Fear Not This Night by Eduard Lungu

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Eduard’s entry won third place in the International category of our Chronicles of Tyria anniversary contest for 2019. You can find out more about Eduard on Twitter: @EduardLungu94

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"Commander, are yousure you want to inspect the tents right now?" Kasmeer asked with a shaky,worried voice. "There's plenty of time until the Mordrem arrive."

She looked at Dahlia with asweet, sisterly gaze. "You go rest, I'll finish the inspection."

"Very thoughtful ofyou, Kas," Dahlia responded with a low voice, as if ready to fall asleep."I'll lie down for a bit. If anything happens-.”

"Nothing will,"she said while hurrying Dahlia into the tent.

“Always worrying aboutothers first, eh Kas?”

Kasmeer was supposed to have left the camp the night prior to coordinate supplies coming in from the Pact helicopters, but she decided to leave Laranthir in charge of her party of spellcasters instead. Her instincts told her to stay a bit longer. The validation of this instinct left her relieved.

Dahlia finally closed her eyes to get some rest before their outpost was to be attacked by a squadron of Mordrem. The scouts reported they had half a day to prepare.

I'm glad you don't have to see this, sis. Dahlia closed her eyes and wiped a tear before anyone could notice. Inthose dark moments when the troops were on edge, displaying signs of weaknesscould cause a chain reaction and rip their resolve from them. Dahlia rememberedthe encouragement her sister would often display.

"Of course you'll befine. You're my sister!"

Calla had emerged from thePale Tree only six months before the Vigil’s Warmaster Soulkeeper had requestedDahlia’s aid in the fight against Mordremoth.

"Any parting words,commander?" questioned Laranthir. "I'm afraid you might not see yourfamily for a while."

"I've prepared myselffor this moment too much," responded Dahlia with her back turned to hersister. "If I say anything now, I might not be able to keep my feelings incheck. She's been my best friend ever since I saw that shining tint of purestwhite coming out of her pod."

Even so, Dahlia couldn'thelp turning her head just to peek at Calla who was smiling and wavingexcitedly in the distance. Her pale alabaster skin reflected purple and bluehues in the dim colors of the sunset.

Dahlia turned and Callacame running to hug her sister. "I'll be waiting, Dah." Callaembraced her tightly and whispered, "remember what Mother always told uswhen we were scared?"

"I remember it everynight when I fall asleep. Although, it wouldn't hurt to hear it again."

Calla leaned her head closerto Dahlia’s ear. "Fear not this night."

Dahlia hugged her sistereven tighter, and they stayed there for a good minute.

"I'll be back soon,Calla."

"Of course you will,silly," she replied with a wink.

"She'll make you proudone day," commented Laranthir. "I'm sure you've noticed those sparksdancing around her. Your sister will be a great elementalist soon enough."

Dahlia smiled proudly,"I've no doubt. She's come this close to burning my leaves a fewtimes."

Laranthir laughed heartily."You jest!" He faced away from her, as if talking to himself.

"Then I might have totell General Soulkeeper we have a new recruit coming."

"I'd love to work withher one day." Dahlia sighed. "It would help to have a friendly facearound more often. You're always too busy with Marshal Trahearne."

"You flatter me, commander. She has reasons to be as excited as she is," continued Laranthir with a shy smirk. "Her sister is the Commander of the Pact, Slayer of Zhaitan, and a wonderful older sister, I'm sure."

Dahlia fixated her gaze onhim. She knew her own achievements better than anyone, yet she still had herregrets. Having to face the nigh-destruction of the Grove at the hands of theShadow of the Dragon left a deep wound in her heart. Even so, she could stillrecognize a compliment.

"Thank you,brother."

Remembering this allowedDahlia to fall asleep in her tent. A weak smile formed on her sapphire,battle-hardened lips.

It felt like barely a moment had passed since Dahlia closed her eyes when a loud horn resounded in the distance. Dahlia opened her eyes and immediately sat up straight. Her extensive experience in facing Elder Dragon minions enabled her to be vigilant at a moment’s notice.

A second horn followedshortly, causing questions to arise throughout the camp.

What shook Dahliacompletely awake was a rare third horn. This meant the enemy was nearly uponthem. She had heard this sound only once before, prior to Scarlet Briar’sattack on Lion's Arch.

Swallowing her sinistermemories of the event, she grabbed her trusty axes and quickly exited the tent.

"Laranthir,report."

"Our scouts have detected a swarm of Mordrem overseers, ma'am. They're approaching as we speak and will arrive within the hour." Laranthir opened his mouth halfway as if to say something else, but hesitated. "There's one more thing," he continued. "Their leader looks like no Mordrem we've seen before."

