City of Bronze

City of Bronze

Chapter Four: The Breath Before the Plunge

The tunnels of Bog.

Weary, bloated, and more than a little drunk, Arrel Whitefur stumbled through the cramped corners of his beloved city's tunnel system. Despite his impaired motor functions and the number of times he had tripped over his own two paws, the alpha still knew the sprawling network of passageways better than he knew himself.

It didn't take long for the inebriated dog to find his way back home. To an outsider, his chambers wouldn't appear as the bedroom of a kinglike figure. The room’s contents didn’t differ much from any other apartment in the City of Bronze, save for the custom-made bed nearly thrice the surface area of its fellows in the city. It was no queen sized bed, nor was it king sized, it wasAlpha sized.

To the leader's immediate surprise, a slender female dog that Arrel did not recognize was laying lazily on the bed as if she owned it. The demure bitch with a thick book clutched in her paws gave Arrel an acknowledging glance as she idly leafed through the faded pages. She looked like a doll too small for its toy bed lying on the slab.

At first, Arrel thought it was a female that he mentally referred to as an "Alpha Groupie." He started to give her a sly smile- he thought he knew exactly what came next -but if it weren't for that last cup of bognog that the alphadidn't have, the coagulated puss and blood that stained the furs and the festering sores that covered her body would’ve remained unnoticed.

"Oh shhhhhit." Arrel slurred. "You again."

"Ah, you're finally here." she, or ratherhe in a she's body said. "Listen to this, will you?"

The possessed dog sat up straight, held the tome out, and cleared its throat.

 "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day

To the last syllable of recorded time,

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing."

The book let out a cloud of dust as it was clasped shut.

"What do you think of it?" he asked.

"It's not one ofmy books." Arrel said bluntly.

V's thrall rolled its eyes in contempt. "An astute observation. I doubt you've ever read this passage before, unless one of your suppliers of trade gets their books from another plane of existence. Literature was never your people’s strong suit, anyways."

The thrall casually tossed the book to the side, but it never hit the floor. Before Arrel's very eyes the seemingly sturdy book disintegrated into nothingness the moment it left the puppet’s hand.

"Now you know what it isn’t, but you have yet to give your opinion on the contents themselves." He slumped further into the warm furs and put his paws behind his head. "Go on, I won't judge."

Arrel shrugged. "Don't know. I guess it sounds like a poem, but it doesn't rhyme. Poems should rhyme."

"Indeed." V agreed. "That's iambic pentameter for you. I alway thought that little collection of words with a rhythmic pattern really taught me quite a bit about mortalkind. Not many in this city would, but I'd bet that you could understand what this passage is saying."

Oh great, he thought, V is about to go off on another one of his monologues about mortality. He could've at least found something less depressing to lecture meon. What a windbag. I’ve got no choice but to grin and bear it because once he starts up, there's no stopping the fun train until he's finished. Choo choo.

"Okay, I'll bite. What does it say?"

A glint of excitement appeared in the puppet's eye for scarcely a moment. "I'm glad you asked! You see, unlike the mortals that I've been forced to live with this past millennia, the passage of time has no effect on me whatsoever. Not much of a revelation, I know, but bear with me. All around me mountains will turn to dust, oceans will dry up, the living will grow elderly and die, more will be born to renew the process of life and death, the very foundations of the earth will crumble beneath my own two feet and yet... I stay unchanged.  And I will continue do so until the end of existence itself. It's fascinating, really. One by one, generation by generation, the living struggle to make something of themselves and their pitifully short lifespans. Some succeed, but most do not achieve their desires before they- as you would would say -kick the bucket. If that were me," he laughed "I'd be scared to death!"

Somebody shoot me. Just right now with a crossbow, somebody barge in and assassinate me.

V chuckled to himself, but the alpha wasn't paying much attention. "Limited time. This concept is just so, so... socommon to your kind while I- a being of infinite years -cannot even begin to comprehend it. It boggles my mind to think that everything some mortals do in their lives eventually leads up to their body withering away to dust and bones because the one thing they couldn't survive was time. That is exactly what author of this work was trying to say! Time is not infinite for the mortal, and that time spent is utterly insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe. It's a beautiful way of summing it up, don't you think?"

He's still talking.

