I backed Clive. I even agreed with him. The dwarves were taking the piss, but as the powerful dark shield snapped up around him, I groaned. There had to have been a better way to deal with them than pretty much telling them to come and have a go if they think they’re ‘ard enough. Because that’s exactly what they did.

Now, as Clive was trapped unable to help us in a powerful energy shield, hundreds of dwarves poured into our town.

We’d worked so hard to build this town up and it was about to get smashed, for Clive and his bullish attitude. I couldn’t blame him, but it made everything feel like it was all for nothing. I caught Hek out of the corner of my eye, brandishing his purple glowing sword, his face looking carved from granite as he stared holes through Grimstrom and the three dwarves closest to Clive. His readiness snapped me out of my swirling thoughts and I raised my Hammer of the Founder ready to fight and most likely die.

The large Wolf , Wind of the Wild, changed into a Level 75 human named Ewan and began shouting at Grimstrom. When the shield around Clive suddenly exploded, then disappeared, I raised an eyebrow. “What the hell’s going on Hek?”

The Dokalfar shook his head. “I think Lord Clive removed the shield himself. Grimstrom does not look happy.”

I looked back to the see Grimstrom backing away from Clive a few paces saying something I couldn’t hear. Clive swept his arm in the air and the portal disappeared.

Then all hell broke loose as Fakasta and Stilbraker in an unbelievably fast and impressive combined move, attacked Clive with dark shrouded axes.

I charged at Fakasta who was closest, hammer raised above head, when Clive threw a back hand at him, his arm glowing an iridescent white. Fakasta exploded from the blow. My roaring charge came to a staggered halt as I was covered in blood and gore.

Hek had moved past me toward Stilbraker, who was currently being ripped in half by Wind of the Wild who was around twenty feet tall now.

Clive rose into the air with a ball of the same white glowing power building in his hand he roared. “How dare you! You were supposed to be our friends!”

I felt a tingle in my bones at his words, that left me feeling both terrified and energized at the same time. Grimstrom seemed to disappear, though a blur of movement led me to believe he had gone into the castle. I nudged Hek.

“You see where Grimstrom went?”

“I did. If he manages to create a portal within the castle, that could be very bad news for us.”

I nodded grimly and Hek and I followed the head Guardian into the castle without needing to say any more.

I followed nervously behind Hek, not convinced we were equipped to deal with Grimstrom, but trusting Hek could pull something out of the bag.

As we entered the lobby of the castle terrified but still feeling empowered by Clive’s roar, the door to the main hall was open. Beyond stood Grimstrom, unmoving, hands glowing with Darkness. My eyes snagged on the decorative pattern on the stone floor. At least that was what I considered it as. Even though I knew it to be a giant rune, I’d never given it much thought before.

Mostly covered with rugs now, Bekta had told me it was mainly a decoration, but also acted as a rune of protection. Until now, I’d had no reason to doubt him. But inspecting what I could see of the pattern now, with the blessing of knowledge from my own fledgling rune craft, I spotted patterns that wouldn’t make sense for protection. Still far too ignorant to understand what most of the patterns meant. When the power from Grimstrom’s hands shot into the grooves of the rune and began spreading around the pattern, I knew it would be nothing good for us.

He looked up at us as we entered, a strained expression stretching his face. “You’re too late Joel. He shoulda done what he was told, and now you're all gonna pay.”

“Hek threw a bolt of purple power at him, which deflected harmlessly from his armor. I only had eyes for the rune and the black energy flowing rapidly around it like a smoky oil slick. I still had my Hammer of the Founder in my hand, and brought it down as hard as I could on the stone floor, delivering a thunderous blow. The floor cracked, but somehow the rune remained intact.

Grimstrom fought Hek, now, but the flow of energy had taken on a life of its own and came hurtling around the circle to where I desperately tried to break it. Bringing the hammer down three more times. On the same spot, breaking all the surrounding stone, but not the rune itself.

As the power finally hit the spot where I worked, I smashed the hammer into it. To my amazement it stopped the flow of the energy from the rune causing it to spill out into the cracks I’d created. It also melted the very durable hammer and gave me a hell of a jolt, which sent me hurtling back against a tapestried wall.

My hand was blackened and sore and I was winded, but otherwise okay. Across the hall, I watched Hek and Grimstrom fighting. Purple blade against black axe. Despite being lower in levels, Hek moved with speed and grace I could hardly believe possible and while Grimstrom matched him for speed and was clearly far stronger, he didn’t have nearly the same level of actual melee skill as our Dokalfar warrior.

By the time I had gotten to my feet, and began to approach, Grimstrom decided he’d had enough. Turning it ran to the closest wall, and delivered an incredible punch which caused the earth itself to tremble. The wall of the castle blew out and Grimstrom escaped out the new back entrance.

Hek made to follow, but stopped and turned to me. “He is faster than us. We should help the others outside.”

