Matilda stepped in between her carriage and the approaching group of humans, each of them armed to the teeth and clad in thick armour, most of which had their faces, and all other surfaces of skin covered with cloth, except for the older gentleman.
"I don't think I have seen you all before. You must be new to the Land of Fog." the man opposite of Matilda spoke, his demeanour appeared gentle, and he had just two visible black spots, one on his forehead, and the other on his chin.
Agnes left Till's side to stand next to Matilda, the old man looked her up and down, then nodded in understanding, "Forgive me, I thought this woman next to you was your leader, my old eyes and senses aren't what they used to be."
Matilda glanced at Agnes, her gaze showed her confusion, but upon looking back to the old man, and noticing his lack of armour, or weapons, she began to understand the situation.
"Ah! Where are my manners? My name is Fraten Ironhoof. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." he lightly bowed towards her yet made sure to emphasise his family name.
Matilda's eyes went wide, she was too stunned to say anything.
"Ironhoof? What is your connection to the Baron?" Agnes carefully asked, trying to estimate the rank and skill of the man before her.
"My connection to the...? Oh, well, I am one of Simon's uncles. Why do you ask?" Fraten openly admitted.
"I was just curious." Agnes shrugged with her shoulders, "I was told that this land is huge, it really must be a great coincidence to run into another group." she spoke, then narrowed her eyes as she scanned over the old man.
"Heh." he chuckled in response, "There is no need for us to be hostile towards each other. We are all humans here. Helping each other out is only natural, no?" the man glanced through Matilda's group, his eyes stopped on Till, and the artefacts he was carrying with him.
"It looks like you've had quite the yield. Must be beginner's luck." he smiled.
Matilda now also glared at him, "Not at all. But surely an expert like yourself could give us a couple of tips? Like how an experienced group deals with the black spots and the shadow monsters."
The old man looked back at her, "The only way to deal with the death particles is limiting one's exposure to them, and when their effect begins to inhibit you, then it is time to leave the Land of Fog and go on a nice little vacation, at least that's how it is for you regular humans." Fraten explained while rubbing the spot on his chin.
"As for the shadows..." he turned slightly, gesturing at all the people around him that made up his group, "We simply squash them with brute force."
He turned back to Agnes and Matilda, showing them both an amicable smile, "That is all there is to it. However, you must know that such information always comes at a price."
Matilda frowned, "And what exactly were you thinking of in order to 'repay' you?"
The old man waved his hands through the air, "Oh don't worry, nothing that would be impossible for you to pay, of course... I was just thinking of an artefact or two. After all, your survival is far more important than a couple of artefacts you probably don't even have any use for... right?"
Miser grabbed the hilts of his sheathed daggers, and Sinnah prepared to shoot her arrow.
"Are you trying to extort us?" Matilda asked as calmly as she could while wagering whether she should accept the proposal, if only to ensure the safety of her allies.
"What? No! Not at all! I am simply trying to claim the fee for the information I so graciously provided you with. There is obviously no extortion involved in such an act." Fraten sweettalked, "But if you insist on not paying your due, then I must consider you on the same level as my countrymen, that refuse to pay taxes and collect it by any means necessary..." he raised his eyebrow and turned his focus onto Agnes.
His entourage also brandished their weapons, they looked like a group of experienced bandits.
Agnes scoffed loudly, "You are awfully confident, knowing that it solely comes down to who is stronger between the two of us."
The old man smirked, "True enough... hm, I have yet to ask your name? I don't remember being informed that the Whitewood family would send someone into our territory."
"Tch." Agnes clicked her tongue, "Going around and calling yourself the family-head's uncle... You are no more than some bottom-feeder if you aren't even getting informed about stuff such as this. Someone like you deserves to be left in the dark." she glared at him, her face showing utter disgust.
Fraten clenched his teeth, "Watch it woman." he glared at her, "Count yourself lucky that there is an alliance between our families, or I would have to ship your corpse back home."
"Hah." Agnes rolled her eyes, "You really have a way with words, care to back up your claims with your actions?" her eyes were spitting fire.
Matilda knocked her hand against Agnes' shoulder, trying to remind her of the situation, her forehead full of sweat.
Agnes' expression grew dark, "Till. Hand over the healing artefact. That, and only that one."
Till lowered his head as he approached, he looked to Agnes once more before handing the artefact over.
The old man greedily accepted it into his embrace, immediately observing it from top to bottom.
He nodded his head, "It will suffice. To keep the peace. A wise choice." he commented, his anger was already subsiding again.
Till returned to behind Agnes, alongside of his other companions who soundlessly watched the entire exchange.