Arrel had heard enough. "That's great, V, really uplifting and stuff. Are you here for a reason other than to hear yourself talk?"

"Have it your way." V’s host almost looked hurt. "I know when someone does not have the mental capacity to stop and appreciate art. But of course, impatience is the mark of a mortal. It is understandable, seeing as how each moment you have is more precious than all the riches in your city, and you'd rather not spend it contemplating Shakespeare. My dear friend, I have come to you with guidance."

Arrel snorted mirthlessly. "Yeah, well you successfully ‘guided’ two angry alicorns into my city last time I did what you said. 'Scuze me if I hesitate."

"All this time and yet you still do not trust me!" V lamented with a dramatic flair of his puppet's arms "Would it appease you if I said that you could be easily rid of these two without attracting any more Equestrian attention to the City of Bronze?"

And he finally gets to the point.

"Now you've got my attention. You should have opened with that, I might've listened." Arrel let a wicked smile paint itself upon his mug. "What is it you have in that cobwebby head of yours?"

"Unbelievable."

Princess Luna paced back and forth between the two stone-cold walls of the other guest room, the scowl on her visage growing deeper and deeper with each lap.

"The nerve of that mutt!" she muttered, a foul poison dripping from each of her words.

Twilight Sparkle stood by helplessly watching her friend slowly carve a rut into the granite floor. Luna was starting to make her feel antsy too. If she weren't so tired, Twi would be pacing right alongside her.

"The wretch thinks he can get away with betraying Equestria. We should remind him just why we are the most powerful realm on the planet!"

Twilight was hesitant to agree. On one hoof, they should have seen this coming from miles and miles away. It was no great revelation that dogs like meat more than vegetables, as is their nature. On the other hoof, Bog's long deceased leader should've known better than to make a trade agreement to import something that they were instinctively not fond of in mass quantities and expect to live off of it forever.

"Look, ah..." she said carefully "look at this from a diamond dog's perspective. The food you've been eating all your life doesn't really taste all that good. Suddenly you get a taste of what a real meal is like, a meal that you were literally born to eat. You wouldn't want to go back, would you?"

The midnight alicorn said nothing, choosing to silently fume at her partner. She was too conflicted to form a valid rebuttal at first.

"Tis not about what the hounds enjoy better." She finally said. "Tis about loyalty! They are diamond dogs for goodness sake, a race that should personify loyalty."

"Loyalty to a country that they have little to no contact with." Twilight rebutted in tone that mimicked Oakfang's own emotionless voice.

"No! Well yes, tis true but- Aggh!" The princess stomped her silver-clad hoof to the floor, creating a sharp ring that reminded her of a bell.

"Thy point is entirely valid, Twilight Sparkle." Luna's posture seemed to droop a bit when she said those words. "We appreciate that thou hath the temperance to keep thy head screwed on properly."

She sighed. "It matters not. As undesirable as the final results of this trip were, we hath accomplished our mission. We now know why Equestria is starved for metal."

Twilight nodded. "Yes, you're right. We should send a letter to Princess Celestia immediately." With a wave of her horn, Twilight summoned a blank piece of parchment, an ink well, and a quill from her saddlebags.

"Art thou ready?"

"Yeah, go."

Luna cleared her throat "Dear Sister, we are pleased to inform thou of our diplomatic efforts in the City of Bronze. The diamond dogs hath changed not since our last visit up north. They are still a rugged, practical people with simple desires in their hearts. Unfortunately, that is where our good new ends. The Alpha of Bog, Arrel Whitefur, has seen fit to divert the ore that they were contractually obliged to provide Equestria with to our neighbors, the Gryphon Republic. All formal ties with Equestria have been severed at this point."

The night princess paused, not quite certain of what to say next. "The situation would be very difficult to mend on our own, as the Alpha is adamant that Equestria is not providing any goods or services that the City of Bronze desires, and he would sooner shut us out of the city than honor its contract any further. Thankfully, the hounds are much too hospitable to turn us away. Whitefur has suggested that Equestria put a better offer on the table, and We believe that he is willing to talk trade. However, We are unsure of how to proceed. Should We attempt to barter with the Alpha or return home to further contemplate this issue? We believe that it may be unwise to choose barter, seeing as how neither Twilight or myself have extensive knowledge of the value of the goods that Equestria produces, and will not be likely to succeed at the bartering table. We seekest thy guidance, what is our next move? Sincerely, thy sister and thy former student."

