Explosive concussion rocked the formation as Rolnus's plan to get through the town's wall was well underway. The solution he proposed was simple and deeply satisfying, as everyone in the Erulean formation with some sort of empowered attack took turns at striking the wall at the same spot. Palinus strode up to the mark, lashed at the sizzling stone with his Wick Lash, the additional essentia lifting the temperature of the stone from a cherry red to white hot.

Admiring the effect of his ars Palinus marveled at its power. With the unexpected win in the rift the Erulean nexus had taken control and it was actively improving the power of their ars.

"Out of the way!" Rufian yelled as he made as much room under the cover of the shield wall as he could.

Taking a three-step run-up, he threw a punch directly into the stone.

*Crack*

The stone they targeted cracked under the immense pressure of the blow, destabalised as it was with the heat of previous efforts. As Rufian laughed maniacally, and a moment later, the wall tumbled inward, opening a path through to the cobbled streets of Ravensdam.

"Charg-" Rufian began to yell. The excitement was bubbling over, and several legionnaires joined the cry.

"NO, don't listen to that idiot," Seline yelled. Projecting her voice over the hubbub as she physically restrained Rufian from charging over the remains of the town's wall.

With Seline and Romnus taking charge the Erulean force used the cover of Palinus's smoke veil and several shielding ars to push through the breach. The defenders maintained their barrage of slings, their arrows seemed to have run out, and the cobblestones of the road were perfect ammunition for the attacks. The legionaries had all been struck with the stones at some point in the attack now, and despite being patched up by Vesuvia or the other healer in the group, they all guarded their heads carefully.

They proceeded as quickly as their shield wall could through to the centre of the town. The narrow streets winding between houses and shopfronts as they moved towards the temple where the nexus resided. It's massive marble pillars beckoning them on, glowing orange beacons in the late afternoon light.

"The nexus isn't offering a rift," Vesuvia confirmed as they quick marched.

"What does that mean? They are retreating?" Palinus wondered.

"Likely," Vesuvia confirmed, her expression dark as she sensed something, "but the nexus is still under pressure. There is something going on under the temple. The essentia pathways are going crazy."

"We'd better hurry then. Charge!" Seline ordered, taking the normally calm Vesuvia's warning as dire.

"Oh, so she gets to order the charge…" Rufian laughed as they broke into a run, past the slingers pelting them occasionally from nearby rooftops, but they seemed just as perturbed as the Eruleans as they ran towards the mountain end of the quaint town.

A shot from one of the slingers struck a legionaire, knocked unconscious by the well-placed rock, Palinus tried to grab Vesuvia, "Can't you help him?"

"No!" She nearly shrieked, "We NEED to get to the temple!"

The look on her face spoke of some sort of catastrophic peril and Palinus found another gear to run as fast as he could.

Turning the corner to the main square, they were greeted by several dozen men, led by the men from the enemy rift team. They were a fierce-looking bunch, and seeing them in the overworld, Palinus gulped, his ribs itching as he spotted the spearman's flanged spear tip.

As the legion moved into battle lines around them, the group of stonemen and Sylvanians before them held up their hands.

"Peace!" The slinger spoke a heavily accented Erulean. "The Volva is doing something inside, something to the boy…"

The druid shook his antlered head, "Evil… she is Evil!"

"We go," With a gesture as if to ward off evil towards the temple, the spearman started marching away, towards the northern end of town.

"Rolmnus, if they don't leave town, kill or capture. Cinderborn, to the temple." Silene ordered as they ran.

The Erulean temple in Ravensdam was reminiscent of the temple on the seventh hill. Constructed of real marble with a tall square shape and massive columns. They raced up the stairs and into the vestibule. The fire that dominated the centre of the temple had been desecrated, and half-burned bodies lay piled upon its scattered ashes. The smell was rancid.

Swallowing his unease, Palinus followed the others as they raced down the spiral steps to the undertemple.

As they descended, he could feel the tension in the essentia around them, and began to understand Vesuvia's panic as he found himself scared of what they would find.

A deafening screeching noise sounded out from the cavernous room they entered.

A massive nexus crystal dominated the room, its pristine red surface glistening in the illumination of the torchstones around the room. Its luminescence cast an eerie red glow, reminiscent of the lighting at the end of a rift, but with a silky purple tint to its brilliance. A second crystal structure poked out of the prism shape. Like a barnacle, a mushroom of deep blue crystal protruded from the nexus.

