Chapter 26 – An Attempt to tip the Scales

“This is it,” Moira said with a trembling voice. “The tree, its roots and branches. This is the source.”

Hall’s grip tightened around his chains. “But, how?”

The crater before them spanned a diameter of several hundred meters. Black glass covered its surface and in the center towered the terrifying abomination of a tree.

About a dozen hunched, grey figures swarmed around the black trunk. A pair of Nachtmahre carried the body of a woman and lifted it toward the branches where thick vines pierced through her seemingly lifeless limbs.

With cackling laughter, one of the monsters raised his arm toward the woman’s limp body. Purple mist emerged from the Nachtmahr’s fingertips and pervaded the white flesh. Glowing light emerged from her chest, weak at first, and within seconds the body stiffened. The woman’s eyes snapped open and a silent scream emerged from her throat.

With a brutal jerk, the shapeless light separated from the body and the glow in her eyes died. The tree’s black vines began to pulsate as they lifted the corpse toward its branches and dark specks formed where it touched her skin. Spreading, growing, changing her.

Just like the woman, others lay on the cold ground. Men, women and children.

Hall grit his teeth at the picture before them. “Let’s go.”

“Wait!” Moira yelled, imploring him. “Don’t just rush in. They are already dead, you can’t do anything for them.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am,” she said. “Their souls are already disconnected from their being. They are just stuck to the flesh. The body is alive, but the mind is gone. Nachtmahre use it to lead their prey away from their homes. They are too weak to carry them alone, so they make them walk by themselves.” Her voice trembled, but she paused only for a moment. “But this amount of people. It’s just too much, even for so many of those monsters.”

Dozens of men, women and children lay around the massive tree and countless more hung from its branches. Fruit of the poisonous tree.

“Yeah, I don’t think they’re doing it for themselves.” Hall swallowed hard. “The quest text said that somebody is behind this.”

Lily remained silent during their conversation. Her hands clung to Hall, her eyes stuck to the dark figures in the treetop. Suddenly thick vines dropped one of the bodies to the ground and retracted, ripping grave wounds into the now black flesh. The mutated body, once human, rose and a bloodcurdling screech emerged from its throat.

“They are creating revenants, but how?” Hall asked.

The monster took an unsteady step forward. Not used to its body yet, it staggered to the edge of the crater, slowly growing more accustomed to its limbs.

Moira’s gasp tore Lily and Hall from the frightening sight. “Look! The ground! Beneath the darkness.”

The dark glass swallowed what little light illuminated the cave. But beneath its obsidian surface, runes formed in the stone. Countless symbols, cryptic and ancient, formed a pattern that stretched through the crater.

Hall quickly shook his head and Lily wrinkled her nose. “I can’t read it. It’s not Sorian. Similar though.”

“It’s a lot older,” Moira said. “The language of the ancient gods.” She hesitated. “I can’t read it either. Grim surely could though. But I know what it means.” A hint of desperation entered her voice. “I should have known before. I should have remembered.”

“Calm down.” Hall’s patience slowly ran out. He wanted to crush the Nachtmahre in the crater. “Just tell us.”

“It’s a tear in this world’s fabric. That’s the only explanation how this much darkness can exist here and it’s the reason for the runes.” She grew frantic. “They should seal the rip. The last harbinger was down here, she should have sealed it. But it’s so… much. I don’t—“

“Wait,” Hall stopped her rambling. “What do you mean, a tear in the world’s fabric?”

“Right, sorry.” The grimoire steadied her voice. “Grim already told you about the imbalance between darkness and light. Sometimes, to correct this imbalance, darkness seeps through to this world.” Though they listened to her explanations, their eyes returned to the black tree.

“That is a tear in this world’s fabric. Usually it influences the surroundings, poisons the ground, taints animals and even sentient beings. But if the tear isn’t in a large city, it’s mostly no problem. Grim seeks them out and her harbinger seals them until the darkness fades.”

“And why is it still here if the last harbinger came to this place?” Hall furrowed his brows.

“I don’t know. And that’s not all. This tear is too powerful. I think it was artificially enlarged. It even swallowed its seal.”

Hall widened his eyes in understanding. He tightened the grip around his chains even further. “So that’s what they are doing. They tear away the souls and fill the bodies with darkness. That’s how they are making Nephesh-Ra’a.”

Lily shivered at the thought. “But why?” she asked.

“To create an army.” Hall cracked his neck and stepped forward. The monsters in the crater still hadn’t noticed him. He picked up speed and descended upon the gruesome spectacle. Heads turned as they heard Hall’s ‘Blast Tyrant’. The savage roar froze their bodies and they could only watch in despair as glowing chains viciously struck down and crushed their weak bodies.

