Fable - Ask Unshattering the Eye

[Rak]

Rak stepped up besides Minerva, glancing down into the area around the Wizards tower. Eyes flickered to the gate, and then a scowl pulled at his lips. "Can never just make it easy, huh?"

The Half-Orc remarked, shaking his head in disbelief.

A nod tipped his head as Minnie found a spot for them to slide down the canyon wall. This time he went first, bounding over the ledge and tipping one foot before the other as he grasped the earth with his palm. Within seconds he began skating down the cliffside, a small plume of smoke trailing behind him.

His feet kicked out as he neared the bottom, landing with a clatter of armor in a half jog. Eyes almost immediately flickering around the circular valley as he waited for something, or someone, to come and attack them.

When Minerva landed besides him, he motioned towards the gate. "No controls."

He confirmed.

"But what do you make of that?" Rak said, gesturing towards the base of the dark stone tower where a set of wooden gates hung open. The hall beyond cast in shadows.

 

[Minerva]

"A trap maybe?" she looked into the tower, into the dark abyss that lay inside.

From this distance it was impossible to uncover precisely what the entranceway held for them. It could've had more amalgamations like the ones they faced, risen dead, enchanted runeplates, or it could've just been a plain old lobby.

That usually depended upon how paranoid a mage was. Or how confident they were that their first defenses, the stone golems they'd felled or the charged gateway, would be at eliminating any potential threats.

Minerva's lips scrunched as she thought on their predicament and then glanced back at the rest of the team on the other side of the metallic fencing. He arcarmor's reflective blue belying the smirk she wore, "I'm thinking we're going to go storm that tower."

Laiza hesitated for a second before finally nodding. "We'll move around, follow behind. You two push on ahead and secure the perimeter."

"You heard 'er Rak, let's crush a wizard's skull in." With that she moved forward towards the ominous opening in the tower.

 

[Rak]

"It's definitely a trap." The most obvious trap in the world, but of course Rak and Minerva were going to walk right into it.

That was what they were for, why Summoners existed in the first place.

They did all the dumb stupid shit so that others around the world didn't have to. Wizards and witches, sorcerers and 'scholars'. All of them wanted to pretend that they had the best interest of those around them at heart, but truth was, the Order had long since determined only they could keep the world safe.

Mostly because they didn't fuck around with the shit.

Pulling Sojourn from his back, Rak hefted the heavy blade. "You know, Berelon keeps saying I need a smaller sword."

The Half-Orc said as the two of them began to trudge forward towards the open gates.

"But I'm pretty sure he's just jealous." As they drew closer towards the tower, the shadows within the hall did not go away. No further light casting and no angle offering them a better very. An enchantment of some sort, that much any fool could tell.

As they stepped into the corridor, the shadows seemed to draw longer, and as soon as they passed the gates the doors began to fall closed. "So predictable."

Rak commented with a roll of his eyes.

 

[Minerva]

"A smaller sword fits Berelon because he can barely handle that butter-knife of his," she added to his statement, "and yeah, he's definitely jealous."

It was disturbing how the blackness remained no matter how close they got, no matter how much sunlight shone into the tower's entrance, it looked as if they were heading directly into the void. A dark color that was even more empty and lacking in life than any starless night she'd ever seen.

Things only got worse as they crossed the threshold and the doors behind them closed, plunging them into a gloom.

There were probably smart ways to deal with this situation, the exact kind of enchantment studied by their scholars and stratagems drawn up for them. However, Summoners were a different breed, "should we just start breaking shit?"

So long as they kept their backs pressed against one another they wouldn't hurt themselves and if this mage wished to play a game such as this he'd learned that his life was just collateral damage to achieving their goals.

 

[Rak]

How many times had they been trapped in a dark and gloomy hallway? How many times had they found themselves in a dungeon or thrown into some labyrinth because some wizard thought it would surely be the thing that protected his impenetrable fortress.

By now it was all so dull that Rak could hardly stand it. "Yeah, might as well."

The Half-Orc said, sounding almost disappointed by the nature of all this. Head shaking as he continued to move forward alongside Minerva. The darkness around them began to fade, and they found themselves in what appeared to be an antechamber.

Several large statues ringed the circular room, surrounded by small busts and antiquities resting on pedestals.

