are you so giddy about?”
“Tch.” she clicked her tongue then kept quiet.
Daren waited for them to finish, “Other than that he lost nearly half of the people assigned to him, but the situation in here doesn’t look any better.” he scanned through the room, there were already a lot of injured, those that didn’t participate in the fight, so those that died belonged to the relatively healthy, which was another massive drop in their overall strength.
They could call themselves lucky if the number of humans in this plane was still above fifty, which was unlikely...
“Regarding our mission, I believe we managed to find it...”
Marquis Gomon continued in his stead, “We found another tunnel entrance, it is quite the distance from here, and we didn’t dare to head in too deep, but we are nearly certain that it's the location of another heart. Marv here probed the depth using some wind.” he spoke while patting Daren’s shoulder.
“What do you think, Kassan? We do not have many alternatives, from how I see it.”
Kassan was silent for a moment, the immediate danger was gone, but their foes could return just as quickly as they had left, he had already given it some thought during his fight, heading into enemy territory was dangerous, but what exactly was left for them to call their own territory?
“It seems we must fight back. You are right, there is no other choice, we cannot simply sit around and hope for someone to come and rescue us, at this rate we will be annihilated, and if the portal is ever restored, all they will find is a bunch of bones of our remains. The least we can do is weaken this plane, even if it costs our lives, that is what expeditions like ours are supposed to do.” he declared.
It was a bleak notion, but if there was no hope of survival, the least he could do was give his subordinates a purpose, a reason to lay their lives down, and what better purpose was there than dying for the betterment of humanity!
“Marquis, have the survivors rest, then we will regroup with those outside and head off to the location you discovered.” Kassan ordered, to which the people around him made affirming noises.
“Sir, what about the injured?” Daren couldn’t help asking, there were a lot of them, but his main focus was Marv Beckett, the poor guy still hadn’t recovered from his injuries from protecting Frey, for which Daren felt indebted to him, as he had promised himself to watch over Lord Aventia’s disciple.
Marquis Gomon cleared his throat, “It may be a tough decision, but I believe it is best to leave them behind, they will only weigh us down when marching and later while fighting.”
“Not necessarily.” Winny smiled.
... ...
Frey was kneeling next to a mutilated human corpse, fire raged in the distance, the ground below him was already charred, as were the Treemen that littered the surroundings.
A few years ago, he saw the first dead body of his lifetime, and ever since there were many that followed, the sight was as gruesome as any, but that sickening feeling he felt the first time around wasn’t nearly as strong now.
This plane and everything that happened in it may not have been the catalyst, but it certainly sped up the need for him to grow, physically and mentally, kindness wasn’t met with the same back, and so he had taken Lu’s advice and retaliated, it was self-defence, his right to protect himself, so why was he feeling down?
“Kill or be killed...? Lu...” these people, their lives were lost forever, all because of his decision, there was nothing he could do revert this outcome, no matter how horrible it was, he would have to move on and carry this burden until his own time ran out.
Frey tilted his head, he backed off from the corpse and closely observed how the ground next to him was opening up, a small crack formed, which grew wider, until a flower-woman broke out, earthen debris scattered all around them.
The two stared at each other, neither moving an inch, Frey was the first to break the silence, “Are you the one that ordered them to retreat? I thought your kind could not communicate into this dead part of the swamp... looks like you are an exception.” his eyes trailed down the green stalk.
“So? What now? Are you here to kill me?” he wore a deadpan expression yet clenched his fist, preparing to cast a spell; the creature before him could not be defeated by the likes of him, he was aware of that much, but he didn’t want to go down without a struggle.
The woman extended her index finger, then reached out to him.
Frey took a step back, sweat dripped down his forehead, but seeing the monster stop too was strange.
He looked at its face, a near perfect replica of a human’s, but he was sure that there were no emotions within these things.
Her finger moved towards him again, and this time he allowed it to reach him; a tingling sensation spread through his brain, Frey’s mouth opened wide, and his breathing turned haggard.
Images flashed in his mind, he saw several giant orange hearts that were steadily beating... but also something much, much bigger... reaching out to him.