“A Unifying Force Or Subjugation’s First Step?

  The burgeoning refugee crisis in the northern regions have necessitated the deployment of additional troops into the region to help maintain order. For the first time in years Volksgrad has opened its borders to foreign troops in the spirit of cooperation as part of treaties that guarantee the delivery of resources to it in order to help assuage rising concerns. A joint task force comprising a mixed company of Meltonian Sheriffs and Ascalonian League Vale Watchers have been leased to Volksgrad for security purposes. The combined deployment is thought to be the first of multiple joint projects meant to pave the way for more interconnected cooperation in the future. Concerns however, have also arisen regarding this deployment, with Chieftain Dypolt of the…

  - Arterian Affairs, Foreign Affairs Edition, “Happenings In The North Section”

  The Lily Knights cut through the dead city like a javelin hurtling through the air. Where they had once advanced with more caution, they now traded it for speed. The undead were beginning to stir and with the appearance of a yet unidentified party also operating within the city, they had to do what they could before the situation changed any further.

  Their next target was the merchant’s guild, a thankfully smaller building than the pathfinder or adventurers guild halls, at least according to the maps of the city. Sophie only hoped that the building’s own floor plan would be as simplistic in nature. Though given what she knew of guild halls in Arteria and the city’s love for the mercantile arts, she suspected that the guild branch here would be a labyrinthian mess of halls trying to squeeze use out of every bit of space that they could.

  At least the majority of the city streets here seemed to be mostly empty of barricades. The last stands of the residents in the Golden Quarters done mostly within their manors or those where the courtyard walls appeared sturdy enough to hold back the majority of the undead that could’ve prowled the streets. Though given how most of those had since collapsed or been demolished, Sophie guessed that their sense of confidence might’ve been slightly misplaced.

  Still, in some ways it was a bit of a relief in how uneventful their trek was becoming. The less obstacles and debris there were, the less places that errant undead could still be hiding beneath beyond a few alleyways. And those, due to this being a richer district, always seemed to be a bit further from the road so as to not sully the prestige of the main streets.

  The guildhall itself was located on the northern end of Marius Platz. A drastically smaller plaza than Saint Rosendorf Platz but no less important as it served as the gathering grounds for the richer residents of Eichafen. Cafes, proper shopfronts, and other artisanal stores dotted the boulevards around it, with the few guildhalls here being much more commercially orientated as well. Though noticeably, most of the buildings were made of stone, marble and brick with fewer oaken finishes that were more common in the other city districts. Even local specialties don’t compare to the wants of the rich, Sophie scoffed.

  Still, it must’ve been nice living here, she thought to herself. Might even have been… peaceful, she tossed around the word before settling upon it, the Mistveil itself notwithstanding.

  Her thoughts were quickly dissipated however, the moment they arrived in Marius Platz itself. Whatever idyllic scenery she had been imagining was quickly replaced by the eerie reality of Eichafen’s current status around her. Like the rest of the Golden Quarter and unlike the rest of the city, it looked almost as if the platz had simply been abandoned midway through a market day.

  Stalls still standing upright, the streets almost hauntingly clear of battle scars, and even the trees still stood vigil over the platz. Though most had long since shed their leaves and were but dying husks being eaten away by the Mistveil. There wasn’t even any debris here, no stray stone chunks or fallen buildings that have long since collapsed onto itself. Perhaps only shattered glass and a few knocked over crates were the only sign that something more than just economic neglect had visited this place.

  She could almost hear the last sounds of a day coming to an abrupt close. Some hushed whispers and mutterings of discontent. The barking of orders from the guardsmen likely patrolled the area. And perhaps even the city bells as they tolled in warning of an imminent attack. For them she supposed, unlike the commoners of Eichafen, it was but a day like any other if only that it was rudely interrupted.

  Under the shadow of the ornate structures that surrounded the platz, the world seemed to be broken into bits of grimy shadows and dusty fog. Ornate pillars and decorations only added jagged backdrops that jutted out against the landscape. Little tendrils of darkness that seemed to be grasping for what little light that could break the veil of fog over the city.

