Return to Jorgaldur Volume V: Reunion (2)

Missing

Warkmon frowned. He had been trying to contact two of the shadows for a while, but there was no way. It wasn't the first time there had been problems, but they had never been this consistent.

Normally, it had been distortions, inability to maintain contact continuously, or interference with other shadows. However, now there was simply no way to locate their essence, as if they had disappeared. Finally, he decided to send a subordinate.

"Take the raven and inspect this area. There should be two shadows. I want to know why I can't locate them," he ordered, as he pointed at the map.

"Yes, father," his daughter replied.

She was a level 42 rat vampiress. She wasn't very powerful, but enough for an exploration mission. Besides, Warkmon wasn't very powerful either, barely at 67, so he couldn't create very strong children. He didn't even have the ability to create older vampires.

Warkmon continued checking and observing through the other shadows, until his subordinate contacted him, still riding the huge raven.

"Father, I've arrived at the place, but there's no trace of the shadows, the devices don't detect them. There're signs of a fight, and the distribution of the losts is strange. Something has happened here," she explained.

"Explore the surroundings, and keep looking for them," he ordered, frowning. He didn't like that.

"Yes, father."

The vampire closed the connection and opened another. This time, with his father.

"Warkmon? What's happening now?" Kan Golge was surprised.

Although his power was discreet, that son was quite efficient. It was the second time he had contacted him in a short time, which was somewhat unusual. Nonetheless, it was also true that they were on high alert.

"Father, there may be more groups. Two shadows are missing, and there're clear signs of fighting in their sector," he explained.

"Missing? What do you mean?" the ancestral vampire worried.

The shadows were practically indestructible. Apart from the fairies, it was almost impossible to get rid of them. There were hints that something else could kill them, but that had only happened occasionally at the front. They weren't even sure the culprits weren't fairies.

Also, the idea that some fairies had invaded the corrupted forest was inconceivable. The miasma was a slow poison for them, so it didn't make sense that they had appeared so deep inside.

"I can't contact them. The artifacts simply don't find them. I've sent a daughter to investigate, but she hasn't detected them when flying over the area either. She's exploring the surroundings, but I don't think she'll find anything," Warkmon explained.

After stating the facts, he remained silent, waiting for his father's response. Kan Golge took his time, between confused and worried.

"Let me know if you discover anything else. Send two more shadows to the sector. Have them take care of combing it. Also, warn them that it's dangerous. They're cowards, so they'll be careful. Monitor them continuously. If something happens to them, I want to know what it is," he ordered.

"Yes, father."

When he closed the connection, Kan Golge's expression was fearsome. He was furious, but he didn't know exactly with whom.

"If there's another group, there might be more. Shit. They're trying to distract us. I wouldn't be surprised if there were Guardians of the North in all of them. It won't help them. We'll chase them all down, and if they manage to evade us, we'll be waiting for them too. You won't escape this time," he threatened.

The loss of his base had been a hard blow that he wouldn't forget easily. In addition, his old injuries had worsened because of it, and that was something that was hard to recover from. The price of obtaining great power had been the difficulty in regenerating.

In the past, he had used his own children to recover. However, the last of them had fled, and his wife had committed suicide upon discovering his actions. It was impossible for him to resort to that method again.

The Eternal Flame was the solution to all his problems, but it eluded him. Several times he had almost had it within his reach, but it had always evaded him.

"This time, you'll be mine," he promised himself, before leaving his room. There was much to prepare.

Dakgror crushed the enormous corrupted worm. Then, he stepped aside to make way for Dafkra, his wife. They knew that there would be those bugs on that front, so they had chosen them. Both giants loved to crush worms.

As they had done before, those in charge of reinforcing the subsoil had left a weaker gap. That way, the worms could go through it, and come out of the ground through exactly that place, with the intention of attacking the living. There, the giants were taking turns to take care of them.

At the same time, in front, a two-meter tall orc cut a lost in two in rage. Despite the years, she still hated them with all her soul.

Her people had succumbed to corruption, with her family and friends. Only she and her brother had been saved, as they were visiting a village further south. Since then, they had dedicated their lives to fighting them.

She didn't realize that, right behind the enemy her brother was facing, a corrupted merman was brandishing his trident towards her. It was one of the intelligent losts that the general had inserted among its forces to surprise the living. In this case, it was having the desired effect.

Too late did the orc realize that her life was in grave danger. She had no time to react, to protect herself or to dodge it. Unexpectedly, the arm holding the trident exploded.

Many meters behind them, a woman was stretched out face down on a small platform. She had one eye closed, while the other looked through the scope of her weapon, a strange rifle.

She was one of Golgo's disciples. They had been distributed throughout the battlefields, with the objective of supporting the deployed forces.

Their great quality was to take down enemies one by one, which was nothing more than a drop of water in the ocean of enemy forces. Therefore, they focused all their attention and power on intervening when the situation was dangerous.

Although the number of casualties they caused was small, their contribution wasn't. Each of the lives they saved could cause an indeterminate number of casualties in the future in the enemy ranks.

The sniper didn't bother to finish off the corrupted merman. It had one less arm, and had been discovered, so it wasn't a serious threat anymore.

She had to conserve her power, because the greatest drawback of those powerful shots was their great consumption. Therefore, she continued to observe the battlefield carefully, waiting for the opportunity to intervene again. Patience was the first thing Golgo had taught them.