“Our unit held our ground until the bloody end. The demons came at us in a never-ending wave and we held the bridge until they evacuated the city. My guards knocked me out to force me to leave before they destroyed the bridge to halt the advance. Thousands of brave dwarven warriors sacrificed their lives that day, their warcrys and screams echo through the tunnels to this day. We stymied the tide, and the surface dwellers would never know." - Liliana Ornholm, Senior Historian Arterian Academy of War, 'Records of The Echo Wars' , Chapter 3: King Varolin's Stand

Sophie panted furiously as she took a brief break from running. Her leg pushed beyond its healthy limit as it refused to let her go any further. Sweat soaked through her nightgown and uniform as her heart itself burned with agony.

“Fuck!” She screamed loudly into the air, cursing the very idea of physical exertion.

She craned her neck around the forest, thankfully finding no real sign of any undead nearby.

“Agh! Fuck! Why! Why me?! What have I ever done!” She raged, smashing a fist into a tree only to immediately experience regret. She whimpered in pain and clenched her teeth to ease the pain.

For a moment Sophie felt serenity, the quietness of the forest around her as the eerie fog wrapped her in a chilly embrace before the pain returned. Leaves rustled gently as a frigid silence held the very air hostage. Dull brown oaks sat idly on watch staring at Sophie’s little tantrum as but another drop in their century long vigil. They watched the half elf scream countless profanities into the air before calming down to rest her leg on a rock. It was only when a somber breeze wafted past the treetops that the forest turned its gaze back to the sky, stretching ever higher to grasp the sun.

Sophie didn’t know what to do, she had made a successful escape but now had no more trails or leads to follow. She had intended to recon the ruins in hopes of finding the catkin’s trail but the sudden arrival of the undead had derailed that plan. Her reckless running too had the added disadvantage of avoiding trees and thus despite feeling like she ran in a straight line, Sophie knew that there was no chance of her returning to the shelter. It was a frustrating feeling, this was something she had never planned for nor expected. Well that was a partial lie, she always knew the Duke or Duchess would get rid of her at some point, that was for certain. She just never expected them to just siphon her away with Eva still present, though it was odd for the Duchess to inform her about traveling with Eva just weeks prior.

The Duke then? But he doesn’t really care unless it’s brought up, then that just leaves…Mortiz. Sophie scowled as she bit her finger, the damned bastard also ranted and raved about family reputation, or whatever noble news took his fancy in front of Eva. He even had the gall to insult her for not acting correctly, what a bastard. Sophie blinked back the feeling, she was so used to just ignoring things this rage felt so unnatural, it was like a fire or passion that she often read in books, still she had more important things to focus on.

Her stomach roared in hunger and Sophie pushed her stomach inward, urging to just give her a little more time. But she knew she was starving, and whether it was adrenaline or fear that still kept her moving she was determined to make the most of it. She was running out of time and options, she needed to get out of this forest now or she was going to join the roaming undead hordes.

Sophie trudged on forward, her mind focused on nothing but suppressing the grumbling in her stomach. Light headed and exhausted, the forest only seemed to grow larger and more expansive the more she walked. A growing darkness nibbled at the edge of her vision, the dull gray fog and sad brown wood blurring into a fuzzy mess as cognition slowed down. Howls, barks, and chirps around the forest meshed into a bizarre mess of sounds that grinded down her willpower even further.

As she blundered through the forest, snapping branches, twigs and frightening all manner of wildlife she eventually froze, a trio of dark figures looming near a copse as if they were waiting for something. She dashed behind a nearby oak before she was spotted and poked her head around the trunk, keeping a tired eye trained on the creatures. They waved their weapons around here and there without real purpose as they traipsed aimlessly around the trees, staying near an unusually crooked oak as if they weren’t waiting but rather protecting something. Food? Weapons? What use do the dead have for that?

