Guild Wars 2

Her skin prickled with the sensation of concentrated arcanic energy in the room. Every nerve of hers stood on end and nearly sent an involuntary shudder up her spine. It certainly wasn’t something that took her by surprise. Every step of the way here, was increasingly more eerie and full with the aura of… death. No, but it wasn’t like the aura of death in the tombs of the Ascalonian catacombs. Nor the stench of rotting death and dark magic in the corridors in Arah. No, this was a different aura of death. A static state of immobility and lifelessness. No grisly endings, no brutal force, just the absence of life.

The halls – if it could be called that – she passed through were at least five stories high, solid metal alloy frames of some kind, not built straight and structured but twisted and spindly like some organic skeleton of a behemoth. Each piece of metal, dark and black to look at, cold and desolate to touch. But between every few meters were crystals that lay inset in the walls. In the darkness of the night and misty fog, purple crystals, glowing and humming with energy, so potent, she could almost breathe it in. Though she had been separated from her companions, she needed to see this through. She had to retrieve the crystal and make her escape, before the seals the Pact mages held together, failed to work and all their effort would go to waste.

There was the opening before her. This should be the right way. The archway was easily a hundred times her small stature and likely the breadth of a corsair ship. Needless to say it was huge, stretching above her ominously. The closer she drew, the thicker the air was saturated with magical energy. She had a horrible apprehension that crept through her body. Every fiber and muscle tensed, ready to move at any instant.

But her path here had been quiet and eerily peaceful. Nothing came out to challenge her, nor any warped beast to lunge out from the shadows. Strange enough to cause more caution than before.

She passed under the gargantuan archway easily, like an ant in a gorge. Once she was through, she almost gasped in astonishment of the chamber with a cavity that stretched seemingly to the skies. She could barely make out the ceiling where the frames of the organic metallic structure converged. While the ceiling was high, the diameter of the circular room was just as large. But the floor was spectacular as well, fitted with multi-levels that descended towards the center, where something sat.

She stepped in closer for a look and realized it was what she was looking for. Sitting on a dark purple pedestal was a floating teardrop crystal, pointing up at the sky. If she could simply take it and make her way out…

But nothing was that easy.

Behind her, the archway she passed by emitted a screeching sound, as what seemed like fangs began to descend and rise, from the top and from the ground. With a metallic shriek, it snapped shut. And sealed her escape.

Frantically, she scanned the walls for any more doors out, but there seemed to be none.

Instead, from the ceiling high above, dropped a shape. A dark figure.

It landed with a mighty crash, splintering the ground beneath her feet with resounding shockwaves.

She managed to leap backwards – not forgetting a graceful flip – before the ground where she had stood cracked open, and landed deftly on an elevated ledge tucked into the side of the wall.

She had no time to breathe, for the shadow had picked itself up, bristling with angry crystalline shards and a weapon that was reforming into a spear.

Then with a bellowing voice, thick with corruption, it spoke.

“You’ve come at last, milady.”

Her eyes widened upon realization, that the creature’s voice was vaguely familiar. The man’s voice was layered under the secondary wails of a tortured soul and a mindless monotonous drone. But yet, it was no doubt, him. There was no other, who had called her “milady” thus far. He had been the first one to help her flight from Divinity’s Reach what seemed like decades ago. Without his help, she would have easily died at the hands of the decaying undead of Zhaitan. Without him, she wouldn’t have been able to find her family’s records and prevent the fall of Lion’s Arch. But he also had disappeared long ago. He was surely dead wasn’t he? They had been separated, but this couldn’t possibly be him. There was no way.

She wasn’t fast enough as he struck, catching her off guard from a slew of unrestrained emotions and memories that flooded her mind. Her responses, magic and instincts were sluggish and as she tried to throw herself to the side, the force of his crystalline deformed fists caught the side of her ribs and threw her across off of the wall.

She hit the ground with a sickening thud and felt the air driven right out of her lungs. She had no time to recover as he, or it, lunged towards her brandishing a great and vicious battle halberd. She still couldn’t see its face, nor its eyes but without a doubt, it was not here to talk. Despite her initial hesitation from hearing his voice, seeing him in such a deformed grotesque state, unable to understand what he had to have gone through, she knew it meant her harm. It was here to kill her.

Every battle began with the question of life or death. No battle should be fought out of jest. And she had to pick up her composure, or it would mean her demise.

Its heavy crystal armored body was much larger than her and as it drew closer, high above her, it seemed to slow down, as Reina gathered her focus and energy. She pushed aside her thoughts and her emotions, as she had been taught. She silenced her mind and emptied her body of tension. Every limb relaxed and gave way to instinct. She would not think. Purely react and act, letting her body and the sixth sense of battle become her mind.

As always, time seemed to slow, and the spear drew closer aimed straight for her head. The creature’s figure painted a dark shadow across her slight form and the ground around her. Seeing her still body, and steady waiting eyes, the creature’s mouth seemed to crack into a grin, sharp amethyst teeth sneering. Its heavy mass finally landed directly on top of her – but at the last possible second, she disappeared in a blaze of purple light, blinding its sight for a second. All that was left were butterflies.

There was a great roar that left its lips as it spun around, searching, hunting for its prey. The crystal spikes protruding from its back and shoulders glowed a frustrated pink. “Reina!” Its voice was steeped with poison.

But in the chamber there was not a trace of the girl, as if she had never existed. It scanned the floor levels, desperately looking up and down the walls for a sign of her billowing golden robes or white armor. But there was nothing.

“Come out, Reina!” The voice was no less angry. The voice was no less hungry. It only seemed to repeat what it once knew, nothing but an automated repetition. “Come, I won’t hurt you. I’ll help you.”

There was no response. There was only silence. “Join me. Join us. I’ve gained power. Join us.” It sputtered and stopped for there was another flash of purple light, a different hue that shone brighter than its crystals. Then it howled in pain, shaking the walls with its scream.

It wasn’t the girl however. There was only a translucent pale white ghost of a figure, standing its ground before the creature, holding a phantasmic greatsword. It had managed to land a flurry of strikes against the creatures side suddenly, glancing off its thick hide and black grey armor that mutated from its skin. Neverthelekittenipped off a chunk of the exoskeletal armor, marking the first significant blow of the battle. But there was no pause for the creature as an illusionary sword from the shadows spiralled towards its back.

It spun around, surprisingly agile, and a clawed hand caught the blade by the hilt, tossing the sword aside like a toothpick. With the source of the attack now in sight, the creature leapt forward without hesitation, sharp teeth snarling, bounding steps as quick as a dire wolf, covering much ground. As it lifted its weapon high ready to strike, the mesmer too, hadn’t waited to be discovered; she was just as fast, and threw herself forward across the chamber with all her strength and only left behind a cloud of violet particles. A sudden flash of purple appeared in her hands before they collided – she had drawn her greatsword.