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“How long do we have?” Jack turned the dwarf as his shadow tentacles melted away.
“Ah dinnae know, lad. Not long. Check on the boyo, and take the Seal fer yerselves. Ah’ll take care o’ Ghosin,” the dwarf replied, then walked toward the basilisk’s separated remains.

The other three rushed to where Rory lay on the Seal, taking heaving breaths.

“Rory, can you hear me?” Layla leaned over the salesman.
“Anyone get the plate on the lorry that ran me over?,” Rory sat up.
“B I G S N K,” Layla kissed him on the cheek. “Glad you’re okay.”

Behind them, Maggie stood over the bisected serpent.

“Render Unto Me,” the dwarf invoked.

A deep, sonorous tearing began to issue from the great beast’s body as black streams of mana poured from Maggie’s outstretched hand. In the space of moments, the ribbons of necrotic essence tore away and rotted to dust those elements of the corpse that were of no use to the dwarf, leaving only the necromantic and alchemical reagents.

“What the fuck was that?!” Rory exclaimed from the Seal.
“A spell fer clearin’ away the bits yeh dinnae need. Ah know two. One fer reagents an’ bits an’ bobs like crystals, an’ another fer dressin’ ‘em out ta be raised,” she responded.
“Was that Night magic?” Jack asked.
“Aye, second weave,” Maggie replied.
“I’ll have to look through my list again,” the nightbringer pondered.

Maggie scooped up the small pile of slick organs, gleaming fangs, and the fist-sized, virulently green crystal and made to deposit the loot into Rory’s lap.

Instead, the salesman’s storage irised open and the gobbets tumbled into the aperture. Maggie winked at him, and Rory’s incredulous glare quickly broke into a weary chuckle.

“Arright. Time ta go. Ev’ryone ready?” Maggie stood up.
“I haven’t accepted the Seal yet,” Erin replied.
“Well, get a move on, lass. Ah’ve a few bits to retrieve afore we head out. Won’t take me a minute,” the dwarf turned and marched toward the back of the cavern.

The Chosen watched her walk away.

“So, what do we think about all that?” Layla opened her panel and swiped the notifications away before accepting the Seal.
“We knew she was strong,” Jack shrugged.
“Did… did I see that right? Did she cast a spell that split the basilisk in half in one shot?” Rory blinked.
“Yeah. I’m totally gonna grill her about it once we’re on the move,” Layla grinned.
“Did you guys see the wording on this Seal?” Erin stared down at her panel.

You have discovered the Seal of the Nameless Wanderer. You have been awarded the trait I Am No One: So long as you have spent no mana or stamina on abilities or spells since the last sunset or sunrise, your traits are invisible to perception abilities, including audits. While you benefit from I Am No One, you cannot be scried upon or tracked by magic.

“From sunset to sunrise… Anyone know what time it is?” Jack stared down at the panel.
“Aye, tis ‘bout ninth bell after dawn,” Maggie walked back across the Seal, making the sign of the Nightfather as she did so.

She was wearing a large, armored bronze gauntlet that ran up to her right elbow and carrying half a dozen rucksacks and large burlap bags. She set the bags down, then hefted her warhammer and flexed her fist around the haft.

The hammer disappeared.

“Good. Still workin’,” she smiled, then began to unpack the sacks, making items disappear as she worked.

Some of the bags’ contents, she tossed away, but most went into the gauntlet.

“So, Maggie, you gonna tell us about the Big Gold Glove of Doom you got there?” Layla raised an eyebrow.
“Aye, tis one o’ the last bits from me huntin’ gear. Good fer defendin’. As good as any shield made. Augments me strength as well. And, last but nae least, holds ‘bout thirty stone worth o’ folded storage,” she explained.
“Folded?” Rory asked.
“Tha’s how yer storage ability works, boyo. Snarls up a bit o’ space and folds it over on itself, creatin’ a new area nae connected ta the rest,” she replied.
“Good to know, I guess,” he shook his head and took Erin’s offered hand up.
“Ah dinnae plan ta ever come back here, an’ ah’ve got everythin’ ah want ta keep. Time ta go,” she shooed the Chosen toward the tunnel.
“Never?” Erin asked.
“Ah plan ta die an old lady, comfortable in a down bed, or on the end o’ a sword, with the starry sky above me. Nae in a bloody hole,” she grunted, and began marching toward the exit.
“Maggie-” Layla started.
“Nae. We’ve eight bells ta go til sunset, an fer the rest o’ that time, yeh should keep quiet as much as poss’ble. There’ll be plenty o’ time ta gab once we’re away from here,” she cut the succubus off.
“Are we not… going back to Moryven?” Erin asked.
“Are yeh daft? O’ course, nae. We’re goin’ north, ta Verdantes, as quickly as poss’ble,” she turned again and began to walk.
“What about everyone there? Saffron and Honeybell, and Tilly, and the guild hall, and… what about everyone?” a tear rolled down Erin’s cheeks.

