I followed the ledge of the cliff as it gradually angled towards the northeast. I stayed low, trying to stay behind the sparse vegetation and sporadically placed rocks. This slowly brought me closer to the courtyard, but there was still the problem of an army of creatures between the Peacekeeper encampment and myself. There were gaps where the different breeds of abomination refused to mix, but I couldn’t see a way to slip through those narrow openings without being detected.

The area around the battlefield had been trampled flat. Even the grass had been ground down to nothing but dust. There were no trees or rock formations large enough to provide cover. A stream that had broken off from the larger river cut through the northern half of the horde, but just getting there undetected would be impossible. Even if I could, I had no guarantee that I wouldn’t be noticed as I tried to swim against the current.

There was no clear shot to the courtyard, and a growing number of beasts were congregating around the area. Different species would occasionally engage in short skirmishes to determine which of them would be allowed to attack the Peacekeeper defenses. The losers would scurry off, biding their time.

It became a constant rotation of infighting followed by challenges and posturing that were inevitably followed by an earth-shattering charge against the glowing blue forcefield. Each time these attacks would be broken by a deluge of fire and lead.

Whatever faults I had with the Peacekeepers, I couldn’t criticize their accuracy.

Despite this, the attacks showed no sign of slowing. It was an unending cycle as more beasts would take the place of the slain. Each wave destroyed was added to a growing mound of corpses. It was as if the horde was content to entomb the Peacekeepers in a mountain of sacrificial flesh.

Even for mutated, eldritch infested beasts, it seemed unnatural. Their survival instincts had been overpowered by a mindless bloodlust. There had to be more to it, some motive I wasn’t seeing. This single-mindedness only aided me, as it kept the thousands of unfriendly eyes pointed away, but I still felt uneasy.

I wasn’t being watched and had the element of surprise, so it would be a test of their speed against my own. Some of the quadrupeds and smaller humanoids were quick, but I was capable of explosive bursts of speed when required.

There was even a chance of assistance if I could get close enough to the courtyard — though I was uneasy to put my safety in Sebbit’s hands once more.

If only the mindless beasts were the only thing I had to worry about. The red-robed giants stood as silent sentinels. They peered down on everything before them with unmoving attentiveness. Each was ringed by a group of thirteen mages.

What I needed was a distraction.

It would have to be big. My eye slipped down to the pocket of energy I was using to carry the dungeon core. I had intended to use it as a threat — a way to get Sebbit to back down. The idea seemed foolish now. The captain was way too by-the-book to give into what was essentially a terrorist threat. Besides, it couldn’t be a bluff. I’d have to truly be willing to go through with it.

If I wasn’t sincere, he’d see through the ruse. I wasn’t sure if it was skill or Skill, but the captain was impossible to lie to.

I’d have to be willing to blow up Tiller as well. That wasn’t really an option if saving the cocky son-of-bitch was my only goal. It was time to stop thinking, and just act. Let the chips fall where they may.

I formed a plan. It was monumentally stupid and not properly thought out, perhaps, but it was all that I had.

I jumped from the cliff.

For a tiny moment, I closed my eyes and allowed myself to feel the unbridled joy of it. The sky was behind me and the ground raced up to meet me as the wind flowed over my face and brushed back my hair. It was exhilarating.

It was also brief.

I was trusting to nothing but chance that I wouldn’t be seen before I landed, but that was the smallest worry on my mind. The drop was more than enough to kill me, or at least the old me. Rather than risk shattering every bone in my body I fabricated two wings from pure eldritch energy that sprung from my back and curved outward to catch the air.

The wings bore large, black and red feathers and were modeled after the kingfisher’s — a form I had become all too familiar with. They were big enough to fit on a single engine Cessna, and almost entirely rigid. They looked the part but lacked the strength or articulation for true flight.

They were enough, however, to slow my descent as I softly spiraled downward. I looked below to the horde and its masters, but nothing turned to stare up at me. I had either gone unseen or ignore.

As I broke through the top of the forest canopy, I dismissed the wings and fell the rest of the distance. I hit the ground with a heavy thud that turned into an uncontrolled roll. It was painful, but after a quick check of my status screen, I was convinced that I was unharmed.

Who needed x-rays and doctor visits when I could just summon a hallucinogenic display involuntarily implanted into my head by an invading alien civilization? Progress.

Before I continued, I scanned my surroundings for threats. Who knew what kind of scavengers would be attracted to a battlefield this size?

I found nothing.

Nature was never still. Even when you couldn’t see anything, the signs were always there. At least, before that day I’d never seen their absence.

I could hear the tremble of the earth as thousands of feet marched across it, and the shouts and howls were a ringing vibration that shook my skull. There was nothing else. No skitter of tiny claws on bark, or the rustling of leaves as creatures fled through the underbrush. No birdsong filled the sky — only the angry buzzing of millions of flying beetles.

Everything else was gone or had bunkered down and feared to show itself. This absence filled me with more dread than any number of visible threats could have. I’d seen what the ecosystem had become, and it was at its most dangerous when you didn’t know what to expect.

If it was true that no scavengers waited to clear the battlefield, then something else was waiting — something worse.

