“The Myndiri were a folk of many contradictions, though to be fair we all our. Their veneration of both light; now known as divine, and dark; specifically now separated into necromancy, magics are one such example. One sect would profess themselves as healers without peer, whereas the group directly next to them could be performing heinous rituals and experiments on ‘lesser’ beings. As presented in Segosa’s works, we see that… ” - Heidi Flurswicht, Myndiri Specialist - Exploration Guild, Liaison to Arterian School of Magic, Lecture on Light and Dark Magic

Annalise threw a punch that shattered the brittle skull of the undead and immediately regretted her action. Pain shot through her arm from the impact and she staggered back as the undead crumbled into the ground. A skull shot past her face and she turned to find Thulgrim gleefully swinging away with a hammer, dashing around like some drug fueled angry bar maid dancer, smashing anything and everything in his path. Wish I had a fucking hammer, she winced as her hand radiated pain once more.

Ahead of them both surviving mercenaries from the trapped squadron and their reinforcements formed a shield wall. Disciplined, well trained, and unrelenting despite their obvious exhaustion they held their ground as Sara used what little mana she had to craft divine sigils to their right. She was merely a tier 1 mage, the lowest on the totem pole capable of combat magic, and even that was a stretch. Though at the very least her divine spells served to delay the undead advance enough for the remaining expeditionaries less versed in group tactics to snipe out the undying.

Holding the left, Gil, Thulgrim, Arnold and other combat capable civilian expeditionaries held the line firm. Gil and Arnold in particular danced through the horde with relative ease, their movements precise and calculated whilst the dwarf was chaos incarnate. The three alone would be easily overwhelmed but with a support team around them, the line remained stable.

That left herself and two veteran pathfinders to keep the archeologist, translator and researchers safe while they prodded the giant inert blue crystal. It was chipped, cracked and all manner of damage but being located in what Professor Faustein had described as the ‘central command chamber’ meant that this was the artifact find they were hoping for. It was also there in which the reinforcements and adventures finally linked up with the first expedition.

Their respective joys however, were short lived. As brothers in arms reunited after an arduous attempt to clear out the ruins a tide of undead washed in from the entrance, effectively forcing them to hold the command center as the only real defensible place with escape routes. Yet the professor was certain that the giant crystal was something of high value, and in his attempt to unlock its secrets had accidentally tilted it off its pedestal and onto the floor. If the undead didn’t come in full force when they entered the ruins, they surely knew where to go after that. From then it didn’t take long for the dead to begin their assault as flayed monsters and horrific skinwalkers charged arm in arm with the more common but weaker skeletal variant of the undead. It had been a brutal melee at the start, even when they were almost thirty strong, their numbers still began to dwindle as each successive wave crashed over them.

“Blasted rock! How does it work? Haven’t you had enough damn time to figure it out Faust?”

“Well I’m sorry, Direktor Wallen. Perhaps you too would find it hard to focus when the undying are trying to make you join their ranks for the past week.”

“Gentlemen please, save the bickering for later!”

“Sure, just tell Herr Direktor here to let my assistants and I finish our work.”

“Faustein! You dare! Remember who runs…”

Annalise turned to find the academics hard at work arguing and rolled her eyes. Never really understood why the academies are always considered so important, poor Soph’s gonna be in for a shocker, she giggled.

A stray screech drew her attention and she caught sight of two multi-legged creatures skittering across the walls above them, bloody drops dripping down with every movement as they jostled their way to a meal. She grunted to herself and notched an arrow before letting it loose. Her eyes trailed its path and widened in horror as it embedded itself into the creature only for it to skitter forward without a care. Its many legs, hands, it only has hands, slapped tile after tile as the two crawlers positioned themselves above the shield wall. Shit.

“Sara, up!” Annalise shouted in a panic.

