Morrow stared at the severed head for a split moment, feeling cold terror creep into her heart. The clean cut, the hollow emptiness of his dead eyes, the dark entrance into the tunnel behind...

Were... were they all dead? A whole cohort of experienced, battle-hardened Awakened warriors of the great clan Song, wiped out in such a short span of time without making even a single sound? Had a human done that? No, that was impossible. Only Whispering Blade would have been capable of slaughtering them in such a manner. But then, Madoc would never lower himself to play with his prey...

What kind of abomination was it, then? How had the dogs of Valor allowed a monster like that to live freely under their city?!

Then, Morrow scowled. Why was she scared? What was there to be scared of? Neither death nor Nightmare Creatures had ever frightened her before. Her people seemed to be shaken, too, so unbecoming of the elites of a great clan.

'A mental attack.' The creature must have been employing some kind of beguilement. She growled: "Activate the mental resistance enchantments!"

At the same time, she raised her hand and clicked her fingers, sending a devastating sonic shockwave into the tunnel. A deafening boom rolled through the production hall, and a fountain of stone dust and debris shot out of the dark entrance.

The Awakened of Song poured essence into the protective charms they carried. Instantly, it was as if they could breathe again... the memory of terror still lingered, though, gnawing at their willpower. There were twenty of them left, gathered in a circular defensive formation that had no blind zones, with the massive cage placed in the center. Morrow stared in the direction of the tunnel tensely, wondering whether her attack caught the creature or not.

When the echoes of the sonic boom died down and an unnerving silence settled over the production hall, she lingered for a moment, then gave the order to dismiss luminous memories. Trapped in a circle of light, they were too vulnerable. Instead of relying on natural vision, the messengers of Song sacrificed a bit of essence to activate enchantments that granted them the ability to see in the dark. Instantly, the whole production hall was unveiled before them. Nothing could escape their gazes...

But the hall was empty. There was nothing within its dark expanse except for old machines and shadows.

Morrow raised her hand, brought her thumb and middle finger together, and then said loudly: "Show yourself, creature!"

There was a moment of silence. And then a moment more. And then, the severed head laying in the dust beside her spoke, its mouth unmoving: "Creature... creature... creature..."

It spoke in Morrow's own voice. The Awakened threw unsettled glances at the head of Rikas, which stared back at them with hollow eyes. 'What kind of a trick...' © 2024.

"Don't pay any attention to it! It's a distraction!" She snarled, then looked away from the morbid visage of the speaking severed head and concentrated on the production hall, trying to predict where the attack would come from.

The Awakened followed her example, too. ...Except for one. The man who had been the furthest from the entrance to the tunnel swayed slightly. Then, his head slid from his shoulders and fell to the floor, rolling through the dust as the body toppled behind it. In that short instant, when everyone had gotten distracted by the creature mimicking Morrow's voice, another Awakened was mercilessly slain.

And now, there were only nineteen of them. 'Damn it!' Morrow clapped her hands together, unleashing the full force of her Aspect. A destructive sonic shockwave spread like a ring from the formation of the Awakened, obliterating a large swath of the production hall. The concrete floor cracked, the old machines were torn apart, the still conveyor belts were ripped, and shreds of alloy flew away like jagged bullets. Nothing within the circle of destruction could have escaped unscathed.

In the silence that followed... The severed head of Rikas spoke again, unperturbed: "Pay... pay... pay..."

Ascended Morrow gritted her teeth, calmly analyzing the situation. Where was the enemy? What were its capabilities? There was something else beneath her calmness, though. A slither of fear. This time, one that had nothing to do with an insidious outside influence.

A moment later, two things happened. First, a loud metallic click came from somewhere within the defensive formation... from the massive cage that contained the enthralled abomination. Second, a section of the production hall's ceiling suddenly collapsed, and armored figures poured through the breach.

A short time earlier, many levels above the production hall of the underground factory, Knight Amiran was standing in the middle of a wide corridor. He was surrounded by Awakened of Valor, who were stealthily moving forward. A woman in light armor fashioned out of abomination leather was making a report:

"Sir. We have dismantled the outer layers of the detection wards. The enemy should be right below us by now, but... moving further unnoticed will be hard. The elevator shafts are especially problematic."

He looked down, then nodded. "Try your best." His subordinate moved to return to her task, but at that moment, the floor trembled slightly. Amiran frowned. 'What...' Why would the enemy abandon caution now?

He raised his head to give an order, but at that moment, something flashed in the corner of his eye. Amiran swiftly turned, noticing the back of a small creature - some sort of a gremlin - scurrying into the darkness. His face darkened. "Our presence has been discovered."

There was another tremor, this one much stronger than the first. The worms had to be trying to collapse the wall of a tunnel in a hurry, hoping to escape. If so, he was going to have to disappoint them. Amiran had been planning to proceed further down quietly, even if it took more time. But now that such an approach was off the table, there was a need to accelerate things.

There was a sword on his belt, and a war hammer on his back. Unsheathing the sword and pulling the hammer from its loop, Amiran bellowed: "Warriors of Valor! With me!" Then, he called upon his Aspect and slammed the war hammer into the floor. A wave of crushing force traveled downward, piercing through multiple levels of the underground factory and opening a ravaged path to the main production hall.

Without a moment of hesitation, Knight Amiran grinned and jumped down into the dark breach. "Death to the enemy! Let no one escape!"