Echoes of screams rang from the hallway, causing Raynauld to ready his glaive. It was barely intelligible, but it was there. It sounded like more ghouls, a lot of ghouls. He let out a sigh, and looked back at everyone else as they readied their weapons. He stepped over the bodies, the pools of blood rippling under his boots; it wasn’t over yet. Kashire walked up beside him, cleaning an arrowhead on his cloak. “There’s something up there.”

“Other than the ghouls?”

“Something much more dangerous.”

Raynauld nodded and glanced back at the rest of the group. Aldrich moved forwards, holding his sword by the blade. He marched to the doorway to the halls, barely fitting through the entrance. Raynauld let him go ahead, assuming he had the right idea. The screams were still distant as they navigated the dimly lit corridors. It was a mystery how people made their way around here normally, or why they would want to stay underground. It was absolutely disgusting down here, even without the stench of decaying flesh. Everything was out of disrepair, and obviously wasn’t used properly in a long time. They made their way up a set of stairs that wound around a crumbling brick pillar.

At the top was yet another hallway, a more open one thankfully. The screeches were louder, but less numerous than Raynauld thought they would be. Felicia stumbled into him from behind, letting out a quiet cry. He turned to see her rubbing her forehead. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head and looked up at him apologetically. “Sorry, I was just a bit dizzy.” He frowned and checked her body, trying to look for signs of injury. “Do you need to rest for a bit?”

“No, I’m alright.”

Raynauld nodded and resumed walking forwards. He glanced back as Felicia winced with her hand on her temple. It didn’t seem like anything serious, and she said she was fine. Besides, a few ghouls wouldn’t be much of a problem, Felicia wouldn’t even have to swing her sword. Floyd ran his hand along the wall, his fingers bouncing over the uneven rusted metal bars embedded in them. The screams continued to ring out, getting even closer and closer. Aldrich’s armour shifted as he pulled his sword onto his shoulder.

Raynauld moved forwards, shifting his grip on his glaive. If they were still screaming, that meant there was prey for them. They slowly turned a corner, finding broken metal grates along the walls. They were bent open, but not destroyed. Interesting. Raynauld examined the twisted metal, finding clean seams that were broken open. He quickened his pace, taking note of the scratch marks present on the stone. His eyes widened as the darkness unveiled a pile of corpses. He felt Felicia’s hand brush against his back as she stopped herself from bumping into him again. “Ray?”

He didn’t respond and slowly walked forwards, looking at the pool of blood forming under the ghouls. There were so many, maybe even as much as there was back in that room. Smoke poured from one pile as cleanly cut limbs littered the ground. The bodies continued down the hall, creating a trail of red. Raynauld waved in front of his nose, wincing at the scent of the still smouldering flesh. Floyd pushed a body over, examining the smoke. The body reignited, causing him to jump back. “Well, that’s new.”

Raynauld took a look at the bright yellow fire that had burst alive by itself. The flame illuminated the rest of the bodies. On each and every one there was a single slice or a missing body part. Whoever did this was efficient, maybe even more than Raynauld himself. Honestly, the more he looked at it, he was impressed. Kashire let out a quiet groan as he walked away from the burning corpse, stepping carefully over a decapitated head. Maria glanced over at Raynauld and motioned for him to keep moving, quickly peering back at Felicia as she walked ahead.

The trail continued to a set of smashed metal bars, and then another. By the look of it, these bars weren’t here naturally. Maria brushed her hand over them and looked back to Floyd. “Do you think..?”

“Yeah, it’s Tylocke.”

She nodded and pulled her sword out of her sheath. Raynauld continued forwards, resting his hand on the shaft of his glaive. From what he knew, Tylocke was less of a frontal combatant than Haureulman. It made sense, with the broken bars along their path and the ghouls crammed behind the sewer grates. The real question was how he got them in there and stopped them from escaping. That information wasn’t needed right now though, the trap wasn’t an issue for them anymore; whoever cleared it out warranted more attention.

