The sound of metal on metal reverberated through the courtyard. Virgil silently watched as Lato sparred with his retainer. At first the match was even but soon the retainer fell into Lato’s rhythm. A skillful dodge, parry, strike, slash, thrust and with a loud grinding note the retainer’s sword flew through the air. Depositing itself on the opposite side of the courtyard where it would likely stay.

Virgil let out a slow clap at the display garnering the attention of all on the training field. Lato let out a low chuckle before giving Virgil an exaggerated bow. “I hoped the cambian horrors had finally laid your old soul to rest Virgil.” Lato taunted. “A delicate scholar such as yourself had no place on such a field of battle.”

“Only with the luck of the Gods could the cambians hope to do away with me. Such blessings seem to have been exhausted in these times.” Virgil replied. “News of the western gate has reached the ears of your Father I take it.”

“Indeed. He sits alone in his chambers staring at his maps all day. As if that will stop the cambian charge.” Lato let out a sigh before giving his sword a few empty swings through the air. “I still don’t understand what you were supposed to accomplish at the border. As powerful a warrior you may be, none could have turned the tide of such a battle alone.”

“If Hokron deems my presence necessary, then there can be no greater reason to join the conflict.” Virgil sighed before continuing. “When the God’s delivered Hokron onto mankind I was chosen to be his instrument. I took an oath, no matter the decree I would follow in service unburdened by doubt. I swore unto eternal service both in life and in death.” Virgil let out a tired sigh something he had been doing more and more frequently.

“The gravity of such an oath, only recently dawned upon me.”

***

The corpselings charged at me without hesitation. Soon the teal circular dungeon was filled to the brim with raging bodies. With a subtle clunk the turning wall locked into place behind me. I had nowhere to run accept forward. I braced myself preparing to meet the tide of bodies and was soon swept away.

No matter how I tried to cut or stab the dagger simply fell short. I was struck by hundreds of clubs and slashed by tens of broken swords. Soon I was laid out on the cold uneven floor, my body torn and battered not a single muscle responded to my call. With a distant roar, the beatings stopped. A tall thin corpseling rose above me. Clad in only a stained gambeson shirt and equipped with nothing more than a dull axe and broken circular shield strapped to his arm. He lifted me up by my bald scalp and slowly began to chip away at my neck with his axe.

IT HURT.

God it hurt. It took the bastard nearly twelve swings to finish the job. When my head finally left my body I had but a few seconds of consciousness before I slipped back into the darkness.

When I awoke, I was locked in one of the many teal cells with nothing but the bone dagger deposited cleanly in between my ribs. With what little strength I could muster I tore the dagger from my side and was greeted by more of those damned compulsions.

'Go back into battle!'

'Rip the heads from their bodies!'

'Know no FEAR!'

'KILL EVERYTHING!'

Although different in content the uncomfortable feeling of having someone else’s thoughts forced into my head was more than enough to let me recognize them for what they were. Is this what drives the other corpselings? It would explain why they charged directly at me without pause. But why weren’t they fighting each other?

Questions plagued my mind as I slowly rose to my knees. I didn’t have the strength to stand but I could still crawl forward and raise my arms. More than enough. I moved to the front of the cell and peered out. The circular hall was patrolled by a few corpselings. When I first arrived there were hundreds, so I had no doubts that there were more somewhere out of sight. Trying to fight them head on was a lost cause as proven by my quick demise. I needed to plan. Although this wasn’t made easy with the constant compulsions to charge out and kill everything ringing in my head.

I tested the cell door and sure enough it was unlocked. I checked the patrols once more. It didn’t seem like they reacted to the noise. I opened the door and slipped out into the hall looking for anything that might help me turn the tide. The hall was a mess, the ground was uneven and piles of rocks broken from walls plagued the hall. The greenlighted torches were affixed to the wall by iron holdings and there was the rhythmic sound of a piston shooting out and in periodically in the distance.

I took one of the loose stones of the floor and threw it at the nearest guard. I never had the best arm and having little to no strength didn’t help this. The stone bounced off the floor and landed somewhere far right of his legs. Sadly this failed to gain a reaction, I would probably actually need to hit him with the stone. After more throws than I care to admit I was finally able to land a hit on the corpselings calf.

