Chapter thirteen: The Depth of the Flood

“Headmaster Frederick, the communications array is properly calibrated.” Headmaster Frederick looked back at the nervous old man behind him, and wondered why he would be nervous. Although this was a battlefield they would not personally be fighting, they were only there to gather information. Headmaster Frederick recalled the information on this man. Thomas was a mage nearing two-hundred and fifty years old, and had spent two-hundred and ten years as a professor at the academy. The students called him crazy Tom as he was quite eccentric. Although he spent most of his time in a dank laboratory, as a citizen of Murus he had served the military on multiple occasions. Frederick himself was only one-hundred and fifty years old, and had taken over the academy fifty years ago. He had depended on Thomas many times. Knowing the character of this senior of his made the matter even more confusing, but then a connection was made. “Thomas is patrick down there?”

“Yes.” Thomas looked like he might break at any moment. His skin was pale and sickly. His eyes were dim and hopeless. The hunch of his shoulders looked particularly lonely today. “Headmaster is there any hope?“

“I am sorry old friend, your’ son willI die today, but it is thanks to him that there is hope. I thank you for the contribution you are making for mankind, and am quite sorry for your’ loss. Although your’ oldest grandson lacked talent in magic, he made up for it with perseverance. He will be missed. I will watch every moment for you, so you can look away old friend.”

There were only a handful of men left on this little ship; that was floating above the Dark Trench. This ship was different from most. Regular ships were made from one-thousand year old trees, and needed giant birds to assist with movement. This was much smaller, and was made from some unusual material. It was soft to the touch, light as a cloud, but stronger than steel. Someone might mistake it for a cloud if it wasn’t for the ancient, silver runes that covered the ship. The ship floated with just a bit of magic energy and could travel a week's journey in less than a day.

Frederick looked up at the hodgepodge of arrays that was floating in the middle of the ship. This magic array connected to two different arrays. One was down with the thousand men entering the abyss, this recorded precious information and sent it back towards the ship. The different arrays on the ship would record and analyze the information before sending it to the other array in the capital.

“Your majesty, is everything working on your end?” Frederick bowed as he addressed the image of a man who could be seen through one of the arrays.

“Yes, are you and your’ men prepared to leave if something goes wrong?” The man with a regal air about him showed concern, but not for these men, rather it was for one of the greatest assets of his kingdom.

“Do not worry my liege, we will not allow the Storm Cloud to fall into the enemy's hand.” Frederick was aware of the value of the ship beneath his feet. He had been part of the group who had excavated it from an ancient ruin. This act was what propelled him to the position of headmaster at such a young age. Even after fifty years of research the ancient ship still held many secrets.

“Leave the responsibility of naming things to someone who has talent in that field. Though Storm Cloud is far better than Cloud of Doom.” The king chuckled at his subordinates weak spot, but Frederick showed no sign of embarrassment. Both men entered into silence as they watched the troops descend further into the Dark Trench.

Thunder Beard stared at the old mage meditating in front of the first level of the trench. At this depth even someone like Thunder Beard, who had incredible senses, could just barely see the sliver of light above their heads. If it wasn’t for some simple spells that were cast by the mages in the group, The vast majority of the group would be blind at this depth. The old mage stood up and looked over at Thunder Beard. “There seems to be a few setting up camp, but the main force hasn’t made it to this level yet.”

Thunder Beard had to give some serious thought to his next step. Thunder Beard had lived a long life, and had picked up some wisdom along the way, but strategy was still pretty hard for him.” Okay let’s head to the next level. Our first mission is to gather as much information as possible.”

The second level had about three-hundred thousand goblins within, but Thunder Beard knew that was only the tip of the iceberg. After letting the mages set up a slight surprise they continued down. Because of a combination of the enhanced physique of these soldiers, and the spells of the mages, this group of a thousand men moved quickly and quietly. Despite their stealth they only had so much time. On the trip down several patrols had been met, and dispatched. Once this was noticed the element of surprise would be lost.

As Thunder Beard came close to the third level of the Dark Trench, he motioned towards two soldiers that were close behind him. These men were dressed in all black, wearing light leather and wielding dark daggers. They blended into the shadows and disappeared. Thunder Beard halted the troops behind him and waited. After twenty minutes one of the assassins reappeared. The guard just changed. We killed them all, but they were a rowdy bunch. I don’t think we have long before someone notices the quite.”

Thunder Beard looked to the mage next to him with a hopeful expression. “Do you have any spells that make goblin like noises?”

“Yes, It’s a darker art, but this is a dark time.”

After rushing to the entrance, Thunder Beard watched as a man, wearing a gray and black robe, drew symbols on the dead goblins. He pulled several pages from a book and lit them on fire with a sickly green flame. Thunder Beard recognized the art of necromancy, he had seen it many times. It was a commonly used art during wartime, but when there was peace it would be hidden away. It seemed to be a unique skill of men, to ignore the wrong that helped them, and persecute anything that did not. The resurrected goblins began to chatter amongst themselves. Thunder Beard looked down at the old mage who had begun to meditate again. “Work quickly, and try and look as deep below as you can.

Frederick was carefully looking at the information that was going across several of the arrays. The shape of the third level was quickly defined, as the details about the creatures within began to form. The mage who was doing the scanning happened to be using a unique artifact. Many magic tools had been designed by studying it. Frederick had initially been hesitant to use the real thing, but after seeing the black skull he realised how serious this matter was. Normally when a mage used a spell to scan an area, their magic would directly spread out, gather the information, and return. This was a very effective method in normal situations, but when the enemy had mages of their own it was like knocking on their front door. This unique artifact used a form of magic that was very subtle and hard to differentiate from natural magic in the surroundings, allowing a more thorough investigation without alerting their enemies.

Frederick began to frown. The scan of the third level had just finished, and the enemies army numbered in the millions. There was at least a dozen species present, but the most numerous was the goblins. Both Frederick and the king began to run the numbers. “Your’ majesty we should send for help from the other kingdoms. Although we may have a chance by ourselves I believe it is too risky.”

“You are right I will send the message immedia..” The King cut off as he looked at the array in front of him. The fourth level that Thunder Beard had mentioned began to appear. “GET A COMMUNICATION ARRAY SET UP IMMEDIATELY! I AM CALLING A MEETING OF KINGDOMS!” Frederick couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Almost a million more goblins were in that fourth level, and they were mostly hobgoblins. Frederick continued to look through the information, looking to see how many were armed when suddenly the scan was interrupted.

A dark sinister voice echoed across the array“Are you ready?”