Raynauld took a look at another set of broken down metal bars, trying to figure out how much force must’ve been needed to smash through them. It had to have been ether manipulation, unless they had a battering ram with them. He took another look at the ground, examining the blood pools. It was still warm, and the cuts were still clean. They needed to hurry and catch whoever this was while they were still close. The amount of corpses thinned out as they continued forwards, with only a few dismembered arms laying on the ground.

The corridor opened up further as they passed another smashed set of bars. There weren’t any more ghouls present, at least none that Raynauld could see. The candles seemed brighter here, or at least placed closer together. Glancing around, he looked warily at the thin walls beside him. Maria stepped forwards, slowly crouching down onto the floor. She touched her hand to a large pool of blood and glanced up at the splatters on the wall. Raynauld took a second to look at it as well. There were long lines of drops coming from a single point in the middle of the puddle as well as large slashes drawn across the floor. Maria shook her head and stood up. “This isn’t ghoul blood.”

Raynauld nodded, grimly walking past the messily decorated walls. He took a glance back at Felicia, who stared at the scene. Hopefully it was quick for whoever was unfortunate enough to be here. The problem was there wasn’t a body, and Raynauld doubted the perpetrator would be the kind to clean up after themselves. Floyd walked up to Maria’s side, his voice in a murmur. “He’s gotten worse.”

“Was he ever good?”

“No, but at least the bodies we found before weren’t like that.”

“There wasn’t a body.”

“Are you saying you can’t tell what happened?”

Raynauld watched her glance back, keeping her voice low.

“We’re here to stop him for a reason.”

Floyd chuckled as he let out a somber sigh. “Yeah, don’t need to tell me.”

Maria shook her head and looked back upwards as she called out to Raynauld. “We should hurry, he has to be close.”

She was right, the blood was fresh and the corridors only went one way from here. Maria picked up her pace with Floyd sticking close behind. Raynauld followed them as they briskly moved down the hallway with Felicia sticking close behind. At the end of the corridor, light from above streamed in. Small bits of collapsed stone littered the floor from a barely held together roof. Kashire quickly moved forwards, readying his bow. Rattling metal skittered along the ground as Maria quickly pulled her sword up. A clash of metal echoed as chains flew upwards into her guard, causing her to stumble backwards slightly.

Kashire loosed an arrow which whistled through the air, taking a sharp turn at the end of the hall. Raynauld ran forwards, glaive ready. The sunlight from above patterned the open floor which was littered in rubble. The room was held up by weathered columns atop broken stone which held pockets of water in their cracks. At the end of it was Tylocke who held his hand outwards, the arrow fired stopped midair in front of it. The chains on the floor whipped by and circled around him as he stood up straight. He let a small grin onto his face and let the arrow drop.

Chains from behind him crawled along and something heavy fell down in the background. Raynauld glanced over, seeing it was a corpse, presumably the one that had been missing. It was completely matted in blood, their faded hair stained a dark maroon. Metal ripped through the air, singing as it grated against stone pillars. Tylocke let out a harsh chuckle and halted the chains midair. “You’re faster than I expected, congratulations.”

Raynauld narrowed his eyes, quickly pointing his spear forwards. “Where’s Haureulman?”

“He’s occupied with someone else. Now, if you would be so kind as to die, that would be nice.” Aldrich moved forwards as Tylocke shot the chains upwards. They smashed into the ceiling, pulling rubble from the unstable stones above. Planting his sword into the ground, Aldrich lowered his head. A winding burst of energy rushed through the air, circling in a cold wind which rushed outwards. The stones slowed and soon were held still midair. Tylocke snarled and muttered while he shook his head. “So it’s you he was talking about, huh?”

A second arrow flew by Raynauld’s head and towards Tylocke. He dodged to the side, but the arrow curved into his shoulder. The chains quickly lashed outwards, creating space between Tylocke and everyone else. Raynauld hit a chain to the side and lunged inwards. Tylocke shot another around the tip of his glaive, pulling it to the side. Floyd put his hand on Raynauld’s shoulder and pulled him back. A click and ping echoed through the empty cavern and fire erupted towards Tylocke, who quickly pulled back and grabbed onto a small crystal. He blinked away before the flames hit, disappearing in a blue light.