He or maybe she, it was hard to tell when they were barely more than bones, took a quick look around before resting their eyes on me. I wasn’t even given a moment to think before it charged me. It practically threw itself on me, using a larger stone from the ground as its weapon. I fell to the side in an attempt to dodge its charge. I lost my left arm to the large stone, but I could still fight. My dagger found purchase in the corpselings side and quickly the vitality began to pour into me.

“GraaaH!” The corpseling let out a disgusting scream as it was drained. Two more of the patrolling guards reacted to the noise charging straight towards me. With my renewed strength I tossed the husk forward successfully blocking one of the guard’s tackle. The other came barreling full force down on me, its wooden club up high and at the ready. I dodged the swing and thrust forward with the dagger stabbing the corpseling in the chest. Before I could finish draining it’s vitality the other guard was upon me. It struck me with its stone knife and I ended up dropping the bone dagger.

I did my best to guard but was repeatedly cut over and over again. I tried to get to the dagger, but the guard made sure to position himself between me and the weapon. In a fit of desperation, I tackled the knife wielding corpseling to the ground. I grabbed the nearest stone and began to pummel the head of the guard. It took five bashes to finally get the corpseling to stop resisting. I slowly made my way to the dagger and proceeded to drain the vitality of the two newcomers.

When all the vitality was stolen, I dragged their husks back into my cell hoping to gain a little time to inspect what gear I could salvage. The first corpseling to attack had an adjustable armguard on their left arm. The second had nothing more than a scrap of cloth it was using as underwear which I quickly helped myself too. The third was wearing half a chain shirt riddled with holes, it barely covered half my chest, but it was better then nothing. After equipping my new armor, I looked at the wooden club. It wasn’t much but it still had longer reach then my dagger. The fight with the third guard proved that I could still drain them even after killing them. After a little consideration I decided to take the club with me.

I moved further down the circular hallway, I was able to drain two more guards as I went and even acquired a soleless right boot. As I went the sound of the rhythmic piston kept getting louder and louder. Finally, after ages of walking a stairway came into sight. I started up the stairs and soon found myself captivated by their design. They had a carved flourish to them with the base of each stair having a row of diamond holes a few inches wide. Whatever crusty blood didn’t dry on the spot seemed to drain into the diamond holes. I found myself staring at the inside of the row curious as to what was down there. Was it just a drain? A peephole into another chamber? As I stared down into the diamonds, I saw a metallic sheen and it all clicked togethor.

I jumped backwards trying to get as far away as possible, but I wasn’t quick enough. A row of rusty spears shot from the ground slicing my nose clean in half.

“FUCKING HELL!” I yelled so surprised by the course of events I barely noticed that I could speak. Of course, it’s a goddamn spear trap! I felt like such a dumbass. A row of diamond holes in the middle of a stairwell with the sound of a rhythmic piston in the background, of course it’s a fucking trap.

I sat there for a while waiting for my nose to pull itself back togethor berating myself for my cluelessness. When I was done sulking, I made sure to analyze the rhythm of the spear trap. The spears extended roughly every fifty seconds and stayed for an additional ten. So I had less then a minute to climb up the staircase that had no end in sight.

I muttered a few choice words before readying myself.

“Here goes nothing.” As soon as the spears retracted, I sprinted to the top of the stairs. I ran counting the seconds as they went by. Soon I reached an elongated step adorned in familiar green torches. Seeing as there were no diamonds on the step I took it as a sort of safe zone. As if on cue the spears extended thankfully leaving me unharmed. I repeated the process of running to a safe step and stopping twice before I reached a wooden door. With just a few second left until a potential skewering, I rammed myself into the door. Letting myself fall to the ground as it flew open.

I was immediately greeted by the warm misshapen floor, and the smell of methane. It didn’t take me long to figure out the trap of this floor.

Flames.

