The journey of Rhynx and Mirskyn had led them to the territory of the Untamed race. There had been numerous reports about monsters causing ruckus, more than usual and their numbers had been abnormally high, so the Untamed had requested aid to deal with them. But what was causing their sudden hostile behavior, no one knew the answer, which was one of the reasons general Summer had dispatched Rhynx and Mirskyn to investigate this matter, being well aware that they had the capability of solving the predicament. The duo had accepted this mission and soon they made their way to the Untamed lands.
First, Mirskyn and Rhynx had decided to pay a visit to City of the Lost, the capital city of the Untamed. They wanted to meet the Elder and discuss about the situation with him. The Elder had gladly arranged a meeting with the men, welcoming them wholeheartedly to the city. And when the warm greetings had been done, the group of men became serious and sat down to talk about what was going on.
It turned out that the situation was more alarming than what Mirskyn and Rhynx had heard back in Archosaur. The Untamed were having a shortage of soldiers to deal with all the monsters. This worried the Elder greatly and it was clear that it was important to get to the root of the problem as fast as possible. Unfortunately, the Elder – who was abundantly apologizing for his incapacity to help – couldn't offer much of a lead to follow, so Mirskyn and Rhynx were forced to go out into the wilderness and try to find a trace. They had a hunch that there was a greater power behind the increased monster population, it only had to be found. This wasn't the first time that Rhynx and Mirskyn had been tracking down monsters.
However, the men hadn't been able to even leave City of the Lost when something unexpected happened.
“Help! Help! Help!”
It was a young tiger barbarian, who was visibly much thinner than barbarians usually were, and he was running through the city screaming for help, which obviously granted him attention of many, including Mirskyn and Rhynx. The young Untamed was out of breath and stopped his running near the men, panting heavily.
Mirskyn stepped a bit forward and calmly asked: “What's wrong?”
The young barbarian couldn't answer right away as he was drawing his breath. The people who had witnessed his frantic running through the city began to scatter as it seemed that his distress was taking cared of, so they didn't have to pay attention to him anymore. Rhynx was standing behind Mirskyn and had his arms crossed over his chest. He gladly left it for the Nightshade to do the talking.
“You have to help me!” the Untamed pleaded when he could talk again.
“Calm down”, Mirskyn tried to soothe him. “Tell me, what has happened?”
The young barbarian took one last heavy inhale and started to speak: “Children have been taken away! Somebody or something, I don't know, has been kidnapping children from my village! You have to help me!”
“Seems like this case is just getting worse”, Rhynx muttered, mostly to himself.
Mirskyn looked at his partner's direction for a second, but shifted his focus back on the Untamed.
“Where are you coming from?” the Nightshade asked.
“Broken Bridge Village”, the barbarian replied. “I was sent to seek help from here. Please, you have to help me to save the kids!”
“Take it easy”, Mirskyn said. “What's your name?”
“Kuruang.”
“Alright, Kuruang, we will help you. Will you take us to your village?”
“Oh, well…” Kuruang looked a little embarrassed for a moment and scratched the back of his head. “I think I know where the kids have been taken to. I just… I'm not strong enough to help them all by myself.”
“So, where should we head to, then?” Mirskyn inquired.
“To Valley of Death.”
The Nightshade raised his eyebrow. “Valley of Death, huh…”
The young barbarian started to move impatiently, eager to leave already. “Come, come! We have to hurry!”
“Sure, just show us the way”, Mirskyn answered. He and Rhynx had traveled around these parts before, but it felt somewhat more fitting for a local like Kuruang to take the lead.
Their little group began to make their way out of the city, heading to the south. They passed the gate that took them to Dragon's Breath Valley, a little patch of land where some rams roamed. It didn't take them long to cross this part and then their path took them to Desert of Echoes. Just like almost every corner of the Untamed lands, this was rather barren as well, but it had a strange charm to it, which made it quite pleasant place to travel through. Broken Bridge Village was also located around these parts, it was a cozy little settlement. But if you just kept going further, the path would lead to the entrance of Valley of Death.
Kuruang was leading the group with a fast pace and there was a little bit distance between him and Rhynx and Mirskyn. The Tideborn had been walking a little bit behind everyone else, but suddenly he appeared next to his partner.
“There's something wrong with this kid”, he muttered silently. “This whole thing is suspicious.”
“I agree”, Mirskyn replied, keeping his voice low as well. “But if we're lucky, the deal with Kuruang and the monster problem are connected. We might uncover the force behind it all if we go to Valley of Death. It's worth to check out.”
Rhynx didn't speak more and got back to his previous formation. Under his black hood, he was glaring at the young barbarian's figure. He would keep his eye on him, for sure.
As the group was walking through Desert of Echoes, Mirskyn noticed something odd that didn't add up. If there indeed was a monster problem in these lands, why there hadn't been any on their way? Not even a flash. It could be that they had crossed ways with Untamed patrols and they had done their job to get rid of the monsters around here. But he had a feeling that such thing was unlikely. He decided to keep this observation to himself, however, not mentioning it even to his partner. From that point on, the Nightshade stayed vigilant.
Apart from the exchange of few words between Mirskyn and Rhynx, none of the trio spoke anything, even though they had wandered all day. The unrelenting sun had been scorching them the entire time, and when the nightfall came, so did a welcome chilly night air. They decided to set up a camp and continue their travel tomorrow. Mirskyn and Rhynx decided to have turns in which the other one was sleeping while the other one was guarding. They let Kuruang sleep through the whole night, as the poor fella seemed to be exhausted.