Rak stepped over towards one of the small pillars, inspecting what appeared to be a sphere of some sort on top of it. Without ceremony he reached out, and then gently tipped it onto the floor. The sphere tumbled for a moment, and then smashed against the floor. Cracking and splintering into a thousand pieces.

Around them the tower seemed to shake.

"Try a few more." Rak said, shrugging his shoulders.

 

[Minerva]

Despite the fact that Rak towered over her, the two of them worked well together. No doubt due to the thousands of hours of training combined with the hundreds of hours of in-field experience.

The room might’ve been dimly lit, there might’ve been dozens of statues, and there could have even been a giant insectoid beast stalking the pair.

But none of that mattered. They were Summoners, they’d overcome.

”Will do.” she pressed a hand against one of the spheres nearest her and the same reaction occurred. A crash, a mess, and the structure around them seemingly vibrated with a shake.

Then she tried a second one. Then a third.

Upon her fourth try she noticed something slightly different. ”Rak!” Her voice exclaimed as a finger pointed down at the dust the began to fade away, the glint of something metallic shining through the splintered pieces of the orb she’d just crashed.

Minerva moved over towards it cautiously, concerned that whatever the object was could’ve been enchanted. Upon closer inspection she could determine its true form. Though it was made of copper or brass, it was hard to tell in this darkness, it was clearly a miniature sculpture.

”It’s a hummingbird.”

 

[Rak]

"Huh." Rak said as he walked over towards Minerva, inspecting the tiny little object. For a brief moment he simply stood there, inspecting it. A small part of him noted that it was an almost exact mimic of what would be found in nature.

"It's beautiful." The Half-Orc commented. "Someone must have spent a hundred hours making it."

There was a note of reverence within his voice, and then suddenly a shrug simply rolled over his shoulder. "Oh well."

His boot raised up with no further ceremony, and quickly he moved to stomp on the hummingbird and crush it into a fine metallic paste. Before he could though the walls suddenly seemed to shake, a voice booming out that drowned out all other sound.

"STOP!" The voice thundered. "STOP YOU PHILISTINES!"

The wall seemed to split ahead of them, bricks stacking back in upon themselves as they drew apart. A doorway revealed itself, and from it an ancient looking elf who appeared older than any Rak had ever seen before. "DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT IT IS YOU'RE DESTROYING?!"

He demanded in his fury.

 

[Minerva]

After a time you learned to predict what someone would do if you spent enough hours working with them. As soon as she saw the intricately designed metal bird Madeleine knew that her half-orc companion would try to crush the thing.

It actually said a lot about the thing that he even considered it before simply raising his boot to smash it.

”Oh. It worked.” Her tone was dry, she assumed some defense would trigger as they smashed the mage’s stuff, she didn’t expect the mage himself to just appear.

At his question she simply glanced down at the thing, Rak’s leg still primed in the air for destruction, ”it looks like a hummingbird.”

“It’s a summoning figurine!” He shook in his head in anger and wagged a finger in the direction of the two armored beings. “Very valuable, and a good friend of mine is bound to it. I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t crush it!”

Behind her visor Minerva’s brow shot up in confusion. Wizard’s were just… always so weird. Holding so much sentimental value to the silliest of items and apparently entrapping their friends into them too. Weird.

“Barbarians, honestly, many of those orbs you shattered were heirlooms too. Dear gods, what did you even come here for!? You’re clearly not thieves!”

”The eye.”

Instantly the elf’s demeanor shifted, wrinkles moved, and a finger pointed at his face. “I don’t understand, you want one of my eyes?”

He was a terrible liar.

 

[Rak]

Rak listened with a surprising amount of patience at the small back and forth between Minerva and the Wizard. Half of him wished that the man could seen the blatant disinterest on his face, a yawn barely stifled as he placed a hand almost comically over the lower half of his helmet.

"Right." The Summoner said as he stepped forward.

A crunch of broken glass echoed out from his boots as he moved through the small display area. Eventually closing the distance between himself and the floating Elf. The other man peered down at him, utter contempt holding in his stare.

"See that might've worked on me." Rak said, gesturing to himself. "I'm kind of a moron, see?"

He gestured to another creation standing on a podium. "None of this shit means anything to me."