Screams of terror and pain filled the crater as Hall massacred the wicked creatures. A scene of carnage, accompanied by Lily’s elegy for those who lost their lives at the hands of evil.

Soon, Hall’s figure, clad in rags, stood panting within a pool of grey blood, torn flesh and mangled Nachtmahr bodies. They were unprepared. Unprepared for the real darkness. For something darker than black.

He wrinkled his nose at the stench and stepped over the corpses toward the lifeless humans. Lily’s song ended with the battle and only the cracking of fragile bones could be heard.

Hall and Lily stood over the captured people, pity in their eyes.

“What will happen to them now?” Lily threw a pleading gaze at Hall.

He grit his teeth, but didn’t turn away from her. Yet he could only shake his head.

“Please. Help us.”

A faint voice echoed through the crater. Hall instantly turned toward the source and raised his thick chains, ready to strike.

The distorted image of a middle aged man raised his arms. “We need your help… please.”

His body vanished for a moment, before the ghostly presence appeared again. Desperation and pain twisted his face.

Hall couldn’t help but think of Lily’s appearance when he first met her, shackled to the tower.

His familiar didn’t hesitate and approached the spirit. “Tell us, what’s going on? Who are you?”

The man’s flickering form stabilized slightly and a tired smile spread on his face. “Thank god, you can hear me,” he said and pointed at the abominations the tree created within its crown.

“I’m one of them. A soul ripped from the body. We were crying for help for so long, but somebody has finally answered us” He raised his palms to his face to cover the tears. Sobs disrupted his words. “We tried to get away, some of us left to other levels. But most can’t make it past those glowing runes that cover the walls. They burn us. It hurts so much. Help us. I beg of you.”

Hall and Lily furrowed their brows, but didn’t interrupt the spirit who stood amidst unconscious bodies.

“But staying here hurts too. Close to that tree. He whispers to us. Dark thoughts. Of blood and fire. Of sweet death.” Shivers ran through the incorporeal figure. “It changes us. We try to resist, but in the end, we’ll become his. His soldiers.”

“Whose?” Hall asked. But he received no answer. The man simply stared into the distance, his eyes unfocused, his body trembling.

“He sees us. Sees everything. He calls us.” His expression softened. “So tired. I think… yes, I should just sleep.”

The man’s eyes closed, just briefly. Then they snapped open, showing nothing but black. His transparent body turned into a dark shadow and a violent screech left his mouth where rows of sharp teeth formed.

“Specter!” Moira yelled in panic. But Hall had already lifted his scythe blade and rammed it into the turning spirit’s chest. The scream transformed into a groan and the black inside the man’s eyes vanished. “Thank you,” he whispered before the metal in Hall’s hands devoured the darkness that infested the soul and granted it peace.

“Turning bodies into revenants and souls into specters...” Hall shook his head in disbelief. “Let’s burn it down.”

Lily turned toward him with a wry smile and poked his forehead. “That’s not always the solution you know?”

“Well, it works more often than not.”

“Your familiar is right,” Moira said. She sighed and continued in a patronizing tone. “On one side you have a big, evil tree that probably won’t burn, on the other hand you have a weapon that devours darkness. Now, what should you do?”

“Alright, alright already. I get it. No fire.” Hall pouted, but cracked up and chuckled at Lily who waved her index finger in front of his face.

His smile turned solemn when he looked at the humans before them. “Their souls are still in their bodies. Let’s send them off.”

Lily pressed her lips to a thin line, but she didn’t look away. Instead, she nodded and stepped closer to Hall, fully intent on staying by his side and supporting him in his gruesome task.

The warm blood didn’t soak into the hard ground and instead formed crimson puddles around the bodies. At least their souls were at peace now.

The moment Hall pulled the scythe from the last one, a semi-transparent message window appeared.

Event Quest: Whispers in the DarkDarkness infested the labyrinth beneath Roselake. The souls of kidnapped humans are turned into abominations—specters—to serve an unknown foe. Find the remaining specters and cleanse them.

Difficulty: D

Quest requirements:

Offer peace to the souls of the kidnapped humans that haven’t been transformed into specters yet

Rewards: Unknown

Hall narrowed his eyes. He always welcomed quests, especially when he planned to do the task anyway, but it came with the same condition as the one to destroy the Nachtmahre. The large labyrinth could harbor hundreds of these monsters and it could take days to get through it all.