"...thy former student. " Twilight muttered under her breath. She rolled up the scroll and tied it shut with a thick piece of string. "Great. Let's send this bad boy."

"What has the scroll done to be bad? Tis an inanimate object."

Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled, despite herself. "It's an expression, Luna."

Twenty minutes passed. Since all the red-scarved guards adamantly refused to let them peruse the city after the Meat incident, the two had nothing but time on their hooves until they received a reply to the scroll.

Twilight filled this time by shooting an endless stream of questions at Oakfang regarding Bog and its inhabitants. They had invited the guard in to talk, as he may hold information to help the two better understand his culture. While getting a sentence longer than seven syllables from the dog was like extracting teeth from a dire bear, he still answered without any complaint.

"Ooooh," Twilight gushed. She levitated an unfurled roll of parchment to the side, her quill scribbling on the paper furiously. "Tell me about that. Howdo you grow crops with no sun?"

Oakfang sat cross-legged on the bed and didn't make eye contact with Twilight when either of them spoke. He just stared at a particularly interesting spot on the wall. "We jus' do. Purple Shrooms. Cave wheat. Dirt. Cold rivers 'n springs. Tastes like shit. Use it to make nog."

"Mushrooms, of course!" Twilight gleefully exclaimed and made a note on paper. "They can grow all year round given adequate fertilizer and damp conditions with almost no maintenance. Brilliant!"

"S'just shrooms. Not that exciting."

"Oh, but it is."Twilight pointed the quill at Oak."And the rivers you mentioned must be where you get your fresh water supply, correct?"

"Yeah, and fish."

Twilight did a double-take. "Subterranean aquatic life?! Absolutely fascinating! Before this, I had no idea that the City of Bronze could even produce any food autonomously! Heck, I wasn't even sure that underground rivers could support life. You must find me a live sample some time. I'd justlove to get my hooves one of those!"

Twilight realized that she was beginning to lose control of her excitement when she inched a little too far into Oak's personal space and he made her heart almost stop with a brief snarl.

"Thou must excuse my colleague." Luna cut in. "She becomes excitable in the presence of previously unknown knowledge. Thou art mere minutes away from giving her a- what was it that her brother called it? -a "nerd-gasm"."

That statement gained the princess a blank look from Oak. "You talk different. Weird different."

"Aye," Luna agreed "we do. Everyone with a language speaks in their own unique vernacular. Ours is just an outlier to the masses of equines who speak in a more "modern" manner."

His facial muscles didn't even move. He stared at her like a statue."Didn't get a word of that."

"Actually," Twilight said "Iwas wondering about that. You've got the modern dialect of Equestrian down, but you still use the outdated one. Why?"

Luna waved off Twilight's question as if it were a fly. "Thy current Equestrian language is dull. It lacks the elegance of simpler times. Be glad that we do not speak inAntiquis Equo any longer."

"Old Equestrian died alooong time ago, Princess." Twilight smiled to herself when memories of translating entire passages in that dusty old language as a requirement for her advanced magic classes crept across her mind. "Now the only thing they use it for is dumb summoning incantations, and those only work about half the time, if you're lucky."

"Anyway," Twilight said, trying to re-rail her derailed train of thought. "What was I going to ask you next, Oakfang?" She stared off into space for a few moments as she mentally rewound the conversation.

"Oakfang." she repeated. "Thatis an odd name. Is it one of those- what do you call them? You mentioned it earlier." Twilight scanned her notes for the word that rested on the tip of her tongue. "True Names?"

"Ah yes," Luna said "We remember True Names well from our last contact with diamond dogs. A moniker derived from an aspect that is unique to each individual that chooses one. Much like our less formal concept of nicknames."

"I always liked the idea of choosing a name to fit what you do." Twilight thought aloud. "Of course mine already fits perfectly.  How can you get anymore magical-sounding than "Twilight Sparkle"? My name just screams "Look at me, I can shoot lasers from my forehead!"."

"Then again," she went off on a tangent "everypony's name always fits what they do. Like, without fail. I've never met a pony whose name didn't fit their talents. I'd like meet a pony named "Cross Stitch" that worked as a chef or something. Does that seem odd to you?"