Rak moved his hand as though he were about to shove the creation over, the wizard immediately waving his hands and shouting; "Don't!"

"Oh right, sorry." Rak gestured back towards his companion. "Anyway, Minni here isn't an idiot like me, and I can already see it in her eyes."

He couldn't, obviously, she was wearing a helmet. "You're full of shit, and you know why we're here. So you have two minutes to tell me where it is. After that we break this entire fucking tower."

 

[Minerva]

Minerva crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one side as Rak continued speaking. Not even for a second did her vision move away from the wizard who looked increasingly uncomfortable the more he spoke.

”I suggest you listen to my associate,” she uncrossed her arms and through plated gauntlets cracked her knuckles. Loudly. ”We’re very good at smashing antiques.”

“Who even are you!? How would you like it if I came into your home, wrecked your property, and demanded that you hand over a priceless artifact you spent years searching for!”

Her head tilted slightly.

”Last warning. Hand us the eye.” She was done negotiating or trying to reason with the mage. Either he’d come to his senses or they’d break a few bones before they secured their prize.

Sweat began to bead across the elderly elf’s forehead. His chin quivered ever so slightly as he contemplated his next movement.

Finally, he spoke up once more, “very well, hold on just a moment…”

He dug into his pocket for far longer than it should’ve taken. Minerva reached out and drew her blade, rushing forwards as she realized he wasn’t grabbing for the item they sought. It was too late though and the wizard pulled forth a powder that he flung into the air.

The next thing she knew a series of sparkling lights emanated from the powdery dust he’d tossed. Then a flock of hummingbirds sprouted from the strange metallic object that Rak has almost smashed.

 

[Rak]

Sojourn lay propped against the floor as he waited for Rak to produce, what he knew, would not be the item they were looking for.

Wizards, by and large, never wanted to give up the rare and powerful artifacts they had managed to claim. It was a rule of who they were, and the half-orc might have respected that fact. If they didn't all tend to use the same bag of tricks to defend themselves.

The man's hand flickered outward, a dust exploding into dozens of flickering lights as a peeping swarm of hummingbirds exploded from the ground.

He heard the shifting of bricks and cobbles once more, but only let out a curse as he found himself quickly sweeping backwards. One hand clutches at the hilt of sojourn, the other began to swat at the hummingbirds all around them.

None attacked, or pecked as it were, it was more likely they swarmed in utter confusion. As though they too had no idea what was going on.

Within a few seconds the swarm of birds fluttered around the room, dissipating enough that both he and Minerva could see again. They were alone in the room, the Wizard gone and no doorway where he had fled through. Instead the chamber was as it had been before, with two doors on opposite sides leading into the tower.

"WHEN I FIND YOU I'M GOING TO BREAK YOUR FACE!" Rak shouted into the nothing, his nerves already thin.

"Fucking wizards." He complained, glancing around the room before he turned to Minerva. "Left or right?"

The Half-Orc said, sounded more than a little exasperated.

 

[Minerva]

”We fucking break everything.” That was her initial response, punctuated with a fist that punched a nearby vase into dust.

Her breathing intensified to a point that she practically sounded as if she were hyper-ventilating. Then, eventually, she brought her air intake under control and reasoned out the actual question that Rak had posed. ”Left.”

A random guess but if you went left long enough you’d eventually end up in the other direction.

A long, annoyed sigh, found its way through the slits in her faceguard. ”And I’m serious. We break every single thing we come across.” Paintings, sculptures, globes, decor, and especially any maps. This map had forfeited any goodwill they might’ve shown him by both trying to deceive and by fleeing.

They would break every single thing that he held dear and then they’d retrieve the Shattered Eye.

”Let’s go.” Minerva stepped forward and an energy enveloped her right hand as a large mace suddenly appeared, powered by her aquamarine amulet. In a swift and fluid motion she twisted forwards and punched a hole into the stone, then another blow, then another, until a pathway lay ahead of them on the left-side of the tower.

A spiraling staircase was all they could perceive. ”We’re going to break every one of your fingers before we break your face!” Her call rang up the pathway, perhaps the mage would come to his senses and save them the trouble.

 

[Rak]

"Honestly." The Half-Orc said with a mixture of anger and dispassionate listlessness. "We might as well tear down the tower at this point."

It wasn't even like they were being unreasonable.

