Escape

Fort Erad was crumbling.

Dark specters congealed into a twisting storm cloud in a starless night sky, and a crackling barrage of black lightning fell upon the fortress. Ghouls—both humanoid and beastly—dragged themselves forward on whatever rotting limbs they had. Wet crunching mixed with screams as they fed on the fallen, alive or dead. And wraiths shrieked and howled as they slashed claws of corrupted Ether sundering flesh and stone alike.

The human forces were in tatters, drowning under a dark wave of vengeful monsters. The undead had already clawed through the outer walls, and the Paladins of the lord's personal knight brigade were mounted in full-armor on weary horses, waiting in formation as the monsters tore through the last pieces of the inner gate. Behind them, a ragtag crowd of uneasy peasants held whatever makeshift weapons they could find, muttering prayers and trembling with low sobs. They were all that was left of the human resistance.

"Knights! Brave citizens of Erad!" the old commander yelled, pointing his sword up to the sky as the first monsters broke through. "Today, we wield our sword against evil. We may die today, but justice never cowers! For the Empire! For Alan! For House Erad!"

"For the Empire! For Alan! For House Erad!"

The knights yelled, raising their swords in response as if to raise their courage. With a ferocious battle cry, they kicked their horses into a valiant charge into the undead swarm. The peasants also followed in a reluctant and reckless charge, but in disarray. Some even tried to desert in the chaos. As if there were anywhere safe to run to now.

'So foolish.'

Fleur didn't understand. She heard it all. From the first war cry to the clash of metal and flesh. Even to the gurgling death cries when they died.

It was a futile resistance, and an even more futile death. Did they think that with courage and justice on their side, they would become unbeatable? Was their honor more important than their lives? They had many chances to flee. Yet, the peasants had stayed out of fear and weak hope, while the knights had stayed for their honor and justice.

Honor and justice…

'I wonder what they would think,' she thought wryly, 'if they knew the truth?'

But then both her thoughts and the sounds of battle were cut off abruptly with a harsh clatter of metal. The heavy iron doors had slammed shut.

"This way, Fleur," Lord Alan of Erad—the lord the humans were dying for—grabbed her hand and pulled her forward into the tunnel. "Stay close, my love. How are you feeling?"

The young lord's face was pale. His favorite tunic, made of an emerald silk that matched his eyes, was now wrinkled and covered with soot, and his hands were soft and clammy.

"I feel fine." Fleur smiled, then gently pulled her hand away. "Don't worry about me, dear. We should hurry."

Because the tunnels were narrow, they could only go at a brisk walk. One knight led the way while another held up the rear behind her. The walls were covered in carved runes that glowed as they approached, illuminating the passage with a dim crimson tint. The sound of their heavy footsteps, ragged breathing, and clattering armor echoed in the dark winding tunnels. The walls and ceiling trembled. Pieces of rubble fell, accompanied by muffled inhuman shrieks and resounding thunder from above.

"Aye, we must reach the sanctum. The horde is strange," said Van. The stocky red-haired paladin led the way, Illumination Orb in one hand and the hilt of his sword in the other. "They shouldn't have been able to break through. And definitely not so suddenly."

"I've sealed the entrance," said Jon. The younger paladin frowned uneasily, raising his Illumination Orb as he peered back at where they had come. "But, if the horde has a higher undead with them, they'll still be able to find it."

"How is this possible?" Alan dabbed at his sweat with a handkerchief. "That the dark monsters attack when our army is away…"

"The alarm spells did not go off either," Van added. "And how did they get past the barrier?"

"This isn't the time to worry about that," said Fleur. "Hurry. The knights won't be able to hold them off for long."

Alan sighed. "You're right. We can think of this later. Let's—"

Suddenly, there was a deafening roar of an explosion.

The very foundations of the castle shook. Large pieces of rubble fell from the ceiling. Alan stumbled, but Jon reacted quickly, grabbing his shoulder from behind before he fell.

"T-that was…." Alan looked up uneasily at the ceiling that still trembled in the aftershock.

"The last measure," Van nodded grimly. "The monsters have broken through."

"The castle…it's really gone!" Alan shouted. "Adriel bless us! How did it come to this? Why—"

"Commander…Bors, Hav…The squadron…" Jon muttered. "That means that they've…"

"Leave mourning for later, Jon," Van interrupted. "Hurry. Before the second wave arrives."

"Yes. You're right. Fleur—" Alan looked back at Fleur, and when he saw she was fine he let out a breath in relief. "I'm glad you're alright."

Fleur sighed. Ever since Alan's father had passed away and he became the lord of Erad, he started to worry over her every little thing. It was quite irritating, but she could understand where he was coming from. He was very much desperate for love and validation, and she fell into his life like a blazing meteor, becoming his anchor in a world that seemed to be crumbling around him. It was no wonder he was so protective of her.

But although she usually bore with it, her patience was thin today. They didn't have time to waste on such worthless things.

"You worry too much, dear. I have the artifact you gave me," she reminded. "And the potion. Nothing can go wrong. Stop fretting over me, and let's go."

