Last Light in the Darktide

Chapter 4: Gundavad's Fall

Within the stone halls of Gundavar sat the king of the dwarves who had just received horrid news "Something deep in the dark below stirs my lord, we have lost contact with all our deep explorers and now we fear it comes for us!" The king sat upon his throne, thought of what to do and said "It is time to establish connections with those on the outside, send Felix to the city that was taken by the beast men, if he can establish a connection with them then we can evacuate the civilians there." The messenger bowed and ran to tell Felix while the king gave orders to double the guard and keep the Stone Breakers at the ready.

We began our long journey to Mount Gundavad, we had no clue on how to even find the entrance to the dwarven kingdom let alone how to convince them to join us, this worry weighed on my mind heavily. We walked for several miles and before we knew it we had lost sight of Koramahr and it was getting dark. We set up camp for the night and started our night watch shifts, when my shift came I sat staring into the fire pondering what to do about my rage and how to control it. The silence was broken by an unknown voice. "Greetings lass mind if I sit for a spell?" I stood up looking for the source of the voice before seeing a dwarf male entering the campsite, I had my hand on my claymore's handle and said. "As long as you have no ill intent then you may stay." He gave a hearty laugh and said. "Don't you worry lass I've no ill will. I heard there was a human city taken by beastmen and wanted to verify myself." I sat back down and told him of Koramahr, after he listened to my story he said. "I see well lass, seeing the company you keep then I could tell you're truthful. How about we make a deal?" I looked at him with narrow eyes and asked. "What kind of deal?" He then said. "I can tell by the direction you're going, you lot are heading to Mount Gundavad, you lot need a guide to get in and I happen to be a proud citizen of Gundavar so I will lead you lot there, in exchange I get to go to Koramahr, deal?" He stuck out his hand waiting for my response, I sighed and shook his hand agreeing to the arrangement. After some time the sun rose and the others woke up. I explained the situation and the arrangement and Uldor said. "Ahh yes it is good to have a guid to our destination, I sense no ill will of this man either" I sigh as I help pack up camp and we continue on our way. The dwarven man introduced himself as Felix Rayman and was rather cheerful as we walked.

After a week of walking we were met with a group of men and women in dark robes blocking our path and the leader spoke. "Hold there interlopers, come any closer and you all will become sacrifices to the master!" Uldor then said. "Followers of Lergesh Lord of the Darktide, I had thought they had gone underground after their master was sealed deep below Mount Gundavad." The cultist leader laughed and said. "Our master wakes and we prepare for his great return and the return of the Darktide!" The cultists all pull out daggers and shortswords and prepare to attack, our group follows suit as we draw our weapons. The cultist leader gestures to attack and the cultists charge, our weapons clash but we overpowered them quickly as the leader and surviving cultists flee into the forest. After the fight we gathered our senses and Uldor said. "This is concerning, if the cult of the Darktide is rising up again then we must be on our guard." We began walking again and I asked. "What is the 'Darktide' Uldor, I've heard of it but no one ever told me about it." Uldor's face seemed cold and he started the tale. "The Darktide is the name of the army Lergesh commanded, Lergesh was a powerful warlock whose power was so great it was tantamount to that of a god. Lergesh and his Darktide ravaged the land, this all happened when King Hendricks and his army were on their genocidal rampage, it is believed that the cult and the king were allies. The reason the other races suffered in the war with the humans is because they devoted all their resources to sealing Lergesh and his 'Darktide' away deep below Mount Gundavad, that was many centuries ago. If the cult is back then it means the seals have broken, the coming days may be far harder than we thought." Everyone's faces depicted sorrow after the tale of the Darktide and I said. "I see well thank you Uldor for telling me about the issue, I have a lot to think about now." The rest of the journey was quiet and when we reached the base of the mountain we set up camp. When my shift came around I sat there and stared into the fire once again thinking of everything going on, my mind was filled with my fear and doubt not just about the coming troubles, but also the flames of rage that confined me. I was afraid to let my rage free during our fight with the cultists and I'm sure the others noticed it too, but I guess it can't be helped. My fear had controlled me in those moments, and I paid the price for it. When the sun rose the others woke up and we packed up camp and followed Felix to the entrance to Gundavar as we approached we saw a battalion of guards with various blades and guns, they had their eyes trained on us and the captain called out. "Halt outsiders, state your business or leave, come any closer than you will be killed!" That's when Felix calls out. "Oh come on Torak cut em some slack, they're here from that city we heard about, so let em in to talk to our king about important matters!" The captain grunted and signaled to let us in. We were taken to the throne room where the king sat, we all bowed before the king and he spoke. "Well now what do we have here three humans, three beastmen, and our very own Felix, so to what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting?" Suki stood up and spoke. "We come from the city of Koramahr asking for aid in our war against the human kingdom." The king placed his hand on his chin and said. "I see, well I would love to help you, but we are dealing with our own issues at the moment." Suki replied. "Well let us help you then, if we can take the pressure off then...." The king interrupted her and said. "This is a matter beyond any of us and we are working on evacuating Gundavar, an ancient evil has awoken and is threatening my people, I need a safe haven for my people." Yuko then stood up and said. "Then you can send your people to Koramahr as a safe haven!" We looked at Yuko with surprise and the king perked up a bit and said. "Is that so, and are you a representative of your leader or is that the passion of a bleeding heart." I stood up and said. "I am the representative of our leader, but I agree with Yuko, you can send your people to Koramahr and let them use our city as a safe haven!" The king nodded and replied. "Well then in exchange for this kind gesture we will provide what we can for your city and its people." I nodded and said. "In the meantime we will help you and your people here!" The king nodded and had us go help the people prepare for the imminent evacuation.

