As the Protectorate map sprung up in my mind, the first thing to really hammer home was that I was no longer in Far Reach. I was in Nuinaer.

How the fuck am I in Nuinaer? Was my instant thought as I struggled to fight the panic swelling from the mystery. It just didn’t make any sense. But then freaking out wasn’t going to help. Instead, I focused on Far Reach, relieved to see there was no fighting going on. People appeared to be moving around freely despite the obvious damage. There was even some kind of construction going on in the lower part of town, or possibly demolition as it appeared a house was being dropped.

In the main square were four large holes in the ground I definitely didn’t recognize, but I assumed they were in some way responsible for me now being stuck in Nuinaer. The next thing to hit home was the soldiers around the castle and the lack of Wind of the Wild’s shield. I didn’t know much, but I knew I needed to be back there immediately, so I focused on the front of the castle and attempted to transport.

Warning: You are outside of your Protectorate.

Attributes unavailable.

Fuuuuuuck! Now I really got to the panicking. I wasn’t sure how long I panicked for, but long enough to realize that for better or worse it wasn’t getting me anywhere.

Being unable to contact any one while being unable to move or function in any way was absolutely terrifying. I’d never felt so worthless since Natom had cut my legs away. Everything I tried was a dead end, and I was left with basically one ability. I could check on my friends, or rather watch as they were most likely killed by Darkness and his followers.

As depressing as that was, it was still a damn sight better than doing nothing at all. So I pulled up the Protectorate Map, and moved over the area where I’d left Sania and the others. The area we’d camped was empty, so I followed the route we would take back to Far Reach.

When they didn’t appear quickly, the anxiety began to creep up as I kept searching. Finally, finding them miles away from the direct course they should have been. Whatever had happened to them since I left for Far Reach clearly hadn’t been good. My anger began to bubble up as I took in the reduced numbers and the weary way they struggled onward.

I felt like a total failure as I watched them having to fend for themselves. I should have been there. I should have been protecting them. That I’d clearly been out cold for days with no clue as to how it had happened, made it so much worse.

I should have let the Dark Neuma be purged straight away, and I would have been back on my feet. I was my own worst enemy with how obstinate I could be sometimes, and this was definitely one of those occasions that could cost us everything.

Being able to make out flying Sania, Danivra, Olata, and Grigor was a balm to my conscience. We hadn’t lost any Nanooks either; I noted as they carried a number of Alfar and Goblins on their backs.

I watched them for a long while, counting them as best as I could. A little over five thousand from the six thousand I’d left, now trudged across the endless grasslands.

As I hovered over them, it hit me that I had one last power I hadn’t tried to use yet. A power I hadn’t even thought about since receiving it as we generally crossed open land and we flew, so the ability to see what was going on in detail in a mile radius was useless. Searching for a way out of my predicament, I tried to activate a power I hadn’t had much use for since getting it, almost. Spirit Gaze. I didn’t expect it to work as the bond with Devotion hadn’t despite being an Ethereal power, so it was a genuine surprise when my soul left my body and flew above where I was held.

My distinctly human body hung limp and unconscious from the ceiling of a small dark and dingy cell. While the power worked up to one mile and showed me everything going on in that space, the building I currently occupied was the prison right in the city center of Nuinaer. The sheer amount of information was unbearable for me to take in, but thankfully, I could reduce my focus to only take in the rooms and cells around me.

Those nearest to me were all empty cells of a similar design to mine. Outside of the cell I hung in, I found I was at the end of a long corridor. Ten guards, all over level seventy, a mix of Paladins and Warlocks stood outside. They were obviously taking me a little more seriously than Justice had, and even those ten fairly high-powered individuals seemed nervous, too. Muttering to each other and casting uneasy glances at the door to the room that held me.

“It will hold!” A level eighty-one Warlock snapped to the others, showing who was in charge of the group. It might not matter, but these details were important to take in.

The rest of the group fell silent at that, but I noticed they also kept looking down the hallway as if they were expecting something or someone from that direction.

