CHAPTER 4:

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“The duality of conflicting natures is not unique to man.

For water is the giver of life, the nurturer of growth and the quencher of thirst,

yet in its fury, it can also destroy, washing away all in its path.

And fire, the great purifier, the bringer of warmth and light,

can also consume and devastate, leaving only ashes in its wake.”

-Excerpt from The book of the Phoenix-

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The sun beat down mercilessly on the crumbling ruins of the ancient city, the once proud towers and grand halls now little more than hollow shells, slowly being reclaimed by the relentless march of nature. Vines snaked their way through shattered windows and collapsed doorways, while patches of stubborn greenery sprouted up between the cracked and weathered stones.

Chime picked her way carefully through the rubble, her keen eyes scanning the surroundings for any sign of danger. Behind her, Aurelius, Eamon, and Zaria followed, their footsteps echoing in the eerie stillness.

"Ugh, those sewers were the worst," Zaria complained, wrinkling her nose at the memory of the dank, fetid tunnels. "I swear, it felt like we were down there for ages. And for what? A handful of lousy supplies?"

Eamon grunted in agreement, his heavy boots crunching on the gravel. "The difficulty feels higher than it should be for a dungeon this size. It feels like we've come in with a party of 6, not just the four of us."

Chime paused, her head tilted as she listened to their grumblings. "We need those resources for the guild expansion," she reminded them gently. "Your kitchen won't upgrade itself, you know."

"Still, we could've made ten times as much if we'd stuck to chasing down those rogue adventurer bounties," Zaria argued, kicking a loose stone in frustration. "All that time wasted, and for what?"

Aurelius, who had been quietly surveying the area, spoke up. "That's just the way it is sometimes," he said, his voice calm and measured. "Not every venture is going to be a resounding success. What matters is that we learn from it and keep moving forward."

As they ventured deeper into the ruins, an unsettling sight brought them to a halt. Scattered among the debris were bodies, dozens of them, their lifeless forms contorted in expressions of agony and terror. But what was truly disturbing was the state of the corpses. They seemed shriveled, their skin stretched taut over their bones as if every drop of vitality had been drained from them.

Eamon knelt down to examine one of the bodies more closely, his brow furrowed in concentration. "What could've done this?" he murmured, his fingers hovering just above the desiccated flesh. "It's like they've been sucked dry, every last bit of life energy gone."

Zaria's hand tightened on the hilt of her blade, her eyes darting warily around the ruins. "You don't think the boss did this, do you? Killed its own underlings?"

Aurelius frowned, his gaze distant as he pondered the implications. "If that's the case, it doesn't bode well for us," he said grimly. "Those types of bosses, the ones that feed on their own minions... they tend to get stronger the longer they're left unchecked."

Chime shuddered, a chill running down her spine despite the oppressive heat. She could feel the weight of the malevolent energy that hung over the ruins, a palpable darkness that seemed to leech the very light from the air.

"We need to be careful," she warned, her voice barely above a whisper. "Whatever did this, it's not to be underestimated."

They pressed on, picking their way through the labyrinthine ruins with painstaking care. Every shadow seemed to hold a threat, every crumbling archway a potential ambush. The only sound was the crunch of their footsteps and the occasional skitter of loose stones.

Suddenly, Eamon let out a shout, his arm shooting out to point at one of the looming towers that rose above the ruined cityscape. "Look out!" he bellowed, his voice echoing off the ancient stones.

Chime whirled, her eyes widening in horror as she saw what had caught Eamon's attention. A massive blast of black energy, easily the size of a boulder, was hurtling down from the top of the tower, straight towards them. It moved with a speed that defied belief, a seething mass of darkness that seemed to devour the very light around it.

In a heartbeat, Eamon reacted, slamming his shield into the ground with a resounding crash. The earth around them rumbled and shook as a dome of solid rock erupted from the ground, encasing them in a protective shell just as the dark energy blast slammed into it with the force of a falling mountain.

The impact was deafening, a roar of sound and fury that shook Chime to her very core. The dome around them shuddered and groaned, cracks spider webbing across its surface as it strained to hold against the onslaught. Rubble from the collapsing tower rained down upon them, the jagged chunks of stone and masonry battering against their earthen shield.

Within the chaos, Aurelius moved with a calm precision, his hands weaving through the air as he filled every inch of the dome with his smoke. It billowed out from him in thick, rolling clouds, enveloping them in a haze of gray. Chime felt the smoke entering her lungs, but to her surprise, she found she could breathe normally, the acrid tang of it somehow soothing rather than choking.

