Chapter Twenty-Four Homecoming

Wraith watched as the Nommen Airship descended lowering a gangplank and troops disembarked spreading out to create a perimeter. He pulled out a long bronze rifled barrel and fitted into it a bronze shell topped with a glowing crystal, sighting down the barrel his right hand twisted and turned the runic aligners to align with the crystal’s energy. Gazing down the sight Wraith squeezed the trigger and a blast of condensed wind stuck the head of the Commander. The crusaders began scurrying around forming a wall of shields and forming multiple turtle formations. Spell snipers lifted their battle-staves and began scanning the undergrowth around Wraith and he ducked as bolts of lightning, golden light, wind and fire blasted around him.

Wraith moved into the shadows and his party gathered around him hiding in the bushes as the execution force marched towards them. Wraith whistled and his Strykers rushed out of the undergrowth rushing heedlessly towards the enemy tackling the shield walls a few breaking through and attacking the holy warriors. The attack startled the enemy, but these were followers of Zalladron, and they specialized in fighting the undead. Radiant energy gleamed along the edge of their weapons and the Strykers went down hard.

Wraith looked to his left where Dryad sat in a huddled form tears streaming down her face. He snapped his fingers repeatedly before she looked up.

“Order your minions to surround and attack these intruders,” he commanded her.

Dryad closed her eyes and the forest came alive as plants and animals and fey creatures moved through the undergrowth and brush. The crusaders heard the noise and tightened their formation they fey attacked and pitched battle broke out. The crusaders were hard-pressed the radiant energy having little to no effect on the fey and plants as the vines dragged the knights and priests out of formation into the rampaging hoard of teeth, hooves and thorns. The soldiers tightened even more as the airship above moved to let the spell snipers aboard provide fire support for the troops on the ground.

“Faceless, time to do your part of the plan,” Wraith said.

Faceless nodded, tracing out a doorway in the shadow they were hiding in; a black doorway appeared and one after another they stepped through into a hallway of wooden planks. Wraith drew his sword followed by the rest of his party. They dropped the packs they were carrying laden with the spoils of war. They spread out in groups of two. Wraith moved to the edge of the ship where the spell snipers were firing from slits in the sides of the ship.

He waves his hand and darkness that only he could see through filled the hallway. Spinning through the group with his rapier and a dagger he slit the spell-sniper’s throats as the panicked and fired blindly in the darkness. The ship's main body of defenders finished Wraith and Fear moved upstairs to the deck of the ship. Gnomes and humans dropped the ropes and tools they were using and stared in horror as the Dungeons gathered on deck.

Wraith cleared his throat. “Attention crew, this ship has been commandeered. You can either submit to my rule, our throw yourselves off the sides of the ship to save yourself from whatever torturous death I decide for you if you resist me.”

One of the crew members rushed Wraith with no hesitation a fanatical gleam in his eye. “For the light!” he shouted.

Wraith extended his rapier and the man impaled himself on it sliding the to the ground clutching his chest as blood began to pour out around him.

“Anyone else?” Wraith asked.

All around him the men and woman drew weapons and charged. Furry swung her great-sword, lightning arched along her blade and six humans crumpled to the ground with scorched gaping wounds. A wave of fire burst from all sides of the group incinerating anyone trying to surround them. Plague disappeared reappearing in the shadows behind six different targets and they toppled to the ground as his claws burst through their chest.

The rest of the crew stopped, and Wraith stepped forward a man swung at him with a cutlass. Wraith caught the blade with Ajax, closing his fist the blade shattered. The rest of the crew ran jumping over the side of the rails. Nodding in satisfaction Wraith took his place at the wheel and looked out at the sky ahead of them.

“Fear, do me a favor scorch the ground beneath us I want our friends on the ground to be crippled by the next time they come after us,” Wraith said.

“With pleasure,” Fear said stepping to the side of the ship and raising her staff, the sky blackened, and blazing comets plunged down the force of their impact shaking the ground.

They flew the airship until they arrived at the ruins of Wraith Eminence.

“I’ll stay with the ship,” Faceless said. “I wouldn’t want someone to pull the same trick on us.”

Disembarking they descended into the depths and down the long path. Entering the sunken caverns Wraith took point. The hydra reared out of the water but seeing Wraith it calmed itself its heads lowering down to be petted and he deposited several bodies at its feet as a treat. Lounging at the base of the tower the four Dungeons poured themselves a drink out of some fancy bottles they had found in the ship.

“What’s our plan now?” Fear asked.

“I never gave much thought about what I was going to do after I go my revenge,” Plague admitted. “I found my Lord Spark, but he is a husk I don’t know if it is even possible for him to recover from what has been done to him.”

“That bitch,” Furry said, looking at the shivering form of Dryad who sat with her knees to her chest at the base of the beach.”