The healer followed her gaze and quickly shifted to erect a ward around the ceiling, rapidly signing a sigil as she chanted the words of power. Unfortunately it meant the spells she was maintaining dissipated and the dead quickly poured forth from the flank and butchered two unlucky expeditionaries before the others steadied the breach. The halo of light flickered briefly before it fizzled out as Sara’s incantation failed to materialize in her panic, but thankfully partially did its job anyways. Of the two, one leaped down and, being blinded, failed to adjust course and barrelled into their own lines as the sickening crunch of bone and flesh from the impact hindered the undead advance. The other, perhaps the smarter of the two leapt only when it was certain and despite being blinded, ended up mounting Mercenary Sergeant Fortis before Captain Gundarr the giant smashed it to pieces with his war hammer. But the disruption was all that was needed to make the mercenaries briefly lose their focus and the undead wave pushed forward with renewed vigor.

Annalise grumbled at her uselessness and quickly snatched up a dead mercenary’s axe, searching for the next potential breach when a sudden force knocked her to the floor.

Landing with a thud, she grunted as the professor’s assistant quickly helped her up and they turned their worried gazes to the main doors into the room. Saints damned, my tailbone! Thanking the man she rubbed her bum as two unusually large undead strode through the doorway. Multi-eyed, limbed and jittery abominations trudged forward whilst keeping a robed gaunt figure between them. A lich? As if to confirm her doubts it raised a gnarled bony hand and an ugly purple glow began emanating from its staff.

“Guys! Lich!” She screamed as she notched an arrow and fired

With disappointing consistency, the arrow struck true and did nothing but embed itself into squishy necrotic flesh. By the saints a slingshot would be more useful. Gil and Thulgrim thankfully, had far better luck as they and two mercenaries rushed forward through the undead lines and set upon their new arrivals. Should the mage be allowed to cast the consequences would be fire.

With a hearty yell Thulgrim shattered the bony ligaments of one of the larger undead and it dropped to one knee as Gil followed up with a bone cracking strike to the creature's head, sending eyeballs and bile scattering everywhere. The two mercenaries meanwhile, jumped in to fight the other creature and in a fit of annoyance, the lich rapped one of them on the head with his staff. Distracting the unfortunate fellow just long enough for the creature to pop his head and helmet between his meaty grip. Wincing at the sight, Annalise quickly let loose another arrow at the lich, hoping to distract it only for the others to take him out. Three arrows left, if we take out a leader the horde should partially crumble.

Gil and Thulgrim quickly joined the mercenary and the trio struck at the big undead repeatedly between quick dodges until it finally dropped dead. Annalise watched in morbid fascination as the frustrated lich dashed forward and with a clean cleave from his staff, cut through the mercenary as the other two quickly repositioned, ready for a fresh duel.

A scream tore her attention back to the right as she looked around and found an expeditionary dragging Sara back to the crystal. Blood oozed from her arm as Annalise gagged at the sight of the healer's exposed bone and tendons, muscles torn just wide enough to indicate a bite. To her surprise Sara grit her teeth and continued to bark commands at the less experienced expeditionaries, telling them to pull in closer and maintain formation without her wards to assist them.

“Sara!”

She quickly scrambled over to her friend, only to be met with a determined gaze.

“Later. Anna, take my spot on the line.” She said cooly, despite the pained expression etched on her face.

“But Sara, your wound!”

“Won’t be a wound if we’re all dead! I’m a healer, I’ll do my job and you do yours!” She barked and Annalise gave her a comforting pat before she reluctantly moved to the front.

But before she could take more than a few steps, the walls to the command room burst open from the side as another large undead barrelled through. Treating the ancient Myndiri bricks as if they were nothing more than sand, the creature smashed the stone in its way and surveyed the scene before it. A displeased snarl twisted its visible part of the face, the other half a blackened charred. With a guttural roar, the charred one sent a fresh wave of dead, now mostly skinwalkers, rushing forward in a frenzy.

Perhaps in shock or fright, the lightly trained expeditionaries crumbled under the frenzied wave, screams echoed throughout the chamber as bloodied bits were flung left and right as the skinwalkers tore through the lightly armoured men. Seeing the situation, Captain Gundarr rushed over with a handful of mercenaries to stabilise the situation as Annalise ran over to join the fray.

