“Many clanholds, cities, outposts and fortresses have been lost to the Echoes over the centuries ever since the start of the Echo wars. Two centuries before the trade city of Kest Darzard was lost a few decades ago. One of the greatest forge cities of Talmour had stood valiantly against the ever encroching darkness for centuries before. But machinations beyond the prying eye led to its fall, and thus set up the dominos that would eventually lead to the lost of Kest Darzard.”


    - Dran “Blackbeard” Glimmerfist, Scribe of Kar Druzara, “Falling of the Clanholds: The Echo Wars - Chapter: Kest Darzard”


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    Sophia yanked Sophie up and the two barely scrambled atop a building as undead snarls echoed from below them. They had been spotted during their journey and more than two dozen of the undead mutants had started pursuing them, only attracting more and more as they crossed the streets. Soon, a tide had formed below them of the ravenous dead as they chased the two half elves across the city.


    They had breached the inner city and now closed in on the vortex of darkness that surrounded the center of town. Here, the air was physically uncomfortable to breath in. Although Sophie could utilize the darkness as energy, even with Sophia’s presence, the two struggled to contain the overwhelming pressure that battered against them. The creature at the center had also finally detected their intrusion, sending ever more aggressive pulses that staggered the two. By the time they were two blocks away, Sophie was breathing raggedly and her energy was just about spent, kept afloat only by her counterpart. Sophia meanwhile seemed strong as when she had appeared, but the sweat running down her forehead told Sophie that her counterpart was growing ever more strained the closer they got.


    Another spasm of pain wracked her body and Sophie growled with displeasure. Sophia steadied her and gave her a small squeeze. They couldn’t be separated. The moment Sophie had accidentally let go during one pulse saw her ending up on the ground, convulsing as the unstoppable influx of dark energy threatened to make her physically burst into a different form. Fortunately, with Sophia’s help, she had stabilised. But what happens when we have to fight? Can she really… turn into a sword?


    Sophie looked up with a small nod of gratitude at Sophia, her clone smiling back sadly in return. With a firm tug, Sophia helped her up and they both turned their attention towards the center of town. It was like an enrapturing aura of hatred that both pushed and pulled at their souls. Sophie could feel her body tightening up in anticipation for a fight, her sanity growing more unstable the longer she was denied battle. Steady, steady…


    Easy there, keep calm. We have to keep moving. Sophia looked at her.


    Sophie gingerly grunted her assent and the two set off once more, Sophia holding onto her hand as they ran across the rooftops. They leapt across a few more gaps, ever more thankful of the tightly packed dwarven city design. As they scrambled up a nearby building, something terrific shook the earth so violently that even the houses seemed to quiver. With a roar that echoed throughout the cavern, the command was sent. The duo watched in horror as a few stranger undead pushed past the others, their more lizard-like appendages protruding out from where dwarven feet and arms used to be. It was a horrifying sight that made her stomach queasy, the amalgamation of limbs reminding her all too much of the bone horror that had first hindered her journey.


    They’re climbing up pretty fast, Sophie noted with a small measure of alarm.


    Then let’s hurry the fuck up, Sophia snarled back, yanking Sophie forward.


    Despite that, Sophie found a small sense of comfort in knowing that she wouldn’t have to face these horrors alone. Even if her partner was supposedly currently a part of her mind made manifest. Her concerns quickly vanished when they went on the move once more, her mind now focusing solely on the objective of reaching the town center.


    A roar distracted the two as they immediately ducked, dark shadows now flying directly at them from the town center. Bony winged creatures with malformed wings and a plethora of appendages raced towards them, their feral cries filling the air with a sense of demonic revelry and spurring on the creatures below. Sophie’s eyes followed the trail of the creatures and found the majority of them to be leaving from a bell tower off in the distance, likely roused by the call of the dark from the creature in the center.