Dahlia looked at him,puzzled. The first piece of information was enough to spark worry, but hearingthey would face a completely new enemy so soon, terrified her.

"Show me," Dahliacommanded.

Laranthir signaled one ofthe scouts to come down and join them.

"Yes, sir?"

"Show the commanderwhat you saw."

The scout closed his eyesand concentrated. Laranthir chose him for the expedition for his proficiency indetecting the enemy. When the scout opened his eyes slowly, an unrecognizableform started to take shape beside him.

"Impressive,"admired Dahlia. "You chose your men wisely, my friend."

Laranthir didn't comment,he just thanked her with a solemn nod. The illusion started to resemble ahumanoid figure.

“This Mordrem looksdifferent from any we've seen so far. Do you have any other information?"inquired Dahlia.

"Sadly not,commander," answered the scout, furrowing his brows in shame. "Mysquad detected them just as they sprang up from the ground, somewhere aroundStonetwist Paths. We saw their numbers increasing, and then we noticed thispeculiar Mordrem behind them."

"Laranthir, are thetroops ready for such an attack?" Dahlia asked.

"Our preparations weremostly complete before the detection. We should be able to repel them,” hereplied.

"You're not very sure,are you?"

Laranthir furrowed hisbrows in worry and simply nodded.

All soldiers, scouts, andmedics were ordered to return to the camp and prepare for anything that mighthappen. They had fought Mordrem overseers before, but what scared Dahlia andthe others most was the unknown Mordrem marching behind them.

"Commander, they'recoming. They passed the Shrouded Ruins and are headed right for us,“ shoutedone of the scouts positioned high up.

"Listen up everyone.We've come this far with a mission. This is our chance to begin our assaultwith a victory. If we defeat them today, we'll be able to establish a new rallypoint," responded Dahlia.

The troops cheered andreadied their respective weapons. A final inspection of their turrets andtrenches was conducted by Laranthir, and he gave the signal that everything wasin order. Their camp was situated strategically so that it was very easy todefend, atop a mesa next to the ruins of the Lethal Vantage. The troops amassedat its only entrance, a narrow pathway leading down into the open field. Theelite soldiers led by Dahlia were in front.

"Commander, they’rehere!” shouted the same scout from earlier.

With that announcement, acollective shiver passed through the troops. Dahlia prepared herself to beginsharing her boons.

"They're almost here.Begin casting," she ordered everyone.

As the heavy hittersshouted their magic to spread boons around, the mesmers channeled their energyto empower their squadrons with time magic. The Mordrem quickly approached asDahlia began charging toward them. She knew standing in a small location madeit easier to defend, but any ranged assault could decimate her soldiers.

Dahlia took her warriorsand guardians with her and met the Mordrem head on. The sight terrified eventhe veteran fighters. It looked like a swarm of grotesques, marching in achaotic manner with their elongated, dark brown limbs sending shivers downeveryone’s backs.

She instructed the soldiersto use as many defensive abilities as possible to give the elementalists andnecromancers in Laranthir's squad time to channel their attacks.

As marks and wells coveredthe ground, meteor showers rained down upon the Mordrem from above. However,they didn’t falter. Their tough bark-like skin was hard to penetrate, and theirdefenses were bolstered by an aura of death magic.

These monsters have some resistance to fatal wounds it seems. We'll haveto chop them to pieces to stop their advancement, Dahlia thought.

"Warriors, go! "she shouted.

At her command, thefront-line fighters holstered their shields on their back and took a second axefrom their belts. In unison, they formed a brilliant spectacle of whirlingattacks, forming small tornadoes from the arid dust beneath them. They sweptthrough the Mordrem front lines, either slashing them, or throwing them off themesa from the sheer impact of the enveloping currents.

"Keep it up!"shouted Laranthir in support.

He knew the warriors didn'thave much left before exhaustion would stop them, but he was very pleased withthe results. They had managed to push the Mordrem back far enough to be able toadvance. Their casters could now reach the enemy’s back line.

Even though they hadreduced the enemy’s numbers, Dahlia knew their biggest threat hadn’t enteredthe fight yet. She kept one eye on the gigantic Mordrem sitting in thedistance, as if it was waiting for something. It had an armor-like bark aroundit, gray in color, but with a giant, yellow scar running from its neck all theway down to its abdomen, where it split and covered the front-facing area ofits legs. It had only one giant, crimson-red eye. Its head was wide and had twothin appendages flowed all the way down to its knees. After the Mordrem’s frontline was decimated, the new Mordrem started to move. It let out a deranged roarthat echoed throughout the battlefield and sent ripples powerful enough todisrupt some of the soldiers.