Fraten turned around and tossed the artefact to one of his soldiers, then looked back onto the people in front of him, "As pleasant as it was to meet you... let's not ever run into each other again, hm? I can't say for certain how I would react. Especially once this whole ordeal with the Aventia people is over and our agreement comes to an end."
Agnes took a discreet breath of air, "You know about that? You are licking your nephews boots clean, aren't you? No way they would let someone so unreliable in on secrets like that."
Veins bulged out of Fraten's forehead, "Hah... I am not sure why you are so darned persistent in getting yourself killed, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and assume you are just a brainless loudmouth."
"And it's not just that I know of our partnership, but also about the ploy to have Cykrus Aventia agree to a duel to decide the outcome of this 'dispute', as the royal family would view it." he continued, looking as proud as can be.
Agnes thoughts were in disarray, "The... fight, of course. Has it already been decided where and when it will take place?"
The old man lifted his eyebrow as he looked at her with ridicule, "Which of us is the uninformed one, huh? But as you know, I am a kind man, and I do take pity on the less educated." he made himself sound like empathy was something he had learned.
"Near the border between our territories there is a small mountain, Cykrus Aventia decided on that location, probably having prepared a few traps... haha... little does he know, that it won't make a difference. But he will come to realise that soon. The fight will take place in a couple of days if I remember correctly."
"Well, that is all that I can disclose. Farewell. Or not." Fraten waved his hand behind himself as he walked back to his own carriage, that is being pulled by his people instead of horses.
Matilda got closer to Agnes, to whisper into her ear, "Good acting. And thank you for not fighting him, I am not sure if any of us could survive a large-scale battle in our worn-out conditions."
Agnes shook her head, "Don't thank me. Getting that information was a lot more important than some rank one artefact." she gulped, "However I think we must part ways here. I need to get to that fight in time, and you still need to find that staff-"
Agnes jolted, she grabbed Matilda's arm and pulled her backwards, farther away from Fraten's carriage as a flash fire engulfed it and its surroundings, jumping and spreading onto his lackeys as if it had a mind of its own.
"What the-" Matilda blurted out as she took some more steps back, glancing at her party-members to get ready for whatever was happening.
"WHO DARES?!" Fraten roared at the top of his lungs, "SHOW YOURSELF!" his voice was trembling from anger.
He gathered some of the resulting fire particles around his hands, then he breathed in, much of the fire that was ravaging the carriage, as well as his subordinates, was flying towards him, pulled in by his breath.
The flames fell onto his clothes and skin, covering his entire body, from head to toe, he turned into a human flame, "You will pay!" the now burning figure of Fraten spat, continuously growing in size.
Tremors could be felt underneath their feet, the earth was bending, rising like waves on the open sea, flinging the carriage and Fraten's men into the smoky sky.
The burning giant balled his fists together and slammed them into the ground, pillars of fire bursting out underneath the earth-wave, interrupting and destroying it, "You are acting up in my family's territory! You are brave, I'll give you that! Are you prepared for the consequences?!" the old man bellowed, his voice cutting through the air.
Agnes held onto her hair, stopping it from covering her face and eyes, as a strong breeze suddenly blew past her, pulling the air and smoke into Fraten's direction, and right past him, where a giant mass of black smoke gathered in one place, taking on a much darker shade than the rest of its surroundings.
"There you are!" the giant shouted, moving its body in that direction, Fraten raised his hand above himself; the air whooshed back, dispersing from his arm's trajectory.
The fiery hand slammed into the black mass, dust-clouds springing up all around it.
Silence reigned for a few short, but intense breaths, then the dust-clouds also began to revolve around the black mass, becoming a part of it, before it all blew apart, stretching out into all directions!
Agnes crossed her arms in front of her, a barrier of ice springing to life between the explosion and the remainder of Matilda's group.
She stared through the ice intently, biting her lower lip in anticipation; Fraten's giant form was struck the hardest, the harsh wind tearing apart his flames, piece by piece, until Fraten was revealed beneath it all, and left with nothing.
He buckled to his knees, coughing up buckets of blood, his subordinates were in pieces, not a single one managed to withstand the spell.
Fraten slightly turned his head, wiping some blood from his mouth, "Miss Whitewood! Assist me! I will have the family head reward you handsomely!"
Agnes inhaled deeply when Matilda tugged on her coat, "You shouldn't, we have no reason to help him, besides, you still need to leave the Land of Fog in time, right?" Matilda was terrified by the display of power before her, hoping to convince Agnes to not attempt anything foolish.
"Agnes! What do we do?!" Till ran up to her, his voice was shaking as he pointed beyond the ice-barrier.
Agnes fixated her gaze, she locked onto her target, onto what Till was pointing at, "Isn't that the staff you are looking for? Looks like it found us."
