I love writing. I love the Duel Terminal Story line.

I hate the sheer vagueness of the Duel Terminal storyline.

Surely this would all make sense to have me write this story to keep myself happy?

Anyway, I've been silent for so long because, besides having my computer go bye bye for a time from a virus and losing all my saved files, I've been struggling in dealing with a University teacher in my Creative Writing course who seems determined to declare that all writers beyond herself suck…

(Any other excuses I can make?)

Without going too much into what she's been doing in this regard that has demoralized me quite a bit in my writing (along with my entire class). That's not to say I've been sat in silence for that time, I have been planning such tales to tell in this story, tales of war and betrayal and hope the spreads throughout the course of the Duel Terminal timeline from the feasting of the Steelswarm to the end of all things.

Now my course nears its ends and I have somewhat decided to completely ignore everything I have heard in that class for a while that wasn't of use in improving my writing. I am not here to write what she calls a good story (two old women sat by the window talking…that was it), I am here to tell the story of Wynn the Wind Charmer, Eria the Water Charmer and all those who live alongside of them in the Mist Valley.

Now I return, my story completely planned from start to finish, a new version of the DT that will keep even those who know the story well guessing as to what will happen. Though it will follow the basic plotline, the vagueness of the official line has given me much leeway to play with :)

So. Here I stand once more, ready to plunge into the war for the Valley once more. You are welcome to join me in my decent into madness :)

Chapter 9

The Tomb and the Cathedral.

At the centre of the Gusto Tribes relationship with the forest around them was the priesthood, men and women who were said to be able to speak as one with the spirits of the world around them, to be able to understand the will of the forest. They were present in everything that the Gusto did, living at the centre of their tribe's culture and making their presence felt in any military expeditions that should occur but their base of operations was a great structure built on the outskirts of the Gusto home tribe.

Carved out of wood that was said to bare traces of every tree in the entire forest, the Cathedral of the Forest stood as a testament to the people's commitment to the forest around them, dozens of levels, walls, windows, ramps and halls all grown and built into the trees around them into a single building that stretched to the size of the legendary Gem-Knight fortresses of old. From great open roofed baloneys giant birds flew to and from the fortress in as constant a stream of traffic as you would find anywhere else in the entirety of the Mist Valley and along the base of the walls animals of all shapes and sizes gathered as one, calling to one another in a chorus of calls that echoed for miles around. Tree roots and vines rose from the ground and hung form the trees to fuse into the structure like life giving veins tying it into the very body of nature and there was even a small stream of water which ran through the rear walls and the heart of the Cathedral.

Walking along the winding dirt path that lead up towards the main entrance to the Cathedral, Wynn couldn't help but remember the first time she had been brought here, on the day that she had been officially accepted into the tribe. Back then the great structure had seemed so intimidating to her, something on par with the magician's guild where she and the other charmers has spent a part of their training yet carved from living tress instead of stone and marble. It had been the sort of thing she had only dreamed of existing. Since then she had come here four times yet she still felt herself pause to stare at it with a smile.

"Keep up Wynn" Musto spoke over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow, tilting his head without breaking step "We don't want to be late"

"Speak for yourself" was all the Charmer muttered in reply before jogging a few steps to catch up, getting a low chuckle from the priest. She felt Gulldo shift upon her shoulder with an annoyed click of his beak as the sudden rise of speed caused him to lose his perch, flapping his wings to avoid falling off her. She paused to spare him a cheery smile and pat before turning back towards the Cathedral as they drew near.

On either side of the great door, an oak slab carved with the images of hooded priests, birds and the logo of the Gusto tribe, stood a Griffin. Great creatures the size of a horse which seemed a mix between the eagles that could often be seen at the top of the various mountains in the Mist Valley and the lions that prowled around the outskirts of the forest. From their shoulders wings of deep green feathers lay curled against their sides and from the rear a lion tail hung still as it stood attention, their scarlet eyes fixing upon Wynn and Musto as they approached. One gave a snap of its beak as it advanced towards them, it's forward talon tipped hands digging into the soil beneath its feet and is jade coloured armour glistening in the light.