  Near the corner of the platz, they managed to catch sight of merchant’s guildhall. Like most of the larger structures here, it carried its own little display of wealth and power through two statues that flanked the entry way to the courtyard. Marble faced guards that sat proud atop their steeds, their poised expressions remaining unbothered that their people and wards had all but disappeared as they stood watchful over the city turned graveyard.

  Mila tapped Sophie’s shoulder and quickly gestured towards the guildhall’s side door. There, in between now dead trees and one of the sentinels, was an entryway. But unlike the more refined buildings around them, there was one thing that seemed amiss. The doorway was left as nothing but splinters, a shattered mess. A clear sign of forced entry.

  Sophie sucked in a deep breath.

  They would need to slow down. Just like the barracks, the possibility of undead being within its walls were now much higher.

  The others needed no prompting, automatically adopting a more defensive posture the closer they got.

  Sophia clicked tongue and arched her eyebrow.

  Main door? Side door? Her sister asked.

  Sophie pointed towards the broken doorway. Might as well make less noise if we can. They seem to spook easy enough.

  Sophia just grunted. Neither display affirmation or disagreement, just acknowledgment.

  Sophie cast one look back towards Raylani, the dark elf meeting her gaze with a tepid shrug. No sound of danger so far. Reassured, she held her head up high and calmly made her way into the courtyard.

  At some point, the neatly trimmed hedges had begun to become overgrown and take over the pathways. Only to either expand too quickly and run out of nutrients or something else within the Mistveil decided to snack on them. Whatever the case was, she found a courtyard filled with dead shrubs, hedges, and other once bountiful plant life turned into a brittle but thorny pickets of branches.

  Trying their best to break as little as possible to minimize their sound profile. The group carefully skirted the edges of the paths until they got close enough to peer in through the exposed doorway. Within the entry, traces of a battle scarred the entire room. Scratches on the walls, deep grooves left by weapons, and even the occasional bit of marble and stone having been knocked off during the fighting.

  “Hells, what a mess.” Elaria muttered under her breath.

  “Mistress, watch your step.” Raylani quickly added.

  The bard, now a little startled, almost immediately stumbled now that she was aware of her footing. Both Sophia and Raylani quickly moved to steady her, but just as her free hand managed to hold onto Elaria’s shoulder alongside Raylani’s, the weight suddenly shifted. Almost instantly Sophie also lost her footing at the unexpected heaviness and fell onto the ground beside Elaria.

  “Tsh, ow.” Elaria groaned.

  “Ela!” Sophie squeaked softly in alarm.

  "Be gentle will you?" Elaria indignantly chuckled.

  The two searched each other for wounds only to quickly recall what had happened. Raylani let go. Immediately, they turned their gaze to Raylani. Finding the dark elf having completely diverted her attention as her gaze hardened.

  “Raylani?” Sophia queried as she moved with Mila to quickly cover the gap in their formation, trusting the two on the ground to pick themselves up after the embarrassing display.

  The dark elf scowled and pointed her dagger towards the doorway.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  Everyone followed her gesture and paused, almost as if they were all waiting for something to emerge from the shadows. Sophia was the only one who let out a soft ‘oh’ that then drew the other’s attention to her.

  “What about it?” Sophie finally dared to ask, realizing that she wasn’t quite seeing what the other two were.

  Perhaps realizing that more than one person had not understood, Raylani grunted in disappointment before explaining.

  “See the stonework on the edges? Jagged, pointing outwards. The door didn’t get pushed in. It got pushed out.” The dark elf narrowed her eyes.

  “Pushed out…”

  “She means it broke because something inside forced it open. Something tried to get out.” Sophia calmly explained, letting out a small snort at having realized something that Sophie hadn't.

  Sophie felt her blood run cold. Tried to get out? So something was trapped inside?

  For the first time since descending into the dead city. Sophie could feel that they all shared one collective sentiment. That something about this was terribly wrong.

  Beyond all the death that had already visited this place and the grizzly aftermath of a slaughter. Eichafen had fallen to external undead and traitors from within. If the undead hadn’t breached a sanctuary from without, then it was likely sabotaged. Or worse, people who were alive judged something to be dangerous enough that it needed to be contained.