At one point in her monologue, Oakfang had began practicing his thousand-yard stare. He was getting very good at it.

"Oakfang? Heeelllooo?" Twilight waved a hoof at the guard, but Oak paid no mind. He was deaf and blind to all but his own thoughts.

"We may have lost him." Luna said with a trace of amusement in her voice.

"My name." Oak said, his voice was little more than a gruff whisper. "MyTrue name. Oh boy. 'S one hell of a story."

"Do tell!" Twilight chirped.

"Long story short." Oakfang opened wide his maw, revealing a set of sharp canine teeth. He grabbed a single tooth with those opposable digits of his and yanked it out with a wetpop that reminded Twilight of opening a bottle of wine.

He presented the tooth to the princess. At first glance,  it was just another yellowed front fang. If one were to look closely, they would see that the texture was not at all smooth like a normal tooth, it was quite coarse, and there were dark blotchy patches covering it.

"Well," Twilight said "I never would have guessed that. A dog name Oakfang has wooden teeth. What are the odds?"

"Funny," Oak deadpanned.

"What didst thou expect?" Luna asked with a smirk.

"I didn't know what to expect." Twilight admitted. "Hey, um, do you mind if I ask...?"

Oak raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, how did you get it? The wooden tooth I mean."

"Carved it. Painted it."

"No, I mean how'd you lose the old one?"

"Oh." Oak had that look about him again, it was as if he were staring at something miles and miles away. "Alpha took it."

Twilight and Luna shared a glance.

"I was a pup." Oak continued, unconsciously rolling around the piece of wood in his paw. "Thought I could be Alpha. I was wrong."

"If diamond dog politics are today as they were in our first rule..." Luna words trailed off. "Do not tell us that thou met that brutish behemoth of a hound in single combat!"

Oak noded slowly, not breaking eye contact with the wall. "I did."

"Huh?" Twilight was a little confused. Oakfang fought Arrel? But they seemed so... amicable toward one another.

"Ah, apologies, Twilight." Luna moved closer and put a hoof on her shoulder. "We forget that thou hath little knowledge of dog culture. Thou know'st not how hounds chose their ruler. Diamond dogs follow only the strong, and they choose to be governed by the strongest dog in the pack. If the current Alpha is defeated in a duel by another dog, then he or she must relinquish their rule to the victor."

"Leadership through personal strength." Twilight said. "That's... barbaric."

"You're telling me." Oak agreed.

"Thou art lucky that thy innards are still intact!" Luna exclaimed. "We do not oft hear of dogs who live through a trial such as that."

Oakfang popped his fake tooth back in its socket. "He thought I was good. Spared me. Made me a Hellhound. Put me in charge."

"But it still didn't stop him from taking a trophy." Twilight bluntly pointed out.

Then something completely unexpected happened. The normal somber and broody captain of the guardlaughed.To an outsider sounded like more of a gruff bark, but there was no mistaking it, Oakfang has a sense of humor.  "No one said he was a saint."

The next morning.

It could have been morning, but then again it could have been evening. It was hard to truly tell the time of day in a city without sun or clocks. Twilight found it easier to think of the time she woke up as the morning.

Twilight slept horribly that night. All the while she had drifted in and out of a dreamless sleep, unable to get the long night's rest she desired. The fact that she was literally sleeping on a rock did not help. She requested a nearby servant to get her some linen sheets, and said servant brought her an itchy burlap tarp. At least it kept her warm. The princess mused that the whole trade dispute could've been easily solved if somepony introduced the revolutionary concept of "mattresses" to the City of Bronze. Those things would sell like hotcakes.

With an achy back, frazzled mane and baggy eyes, Twilight slunk out of bed and stretched the stiffness out of her limbs. She wasn't very surprised to find that there was no mirror in her room. There wasn't even a bathroom, just a shifty-looking metal pot in the corner. "Bare minimum" were the words that had passed through her mind throughout the night.

There were no lights to switch on. Bog was constantly kept barely lit by thousands upon thousands of yellowish hexagonal crystals that flickered like a torch that never went out. She recalled asking Oak what they were, he called them "lantern stones" or something like that. He explained that keeping a multitude of torches lit throughout the city was too much of a hassle to bother with, not to mention the fact that that many torches would completely fill Bog with smoke and use up nearly all of the oxygen.