As the smoke continued to swirl around them, Aurelius's form seemed to blur and shift, his features melting away into the haze. In his place, a perfect replica of himself formed, a doppelganger crafted from the very smoke that surrounded them.

"Scatter!" Aurelius's voice rang out, echoing strangely in the confined space.

Eamon needed no further prompting. With a grunt of effort, he slammed his shield into the ground once more, and the dome around them shuddered and cracked. Multiple openings appeared in the earthen walls, the rubble that had been blocking them now cleared away by Eamon's magic.

With a thought and a surge of magic, Chime's form began to shift and change, her body flowing like liquid as she transformed into a giant crab.

She darted towards one of the openings, her heart pounding in her chest as she prepared to make her escape. But before she could reach it, a small explosion rocked the dome, the shockwave slamming into Aurelius's smoke doppelganger and shattering it into wisps of fading mist.

The blast caught Chime as well, the force of it sending her stumbling. She felt a searing pain blossom along her side, the heat of it intense even through the protective layer of her armor. But even as the pain threatened to overwhelm her, Chime's mind was already racing, her instincts kicking into overdrive.

Chime skittered through the opening Eamon had created, her crab form allowing her to navigate the rubble and debris with ease. Once clear of the dome, she shifted back to her human shape, an extra set of arms growing through the extra sleeves that dangled at her sides, her hands already reaching for her lyre and harmonica blade.

With the skill of a practiced bard, Chime began to play, her fingers dancing across the strings of her lyre as her other hands brought the harmonica to her lips. The music that poured forth was like nothing she had ever created before, a haunting melody that seemed to pierce the very air around her.

Chime focused her will, channeling her magic through the instruments, shaping the sound into a weapon. She felt her power grow, amplified by the very threads of the Elements that ran through this broken place. The notes of her song swelled, becoming a tangible force that swept out in a wide arc around her.

Chime could see the methane wraiths that had been hounding them, their translucent forms flickering in and out of existence as they closed in on their position. But as her sonic attack washed over them, the wraiths faltered, their movements becoming sluggish and uncoordinated as everyone else regrouped.

Seizing the opportunity, Chime shifted her form once more, her body elongating and sprouting fur as she took on the shape of a lithe, agile, silver fox. She darted away into the maze of broken buildings and toppled walls that surrounded them, her paws barely seeming to touch the ground as she wove between the obstacles.

Behind her, Chime could hear the sounds of battle still raging, the clash of steel and the roar of flames mingling with the unearthly shrieks of the wraiths. She knew her friends were still fighting, still holding the line against the monsters.

Aurelius's voice rose above the din, the calm authority in his tone unmistakable as he summoned forth another smoke doppelganger. Chime caught glimpses of him through the haze, his form shifting and multiplying as he used his powers to confuse and disorient their enemies.

The battlefield was rapidly becoming a swirling morass of smoke and shadow, the wraiths pouring into the fray in ever-greater numbers but glowing now, visible in the haze. Even as they came, they found their advance slowed, hindered by the choking smoke and the searing heat of Zaria's pyroclastic field.

Flaming javelins rained down from above, Zaria's mastery over fire allowing her to strike at the wraiths with impunity. The air sizzled and crackled with the heat of her magic, the very stones glowing red-hot beneath the onslaught.

And through it all, Eamon stood firm, his shield a bulwark against the chaos. He moved with a grace that belied his size, his mastery over the earth allowing him to shape the battlefield to their advantage. Walls of stone erupted from the ground at his command, funneling the wraiths into killzones where Zaria's flames could consume them.

Some of the wraiths, their forms more insubstantial than others, simply flickered through the walls, passing through the solid stone as if it were nothing more than air.

Chime reacted instantly, her sonic attacks ringing out across the battlefield, the sound waves slamming into the wraiths that had breached Eamon's defenses. The incorporeal creatures shuddered and recoiled, their forms rippling like disturbed water as the sound disrupted their essence.

From the corner of her eye, Chime saw Aurelius's smoke billowing out to engulf another group of wraiths, the thick, cloying mist seeming to smother the spectral flames that made up their bodies. The creatures thrashed and writhed, their movements growing sluggish as the smoke drained their energy.

Chime took to the air, her form shifting into that of a great hawk, her wings carrying her high above the chaos of the battle. From this vantage point, she could see the ebb and flow of the fight, and could mark where her friends were making their stand.

But even as she watched, a flicker of movement caught her eye. Chime banked hard, narrowly avoiding another massive blast of black energy that tore through the air beside her. The dark magic crackled and seethed, the raw power of it making her feathers stand on end.