All of a sudden she watched as one of the creatures staggered backwards, bouncing away from the tree as it wiggled around before regaining its footing. Huh? What the hells happened there? She scanned the terrain one more time before her gaze traveled up the tree where a small figure hunched over a few branches. Sophie squinted to catch a better view and held back a small gasp as she watched what appeared to be an arm tossing something down at the trio of undead and realized what she was seeing. A survivor?! She watched in fascination as the undead seemed utterly perplexed at how to catch a target located above them.

It wasn’t long before the dead began their guttural roars and started slamming their weapons against the tree. Almost immediately the figure in the tree whistled loud enough that even Sophie could hear and seemingly from nowhere a few figures emerged from the fog, turning one of the undead into a pincushion as they cut down the other two undead in rapid succession. It was a quick but sordid affair as they butchered the undead, dispatching them in but a moment and the figure in the tree jumped down, now free from the horrors. Help! I can get help!

Sophie broke away from her hiding spot and limped toward them, waving her hands rapidly as she began her approach. She could tell the figures turned around to face this new arrival when she felt a sudden punch to the gut before a sharp pain came from her abdomen winded her. Looking downwards she saw an arrow sticking out of her, the tip having pierced all the way through from behind. The moment of surprise was so shocking that she barely processed what happened before she dropped to the ground. With a whimper and a groan, she clutched at the wound as she crawled rapidly behind a tree, hiding from further retaliation. Ow, ow ,ow! Fuck! No, no! Covered up by the tree Sophie could only stare as she watched the blood slowly seep out and stain both her already raggedy nightgown and uniform. The maid uniform in particular turned into a wet splotchy mess as the black fabric began absorbing more of the liquid.

As if lagging behind, her nerves finally processed everything that occurred and a searing pain consumed her whole as she screamed silently in pain. In a panic she tore the arrow out of her, ripping out skin and flesh as blood splattered across the ground. Growing faint, she quickly tried tearing off her sleeves to bandage the wound but found her muscles weakening with every movement, the fatigue catching up at the worst moment. Her stomach growled once more, whether from hunger or agony she could not tell. After having expended a considerable effort she finally ripped off some cloth only to find herself unable to move or adjust her position.

Disappointed, her shoulders slumped down as she watched the blood flow out of the open wound, her energy reserves depleted. She could feel the wretched strings of fate coil around her as it squeezed out what little life she had left. The darkness grew colder as it reminded her of the unearthly chill that she felt in the ruin. A delicate sensation caressed her cheek as she felt a familiar presence that she couldn’t quite place a finger on. It was almost familial in nature as it wrapped her in a comforting embrace. Sophie peaked upwards only to see a nothingness, a lack of color and sensation as the dark surrounded her and she struggled to breathe. What a shitty way to go, she mused quietly, I didn’t even get to return the book to Eva.

Annalise could practically smell them, the subtle scent of ash in the wind indicated a campfire nearby and she gestured for her party to veer to the left. Arnold and Gil nodded towards her and bounded towards the direction she pointed to, skimming through the woods surprisingly quickly. Thulgrim, Sara and herself meanwhile pushed on forward, checking for traps or any other nasty forest creatures along the way. Only another few hundred paces and they should be parallel to where the other team was. The Earthen Guardians might only be a silver ranked team, but the emergency dispatch two days ago asked for a rapid response and well, not many were around at the time. Still, she knew they were more than capable, Gil just never wanted them to take the more dangerous jobs and they stagnated. Working alongside ‘The Crows’ she realized why they were the definition of professionals and why her lot were still silvers.

The gold ranked team was like a well oil machine, they effortlessly scouted the area and even paved the way for her group. Their immediate objective was to locate and possibly eliminate a group of potential bandits killing their way through this section of the Mistveil. The Crows had prepped for most eventualities and gave her specific instructions on how to help, as long as they stuck to the plan they would act as a distraction while The Crows dealt with most of the combatants.