Guess I need to hurry. I just hope the reward is worth the trouble.

They renewed their buffs and refilled their mana and health. The heavy metal in his hand sent tingles through his skin as if to express its excitement.

Hall breathed in deeply and took a step back. He raised the scythe blade and—with full force and a roar on his lips—rammed it into the trunk. The wood, hard as stone, cracked under the blow. Hall drove the weapon deeper and was rewarded with screeching noises and sparks, flying toward him.

Hall and Lily just stood next to each other, their gaze stuck to the scythe he had thrust into the tree. He had expected fire and brimstone, thunder and lightning. But what he got was… nothing. Absolute silence surrounded them. Seconds stretched to eternities and with tense muscles, his eyes jumped from the crater’s edge to the scythe and back.

In the utter silence the bell sound of a message window startled him and a loud curse slipped from his lips. Hall chuckled for a moment. He shook his head and looked at the message.

Event Start: CleansingTime left: 10 minutes

9:59

9:58

He immediately got ready for battle again. “We have a countdown. Ten minutes till this tree is down, let—“

Lily’s hand gesture cut him off. “Do you feel that?”

Hall knew better than to question her. He didn’t need to wait long. Slight vibrations found their way through his leather boots. Countless tremors created small waves in the puddles of blood as if small stones fell on a smooth surface.

Screams followed the trembling earth. Quiet first, carried by the wind. But soon enough, they filled the air. Cracking stones, painful screeches and the sound of feet hitting the hard ground. A stampede approached them from all directions.

“Get ready! We need to defend the scythe!” Hall grabbed his chains and Lily soared above the blade, her bare feet almost touching it. The black ground at the edge of the crater retreated slowly and the weapon, lodged in the tree, throbbed as it began to devour its rich meal.

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Suspicious glares followed her. The TV station had doubled her guards after a few close calls during the last days. They couldn’t afford to lose her at this point.

Alexa sighed at the attention. She preferred to run solo. How would she get any information if she traveled with a small army?

But her superiors insisted and after hours of discussion and a small raise, she agreed. The interview of the top players in Bredon increased her popularity many times over. Though considering her fame before was close to nonexistent, it still didn’t mean much.

And though her excitement over the new situation remained limited, she was smart enough to use it for her benefit. Her goal hadn’t changed. She wanted to rise within Sphinx and the way through their gaming division proved to be a shortcut. If need be, she’d play the cutesy reporter a while longer.

Despite the high level guards, her eyes darted from one dark alley to the next. The once quiet nights in Roselake had turned dangerous. Many citizens had already left and while during the day craftsmen, merchants and ordinary people still dominated the streets, the night belonged to the warriors. Both sides prepared for war. Bandits and knights, mercenaries and mages, players and NPCs roamed the city. Small fights and assassinations became a common occurrence.

“Don’t worry. As long as we’re here, nobody will dare attack you,“ an old knight said with a wide smile. Alexa let go of the breath she unconsciously held and tried to relax her tense muscles. The atmosphere got to her.

She forced out a small smile. “Thank you.” The guards consisted of hired, but trusted NPCs, players, and a few colleagues from work.

One of them, her newly appointed assistant, looked at her with a thin smirk. “Maybe the lady just doesn’t like the dark. It’s really scary after all.”

Alexa rolled her eyes. She had endured the man’s snide remarks all day. Some big shot got his son an apprenticeship at her gaming TV station and somebody thought it was a good idea to make him her assistant. Unfortunately the kid had neither manners nor respect. He already failed college once and was now between schools. And he really tested her patience.

She opened her mouth to rebuke him, but a slight tremor beneath her feet interrupted her. “Did you feel that?”

Everybody looked at her questioningly, but soon their eyes widened in surprise and shock. “Earthquake?” Panic entered her assistant’s voice. “What’s happening?”

Yelling and screaming emerged from Roselake’s streets as the ground trembled.

The old guard shook his head at Alexa’s gaze. “I don’t know miss, something like this has never happened before. It could be magic, but something of this scale?” He shivered at the thought.

Another guard, clad in full metal armor, scratched his grey beard and turned toward Alexa. “An army,” he said with a worried expression.

“An army?” Her face darkened.

The man simply nodded. “When hundreds and thousands of soldiers march, the ground shakes beneath their feet,” he swallowed hard, “I still remember a battle at the walls of this city. The earth trembled just like now. I don’t know why, but the ground beneath transmits the tremors far better than any battlefield I stood on.”

“What would an army do here?” Alexa asked in confusion. “We should have heard of it. Did they come here to join one side? Or is it a third party?”