Chime dove low, using the broken terrain of the ruins to shield herself from any other attacks. She skimmed over toppled walls and piles of rubble, her keen eyes scanning the battlefield below.

Amidst the swirling melee of wraiths and smoke and flame, Chime's enhanced senses picked out a single figure, standing apart from the chaos. It was a man, tall and gaunt, his robes fluttering in the wind of his own dark power. A mage, Chime realized, the one controlling the wraiths. She lost sight of him as she had to bank again, this time avoiding more falling rubble.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Focusing her hearing, Chime filtered out the sounds of battle, the clash of weapons and the roar of magic. She honed in on the mage, listening for the telltale whisper of his footsteps, the rustle of his robes.

There.

Chime's form blurred, her body shifting in mid-air as she transformed back into her human shape. She landed lightly beside the mage, her sudden appearance taking him by surprise. The man's eyes widened, his mouth opening to cry out a warning.

But Chime was faster. Her harmonica was already at her lips, a piercing note shattering the air. At the same time, her other hand lashed out, the hidden blade within the instrument glinting as it aimed for the mage's throat.

The man reacted with inhuman speed, his hand coming up to intercept Chime's strike. There was a flash of silver, a spray of blood, and suddenly the mage was holding his own severed finger, the digit still twitching as he brought it to his lips.

Chime watched in horror as the mage bit down on the finger, his teeth tearing into the flesh. There was a pulse of dark energy, a surge of necrotic power that made Chime's stomach turn. Before her eyes, a small methane wraith coalesced into being, its spectral form writhing with unholy life.

The wraith lashed out, a burst of explosive force slamming into Chime's chest. She felt herself being hurled backwards, her body tumbling end over end as she was flung across the battlefield. The world spun dizzyingly around her, the breath driven from her lungs by the impact.

Chime hit the ground hard, her body plowing a furrow through the loose dirt and debris. For a moment, she lay there stunned, her ears ringing and her vision swimming. Through the haze of pain, she saw the mage turning to flee, his dark form vanishing into the swirling chaos of the battle.

Gritting her teeth, Chime forced herself to her feet, her body protesting every movement. She couldn't let the mage escape, couldn't allow him to continue to summon more wraiths to hound them.

But as she scanned the battlefield, Chime's heart sank. The mage was nowhere to be seen, lost amidst the press of bodies and the whirl of magic. And there, in the thick of the fighting, Chime saw Zaria, her friend's form surrounded by a seething mass of wraiths.

Zaria fought like a woman possessed, her burning whip lashing out in great sweeping arcs, each strike leaving a trail of smoldering ectoplasm in its wake. The wraiths shrieked and recoiled, their spectral forms detonating under the onslaught.

But there were too many, the press of their bodies threatening to overwhelm Zaria's defenses. Even Eamon, standing steadfast at her side, could only do so much to shield her from the concussive blasts of the wraiths' explosive attacks.

Chime threw herself back into the fray, her form shifting once more into that of a great cat, all rippling muscle and razor claws. She bounded across the battlefield, leaping from rubble pile to broken wall, her feline grace carrying her through the ruins with ease.

But even as she closed in on Zaria's position, a flicker of movement caught Chime's eye. The mage had reappeared, his gaunt form materializing out of the swirling smoke as if conjured by some dark magic. Directly behind Zaria. In his hands, a ball of seething black energy pulsed and crackled.

The mage leveled the roiling mass of shadow energy at Zaria, his eyes alight with malicious glee. Zaria, her back turned as she fought off the press of wraiths, was unaware of the danger.

"Stop!" Chime's voice rang out, the word infused with all the power of her resonant command ability. The sound seemed to echo inside the minds of all those on the battlefield, a psychic shout that cut through the din of combat.

The mage froze, his body seizing up as if gripped by invisible chains. His eyes bulged, his face contorting in a rictus of strain as he fought against Chime's compulsion.

But even as the mage struggled, a wall of smoke billowed out from behind Zaria, Aurelius's form materializing from the swirling mist. The smoke seemed to take on a life of its own, writhing tendrils reaching out to envelop Zaria and Eamon, dragging them back from the mage and the pulsing orb of darkness.

Chime felt her command expire, the psychic hold on the mage snapping like a cut string. In that instant, the ball of black magic shot forward, a howling vortex of destruction that slammed into the ground where Zaria had been standing mere moments before.

The impact was cataclysmic. The very earth seemed to heave and buckle, great fissures tearing open in the stony ground. With a thunderous roar, a massive hole opened up, the ground giving way to reveal the yawning abyss of the sewers below.

