Dirge of the Afterlife - Chapter 10 By Shadow Taken

The first expedition set out to the portal, a battalion thousands strong, weapons held high, shields raised proudly. They marched like an army knowing no defeat, and morale was high.

That is, until they entered the portal itself, into the Great Dark Beyond. A grotesque green swirling mist met their eyes, thick and smelling like decay. It played tricks with the eyes, ears and nose. Sometimes the soldiers thought they saw something, sometimes they didn't.

Yet, with Felicia's strong magics, she pushed back the mist for a distance around the portal. They quickly set up camp, the dwarven engineers rigging up a sturdy mobile fortress, fortified against magical and psionic assaults.

More battle groups followed, setting up fortresses around the portal, not unlike a caravan around a campfire. The eerie silence around nearly drove some warriors mad, if not for the constant thrum of holy powers from the priests heartening them.

But the silence was not for long. With a roar, a horde of shadowlike creatures, with hooves not unlike goats, legs bent backwards at the knees, humanoid torsos, albeit with very muscular builds, and two curved horns at their heads. Satyrs.

Xepher led the counterattack, striking at a satyr and reducing it to pieces with a couple of well-aimed blows. The rest followed suit, hacking, slashing, slaughtering, impaling, shooting and crushing the demons, until they began to retreat.

But their attack was merely a diversion. From above dropped scores of golems, hidden by the mist until near collision. They struck the defenders with a force akin to a colliding meteor. Soldiers of all races flew here and there, pelted away by the tremors. Those unlucky enough to get hit by the actual impact were crushed instantly. Worse, the golems rose from the craters to rampage through the ranks. Mortal weapons could not damage them, their hides made of actual stone.

And still more came from above.

With a quick spell, Kaffleen sent an arcing lightning shard across the murky heavens, skewering and immolating several golems. She then guided the bolt like a sentient dragon, twisting around the sky and destroying more.

The assault from the sky was turned, but the golems still rampaged. Felicia used her weapon as a sledgehammer, striking and shattering their thick hides. Fel fire poured forth from the fissures on the golems' hides. The dwarves, upon seeing this spectacle, brought their legendary warhammers into play, smashing at the golems.

But the worst was yet to come, the earth rumbling as sandworms and monstrous beetles erupted from the ground, flinging chunks of rocks everywhere. The sandworms burrowed in the ground, then launched upwards, terrible maws gaping and swallowing any in the vicinity of their launch. The beetles used their deadly pincers to crush warriors left and right, their thick shells deflecting the sturdiest of blows.

The elves fired volley after volley at the sandworms as they emerged, their poison-tipped arrows piercing deep. Eventually, the sandworms were wiped out. As for the beetles, trolls with their clubs bashed in shells and heads, with quick and ruthless efficiency.

As the fighters took a breather, Felicia addressed the armies. 'These surprise attacks are deadly, true. But we will guard against these, now we know what they are capable of.' She wiped a trickle of blood from her forehead, where she was bashed against the flat of a pincer as she impaled a beetle straight on the head. 'We will mount an assault in three days, into the heart of the Shadow.' She pointed to the point where the mist was strongest.

Suddenly, there came a small, yet telling shriek from the side.
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Kaffleen stood, her blade resting upon the ground as she leaned on it, tired from the day's battle. She listened raptly to Felicia's speech. So raptly, in fact, that she didn't notice a shadowy tentacle wrapping around her torso, and with a quick tug, drew her into the mists. She only managed a small shriek before she was smothered by the shadows.

Xepher spun, and saw her right before she disappeared. He cried out in anguish. Without a word, he snatched up her fallen sword, and raced after her, vanishing too in the mists.

There came the sound of a high-pitched, cruel laughter.