  She quickly searched for Mila amongst the others. Hoping that the inquisition and the church would somehow have something more that they knew or could share. To her dismay, the inquisitor’s scowl only grew darker. One not just arising from frustration, but one that she recognized even back when they were in Melton. But from the threat of growing uncertainty about the whole situation.

  A silent debate now cropped up between the two. With unknown hostiles present, they were pressed for time to get everything done before they wound up finding more trouble than they were expecting. Yet they could not afford to be hasty, especially if there had actually been something the locals had wanted to keep contained.

  “It’s probably dead or has run off by now. Focus on the present danger and let’s not waste anymore time.” Sophia interjected, “Let’s keep moving.”

  Sophie sighed. Her sister made sense, there was no point in delaying against threats that they didn’t even know of yet.

  “Agreed. Same formation. Stay close.” Sophie ordered.

  Behind her, Elaria jokingly bowed and held her arms out, like a butler directing a guest. Sophie just grinned a little before regaining her composure. It was silly, but she appreciated it. It was like a reminder to her of how strained her muscles were from all the tension. Though with the agenda before them, there was little she could do to mitigate it. After all, trouble isn’t going to just wait for us.

  Pressing forward, she found the merchant’s guild in more disarray than even she had expected. Almost every bit of furniture in the guildhall’s interior had been fashioned into barricades and blockers. Table legs, desks, and even their filing cabinets have been moved, dragged, or knocked down to better protect them against something. More concerningly, everything pointed to support for Raylani’s observations. Not only had the doors and windows been barred and barricaded, but so had a last ditch ring been formed around the stairway upwards, facing against it.

  Hells… Sophie cursed.

  Based on the chaos of the first floor, she doubted they’d be able to gather anything useful here. She motioned for the group to stay close, there would be no splitting up this time.

  Carefully side stepping the barricades in the way, she tried to keep as quiet as possible when ascending the stairway. Keeping her back to the wall and wincing whenever one of them would step on a loose floorboard or two and the subsequent creak that followed. Still, with no other noises besides them, she pressed on.

  The second floor of this guildhall was equally destroyed as the first. What she presumed were administrative offices and little booths where merchants could conduct businesses with more private clients had almost all been overturned or damaged in some way. A few ones on the far side even had what looked like the skeletal remains of a few that fought back and huddled in a corner. A grim fate, but at least they put up a fight.

  It was however, the lack of barricades facing the stairway downwards that drew the most concern. It meant that those on the ground level, who fortified against both outside and in, were likely where the true last stand took place. What it also meant, was that the upper floors of the guild fell first. Worse, whatever that caused its collapse started there as well.

  In the pause that followed this silent revelation, Sophie hesitated. The lingering sense of dread that she felt when they entered the city only having grown with each new discovery they made. All of it seemed to only reinforce the idea that whatever betrayal the city’s defenders suffered, it was one far greater than she could’ve known.

  “Sophie…” Mila scowled.

  “I know. It’s a little too similar now that I’m thinking about it.” Sophie whispered back.

  Mila seemed to share the same thought as well. The inquisitor’s lips pursed into a deep frown as she met Sophie’s gaze. There was a darkness that felt like it was lingering over the city, though neither could quite put a finger to it. One that they both shared a momentarily flicker of recognition at. For it was the same sensation that they could both recall from their time back in Melton and the horrors that haunted the land there.

  The two tepidly made their way towards the stairway to the third floor when they froze. At the bottom of the stairs, a few bodies, some even still having a semblance of some flesh lay sprawled out across the oaken steps. Most appeared to have fallen from above judging by the angle they crumpled at, but one or two seemed to have died at the threshold, their skeletal arms still outstretched in a final plea for salvation.

  As Sophie moved closer to investigate, she was immediately dragged backwards by the inquisitor. The girl’s iron grip on the collar of her armor halted her completely.

  “M-Mila?” Sophie unwittingly gasped out loud.

  “Stop. Look.” Mila growled and tilted her head towards the bodies.

  Sophie tore her gaze towards the corpses.