Raynauld felt the weight wrapped around his glaive disappear as the chains dissipated in the same light. Maria grabbed onto Felicia’s shoulder and pushed her forwards. Once everyone was out of the way, Aldrich stood up from his knees. The rubble fell around him as he stood calmly in the middle of it. Raynauld moved forwards, quickly putting his glaive under his arm. ”We need to hurry, he couldn’t have gone far.”

He took a look back and furrowed his eyebrow. From what he knew, Tylocke never showed all his cards at once, and always had a plan. Maria moved to his side, taking a glance at him. “Are we going?”

“He was carrying that body for a reason, you and Felicia stay here and see if he returns.”

She nodded and looked over to Felicia who slowly nodded as well. “What do we do if he does show up?” Maria walked by her, shaking her head. “Don’t worry about that. Raynauld, good luck.”

Floyd patted Aldrich’s shoulder plate and briskly marched forwards. Raynauld looked over to Kashire who pointed down a hallway. “He’s further down there, he seems to be moving slowly.”

Raynauld moved forwards across the stones, taking a look back as he went. Felicia met his eyes and quickly looked away, her eyes darting to the floor. Everything would be over soon; they would be back as soon as their targets were taken care of and Felicia could get back to her training. Killing Tylocke shouldn’t take too long, and Haureulman would soon be brought to justice as well. Walking after Kashire, he readied his glaive with a deep breath.

~

Maria quickly glanced over to Felicia, gauging her reaction. She obviously wanted to stay by Raynauld’s side, but she wanted that all the time. The light from above streamed down, lightly dotting the dirty stone floor with warmth. Maria let out a small sigh; this wasn’t going as smoothly as she had hoped. Tylocke had too much to work with, which could end badly for anybody who was unprepared. Luckily Raynauld recognized that fact and left Felicia here with her. Maria slowly walked over to the corpse on the floor; they laid face down, their bloodstained hair messily spread out on the ground. She frowned and looked at it closer; this woman wasn’t prepared for combat of any type and didn’t look particularly special. Their clothes were old and worn, with multiple rips and tears throughout the whole thing. The bloodstains which covered them mixed in with older ones splattered along the cloth. Interestingly enough, the places where Maria assumed the newer cuts were placed had no wound channels.

The sound of Felicia’s footsteps grew closer as Maria stood up and turned to her. “Is there anything you need?”

Felicia looked down at the body and then back up to Maria’s eyes. “Who is that?”

“I don’t know.”

Maria put her hand on Felicia’s shoulder, gently pushing her back and away from the corpse. “You don’t need to worry about that, take a seat, you must be tired.”

Felicia nodded and sat back onto a collapsed pillar. She clasped her hands together and laid them on top of her knees as she took a shaky breath. Maria sat beside her, sadly looking at her small figure. “It’s hard, isn’t it?”

“Huh?”

“Trying to keep a brave face on while he’s around.”

She slowly glanced down and nodded. Maria shook her head. “It’s alright to be scared, it’s only natural. I’m sure he would understand if you were.”

“I don’t want to worry him.”

“I know, but that shouldn’t be your main concern.”

Felicia paused and rubbed her eyes with her hands. She let out a brief exhale and laced her fingers together. “Do you… think I should be here?”

“No.”

She looked up, surprised by the speed of her response. Maria shook her head and looked away. “I don’t mean to be rude, but you aren’t fit for this.”

Felicia sank her head lower, shrinking down into her knees. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s nothing to apologize for, it’s better if you aren’t.”

“Huh?”

Maria paused and placed a hand over her locket as she continued. “Being able to kill isn’t anything special, and doing it well shouldn’t be something to be praised. You want to save others, and while that’s admirable, this isn’t the way you should be doing it. Take it from me, even the best intentions can be reversed.”