The creature sent its twolower appendages straight into the ground and raised its arms all the way intothe sky as it looked up. The yellow features lit up, and a dim light surroundedits whole body. To their surprise, the skies began to darken. Giant meteorsformed above them and crashed nearby. At first, the Pact troops were relievednone of them managed to hit a single soldier, but Dahlia soon realized what thecreature was aiming for. The fireballs destroyed most of the ramp leading downto the open mesas from their position. It was their only escape that didn'tinvolve jumping off the mesa and risking injuries.

"Fall back!"shouted an increasingly panicked Laranthir. "Commander, we should retreatnorth, up the hill," he continued.

"That will give us amore defensible location," replied Dahlia. "Lead your troops, I'lltry to stall the creature and rendezvous with you there."

Dahlia kept a fewelementalists who could attack the Mordrem from afar. Laranthir took the medicsand front-line soldiers with him to the hill close to the tunnel leading intothe Silverwastes. It was an easy location to defend when settled, but gettingthere was the hardest part. With powerful Mordrem on their heels, and a narrow,steep pathway leading to their destination, the chances looked worse than hehad originally anticipated. He instructed the mesmers to form a succession ofportals between the ground and the top to make the climb faster. He knew thiswould imply exhausting his best mesmers, which would have to be sent backtowards Amber Sandfall, but he was willing to do this if it meant his troopswouldn't be in the open field any longer than they needed to.

Meanwhile, Dahlia orderedthe elementalists to cast meteor showers and phoenixes of flame on thecreature's location, while the remaining warriors formed a barricade to protectthem from ranged attacks. The Mordrem stopped its initial rain of fire, as ifexhausted. Dahlia noticed this and immediately ordered her troops to takeadvantage of the brief lull in battle. A few warriors empowered their PeakPerformance prowess and jumped off into the field. After only a minute, thecreature released its appendages from the ground and sealed its yellow featuresshut. With a swift movement Dahlia barely had time to notice, it put its handsclose to its chest and lowered its body.

"What's itdoing?" questioned Laranthir.

"It can't be good, whatever it is," responded an increasingly worried Dahlia. "Just hurry to safety."

As the last warriors jumpedoff and made their way to the new location, the creature made a twitchy headmovement and roared with enough intensity to send vibrations throughout theopen field. The running troops had already started blinking through the pathwayof portals, with the first mesmers already arriving to their destination.Dahlia was the last to abandon their previous battle position.

Before she could react, theMordrem crouched and launched itself from the ground towards her. The sheerforce of the leap allowed it to slingshot itself above Dahlia and towards thelast running troops. The moment it landed in front of her, Dahlia halted herrun, petrified from what she witnessed.

If that thing wanted to, it could have jumped right on top of me, a sweating Dahlia thought. Ihave to get away, but now the backline is vulnerable.

The Mordrem ignored her andattacked the soldiers who hadn’t made it to the top of the mesa. With theyellow features once again flaring up, the Mordrem became fully engulfed in afiery tornado. As it grew in size three to four times Dahlia's height, itpulled soldiers towards itself with the force of its rotation alone. Dahlia andLaranthir watched horrified as the remaining troops in the field were setaflame.

Dahlia remembered theterrors she had endured up to this point. She had defeated thesupposedly-immortal Bercilak, took the fight to Orr and defeated Zhaitan, andfought for the Grove when the Shadow of the Dragon attacked. Yet here she was,terrified by a single Mordrem servant. Themost terrible thing, she thought, was that the creature was most likely acorrupted sylvari. She knew the most powerful ones were those who werealready proficient in life, and now Mordremoth had them and their talents.

GIVE IN!

Relishing in her memories,the doubt and fear gave way to a weakness in Dahlia's resolve. It was enough tomake her vulnerable to his whispers.

YOUR TROOPS WILL ABANDON YOU!

Dahlia refused, "No!They are my best soldiers!"

GIVE IN TO YOUR FEAR!

As Dahlia fell to herknees, she let out a scream. She finally realized why the creature was ignoringher all this time. Mordremoth had plans to keep her alive, only to turn herinto his puppet.

"Is this what you doto sylvari? Is this what you did to that... thing?!"

Dahlia struggled tomaintain control, but his whispers only intensified her resolve to fight hiswill.

HOPE IS AN ILLUSION. PLUNGE INTO THE VOID, AND EMERGE MORE POWERFUL THANANY SYLVARI COULD EVER COMPREHEND!

His voice negated all othersound from the battlefield or Dahlia's own thoughts. It sounded empty andsoulless, but seductive. Dahlia felt a part of her already succumbing to hiswill, desperately screaming, sending torrents of shivers throughout her wholebody. Her own leaves started convulsing slightly. Anger filled her to the brim,until it all went loose.