With one of their trackers and her own skills they managed to pinpoint the locations of three possible bandit camps and if they hit both the outlying camps at the same time, they should be able to take out the third. At least that was the working theory and plan they shared

A distinctive birdsong echoed through the trees and Sara responded with one of her own as Annalise watched Thulgrim clench his axe tighter. So Arn and Gil found the bandits, shit. She never liked killing people, not that it ever stopped her from finishing the job, but she had to psych herself out. Startled by a tap on her shoulder the dwarf tilted his head and Annalise squinted as she looked ahead, definitely a campsite. Giving her nod to the other two, she pulled out her shortbow and notched an arrow, Sara pulling out her trademark sword and dagger combo. The three waited for a moment with baited breath as they hid behind a few trees, trying to get sightlines on all possible hostiles.

But after a moment of tense watching the trio looked at each other and agreed that the camp had been abandoned. Whistling another birdsong, Sara gave it a moment until she received one in return and flashed Anna and Thulgrim a thumbs up. Moving forward Anna watched as the other two emerged from the far side, with Gil wearing a concerned look on his face.

“Arnold says he found tracks leading that way.” Gil gestured away from them, “It seems fresh enough that we might’ve just missed them by a few minutes.”

The group looked nervously at each other, if the bandits managed to regroup or warn the others then even The Crows might find themselves outmatched against the united group. That means they had to hurry.

Annalise moved to propose a plan when suddenly the distant sound of a melee followed by some shouting echoed through the trees and everyone froze. It took a few moments before the group shared a look amongst themselves but with a firm nod the plan was set in motion. Arnold and Gil would once again flank the enemy, but this time Thulgrim and Sara would draw their attention whilst she would make sure there were no stragglers.

Cutting through the underbrush she watched as the fog eventually swallowed her teammates as they rushed towards the faint sound. As Annalise jumped over rocks, branches and brush she found herself aiming at a figure in front of her. It looked like an archer, probably one on over watch for the rest of the bandits She tried sneaking closer but to her horrified surprise the man began nocking a bow and she quickly took aim once again. Taking but a moment to ensure it wasn’t a friend, she fired the shortbow and heard the satisfying thunk of her arrow smashing into a target.

Hearing a dwarven battle cry she grinned at the thought of the poor schmuck about to be pummeled by Thulgrim. As Annalise notched a second arrow her ears wiggled in alarm, sounds of sobbing quietly ran throughout the forest. She put the arrow away and pulled out a shortsword, prepared for close combat. Moving up to the body she flipped it over, finding her arrow had pierced the man’s throat and winced, it wasn’t a pretty sight. But now she had another worry, where was the noise coming from?

Her answer came at the sight of a slumped form crumpled at the base of a tree. With one hand gripped tightly around her sword she advanced cautiously as she examined the hostile It was wearing the same green cloak that the elf before was wearing. But as she got closer to the sobbing form she realized she was a maid? What the saint damned hells? In one hand the maid held a bloodied arrow and the other clutched furtively at her stomach, a growing pool of blood spilling forth from what appeared to be a deep wound. Around the maid the fog seemed noticeably dimmer, turning from a misty gray to an almost black smog like look, but she rounded it up to the blood loss and shade from the tree.

As Annalise approached the stranger she held her sword out front before she called out.

“Hey, who the hells are you?”

Perhaps delirious from the wound or just bewildered, the maid barely glanced up before continuing to sob, growing noticeably quieter.

“Hey, do you hear me? Who are you and what are you doing here?” Annalise repeated, now within stabbing distance.

This time the maid did look up, and Annalise saw the tiredness etched across a young face, and her bright blue eyes that seemed so much livelier than the person it belonged to. Her lips moved as if to say something and Annalise moved closer and knelt over the maid.

“Stay with me, who the hell are you? Fuck, what do I do. Hold on alright? Hold on.”

Annalise sheathed her sword and began triaging the maid, looking up every once in a while to find the maid staring at her with eyes filled with sorrow.

“Tesadus, by life, honor and earth lend me thy strength.” She grumbled, pulling out some emergency bandages. “Hey, hey, don’t sleep on me you strange bitch, look at me.” Annalise ordered, trying to hold the maid’s head up. “Hey, hey!” Goddess help me, how the hells do I explain this?