We worked in silence, breathing only when necessary and working as quickly as we could. The corpse’s fluids pooled on the ground, putrid stench pervading throughout. Keeping our hands clean was fairly simple, as Oroc had said, the cloth was water repellent, once we had drained the suit by whisking off its shoes, all we had to do was try not to touch the corpse with our hands as we worked.

While Jubin and Fralator worked on one corpse, me and Aon worked on another, lifting clasps and pulling apart parts of the clothing. Strangely, the clasps seemed decorative, and the suit itself appeared to be stuck together, coming apart easily with minor coaxing. Doubt that would be the case in combat, but how would it work then? I wondered, folding up the helmet, surprisingly soft, and placing it into a bag.

We stripped down three corpses, laying their bodies against the wall. Oroc told us to leave them there, we would not be able to bury them in the time constraint that we had, so after he made a sign at the bodies, we pressed on. Grenades were useful here, when we bounced them into corners, and since I could see them so easily, the few times we needed to use them were handled efficiently. Concentrated fire down a corridor also worked, with a lull at the end as Aon soaked up whatever retaliation they had fired before they fell.

More corpses showed up as we moved down, disappearing after we arrived at the mouth of a cave, some beginning to show signs of extreme violence, where bodies seemed crushed or impaled through chinks. Strangely, despite the softness of the material, I rarely found punctures and never found rips, and the punctures were often accompanied by severe blunt force trauma.

An Annihilator from the previous generation awaited us within. A sword held, no, fused to its hand. It turned to regard us, and raised the sword in challenge, falling into stance. Our first reaction was of course, to shoot it, our second? To step backwards and gain some distance. The creature didn’t have a barrier, our bullets impacted on hard carapace-like armour instead, cracking it.

Flames sprouted from the ground ahead, and we leapt back, uncomfortable heat permeating the space even from my location behind them. The creature waded through, spreading more gouts of flame and Page noticed that the impact cracks were receding. I aimed again, taking a deep breath. The bullet impacted, shattering the carapace as it growled and ducked, the ground now shaking in close proximity to it as more flames spread. It closed on Fralator, who ducked away through the flames. It ignored him, quickly charging towards us, hidden behind a smokescreen from the flames it conjured.

It went straight for me, barrelling past and swatting at them with its sword, and while I narrowly missed being impaled, its arms had shoved me, slamming me into a wall. Several bullets from my sidearm staggered it as it tried to skewer me. Fralator embedded many more into its exposed chest, bullets spraying as he fired one-handed, nestling the gun in the crook of his left arm, only stopping when it toppled over. We sat on the ground further on, its corpse behind us, hands jittery from our closest brush with death.

I coughed, somewhat assuaged by the lack of blood coming from my mouth, and limped to my rifle. The skin had ripped slightly when the creature had slammed into me, and though it didn’t bleed, it hurt. A few abrasions courtesy of the creature marked my arms, though none were serious.

Jubin knelt, laying his hands against Fralator’s arm, where a large third-degree burn lay, and channelled magic, a weak golden glow came about, far weaker than when Aon had worked in the refugee camp. I could tell why, the Magi plane had precious few streams left within where we were, though this far in, the convergence of magic was much stronger than at the edges. I helped peel away the edges of Aon’s trousers from her burn on her right calf.

“You fought that while outnumbered? How…” Jubin coughed, laying back as he finished the healing. “There’s no way.”

Oroc looked apologetic, “We did, though we were far better trained, and always with better equipment.”

“Sooner or later you should give us an explanation as to why we were chosen.” Fralator said, his tone slightly annoyed, slightly accusatory, as he healed Aon's wound. “We accepted because we trusted in the Brigade’s judgement, but more and more this seems like a suicide mission.”

Oroc sighed, but did not answer. Fralator grumbled, but followed as we pressed on.

The cave system gradually sloped downwards, the tunnel itself growing larger and larger as we continued. It eventually opened into a large open system, the right wall dropping away as we continued. Strangely, despite my continued Delving I couldn’t see any more of the Annihilators.

A distinctive iron scent quickly hinted as to the reason, and running ahead, visual confirmation was given. Corpses were scattered across the floor at the base of the cave, strewn about like broken toys. Many were the Annihilator corpses, and the corpses of the Brigade were nearly less than a fifth. Other human corpses also littered the area, likely the Auxiliary Corps’ combat force.

Here the corpses showed a wide variety of injuries, but there was one commonality between them: namely that of excessive force. Even in the gloom it was obvious that the Auxiliary Corps members had been blasted into pieces, their armour ripped to shreds and occasionally their body parts separated from their bodies. Oroc stood beside me in stunned silence, and when the group caught up, they visibly recoiled from the edges of the chamber, where the corpses lay.

So savage was the scene that it was Oroc that brought my attention to something even more stupefying. He gasped, and I followed his gaze upwards, a large gaping hole had been made in the ceiling, and a thick layer of fine sand was coating the ground around me.

The sound of retching came from behind me, Jubin and the others had been moving closer to the corpses, what they saw didn’t need to be explained. I took a breath, steeling myself, and turned to approach them.

