— Keira —

Keir stood frozen, muscles tensed for a few seconds before darting forward the final few steps. As she stopped and lifted her blade into a ready stance she heard only the echo of her movements fading into silence.

Still tense and ready to strike or dodge, Keir strained her ears for any indications of another presence in the area. Due to her undead nature the silence was complete. There was no rushing of blood in her ears or the all but imperceptible sound of her own breathing. There were also no sounds of any movement or detectable air flow around her. What there was, was a strong feeling of being watched.

She still half expected to find nothing visible but after ensuring there was nothing in front of her she spun around. Before she completely registered what she saw, she stepped back and due to the current lack of air in her lungs let out a silent curse.

Standing around five feet behind her was the armored form of a familiar elven woman holding an equally familiar blade. The elf-like being standing before her resembled a perfect copy of herself formed from an amalgamation of books, scrolls, and tablets.

As Keir tensed, her doppelganger opened its eyes revealing a dark void filled with countless pinpricks or star-like lights. A line connecting through the strange fractal writing on every piece of the creature lit up extending from the middle of its chest down its arms onto its blade as it swung its sword at her.

Keir recognized the incoming strike and dodged back and to the side rather than even attempt to block. The blade formed from sharp metal plates etched with strange writing blurred past followed by a wave of star speckled void that sundered the air.

Keir may not have faced herself in combat but she'd certainly sparred with enough other Tide Carvers to instinctively shift to the side and swing for the creature's exposed side. She also was not overly surprised when it shifted its stance and blade and caught her strike just below the guard of its sword. Tide carvers were not only trained to carve into enemy lines but to also survive and either push through to vulnerable targets or hold open a breach long enough for their allies to take advantage of the opening. If every attack left them open they wouldn’t live long.

Its reaction did tell her that it had at least some if not all of her training, not just her skills.

As they broke apart more lines lit up across the surface of her foes and liquid night sky ripped through the paper of its arms and formed serrations along its blade. Once again Keir dodged, ducking to the side, rather than block the diagonal swing. As the blade carved effortlessly through the chair and the stone floor below it Keir tapped into the last of her untested new skills.

The air around her for ten feet in any direction trembled under the pressure of “Abyssal Aura” and she could feel the weight on her mind and mana. From the way the copy of her staggered slightly it clearly felt it somewhat more intensely. Before it could fully recover she swung towards its head.

It was clearly feeling the effects of the pressure but it still dodged to the side causing her blade to carve a deep gouge into its side rather than split its head. As it rolled to the side, scraps of paper and wisps of the veil were left fluttering through the air in its wake.

When Keir swung again her blade trailed the waters of the sanguine sea she pushed through the pressure of her own skill to tap into “Tide Carver’s Stance”.

The creature was already a bit on the back foot so it blocked her strike. Apparently it was relying on “Immovable Blade” but didn’t account for the pressure of “Abyssal Aura”. Her sword was brought to an abrupt halt but it did so with its tip embedded deep in the creature's stomach and the surge of bloody seawater ripped open a wide rent in the paper, papyrus, and velum of its flesh.

Despite the damage she’d done Keir frowned as she pulled back, preparing to avoid the creature's retaliatory strike. Not only was her skill slower to activate she could feel it wouldn’t be available for a few seconds at least. Under normal circumstances an aggregate skill from a lower tier shouldn’t carry any cooldown. If even such a basic skill took a few seconds to recover it was clear any of her death knight skills should be used sparingly.

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For the next few minutes she exchanged blows with her doppelganger. Fortunately she had gotten in the first few hits and so by the time the creature tried to utilize its own aura both the effects of her own aura and its reduced strength allowed her “Abyssal Aura.” to overpower its own.

Only her undead nature kept her from being out of breath as she pulled her blade from the rapidly deteriorating pile of documents that had moments before been her foe. Blood dripped steadily from several deep cuts but none of them were deep enough to require treatment so after ensuring her foe was truly dead, and hadn’t dropped anything of use, she approached the metal plaque she’d seen when first entering the seating area.

Much like the first time she had examined one when first entering the library the meaning of the fractal patterns etched into the strange metal burned into her mind.

“The first Echo has been silenced. The first Challenger surpassed. Your Path lies before you written in the blood of those who would end it.”

As the burning in her mind faded she looked around and saw she could understand more of the writing but not enough to be useful yet.

She was also tired and sore so instead of moving one she explored the sitting room before making her way out of the library and examined the small rusty crystal. As she did, it melted into her hand with the sound of a notification.

She once more offered a brief prayer of thanks to Mortis and exited her soulscape. Looking around as she returned to her body she saw the sun was low on the horizon. Within an hour and a half or so the sun would fully set and they could resume their journey.

— Cara —

Cara had a small smile on her face as sent a pulse of mana into the small seed sprouting it in moments as she covered it in rich loamy soil.

That was the last of the new crops Lindel delivered to Sylver Oak Farm planted and sprouted. As she sat up she took a moment to enjoy the sight of rows of strange tiny seedlings peeking from the dark soil. Looking around she didn’t see any sign of Dervla or Ismini so she decided to check on them.

As she stood and dusted herself off she was once again surprised by how smooth her motions were. She could barely remember the last time she hadn’t had to struggle to make her body and then later the mechanical additions move the way she wanted them to. Even a master dwarven Rune Smith hadn’t managed to perfectly match the signature of her mangled soul.

Somehow the powerful pulse of divine death mana that suffused the area and turned at least the three fey she knew of in the area into death aspected fey had also affected her soulbound prosthetics.

Her smile grew as she watched her hands as she flexed first her hands one at a time.

After a few seconds she remembered she was in the middle of something so she carefully set off towards the farmhouse. The plants could all grow in the fields but the Somatic Shrooms needed a warm and damp place to grow well. If they decided to grow them bulk Cara and Dervla would likely need to have a proper structure built for the process. In the short term they decided the large cellar of the farm house could be used so with the assistance of Ismini Dervla had set about building grow beds down there.

Fortunately since they had not been in the farmhouse when the snakes attacked there had been no reason for anything to break into the structure. As a result when Cara walked through the front door she saw heavy layers of dust and some degradation rather than the broken walls and furniture that plagued much of the village. Cleaning would not be a particularly quick process but most of the damages would repair themselves over time as they paid taxes into the system so she put them out of her mind.

The sun was up but the interior of the house was dark as no one had bothered to open the sturdy iron oak shutters. If Ismini was still alive they would have provided light but neither fey nor the undead required light to see. Regardless, Cara was still careful, especially as she walked down the stairs.

She was almost to the bottom of the stairs when she misjudged the depth of the stairs. Centuries without binocular vision were hard to undo in a day. Fortunately she didn’t fall far and the wood she ran into was Dervla’s armor.

Dervla smiled as she steadied Cara onto the cellar floor, and said “Nice of you to drop in.”

Cara felt a faint blush color her cheeks as she said “Two eyes may be better than one, but they also take some getting used to.”

As Dervla led her to the boxes that were already seeded with spores Cara noticed she was sticking close and ready to assist if Cara stumbled. Even after everything Dervla was still so protective of her. It made Cara happy but she was even more pleased that it was no longer entirely necessary. Cara may even be able to be the one who protected Dervla one day.

After greeting Ismini who was finishing filling the final box Cara began funneling mana into the tiny spores. With Dervla at her side and interesting things to grow Cara smiled, happier than she’d been in decades.