I was nearly blinded by the jutting flames that enveloped the halls. The heat fell down on me like tidal wave forcing me down until I was kissing the ground. When the flames died down and I took another look around my surroundings. The hall was covered in searing coals and burnt corpses. The few roaming corpselings all sported a severe burn somewhere on their body.

As I rose to my feet I was spotted. One of the corpselings let out a low gurgle and all the wanderers began to storm my position. I forced myself into a defensive stance if it could be called that. The first corpseling charged at me weaponless. I swatted its hands away with the club before swiftly stabbing it in the head with the dagger. I was only allowed to drain it for the briefest moment before I was forced to guard against another attacker. It stabbed at me with its hot metal spike as I dodged backwards. I tried to repeat my previous maneuver and used the club to push the spike away. Before I could jam the dagger into the corpselings body I was caught in the side by a long wooden board being used as a pike.

I fell backwards from the force. As I was rising to my feet my nose was flooded by the smell of methane and I reflexively ran to the wooden door. The flames devoured my attackers and for the briefest of moments I felt relief. Reality soon crashed down upon me as the corpselings charged through the fire.

Do they not feel pain? No, the answer finally dawned upon me, they have no fear.

Fighting a corpseling was hard enough as is but fighting a flaming corpseling was a nightmare. Every slip up caused a new burn and opened me up for a new wound. Ironically the very thing that made the fight harder eventually saved me as their bodies began to fail it became easier to drain the corpselings. Soon I was surrounded on all sides by singed husks. My club was worthless, now burnt and chopped to oblivion and any hope of finding a new weapon was crushed when my nose was once again flooded with methane.

I dove backwards narrowly avoiding the flames. I was starting to get used to the traps and was soon able to push my way forward through the corridor. At the end of the corridor I saw a familiar form, the gambeson clad corpseling stood in front of me repeatedly beating in the head of one of the other guards with his axe. As he slowly turned to face me and let out another guttural roar only one thought crossed my mind.

REVENGE.

I charged straight at him and stabbed with the dagger aiming straight for his eyes. He easily blocked the thrust with his shield and swung down with his axe. I sidestepped the axe only to be bashed by the bastard’s shield. Rage began to well up inside me. Every fiber of my being wanted to rip him apart but every thrust, swipe and slash I made was simply repelled.

Eventually the corpseling’s axe found purchase on my shoulder. The chain shirt blocked most of the damage, but the force of the axe still dislocated my arm. I began weighing my options, I could try and lead him into the flames but this one seemed to be smart enough to dodge them, I could try and use the husks as a shield but I don’t have the strength to lift him for long. If only I had more strength. That was it!

In a feat of acrobatics that surprised even me I rolled under my opponent’s legs. I grabbed and swiftly drained my opponent’s previous victim. With a flood of vitality, I felt my body repair and strengthen itself.

“Round 2 bastard.” After a quick taunt I flung the dried husk at my opponent’s face. He effortlessly swatted the husk away without a thought leaving himself open. I ducked under his axe arm before jabbing the dagger into his throat and began the drain. Despite the life leaving him the corpseling continued to batter at my back with his shield and axe. We held that position for a while before his resistance finally gave out and his body withered.

I helped myself to his gear wearing the gambeson under my chain shirt and equipping the shield to my left arm. It bothered me that both the bracer and the shield were on my left but there was nothing I could do about it for now.

I moved forward through the room finding nothing else of note as I made my way to the iron door on the right side of the room. As I went to open it the runes on the door began to shine once again until they were readable.

[All who stay here are deficient in fear,

They run towards death arms wide,

Like fools they jump into conflict without thought,

Never do they consider the error of their ways,

None take the steps of change,

None try to better themselves,

None are worthy of the Path.]

“More gibberish huh.” I muttered under my breath as I opened the door. I walked through a dark hallway; my destination blinded by a veil of light.

Once I stepped through the veil I froze in terror.

There sat a hellhound the size of an elephant. It’s fangs large enough to skewer a man, its fur replaced with black flames, every breath exuding bright red flames. Sitting in a den of mangled corpses its eyes sweeping over its domain before finally resting on me.

We locked eyes. The hound staring at its next meal, while I stared back at death.