Smiling at the creature, Wynn straightened her back slightly as she gripped the necklace that hung around her neck and held it up for the creature to see, the icon of the Gusto Tribe pulsing slightly with unknown power as testament to her membership of the Priesthood. Beside her, Musto fished out his own pendent from a pocket in his robes and the Griffin gave a slow nod and grunt of approval before turning and walking back towards its post, permitting them to join the long line of priests marching in and out of the Cathedral.

"I've never seen so many of the order here at once…"

Musto gave a grunt in reply as he watched the constant stream of hooded men and women as if her was mentally naming them and his green tinted eyebrows narrowed into a deep frown, gesturing towards where a trio of hooded monks walked past the Griffins, their age touched bodies supported by intricate staffs of wood. Their robes were sown from a deep green rimmed with a gold that marked them out from the rest of the priests around them as others parted slightly to grant them space.

"They're the elders from the Shrine at the peak of the Valley…" he muttered, though Wynn couldn't tell if it was more to himself than her "I've never seen them leave their posts before"

"The Shrine where Caam works?" The priestess asked, perking up at the concept of there being someone she would know at this meeting rather than the usual group of priests who ignored her completely "Doesn't the Priesthood usual go to them?"

"Indeed…there must be something big going on for the elders themselves to have left their place at the shrine"

Without giving Wynn a chance to reply, he turned and headed through the door, casting a warning glance towards a Large Griffin that had been about to stop him for an identity check again. Rather uncharacteristically of their charge, the Griffin bowed its head and turned away with a simple click of its long beak.

….

"We are here"

Hushed whispers and hisses echoed from the Gishki Visions as they stopped in their advance, their sudden halt making a couple of the human warriors marching behind them walk straight into their hunched backs, an unfortunate collision that resulted in yelps of pain as tails were stood on and the creatures slashed back. The other Visions gave looks of warning to the ones they were guiding with their claws flicking out and Avance gave a grunt of command to make his men stand down from drawing their own weapons.

The Visions were not a true part of the Gishki nation and their nature was one of cowardice and the same sort of secrecy that always surrounded their Shadow cousins that Noellia always surrounded herself with. Thus, Avance held little regard for their worth as allies but, for the time being at least, he needed them.

"This is the path you spoke of?"

"Yes" The leader of the Visions nodded "The haunted way"

Avance merely grunted as his narrowed eyes ran along the stone walls that surrounded them, noting with a vague trace of interest the ancient ruins and symbols that covered practically every surface he could see. They were dark shapes beneath the water coating the ground, crude etchings upon walls and stones, circles and lines that crossed across each other in intricate and obscured patterns that made his eyes ache simply to gaze upon.

Yet, repeated time and time again across these runes were two symbols, one he recognised as being the arching icon of the legendary Vylons, mythical beings that were said to live within the clouds to watch the various little tribes that lived below, but the other he could find no recollection of. It resembled of silver shield that had chips cut into each side to form a vague reference to a face, with horns rising from its head and small pointed outgrowths from the chin and the very top of its head, each slightly separated from the main shape.

"What is this one for?" He asked as he reached forwards a ran a figure along the second symbol, taking a touch of satisfaction from the hushed whispers the Visions around him gave.

"That is the rune of the swarm…" The cloaked creature muttered, not looking to him as it spoke before sighing and lowering its head, eyes sliding closed "The sign of the great hunger, the endless surge, the eternal souring of life"

"Very biblical"

The Visions kept to their silence as they moved to surrounded the Gishki warriors, crawling effortlessly along the wet walls like lizards and constantly whispering to one another in hushed voices just beyond hearing range. They held no desire to use the light that glowed from where the Gishki were carrying their own illuminations, seeing perfectly in the dark themselves, and actively seemed to avoid the light, swerving around it as they crawled. They were unnerving creatures to be around and Avance felt himself tense every time he heard the tell-tale hiss as one slipped past him, hidden from sight.

With every empty glance or hidden whisper that he caught from the Visions, Avance felt his anger towards them grow.

"Keep your head around the Vision's" Noellia had told him before he had left on this mission, her words echoing in the back of his mind like some warning to stop him from drawing the blade his fingers were angrily drumming at again "They like to keep you on edge. Think of it as some sort of survival instinct they have gained during their existence as prey animals. We gave them the ability to hide from sight, but they still find it necessary to make those they see as a threat get angry and thus act rashly. It's easy to fight a foe that isn't thinking clearly"

Sighing to himself, Avance relaxed his grip of his swords hilt, taking comfort in the idea that the Visions would be scared of him and turned back towards the hunched leader, his cold eyes narrowing against the cold wind that seemed to rise up along with the chocking darkness as the artificial lights that the Gishki Warriors carried with them flickered for a moment.