Before they had entered the tunnels, Alan had given her an artifact, a silver bracelet with runes inscribed on it. She could feel the Ether contained within it coursing through the inscribed spell formation, and even she had to admit that it was a great, complex piece of work, rivaling that of the best mages in Kaltria.

And it was certainly more than she had expected to find here at a borderlands fortress at the edges of the Empire.

According to what Alan had told her, the bracelet was essentially a pass, an artifact made by his ancestors to grant access to the tunnels. Without it, a destructive spell would have activated, killing any unauthorized intruder who entered without permission, as well as triggering an alarm and sealing spell. Apparently, there had once been more of them, but now there were only three left. Otherwise, they would've been able to bring more people with them in their escape.

Needless to say, it had been a big sacrifice for him to have given Fleur one of them. After all, to them she was just his lover, the daughter of a baron with only middling talent at that. Yet instead of a loyal Aura Paladin, Alan had chosen to take his useless fiancee. If his father or predecessors knew, they would probably faint.

He was weak, arrogant, and cowardly, but Fleur had to admit that he did treat her quite well. Especially for a noble.

The artifact was also why Jon kept shooting resentful gazes at her secretly from behind. Because of her, one of his comrades who should have been able to come was left behind to die instead. Van was also disgruntled, but he had served Erad longer; he would not question his lord's decision.

But of course, she couldn't care less about what they thought.

Instead, Fleur was far more interested in the potion that now lay in her pouch. Although Alan had not told her what it was, exactly, she had some guesses. But she dared not get distracted with it now; she was afraid she wouldn't be able to resist the temptation.

"The barrier at the entrance should last long enough for us to reach the sanctum," Van said. "But Lady Fleur is right. It's safer for us to hurry."

They continued on in the dim tunnel. Rubble still fell from the ceiling from time to time, but less frequently than before, a sign that the battle above ground was all but over.

And it also meant that their time was almost out.

"What is the sanctum?" Fleur asked. "I've never heard of it before today."

"A place we will be safe," said Alan. "At least until the reinforcements arrive."

"Are we just going to hide inside?" Fleur arched her brow. "But if the undead find the tunnels, won't we be trapped? Wouldn't it be better to leave through another exit—"

"We can't abandon the castle. It is how it has been for generations. If it falls now with me…" Alan bit his lip. "I…I don't how I could ever face my ancestors."

"But…dear, the castle is already overrun. It'll be days before reinforcements come. How can we take back the castle now?"

"So long as we have the sanctum, it's possible," Alan said, his eyes seemed to shine with a fervent, desperate hope. "Even if we lose the castle, it's still fine. Those accursed monsters won't have it for long."

"It's fine even if the castle is lost?" Fleur frowned. "But how could that be? The damages and all the deaths…How could we take the castle back with just the four of us?"

"Normally, yes. But we're not House Erad for nothing. We have a trump card for cases like this."

"My Lord!" Jon protested. "Even though Lady Fleur is your fiancee, it's not proper for—"

"It's alright," Alan waved his hand. He seemed to have restored some of his confidence now that they were almost at the sanctum. "Fleur will be my wife soon, so we are all family. What difference is there? It's my choice to make."

Ignoring the disapproving frown of his paladins, the young lord pointed at the walls of the tunnel. "See these runes? These runes are part of a spell formation that go all around the castle."

Fleur widened her eyes. "But the scale of that would be…"

"Yes, it's insane isn't it?" Alan laughed. "But after several generations of work we did it. Father always says…" he trailed off for a a bit, as he remembered his father's death. "…Well, father always said that even the royal mages at the Academy couldn't do better than what we've done."

Looking around at the criss-crossing patterns of runes carved on the walls, Fleur had to agree. She had been trying to decipher the spell ever since they had entered the tunnel, and so far she had only understood less than half of it, even with her experience. She would either need more time or reach the core directly in order to understand how it worked. Quite impressive.

"But how is it possible to hide such a large formation like this?" Fleur frowned. "For something of this scale, the resources and manpower involved would be insane. You would need several teams of mages for this."

"I'm not sure of the specifics, but everything was done in a secret. Not to mention, cloaking is one of the functions that was first built into it. There are layers upon layers of cloaking spells, and even if someone were by chance able to find and walk through the tunnels, they still wouldn't be able to find the sanctum. They wouldn't even be able to see the runes on the walls unless they had a pass," Alan shook his head. "I also had no idea until I inherited the title…And I've lived here all my life."

"However," Van added. "Unfortunately, many of the spells involve misdirection or target vital Ether. Some of the protections won't work against the corrupted creatures. No one thought they would be able to breach the barrier and come so far."

"But what is the purpose of this spell formation?"

"It protects a secret artifact that has been protecting our family for generations," said Alan. "The sanctum is the core and holds the work of our house for generations. It is our true lifeblood. We can still rebuild so long as the sanctum is safe. This is the secret behind our family's survival despite the many wars and calamities here."

"A secret artifact?"