Felicia met Maria’s gaze and held it for a second before she bashfully looked away. “Maria, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“Do you regret any of this?”

Maria took a moment, letting out a long sigh. Felicia stuttered as her voice shrank. “I’m sorry, forget I said anything.”

“No, it’s alright, I just didn’t expect that question to come up again.”

Felicia pulled her legs up to her chest and nodded as she tried to hide her curiosity. Maria thought carefully about her words. “I’ll be blunt, I do regret it.” She shook her head and leaned back. “There’s a lot of things I wish I didn’t do or things I never wanted to happen, and I could’ve prevented it all If I never joined the army.” Maria brushed her hand along her hair and looked to her side. “Felicia, you don’t need to make those mistakes. Raynauld can take you back, it won’t take more than a few minutes.”

She shook her head slowly as she rubbed her wrists.“I… I need to do this.”

“But why?”

Maria stood up, moving over to her, trying to keep her voice level. “This isn’t your responsibility.” Felicia froze and flinched as Maria grew closer. She continued to speak as Felicia broke away from her gaze. “You aren’t a soldier, you don’t have to be one. Just because Raynauld trained you for this doesn’t mean it’s what you need to do.”

Felicia shrank back as she looked up, unable to speak. Maria sighed and took a step back. “I’m sorry, but this needs to be said. There’s so much for you in the city, don’t push yourself into this.”

Felicia sat still, her hands pulled close around her chest. Maria looked away, letting out a deep exhale. She should’ve expected that answer, but the blind obedience Felicia held annoyed her anyways. Of all the people, why did she have to be the one? The one person who she knew about, the one person she would even go as far as to care about. Of all the people, she was the one on this assignment. Maria cursed herself, she needed to get as far away as possible from this girl, for both their sakes.

The sound of footsteps sounded from behind, causing Maria to quickly grab onto her sword. Felicia stood up and looked around warily as a figure moved out from behind the rubble. A man stumbled forwards, taking heavy breaths. Maria’s eyes narrowed as she examined him. He had green eyes and black hair, a ripped up dirty brown cloak around his shoulders, and a long curved sword with a chain wrapped around the sheath. He reached for the handle of his sword, his arm completely wrapped in bandages. Maria drew her sword, quickly taking up a stance. “Felicia, run.”

“Huh?”

“Get out of here, now.”

The man calmed his breath and stood up straight. Felicia quietly spoke as she stood behind Maria. “I-I can help.”

“No, you can’t. Listen to me, you need to go.”

Felicia stuttered but stopped and obeyed the order, taking slow steps backwards. Maria kept her eyes on the man’s movements, waiting for him to make a move. He kept his hand on the handle of his sword, speaking in a low and deliberate tone. “Stand aside.”

Maria kept her stance firm and her sword in front of her. The man let out a huff and shifted his feet. “Have we met before?”

“Not personally.”

“How do you know me?”

“Steeltusk.”

He paused and took another look at Maria, his eyebrows furrowing. “I didn’t fight you.”

“There wasn’t a fight, that was a massacre.”

“They deserved it.”

Maria shook her head. “That was a tiny mining town, how could all of those people deserve death?”

“You have no idea.” He flicked his thumb on the guard of his sword, pushing it out slightly. “Why didn’t you stop it if you saw me?”

“I wasn’t there for it.”

He glanced away for a second. “It was the boy who told you, right? Malnourished, brown hair, scar on his left hand.”

Maria grit her teeth, speaking in a growl. “His name was Darren. He had to stay with his sister who you injured during the fight.”

“And?”

“Them and everybody in the town died from a gargoyle attack three days later.”

The man’s eyes flicked to her cloak, and he nodded slowly. “I recognize you now, you investigated the day after I left. There was another man with you, light hair, grey eyes, large shield on him along with the same cloak. Where is he now?”