The path ahead was nothing but a heap of rubble and rock that had formed a natural barricade after an ancient cave in, chunks of debris that bore broken markings lying atop of one another which had somehow been sealed together to prevent others to pass. He didn't know if the cave in had been natural or orchestrated, but he knew that it blocked his path. And that was something he would never allow.

"Tear it down"

…

"No I will not give you my weapon!"

Wynn frowned as she took a wooden cup from the collection that lay upon a table to the side of the waiting hall, sniffing at the smell of sweet honey that rose from the clear liquid held within, as the sound of shouting suddenly broke the constant murmuring of the priests of the forest that stood around her in all directions.

There were men and women of all levels within the priesthood stood around her, all hooded as was demanded and conversing in low voices that Wynn wasn't paying attention to, simply running her eyes across the gathered crowd. Here stood priests from the centre of the tribe, conversing about the state of the animals of the forest during the war with the bright green hooded men from the tribes school and over there stood the elders of the shrine, absent from their place within the Mist Valley shrine and speaking with the holders of the Cathedral in hushed and angry voices.

Musto had left her before they had reached the grand hall, peeling off from the stream of movement that the other priests formed in order to go to a different meeting room to speak with the others of his high rank before the assembly was addressed.

Beside the entrance to the hall, a boy stood in a cream cloak. His green hair was combed thin and the blade he held nothing more than a flimsy ornament, his role as a guard in fact nothing more than one of announcing the name of each priest as they entered. He was there to welcome in the name of the council, calling the meeting 'its fold' and then allow them to enter the hall. It seemed quite redundant to the charmer but she understood the traditional reason for it, an old practice the Gusto's has held onto out of habit from the days when they had held meetings between representatives from many different tribes.

Before the war, before the Gusto's had sealed themselves away.

Now, when the guard boy would proclaim them to be 'of Gusto' it felt more like an arrogant boast to be from the tribe then simply a way of announcing which tribe they were from and when he had announced her arrival, he had simply said "Wynn of the Priesthood"…a statement that had not been missed by her. No priest has attempted to speak to her after her arrival with the exception of some of the younger ones who had given her a nod or smile but nothing more and she had stood by a table laid out for refreshments unnoticed. In the eyes of the priesthood she wasn't born of the Gusto tribe (despite her own physical appearance being incredibly similar as a hint towards her unknown birth place), and thus many believed that he held no right to be a member of the priesthood. Yet here she stood, ignored by them yet content to watch.

As one however, all eyes now turned to look towards where the new comer to the hall was arguing with the guard by the door, a blade tipped staff shimmering in the light beside her as she shoved him away, her star tinted green eyes narrowing in challenge for him to approach her again. A second guard moved behind her in an attempt at restraint but she used the blunt side of her staff to knock his legs from beneath him a bring the blade towards the one in front of her in a single motion, her mouth curling into a slight sneer.

"Now stand aside" She warned, gently tapping the guard's cheek with the blade edge "I've been fighting on the front lines for weeks now. Would hate to do something out of habit that we would both regret later…"

"I…I..." The guard whimpered, leaning back as far as he could from the staff. His eyes darted around in a desperate search for aid but none of the gathered priests dared to step forwards, the fast growing reputation of the so called "Whirlwind of Gusto" proving to be more than enough to prevent them from acting. Finally he bowed his head and stepped back. "The C…Council welcomes Reeze of Gusto to its fold this day"

With a grunt of satisfaction, Reeze spun her staff back around from its reversed grip and slammed its blunt end into the wood below as if she were claiming dominance before turning and walking into the crowded hall without another word, her single arm sleeve ripping with each motion. As she walked, various priests took steps to the side to clear a path, keeping a respectful distance from her. For a moment she seemed as if she were parting a sea of people before her before walking straight up towards the one member of the priesthood that did not move away.

"Hey Wynn"

"You like to make an entrance" The charmer smirked as she picked another cup form the tray beside her and offered it to her friend, noting the series of bruises and healed cuts that now ran along Reeze's arms with a slight pang of sympathy.