What possible good would someone want to do with an ancient artifact that let them bypass the rules of magic. It sounded like the thing was specifically made for people who didn't want to do good. People who thought they knew better than the laws of the damned universe.

With a grunt the Half-orc stepped forward in front of Minerva.

Rak glanced up the spiral staircase, hoping to get some sense of how far it would actually lead them up. Predictably there was no telling, the light eventually fading until the inevitable curve of the stairway hid everything else from view.

"Bet's on it being an illusion?" He said, some of the jovial nature of his tone now gone as he began to ascend.

As promised, on their way up the two Summoners were as destructive and petulant as they could be. Every tapestry that hung from the walls was unceremoniously torn down, beautiful sconces holding lanterns were twisted and half ripped from the wall, and even stained glass windows were punched out from the inside.

After nearly ten minutes of ascending destruction, the walls ahead began to shift. A door appearing seemingly within the wall as if trying to direct them.

Rak let his head roll, eyes falling on Minnie. Though she could not see his face, it was clear his expression read simply; "Can you believe this guy?".

 

[Minerva]

”Yeah, but, tearing down the entire tower just sounds like a lot of work.” She didn’t disagree with the logic, she just wasn’t sure she wanted to work up a sweat wailing away at stone walls for the next hour or two.

Minnie let a sigh echo off the stone walls. ”This guy seems dumb enough to make a staircase illusion,” to her surprise the first step was solid and held her weight as the pair ascended the very real flight of stairs.

They caused as much damage as possible through the subsequent hallways.

There was one particular drawing that she liked so much that upon breaking the glass she took the paper it had been printed on and rolled it up, keeping it on her person. It would look nice nailed to the wall of her tiny room back at Rytghosh. ”I don’t have much home decor,” she admitted as she smashed a statuette for good measure.

”Ugh.”

It was a singular word said with such visceral disdain that it likely would’ve caused the wizard to feel real embarrassment if he had heard it. ”Originally I was going to let him keep his dignity but we’re totally breaking his fingers after we secure the artifact.”

Minerva opened the door and walked through with Rak just behind her.

Her companion was right to suspect an illusion earlier as they now appeared to be within a large cathedral. Stained glass windows, lines of pews running alongside a central aisle, and a massive number of candles. The door behind them slammed shut.

Looking forward at the pulpit the elven mage appeared to be simply standing there, watching them. But, it was impossible to say if he was truly present or part of the same illusion they were seeing.

“Perhaps we can come to an arrangement?” A hopeful eyebrow rose as he looked at the two Summoners before him.

 

[Rak]

"You ever think about talking to that Uthrek guy?" Though Rytghosh was an insular society to be sure, there was always room for a little bit of wiggle. The elders had long ago learned that if they didn't allow that, more push back would be quick to come. Even in a society such as theirs the people needed a little bit of freedom.

Everyone did.

"Heard he makes some great stuff." Rak contended. "I mean as far as furniture goes, he's a little weird. A little bit too interested in shoes if you ask me, but..."

The Half-Orc trailed off as they stepped into the 'cathedral', his gaze flickering around in appreciation of the illusion. He had to hand it to the wizard, it was a pretty sight at least, well crafted as far as magic pictures went.

Not as nice as the one he and Minerva had seen a few weeks back, projected by a Lich still clutching to his ancient home. But it was nice enough.

"Here's an arrangement." Rak said as he walked in pace with Minerva, Sojourn balanced across his shoulders. "You give us the Eye, and she only breaks half your fingers."

They had to get a little something for their troubles. "Best we can do."

 

[Minerva]

Though it was concealed by her helmet she raised a brow and looked in Rak’s general direction. ”Uthrek?” She’d assumed that the half-orc summoner hated him. But she’d learned long ago, both in Uroghoshi society and on her missions, that you could never really judge a book by its cover.

”He’s just different,” she offered, knowing that the man went to the beat of a very different, very offbeat, drum. ”I’ve got a few of his pieces already in my room.”

Not like she had a very large place back home.

Soon the duo was already stalking up the aisle, Minerva cracking her knuckles and stretching her neck. ”Ditto what he said.” It was the only thing she offered to what the wizard of the tower had suggested.