Chime barely had time to register the sheer scope of the destruction before the shockwave hit her. A wave of force and debris slammed into her like a solid wall, sending her tumbling head over heels. She felt rubble pelting her from all sides, chunks of stone and masonry raining down from the crumbling ruins above.

Blinded and deafened by the explosion, Chime could only curl into a ball, her arms wrapped protectively over her head as she rode out the storm of destruction. It seemed to go on forever, an eternity of chaos and pain.

And then, as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. An eerie silence descended over the battlefield, broken only by the distant groans of settling rubble and wraiths, and the patter of falling dust and earth.

Chime uncurled slowly, her body aching from a dozen bruises and scrapes. She blinked grit from her eyes, squinting to see through the haze of dust that hung thick in the air.

A hand appeared in front of her face, a familiar gauntlet of black steel. Chime grasped it gratefully, allowing Aurelius to haul her to her feet. His form was barely visible through the swirling dust and lingering smoke, a ghostly silhouette in the murk.

"Everyone all right?" Aurelius's voice was hoarse, strained from the effort of his magic.

A chorus of affirmatives sounded from the gloom, Eamon and Zaria's voices joining Chime's own.

"The dust and the smoke will mask us, for a time," Aurelius said, his tone grim. "We should use this chance to lay some traps, try to even the odds."

Chime nodded, her mind already racing. As the others moved to follow Aurelius's lead, spreading out to seed the area with Eamon's cunning snares, she sidled up to the guild leader, her voice low.

"The mage, he's using life force to summon the wraiths," she murmured, her eyes searching the swirling gloom for any sign of their foe. "Sacrificing his own flesh and blood and that of his minions."

Aurelius's eyes narrowed, a flicker of disgust passing over his face. "I feared as much."

They worked quickly, efficiently, laying traps and snares amidst the rubble. All the while, they kept a wary eye on the perimeter, watching for any sign of the wraiths or their dark master.

Minutes ticked by, the dust slowly settling, the smoke thinning. And as the battlefield came back into focus, Chime felt her heart sink.

The wraiths were everywhere, a seething mass of spectral bodies and flickering flames. They hovered at the edge of the rubble, a legion of the damned just waiting for a chance to surge forward and overwhelm the defending guild members.

"We're going to be overrun," Zaria muttered, her grip tight on her whip.

"We could make a break for the sewers," Eamon suggested, his voice tight with strain. "Try to lose them in the tunnels, find our way back to the entrance portal."

But Aurelius shook his head, his expression grim. "They'd hunt us down. We wouldn't make it far."

Chime was about to voice her agreement when a flicker of light caught her eye. Amidst the press of wraiths, one stood out, its form highlighted by a faint, glowing aura.

"There!" Chime pointed, her voice sharp with urgency. "The mage!"

Aurelius's eyes widened, his expression one of surprise and sudden understanding. "The smoke," he breathed. "It marked him. The real him, not just an illusion."

Chime felt a surge of hope. If they could take out the mage, cut off the head of the proverbial snake…

A bolt ripped through the air, piercing the glowing wraith's chest, and it blinked away as if it had never been there at all.

Chime turned as she heard Zaria call out.

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Aurelius realized something was amiss. The sudden appearance of the mage, the conveniently placed illusions - it was all too calculated. A sinking feeling settled in his gut as Zaria shouted. He spun around, his eyes widening in alarm.

There, hanging in the air like a malevolent star, was another orb of black energy, its surface crackling with dark power. The mage had played them, using their own desperate hope against them.

But even as Aurelius opened his mouth to shout a warning, he saw that his team was already in motion. Chime, her form shifting and expanding, sprouted another two additional arms, each one grasping a handful of Zaria's flaming javelins. With a grunt of effort, she hurled the searing projectiles at the incoming ball of darkness at the same time as Zaria and Eamon.

The javelins struck the orb with a cacophonous explosion, fire and shadow intermingling in a dazzling display of conflicting energies. For a moment, the two forces seemed to hang in balance, the dark magic of the orb straining against the purifying flames.

Then the orb wavered, its trajectory altering as the fire consumed its outer shell. It veered off course, careening wildly across the battlefield... and straight towards the mage himself.

The mage, caught in the path of his own redirected attack, let out a howl of mingled fear and fury. He turned to run, desperate to escape the fate he had intended for the Iron Bulls.

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Chime tensed, drawing in a breath to use her resonant command. One word, and she could halt the mage in his tracks, leave him helpless before his own magic.