"Bah" She grunted, swinging her staff around to slip into a holder on her back in order to free her hands as she took the cup "I'm being too nice to them in even coming to this, I'm not playing by their rules. If the priesthood has us fighting to protect our lands for weeks and then expect me to pack up, come home and behave like everything is normal at the drop of a hat, they can go to hell. Err…no offence there"

"None taken"

For a moment the two fell into silence, Wynn watching her friend as the warrior drunk deep from her cup before sighing and leaning against a wall, her star shaped eyes half closing above dark rings that matched with the bruises that covered her arms. It was the first time that they had seen each other for over two weeks after Reeze had gone to fight on the front lines and the charmer felt a pang of sympathy to see just how hard the fighting had affected her physical condition.

"It's not as bad as it looks" Reeze grunted, raising an eyebrow at Wynn's stare "Most of it's from falling off birds during travel instead of fighting anyway"

"Is that why there's one on your waist in the shape of a fist?"

"I said most of them…"

"After this come to my house, I've got some healing cream you could use lying around somewhere" Wynn said after another moment, rolling her eyes as she used a jug from the table to refill her friends drink.

"I don't need-"

"No arguing Reeze" The charmer cut her off, fixing her with a stern look "You could do with a good night's sleep too"

When Reeze again opened her mouth to argue, the sound of a blowing trumpet cut her off and she instead sighed and gave a slight smile of submission as the two turned towards the great oak doors that lay to the side of the room. Upon the doors surface, elaborate images of birds, trees and men danced around the three pointed star of the Gusto symbol and ancient words proclaimed the truth of belief in the forest and co-existence. Now, on either side of the door, hooded men baring long trumpets called for the attention of the gathered priests, each trumpet baring the Gusto flag hanging from their shafts.

When the trumpets ceased, the doors silently slid open and a man in a deep brown hood stepped out, the wooden and metal charms and medallions of every branch of the priesthood dangling around his neck and chest. From beneath his hood, a long green beard had been tucked into his belt as if to prevent him tripping over it and his hands were held out in greeting to those who had gathered before him. Though his hood was brown, the rest of his priest cloak was the deepest of green and twirling lines of gold circled and bent around the rims of his clothes in a pattern that seemed to shift alongside of his own movement.

With a respectful bow, Lorgar the chief priest of the Gusto Tribe took his place at the front of a stage spanning before the door.

On either side of him stood the highest ranking members of the Gusto Priesthood followed through the door, each with their hoods pulled up to keep their faces hidden from sight. To his right Wynn recognised Caam's still figure, the shrine maiden's staff easily recognisable from where she held it upright, and a man she didn't know who had come from the outer layers of the tribe lands whilst on his left stood Musto and a man named Hartar, a priest who the charmer had only met during meetings and who never seemed to leave the confines of the Cathedral.

"Brothers" Lorgar spoke, pulling his hood back just enough for his face to be seen as he looked down upon the gathered priests, his elderly face looking tired as if he hadn't slept in days "We stand in harsh times. Times in which tribes that we had once considered to be our allies have fallen into the grip of their own personal greed and seek to assimilate our lands into their own. But they do not just seek to spread their borders, no; they would burn and harvest the forest around us for the sake of fuelling and funding their own armies"

A few of the priests began to mutter amongst themselves with varying emotions. Reeze simply remained silent beside Wynn, watching the chief priest with a look of disinterest as he held his hands up for silence once more.

"Thanks to those who have valiantly fought these tyrants for the sake of our protection however, no Gishki has been able to set foot upon our sacred territory without paying for it in their own blood soon after and for that…we thank them from the very bottom of our hearts" Again he paused, holding a hand towards where Reeze stood as representative of the forces now that Windaar had failed to appear but the girl offered him no reply and he simply smiled before continuing "Yet my brothers, that is no excuse for us to believe ourselves safe from the Gishki destruction for we have seen the depths to which they have sunk. With each engagement, or opening skirmish as our representative here considers them," Again he glanced towards Reeze "We see new monstrosities born from the foul rituals that the Gishki use, new beasts that were once natural born beings now mutated into hideous abominations that know only pain and war and seek only destruction. Whilst these creatures move into our lands the life within cannot be safe and that is why we must all fight all the harder. Whilst our warriors battle to protect the forest's physical form, we must also fight to protect its heart and spiritual well-being"

"Idiot…" Reeze hissed, prompting a surprised look from Wynn. It was true the warrior held little respect for the priesthood but to speak of the chief priest in such a way was never a good move for anyone to make. When she saw the charmer's expression, Reeze simply closed her eyes and turned her face towards the ground.