“You don’t understand,” his voice cracked. Desperation ringing through as he undoubtedly realized that he was in over his head. That these two really were going to break his fingers and take his little trinket. “I have to get her back!”

Tears formed at the corners of his eyes as he aggressively wiped them away in a swift motion.

But Minnie had already seen it. She guessed that the half-orc had too.

“I’m so close. I just need a few more days and then I’ll be ready to try it. I was hoping you were the academics I sent for but,” the lead they’d received, he was trying to understand the thing he possessed, “regardless I’m this close.”

He exhaled and looked upon the two of them. “Please. I must revive her.”

Those outside of Uroghoshi society were so strange. They thought that just because they may be able to play at being gods meant they were permitted to. That just because magic allowed them to do something it was within their divine right to do that very thing.

Madeleine shook her head but even her orcish upbringing hadn’t completely blackened her heart. ”I’m sorry, but no. We are taking it. Now.”

 

[Rak]

Rak wasn't a monster.

Around the world Orcs got a bad rap for being savages, a foolish notion for men who did not understand the nuance of their being. Though his people beloved their old ways, it made them not creatures who felt no strings of the heart of sympathies.

As the man plead his case, Rak understood.

He needed no more than the man's own tone to know what his goal was. It was clear as he begged, the look in his eyes transporting nothing less than utter guttural pain. But it didn't matter. It didn't change things. One man's pain could not be allowed to risk a whole world.

Slowly the Half-Orc stepped forward. "No one wants to return from the abyss."

Rak said softly, slowly stepping forward.

"No matter what power you have, what rules you overcome." His words echoed through the room. Reasoning almost desperately. "She won't be the same. She won't be what you remember. Trust us."

The Half-Orc extended his hands. "Don't try this. It doesn't end well."

They had seen it often enough to know that.

 

[Minerva]

Minerva had never dealt with death.

Well, she had, all Summoners ended up dealing out their fair share of mortality-ended blows. But she'd never lost anyone all that important to her.

Sure, there'd been funerals for elders and comrades but never anyone all that close to her. Both of her parents still lived, as did her orcish grandparents. Her human grandparents died before she even possessed memories. So to hear this man sound so desperate and broken was alarming to her.

Even more alarming was to hear Rak being gentle. She expected him to simply punch the man's teeth out. Maybe he knew more of death than she.

"It really doesn't end well at all," two voices were usually better than one.

"She loved the monastery," the wizard said in a pained voice as he looked upon the pair of intruders with tears welling in his eyes and a shaky hand looming towards the mighty gauntlet of the half-orc before him. It looked like this all going to be done and dusted, all going to be over, and then they could get some payback for their fellow Summoner's missing arm before heading home.

But then the elf stopped and pulled his arm back. "The monastery will be the first thing my dear Tisha sees when she comes back to me."

In an instant the two armored Uroghoshi found themselves not in an empty church but instead a large room with a domed ceiling. Just above them they could hear the usual disturbing chants of some ancient and archaic spell that the laws of magic had made obsolete thousands of years prior.

S̸̳͋h̷̻͋ỏ̶͔ ̴̬̀H̷̛ͅǫ̴͗ ̴͍̎J̵͙͊í̸̳s̴̮̏ ̴̖̈́S̷͙̈́o̷̢̚
̷̨̀R̷͙̂y̴͎͋o̷̦̾ ̵̧̚ń̸͖ỹ̸̝ủ̸͙ ̷̹̓o̷̖͘ ̵͕͐b̷̢̓ũ̸͜ț̵̆ŝ̸̞u̶̖͊ ̵̨̃d̴̼̈ö̴̜́
̷̳̈́G̵̲͒ȇ̸̤n̶̪̅ ̷̛̙k̴͎͑à̵͍i̸͎̇ ̷̼̓ë̴̙́ ̸̫̽ṟ̶̍e̶̞͊n̸̲͝ ̴̯̍b̴̳̋o̶̯̊
̸̢͝Ñ̵͚i̷͙͂ ̷̟̐s̴͕̀h̵͙̾o̵͋͜ ̴̞̆k̴̺̍a̸̝̐t̵̙̀s̸̨͆u̴͔͑ ̴̀ͅğ̷̦ö̷̧́ ̴̪͗s̵̥̃h̴̬͘i̸̞͂ń̴̦
̴̠̽Ṣ̶͌h̷̬͛u̵͔̽ ̷̱͊j̵͈̐o̶̟̚ ̴̧̕k̷͍̾ỉ̸̡ ̸̜̓s̶̭͐h̸̆͜i̵͕͒n̸̝̓ ̷͎̂b̷͓̑ṳ̵͋k̸̢͝ũ̴̩

 

[Rak]

He had been so close. Just a span, a fucking breath.