  “What… What am I looking for? At?” Sophie murmured.

  “Their backs and fronts. Some weapon wounds, but others. Clean.” Raylani growled.

  “Exactly. A few got stabbed. The others though, something else got them.” Mila affirmed.

  “Which means… magic? What else?” Sophie queried.

  “Could be. Like… Anna’s dark magic, but perhaps more concentrated and quick. Less obvious signs.”

  “So a saboteur then, no questions about it. Someone had to have done this deliberately.” Sophia added.

  “Aye.”

  Sophie grimaced at the possibility. Eichafen had been betrayed, that was a certainty. The scale however, seemed to only continue to grow.

  Mila peered up the stairway herself, gently but firmly moving Sophie aside. The inquisitor stood just past the corpses and stared upwards, muttering something under her breath that led to a tiny light to flicker onto her palm. A faint magic array flickered to life as the inquisitor slowly examined the stairs and even the air around them. Only after assuring herself that it was safe, did Mila finally break the spell and let Sophie proceed.

  Reluctantly skirting past the dead bodies, Sophie slowly made her way upstairs, the others following behind one by one. If the second floor was one marred by the desperate stand of those trapped within the guildhall, then the third was where the calamity had begun.

  Any questions about where the missing survivors had gone were answered here. Whatever foul sorcery had been unleashed upon the people of Eichafen had also found purchase here. Former merchants and guild staffers lay where they fell, their rotted bones having bore the brunt of whatever toxin had been here in lieu of the living, glowing an almost sickly purplish green like some vomit-covered crystal. Two skeletons even lay spread across the hall on the far side around what appeared to be a cafe table of sorts.

  There, Sophie could vaguely make out what almost looked like a blooming flower extruding from a pot. Yet when she gave it more than a cursory glance, she chilled. For where a flower pot should be, its roots had actually wrapped itself around the table and subsequently the bodies. What almost appeared to be spiky thorns jabbed themselves into the oak and cloth as it anchored itself in place. Its body too, was a twisted mess. What could be mistaken for a sunflower’s tiny discs were actually solidified black liquid. The same as back…

  “Beshdidec Heinaotus Helaotux.” Mila quickly chanted as her hand hovered over the closest bone.

  Without a second between her sudden chant and being able to process it. The inquisitor quickly pulled out a metallic box and plotted it inside, her hand glowing with divine magic as she then sealed the box. She then quickly looked around before shaking her head.

  “We’re leaving.” Mila declared abruptly.

  Huh?

  “Huh?” Sophia echoed her thoughts.

  “We’re leaving.”

  “That…” Sophie hesitantly tried to point at the flower.

  “A dead plague bloom, no, inert maybe. The situation’s changed. We’re leaving, Sophie. Now.”

  “But…”

  “Believe me. I want to find out more too. But if we agitate anything here, it’d be the end of us. Trust me.”

  Sophie held her tongue. Scanning the others for their own reactions. Sophia and Raylani seemed relatively unbothered by the inquisitor’s earnest appeal or the danger at hand. Then again, Sophie doubted much would faze either of them. Then there was Elaria, her bardic sister appearing almost all too amused at the turn of events. Sophie just opted to shoot her a glare to be serious. Though she suspected that Elaria was serious, and that somehow just irked her a little.

  At last, with no other party stepping in and with no driver beyond her own curiosity, Sophie admitted defeat with a soft nod.

  “We need to warn the others too. If plague blooms are around here…”

  Mila didn’t need to finish her sentence. Sophie already knew the implications there. Should any of the saints get infected somehow, then there’d be hells to pay. With a grunt and a gesture, she led the way back down the stairs and away from the accursed floor.

  Making their way back out the guildhall. Sophie could feel the hairs on her neck stand at attention. The others too, gripped their own weapons a little tighter. It was a feeling that she knew quite well, that paranoia that arises when one is being watched from somewhere. And as she looked around, she could hear it coming from the rooftops.

  Click, click, click.

  Like an insect croaking to signal its brethren. An eerie inhuman distorted clicking echoed from the roofs. Something was there, and it was very much now distinctly aware of them.