“We need to get around the town and break these fucking runes,” I replied. “There’s one on the bridge over to the forest quarter, one in the pub and one in the storage sheds by the northern wall. I don’t know what they do, but the dodgy bastards have been up to, but the dodgy bastards have been preparing for this since the beginning,” I said, fully realizing everything Clive had said was true.

“Your hammer is broken, but I have tools at the forge that should be adequate,” Hek said. “Do you know of any runes that can help us prevent further incursions?”

I stared blankly at him for a long second as I thought, before shaking my head, “I can do some defense runes, that’s all, but I learned them from the dwarves so I have a feeling they won't do the job we need them too.”

“The queen will know of something,” he said before closing his eyes. After a moment, he pulled a dagger and began scratching a pattern into the beautiful, finally carved highly polished mahogany table. After I got over the vandalism, I watched as he carefully etched out a square shaped rune, recognizing some aspects of defense within the pattern but other aspects were foreign to me.

Hek opened his eyes again, and looked down at his handiwork. “It is the only rune that my queen can think of that will help in our current predicament. It will give an area effect that will interfere with formation of dark aligned Neuma constructs. She warned it is not strong and a determined or powerful Neuma user will be able to push through.”

“Shit,” I said sourly. “It’s better than anything else I’ve got to work with. Are you okay taking out their other runes and I’ll get to carving them?”

“A sound idea, Joel,” Hek said then disappeared out of the hall the way we came in. I jogged out after him with less enthusiasm. Dreading what I might see.

As I crossed the lobby, to my amazement, the sounds of fighting had all but disappeared. There were even some tired cheers. I sped up exiting the castle, to find against all expectations, that the dwarves scattered the cobbled town square. Even more disconcerting was the giant flying Wolf that flew above my head.

I headed over toward Clive, who was talking with a tired and bloody Mal, intending to tell him what we were doing, when he suddenly straightened up, a horrendous sound of pain erupting from his mouth. Then he slowly keeled over like a felled tree to smash into the ground. People dove out of the way of his massive frame.

Coming alongside Mal, I gasped. “What the hell happened?”

“I dunno, man,” he said, crouching next to Clive’s head. “We got our notifications and then he just screamed and bloody collapsed.”

More people gathered around us and him, no one sure what to do with our giant unresponsive friend. Not until Elsbeth appeared at least. Moving to kneel next to Mal. She placed her hand on Clive’s head, a light glow leaving her hand.

“He’s alive, but his energies are in chaos. His consciousness is completely shut down.”

“Is Darkness attacking him somehow?” I asked. “Like with magic?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s his light Neuma that seems to be causing the issue.” Looking up, her eyes moved between me and Mal. “I’ll ask Devotion if there is anything we can do and I will care for him while you ensure the town is as safe as can be.”

I nodded reluctant to leave Clive in this state, but I was about as much use as a chocolate teapot here. “I have runes to carve that might disrupt any more portals from Darkness being created. I’ll go get to work on that. Feen, Kuhn, Johan, Sazor, you guys alright bringing everyone to order, and prepare for… well pretty much fucking anything?”

The four of them nodded and headed off, shouting various instructions from our warriors. “We need to protect the temple Joel,” Mal said. “But we’ll watch Clive like a hawk, too.”

I nodded gratefully. “Thanks mate, I’d appreciate that and I appreciate you jumping in. Wasn’t sure if you would.”

“We're in this with you now, Joel. For better or worse, I reckon.”

I nodded at my old friend and patted him on the back. “Let's hope for better then, eh. Good luck.”

I immediately set off running to my workshop. Suddenly the knowledge of having built it entirely myself was a soothing balm. Especially as that was where Lierin currently was. It was also where the first rune would be carved.

She must have been watching out the upstairs window as I came running down the street as the door opened as I approached. I ran straight in, offering her a quick hug and kiss on the cheek before moving further into the workshop, explaining what was happening.

“I’ll help you carve them. I have a steady hand and…”

“No Lierin, they could appear from anywhere at any minute with a portal. It’s too dangerous.”

She brought over a tool bag as I tried to carry multiple chisels. I would aim for carving into wood first, but they were obviously not ideal as they could be damaged far easier. So I made sure to carry a couple of stone carving chisels too. I gratefully dumped the tools into the rough weaved hemp satchel. Then grabbed my fifteen ounce, iron headed hammer and my favorite half inch wood chisel, and began carving the rune from memory into the work bench.

I was confident in my ability to remember it accurately and as I added the last detail, it seemed to shimmer as I stepped back.

You have learned a new Complex Rune.

Dark Disruption Rune.

Re-directs the flow of ambient Neuma to make Dark Neuma Constructs far more challenging to create. The more complex the construct the more increased the difficulty

Area of effect. 30-square feet.