Her hand twitched slightly as he went on to speak about a war raging in the far north between the Lavals and the Gem-Knights and how it was proof that people were losing sight of the truly important things, destroying the world around them for the sake of their own selfish greed before, with a rough grunt of 'I didn't come here to hear this self-assuring propaganda' Reeze pushed herself up from where she had been leaning upon the wall and began to work her way through the crowded priests, pushing aside those who did not step out of her way on their own, leaving Wynn where she stood without another word.

The young priestess reached out for her but it was a mute effort and instead she glanced back towards the stage to find Musto staring back towards her. He gave her a nod and Wynn chased after her friend.

…

Boom!

Avance sighed to himself in barely contained irritation as he watched the ritual born mutant heave another chunk of splintered rock into the air and hurl it across the claustrophobic tunnel, the fragment of rubble crashing against the far wall with a deafening crash. The beast gave a hiss between lipless, cracked fish lips as its arms struggled against the strain of heaving another rock from its place before repeating the act again and again.

Boom! Boom!

With every crash of rock on rock, the Dozen Gishki Visions that surrounded them flinched and moaned, both in distaste of the volume of the resulting noise and fear of the shadows that they constantly whispered about, their yellow eyes darting around eternally as if they expected the rocks to shatter and unleash hell. Their leader drummed his crooked staff against the floor in a worried rhythm, staring off into space as if deep in thought yet always listening out for sounds amongst the crashing of rock and the dripping of stale water. When the roof violently shook in protest as a supporting rock was ripped clean from the pile they scattered and vanished into the walls, closing their eyes and allowing the magic within the emboldens upon their heads to conceal them from sight.

Only the leader remained where he was.

"So do you have a name?" Avance asked as he looked towards the hunched creature, pleased that at least one of the Visions a worthless coward. He felt the gaze of several of the creatures that were hiding turn upon him and a couple of his own man gave slight chuckles but the Vision leader didn't turn, seemingly entranced by the symbol of the swarm that Avance had pointed out before, its lipless mouth quivering slightly.

"Shas'O" It finally spoke, just as Avance had come to the conclusion that it had chosen to ignore him. It head tilted to fix him with two of its four eyes, nothing more than shimmering pools of orange, and it seemed to stop itself from saying something else as it examined him before, with a click of sound in a language that Avance did not understand, it turned back away.

Again they fell into silence, the odd clicking sound from the Visions being the only accomplice to the now rhythmic crashing of the mutant as it heaved rocks away from the path, its scaly lips curling back to reveal thin, see through teeth as it snarled in effort. It was only a lower class creature, formed for work and heavy lifting and stood at just over half the size of the great ogres and other beasts of war that the Gishki had been deploying but it did its job well enough and made quick work of the obstruction.

When the last of the rocks had been cleared out of the way, the beasts gave a grunt of relief before stepping back and bowing its head submissively towards Avance to await further orders. When he simply waved it away, it gave a low growl and moved to stand at the back of the party in its default position where it could best respond to any danger or further tasks that would later come. Without casting a second glance towards the beast, Avance walked forwards and lead the party into what he could see to be a great hall lying on the now cleared path.

It was only when he got to actually stand within it, that he stopped in his tracks with his mouth opening slightly in awe.

The hall was unlike anything he had seen before, a great opening formed into the caves with smoothly carved stone, cut into the shape of a long rectangle that spread away from him, the strange design to floor and walls making the hall appear to bend and twist around a none existent corner. In the centre of the hall, a massive statue hung suspended from the roof by metallic wires of a material that he did not know, thinner then should be possible to hold the weight of the intricate stone figure. The figure itself seemed to be formed from arching lines and curves, a vaguely humanoid torso atop of an alien lower body and wings which seemed to be formed of blades. Its face was a thin eyed mask like shape with a circular crown reaching upwards. Finally, dominating its body shape was the massive Omega symbol which replaced the role of its shoulders and ran far lower than its own body length.