I cast my senses along the dimly lit hallway, reaching all the way to a set of doors that led out onto the bridge that linked the top floors of the prison to the top floor of the palace tower in which King Oblitifist lived.

To my spirit eyes it was covered in a dark shroud of power with multiple shades of black and gray. I knew with the complexity of the patterns involved that there must be a direct connection to Darkness's power, which made sense as the tower also doubled as his temple here in Nuinaer.

While I couldn’t access the building, I still had the answer I was looking for as King Oblitifist walked side by side with Grimstrom, leading a warlock and close to twenty of his personal guards out of the tower, across the bridge to the prison with faces like thunder.

Oblitifist turned back and spoke to the Warlock, who looked pale with worry.

“But the physical sleep spell and the improved Dark-Shields are still active?”

“They are, sire. Even if they fail, the shrines will hold him. He is going nowhere.”

I fucking am, I thought grimly.

Following them across the bridge and back into the prison, I watched them enter my cell with extreme caution, as if entering a cage with a tiger. They all came in crowding the room around me. I shook my spiritual head. “Fucking cowards,” I snapped down at them.

“Wake, him,” Oblitifist said to the level 81 Dweomer Warlock Ekolk, who had been guarding the room. With a hand gesture, he pulled a thin, oily black snake of Neuma from the shield. The shield remained intact, but I was aware of the change in my body.

They obviously expected me to wake up immediately, but I was still watching them from above. King Oblitifist took my lack of movement as an excuse to hit me Thumping my empty husk of a body with a heavy, straight right. I Couldn’t feel it from where I hovered but could see how this was going to play out. So I re-entered my body to my old friends.

As I blinked open my eyes, Oblitifist hit me again. Considering my Constitution, it surprised me how incredibly painful the blow was. The king of Nuinaer was crazy strong and damn angry too. Seeing I was awake he opened his mouth and I thought he was going to speak, but he spat directly into my face, then turned to Grimstrom and nodded.

The Head Guardian of Nuinaer stepped in front of me as Oblitifist stepped back, and he sent a vicious right hook into the side of my head. Then he spat on me, too.

“Ah, real fucking big men eh? Hitting a bloke when he’s tied up.”

Grimstrom wordlessly hit me again.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tie you up when I return the favor.”

“There’s only one way out of here, Clive. If you want to save your life and the lives of your people. And if you choose life, you won’t be attacking any follower of Darkness again,” Oblitifist said stepping back in front of me. I’d managed to work up enough spit in my mouth and without signposting it at all, I spat back at him, to show him what I thought.

Of course, not being tied up meant he was able to step back and he did so with remarkable speed, the spit landing on his black leather boots. He stared down at the offending saliva, face red and twisted with anger. Then, in a feat of remarkable agility for the heavyset dwarf, he jumped up and kicked me in the face with the spit covered toe of his boot.

“Wow, you guys really don’t like me, huh? Did you ever?” I asked, looking at Grimstrom.

He remained silent, and looked over at Oblitifist, who nodded grudgingly. “We hold no love for the races of the surface beyond trading. But for Darkness’s sake. He wanted to keep you amenable, and so we did. Then you turned on us. I’m only glad in his infinite wisdom that he decided to do something about you before it was too late.”

“Is that what you really think?” I laughed. “What an absolute crock of shit. This was a setup from day one. I’ve been running around like a daft arse up north and… You know what? It doesn’t matter. At least I know for certain all of your attempts at friendship were all a friggin’ lie now. It’ll make what comes in the future so much easier.”

“Unless you pray to Darkness and become a follower, you’re never getting out of here, Clive,” Grimstrom replied. “You’ll rot in here unconscious, until your levels all disappear, and your Eternal Spirit fades. Meanwhile, your friends attempting to get to Far Reach will be wiped from the face of Falritas.”

“Each and every one of my friends that you kill, you’ll pay for a hundred times over. I can fucking promise you that, you dodgy bastard. I’m going to make sure you both die by my hand.”

