“Kalum? What is it saying? Kalum?!” Nyx said, practically screaming through the message stone. The three of them had frozen at the sight of the horde, no, legion of demons below but the sight of the Seeker Shadow Lord at the top of the tower played with Kal’s emotions.
First, his blood chilled only to be reignited by his soul as it flared to life at the sight of so many enemies. It wanted to challenge them. It wanted to end them all. So did Kal but the difference was Kal wasn’t a fucking idiot. There were too many, far too many to risk an engagement. He was weaker than he should be from the loss of Wrath Incarnate and now he had Nyx and Ander to think about.
“The forerunner will soon erect the third and final anchor to the north. Upon its completion, the invasion will begin. Zahnkrik! Your force is to travel there and secure it. And once the invasion has begun you will enter from that point and place the beacon.”
In the ranks beneath the tower, a single figure stepped forward. It looked just like the rest of the Shadow Fiends but the shadows pouring from the gaps between its dark plate-mail seemed darker somehow, more oppressive.
“Yes, Lord! Your will is my own!”
[Shadow Fiend Knight | Abyssal Spawn 101]
Before Kal could bring his eyes back to the Seeker Shadow Lord it was gone, leaving behind only the barest wisp of shadow mana. Kal let out a breath when he saw it gone. He was pretty sure with the level disparity it would have only taken a glance from that monster to disrupt his Cloak of the Wrathful Spectre.
“Kalum?!” Nyx yelled again.
“Oh, sorry. Nothing good. They’re are about to invade somewhere and if my bad luck is on point, no doubt it’s Va’nir,” Kal said with a sigh and he started walking around the edge of the demon forces as Shadow Fiend Knight Zahnkrik began shouting orders to its forces and they began to move off in a direction Kal supposed was north.
“What’s Va’nir?” Nyx asked, confusion clear in her voice but Kal could tell she already suspected the answer.
“It’s our homeworld. It’s what the gods called it before Fyborh was betrayed- “ Kal cut himself off “We can talk about that later. I need to take a look around and figure out where the other anchors are. Are you ready?” Kal said the last aloud so Ander could hear him and the boy’s wraith bobbed its head in a frankly sinister-looking fashion but Kal took it for excited agreement.
“Of course, we will do as you wish,” Nyx clearly had more questions but again she held them back.
“Alright let’s go.”
The tower wasn’t the only structure nearby. At its base was a compound of dark metal and even more disturbingly to Kal it was guarded. Patrols of shadow fiends and felflame conjurers came and went at regular intervals. On some occasions, they even stopped and conversed with other patrols.
Kal had known he would come across more intelligent demons eventually but to see an actual society of them was disturbing for some reason. There were just as many beast types or at least non-humanoid variants around but the level of coordination here was on another level compared to Fallen Kartha.
Worse yet, they had already been spotted. One of the patrols moved to intercept them and Kal’s soul and reflexes screamed for him to start killing, but he resisted the urge. Instead, he made sure the Insignia of the Disciple of Murder was clearly visible on his chest and continued to stride toward it.
It was a shadow fiend patrol of nine demons. Its leader was another variant Kal hadn’t noticed due to their similar appearances.
[Shadow Fiend Standard Bearer | Abyssal Spawn 92]
Going by feel it was significantly weaker than the Beastial Lord despite the similar levels. Kal had no doubt if he needed to he could kill the thing but along with the rest, he wasn’t so sure.
“You! From what layer do you hail?” The patrol’s leader barked in abyssal but Kal noticed something about its speech immediately.
It was afraid.
Kal couldn’t read the demon’s facial expression as its face was completely obscured by the shadows pouring from its armor but something in its voice and bearing gave it away. The other demons were actively keeping their gaze away from him and better yet they even shied away from Nyx and Ander.
“I do not answer to one as pathetic as you,” The words came easily as Kal felt his soul flare with each word of abyssal he spoke. Kal almost flinched as his own voice reached his ears, even he thought his voice was intimidating.
The demon flinched at his words and struggled to respond. It looked him over and spotted the insignia which made it start to visibly shake before it threw itself down onto its hands and knees, “Disciple! I apologize for my conduct! If Lord Knarzka had word of your coming I am certain he would have prepared something more fitting!”
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Kal felt his soul flare up and a sneer appeared across his face as glared down at the demon. He shook his head, trying to dispel the soul-wrought emotion but the feeling never faded. He could feel both Nyx and Ander tense up behind him at least that's how it came across to him, the demons on the other hand took a step back before they followed their leader’s example.
“Well, at least Cloak of the Wrathful Spectre works…” Kal figured it would but he didn’t see this coming. Getting inside might be even easier than he expected but he couldn’t risk that Seeker Shadow Lord laying eyes on his insignia or Nyx and Ander. Sure it was possible it wouldn’t have a high enough perception to see through the skill or the false insignia but it wasn’t worth testing.
Kal glared down at the demon, “Knarzka will not hear of my presence, understand?”