“Hold the line! Steady! Steady you dogs!” Gundarr responded with a roar as he spun like a whirlwind into the advancing skinwalkers. His mercenaries followed their captain and with an animalistic roar of their own also joined the fray. Taking heed of their examples she too yelled out a battlecry and charged forward. She swung the axe down on the head of a nearby skinwalker and cleaved into its pus covered flesh as dark bubbles burst under the weight. Green bileish blood spilled from the wound as she swung again and decapitated the creature. Beside her a mercenary tackled a skinwalker and pulverised its head with his armoured gauntlets, stopping only when he caught another one in his sights.

Another of the decrepit creatures met her gaze and the two swiped at each other, her cautious moves barely enough to dodge the flurry of frenzied blows. Taking a gamble, she found her opening and lunged forward, bringing the axe down on its head as the fleshy skull cracked from the impact. Satisfied with another kill she looked around and found herself pressed onto the floor as a skinwalker leapt from behind and pinned her down. Pain flared up from where her cheek scraped against the ancient stone floor and in a panic she flailed around enough to nudge the creature off. But as she recovered, so did it, and it pounced forward once more. Barely holding back its sharp claws she grunted in exertion as its hungry misshapen maw snapped at her, trying to tear off her flesh before she was even dead.

“Fuck..” She winced as it drew closer, and with one last burst of energy headbutt the creature as pain wracked her skull, “Off!”

Staggered, the two quickly regained their footing only for a small glow to light up under the creature. Confused, they stared at it for naught but a second before it began sizzling and cried out in pain. Taking advantage of the moment she grabbed her axe and brought it crashing down into it as well, ending the horror. Looking up she met Sara’s gaze and offered a thankful nod before she steadied herself.

“Faustein!”

“I’m trying, I’m trying!”

“Look out!”

The panicked voices of the two men pierced through the din and she spun around to find a crawler clawing at the research team, having already munched through the neck of a pathfinder.

Annalise dashed back to them and cut into the crawler only for her axehead to embed itself in it, leaving her with only a wooden stick. Before it could attack another halo of light blinded the combatants and she pushed through the remains of the splintered stick through the creature, ending it for good.

“You lot need to hurry up or next time I'll let them tear you to shreds.” She growled at the researchers and their fearful nods combined with their trembling hands indicated their understanding clear enough.

Once again she met Sara’s gaze and the healer grinned cheekily at her. You owe me two.

A drink?

A lot more than that.

My treat, two fancy meals.

Deal.

Their silent conversation done, she almost smiled at the thought of a warm meal until she watched Sara’s expression change to one of horror. In the periphery of her vision a faint purple glow grew brighter and brighter until she turned to face it and found herself launched backwards from the impact.

When she could finally open her eyes she found an injured Sara hovering over her as the researchers focused on the crystal while sneaking in the occasional glance at her. Around them it felt more claustrophobic, as the room itself was shrinking, but judging by the short stock and Gil standing back in line with Arnold, the lich was dead. Beside them, Sergeant Fortis seemed to be taking charge of the mercenaries and the few expeditionaries still standing huddled around them, with Gundarr no where in sight. How does a seven foot tall man go missing?

“Anna, Anna, hey, focus on me.” Sara grunted through the pain, “You’re gonna be fine, okay? You’re gonna be fine.”

Huh? Annalise wanted to ask but found herself unable to speak, what’s going on? Why can’t I move? But her opportunity to ask a question was denied as Sara began chanting her gibberish and small lights began dancing around her. More and more lights joined the dance until a blinding light flashed in front of her eyes and she suddenly felt a lightness wash over her.

As the tension faded she realised her whole body had been frozen in pain until now and gingerly looked past Sara to see what seemed like her boot in the distance. Gripped by a chilling thought her eyes creeped down ever so slightly until she simply stared at the bloodied stump and puddle underneath. She could feel her breath fade ever so slightly before rapidly accelerating to an almost uncontrolled rate of breathing. Her world spun as she tried to process the image in front of her until Sara clamped her hands on her face and forcefully tore Annalise’s gaze to the healer.

“You’re gonna be fine, we’ll get you to a proper cleric when we get back. But right now, you’re probably shocked and going to go in shock so just bear with me. We’ll get through this.”

What? What sick fucking joke is this?

“Hey, Anna, you’ll be okay? You’ll be…”

“Healer!”

“Watch the breach!”

