Dreadlords What Lies Beneath

[Edric]

Edric ran.

He didn't turn around to see Drastus' twisted magic. He didn't hear Ventress' command for a hunt. He was focused, withdrawn. His magic reached out, flickering, searching. Desperately the Initiate searched for those pinpricks of life.

The Dreadlord's command still echoed in his mind, yet the Forsaken around them fled. They did not seek to attack or tear into the Initiates as they had before. Instead they ran. They turned and moved through the falling tunnels, the crumbling city. Their first home had never existed, and the one they had chosen now crumbled all around them.

Like scattering rats they fled, running, running as everything around them fell apart.

Edric's eyes suddenly flickered upward as a piece of stone crashed to the earth, smashing the ground before him and bringing him to a stop. He half whirled, turning towards the others. "We have to get out!"

He shouted to them, agreeing with Everleigh, countermanding the Dreadlord.

There would be punishment, he knew, but it didn't matter.

"Go!" Edric shouted as they burst from the tunnels of the city, the crumbling earth tearing and biting into itself as the cliffside began to break. Their steps furthered, rushed, the bridge to their safety beginning to fall.

The earth shook.

Fell.

Rushed steps clattered over stone, the ground slipping away. Edric felt his feet falling out from beneath him, his eyes popping open as he channeled his reserve. He launched himself, bounding from the tumbling stone and landing with a heavy thud among the others.

Turning just in time to see the ancient city crumble into bits.

 

[Alistair Krixus]

The other's situations were apparent to Alistair at the time, but he thought he spoke for all of them when he says that none had too much time to focus on others.

It took seconds for Alistair to register, along with the others, that the Forsaken weren't going to be a problem. Every living thing was trying to get the hell out of there.

As they ran when the threat of the falling rocks on his back, he could not help but remember early memories at the Academy where they would sprint for hours at a time, while a proctor ran behind them beating anyone who was moving too slow. This was like that, but instead of getting beaten, he would just die.

"That cardio from the Academy is really paying off."

Alistair strained to increase his speed as he was running neck and neck with the rest of the team. He felt the weight of the rocks falling behind him when he finally felt something fall into him as they made it to the end.

Damn, he had almost been out, but a rock had caught him at the last minute. Wait, he wasn't dead. He looked back to see it was just Edric.

"Damn, I thought I was dead."

Edric Ventress Drastus Tal'deneshaar Everleigh Ebersol