But something made her hesitate. The mage's movements, the way his feet skimmed over the rubble... it wasn't right. There was no sound, no scuff of boots on stone, no patter of frantic footsteps.

And then, with a chill of realization, Chime understood. The mage running from the orb, the one they could all see so clearly - it was another illusion, a decoy meant to draw their attention.

Chime's enhanced hearing picked up the real sound, the whisper of robes and the soft tread of cautious feet. It was coming from behind them, from the direction of...

"Aurelius!" Chime yelled, even as her body was already shifting once more, twisting around to face the unseen threat. "Behind you!"

Aurelius started to turn, his hands coming up to summon his protective smoke. But he was too slow, his reactions dulled by the relentless assault of the wraiths and the chaos of the battle.

Chime saw the mage emerge from the shadows behind the guild leader, saw the dark energy gathering around his outstretched hand. She had only a split second to act, a heartbeat to make a difference.

"Stop!" Chime bellowed, her resonant command echoing from her mouth. The word seemed to hang in the air, a tangible force that gripped the mage and held him fast.

The mage froze, his body going rigid as Chime's magic took hold. But the chimeran bard knew her command would only keep him immobilized for a moment. She had to act fast.

Chime's form blurred, her body condensing and shifting into the compact, powerful shape of a bear. She lunged forward, her paw lashing out in a mighty swipe that caught the mage square in the chest.

The mage went flying, his body ragdolling through the air to land with a sickening crunch amidst a cluster of innocuous-looking debris. But Chime knew better - those were Eamon's traps, carefully disguised and deadly.

The traps detonated with a series of sharp cracks, the ground erupting in geysers of earth and stone. The mage's form disappeared into the chaos, swallowed by the explosive wards.

For a moment, Chime dared to hope that it was over, that the mage had been consumed by the powerful magic he had so foolishly triggered. But then, through the settling dust and debris, she saw a faint, pulsing light emanating from the newly-formed hole in the ground.

The mage was still alive, still clinging to his miserable existence. And from the look of that eerie glow, he had fallen into the sewers that ran beneath the city, the dank and lightless tunnels that could stretch for miles in every direction.

Eamon rushed to the edge of the opening, his eyes narrowing as he peered down into the darkness. For a long, tense moment, he stood in silence, his gaze distant and unfocused.

"I can see him," the big man rumbled at last, his voice tight with strain. "He's down there, hurt but alive. The glow shows me his position, clear as day."

Chime felt a flicker of relief at Eamon's words. As long as they knew where the mage was, they still had a chance. They could regroup, plan their next move...

But Eamon's expression had suddenly turned to one of alarm, his eyes widening as he stared at something only he could perceive. "Get back!" he roared, his hands already coming up to summon his protective dome.

Chime reacted on instinct, her body flowing into a new form even as she flung herself away from the breach in the ground. She saw Zaria doing the same, the fireweaver's whip coiling defensively around her arm as she put distance between herself and the hole.

Aurelius was slower to react, his attention still focused on the spot where the mage had fallen. He turned at Eamon's shout, his hands wreathed in curling tendrils of smoke...

...just as a hideous, wailing form erupted from the darkness of the sewers. It was a banshee, its spectral body twisted and writhing with unholy energy as it rose from the depths like a nightmare made manifest.

The creature's mouth opened wide, and the scream that emerged was like nothing Chime had ever experienced. It was a sound that bored straight into the mind, an assault that threatened to overwhelm all thought and reason.

Eamon, still in the process of summoning his dome, took the brunt of the attack. Chime saw him stiffen, his eyes rolling back in his head as the banshee's wail slammed into him like a physical blow. He crumpled without a sound, his body hitting the ground in a boneless heap.

Chime gritted her teeth, her own magic rising to counter the banshee's sonic onslaught. She felt Zaria beside her, the fireweaver's presence a comforting warmth at the edge of her consciousness. Together, they wove a hasty shield of sound and flame, a barrier to blunt the worst of the creature's cry.

But Aurelius had no such protection. He was too far away, still reeling from the suddenness of the attack. Chime saw him stagger, his hands clamping over his ears in a futile attempt to block out the mind-rending wail.

The guild leader's face was a mask of pain, his features contorted in agony as the banshee's scream echoed in his skull. Chime could see the moment his defenses crumbled, could pinpoint the instant his mind gave way under the relentless assault.

Aurelius dropped to his knees, his eyes unfocused and glazed. Blood trickled from his ears, and his nose, the physical manifestation of the damage he had endured. He wavered for a moment, his body swaying drunkenly...

...and then he toppled forward, his form going limp as he collapsed.