Bonus Experience: +1000

Sub-Skill Runesmith has increased 4 levels.

Runesmith: Level 7

+ 7 Dexterity and Perception when creating runes.

You have completed a Dark Disruption Rune.

You have earned 20 Experience Points.

Satisfied with that, I grabbed Lierin and kissed her again, more passionately than when I’d entered. “Thanks. Love you. Stay safe, Okay?” I said moving back toward the door.

“Love you too,” she replied, following behind me. “I expected her to stop at the door, but she came out, closing the door behind her. For the first time, I noticed my long handled ball hammer hanging from her belt.

“What the hell, Lierin?”

“I’m safer with you, and you’ll be safer with me. You’re not forgetting my special trick are you?”

I wanted to argue, but she had a hell of a point. Her ability to create an area of anti Neuma could potentially help me dramatically. “Shit. Okay Lierin but don’t leave my side.”

“I guarantee I will not,” she replied with a smile, and followed me closely up to the town square. I wanted to do the castle and then the square itself.

I heard her gasp as she saw the carnage of the battle we’d had. Turning the smile had well and truly dropped from her face. Words could never prepare you for the true horror of a battle like what must have taken place out here. Part of me was happy to have followed Grimstrom just to avoid the meat grinder that had taken place out here.

We rushed over to the castle, our own soldiers lined the buildings facing into the square ready for any portal appearing. I waved to as many as I reasonably could as we stepped over the bodies. I decided this would actually be the best place to start carving the rune. In the place of the previous portal.

“Lierin, here,” I said, dropping to the floor to attempt to carve one of the runes onto the path. It took about three times longer than the one I had carved into the table, but flared to life and I received the notification.

There were shouts from the wall declaring soldiers had arrived outside of Far Reach, followed by Lierin’s own gasp. At first, I thought it was in response to the soldiers outside until she spoke with a quiver of fear in her voice. “Joel, there’s a portal opening over there.”

I turned to see a black swirling portal opening in the center of the town square. Even more terrifying, Lierin had started running towards it.

“Noooooo!” I screamed, running after her. Dwarves started pouring out and Lierin came to a halt, turning to run away again toward me. Amazingly she had gotten close enough for the portal to disappear under her power. It also prompted confused expression on the faces of the Dwarves. They looked as though they were going to chase after Lierin, but were pounced on by our waiting Wultr and Nystiobek warriors in short order.

The danger was obvious. They weren’t going to stop with their attacks and we needed to get as many runes carved as possible. As I was the only one with a high enough building level to carve them out, it probably wasn’t going to be enough. I set to carving the next one near to where the portal had opened.

While I should have planned it out a little better for maximum coverage, time was of the essence and so I just tried my best to get full coverage. After around ten minutes and five more Runes carved, Hek reappeared.

“Joel, the Dwarven runes have been destroyed. We did have minor trouble at the bridge, with a small portal, but it is clear now.”

“That’s great news, Hek,” I replied, eying the wooden disks in his hands. He noticed me looking.

“Perhaps you could carve these and we can move them around the town?” he suggested.

I liked the sound of the plan. Wooden disks could be carved more quickly and I wouldn’t have to move around so much, saving even more time.

At least that was what both Hek and I thought prior to carving the first one. I sat on a low planter wall that held flowers and began carving again. After it activated, I made to hand it over to one of the Dokalfar with Hek. A depressing notification stopped me..

A rune when carved is linked intrinsically to the place of its conception. Removal of Rune from that location degrades the rune instantly.

“It's no good,” I said quickly, pulling it back from the waiting Dokalfar and placing it back on my lap where I’d carved it. The rune was dead as a dodo, not even coming back to life in the right spot.

“What’s wrong?” Hek asked, prompting a frustrated growl from me as I flipped the disk and lay it in the flower bed to carve the other side.

“Move them and lose them. They have to be carved in position.”

Hek’s neutral expression dropped. “That is unfortunate.”

“So have them set in position around the town,” Lierin suggested.

“That’s not a bad idea,” I replied. “That way people could actually help me by placing them all around the town to give full coverage and I wouldn’t have to pace it out. Hell if those further away, we could draw the rune on the disks, I could move even faster.

“I will see to it immediately.” Hek replied and set off with the other Dokalfar, to apparently see to it. I wasn’t complaining. Finishing the disk in the planter I was sitting on, I received the notification for Rune completion and moved on to the next one as fast as I could. Most of the square was now under the influence of my runes. Not that there weren't still thousands of square feet for them to still appear. That they hadn’t already again come in numbers suggested they were currently struggling to create portals, rather than anything I was doing.

And then all hell broke loose. The ground in the center of the square swelled gently at first, to the point where I doubted it had happened despite the feeling of sea legs.

When the ground exploded upward and a giant, worm-like creature burst forth.

