The voice of the figure came out creakingly, almost unnatural, speaking as if through many mouths simultaneously. The mask, etched with a black lotus, caught the soft luminescence of the mist filtering through and it glinted menace.
Moving over to it, Elara walked at its edge with a frost steel dagger at her belt. Her men spread out behind her, weapons drawn, but the silence press on them felt more significant than any blade.
"You've been waiting for me? Elara's voice cut through the fog, calm and sharp. "How thoughtful. I'd hate to disappoint my hosts."
The masked person tilted its head, as if amused. "You misunderstand, Princess. This is not an invitation—it is a reckoning."
There, in the mist, a deep, infrasound moan started to come to ears, a sound of an underwater exhalation. Stepping into the space Bael drew his sword and stalked toward Elara, gaze moving up and down the edges of the display that hung behind the hood of Elara's body. "We need to move. This place isn't right."
"Too late," Varik murmured. His wolves, which are usually so wild, started to whimper and pace nervously. "Something's coming."
Out of the ruined temple in the rear of the image shapes emerged—calmer than normal, and asemic. Cloaked figures in black and scarlet emerged from the mist, each with a standard mask and with perfect timing of motion, as if under the influence of some entity greater than any given individual control.
The Jade Lotus had been waiting.
The Ambush
"Defensive line! Bael barked, his voice cutting through the sudden chaos. The guards of Elara moved with extraordinary celerity and formed a narrow, claustrophobically encircling semicircle around her. Shelves were raised, swords were drawn, and the shimmering visage of the frostbite haunted all who ventured into the deep snow.
Elara met the masked figure's unseen eyes. "I won't let my kingdom fall to cowards hiding behind masks.
The scene carried an arm and the worshippers moved in a silent line at the back, curved blades, sharpened to deadly edge, that glittered in the quiet like a tide of oil sheen in silhouette.
"Bael," Elara called, "hold the line."
Bael didn't need the order twice. Standing upright, he rammed into the surrounding cultists head on and his sword ripped through the first attacker with a swing. That metallic clang echoed over the marsh, spreading through it and shattering the heavy, unnatural quiet.
Elara's dagger flashed as a cultist lunged for her. She just nicely evaded and then plunged the knife into his pharyngeal sinus. Black blood stained the mist and sighed into quietude.
Varik lurked like a revenanth on his back and his twin blades flashed in the sunshine. He crawled his way through the cultic as if dead on the right, strokes killing and leaving a bloody trail of corpses behind him. His wolves stormed in on the battle headlong, their mouths gnashing, their snarls like a cannonball.
Some kind of test on us, "Varik rasped, with the tip of his dagger snapping from a cultist's chest. "These aren't their best."
Elara cleaned it off her face, her calm breathing accelerating when a wave of apprehension washed over her. "Then where are their best?"
Exactly as if, the ground trembled with their feet. A low rumble of sound reverberated through the ground, as if the very earth itself groaned when it awoke from a long sleep.
The Temple Awakens
The masked is standing behind turned and retraced the path back to the portal opening as it raised its arms up towards the sky. Characters inset in stone lit up in a grass like, sunny green, and the surrounding air became heavy to carry a peculiar, uncomfortable condition (that ranked tingle on Elara's skin) floating in it.
Bael broke into a second follower as the image rotated, eyes frantic in horror. "They're summoning something!"
Varik snarled under his breath. "No more delays."
Elara nodded. "Push forward! Stop them!"
They ran toward the temple and, having gone ham, killed off all, but one member of the cult with a fury. Elara's boots churned through the swampy earth as she ran, froststeel dagger pricked at the ready.
The masked figure laughed—a hollow, chilling sound. "Too late, Princess."
A whimper came from under the crypt of the shrine, and it buzzed straight through Elara's body. The eerie, funny sound patter reverberated through the air and then hit.
There the beast climbed out of the abyss, its great and unbecoming shape, massive and snouty, viz. Wreathed in shadow and unnatural mist, it resembled a wolf, though its features were distorted—its fur matted with darkness, its eyes glowing a sickly green. Black lotus flowers seem to be shedding their shape, as if expelling the corruption in turn.
Bael skidded to a stop, his sword raised. "What in the gods' name—"
Varik cursed, his wolves pulling back, whimpering at the sight. "A Dreadbeast. They've woken a guardian."
The projectile let out a tremendous roar, shaking the very steps. Vegetarians on their knees, palms out in a ceremony of reverence, to the Dreadbeast's unblinking gaze that burned into its unusually bright eyes.
Kill the Princess, the man in the mask spat, voice a death rattle.
The Dreadbeast lunged.
Desperation
Scatter! Bael made a roar and pushed one of the soldiers aside to free the ground where the beast landed after leaping over their back. Earth ripped from under its feet and flew dirt and rock from all angles.
When Elara stood on her toes and pushed aside the creature's attack. "Varik!"
Varik was already moving. "Distract it. I'll find its weakness."
The Dreadbeast swept its huge tail, crushing two of Elara's with it and flinging them into the fog. Elara's own heart thumped in her chest as it swerve out of its intended course, and her blade danced on the scales. The froststeel blade cut but did not penetrate the rigidiy and shadiw form.
"It's incorporeal!" Bael shouted, his strikes proving equally futile. "We can't hurt it!"
Varik's voice cut through the chaos. "The runes! Look at the runes on its chest!"
Elara's eyes darted to the creature's torso. And there, shimmering weakly in the dark, encircled by shadow, was a brand—a black lotus rune throbbing with strange power.
"That's its anchor!" Elara shouted. "Focus on the rune!"
The Dreadbeast shrieked and swatted her with a claw. She "rolled low" to avoid its touch, and her gaze never moved from the rune.
"Bael, I need an opening!"
Bael gritted his teeth, raising his shield. "On my mark! Varik, move!"
Varik nodded, his daggers glinting. He charged in an impaling motion towards the Dreadbeast's legs which shifted the Dreadbeast's centre of gravity. As Bael, hacked, and 'the shield' made contact from the side it slammed into the beast with a crack of the blow.
"Now, Elara!"
Elara sprinted forward, froststeel dagger held high. The monster recoiled and the form contorted in the most sickening motions, but Elara did not move the eye muscles. (Cursing), she thrust her knife into the beating rune.
The Dreadbeast screamed something that shook the air itself. Its surface is convulsive, the light splitting cracks outward from the rune. The shadow dissipated to grey and dusty and petals rained down into the mist.
And then, silence.
Tremor ran through the skull base like a war. The masked person stood at the doorway, their frame heaving.
This is not the end, they growled and disappeared in the fog.
Aftermath
The group stood in the ruins, catching their breath. Bael wiped perspiration and blood from the brow, the shield bruised and scarred.
Elara took a seat beside the ashes of the Dreadbeast it had just knocked down. From these, she saw a black flower petal of lotus, which is cold and uneconomical.
Varik approached, his wolves slinking back to his side. "They summoned that thing here. And there will be more."
Elara tightened her fingers around the stem of the petal, her gaze unflinching. "Then we'll be ready."
Bael looked at her sharply. "We can't keep chasing shadows, Elara. This was a warning."
"No," she replied quietly, standing tall. "This was their mistake."
She turned towards the temple's doorway, but the floor at its furthest end remained hidden in shadow. "Because now we know where to find them."
The Lost Marshes breathed again when the party prepared to go, but this time Elara didn't face around and took a step for herself, heading back home.
The Jade Lotus had bared its teeth, and so would she.