Rak had looked into the man's eyes. Had seen the despair, the desperation. He had been so close to understanding, to stopping the madness before it ever started. They could have all walked away, hell, maybe they could have even helped the man somehow.

Now they would just have to kill him.

The world seemed to splinter, shift.

Rak felt his stomach turn and his vision blur for a moment as reality warped around him. Bile rising in his throat as he suddenly found himself standing in the Grand Hall of a monastery. The dome above them towering in it's brilliance, a stream of sunlight pouring in through colored glass that gave the whole room an atmosphere of calm and patience.

One that seemed to cling in place even as the wizards madness began to unfold.

The half-orcs gauntlet smashed into the side of his head. An old orcish curse echoing from Rak's lips as the frustration he felt burst out. His fingers reaching and grasping the hilt of Sojourn. He half turned to Minerva, growling more than speaking. "We have to kill him."

No more talking, the man had his chance.

"You go high, I go low." Rak instructed, his Zweihander flickering in front of him. The chanting within the great hall growing louder. The air seeming to almost thicken in a slurry of magics.

 

[Minerva]

This wizard may have had his own tower, his own research, his own tragedy, but Madeleine was now convinced he was the worst person she’d met in a long while.

”We kill him. I go high.” Her confirmation came almost instantly through gritted teeth.

Not only did this guy need to die but they needed to end whatever sick perversion he had planned.

It was one thing to kill an ancient elf who was delusion about a lost loved one but another thing entirely to stop a ritual that was half-way through being uttered. There was simply no telling what the mage had wished for already while possessing the eye and no telling what would happen once the two Summoners seized the object from him and silenced him forever.

Minerva grasped her own blade, a simple tilt of her head followed, then she jumped upwards and punched through the stone. A rain of dust and stone and brick followed behind her.

She found herself positioned in yet another room. This one apparently a storage place for wheat, rice, and vegetables.

 

[Rak]

Rak's shoulders shifted, and then he charged forward.

His steps thundered within chamber, the chanting seeming to grow louder as he rushed in a completely straight line. Above him the ceiling rocked, dust and rubble falling to the floor as Minerva smashed through the great dome ceiling.

Seconds later the chamber shook again, this time as the Rak went pummeling through the far wall.

He exploded into yet another room, this one seemingly a bedroom of some sort, and yet the half-orc didn't stop his stride.

With the same barrelling speed Rak rushed through the room and smashed into the far wall. The stone crumbled once more and made way for the charging half-orc. In the next room he did the same, again and again, tearing through walls, furniture, and whatever else lay within his way.

Each time the chanting grew a little louder, each time the half-orc knew that he was getting a little closer.

Two Summoners charging at once, rushing through the tower and splitting the wizards focus. Forcing his magics to thin and thin as the tower resisted their advance to the monastery.

 

[Minerva]

At one point this tower had been a work of art.

A lovely beacon that colored the night sky amongst a barren and empty canyon. Each floor constructed precisely, adorned with antiquities that would've fit in well at any museum in Arethil. In the last few moments however the place was being torn apart by two very, very, angry Uroghoshi Summoners.

While Rak preferred to charge through rooms and smash them with his shoulder or full weight of his arcarmor-enhanced body, Minerva simply punched holes.

One large gash in the wall caused by a rapid fist thrust became two. Then three. Then too many to count.

"You're going to cause the entire place to collapse!"​

There was a hint of panic in the voice as the chanting briefly stopped to issue that warning before resuming. Good. They were getting his attention and his warning went unheeded as Madeleine continued making a mess of this place.

Eventually she reached a dead-end, carving what turned out to be a window to the wasteland outside. For the first time since the carnage began she stopped and could hear the chanting echoing below her. "Rak picked the low path on purpose." Unlikely, he'd just made a lucky guess, still...