    The two ducked under the first winged horror, dodging the clumsy claw swipes with ease. But they knew that their luck wouldn’t last, and considering the sheer number of winged creatures flying towards them, they needed to hurry. They both shared a look of concern with each other before renewing their advance with a burst of speed. Another flyer approached them with alarming speed and Sophie finally watched her counterpart in action. With a scowl on her face, Sophia closed her eyes and lifted her free hand up to meet the creature. In but an instant, an ominous sense of doom settled upon everything around her and even Sophie winced at the sensation. The flyer tried to back away but found itself being swallowed by a murkier, far dark cloud than that which surrounded the town. When Sophia was done, the other flyers kept a more wary eye on them as they surrounded them but didn’t close in. Where the duo had stood before, only a rotted skeleton remained, its bones stripped clean of any fleshy mutations and colors.


    Damn, Sophie sucked in a small breath. She swore she saw a dark twinkle in Sophia’s eye but the other spoke up moments later.


    Limited use. Really only works in a shrouded area like this. Sophia grumbled, a bead of sweat running down her forehead.


    But the power… Sophie wondered, if you’re me, does that mean I could also do that?


    That brought Sophia to a quick halt, the girl pursing her lips before dragging Sophie along once more. Maybe? But I think you, as yourself, can’t. I have a theory but… The two ducked as another flyer took a brave pass at swiping them, but given the danger that if could find itself in, the creature was less than certain of its own actions and wasn’t accurate enough to warrant action. Sophia growled a warning at it before focusing back on Sophie, I’ll share it once we’re somewhere calm and out of this mess.


    Before Sophie could argue, her counterpart pulled her to a screeching halt and she lurched over the edge of a building before being pulled back. As her eyes started to scan the area around them, she found the reason why easy enough. Surrounding the central districts of the city in a circular fashion was a wide main road that seemed to go around the whole town. The two despaired at the gap between them and the buildings across the street, the opening too wide to succeed in any kind of jump.


    The skittering of the reptilian creatures behind them grew louder as they started making their way up to the roof. Choosing to act, Sophie turned her focus onto the stairwell that led up to the rooftop. Though there was a metallic door that blocked their entry, Sophie spied enough rust and rot upon it to conclude that she might have a chance at pushing through. Staring solely at her target, Sophie intentionally let go of Sophia’s hand, allowing the agonising headache to take hold of her alongside the unquenchable thirst for battle. With a singular target, she harnessed her rage into a weapon and flung herself against the door. Slamming against it in a furious frenzy, treating her body as nothing more than a tool to be used. The ancient door creaked and groaned under the assault, its already rusted hinges coming off ever so slightly with every ram.


    Sophia was momentarily confused by Sophie’s bizarre actions before she caught on. In that moment, the counterpart lent her own body weight to the assault. With their combined power, there was a loud series of plink and creak as the door’s hinges finally gave way, sending the two of them sliding down the stairs with the door. The two ended up in a messy heap as they crashed against the wall of the stairwell. Recovering quickly enough, Sophia found Sophie beginning to convulse in pain once more, reaching over and steadying her before pulling Sophie back to her feet. Exhausted, Sophie merely nodded her appreciation before allowing her counterpart to take the lead once more.


    They scrambled down what few stairs were left within the building, passing by decrepit rooms and furniture aplenty until rubble blocked their path. Pushing past a nearby door, they wandered out into what appeared to Sophie as the ruined remains of an administrative guild hall of sorts. Strange broken sigils decorated dusty fungus ridden walls. Mining helmets and jackets sat in dusty piles amongst long rotted equipment racks. They were on what felt like a u-shaped walkway above a large main hall. Below them, a statue had long since collapsed upon where a reception area might’ve been. Their footsteps weren’t the only things that echoed in the halls and the cries of the undead from both outside and above continued to echo from the city itself.


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    The loud screeches and roars were occasionally interrupted by a deep set thudding that shook the building. The duo traded glances and they both felt the tremors. Something was in here with them. Closing the door to the stairwell behind them, turning the lock only for an ear piercing metallic screech to pierce their ear drums. With a final click, the bolt slammed itself into a locking position, but a growl had echoed from elsewhere in the building. They now faced three critical dilemmas; first, something was in here with them; second, the reptilian creatures would be trying to break down the door at any second; third, despite the stonebrick building being likely to hold against the outside horde, the longer they spent inside, the more likely they would be surrounded.


