Those who forged this world of stone

None coherent, all alone

Creation failed yet life was grown

To tear it all, flesh and bone

Translation from Effylscript found on the Nirvheir Portal in Hyrfvar.

The land transitioned into a wide valley as they reached the first slopes of the mountain range which surrounded them on both sides. From what they could see, the souls kept on following the same straight path, right into the mountainside miles away yet. As Kollyn searched for any sign of passage through, he noticed several red-tinted Vren walking across the valley and towards them.

He cursed inwardly and motioned Tirril to follow. They walked away from the souls and onto the slopes surrounding the valley, moving out of the path of the Vren. With what they had seen so far, he guessed the Vren would be going straight for one of several obelisks they had encountered on their run. The inclines surrounding them should be void of Vren and with luck, they would be safe higher up.

It took them another hour to round the ledge and the valley on the other side came into view. It was nearly identical to the one they’d just left with yet another offset of the mountains running parallel to the one they stood one. If Kollyn had to guess, he’d assume the pattern would repeat itself over and over again, an endless stretch of valleys and mountain slopes.

“There are souls down there as well,” Tirril noted and pointed downwards. Kollyn had to squint his eyes, but was finally able to make out the misty, grey shapes walking in that same, monotonous march. They too were headed straight for the mountains.

“We should follow along on this ridge,” he argued. “We’ll have a better view of what’s going on and I doubt the Vren will make their way up here.”

Tirril gave a short nod. “Just keep an eye out on both sides. They might be too far away to sense us, but best not to risk a stray spotting us.”

Making headway along the ridge proofed to be a significantly more difficult task than it had seemed at first. The rocky, uneven ground was riddled with small fissures and holes that could easily sprain the ankle of an inattentive wanderer. More than once they had to jump across a narrow, seemingly bottomless chasm. That combined with the steady incline of the ridge assured it took them at least an hour to cover the same distance they would have ran in a mere ten minutes.

Ahead, Tirril suddenly stopped and let out an inaudible curse. Kollyn hurried over, nearly tripping over protruding rock, and cursed as well. Some thirty feet ahead of them, a small black obelisk stood amid a perfectly round clearing. On both sides, a set of stairs was constructed into the sides of the slopes leading down to a path that trailed off into the valleys below.

“We need to...” Tirril began but cut herself off when a red, deformed soul appeared at the top of the stairs. For a moment, Kollyn thought the creature had not seen them and had eyes only for the obelisk. The thought turned into anguish as it turned its head around with one, stiff jerk and looked straight at them.

Its mouth widened in a deafening screech and was answered by other similar cries resounding from the lower slopes. Kollyn’s hand wavered at the hilt of his useless sword, a tremble that began to spread throughout his body. They were trapped.

A faint breeze caressed his neck, the sensation of wind felt for the first time since entering Iodigar.

Kollyn looked to his side where Tirril had disappeared in a blur of motion and speed. In less than a second, she’d crossed the thirty feet to the obelisk and had managed to get behind the confused Vren. Coming to a skidding halt, she planted one foot firm on the ground and kicked the Vren in the back with her other. The creature hurled forward onto the obelisk and as it made contact vanished into a puff of red mist.

Tirril bent over, heaving. “Glad to see that worked. We have to hide,” she said in between haggard breaths.

Kollyn rushed over and held her up. “What... How did you...?”

“Later!” she snapped as more cries arose from the approaching Vren. “We need to find a place to hide.”

Kollyn buried his questions and surveyed the surroundings. The slopes were out of the question, they’d be swarming with agitated Vren by now, and the way they’d had come across the rigid ledge had shown no decent hiding spots close by.

“We have to climb higher,” he decided, “and hope we stumble upon a hole to crawl into or rock to climb on.”

Tirril grunted, regaining her breath. “Right behind you.”

The cries of the Vren accruing, they hastily ran further up the ridge leaving the obelisk behind. To Kollyn’s dismay, once past the obelisk and the clearing, the ground had lost every sense of walkable path and running soon became nigh impossible. Jumping from rock to rock and over small fissures, anxiety began to creep up on him.

Allowing a second to look back, he saw the first of the Vren reach the top of the stairs, its head moving in that almost familiar jerking motion. About two hundred feet separated them from the unhinged soul and although they were mostly hidden from view, Kollyn wasn’t convinced the creature couldn’t sense them.

True to his thoughts, the Vren snarled as it flung its gaze towards them and cried out. It started towards them while four more Vren appeared on the clearing, all purposefully turning in the same direction and away from the obelisk.