I didn’t have time to worry about what I couldn’t see. I quickly sprinted towards the battlefield but stopped before I passed the tree line. It was the last cover I’d have, with more than five-hundred yards of empty space between me and the rear line of the attacking horde.

Assaulting the horde directly was pointless, there were too many of them. I needed to take down the generals. The red-robed giants seemed the obvious candidate, but I was hesitant because they seemed too obvious.

The closest of the giants was standing his vigil behind a group of green-skinned humanoids. They looked like spindly goblins and were dressed in tattered garments made from untreated hide. They held simple weapons, mostly clubs or short javelins with stone spearheads. Some of their number were much larger, at least three times the size of the other goblins and twice as wide at the shoulders.

They were ferocious, battling even amongst themselves to reach the front of the battlefield. The largest would casually trample the others as they charged forward. One such creature even carved a path through green flesh, swinging an oversized stone club back and forth like a scythe cutting down wheat.

This casual slaughter of their own people, combined with the segregation of species, told me that whatever was controlling this army had a tenuous hold at best. There was some influence overriding primal instincts and free will, but it was fallible. My only chance was to disrupt that influence.

The entire time I’d held the dungeon core I had been slowly venting energy so that it wouldn’t build up too much pressure. I decided to close this vent and slowly contract the pocket, allowing the pressure to build unchecked.

I quickly felt the energy pushing against me. It struggled against my control as it grew stronger with each second.

This was incredibly dangerous and was akin to holding an armed bomb without a visible timer. Luckily, I didn’t have to hold it myself. Instead, I conjured a Shadow Doppelganger and slowly passed the core to it. It was a slow process, as I had to be sure to keep the orb encased in a thick membrane of eldritch energy.

As soon as the process was complete the doppelganger shot forward faster than I could keep up. I followed behind as closely as I could, concentrating on keeping my makeshift explosive encased. If I failed to contain the energy it would either harmlessly disperse or violently expand before I was ready. Either option would likely lead to my death.

I could already feel the membrane beginning to degrade.

I conjured an illusionary sphere around myself that matched the color of the dirt beneath my feet. It wasn’t a perfect illusion, especially with the speed at which I was moving. My hope was that the screaming shadow flying like an arrow towards the nearest giant would be distraction enough to make my camouflage effective.

Before the doppelganger crossed half the open field, bolts of green lightning and streams of jade fire filled the sky. I ordered it to dive closer to the ground. My clone flew low enough that its toes almost brushed the earth, and a thick cloud of dust rose up behind it. This covered its advance somewhat but wasn’t enough to stop a stream of green fire from passing through the shadow.

I cursed, shifting all my focus into the duplicate, and lying my true body as close to the ground as possible. The line of fire had evaporated the left leg of the shadow from the knee down. A layer of green flame still clung to the stump of the illusionary leg, despite having no possible source of fuel.

The flames slowly climbed over the rest of the leg, threatening to engulf the shadow completely. Rather than continue the attack, I ordered the doppelganger to crash into the dirt. I had it mimic thrashing and screaming, as if it were injured. Its howls were the death throes of a mournful creature.

This only drew more attention, and some of the horde couldn’t help but turn towards injured prey. The entire time I slowly crept forward being careful to stay as low as possible.

I’d been fishing enough times to know that live bait was the most effective. I’d let the worm dance for a bit before I set the hook.

Before long hundreds of the goblins were charging towards my downed doppelganger. The green fire was continuing to consume it, but I sacrificed what remained of the leg and ordered the creature to crawl away. It screamed in feigned agony the entire time.

The watchful and hungry gaze of thousands of bloodthirsty beasts didn’t notice a small, black ball slowly rolling towards the circle of robed mages. As the orb got further from me, my controlled lessened. The membrane of eldritch energy became unstable and began to swirl and expand under the mounting pressure.

I fought to keep the thickness consistent as the pressure continued to grow increasingly difficult to contain with every inch it moved. Soon I would lose control completely and it would spin out of my grasp.

As the horde reached the downed doppelganger, they tore it apart and looked around in confusion as their meal quietly evaporated into harmless mist. With raging shrieks, they began to fight amongst themselves. Stone and wood broke bones and teeth. Blood flowed freely as claw and fang tore into flesh. Screams pierced the chaos, and nothing noticed a small ball as it continued forward.

Eventually, the red-robed giant turned its attention away from the battle in front of it and towards the rebelling goblins behind. It let out a silent howl, and the goblins looked up in confusion. A calm came over them and they reluctantly turned back toward the rest of the horde.

At the same time, the giant looked down as a small object came to rest against its foot. The face of the creature was hidden in shadows, but its head turned slightly to the side and its shoulders rose.

As the creature reached down to pick up the object, I allowed the eldritch membrane to collapse. It didn’t dissipate all out once, instead, it spun as layers of energy gradually evaporated. Tiny pinpricks of light began to appear on the sphere and the energy began to swirl faster.

As the speed increased the pinpricks grew larger, and thin needles of energy began to shoot outwards from them. I saw the giant pull back and howl in rage, its hand was dripping blood and missing fingers. The pinpricks of light quickly consumed the entire orb until it was a swirling mass of glowing plasma.

And then the membrane stretched beyond its limit and orb released its energy, the final wisp of the protective barrier evaporating into nothingness.