Her breath caught in her throat as she forced herself to stay still. It was too late, the gap in her composure was already too evident. The man rushed forwards, drawing his sword and slicing at her in one deft movement. Maria blocked it and stepped back and away from the next swipe. He was fast, and every cut was lethally precise. She tried to counterattack, but he already dodged out of the way before her sword even came close. A slash barely missed her neck as she stepped backwards. As he swung for another attack, she batted his blade away and moved forwards on the offensive.

He tried to dodge and swing his blade, but she closed the gap quicker than he could backstep. Maria focused, feeling a rush of wind come in from behind her. The man’s eyes widened as he ducked out of the way of the fake blade, only to barely block the real one. He grunted as another blow came in, nicking his arm. Maria moved in for a thrust, but a sharp pain sprung from her wrist. She looked down at a thin needle that was lodged in her hand, realizing he must’ve thrown it. The man jumped back, throwing another object at her. She deflected it to the ground before it could hit her, only to see a flash of light along with a sharp crack from whatever it was.

A white smoke burst from the ground, clouding the room. Maria quickly pulled the needle from her hand while she could, ignoring the pain that burned in her veins. The rasp of a sword sliding into its sheath rang hollowly through the smoke as a diffused blue light flashed in front of her. Her eyes widened as she prepared herself. This was bad, he had a lot more up his sleeve than she first thought.

A light sparked behind her and a quick scraping of metal grated against her ears. Maria turned around just in time to block the blade coming down above her. She stumbled back as the man landed on his feet and backed away into the smoke. Another flash emanated through the smoke as Maria stood up straight. Calming her breath, she gathered her energy and flexed her hand towards the ground. A sharp gust of wind echoed through the room as the smoke was blown away just before the man reappeared again. She blocked the attack and converted the block into a swing for his head. He ducked underneath it and stabbed at her stomach. The blow missed and they both broke off, regaining stances and staring each other down.

Maria gripped tightly on her sword, ignoring the blackened veins crawling up her hand and into her arm. The gust took a lot out of her, she wouldn’t be able to fake him out anymore. Before she could think more, he jumped back at her. She deflected the first blow and dodged the next, making note of his more forward heavy movements. After blocking another blow, she struck back at him. He went under her blade, letting the edge of her sword skid along his which he held in one hand. Maria noticed the other hand too late as he threw something into her face.

She closed her eyes in time, but the rest of it hit its mark. It was a powder of some sort with a bitter taste. She gagged and stood back into her stance. The man calmly held his sword as she regained her footing. A burning sensation slowly became more evident in her throat and nose as she began to cough uncontrollably. She struggled to stand up straight and stumbled to her knees. Her eyes blurred as her throat closed up. The man stood still, keeping his stance ready as she struggled. Maria lurched forwards as she coughed blood onto the floor, the burning sensation getting worse. She planted the tip of her sword into the ground and tried to stand up using it, but her legs failed to move.

The man moved forwards, his sword pointed directly at her chin. She tried to will herself to move, but to no avail. Her thoughts calmed as the blade drew closer. He beat her, and she was going to die now. Hopefully Raynauld could do this without her. Hell, what was she saying, of course he could, somehow that man always found a way. He would probably be better off without her. A heavy footstep landed on the far end of the room, tearing the man’s concentration away.

A concussive shockwave slammed into Maria, sending her straight into the floor. The man grunted as he was thrown across the room. Maria coughed from the impact, spilling more blood as her arms and legs grew weaker. A bright figure ran to her side, their small frame kneeling down beside her. She could barely make out their words. “Oh god, please be okay, please.”

A small light emitted from their hands as warmth flooded through her body. She gasped as her throat cleared up and strength returned to her arms. She shot upright, feeling the ache of where she hit the floor on her back. Felicia broke off from her with a gasp. Maria took a look at her hand, the dark veins slowly retracting as she knelt beside her.

“I thought I told you to run.”

“B-but you would’ve died!”

Maria shook her head. “I told you already, none of this is your responsibility.”

“I…”

Maria glanced at Felicia as she sadly looked to the floor. Letting out a sigh, she stretched out her now sore back. “I’m sorry, you saved my life, I should be more grateful.”