    Avoiding the reptiles shouldn’t be a problem, simply escaping the building should also deal with the fact that there was a monster in here. Of course, finding a proper exit presented another challenge as they would have to exit at ground level and hopefully avoid the claws of the ravenous dead outside. Worse, making it to an exit might be easier said than done given the dimness of the building itself. Meaning there were no inwardly visible signs of a potential exit. At least the glowing of the fungus can give us limited vision, Sophie complained in her thoughts.


    The two tried to cautiously rush for the front entrance, taking care to do a quick walk around the second floor. They poked their heads into long abandoned rooms, searching for potential exits above ground level when they made a sobering discovery. Within most of the side rooms that surrounded the central walkway, there were countless shelves and stone tables that were cracked or shattered. But the few still standing told the tale of a once prosperous dwarvern town and its school house, stacked to the brim with decrepit tomes and other broken tools of learning. Presumably, the mining equipment outside was for more hands-on lessons for the students. Not that they’d need it anymore.


    It was as they were checking one of the more central rooms that they heard the heavy thudding of footsteps reverberate from somewhere under them. Sophie shot her counterpart a quizzical look to which Sophia nodded in turn. Together, they gently snuck their way out to where the railings were and peaked their heads over to scan the floor below. To her increasingly dismay, the source of the noise was what appeared to be a demon hound from her nightmares, or at least an undead version of one. Four muscular but rotting legs supported a beast the size of a moderately large warg. The creature’s half a dozen smaller ‘arms’ hung limply by its side, biding their time until they can be used to tear prey into shreds. Sophie shuddered at the memory of being torn apart by them and Sophia offered her a small reassuring squeeze of the hand, calming her a bit more.


    The creature suddenly snarled up at them and they both shrank back, holding their breaths and hoping they didn’t get seen. They looked at each other, mentally preparing themselves for a fight when the heavy plodding of it’s rotted feet continued, moving further away. The two breathed a quiet sigh of relief and scooted away from the walkway, continuing to look through the rooms. Disappointment lingered as their search only led to more empty rooms and somber memories. Judging by the abandoned nature of the classrooms however, Sophie walked away with the conclusion that the civilisation fell in a rapid way. For despite the evident decay and rot of the environment, the rooms still remained fairly organised. Shelves left where they were and not thrown around, even the desks seemed to have remained in their rows without much change. It all spoke of a day where things had ended normally, only for the next to have doomed the entire city. How terrifying, all gone in a day.


    We could be next, Sophia added, so let’s try to hurry this up so we can get out of here.


    Aye, Sophie duly agreed.


    For them however, time ran out and a horrific metallic screech echoed throughout the halls before a terrific thud of metal smashing against stone reverberated across the entire building. A guttural roar came from the demon hound below, only to be met with the ear shattering shrieks of the mutated undead. The duo quickly ducked out of their current room to assess the situation, catching a glimpse of four reptilian dwarves having come through after busting down the stairwell door. They haven’t found a potential secondary exit yet, so the ground floor was their only option. But with the demonhound in the way, they needed to clear the foyer so they could exit and lose their reptilian pursuers.


    Before they were able to react, Sophie accidentally stumbled across a fallen mining helmet, landing with a solid thump against the walkway but also kicking the helmet down to the floor below. That provoked numerous growls from the menagerie of monsters gathering within the building. But as Sophie tried to recover, Sophia violently hauled her into a side room and clamped her mouth shut. Stunned, winded but not suicidal, Sophie obeyed her counterpart and tried to remain still. Bony feet tapped agains the stone floor outside for an annoyed howl from the demonhound provoked the reptilians into action. They shrieked back throaty cries and the duo could hear as they each leapt down onto the floor below, and the heavy footfalls as they landed.