"Vylon Omega…"

Avance gave a grunt of agreement as he stood aside to allow the first of his men to follow him through the gap, the newcomer's fish like eyes widening in awe at the ancient statue of the being that legends told was the king of the Vylons, a series of machines that children's stories said watched the world from the sky's. Despite the ancient age that the statue must be, its surface was still flawlessly smooth and untouched by the blemishes that time had cast upon the tunnels outside and the hall below, the incredibly fine patterns and detailing that ran across it still clear as if they had been chiselled in by the world's finest sculptors only the day before. For a moment he wandered if it had been constructed as a sort of landmark for the traders who had passed through the underground caves but, somehow, Avance could feel that the statue had hung here long before the Gishki and Gusto tribes had even existed.

He wondered what the statue was even doing here.

"He is the guardian of the tomb" Shas'O said, seeming to guess at what Avance was thinking even as it emerged through the hole, only two of its brethren following "The lord of the Vylon, the great, watchers standing eternal sentinel over those who would see our world lost"

"The Vylon's are just a story" a Gishki laughed and the Vision's hissed, though Shas'O never took his eyes off Avance.

"All stories can trace themselves back towards reality at some point"

"Enough" Further argument was cut short as Avance snapped back at them before looking towards the Gishki under his command "Spread out and find a way through to the other side, we will not be distracted from our mission by a statue of all things"

"Yes sir!"

Shas'O was silent as he watched the men move forwards, several jogging to speed up their search in order to keep Avance from calling them up, its four eyes blinking slowly as it looked around the great hall. The two Visions that remained by its side hissed slightly as the humans began to pull relics and tables that had stood untouched for centuries away from walls in their search and Shas'O gave a wet gurgling sound that anyone listening would have assumed to be a sigh.

"We aren't staying here long" Avance finally said as he noted the creature's discontent, guessing at what could be the cause "Just long enough to pass through into the Gusto lines and then you will be done with us"

"Aye perhaps" Shas'O glanced back towards him "But how long will it be before your master sends entire armies down this route? If this is how discreet you are when just a dozen strong…then more would surly awaken the…"

"We found something sir!"

Immediately losing interest in what the Vision leader had been about to say, Avance turned and jogged over to where one of his men was calling him, allowing himself a slight grin as he realised they had found another corridor leading away in what he guessed to be the correct direction that they wanted to go in.

The only problem was that a stone pillar connecting the hall's ceiling to the floor had been built right in front of it and the decay of time had brought a portion of it crumbling down to block the door-whilst still somehow remaining connected.

"Get it out of the way" He snarled, quickly growing tired of the constant delays and obstacles and the mutant that had smashed their way into the hall stomped forward again from where it had been waiting by the entrance. The scales along its once human neck shivered in the cold as it clamped its finned hands around the stone column and began to pull, releasing a spray of dust and stone as the structure began to break under its strength. The Visions around Shas'O moaned as if in sympathetic pain for the stone, their heads rising towards the Vylon statue with pleading looks that only amplified Avance's annoyance and he called for the creature to pull harder.

When it complied, the stone gave a deafening roar and gave way, the entire column pulling free from its place as the ritual born creature stumbled back under the sudden lack of resistance. The walls around them groaned and the Visions along with it before finally the dust settled and the doorway ahead was cleared.

"See?" Avance raised an arrogant eyebrow towards Shas'O "Easy"

Then, with a rumble of shaking stone, the now suddenly unsupported roof above where the column had stood gave way.

There was a deafening crash and a wave of sickening stench as millennia old, stale air crashed down upon them. Dust that had laid dormant for an eternity was suddenly heaved into the air and massive chunks of the halls ceiling caved in, crushing those of the Gishki party that were too slow to move in time with the harsh sound of breaking bones and screaming. From where Avance stood, he could make out the shape of the great wall of icons and runes shudder and crumble into oblivion as the very world around them seemed to shake and fall in upon them.

"Get out!" He barked, doubting he could even be heard over the sounds of death and destruction around them as another section of the roof gave in, though those of his men that could still move were already trying to escape the room in a mad panic, fleeing through both the entrance and the newly formed exit "Get out of the hall!"