Dahlia started screechinguncontrollably as fear, terror, anger, sadness, and desperation coalesced intopure rage. It was loud enough to disturb the creature, which stopped itsattacks and turned to face her.

"I will not let youcontrol me, you monster. Don't you dare speak about hope! You know nothingabout sylvari!" Dahlia shouted.

A dark shade enveloped her,with the source close to her chest. It seamlessly flowed through to her handsand legs, and her eyes burned with fiery anger.

YOU CANNOT DEFY ME-.

The voice compelling herthoughts suddenly went silent. Dahlia's strength had improved tremendously, butso had her mental fortitude. She briefly closed her eyes and shut her sensesdown to only feel her life force. Her very being was subject to a thoroughcleansing of the senses. Being a warrior meant more to her than the weapons shecarried. The Pale Mother guided her in the art of self-cleansing ever since shewas a sapling. She started by feeling the center of her chest like a flowingspring. She guided its energy and allowed it to coarse through her body,reaching every fiber of her being. In this dire moment of battle, she felt itwas the only option besides being torn to shreds. She exhaled, opened her eyesand fixated them on her enemy.

"You're next."The still-confused Mordrem gazed straight at her.

Dahlia sprinted towards it.She made a gesture with both hands, channeling her fire into a burningshockwave towards the creature. As it traveled, the ground beneath the flamesrose into the air, with molten rock hurdled in its path.

The Mordrem was able tomasterfully evade the blast by jumping slightly to the left side of Dahlia. Sheanticipated this and dashed towards its new location, continuing her onslaught.With a force strong enough to create a small earthquake, Dahlia's feet createda pool of fire that quickly extended beneath her foe. She started a whirlingattack which only helped the flames spread quicker. Visibly in great pain, thecreature put its right hand on the ground and started absorbing the flames.Taken by surprise, Dahlia quickly realized it wanted to take that power as itsown.

"Fine, take itall."

Dahlia channeled her flamesat the single point where the creature's hand was pointed.

The Mordrem began to writhein pain, with its hand now turned into a smoky husk. Absorbing so much energyvisibly changed the creature. Trying to forcibly pull away its hand, Dahliarefused to let it happen.

"Tell your master he'snext," Dahlia continued as she hurled an axe into the creature’s hand tokeep it from moving. "Until then, begone from this world.“

Dahlia increased theflame's intensity one last time, which sent the whole force throughout theMordrem's body. Fissures now riddled its husk before it exploded into aluminous fireball.

As Dahlia's flames wereextinguished, she retrieved her scorched axe back from the creature's remains.

"You've served mewell, old friend," she said as it crumbled into her hand.

"Commander! Areyou-," a worried Laranthir said as he approached her. The troops werestill looking on, shocked by what happened.

"I'm okay now."Dahlia was still panting. "What of the others?"

"We're still healingthe wounded warriors who couldn't make it out of the fields in time. We've lostgood soldiers today," continued Laranthir.

"We'll give them aproper send off. For now, tend to the survivors. No one else dies today."

"Understood,commander. What about you?"

"I'm okay now. I'lljoin you shortly," responded Dahlia.

"Very well. Oh, andcommander?"

"Yes?"

Laranthir handed her anamethyst torch with a bluish hue. “Take this.”

As Dahlia watched Laranthirhead back to the troops, she turned to the now-burnt remains of her opponent.Its head twitched. It was the only part of it that was still recognizable. Dahliaquickly put some distance between them, in fear of being taken by surprise. Sheknew it had no more fight left in it, but her cautious nature still dictatedher instincts.

"Thank you, Dah,"whispered a contorted, echoing voice coming from the Mordrem’s head.

A gust of wind refreshedthe battlefield and scattered what remained of the creature's ashes. Dahlia’smouth fell open as her eyes widened. She couldn't feel this, as only oneemotion still had place in her heart.

"Calla?"

A whisper would've beenlouder than her broken voice, already torn away from reality. Uncontrollablesobs, horrified and erratic movements of her head back and forth, and suddentears engulfed Dahlia. She felt heavier than the ground she was standing on.Her movements took control of her body and erratically wandered around untilher legs gave in to the pressure of her guilt and shame.

How could I have done this?A collapsed Dahlia couldn’t control her jaw anymore. It moved on its own andgave a horrific rhythm to her cries.

Why now, why her?!

As dusk approached, abright flare tore through the veil of the falling shadows. Anyone who was therethat day knew its origin. All they could hear were screams and a name.

"Calla!"