“I am in a similar predicament,” Wraith said. “Although my Lord Spark may recover with time, I currently have no minions as do none of us. No way to secure our cores and expand our power which is why I have a suggestion.”

“I’m listening,” Fear said crossing her arms over her breasts.

“We extend our alliance; we continue to exist in the same cavern as we are now,” Wraith suggested.

“But what is our goal?” Plague asked. “Just surviving is not enough for me.”

“Nor me,” Wraith agreed. “I want what we all want. The desire of our species is to gather more power, we don’t’ have minions but we have something else. We can go into battle ourselves, but we still can create matter out of magic. Even the most powerful mages of any other race can manage this for only the smallest of items, or their creations are illusion rather than reality. We can walk among the mortal races and take wounds that our other peers couldn’t in their host bodies.”

“What are you suggesting?” Fear asked.

“We don’t need to kill humans for their soul-sparks. We can create gold, magic weapons and armor. We could hire an army if we needed it and equip it with enough weaponry to sweep an empire into the sea.” Wraith explained. “the other Dungeons have forgotten us; we are nothing to them. It is time we return to society and reveal that we are far from helpless.”

“You want to aid the Noble Order and prove that Dryad and the Old Guard were wrong?” Furry asked.

“No!” Wraith spat anger entering his voice. “The Noble Order abandoned us to Dryad and let her wipe our Lord Sparks and leave us defenseless in our dungeons to be destroyed by some wizard or arcanist who cut our cores into pieces to use in some staff or experiment. I want to burn both their factions to the ground to show them that a new order is coming one that does not cower in holes in the ground waiting for heroes to come to them.”

“You want to declare war on all the other Dungeons,” Fear breathed out in realization.

“Yes, we will be a new type of dungeon one that conquers and subdues. Imagine a world where each city was ruled by a Dungeon, immortal rulers who would never die. We would not need to kill humans to gain new sparks, they die all the time their lives are only a blink to creatures like us. Our dungeons would be their cities whenever one died, we would collect their soul-spark, our minions would not be raiders or cultists but keepers of the law and defenders of their borders. What kingdom could stop an army that can replenish its losses in a single day?” Wraith asked his voice zealous with his vision.

“The other dungeons would never accept your vision,” Fear said.

“When we are done with them, they will not have a choice,” Wraith answered her.

Attention, Faceless’s voice said appearing in Wraith’s head. There is an army headed towards our position you four should get up here and have a look at it.

The four Dungeons ran to the surface and boarded the ship running to the top deck. Overlooking the land, they saw a long procession of galloping hoard headed their way.

“More followers of Zalladron?” Plague asked.

“Not unless they have started to let gremlins and illrigger into their ranks,” Faceless said with a laugh.

“We should see what they want,” Wraith said.

Wraith descended the ship's ramp and went to the base of the ruins of the castle where he waited with crossed arms. Finally, the army broke through the line of trees they were the race of goblin that he had heard of gremlin, as well as a contingent of black-armored knights on horseback and among them a woman he recognized. She dismounted a smile on her face and strode towards him.

Wraith found himself walking toward her, an involuntary force pushed him, and he embraced her his lips meeting hers. She was hot and soft, and the memories of his past life came to him again in a rush reminding him of all that he had once been. He did not reject the memories, they were a part of him, they had guided his subconscious all the while and led him to where he was now.

“I missed you,” he said, the words were true not something invented to placate her. “What did your friends say when you left? Where did you get this army?”

Marith’s face hardened with anger. “Those ‘friends’ of mine abandoned me to be locked in a dungeon by the Nommen I was given a choice by Pathaldron. He could leave me in the cell, or I could become one of the Ten and in exchange, he would bring my children to me. Then he gave me this army and I stormed Nomm and left it burning and its royal family butchered in their burning palace.”

Wraith smiled at her in pride. “Where are the children now?”

Marith’s face fell. “I don’t know Pathaldron hasn’t returned them to me yet.”

“Pathaldron will deliver them,” Wraith said. “The god of darkness never breaks his word.”

“No he does not,” said a deep growly voice.

They turned to see in the shadows of a ruined arch an even blacker silhouette of a wolf. Out of the darkness stepped two children shaking with fear. They looked about in fear but their faceless lit up when they saw Marith.

“Mommy!” they cried charging forward tackling her legs and squeezing her as if she was about to be snatched away from them again.

Tears flowed from Marith’s eyes. “I love you two so much.”

Wraith knelt before his children. “Do you remember me?” he asked.

“Daddy?” his son asked.

“Yes Aldric,” Wraith said taking his son in his arms.

“I thought you died,” Aldric said hugging him tightly.

“I did, someday I’ll tell you all about it,” Wraith said. “Welcome home.”