From above where he stood, Avance caught the sound of cracking and the groaning of millennia old metal being put under too much strain and looked up to see the statue of the Vylon he had marvelled out before begin to bend in around itself as if crushed by some massive invisible hand. The great cables that had held it began to grow thin and weak as they struggled against the strain before, with a snap that sounded like the thunder unleashed by an angry god, they finally gave way and released the statue into destruction.

Avance barely had time to realise what was happening before the stone likeness of Omega came crashing down upon him…

...

Noellia opened her eyes slowly as she felt the Gishki Shadow beside her throne twitch from its catatonic trance, her head turning lazily towards the hunched creature with a slightly raised eyebrow. She made no motion as the Shadow blinked its eyes a couple of times and looked around the hall, seeming to pause in staring at the giant map of the Mist Valley that hung above the door before turning back towards her.

"I have lost contact with them"

"I see"

The Shadow's eyes rolled to fix her with a blank look, its consciousness slowly returning to its own body after drifting through the void his kind could reach, in order to keep track of Avance's movements. With no actual Shadow being present in the party, due to Avance's requests, it had been difficult of Noellia to keep track of them using the creature that acted as her assistant, instead relying upon its mental powers to track him personally though the Shadow had informed her that such a thing was light trying to track a candle through a thick fog. It had been mentally grasping for Avance since he had entered the cave and now it seemed, it had completely lost all trace of the dozen men that had followed him.

"Can you track the Visions that were with them?"

"They have fled" The Shadow slowly shook its head "The cousins of my kind have turned and fled from the party from something I cannot sense. Something has happened to you're warrior and his followers, Mistress"

The leader of the Gishki was silent as she picked up the glass of wine and began to shift it around in her hand, gazing down towards the dancing red liquid with blank eyes for a long time before looking back up towards the map. She hadn't expected there to be any trouble deep within the caves…the Visions cult had called the natural catacombs home for centuries and aside from the odd cave in that sealed off paths there had never been mention of a danger hiding within. That was why she had only given Avance a dozen men…

Perhaps she should have given him better resources for an attack.

"Mistress?"

Slowly standing, glass still in hand, Noellia sighed and turned to head towards her private chambers, glancing back towards the ever watching Shadow as she left.

"keep searching for him" She said simply "If I know Avance, he will be back soon enough"

…..

"-p sir"

All that Avance could feel was pain and a crushing weight as his mind drifted in a white oblivion, clawing back towards the sensation of conciseness as the voice began to echo around him, sounding so near yet so distant.

"Sir, wake up"

Giving a groan in response, Avance could feel himself being dragged across the broken stone floor, his vision providing him with nothing more than a mass of blurred shapes and a hot pain which dug deep. When he managed to turn his head, he found himself placed beside a giant hung of fallen stone where a young Gishki with gill across his neck was tending to him as the other warriors searched the debris of the sudden cave in. Beneath the rubble that lay a few feet from him, a crushed arm was all that could be seen of the ritual born mutant they had brought with them into the caves.

Groaning at the loss of the only thing that could again clear the path, Avance slowly forced himself to his feet and looked around the room, taking a moment to be pleased that the all of his men had survived before noting that they were gathered around a strange black shape lying within the rubble.

Stumbling forward a step as he struggled to take back control of his swimming head he made his way over to them, waving of a gesture of support from the gilled boy. When they saw him coming, they parted to reveal a strange humanoid shape lying broken and battered amongst the rubble of the room.

It reminded Avance of one of the insects that he had seen in the forest before the war, its torn wings being made of thin flesh with a natural pattern of brown lines and its carapace appearing almost formed from bending metal. Its mouth hung wide and open, hanging at a crude angel from its size in the strange bodies lifeless state and the elongate figures upon its metallic carapace covered arms ley before it as if it had been reaching out for something. At sight of the body, the one vision that had remained with them gave a whimper and stumbled back.

"Another statue?" Avance asked, looking up towards Shas'O with a distasteful look "It wasn't here before"

"Errr…sir" someone said behind him "It came from this"

Looking around, Avance saw a sack of fleshy mess lying beneath where it had been crushed by a falling rock, a foul smelling liquid covering the ground around it as if it had burst like a rotten grape upon being so squished. The now hollow remains of what had once been veins upon the sac that looked like an egg of sickly orange lined it in a random pattern, crisscrossing and bending in upon each other with a single line of metallic carapace lying along the back. Like one of the discarded failures of the Gishki rituals, it was now nothing more than a pool of useless flesh with whatever importance it had held lost upon its fall.