The demon raised its helmeted head and tilted it to the side, ”Great Disciple? If you are not to meet with Lord Knarzka may I inquire as to why you are here?”
Kal got the urge to draw his sword but resisted as he got an idea, “Where are the other anchors located?”
“I don’t know. Only officers of knight or higher are allowed that information.”
“Then you will take me to someone who does,” Kal spat the words coming easily.
“I can’t leave my post-” The shadow fiend scrambled before Kal cut him off again.
“You will…” Kal let his soul run rampant for a moment and the whole patrol shivered. Like so many times before in Fallen Kartha Kal watched the demons shake in fear. He couldn’t help but feel it was the way things should be. They would fear him and die as they should…
Kal only snapped out of it when the demon spoke.
The Shadow Fiend Standard Bearer stood and bowed, ”Of course Great Disciple, please follow me and I will bring you to my commander.”
The demon patrol turned back toward the compound and Kal and his “wraiths” followed in turn. Nyx was bombarding his message stone to the point Kal could feel it vibrate through his pants. His cloak obscured his arm enough that he could reach into his pocket with little risk so he grabbed hold of the stone.
“Kalum?! Where are we going?”
“Down to find one of the knights. Apparently, only they know the locations of the anchors,” Kal said in basic anger fading from his voice as he spoke.
“And they are just taking us?” Nyx said doubtfully.
Kal wanted to shrug but he held it back, “You saw them they were terrified of us. The insignia did its job and they believe I’m some demonic big wig.”
“Yeah but I couldn’t understand a word they were saying, it actually hurts to listen too. Do you think you could give me a skill like that?” Nyx said, frustration clear in her tone.
Kal almost chuckled but then he paused. Was there any reason he couldn’t? He doubted he could pull it off now since it was hard enough to get a simple sphere in place around her core but that just meant it would be difficult not that it was impossible.
“Maybe. I’ll have to experiment a bit…” Kal said as his mind darted down different ways of pulling it off.
Nyx chuckled then paused, “Wait… You’re serious aren’t you.”
“Like I said, I'll need to think about it a bit but I don’t see a reason why I couldn’t besides the difficulty. It might be worth doing if we are stuck here for any longer. But hopefully, with Dalen working to free us and these anchors, we’ll be out of here before it's a necessity,” Kal explained.
“I- I see…” Nyx quieted after that and focused on scanning their surroundings as they moved deeper toward the compound.
Ander seemed happy enough for all the detail Kal could get out of the boy's movements though he did move closer to Nyx as they reached one of the structures.
It was a squat little thing compared to the tower but it was made of the same dark metal and Kal knew without trying that it wasn’t likely he could damage it with his bare fist. It seemed similar to the metal of Fyborh’s platform. The architecture itself wasn’t anything to be inspired by, it looked more like a thrown-together bunker than an actual building. There were no windows or any decoration at all and a lack of any kind of light left the place eerie despite the constant motion of demons throughout.
The demons quickly took notice of Kal’s presence but both the fear aura of the spectres and a harsh word from the Standard Bearer quickly shut down most encounters. Kal had no doubt that eventually, the Seeker Shadow Lord would find out about his arrival but he hoped to be gone before it mattered.
Entering the structure Kal spotted another variant he hadn’t seen before. They were small stubby little creatures with pale almost white skin and elongated fingers. Surprisingly it didn’t have a mouth full of fangs and even more surprisingly it was wearing spectacles. It also wore a pair of simple leather pants and a tool belt with an assortment of mundane-looking tools.
[Keek-Doo | Junk Builder 58 | Goblin-Palekin]
Kal paused, falling behind slightly as he stood staring at the clearly non-abyssal creature in front of him, “What?! How is this thing here?”
Keek-Doo was wandering around and running his hand along the wall of the structure. As he went the small cracks vanished, leaving a slightly polished place behind. It was clearly some kind of skill but even as Kal cycled through his known affinities he couldn’t see any kind of mana signature.
“You. Mortal. What affinity do you possess?” Kal said, making it sound like a demand.
Keek-Doo looked away from the wall and stared blankly at Kal. A moment later the standard bearer returned, “I am sorry Great Disciple this pathetic thing does not understand the tongue of immortals.”
“What does it speak then?”
“It is not known. Palekin are of the 75th Universe and their ways are new to us,” The Shadow Fiend explained.
Kal wanted to look into the goblin further for countless reasons but he couldn’t risk looking so uninformed. Maybe later he could come back for the strange little thing.
Kal nodded, “Fine. Where is this knight?”
“Right this way Great Disciple!” The shadow fiend quickly moved deeper into a simple metal door. The shadow fiend knocked once and entered.
It was an office. A small room with a desk covered several small stone tablets and sitting behind it was another Shadow Fiend Knight. Now much closer, Kal realized there was a more substantial difference between the normal fiends and the knight besides the darkness of their shadows.
It had a face. A human face.