"Impossible! That thing?! We were supposed to get our hands on something that is completely destroying a mage from the Ironhoof bloodline?!" Matilda's eyes went wide as she held her head with both hands, her hammer dropping onto the ground.
"Is- Is that one of these shadow creatures wielding it?" Sinnah exclaimed as she squinted her eyes, able to roughly make out its figure among all the visual clutter.
Agnes lowered her barrier, allowing all of them to see it more clearly; the lone shadow-human figure, and within its grasp what looked like a wooden staff, a long-woven branch, like it had been plucked from a tree.
Strange signs and characters were chiselled onto its surface, covering it wholly; they were drawing in everyone's gazes, yet spawned an unsettling feeling inside of their abdomen.
Flames, broken pieces of rocks, and the black air were circling around the shadow monster, orbiting around it, as if it had its own gravitational field.
"Miss Whitewood!" Fraten called out again while struggling to his feet.
Agnes clicked her tongue, "Not sure, but I don't think you will find a better opportunity to get your hands onto this staff than with two mages backing you up." she whispered to Matilda, then ran towards the old man and the shadow creature.
The cold particles gathered in the air around her and formed into white mist, that just as quickly streamed towards the shadow monster as the wind it was pulling in.
"A good decision. I look forward to seeing what the nearly equally mighty Whitewood family has to offer with your ice-based magic!" Fraten commented as he also focused on the shadow.
Agnes scoffed, "Just don't get in the way of my spells." her icy mist was looming around the creature, and the zone it covered was slowly expanding outwards, thanks to her feeding it with more and more particles from their surroundings.
The sight reminded her of her fight against Hodwan, she closed her eyes and tried to shake those images out of her mind; a coating of ice spread over the shadow's outlines, the snowflakes in the air turned into weapons, spears, and as the ground turned frigid, additional figures, humans made of ice, wearing warm and thick clothes, began to rise, and grabbed a hold of these weapons.
Ferocious wolves appeared alongside of them, prowling in between their numbers, joining the human hunters in encircling their prey.
"...Creating warriors made of ice-magic... what a unique spell." Fraten held his chin, it was a compliment that sounded strangely genuine.
Matilda's fists were clenched, the sight made her feel awe, but also further terrified her of Agnes and the staff-wielding shadow.
"Boss." Sarah spoke up as she placed her hand on Matilda's shoulder, causing her to turn around to her party.
Sarah, Sinnah, Till, Miser, and Tomalta; Matilda looked into their eyes, each of them reflected that same fear she was feeling, but there was also a glint of excitement... they were adventurers, it was in their nature to take risks while pursuing their goals, this was just one of many, perhaps the greatest risk so far, but that only served to fuel their desire.
Matilda nodded, "I told you to prepare when we entered this place... not knowing what to expect... here we are, this is it. I am not saying this as your leader, but as your friend: please prioritise your survival. You all can see what is happening over there, you all saw what happened to those Ironhoof soldiers... if you want to back out and-" she sighed.
Sarah tightened her grip around Matilda's shoulder, she flashed a smile at her long-time leader, ally, and good friend, "Wherever you go, whatever you order us to do, you know we will follow. Because we trust you."
Matilda returned a smile, "Thank you. Then... let's go and grab that staff for ourselves!" she picked up her hammer and roared, everyone else joining in.
The shadow creature raised the tri-elemental staff into the air, the earth below began to tremble, cracking the ice that had covered it, causing chasms to open and spread, swallowing the snow and ice-creations whole.
Wherever the icy domain remained, they reappeared, until the cold and harsh wind was redirected back at them, cutting through them again and again, burning through Agnes' resources.
Both the wolves and the hunting spearmen never even got the chance to close in on the lone shadow, "Did you ask for my help to just sit back and watch?" Agnes glared at Fraten.
The old man frowned but carefully mulled over his choice of words before responding, "Not to worry, I was simply gathering some more particles. Surely you have seen how that thing tore through my previous spell; I need to be prepared to avoid a repeat!"
Agnes averted her gaze, overlooking her dome, coordinating her warriors, when suddenly Matilda and the rest entered her vision, and her spell, seemingly unafraid of getting harmed in the process, they were trying to sneak up on the shadow while avoiding the chasms, if such a thing was even possible.
She turned towards Fraten, "Hurry it up geezer, now or never!"
He grumbled, but obliged, a rune pattern along his right arm revealed itself, a peculiar shape that resembled a scaly beast with a large mouth, and rows of teeth, it had come to life.
Fraten stretched out his rune-empowered arm, he opened his palm and pointed it in the direction of the shadow; the rune pulsated, the creature's mouth appeared to have opened.
The shadow turned its attention towards him, it pointed the tip of the staff in his direction; an orange flash escaped Fraten's palm, Agnes could hardly follow the single projectile with her eyes before it arrived at its destination.