Looking upwards, Avance felt a shudder run through him as he saw a massive crack running along the ceiling, revealing yet another cavern to be standing directly atop of them-a great cavern filled to the brim with a sea of the same pods.

Thousands of them lined the now revealed inside of the roof, rows and clusters of fleshy sacks and shifting pods that seemed scattered without rhyme or reason, each shimmering with the blackness of the creatures inside shifting in what could only be awakening. There was the wet sound of snapping and tearing as the flesh like pods began to bulge and quiver, a thick liquid seeping through the cracks and tares that were appearing across them which stank of nothing they had ever smelled before.

"P...Pull back" Avance managed to mutter, grunting in effort as he stood up as he fumbled around for his sword finding his side sheath void of it. From the centre of the hall, a pod gave way and exploded, splashing its foul smelling protective liquid and releasing a large figure of flesh and carapace that shimmered like metal to fall crashing to the ground. There it ley for a moment before arms that ended in nothing but long talons embedded into the stone ground and the newly born creature heaved itself to its feet, its insect like eyes already focussing upon them as the goo of its birth slowly dripped from it. A humanoid mantis, the beast slowly straightened made a terrible clicking that seemed to dig into the nerves of all those who heard before charging forwards.

Despite being no more than a minute after its unnatural birth, the creature was inhumanly fast and it shot across the hall before anyone could react. By the time they had managed to bring their swords to bear, one of the Gishki Warriors had been hefted from his feet by insect which stood a full head higher than him, a talon shaped arm impaled through his throat. His body twitched in death and the creature's sideways parting, ant like jaws snapped shut around his head, ripping it clean off with a sickening crunch, swallowing with another click as the body fell to the ground.

"What the hell is that!?"

Men turned to run and Avance stumbled back as the creature leapt forwards again, its talons embedding into the back of a fleeing man and tearing into his like paper. Without thinking he pulled the sword from the hands of the decapitated body beside him and began to pull back, spotting Shas'O watching him from only a few feet away.

In a language he couldn't understand the leader of the Visions roared at Avance, pointing towards him with its crooked staff and an accusing look, not looking away from him even as a second of the creatures broke from its birth pod and fell to land behind it. Talons flashed and the Vision's body as slashed through its back, the mantis like fiend seeming to pause to savour the feeling of the dark blood that sprayed across it as it flicked away its birth before it's other talon sent the body flying across the hall to crash against the ruined Vylon statue with the sound of shattering bone.

His sense of sight still blurry, Avance began to stumble in as close to a run as he could get as he turned and fled, joining his men in withdrawing from the hall as more and more pods above them began to splash open and the room began to fill with clicking, insect like bodies. The back of many of the fiends began to twitch as their protective shell attempted to part to allow membrane thin, see through wings to spread but the birth that still clung to them kept them closed and they instead poured forwards on the ground, leaping forward on long legs.

From where it had fallen, the body of the mutant was nothing more than an open buffet for the fiends and they fell upon it with animalistic hunger. The larger Mantis like beasts pulled the fallen rubble free and other, screaming bugs descended from the broken ceiling, tearing into the mutant's leathery hide with such a speed and ferocity that there was little more than bone left by the time that they looked back up from the feast.

For a few horrific moments, the hall which had stood untouched by life for centuries became the sight of bloodshed of an inhuman ferocity. Blood ran freely across the walls and the screaming of men mixed with the roaring of the insect like fiends to form a chorus of death that spread throughout the tunnels over a great distance. The beasts crawled across every surface they could touch as more and more hatched from their birth pods and fell upon the fleeing Gishki without hesitation.

When he reached the door, Avance swore loudly as he swung his blade up to parry one, his blade bouncing of its metallic hide with a loud ping, only for another to land beside him and hack into body of the man standing beside him, forcing the silver haired soldier to turn and run. He couldn't pause to see if his men were with him as the sound of scuttling and snarling sounded around him and he focused every ounce of his attention upon fleeing, leaving the tomb for behind.

He knew not when it was that the beasts ceased their pursuit, but when he finally found himself on the path out of the caves, following the path that they had first come in through, he was completely alone…