"Yes, well," Alan looked away. "It is an artifact powerful enough to wipe out the monsters. I'm not too sure myself."

He was a horrible liar. Still, Fleur knew enough. She didn't need to push the matter now. She could always find out later.

"Then that's a relief," Fleur smiled. "It's not a complete loss after all. How much longer before we reach it?"

"It shouldn't be too far…Van? How long until we arrive?"

"We are close," Van said gruffly. "Just a bit farther. But hurry. The sounds of fighting seems to have stopped. We don't have much time."

The party fell into a grim silence, trudging along through the narrow passage anxiously. Like Van had pointed out, the rumbling coming from the castle seemed to have ceased, which meant that the undead swarm had probably already dealt with what had been left of the human resistance.

It felt like the calm before the storm, and the silence had the group on edge.

"Over there!"

After awhile, Alan suddenly yelled with excitement, pushing up past Van. "We're here! Move aside."

The stone wall was completely flat and unremarkable from the other tunnel walls. Fleur couldn't see anything different, nor could she sense any Etheric distortion. But Alan seemed to be confident. Licking his lips, he unsheathed the small jeweled dagger at his waist and raised it, but he hesitated after seeing the sharp edge of the blade.

He grimaced. "I always hate this part. Why does it always have to be blood? Always blood. I swear mages must be masochists..."

"My Lord…" Jon urged.

"Yes, yes."

Alan hesitantly made a cut on his thumb with the dagger. Then, he started to use the oozing blood to draw a spell circle.

He was weak, so hardly any Ether was contained in the lines, but the blood seemed to seep into the wall and fade as he drew. The wall runes glowed more brightly as he worked. It was slow work, and there were times when he had to make new cuts to have enough blood to work with. And of course, he didn't forget to grumble each time.

"I don't understand why they couldn't find another way of identification apart from self-injury," Alan complained. "It's very barbaric."

"You're right," Fleur said, nodding agreeably. "Maybe you could change it when we have a chance."

But in truth, she desperately wanted to roll her eyes. 'Do you think it's that easy to create such a complicated lock? One that checks for bloodlines and legitimacy possibly for several generations down the line? It's not as if it's choosing what design of handkerchief to bring to a ball.'

Finally, Alan finished, sheathing his dagger and taking off his necklace. Hanging from a heavy silver chain was a pendant of a crescent moon encircling two inlaid gems of ruby and sapphire. Fleur recognized it: the divine symbol of Balshar, god of alchemy and creation.

It was a Blessed artifact, and Divine Ether gathered around it. It was usually discreet and only the owner could sense and use its Blessing, but sometimes when it was taken off, the Divine Ether would leak out as well. For most, it would have a positive, healing effect, yet to Fleur, it just felt unpleasant, like walking into a noisy bar when you already have a hangover. It didn't hurt her, but it was annoying. Just being near it gave her a feeling of nausea.

Alan pressed down on a rune of a crescent moon, and after it sunk into the wall, he set the pendant into the groove that remained. There was a click, then the smooth stone wall started to give way as if melting until, finally, the gaping entrance of dark, large cavern was revealed. Then Alan caught the necklace again before it fell to the floor.

Everyone seemed to let out a sigh of relief.

"We made it!" Alan yelled. He stuffed the necklace carelessly into his pocket before he turned around and gave Fleur his hand so that they could enter together. "Oh, thank Adriel! We're finally safe. Come on Fleur. I'll show you the sanctum."

Van and Jon had entered first to clean and ready the sanctum for their stay. After Fleur and Alan entered, the young lord suddenly turned around and picked her up, spinning her around in the air.

"Hey!" Fleur laughed. "What are you doing?"

"Ha! We made it. See? What did I tell you, Fleur? I told you I would protect you," he laughed. "The nightmare is over. Now, once we take back Erad, it won't be long until we rebuild. Then, we can get married like promised."

"My lord," Van urged from within. "We still need to seal up the entrance before the monsters find us."

"Alright, alright," Alan said carelessly. "What is there to worry about? We're already here! It'll all be over soon."

He let her down then wrapped his arms around her waist. "We will have a grand wedding. Who cares about the undead? Or what the others think? We'll always be together."

Fleur laughed happily. She'd spent the last year with him as his fiancée. As a prodigal noble, he was spineless and as arrogant at times, yet he had always treated her well, exceedingly so.

She could almost see the future he was imagining with her in his eyes. They would struggle a bit to rebuild Erad, but not for long. There'd be an extravagant marriage. A luxurious, comfortable lifestyle. Children. And maybe grandchildren.

"Yes," Fleur smiled, leaning into his embrace and wrapping her arms around his neck. Her lips melted into his in a deep, wet kiss, until his face was flushed and they were both gasping for breath. And as their hot breaths entangled, she whispered breathlessly next to his ear. "We will always be together."

Then there was a crack.

Alan's eyes goggled. The smile on his face still hadn't faded, but his headless body crumpled to the floor. Fleur held his head in her hands, and she looked into his eyes as the light in them started to fade.

"Thank you, dear. You were very useful."