Lashed to the red erulean nexus crystal, a gargantuan eagle lay on its back, it was half again as tall as Bruchts. It cried out again in pain as it screeched, the volume of its cry nearly popping Palinus's ears.

Half a dozen disgusting tentacles protruding from the blue nexus growth plunged into the eagle's plumage. As Palinus watched, the tentacles pulsed, sucking at the essentia that made up the eagle's life force.

Standing beside the crystals, the stone witch muttered as she carved runestones into the nexus crystal.

"She is trying to overload the nexuses!" Vesuvia yelled. "We have to-!"

"Stop where you are!" The stone witch spoke in perfect Erulean. She had an accent that suggested that she was from the capital.

Holding her hands up, Seline paused as she replied. "You stop what you are doing and we can talk."

"It is too late for talk, girl." The blond stone witch replied, her eyes shining with fervour. "But,I will give you a choice. You can walk away and let my little seed finish off this old nexus beast… or you try and stop me and we all die?!"

"Yipa?" Reinvar stepped out from behind the nexus crystal, one of the blue limbs of the parasitic nexus crystal was attached to his back, a set of runes painted on his bare torso letting it drain his life force.

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"Be quiet, you fool!" The stone witch yelled at the young man before switching to what sounded like the stoneman tongue.

"Ik wilþa ni stauþan, Aiþei!" Reinvar screamed back at the woman.

"What are they saying, Bruchts?"

"She is saying, stand still and let the squid take him. He is saying he doesn't want to die, he wants to get stronger, he doesn't even care about us killing his father, the man was weak." Bruchts translated.

"... and you are weak too!" The stone witch yelled in Erulean as she struck out at Rienvar with her staff. So much strength was already drained from his massive frame that the blow knocked him to the ground, and he struggled to move as he limply lay against the nexus. He begged for mercy as he sobbed.

The witch began to furiously strike at her son, trying to cave in his skull with the staff she carried.

"We have to stop her from sacrificing him! " Vesuvia yelled as the team sprang into action.

Palinus's vitis came to his hand as he lashed the whip at the stone witch, its essentia searing a gouge in her back as he followed up with his Wick Lash ars to ignite her fading blonde hair, the witch screaming shrilly as it burned.

Seline's arrow struck her in the throat, her cries of rage turning to gurgles of blood as her rift empowered body kept her upright, attacking her own son.

A flash of pink light sealed some of Reinvar's wounds as Vesuvia's healing countered some of the damage and her bolster ars put colour back in his flesh and gave him the strength to lift his hands to defend himself from the crazed woman's strikes

Flying in with his fist hardened, Rufian managed to knock the witch aside. Following up with a flurry of punches, he knocked the woman out, her throat gushing blood as she choked on the marble floor of the temple.

"We need to take out the appendages before the nexus overloads!" Vesuvia yelled, trying to pull the slimy blue tentacle off Reinvar's back. The runic bond that held it in place was strong. Rufian couldn't pull it off either, and attacks against the tendril were only partially effective.

The essentia from Palinus's whip seemed to do the most damage as he managed to cut into the strange flesh. He repeatedly struck as it oozed blue goop, then as he managed to cut into it's centre it released a spray of red blood that it had sucked out of Reinvar.

Tugging his body as Palinus lashed at the tentacle, they managed to sever the appendage finally.

"It's too late!" Vesuvia cried as she put her hand to the Erulean nexus crystal. The eagle above them spasmed, and the light flickered as essentia surged within the room.

"Got it!" A yell from above them sounded out as Palinus noticed he hadn't seen Bruchts during the fight.

A spray of blue goop shot into the air as the tentacles draining the Erulean nexus beast retracted one by one with a sickening slurping sound.

Jumping down from on top of the nexus crystals, Bruchts joined them. He was covered in the blue goop.

"I might not be able to carve runes yet," he explained, "but I can stuff them up!"

"Well done, Bruchts!" Vesuvia almost cried in relief as she hugged him and ruffled his blonde hair.

The light from the blue nexus crystal visibly dimmed as the blue gunk poured out of its tentacles. As its light faded, the light of the red nexus crystal brightened, and the gaping holes in the magnificent eagle scabbed over and healed rapidly.

Screeching in something approximating triumph, the eagle levered itself upright with its massive wings breaking through the ropes that bound it. Finally clambering upright, it grabbed the parasitic blue crystal and snapped it off, dropping it from its wicked talon. With a sound like glass breaking, it shattered against the floor.