“Up here!” Tirril cried out and Kollyn turned back to her. She’d started scaling the side of a small overhang, a formation that would force the Vren to go around. He hurried after her and started the short climb as well, joining her atop the overhang once up.

“They’ll have no choice but to go around,” she said. “We can make our stand here.”

Kollyn nodded, but he heard the desperation in her voice. It was the same desperation he had felt when the first Vren had appeared atop the stairs. There was no escaping this. They’d failed. He had failed.

The Vren reached the overhang in no less than ten seconds, their claws scratching the rock as they tried to make their way up. Their screeches assaulted his eardrums as their fury at their failure to scale the rock face grew more intense. Three of the Vren took off from the enraged group and chose the long way around where the wall was low enough for them to jump.

“Here they come,” Kollyn said, a sense of acceptance washing over him.

Tirril took a few quick successive breaths. “Let’s give them some trouble at least,” she said before vanishing in a blur once again.

She slammed her shoulder into the first Vren’s chest, the impact sending it back a good three dozen feet. Not slowing down, Tirril transitioned into a roll and punched the second Vren in the stomach the moment she stood upright, sending it to join the other one.

The third Vren however managed to evade her next kick as Tirril slowed down mid-swing and stopped all together before falling down unconsciously. The Vren, seemingly confused by the progression of events, bent down and sniffed Tirril’s limp body. Its mouth opened in a snarl as it raised a set of clawed fingers, their points aimed straight at her chest.

Instinctively, Kollyn reached for a knife on his belt and threw it at the Vren. Had it been any other creature, the knife would have found solid flesh to pierce. Now however the knife pierced through the Vren’s head as if it was air, small tendrils of red mist swirled around the weapon’s path.

It did however attract the Vren’s attention and it screeched as it turned towards Kollyn. He braced himself as it left Tirril and charged him instead. He jumped out of the way of the first charge and almost managed to avoid the second when a talon gashed his side. The Vren snarled again, a clicking sound emerging from its throat as if it was enjoying itself.

“Something funny?” Kollyn asked and then, despite everything, he laughed at the absurdity of the question. He was going to die. Tirril was going to die. The least he could try was take one of the bastards with him.

He shuffled back to the edge of the overhang, the rest of the Vren down below still desperately scratching at the rock face. It was only a good twenty feet to the bottom, but the ground declined quickly further away from the overhang. If he jumped, he’d make a twenty-five-foot fall. If he got pushed even further...

“Come on!” Kollyn yelled at the Vren. “You want to kill me? Come then! I’ll take you down with me!”

The Vren angered at the provocations. Kollyn doubted the creature could understand him, but his tone should have been easy enough to understand. He wanted it to be angry, have it charge him with all it’s had.

It launched towards him at an incredible speed and Kollyn smiled. The moment the Vren was about to hit, he jumped backwards and off the overhang. The Vren, its forward momentum no longer held in check by Kollyn’s body, rushed off as well and hit Kollyn mid-air.

Together, they soared through the air and towards the ground now significantly further down below. The fall seemed to last a lifetime. A lifetime in which Kollyn came to terms with his failure. He still felt disappointment in himself, but he’d done what he could.

“You seek death, Vessel?”

The voice exploded in his head, its tremor vibrating through his skull. Time around him slowed, his fall lasting an eternity.

“There are things yet to be done, Vessel. It is not time for you yet.”

“I failed,” Kollyn responded.

“The human in you has failed,” the amused answer came. “But you are more than that. It is time for you to accept that.”

“And lose myself?” he asked. “Lose control and hurt the innocent again?” He shivered. The image of his little sister’s lifeless body floated before him, the look in his parents’ eyes...

“So afraid...” The words echoed in the air. “Yet so willing to learn. Why fear to do what you were born to do? You are no longer the little boy unaware of the possibilities he holds. Let me show you.”

Time resumed and Kollyn was shocked to his senses. Something was different, a sensation welling up inside of him.

Still falling, he reached for the Vren and wrapped his hands around its head. The creature screamed in agony for a brief second before dissipating into a huff of red mist, a sense of gratitude emerging from the corrupted soul’s final touch. A heartbeat later, Kollyn crashed into the ground. Rock gave way and crumbled under the impact, which felt like falling onto a layer of cushions.

Hands still held up where the Vren’s head had been, something pulsed from within them and spread out in a silent explosion. All around him he heard the screams of Vren being hit by the burst of power before all fell silent. A red mist wavered across the rocky underground that lasted for only a brief second before evaporating.

As Kollyn lost consciousness, he heard footsteps approaching.

“Now that,” a jovial voice resounded, “was highly interesting.”