“Three incoming!”

Sara glanced over at the panicked cries and quickly dashed back over. Annalise stared quietly as her friend ran off to do her duties and turned her attention to the other side of the line. Breathe, focus, don’t think about it, don’t think about…

Her breathing built to a crescendo as the panic and shock finally began seeping through but just before she could, an ear piercing wail echoed through the hall. A blue hue emanated from the cracked crystal as it pulsed sporadically with a radiant light. Monster and men alike cried out and screamed at the sudden light and with each pulse the undead began writhing more erratically as the living realised that being alive was protection enough from its effects. The charred one roared out loud and the dead threw themselves forward in a last ditch assault.

“Hah! Who knew ancient elven rocks could do such work! Eat a bag of kobald dicks you bastards!” Thulgrim bellowed as he threw himself back into the fray, his beard upturned in a smile.

Watching the foolhardy dwarf surge forward, a cheer rang out from the defenders and with renewed vigor they met the undead assault head on as steel clashed with steel followed by sickening cracking of bones. Even the researchers gave their own little whoops of joy before they grabbed their own weapons to contribute. With each pulse, the undying staggered as if slammed by an invisible force, and with each opening more and more turned back to corpses as the living shifted the tide of battle.

It was then a lance of pure dark energy shot through the undead horde and smashed into the crystal, the blue light bursting into a brilliant flash before it shattered into a million pieces. Annalise tried to curl up to avoid the shards and only found herself slumping over as the missing leg failed to stabilise her.

For the briefest of seconds it was like a kaleidoscope of shiny colors dazzling the room in its mesmerising embrace before the shards came falling down like a hailstorm. Then, like every storm, chaos followed in its wake.

Mercenary Sergeant Fortis was stunned not just at the explosion but also at the head of Captain Gundarr thrown over the mercenaries nearby. In his moment of hesitation, Annalise could only look on as the charred one pushed two mercenaries out of the way and flatted his head in between two hammers. The explosion of blood and bone sapped the remaining mercenaries' willpower and she watched as the once cohesive unit broke apart as every man tried to save themselves. Did it...just think?

She could make out the faint bellowing of Gil’s calming but assertive voice as he attempted to rally the remaining defenders. Thulgrim too, with his gruff bellow wrangled a few nearby mercenaries back into a formation. But the situation was grim as most of the others had begun acting independently, most slain after a last ditch attempt to escape. And as Gil turned to give some more orders, Annalise couldn’t even make out his last words as another purple bolt ripped through him. Her heart seized up in shock as she watched the mop of blond hair, now dyed crimson, collapse lifelessly onto the dusty stone floor. Gil…? No...

Thulgrim roared in anguish and in a rage rushed at the enemy mage only to be dragged into a duel with the charred one. He sprinted past its first blow and slammed his hammer into its knee, sending the large undead into a crouch. As the creature swiped at him, he dashed adeptly just out of its range before going in for another blow. With a firm smack the creature reeled backwards in rage and Thulgrim went for the killing blow. But as if the Gods themselves had cursed this creature to be hideous, her disgust only grew as two hands burst forth from its chest, one burnt the other necrotic. One absorbed the hammer impact and turned into liquefied remains soon enough, but the other grabbed the shaft and dragged the dwarf closer. Thulgrim bellowed in rage and attempted to free himself with a headbutt, but more arms burst from the monster’s chest and gripped him tightly. Annalise knew they were more than a few paces away but as it slammed its remaining appendages at the dwarf, she could hear every sickening, crunch, crack and squelch as the armour was brutally compressed inwards. A bloodied mangled mess being the only remains as the creature threw it aside.

“Sorry professor, truly, it was a pleasure.” A cynical voice came from nearby and she craned her head to try to see the speaker.

From her position on the floor, Annalise could just barely make out Professor Faustein’s feet turn around before the twang of a crossbow rang out loud and Faustein fell down gasping for hair, a bolt sticking out of his throat.

“You?! You bast…”

Another twang followed by a thud and as the assistant dropped she had a horrifying realisation. Was this all a set up? Are they...was this all...for nothing? Yet there was no time for her to process that information when the Direktor stepped past her line of sight and fired his crossbow just past her peripheral vision.