“Hey, you’re the reporter, shouldn’t you know?” her assistant said, trying to cover his nervousness.

Alexa ignored his remark and quickly opened her journal and different message windows to contact her sources. “To the walls!” she ordered her group while she continued to send and receive messages. But before they arrived, the tremors had dwindled and vanished as quickly as they had come.

“What the hell?” Alexa wrinkled her nose. “My reports say that there’s nobody at the gates or walls.” She scratched her head and cursed silently. A few of her guards chuckled at her unladylike behavior. “Alright, back to the city center. Guess we’ll do a report from the market place.” She peeked at the clock in the corner of her field of view. Ten minutes? No, a little less I think. Wonder what happened...

Her last interview crossed her mind. The man who interrupted them. His broad shoulders as he left. But especially his promise. She searched the dark sky for signs of flames and smoke.

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Anna’s days after the interview had been busy, but some people could have sworn they saw her smile sometimes. A few even asked her if something had happened. Of course she had denied it, her expression as cold as ever. But she felt a little bit happier, she just didn’t want to share it, afraid somebody would take her little joy away.

She just logged into Novus Vita and met with Belinda and the rest. The hectic yelling around her caught Salena off guard. “What’s happening?” she asked a scowling Bale.

“Not sure. Probably an earthquake. Lasted a little less than ten minutes. No damages though. I’ve send Ryan and Nayr out to ask the NPCs.”

Several mercenaries carrying torches approached them. “Sir Bale, we couldn’t find the quake’s cause. What are your orders?”

The king had hired hundreds of warriors and made sure they knew the chain of command. Currently, Bale was in charge.

“Continue to investigate.” He shooed them away. “We can’t be sure, maybe it was the enemy. A spell of sorts. We’re almost ready for battle and I don’t want to take any risks.”

The soldiers bowed slightly, but Bale, Belinda and Salena had already walked past them. With their expensive equipment and powerful weapons, they looked like generals walking among their men. And many thought of them like that.

Salena observed the bustling rows of men and women moving back and forth. They worked on their equipment, trained their skills and prayed to their gods. They prepared for war. But as they walked through the streets, other images burned themselves into her mind. Crying children, dragged out of their houses by their parents, only carrying the bare necessities. Many had left their homes. Few held hope to return. Over a hundred thousand people lived in Roselake and many more came from the surrounding villages to trade or work. But during the last days, the number had dwindled.

The group of three passed a few kids, their eyes red, their clothes dirty. An old woman led them toward the city gates. Their hopeless faces burned a hole in her chest, but her expression remained frozen.

“Good thing they’re leaving on their own.” Belinda gave the fleeing people a dismissive glance. “They’d only be a hindrance during battle. It would be annoying if we killed them by accident and got infamy for it.”

Bale shrugged. He had never cared much for infamy. Enough churches could sell you a clean slate after all. As long as the infamy wasn’t too high, getting rid of it in exchange for gold was easy enough. They would even overlook a few more heinous acts, with the right incentive. After all, it’s hard to chase somebody if your pockets are full of gold.

“We’ll ask the king for more money, just in case.” Bale rubbed his hands together, a greedy smile twisting his handsome face.

Salena trembled slightly. His virtual face was so similar to his real one. She never liked either.

Belinda pushed past a group of fugitives who desperately tried to avoid them. “So, how are the numbers?”

“Pretty good. The damn king really gave us a fortune. Hiring players and NPCs was a breeze.” He moved his hand in a wide motion and laughed contemptuously. “Most fight for a handful of gold and a quest. We have a core group of somewhere between eight hundred and a thousand with levels beyond 70. All players. We didn’t get control over the city’s troops though,” he spit on the dirty ground, “but we have an additional three hundred from Shadow Wraith.”

Belinda nodded slowly. “Doesn’t seem like much.”

“It’s difficult to level up in Bredon, Most people are still around level 50.” Bale shrugged. As if to emphasize his words, he pushed two players out of the way. They dropped to the ground, but neither of them dared to say anything.

“But we have another three thousand player below 70. Another ten thousand NPCs fight under the king and his men. So, on our side we have around,” he scratched his chin, “fifteen thousand. Give or take.”

Shivers ran down Salena’s back. She didn’t dare to imagine the battle capacity of that many soldiers. The city would drown in blood.

But neither Bale, nor Belinda seemed concerned. Instead, the girl in a long, red robe grabbed an apple from her inventory and bit into it before she continued. “What about the enemy?”

Bale grunted unhappily and kicked a pebble on the dirty street. “Conflicting reports. Between one and two thousand players in total… probably. They have a quest to stop us.”