The dwarf stopped, and drew in a long, shaky breath.

“They’re already dead. An’ if yeh dinnae want ta join them, then march, and say as little as yeh can,” she answered, then stomped her foot a final time and headed to the door.

-----

When they exited the tunnel into the crisp night air, the sun had already set. 

“So, we’re good now, right?” Erin asked. 

The dreadnought had walked the entire tunnel in silence, save for the occasional rustle as she dried her tears. The others respected her solemn silence, and were largely silent as well.

“Aye, darlin’, we’re as safe as we can be, now that the sun is set,” the old dwarf pulled the taller woman into a bear hug and patted her on the back.
“Will… will she really kill them all?” she asked.
“Aye. Like as nae, a goodly portion o’ the town had been swallowed up afore we left. Did yeh nae see how empty the streets were as we left?” Maggie responded.
“I guess… I guess I didn’t want to think about it,” Erin slumped down and covered her face with her hands.

Jack knelt down next to her and wrapped the dreadnought in his arms, rocking her softly and whispering comforting words.

“You know, you’re a hard bunch to find,” a voice rang out from the darkness of the mountainside.

The Chosen froze, as one, but Maggie simply opened her right hand then clenched her fist as the warhammer appeared there.

“Ah dinnae need ta ask who goes, so show yerself, bitch,” the dwarf called into the dark.

A tall, red-haired woman with pale skin and a confident, easy gait stepped out of the shadow of a nearby tree.

“Captain Haley?” Jack stood.
“Good evening, master Jack,” she smiled.
“How long? The Yam? Before we even got to town?” he sighed.
“What do you mean?” the guard captain seemed genuinely confused.
“How long has it been… her… instead of you?” he growled.

The captain of the Watch seemed taken aback.

“Master Jack, I don’t really know what you’re talking about. I just came here to… to… I came here… I needed to find you, because… I… I had to find… you. I need…”

The Chosen watched as she struggled to understand.

“It’s arright, lassie. It’ll be over soon,” Maggie whispered to her.

The captain suddenly looked up, no trace of Meryn Haley left in her expression. The dead eyes suddenly flared a bright gold and brilliant blue.

“Oh, that’s clever. Is this where that Seal ended up? They change, you know? Every hundred years, when the serpent steals another crop of slaves. All but a few of them get shuffled around.”

“It’s not going to save you.”

Captain Haley’s face suddenly contorted, revealing the woman trapped inside the monster. She dropped to her knees.

“Run… she’s coming. Run. Oh, Signs, please. Run. RUN!” her voice had begun as a whisper, but crescendoed into a scream.

Around the guard captain, everything had begun to dip and roil, like hot air on a desert blacktop road.

Then Meryn Haley ceased to be, forever.

The arrival of the Mother of Horrors twisted Fate to its breaking point, causing its threads to strain and fray and finally snap in a violent unraveling. 

The Chosen were wholly unaffected.

They were, after all, disconnected from the Fate of Ayrgard.

But Maggie was not.

The dwarf grunted in pain, then finally dropped to her knees as blood began to run from her eyes and nose. She struggled, finally pushing herself up, screaming against the agony of causality being torn to shreds.

“Unclean bitch. Ah have a little present ah been waitin’ ta give yeh.”

“ALL STORIES MUST END.”

The line of nothingness appeared, instantaneously, at the same moment Maggie collapsed.

When the searing rent in space and time vanished, Roshana stood, naked, staring down at the amputated end of her right arm. The void art had severed her limb just below the elbow, revealing the inside of her body, seemingly composed of thousands of white strings, like worms, rather than meat and bone. 

The grotesque creatures squirmed out, reaching, slowly at first, then in a flash like lightning, the severed arm and the stump sprayed out dozens of questing alabaster strings, seeking each other for a moment, then upon connecting, the arm was drawn back to the stump and sealed together as flawlessly as before Maggie’s attack.

“Oh, you found a friend. Que adorable. Well, I usually start with the friends anyway.”

Roshana reached out a hand toward the dwarfess, the fingers slowly elongating, the tips changing from the thin nails of a young girl to wicked black talons grown from spindly, spider-like fingers.

“WAIT! WAIT!” Layla threw herself in front of the dwarf’s unmoving form.

The pale girl paused, and quirked an eyebrow.

“What… what do you want? You just want to eat us? It’s not like we can stop you. What’s with the stalking and the games? Why kill our friend?” she kneeled, staring up into that young face, smothered under the insane pressure of the Mother of Horrors’ power.

“There is a reason why all things are as they are, mi querida.”

“Isn’t that… Dracula?” Layla’s eyes widened.
“It… is, yes,” Roshana answered quietly, the echoing momentarily power absent from her voice.

She abruptly looked away from the succubus, off toward the valley below.

“Keep your ridiculous creature. There is a dungeon east of here called the Dry Vault. Go there. Clear it. Or I will kill her, and then I will wear her face while I kill each of you, slowly.”

The End of Heroes vanished, as though she had never existed.

 

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