The spot the shadow was standing on exploded, a small shockwave spread out as even more dust covered Fraten's target.
Agnes narrowed her eyes, but she didn't dare relent on her assault, she ordered all her creations to storm at the monster, to keep overwhelming it, if it was still standing.
Fraten wrapped his second hand around the wrist of the arm with the rune-design, he winced in pain but readied himself for another shot.
He glared at the dust cloud, until a small hole opened up, the same orange flash flickered out through it; Fraten's eyes went wide.
Agnes wrapped herself in ice, the explosion was close enough to tear through several layers of her spell, but was ultimately unable to harm her... she looked over to the old man, but she could not tell how he was faring...
All of her creations dove into the dust cloud, attempting to assault the shadow head-on, but she could feel all of them vanishing in an instant.
Her heart sank, and she gulped, her eyes trailed over to Matilda's group, that were closing in on the monster.
"Sinnah keep back and cover us!" Matilda shouted from the front of the group, Miser was right behind her, acting as her shadow.
Sinnah stopped as ordered, she was drawing an arrow and waiting for the dust to settle, to get a clear shot, while Tomalta and Sarah were covering for Till at the centre of their formation, he was holding the big scroll he normally carried on his back, a giant parchment, that held a single dark blue rune, that depicted a square, with whirlpool-like circles at each of its corners.
The dust-cloud in front of them became smaller, growing denser, until it was just a small hovering ball next to the unharmed shadow-monster.
"Get ready!" Matilda cried as she launched herself at the creature.
The monster raised its arm, then struck the freshly created ball with the staff; Matilda felt an arm wrap around her waist, then abruptly pull her backwards, she landed on the ground, one hand holding her hammer, and the other her head, to ensure she didn't hit it against the frozen earth.
She glanced up, and only was able to see Miser stand over her for a moment, before the effect of the dust-cloud was unleashed, and flung him out of her vision.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye, she was unable to save him... she wanted to call out his name, but her words got stuck in her throat...
Matilda jumped to her feet, her eyes turned red as she lifted her hammer, intending to retaliate against the shadow.
The shadow moved its arm to point the staff's tip directly at her, her mind went numb, Fraten's spell replayed itself over and over again before her eyes.
"Get it!" Sinnah roared from behind them all, a single arrow whistled through their midst, narrowly passing by all of them, and striking against the staff, throwing its aim off.
Matilda took a breath, she clenched her teeth, and her face contorted as she grabbed her hammer with both hands, she winded up her strike for the maximum momentum.
The shadow moved again, no longer targeting Matilda, but instead raising the staff into the air; the hair on Till's entire body stood on end, "Stop it!" he screamed, the parchment in his hands started to glow intensely, out of each of the four dark blue whirlpools a singular pink and purple tentacle appeared, all of them shot out to wrap around the shadow and the staff, to prevent it from moving any further, to halt whatever it was going to do.
It struggled against the tentacles while Matilda made her strike, every muscle and every ounce of strength was bundled into this one strike, the air parted along her hammer's path, she was aiming for the shadow's head...
Matilda followed her hammer's trajectory with her eyes, it was just a speck away from the creature's head, and at this point she was just a passenger, watching along as her body continued to perform her attack.
The hammer struck the shadowy figure, as expected, the black material it was made from began to part, allowing her hammer to pass through-
A loud and disgusting thud echoed within her ears... her strike sent what looked like a rotten, and age-old human head flying off, plopping onto the ground some meters away, there was no blood... the shadow had possessed a corpse?
Matilda blanked out, her arms finished the swing, but afterwards she stood there motionless.
The shadow wasn't dispersing however, even without a head the creature's form was taking shape.
Sarah stepped in front of Matilda, she raised her sword above her head and pulled it down to cut through the shadow's arm, severing it from the staff, and she too cut apart dead human flesh while doing so.
Tomalta shoved Matilda behind himself, then struck the shadow's upper body with the back of his closed fist, sending it flying back two or three meters, leaving the staff to hover in the air all by itself.
The tentacles returned into Till's parchment-artefact, turning dormant, which he immediately placed on his back, but he still had a strange feeling... his heart was beating fast, and for some reason one of his pockets felt like it was on fire!
He pulled out the artefact that Agnes had given to him, the blue tear-shaped thing his book was unable to analyse.
Unlike the sensation he got while it was stored in his pocket, it was cool to the touch, he gazed up from his palm, over to the staff... he felt like he had some sort of connection with it...
Agnes' dome was coming to an end, slowly dispersing, she was walking up to the group, when the hovering staff began to move in Till's direction, almost as fast as Fraten's spell, Agnes reached out her hand, trying to grasp at what was still quite a distance away from her, "NO! FREY!"