The room suddenly stilled as the light from the Erulean nexus crystal stabilised. Its glow softening to a calming pink hue.

"It's over," Vesuvia said, tears streaming down her face.

The massive eagle bowed its head.

Palinus was in awe of the creature and joined most of the team in returning the bow.

"You are welcome!" Rufian yelled at the beast, "Was there some kind of reward-?"

"Shh," Seline shushed Rufian. "You are most welcome, noble aquilum. We are glad to serve."

Sensing immense pressure from the beast, Palinus was glad that Seline had curbed some of Rufian's rudeness. The eagle eyed them with its yellow eyes unblinking, and the team backed away from it carefully, grabbing the dying stone witch and the barely conscious Rienvar. As they retreated up the stairs to the temple's vestibule, the pressure of the beast subsided, and the team caught their breath.

"How's that for gratitude?"Rufian complained.

"It is a nexus beast," Seline replied by way of explanation, "They don't really operate on our level. I'm sure we will receive some award for saving the town, but in the meantime, you can see what's in the witch's satchel."

"Look at this, Bruchts!" Rufian didn't hesitate as he dove into the witch's bag, pulling out a book and a stylus. "Can you read it?"

Looking at the runic font for a moment, Bruchts confirmed, "Sort of, it is in the stoneman tongue and it is about the runes of power… huh. Maybe I can learn runecarving after all? Oh, what are these?"

As he opened the book, several letters fell out of it and Bruchts bent over to collect them, reading their contents.

"Should we be rescuing him?" Palinus asked Vesuvia as she tended Reinvar's wounds. "We spared him before, and look where that got us."

"We have the strength to grant him mercy," Rufian said, "So we should."

Palinus was surprised at Rufian's philosophical response and found himself nodding in agreement. He felt for Reinvar, both his father and mother seemed insane.

"So do we save her, too?" Vesuvia asked as she gestured to the witch, slowly dying with the arrow in her throat.

"I don't know." Seline looked conflicted, wrapping her arms around herself as she shook slightly. Instantly Palinus related to her response, this was the first time she had killed someone, he understood her pain and the confusion. But the witch had tried to kill her own son, trying to drain him to create an explosion that would have killed all of them. She was too dangerous, and she didn't deserve life.

Putting his hand forward, Palinus put his thumb down. "You did the right thing, Sel. She deserves death.

It wasn't strictly a vote, as their leader, the choice was Seline's, but the team unanimously put their thumb down to support her actions as they signaled their agreement with her death. Nodding as she sat watching over the witch, she buried her head in her chest and sniffled quietly.

"I wonder who she is?" Palinus speculated, "Her accent sounded a bit sixth hill?"

"Geirlaug, " Bruchts said, pointing to the letters and squatting to show Seline their contents, "She was definitely from the capital, she sounded just like all of the second-generation stoneman aunties from the sixth hill."

Seline quickly skimmed the letters, "Pal… I am not sure if you want to read this or not… it's your father."

"Oh, um, Servius?" Palinus questioned as he joined them curiously.

Some of the vellum was old, its dog-eared edges barely holding together, but almost all of them were signed with the same name, his father's.

"What? I don't understand."

"It seems like he was communicating with the witch. He was some sort of handler, and she reported on what was happening in the northern clans." Bruchts explained, "But something happened…"

"She went too deep…" Servius appeared out of nowhere again, startling the team even though they were beginning to expect it. "And then, suddenly, she wanted to come back to Erulea… I couldn't let her come back."

"Why didn't you help her?" Palinus asked, shocked at his lack of empathy.

"You saw what she was doing here. The stone witches like her have been behind the cephalopod infiltration of the empire as far back as the first tyrant."

"What does it matter if the nexus beasts are eagles or squid? Maybe if you had helped her, she wouldn't have…" Palinus gestured towards the nexus crystals and Reinvar.

With his arms crossed, the question stirred something in Servius as he spoke passionately, "The cephalopods are the source of the Sanguine Curse. The cycle of tyrants and corruption in the capital will continue as long as our main source of power is tainted by its blight. Even now, a man with more power than sense stands as the emperor, unaware that he is a puppet; and it is only a matter of time before the curse makes his extremely high red attunement burn out what sense he has."

"So you stand against the empire?" Seline asked, a dangerous edge to her voice.

Standing beside the former provacator and observing Centurion Felusian chose this moment to speak, "We stand with the Erulean Empire, against the Erulean Empire."

"For the empire to prosper, it must burn."

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