Even as he was swinging the bell down, Aedmorn had reached out to the flow of life all around, the life that filled the valley and drew it into himself. While the absence of animals was peculiar, the valley was not without life, of trees and shrubs and grasses growing thick and wild, and the myriad insects as well. Using himself as a conduit, he channelled it through the bell as he struck.

The bell shattered with a clear, reverberating ring, the fragments flying off to bounce upon the floor. The ring hung in the chamber, shimmering, filling it before slowly fading away.

An unearthly scream followed, one that ripped at the air, and more, for the resonances within it were painful to experience, a scream that went on and on.

“I think you upset him,” Ivkarha said through gritted teeth, enduing the pain of the scream.

Aedmorn cast aside the handle of the broken bell, hefting his axe into his hands.

“Good,” he said. “I meant to.”

One of the doors didn’t just open, it shattered, sending splinters of stone and metal scything through the air. If it had been the one they had been standing behind, the damage it would have inflicted would have been terrible. Even so, the force of the blow sent one of the seated Atherdan falling from their chair, to land unmoving upon the ground, locked rigid in position.

In the shattered doorway stood the enraged figure of the Eldest, the light in its one good eye burning a baleful green.

“You have destroyed everything!” it roared. “Everything!”

“No,” said Aedmorn sternly, softly, “I have saved everything.”

The Eldest’s face was a rictus of anger, his body shaking with rage. “You are nothing, less than nothing. Only the Atherdan are important and you have jeopardised our return to where we are meant to be. And so you shall pay. Perhaps with your deaths I can mend the damage you have caused.”

Ivkarha stepped forth and in her hands her sword was held to the fore, eyes dark and cold. Small she may have appeared before the giant Eldest, but grim was her bearing, and unmoving her stance.

“You shall get nothing from us,” she promised. “Your time has passed; accept that and move on.”

A moan was torn from the lips of the grey hued Atherdan. “Never!” he snapped, and his lips frothed. “I shall see the world burn before I accept that we are to be no more! Oh winds of the dark and night, come to me!” He raised his hands towards the skies and tossed back his head, letting out an undulating cry.

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A change came over the room, a chill, and through the shattered door drifted the mists that shrouded the valley. The glow that came from the walls dimmed and gloom began to cast its shadow upon the chamber.+

Ivkarha leapt all unannounced, sword arcing through the air in a glittering swing, descending towards the Atherdan as she struck out, seeking to take it unaware, before it could complete the devilry it was engaged in.

The sword struck flesh - and shattered. Ivkarha’s arm fell to her side as she gave a startled yelp; it had been like striking stone and the shock of it had swept through her arm, leaving it numb and weak.

Swift she skipped back as the Eldest dropped its gaze, fixating upon her with its one blazing eye.

“Insolent!” he sniped. “Insolent and predictable. Did you think I would not be prepared after your hostility, your blasphemy? Your primitive tools can not harm me.” He extended a hand towards her, and as he did curls of mists began to weave towards her.

She backed away further, trying to avoid the touch of them as they snaked her way, for in those mists she grim visions, of grasping skeletal hands teaching for her, and more. Sickly light glowed from within it, echoes of pestilence and decay.

Fear began to rise in her, for here was a foe that was not of flesh and blood as she had previous faced, and his devilry and dark mastery from ages past were a threat that she was not used to. Darting aside, she felt the urge to run and hide grow within. She was a worm and he her superior. It was pointless to resist, pointless to fight.

No.

It was what the creature wanted, his tendrils of power extending towards her, finding her fears, stoking them, heightening them. When previous it had been overwhelming, on this occasion it was more subtle, a barest hint of a nudge, almost to the point that she had not registered it, but for the fact it was not like her at all; she would not consider such a thing, to run and flee and leave behind Aedmorn alone to face the creature before them.

Not in terror at least.

“You may believe that I can not harm you,” she said, defiant, to his face. “Soon enough you shall learn it is not so.” She stepped back towards one of the doors, moving around a throne and its occupant. Swift did she swing it open, standing in the doorway. “Come, then if you think you can defeat me, eldest and alone of a dead people.”

Much as she had expected, the Eldest reacted, rage driven. Ignoring Aedmorn were he still stood near to the child upon the stone table, the Atherdan strode forward, face contorted with fury, focused on her alone.

She ducked outside, making her way around the balcony, towards the door that had been shattered open on the other side. There seemed but one option available to her against a foe that appeared invulnerable to weapons. Her arm still ached from the blow she had given; she could not give another. Not with an arm barely working and a sword that no only had a hand’s length of broken blade left.

The Eldest roared as he emerged back out from the room, onto the balcony and started loping her way, coming on faster on his long legs.

She turned about to confront him. “You are not the first snake we have faced here,” she told him, “And even the most deadly of snakes can be dealt with if you know how.”

Thus saying she took up the broken sword, raised it on high and tossed it, sending it spinning through the air at the Atherdan.