It was as if the hells had opened up when her body twisted and turned from her senses returning. Pain wracked her body as whatever spell Sara had cast faded and all the feelings hidden beneath burst through the surface. Agh! It burns! It hurts! My leg! My leg! She clutched desperately at her stump and whimpered and whined as she tried her hardest not to scream. This can’t be happening, what the hells is going on? This is just a dream right? Fuck the pain, it hurts so much, please stop, wake up.

Annalise didn’t know what to do, the overwhelming sense of pain and emotions intertwined themselves tightly within her and seized at every possible muscle. Her body roared with a righteous fury, burning her up from within whilst her mind wailed desperately with anguish and suffering. In but the flash of a second, the day’s events had finally caught up as she had just understood what happened. Instinctively she balled herself up as she rocked around increasingly erratically, the pain forcing her into delirium with every passing second.

In between a scream and a sob, she found what little left of her sanity caught on the sight of an opening through the undead lines. Leading in a jagged wedge out into the entryway, her gaze lingered on the sight of Arnold looking back somberly as Sara dropped to her knees and muttered hysterically.

“Arnie…Arnold…don’t leave me…”

The quiet words carried through what little fighting was left in the room and Annalise soon saw the reason why her spell had vanished. Concentrating on a spell was difficult enough as it is, maintaining a sustained casting required some extra efforts, though even beginners should be able to hold simple spells. Yet to fight through pain, horror and heartache alike would prove even difficult for a trained battle mage, and Annalise found her own scream caught in her throat at the sight. Sara was speared through the length of her body with a multitude of lacerations and had collapsed around the last of the expeditionaries, a pike and the crossbow bolt having pierced through her, the blood had soaking through all her gear and a feverish grin had overtaken her face as she continued muttering about Arnold.

Annalise turned back to find the entryway empty and Sara cackled hysterically for one more second before she transformed into a sobbing mess. Between Annalise’s own pained gasps and cries and Sara’s tears, the two managed to trade a brief glance as a pained expression finally appeared on Sara’s face before the light faded from her eyes. Annalise cried out in despair as the healer simply slumped forward on her knees and ceased moving completely.

Her own consciousness was reaching the edge of its limits as the charred creature walked closer and a robed man met the Direktor with a small bow. What remained of the mercenaries and expeditionaries traded their last blows before they were struck down and the two figures surveyed the carnage around them.

“The master would be pleased at our dedication.”

“Truer words have never been spoken. A timely arrival from your brute over here. You delivered, as promised.”

“Indeed.” The robed figure hissed as the two drew closer to the crystal’s resting place, “Were you able to decipher the misssing sigils?”

“Unfortunately not, it would seem the illustrious professor and his team were unable to acquire a competent translator in time. What I have is essentially what we already know.”

“But looook…” The robed figure drawled, “The core, beautiful and exquisite, as described by the legendss.”

“Extraordinary. Who could imagine such a treasure to be held within.” Direktor Wallen gasped.

“A perfect vessel for the master's return.”

“A perfect offering too.”

“Indeeed.”

“But what of our brethren? Are the dark ones truly returning as they claim?”

“Hyssteria perhaps, but I would take stock of the rumors to some extent. Only ill words flow down from the north.”

The two shared a grunt as she heard them rummage through the rubble and grab something.

“No! I’ll make you pay you burned bastard! Should’ve stayed down when you can! Kill them! Kill them all!” A strangely familiar voice echoed from the entryway followed by several more yells and battle cries.

“Tch, more interlopers. I thought you got them all?” Wallen’s annoying gruff voice echoed from above her.

“S-stragelers it would seem…no matter, I believe we are done here.”

“Fair enough, have your beast finish them off, let us depart lest the blackcoats arrive.”

“Indeed.”

She could hear the footsteps as they casually walked away, the charred one roaring in defiance and charging instead towards the new arrivals.

“For glory and gold! For the Captain!” Came the battle cry. Mercenaries! Help is here!

But the pain that had been so overwhelming before finally broke her mental barriers, and as a fleeting joyful thought of reinforcements coming to deliver their comeuppance flashed in her mind. She passed out.