Oakfang was vague on the details, but they were apparently manufactured by many of the city's talented magi. Twilight hadn't had the chance to meet any of them yet. Perhaps she would take a less brief tour of the City of Bronze when all of this was behind her.

Twilight managed to make herself look a little less like a homeless mare with the aid of a crude hairbrush that she picked out of what once was a wardrobe before her previous visit to the room. It was awkward to get right without a mirror, but she managed.

She doubted that anydog in the city would care about the appearance of a foreign diplomat anyway. It was unlikely that a citizen of Bog would go running to the media with photos of an unkempt Twilight Sparkle if she were to step out in such a state.

Twilight pushed open the door to her quarters and trotted across the hallway to Luna's. She didn't think that Luna was still asleep, being princess of the night and all that. Her first attempt at knocking on the ten ton slab was pitiful at best, as her hoof barely made a sound. She telekinetically picked up a rock and beat it against the door.

In a moment, the stone door was enveloped in a dull silver light. It slowly opened itself with a horrible grinding, revealing not a subpar guest room, but a void. Twilight shook her head, trying to make sure that her eyes were not playing tricks on her. The doorway didn't look at all like a normal doorway, but more like a section of wall that had been painted jet black. Where'd the room go?

"Enter, Twilight." Luna's familiar voice emanated from the abyss.

Twilight did just that without a word more. She tentatively prodded at the wall first, finding it to be empty space. Satisfied that she just wasn't seeing things, Twilight crossed the threshold into the room.

It was nothing but blackness... lonely, empty, blackness. Twilight felt a twinge of panic poke at her chest when she turned around to see that the dimly lit hallway was gone, replaced by total darkness. She instinctively cast a simple light spell, but couldn't even see the gentle glow of her own horn. She tried blinking a few times to ensure that her eyes were indeed still open. It was as if she had gone blind.

"What bothers thou such?" Luna asked. She was nowhere to be seen, but Twi heard her voice as if she stood not three feet away.

"Heh, well," she replied with a half-hearted laugh "we're stuck in the City of Wet Dog with no running water or shampoo in sight, not to mention a severe lack of flushable toilets. Other than that, I'm bothered by the fact that I can't see past my own nose."

"Oh, erm..." Twilight couldn't have noticed Luna's cheeks become a shade redder in the dark. "Apologies. We sometimes forget that our Perfect Dark spell is still cast."

With a brief hum of magic, the world returned to normal. Like somepony had thrown a switch, Twilight could see again. Luna's room was nearly identical to her own, barring the "redecorating" she had inadvertently done due to her meditation session. Luna laid casually with her hooves tucked under her body on a pile of furs. Caught in her telekinetic grip was a piece of parchment, ruffled and yellow.

"Much time have we spent on the dark side of the moon." Luna said, her voice was different somehow, softer... sort of. Luna was not one to normally use an indoor voice. "The darkness is an old friend to us. It allows us to think with clarity."

"Do you do it often? The spell thing, I mean." Twilight resisted the urge to ask her where she learned to do that. She couldtotally use it to sleep in on even the sunniest of mornings.

Luna eyed the floor for scarcely a moment. "Not as often as We like. Total clarity is a difficult state of mind to achieve when one is in a position such as ours."

"Regardless,"she continued, floating the paper closer to Twilight. "We have something that requires thy attention."

The princess grasped the parchment in a magical grip and spread it out before her. It looked like a legal document! Well, legal-ish. The rigid penmanship and atrocious grammar was clearly that of a diamond dog,  not to mention the fact that it was a whole lot less wordy than anything drawn up by a pony lawyer. The purpose of this document was crystal clear: Alpha Arrel was offering to reinstate Equestria's trade relations for up to a year and a half, but- and that was a big but -there was a catch. The only way that Arrel would have even considered reinstating the agreement is if Equestria rid the City of Bronze of its demon problem.

Twilight felt a smile coming on. Finally, they catch a break! A year and a half might not be much in the long run, but it was more than they had the night before. "Isn't this just a stroke of good luck!"

"Indeed." Luna agreed. "We may not return home with empty hooves after all."

Twilight did a double-take. "Wh-what do you mean?"

Luna raised both of her eyebrows, as if that question caught her off-gaurd. "We mean that we could ride to Equestria with a shipment of ore!"