“And the NPCs on their side?”

“Four thousand, maybe five.” They stepped onto the market place and numerous people saluted them. The king’s troops still held a firm grasp on the central areas of the city. “But they are no army. Just a bunch of bandits and rebels. Different factions, no coordination. I don’t want us to be careless, but honestly, there shouldn’t be too much trouble.”

Salena pushed her anxiety down and kept her voice emotionless. “I guess there’s no way to avoid a fight?”

Bale raised an eyebrow. “Hell no. If necessary, I’ll start it myself. The planning took us weeks. Weeks we couldn’t raise our levels. Not since that asshole Frank,” his face twisted in anger, “canceled that useless curse. And we still have to return the items and gold we got from Aeneas’s priests. Fallen god of betrayal my ass. Just a damn cheapskate. Not our fault the damn curse broke and…” He talked himself into rage, but Salena stopped listening soon.

Around them, soldiers sharpened their swords and tended to their equipment. Some even brought horses they needed to take care of. Craftsmen constructed barricades and weapons while merchants sold arms, alcohol and other necessities. Recently, the economy in Roselake stagnated, but now the money flowed once more. For wine and war, for every day could be their last...

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Himoto could barely raise her tired eyelids. She already missed a handful of classes this week. She wanted to log out, but every time she tried, she heard crying, pleading and begging. Roselake was in a state of chaos. Even under normal circumstances, few soldiers bothered to protect the poorer parts of town. But now, at the brink of a civil war, nobody cared for the unfortunate.

She still contemplated on which side to join in the conflict. The king ruthlessly oppressed his citizens. They suffered under his unjust and cruel reign. But not a small part of the rebel force consisted of thieves and bandits. Under the disguise of a justified revolution, they killed and stole as they pleased.

So she helped those that had lost so much already flee from the upcoming battles, lest they lose what little they had left.

Himoto tightened the grip around her flaming whip and grit her teeth. Anger pushed away her exhaustion when hooded figures emerged from a dark alley and stealthily approached a group of fugitives.

Cold steel flashed in the moonlight and quick steps echoed throughout the streets. A figure raised a rusty blade, but a flash from the sky interrupted the strike.

Flames and ash rained on the bandits and consumed their flesh. Himoto barely registered their pleas for mercy. Soon enough the screams ceased and only burnt corpses remained.

A young boy among the fugitives raised his head in shock and pointed at the woman in red leather that stood on the roof beside them. “It’s Scarlet Fire.”

Though the sudden attack scared them, they all bowed to their savior, but the girl disappeared without a word. Another scream cut through the night.

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Time left:

9:27

9:26

9:25

The seconds trickled away, but they felt like hours. Terrifying screams and vicious roars resonated within the gigantic cave and merged to a cacophony of horror, loud enough to shake the earth. Countless feet hit the ground and Hall had to steady himself not to stumble.

Until finally, the first figure appeared at the edge of the crater. A hundred more stepped to its side. Dozens and dozens of revenants flooded toward them. Specters followed behind, a few at first, but more and more joined their ranks. Even Nachtmahre, discarding their weakness, rushed at them with madness in their eyes and foam on their lips.

Like locusts they swarmed over the edge. More and more. A wave of shadows and darkness. Unceasing. Endless.

“Dear god…” Moira cried out. Her voice quivered and broke.

Lily dropped her raised arms and stared at the dark flood with a blank face. She shook her head slowly, struggling to make sense of the scene before her.

Hall’s chains nearly slipped from his fingers. By now, hundreds of monsters filled the crater and charged at them with mindless desperation. He opened his mouth, but not a single word left it. He closed his eyes for a moment and let go of his breath. The end came in the form of a thousand demons... and he had nowhere to run.

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Hey guys,

Well that took a while, I’ve actually written a bit further, but this situation had a certain… tension I didn’t want to waste, hope you enjoyed it :D

As always, please let me know of any mistakes and if you have suggestions, I’m always grateful for input.

Thanks to all those who helped out (thanks to Requizition for proofreading) and a special thanks to Thomas, Sophie and Janardan for sponsoring this chapter ;)

:bye:

P.S: If you guys are interested in some scifi (with a little extra), you should check out the current May Short Story Contest (news on the main page), these contests always produce a heap of nice stories. Maybe some of you even want to participate :)

P.S.S: Nephesh-Ra changed to Nephesh-Ra’a, same reason as last time, I’m really not very proficient with Hebrew ^^

and there will be a detailed update on skills and stats next chapter (probably ;) )