    There was a strange sense of tension in the air before the two sides waited for a few seconds, before animalistic cries blended with monstrous roars as the demonhound and reptilians began tearing each other to shreds. Or at least that’s what Sophie assumed, hearing the clattering of bones and the tearing for flesh peppered amongst the screams. She looked up to find Sophia mildly pleased with this surprise outcome, a dark little grin on her face until she realized Sophie was watching, her expression changing to one of indifference.


    We’ll wait them out, finish off the victor, Sophia declared.


    That still leaves the undead outside though.


    Yeah but that’s a problem for after we get rid of the reptilians or mutt. Unless you have an idea?


    In response, Sophie carefully freed herself from her counterpart’s grasp and crawled up to the edge of the walkway, peeking down on the carnage below. Just as in her nightmares, the demonhound was a fearsome beast, its multitude of limbs, claws, and orifaces allowed it to effectively respond and attack at the same time. Two of the reptillians were already nothing more than fleshy piles of separated bone. The other two still fought the hound, occasionally being able to wound it with a claw strike, but never enough to fully bring it down. In fact, the more damage it sustained, the more the battered and bruised hound seemed to fight with more ferocity.


    We have to get the main doors open, let the thing out, Sophie turned to her counterpart, you know, to attack the undead outside.


    Sophia just rolled her eyes and nodded, figured it was something like that.


    Really? Sophie arched an eyebrow, I didn''t even come up with it until just now.


    Well, we are, very much, technically of the same mind.


    The two shared a small look before quietly snickering at each other. So? What’s the plan, in full?


    Sophie recollected herself and adopted a more serious demeanour, sitting up and peeking out the doorway to make sure the fight was still ongoing. We’re both going to have to be really fast. I’ll find a way to steer the beast, you get the main door. When that opens, you run to calm me down or else…


    Sophia nodded, before you go berserk, got it. The counterpart’s brows then wrinkled into a frown, and how exactly are we ‘steering’ the hound? Last I checked, animals, well maybe not undead or demonic animals, avoided us like the plague.


    Sophie chewed her lip before quietly crawling outside and motioning for her counterpart to follow. Together, the two shuffled over to look at the fight, at how the hound was savagely tearing one of the undead limb from limb, gnashing it’s teeth onto the mutated undead’s head. Sophie motioned at the hound and then mimed the creature’s arms that now criss crossed itself almost like it was preserving them. See those? See how they kind of just hide until it’s ripping something up? I suspect that if I can apply enough pressure, it’ll force the hound to instinctively respond.


    That sounds like the stupidest assumption to make. Her counterpart scoffed.


    Hearing that, Sophie’s determined expression dropped to a more disappointed one, the instantaneous rebuke bringing down her already low mood. Sophia then gently nudged her shoulder and winked.


    Come on, you. You’re me, I’m you. You should know that is a terrible assumption to make. What if it doesn’t work? What if it mauls you?


    Sophie’s downcast eyes drooped even further, I… I guess it might be a bad idea.


    Tch, so quick to give up. Guess I inherited your drive and will to live too. Cheer up. Sophia gave her another nudge, bad ideas just happen to be what we do best isn’t it? Hells, some fucking idiot decided to walk towards an obviously cursed and dead city in some dumb ploy to try and escape. Instead of, I don’t know, looking for a way up along the edges of the cavern?


    Sophie winced at the accusation, hearing the truth behind the counterpart’s words.


    But it healed you and I uhh… I guess I also ripped myself out of your mind. With whatever the fuck ramifications this might have. So it worked out, kind of.


    Seeing the shit eating grin on her counterpart’s face, Sophie couldn’t help but also grin a bit. Prompting the two to share a silent chuckle.


    So you tug it’s wee little arms and I open the door to the sea of undead outside?


    Sophie nodded.


    Sounds simple enough. Sophia let out a dry sigh, well then, shall we? We’ve gotta get back to Ary after all.


    At that, Sophie smiled, giving her counterpart a reassuring squeeze. Let go when we jump down, run for the door, touch me before I go crazy and join it outside in the melee?


    Sounds suicidal, I''m in.