After a few days of helping out around the city I heard a noise from a tunnel leading deeper down underground, I walked over to the tunnel's entrance and a dark mist slowly seeped out of the tunnel and I heard what sounded like thousands of bones rattling and getting closer. I drew my claymore and yelled to the guards and my friends that we were under attack as I saw countless skeletons scrambling up the tunnel. Yuko and Felix ran up with some guards, and we formed a wall as the evacuation bell rang. Suki, Tristan, Fey, and Uldor came running up, but I yelled to them to help evacuate the civilians and lead them to Koramahr. Yuko, Felix, and I along with the guards hold off the skeletons the best we can. After just a few moments we were pushed back to the point where the remaining civilians were caught in the slaughter and those who fell rose up as undead themselves. We tried our best to hold them back, but it wasn't good enough, we were overrun by the undead and the king soon fell to the horde. I called a retreat and we fled the city and made for Koramahr. When I looked back I saw a horrid figure at the city gate, it was wreathed in shadows and had glowing green eyes full of hate, only one name escaped my lips. "Lergesh!" We ran until we were out of breath. I looked at Yuko and saw her bleeding pretty bad, but a medic came and treated her wounds. Once we gathered ourselves we made for the refugee camp. Night had fallen when we arrived and met up with everyone, Suki and Fey ran up and hugged Yuko and I cried then Fey said. "We were so worried, we thought the worst!" Suki added. "We were so sad we couldn't stop crying!" Once we calmed them down Fey started properly treating Yuko's wounds. Later in the night I sat once again staring into a campfire when a rather strong looking dwarf male with a warpick came and sat across from me and he spoke while staring into the same fire. "I know that look well, you are burning on the inside aren't you?" I simply nodded then he said. "I could tell during the fight back there you were holding back something that scares you to death, why don't ya talk about it with me?" I was hesitant, but decided to tell him. "There is a flame of unreasonable rage inside me and it nearly killed me once, I am afraid if I unleash it again then I will lose everything. Sorry that I couldn't be more useful in that fight." I stared into the fire and tears rolled down my face, but the dwarf then said. "I know the feeling, I have the same flame inside me as well, but it can be controlled and harnessed." Through choked sobs and with a strained voice I said. "How could I control such a thing when all it does is cause me and everyone around me pain." He then stood up and sat next to me and said. "I can help you, but you have to want it. I will give you a gift for your bravery, but only you can accept it." I looked at him and nodded, without another word he stood up again and ushered me to follow him to a nearby tent. When we entered he spoke to an older dwarf man and they asked me to lay on the table, I did as they asked and they restrained my arms and legs with the old man saying. "This is a necessary precaution for what is to come next." I took a deep breath and nodded as the old man pulled out a tray with wooden blocks with thousands of needles on them. I looked worried and the younger one said. "These blocks represent various ways of channeling our rage, tell us what you want to use your rage for." I took a deep breath and said. "I want the strength to defend those I love and care for, I want to be the force that shields my fellows from blows." They both nodded and the old man grabbed a block in the shape of a titans fist, dipped it into a dark blue ink that was glowing faintly and placed it on my upper arm before hitting the block with a wooden club. After a few hours of excruciating pain I lay there, my body now tattooed with the mark of the titan. The two unbound me and the younger one had me follow him to an open area and said. "Now let your rage free and see how you feel" I was hesitant, but I had to try for everyone I cared for. I thought of the the half demon man, I thought of my failure at Gundavar, and I had let out a roar of rage and my tattoos glew bright blue as they almost seemed to burn with my rage, but despite this I was still conscious of my surroundings and still coherent and the dwarf clapped and said. "Good work lass the rage inside you is the purest I've ever seen you are sure to live up to the mark of the titan!" Once my rage calmed my tattoos stopped glowing and I bowed to him. "Thank you master for this gift you have given me, I will use it responsibly I promise you this." He laughed and said. "No need to call me master, Garthock Stonebreaker will do, lass." I nodded and we headed back to camp. The next day the others clearly noticed my tattoos and that my mood seemed better, all I told them is that these tattoos hold a meaning greater than anything I had.

After several weeks of travel we arrived at Koramahr and the gates opened for us and the refugees. I ran and told the chief what happened and he said. "I see well this complicates things as we need a leader who will speak for them." At that moment Garthock entered and said. "I will be the voice of my people, my name is Garthock Stonebreaker and my uncle was the king." I looked at the chief and nodded, vouching for his character. I left the room and let them talk in private. After a few days a dwarf woman approached me and handed me a claymore and said. "Here ya go lass, I saw what you and yer friends did fer us so my husband and I worked to make this blade for ya." I took the claymore and bowed to her and said. "Thank you ma'am I swear to you that you and your husband's hard work won't go to waste." She nodded and walked off with her head held high. I returned to my house to spend time with Suki, Fey, and Yuko for the rest of the day.