Twilight shifted her weight uncomfortably, her eyes darting back and forth from Princess Luna to the paper. "Are you suggesting that we take care of this demon ourselves?"

"But of course!" She all but shouted, her indoor voice going out of the metaphorical window. "Tis only a mild threat! Two alicorns are more than a match for a single hellspawn."

She slipped off of her bed and trotted over. Luna playfully nudged Twilight's shoulder, saying "Cadenza and thou hath defeated a mighty tatzlwurm with thy bare hooves! Neither thou nor thy sister-in-law hath faced as many monsters asus. Vanquishing a lone demon would be trivial for our combined might."

"I- I guess." she reluctantly agreed. Twilight was no longer a stranger to battle, not after Tirek, but neither was she a hardened defender of the night like Luna.

"But still," she said "wouldn't we need some sort of a  plan? As of now, we have no idea what kind of demon we're dealing with. There's also the fact that we didn't exactly come prepared for demon slaying. You said it yourself, Luna, we've got no weapons for fighting it."

Luna snorted and waved a dismissive hoof. "We are sure that Whitefur will provide us with the needed materials. It merely takes a blade of silver to harm a lesser demon. One of the richest cities in Equestria is in no danger of having a silver shortage. Be not so timid, Twilight. The task before us is easily completed and the reward is great. Thy worries are for naught."

Twilight didn't like this, not one single bit. Luna said that it wouldn't be as dangerous as she believed, which eased her worrying a little. She would've liked the princess of the night to take fighting a creature of Tartarus a little more seriously, but that was just Luna. She was the strongest pony that Twilight ever knew. If she said they could do it, then they could do it.

Was Twilight just being silly? No, that couldn't be it. This was a being that escaped hell itself that they were dealing with. She couldn't fathomnot to fretting about it.

"Alright, if that's the case, then I'm with you." Twilight finally said.

"Marvelous!" The moon princess cheered. She snatched the paper and an in quill and began scribbling a short list in the margins. "Let us see, we will require a multitude of items before the battle. Silver weapons shalt be at the very top of the list, some armor would go a long way, we doubt that these hounds have clerics, so holy water is out of the equation."

Luna tapped the quill on her chin and hummed thoughtfully. "Perhaps the bow and arrow may prove useful. Twilight, art thou a skilled shot with a bow?"

"I know which end to use."

"Aye, we thought as much." More scribbling. "Perhaps thou would be best suited as a support to us."

"Can't we just, uh, you know..." Twilight paused, searching for the right words in her head "blast 'em with destruction spells? That always seems to work in my experience."

Luna didn't even look away from her ever-lengthening list of notes. "Believe us, Twilight Sparkle, we would enjoy nothing more than to reduce that devil to a pile of ash. Unfortunately, demons are notorious for countering even the most skilled magi's arcane prowess. The denizens of hell operate on biology vastly different than our own. While we as ponies may harmlessly come into contact with silver, blessed items, and certain kinds of wood, the demons are as vulnerable to them as us to hunger and disease. They have resistances that we do not as well. Extreme heat and cold, fatigue, and unicorn magic spring to mind."

"There." She said, dotting her final sentence with a period. "These items should be adequate to ensure our victory, providing that Whitefur would be gracious enough to grant them to us."

"I thought you said that it would be easy."

"We did indeed, but like you modern fillies say: preparation, preparation, preparation."

Twilight smiled. "I must be rubbing off on you."

Deep underground, in a chasm hundreds of feet below the snow-capped Crystal Mountains, something stirred.

The metallic clatter of chains echoed off of the vast chamber's black walls every time it made even the slightest movement. For an immeasurable number of years, it was the only sound that ever permeated the deafening silence. He took a deep breath of the frigid subterranean air, a wispy cloud of vapor rolling forth from his mouth. He could have quivered with anticipation if he wasn't holding back himself. The events that he had set in motion would soon come to fruition, and the time he had been biding was about to pay off. Tonight was the night.

He took another breath. The damned silence would soon be broken by more than chains. These dark halls would ring with the chaos of battle and the cries of mortals in the days to come. But for the time being, the calm before the storm was all that mattered. One deep breath before the plunge into the abyss.

The end drew nearer and nearer with each passing moment.