A figure adorned in crystal blue armor fell through the ceiling of the monastery just before the elf wizard. Just before he had finished his spell of revival.

 

[Rak]

Rak came crashing through the wall just a second later, but it was already too late.

The wizards magic sprang to life, and like a brilliant sun it's power erupted within the center of the monastary. For a moment a brilliant light like no other shone within the room. Burning away all darkness and destroying shadows wherever it found them.

Yet a pulse ran through the center of the light.

The abyss, the beyond, whatever one wanted to call that gate to the afterlife was flung open. Thrown to the winds by the magics of the wizard. His chanting still echoing out even as his works began to twist upon themselves.

A scream tore the room asunder, shaking the ceiling and the walls, dust flowing as the light suddenly collapsed in upon itself.

An explosion tore through the room. A pulse made up of the very air that nearly threw Rak and Madeline. The two summoners only kept grounded by the weight of their arc armor. The explosion rippled out. Candles turned to smoke, torches were snuffed out, and the room was thrown into darkness.

Until once more the light erupted.

This time though it was dimmer than before, a soft almost menacing glow instead of a piercing shine. Rak looed up, and saw that this time the light came from from magic, but a woman. She hung within the air, floating, a cloak hanging from her shoulder and fluttering ever so slightly, her features pallid and her eyes as deep as the abyss itself.

"My love!" The wizard shouted. "You've returned to me, you're back-"

As the man spoke, a voice greeted him that was unlikely any other Rak had ever heard. It's words spoken in a language he simply did not comprehend. "Wedezīhi ‘alemi inimelesaleni!"

 

[Minerva]

They were too late. Now they had no choice but to kill this wizard, if his revived 'beloved' didn't kill him first.

Of course, that would have to wait for them to figure out how to undo whatever foul magic he'd just unleashed upon Arethil. If the Eye still survived such a spell manifesting itself would also remain to be seen considering how much of a toll this type of ritual likely took on the artifact.

"Rak, do we try decapitating it?" It was a call that was only answered by the creature repeating that same phrase.

"Wedezīhi ‘alemi inimelesaleni!"

In a stuttering mess the elf took a step away from the floating woman that bore such a striking resemblance to his lovely Tisha. To the elf's credit she was beautiful, if you ignored the harsh voice, strange words, and the serrated teeth she now bore.

"My dear Tisha... what has happened to..."

"Wedezīhi ‘alemi inimelesaleni! Wedezīhi ‘alemi inimelesaleni!"

The entire tower began to shake as furniture and candle-stands toppled over and clattered upon the rough stones of the flooring. Tisha shifted forwards without ever stepping foot upon the ground, that same phrase repeating over and over again. Minerva grasped her sword and pulled it from this scabbard, preparing to charge the monstrosity before them.

Almost instantly the ghastly figure shifted her gaze towards the sound of the Uroghoshi drawing a blade. Her head twisted back and forth as she kept her deadened eyes trained upon the two warriors clad in arcarmor. The repeating phrase stopped and instead the thing uttered something new in that same guttural language. "Ozhmrrah hediq voz!"

 

[Rak]

"Fuck." Rak swore as the creature's head turned towards Minerva.

It's voice broken and guttural as it shouted, those pointed teeth somehow clashing against the odd pitiable look in the creatures eyes. The half-orc tightened his fingers on the hilt of Sojourn, already knowing that Minerva had been right.

They had to cut this damned things head off.

With a grunt, the heavy zweihander in his hands shifted. The blade flickered forward, and then suddenly Rak let out a roar as he charged. His boots clattered against the cobbles of the monastary floor. The creature turned it's head towards him, eyes snapping as it's hand raised.

A pulse suddenly rushed through the air. A wave of dust kicking out as an invisible forced carved forward and slammed into Rak. The impact rushed over his arc-armor as though he'd struck a wall, slowing but not stopping him.

The woman's mouth opened, calling. "Ozhmrrah hediq voz!"

Her voice sounding almost desperate.

Another wave went crashing against Rak. The floor this time bending, his arc-armor creaking as the metal and magic within it warped. He continued to run, slamming into the invisible wall, then another cracked against him, then another.

Slowly the Half-Orc game to a grinding stop, as if some unseen force was pushing against him. The very ground beneath him began to quake, cracks forming within the stone.