Maria paused for a moment, was the man dead? She quickly got up and scanned the room for where he should be, noticing he was gone. Picking up her sword, she got ready for an attack. The man stood on the other side of the room, picking up the body which Tylocke had left behind. The man turned to her, his expression calm. Before she could do anything, he was gone in a wisp of blue and green light. Maria stayed in her stance for a few seconds, making sure he wasn’t coming back. She let out an exhale and slowly sheathed her sword. Felicia sat down on her knees with heavy breaths as she held onto her arm, taking deep breaths and shivering. Maria leaned down and gently examined Fekicia’s hand. “It hurts?”

She nodded and let her eyes fall to the ground. “I’ve never used that much before.”

“You’re burnt out?”

“That’s the thing, I’m not. I tried to hold back as much as I could.”

Maria watched as the blackened veins faded to a light purple. It was incredible really, the amount of power in the girl’s body. It must’ve come from her mother, ether usually followed bloodlines, and her father didn’t have much from what Maria remembered. Even so, bloodlines didn’t guarantee anything, just a larger chance to have more. It seemed that Felicia got lucky, or maybe unlucky in her case. If only she didn’t have this much ether, then nobody would push her into this role. Well, she also wouldn’t push herself so hard as well, which seemed to be the main problem. Felicia sat up straight, taking a deep breath. “Did I… Did I hurt you?”

“Hm?”

She fiddled her fingers and looked to the floor. “I couldn’t control the blast, I tried to focus it but-”

“It’s alright, I’m not dead.” Maria stood up and let out a long sigh. That man was dangerous, extremely so. If the bodies left in Steeltusk were anything to go off of, he was more than a mere threat. The cuts left on the corpses were incredibly precise, at least the ones which weren’t burnt or smashed into a wall. Maria shook her head grimly as she recalled the image. A memory flickered in her mind, a flash of metal and blue cloth. She put a hand to her temple and grit her teeth. Now wasn’t the time for this, not when she needed to focus. She opened her eyes to see Felicia staring up at her with a worried expression. Maria forced a small smile and straightened her back. “You’re feeling better now?”

“Yes, thank you.”

With a slow nod, Maria leaned back against a crumbling pillar.

Just a bit longer, I promise.

The echo of footsteps came from the other side of the room as Raynauld burst through an entrance, breathing heavily as he ran towards Felicia. “What happened?”

Maria stepped to the side as he approached Felicia. “We were attacked, they took the body.”

Kashire shook his head. “What was the burst I felt?”

Maria motioned to Felicia who was busy being her usual self when she was around Raynauld. Kashire nodded and looked back to Floyd as he fiddled with Aldrich’s gauntlet. “Tylocke escaped, his signature’s faint.”

Maria cursed under her breath and turned back to Raynauld. “We should choose our targets.”

“Who was it who attacked?”

“I’m not completely sure, but he’s dangerous; I’ve run into his mess before. His work’s been mistaken for a monster horde.”

Raynauld shook his head. “We have an objective.”

“What if he’s working with them? He took the body.”

“Do you know where he went?”

“He teleported, seemed like a crystal.”

Raynauld cursed, realizing the problem this would present. He took a moment to put his hand to his chin, considering the options. “How important do you think the body was?”

“I’m not completely sure, but important enough to risk his life for it. He has to be close by, he constantly used the crystal and didn’t prepare the teleport for long.”

Raynauld looked at Kashire who was already focusing with a hand on his temple. “There’s something out there.”

“Just one?”

“Hard to say, there’s a lot of recently… weakened people.”

Raynauld nodded grimly, swinging his glaive under his arm. “Let's go then.”

He and Kashire moved forwards at a brisk march as Maria pushed herself back up and followed. Felicia quietly fell in line, quietly fidgeting with her hands. Maria glanced back as she heard Floyd chuckle and knock on Aldrich’s shoulder pauldrons as they took up the rear. She smirked a little as she remembered the old times. Now that she thought about it, this was pretty similar to back then, she just hoped it wouldn’t turn out the same.