I won’t describe in detail the states of the Auxiliary Corps, suffice to say they were left an unidentifiable mess. The Annihilators and Brigade fared better, but not by much, the force of impact had burst open much of the Brigade armour like tin cans, spilling some liquified slurry onto the ground. That mixed with the fluid from the Annihilators, their armour cracked and broken.

“The Annihilators are all from the last incursion, all the various types lie here.” He said, voice trembling. “They cracked open the Behemoth.” His attention was fixed on a hulking Annihilator, thrice the volume of the strongest man, armoured to the brim, cracked, bleeding, yet somehow still alive, great breaths were taken, yet the creature no longer seemed capable of movement.

We stood there for a few minutes, the group sitting down from shock, as we surveyed the carnage. I shuddered for a moment, closing my eyes.

Oroc seemed worried, staring up at the hole in the ceiling. “What could possibly have done this?” he murmured, still dumbfounded.

I TOO WOULD LIKE TO KNOW.

A menacing voice boomed throughout the cavern, and I turned to see a creature in the middle of the chamber. Oroc’s projection seemed to flicker, and the other three instantly snapped their heads towards it. It had no eyes, and though humanoid, it fell into the uncanny valley, proportions just slightly wrong, wearing some kind of strange silvery armour.

REYVA DISAPPEARED, AND IN HER PLACE I FIND A CAVERN STEEPED IN DEATH, STRIPPED OF MAGIC. WHAT DO YOU KNOW?

Its presence was oppressive, even without eyes I could feel its attention squarely on me. Reyva likely meant the Adversary, but why was the name pronounceable in human tongue?

“If Reyva is the Adversary, it entered the physical plane a month ago. The…” Oroc began.

REYVA DID NOT ENTER OF HER WILL, AND HER TREASURED BRIGADE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN CAPABLE OF THIS. SHE SHOULD HAVE ALLOWED ME TO DISPOSE OF YOU FLAWED CREATURES LONG AGO. IT WAS ONE OF YOUR KIND WASN’T IT?

He turned to me and Oroc, weighting us both. No sarcasm laced his second sentence, only disdain. Her treasured Brigade? I wondered.

NO MATTER, THOUGH YOU CANNOT HELP ME, HE CAN.

It turned to me, and the sand across the ground turned to glass, instantly crystallizing. Hot wind rose from it, shifting past me before stilling instantly. The corpses throughout the cave ordered themselves, and the Brigade’s armour appeared before me stacked together.

YOU WILL SEEK OUT REYVA AND BRING HER BACK FROM WHEREVER SHE HAS BEEN TAKEN, ELSE I WILL END ALL MANKIND UPON THIS PLANET. THIS, IS MY PROOF.

Aon, Fralator and Jubin fell like puppets, while Oroc simply disappeared. I ran over, checking each for either heartbeat or breath, and found neither. I thought of CPR, but discarded it, turning to the creature and growling. “Bastard.” A deep guttural laugh bounced within the cavern, and a smile formed from a mouth on what I had assumed to be armour. They sat up, as well as a handful of Auxiliary Corps’ members, who looked around in confusion before becoming glassy eyed and crashing to the ground with a thud. Fralator sat up, groggy, as Jubin and Aon curled up, I think I heard him whimper.

BE TESTED FOR THIS BRIGADE, IF YOU ARE ACCEPTED, IT WILL AT LEAST MARK YOU AS DECENT FOR YOUR SPECIES, AND ALLOW YOU THE LIAEN FOR YOUR JOURNEY.

It disappeared after the words had been spoken. Oroc appeared before me, gasping. “I was… pulled… briefly into… the After.” He shuddered.

“It told me to be tested for the Brigade.” I told him, brow furrowed. “Something about proving myself.”

Oroc grimaced. “He wants you to gain our abilities in order to bring back the Adversary.” He paused. “I doubt his ultimatum is a bluff.”

“All he did was form glass from sand, along with what could have been fake death.” I reasoned, “Why don’t you think it was a bluff?”

“Because of two things, the magical pressure he exuded was immense, he was a font of magic.” Iocenes’ head poked out the side of a wall. “He filled in the hole in the Magi plane.” Oroc said, his face fearful. “Second, I just checked outside, the whole plains have been cleansed of all life.” He shook his head. “The Annihilators are on par with us, or perhaps little better, his power should be compared using a logarithmic scale.”

“Was that… A god?” Aon asked.

“I think so, but we are all in uncharted waters. It is time to return.” Oroc announced. “I’m sorry for what you’ve been put through.”

Jubin turned towards us, his face contorting into a brief snarl, settling instead on discontent. “We have fought obviously superior enemies, tread upon an enormous, open aired crypt!” He gestured towards the corpses now stacked neatly aside. “And been ignored by a creature who gave mysterious remarks to the both of you before assaulting us and leaving me feeling deathly.” He took a deep breath. “When we return I will require an explanation, this is not how I expected the Brigade to function.”

Aon nodded empathically. “Yea, what the hell is going on anyway?”

“I guarantee that I will explain as well as I am able after we’ve returned and you have rested.” Oroc replied. “On my honour.” He raised his hand to his chest, palm open.

Sufficiently mollified, likely as much by the prospect of proper rest as an explanation, we entered the maw of Iocenes once more.