Level 45 Greatworm (Worm II)

Lierin and I were thrown back into the beer garden of the pub. It came out at an angle and took a chomp at the nearest soldiers devouring no less than five in the move, before diving back down into the back down into the ground as if it were water.

Screaming rang out across the town, though most stood in shocked silence in the aftermath of the unexpected attack. Checking Lierin was okay, we got to our feet. My eyes darting between the new holes in our cobbled street and everywhere else looking for further attacks. The stupid damn runes I’d been carving were like pissing in the wind. If that was the sort of thing we were going to be facing, we needed Clive back on his feet and the army from the north back as quickly as possible.

No one dared move too close to the edge of the holes that had been created in fear of the Greatworm returning, but a few minutes later it was soldiers that instead poured out of the hole. Like a volcano of well armored, angry looking dwarves and they just kept coming. They set up a defensive line as they exited not attacking but looking ready to with only the slightest provocation. I knew there were more outside too, though I hadn’t had time to look. Either way, the sheer numbers added up to the same thing. We were so royally fucked it was hard to put into words.

Once around three thousand dwarves had exited the tunnel, they threw up shields of Darkness to protect themselves. Clearly, what remained of my runes made very little difference.

Only then did Grimstrom appear again. He looked around as if searching for someone. As I stepped forward, his eyes landed on me and he shouted over. “We’re taking Clive. If you try to stop us, we’ll kill you all. If Clive makes the right decisions in Nuinaer, then you all get to live. If not, this is a short reprieve only.”

“We can’t let you do that,” I shouted back.

He glared at me for a long moment, when the ground began to rumble. Another of the giant worms burst free of the ground, diving immediately into the cobbles of our beautiful town without attacking. Proving again that we really had no other choice. I just couldn’t bring myself to let my friend be taken. I was about to speak again when a kind of Dwarf I’d never seen before stomped out of the hole as if someone had just took a shit in his sandwich. He looked close to the same damn size as me, but unnaturally wide at the shoulders. Jagged dark silver armor covered his arms and legs, leaving his chest which was covered in white patterns that looked like runes Mottled, craggy gray skin and red eyes gave him a demonic appearance which was echoed by the horrible screeching roar he let out.

Ka’halka: Level 83, Guardian of Scaraflow, Dwergha. (Deep Dwarf III).

Thousands more surged from the gaping hole. I felt Lierin clutching my hand, or it could have been me clenching hers. Either way, the fight went out of me. With the addition of these guys in our town and the ease at which the Greatworms could access our town, they could wipe us all out in a heartbeat.

If our army in the north had been here, things would have been different. Grimstrom stared at me. Ka’halaka glared at me. I felt as if they were both begging me to make a move.”

But there was nothing to be done, except fight the tears that threatened to spill as I told everyone to back off. The Dwarves broke down the doors into the temple of Devotion where Clive lay unconscious. I still held out hope that the Dwarves would come flying back out of the temple on flames. Instead, it was Mal. He attempted to stop them, and I watched in horror as the fool was hit with an axe. He dropped out of sight with the crush of bodies between us. I cried out, and tried to get over to him, but I was stopped by armored right hand of a deep dwarf as I tried to pass. One of the spikes penetrated my cheek, both Jaw and attached teeth. Somehow I remained conscious, climbing back to my feet quickly from where I’d landed. Blood and teeth dribbling from my mouth, which hung permanently open. They raised their axes a few threatening inches as I turned back to face them, leaving me with no choice but to stand there. A pathetic, ineffective waste of space, watching as one of my best mates in two worlds, lay on the floor bleeding out, while the other one shrouded in an orb of darkness, was carried out of the temple of Devotion by our enemies.

What made it so much worse was that Clive was back to his original size. the demon arms and legs were gone.

No one attempted to stop them. The shame and self-loathing I felt, was reflected by those brave warriors who stood and watched. There was a time to fight and a time to accept you were lucky to be left alive to fight another day. I just hoped this was the latter. If they went on to kill Clive, then we had all just let him down completely.

I wanted to shout, to rant, to do something, but my mouth was completely ruined. To my relief Mal had returned to his feet and he could still speak. Despite his face being white with pain, he shouted after Grimstrom. “I don’t know how and I don’t know when, but you’re going to fucking pay for this Grimstrom, you horrible little shit. You’re going to pay for this!”

As Grimstrom paused and turned back to look at Mal, I thought he was going to have him killed there and then. The group of Malatia soldiers Mal trained with him, now stood around him protectively, ready to fight if they had to.

“The one infinitely small hope you might have had to cause issues for the followers of Darkness is now in our possession. You should have stayed in your own world, where you belong. Eating your McDonalds and buying your poor quality sports clothes. Darkness will dominate Falritas and you will all fall in line or die.”

I stood dumbfounded at his comeback at Mal. Though his eyes flickered to me. It hit a nerve that had never fully healed deep inside of me. Then they were gone