Oblitifist hit me again. “We’ll keep killing the people you love until they are all dead,” he snapped. Punctuated with another blow to the gut. “Or until you swear to our God. That is if you can still create the bond after sacrificing your own darkness,” he spat as he said it. “A crime in itself! You were supposed to be balance and Creation, yet you threw the dark away at the first opportunity.”

I almost corrected him, then thought better of it. These bastards were getting nothing but threats out of me today.

“What I don’t get is why now? “Why not when I first met him? And you might as well stop hitting me. It doesn’t hurt and it just makes you look even more fucking pathetic than you already did.”

Oblitifist cracked me with a thunderous left across the jaw and by hell it really did hurt, but I managed to smile at him. “Well done mate. Real fucking hero you are. Give yourself a pat on the back.”

“Will you swear to Darkness?” He said ignoring my barbs.

“How can I swear to Darkness when you’ve got a bloody Dark-Shield up around me? You know how prayer works, right?”

“We can arrange for that to be dropped when you’re ready to swear,” Oblitifist replied, nonplussed.

“I’m ready. Now let’s get this show on the road,” I said eagerly.

Every last person in the room gave me a look that exuded skepticism at my words.

“If that’s so, we’ll begin preparations,” Oblitifist said with an evil smile.

I had to admit the way he spoke was laced with sinister intent that I didn’t feel inspired by. When he held his hand out, his glowing ethereal blade appearing in his hand, I snorted and raised an eyebrow at him. “You know the Neuma won’t work when the axe enters the shield?”

He blessed me with the most unconvincing smile in the history of smiles. “Oh, don’t worry about that. It just means this will take a little longer. To be honest, I could do with the exercise. Don’t mind, do you?”

Before I could answer, he swung the axe around with incredible speed and hit me just under my ribs. The power died from the blade as predicted leaving only sharp cold steel to cause the damage to my flesh. With my Constitution at 250, the blade only cut half an inch into my side. This was going to take a long fucking time and my panic swelled as the realization sunk home that I couldn’t regenerate.”

“What the fuck are you doing?” I snarled through gritted teeth. I can’t heal in this shield, nor can I regenerate. I won’t be any use to Darkness without legs, I’ll just die. Maybe we’ll let you heal. Depending on your attitude, maybe we’ll leave it a permanent alteration,” Oblitifist replied with a wicked smile cutting my effort to speak with another heavy chop into my side. After another six heavy blows, three inches into my side and blood flowing freely, I felt a bit woozy. So far, I’d managed not to cry out, still living in hope that it was a sick joke. Then Grimstrom opened his mouth and spoke removing any doubt that this was going all the way.

“That right arm’s gonna be the interesting part. We’ll have to work out how far the indestructible section goes. Might have to cut half his chest away.”

Oblitifist, shrugged, and wiped blood and sweat from his forehead. “As long as he’s got a head and a core, it’ll be right.”

“You’re gonna pay for this,” I growled through the pain and panic.

“Damn idiot,” Grimstrom replied with off putting contentment.

“Why do this? It’s fucking sick and pointless.”

“No meridian outlets apart from your head and your core will make you much more manageable for when you bond with Darkness. Not sure what use you’ll be with no body left, but it was his idea so I’m sure he’ll have a use for you still. Might make a good ornament,” he laughed. A sound that was reproduced around the room.

It seemed they were really taking no chances with me. Oblitifist continued his bloody work, hacking into me and as the blood loss brought about unconsciousness again, I reflected that this was absolutely the worst time to have been reduced to a human size and lose Darkness, at least as an active source of Neuma. It was almost as if they were waiting for this. Wouldn’t have bloody surprised me at that point if that was the case, knowing everything else they’d done.

I just sincerely hoped I still had some of the Darkness left in me after this procedure, So I might use it to rebuild my body. It was looking unlikely with their angle of attack, but I had other options. With Immortal shell, I might be able to rebuild myself. Or, perhaps I could come up with a way to use Creation powers I hadn’t explored yet. It sounded plausible to my desperation addled mind. The first thing I needed to do would be to reach Devotion and Sania and get some kind of help, yet as I tried to maintain my line of thought, all went black.