There were few things that the men noticed about the young barbarian throughout the night. Like, when they had decided to stop and continue their journey tomorrow, Kuruang had looked like he was afraid of something, as if he was expecting something to attack him under the cover of darkness. He had been uneasy until the moment he fell asleep. His dreams had been restless. He had kept twisting and turning, something was clearly tormenting his mind. But what could bring such anguish to a young Untamed from a peaceful little village? Neither Mirskyn or Rhynx had the answers. But this was possibly another sign that something was not right in these parts.
When the morning dawned, Rhynx and Mirskyn woke up the young barbarian. He had flinched as soon as he was awakened, looking around him, being visibly startled. He did calm down soon, however, as he noticed that there was no threat in sight. The Nightshade and the Tideborn did exchange concerned looks with each other, but neither did ask Kuruang about what was making him so anxious. As soon as the Untamed had woken up, the group began to continue their journey toward Valley of Death, while the air was still a little bit cool.
In a couple of hours, the sun had once more taken its place in the sky. The world below was bathing in its warm light and there was a slight wind blowing through Desert of Echoes. The weather was pleasant, mostly because of the chill breeze. The group was also traveling through some huge rock formations that offered a little bit shade on their path. They all knew that they were getting closer to Valley of Death, and so there was a bit tense atmosphere among them. Soon they would reach their destination.
The road divided one more time and the group took their turn to the path that slithered onto a slope. The wind started to blow from another direction, hitting the travelers on the face, and this time it sounded mourning and ominous, there was a scent of dread in the air. This alone could make people turn back, but these three kept going. They continued to climb the slope and as they did so, they soon came to the entrance of Valley of Death.
The valley was resting between incredibly high cliffs that were grasping for the sky, and only Winged Elves could access to such heights. Although it was daytime, the valley was devoid of sunlight. It was such a desolate place that only monsters were living in there. When the ominous wind was added to these features, it was clear why people didn't usually come to this place of danger.
Mirskyn and Rhynx had their weapons out, ready to react to any threat. Kuruang was still leading them, but he was nervously glancing all around him, scared by every shadow. It was like he was waiting for something bad to happen. Mirskyn and Rhynx still had a feeling that something wasn't quite right, so they stayed extra vigilant while they wandered through the valley.
They were getting further and further, but they still hadn't spotted traces of any living creatures. Not even monsters. That was a little odd. And suddenly, Kuruang stopped, and so did the two men following him. The young Untamed muttered something to himself, but Rhynx and Mirskyn couldn't hear his words over the howling wind.
All of a sudden, the breeze of valley began to blow even harder, gripping the clothes of the travelers. The wind was wailing, almost sounding like a living creature, until in fact, the men could hear some creatures howling together with the gust. That was when Mirskyn and Rhynx realized that they have walked in the middle of an ambush. Watchfully the men prepared for a battle, facing their foe eye to eye. It was almost like they had come out of nowhere, a pack of wolf monsters that looked like they were partly physical and partly specter-like, vacillating between existence and the spirit world. This wolf pack was surrounding the group from all sides, growling, ready to attack by any second. Then, Kuruang ran back at the direction of the entrance of the valley, dashing through the formations of the wolves, eventually disappearing from sight. The beasts did nothing to stop him, they just let him pass by.
“That little bastard led us into a trap”, Rhynx said, spitting the words out of his mouth.
“I bet that there was no kidnapping going on in the first place”, Mirskyn stated, preparing his scythe. “We can deal with him later.” He smiled at his partner. “Are you ready?”
The Tideborn grinned back at him. “You bet.”
Rhynx made his move and dashed very swiftly at the wolves in front of him, his daggers ready to cut their unstable forms. He would tear and slash, and with his agile movements he didn't stay in one spot for long, skillfully avoiding the bloodthirsty maws of the wolves. From the distance, Mirskyn would aid him, casting his metal and water spells to crush their enemies. His icy spells would freeze the creatures, making them sluggish and easy prey to the assassin's daggers. They worked well together, and although the number of foes could be overwhelming to others, Rhynx and Mirskyn didn't have much trouble with them. Even though few more wolves came from the shadows to assist their brothers, soon they would fall as well.
This dance of death lasted for few moments, as the dark forces behind this ambush tried to defeat the two warriors. But they didn't show any signs of giving up and eventually new wolves stopped appearing. However, Mirskyn and Rhynx could sense a presence of something stronger than those beasts, and with the last fallen wolf they could hear an otherworldly scream that lingered in the air before it faded away. But whatever it was, it didn't stick around. As the sounds of combat died out, the two men were alone again. Only the wind blowing through the valley could be heard.
Rhynx and Mirskyn had lowered their weapons and were now looking around, catching their breath. How many wolves they had killed, they didn't know, because their bodies had disappeared into the thin air just like how they had appeared in the first place. The men looked at each other and smile grew on their faces. They had been victorious once again, and even if it had just been a tiny portion, they had defeated forces of darkness.
They embraced each other tenderly. No words were exchanged, they just wanted to be hold tightly. One more time they had faced danger together and triumphed. Fighting side by side had created a special bond between them, something that couldn't be broken. After many challenging battles, a love had sparked, and no dark forces could extinguish it.
The men shared a little kiss. And when they separated again, there were softness in their eyes. They didn't speak anything, not even when they began to make their leave from Valley of Death. As they left the desolate place, a sunshine greeted them again, washing away all the bits of darkness from their hearts.
They were back to the light. And together, they would protect that light.
