Once inside the darkness Aerwyn could see the many thin soul strings connecting his soul to those of his undead. He couldn"t see the souls of the living here, only the purple souls of his undead and the white souls belonging to those unfortunate enough to have fallen by their hands. The only other object of note in the endless dark was the burgeoning inferno that was suspended in mid-air by tenebrous tendrils. The way the tendrils snaked around the flames as if propping it up gave Aerwyn the impression that the flames were latched onto the side of a phantom building.Dimensionally speaking, the darkness was like a mirror of Alduun, just without anything Aerwyn could interact with outside of his souls and flames. For instance if a goblin and a human stood next to each other in the darkness, the goblin soul would be lower to the nonexistent ground than the humans as if mimicking the dimensions of the world outside. Due to that fact and the position of the inferno in relation to his undead, Aerwyn could roughly judge where the orcs were.
Despite having a sense of direction to the world outside he still needed to be careful. Unlike the time he used his inferno in the forest and the underground, he couldn"t just let the flames run wild. There were far too many elves mixed in with his undead and he rightly a.s.sumed that burning his allies alive would probably leave a sour taste in their mouth"s. Even if they didn"t end up despising him for the act, he didn"t have enough souls to waste by accidentally turning them undead. Sure, they"d probably be more effective in battle but it would be far less of a net gain than removing an enemy and gaining an ally at the same time.
Aerwyn imagined the flames growing and las.h.i.+ng out towards the rear of where he believed the orcs to be so that there was very little risk of burning any unsuspecting elves. The tendrils that coiled around the purple flames convulsed wildly for a moment as if they had been given a shock. The purple flame began to grow at an excruciatingly slow pace but Aerwyn was aware that time in the darkness was much slower than the world outside.
He was left with little to do but wait and watch the souls of his undead as time dragged on. It was clear that the orcs were going in for another push as he could see the line of his undead slowly being pushed back with each pa.s.sing moment. He was forced to watch his undead"s souls vanish one by one as the slow motion battle played out before him, leaving him frustrated and anxious.
Time continued to pa.s.s until the inferno finally started to succeed in it"s duty. The first white soul that Aerwyn hoped belong to an orc and not an elf, was slowly pushed along towards him by the tenebrous tendrils. More and more white souls began to pop into existence as the first reached his own. Aerwyn was forced to experience the harrowing sensation of having his soul ripped apart that he hadn"t felt in quite some time.
He kept an eye on the inferno while he endured the pain of resurrection. He also made sure to directly order each and every orc that he resurrected to kill all of the living ones in the area so that he wouldn"t have a repeat of the battle with the humans. As more souls poured in, he paid close attention to the cost and much like humans, it varied from orc to orc.
There wasn"t much difference that he could see other than the souls that required more to resurrect tended to be brighter. Considering he could only see souls after the unstoppable process of resurrection had already begun, this information was practically useless to him.
Aerwyn had resurrected six true orcs, twenty seven lesser orcs, and two of the bull-like creatures by now. He felt as though he could resurrect a dozen more or so but his undead were continuously being pushed back all throughout his time in the darkness and the previously straight battle line was now a disorganized mess that was full of holes. He wasn"t entirely certain but he felt as though the orcs had successfully broken through to the square and that would mean his time in the darkness was up.
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It was dangerous enough to be in the darkness behind the battle lines but it was an entirely different matter to continue if the orcs could now reach him. Aerwyn imagined the inferno returning to his hand as he had done before and opened his true eyes.
"TORAKKA TET! GOG!" The lok"ra commander roared as Aerwyn looked up to receive the purple flames barreling towards him.
"GRAHHHHHH!" The orcs released another war cry as Aerwyn was momentarily blinded by the heat and light of the flames and he was forced to close his eyes as they collided with his hand. The flames spun and compressed themselves into a fiery sphere before vanis.h.i.+ng into his hand. Opening his eyes once more he was greeted by the chaotic battle unfurling before him.
The orcs had just pushed through to the square and there was pockets of fighting everywhere. Aerwyn looked and an orc atop a bull-like creature with purple flames caught his eyes. It was one of the true orcs that he had turned undead and it was currently charging towards the true orc commander that had been shouting out orders this whole time. The undead orc gave no consideration for any elves, orcs, or undead in his path as the bull-like creature barreled through anyone who stood in it"s way.
Once he was within a few meters of the commander, he jumped off the bull as if he had been shot out from a cannon. He propelled himself directly into the commander as the booming sound of their collision rumbled out. They crashed to the ground with a thunderous thud and the undead orc wasted no time as he began to wildly slam his large tower s.h.i.+eld down onto the orc commander"s armor.
The undead orc"s movement"s were savage, brutal, even by undead standards. He seemed mindless, only intent on one thing and that was cracking open the orc commanders armor as quickly as he could. He was so focused on his task that he didn"t notice the commanders mount charging at him from behind. The beast lowered it"s head on the final steps of it"s charge and slammed into the undead orc"s back, sending him flying even faster than his previous leap.
Aerwyn didn"t have time to see what happened next as it appeared a couple of true orcs in scale armor had set their sights on him. The two orcs charged towards him as Erit, Rorik, Rin, and Ren moved to defend him.
"Stay back you two." Aerwyn ordered Rin and Ren as he took aim with his staff. His little two protectors wouldn"t be of much use against armored enemies in their current form. Perhaps when they evolved they might be stronger but as of right now he didn"t want to risk their lives for nothing.
The orc he aimed for dodged to the left the moment Aerwyn pointed his staff at him, causing the flame lance to miss entirely. Nyris"s bone spear made contact as the orc recovered from his dodge but it was blocked by the orcs s.h.i.+eld, leaving behind a meter and a half long spear sticking out as the orc continued it"s advance.
Rorik quickly darted towards the other orc as Erit shot out her dagger and short sword the moment it entered her range. She aimed for the orcs unprotected eyes but he immediately lifted up his s.h.i.+eld to block the attack as soon as the dagger grew near. In an attempt to catch the orc off guard, Rorik jumped towards it while it"s eyes were still blocked by the s.h.i.+eld but the orcs peculiar shaped sword came slas.h.i.+ng out as the orc spun around to meet him.
The fearsome swing cleaved Rorik in two at his waist but not before he latched his jaw onto the orc"s s.h.i.+eld, ripping it from the orc"s grasp as his two halves tumbled to the ground. The orc motioned to finish off Rorik but Erit gave him no time to even consider such plans as her sword honed in on the orc"s throat. Instead of dodging, the orc knocked Erit"s sword away with his own and charged towards her at full speed.
Nyris had just finished summoning his last three remaining death knights and as they were crawling out from the ground Aerwyn fired multiple flame lances as quickly as he could while the zin beetle he was riding began moving backwards to keep it"s distance from the orc. As it got within two meters from Aerwyn it dove forward while swinging it"s sword causing the zin beetle to buck and jump back.
Aerwyn shot out a flame lance as the orc gave chase and finally managed to land one. The projectile hit the orc"s s.h.i.+eld before piercing through and exploding. The blast sent the orc spinning to the ground and Aerwyn wouldn"t allow him the opportunity to stand up again. He aimed his staff an began his bombardment.