A Light Not Extinguished

Interlude: A Brutal Ballad [1/2]

"One can take a hundred blows from their enemies without flinching— it is the stab from their beloved that brings them to their knees."
-Common Aeldari proverb. Scholars have traced its origins back to the legendary hero Eldanesh.

They were in a bar.

Despite what the majority of the younger races thought, the establishments of Commorragh were usually clean and spotless instead of fluid-stained gore displays, due to psychomaton cleaning units. However, they could not clean up the moral rot of their usual occupants. For this was Commorragh, where no soul could be allowed to rest in peace.

Khiraen had a curious concoction of lapraseich milk and enchanted kammaz-spirit in front of him, distilled from the finest souls tormented in a state of half-amnesia, their most valuable memories constantly on the verge of coming back but never fully realizing. Eldrad had a glass of black cider(contents unknown) in his hands.

Neither were drinking from their cups. They weren't stupid.

"I'm still not quite sure this is a good idea." Eldrad whispered to his companion. "Can't we just go in ourselves?"

"The Fortress Without End is not something that the two of us can infiltrate alone." Khiraen whispered back. "We will need help."

"From these freaks?" Eldrad's eyes flickered over to a scantily-dressed whore drinking a corsair's eyeball straight from the socket, as the corsair shuddered and jerked in his chair. "They'll stab us in the back the first chance they get!"

"And who else is mad enough to enter the Fortress Without End, except the two of us?" Khiraen shot back. "When the time comes, I'll cut them down all the same. Do you have the bag?"

Eldrad hefted the bag of high-grade stimulants that they had acquired after burning down a whorehouse and killing its owner in the process. "So we just head over there and start asking?"

"I'll do the talking." Khiraen stated. "You do not know yet how treacherous the snakes of this pit can be."

"I can talk just fine—" Eldrad glanced over to the corsair, whose brain was now being slowly sucked through a straw as he moaned in ectsasy. "Actually, I think I will leave the work to you."

"Good." Khiraen made to get up, gesturing at a group of heavily armored people at the center of a bar. "Stay behind me."

Then all of a sudden, his face spasmed in pure shock, and the warrior froze in place. Before Eldrad could say a word, Khiraen's hand shot out, pushing him down back in his chair. "Do not move. Do not talk unless I tell you to do so."

"What's going on?" Eldrad whisper-shouted. The bodyguard didn't react, blankly gazing off into the distance. Eldrad reached out and shook him by the shoulders. "Khiraen, what in the blazing hells is happening..."

Khiraen flinched. Khiraen never flinched.

Then Eldrad felt it too. An incandescent presence in the Warp shining brightly and bristling with blood and violence, tainting everything with the stench of murder. It hurt to even look at it directly through the eyes of the soul, and it was coming this way. Everyone else in the bar sensed it as well, several immediately making for the back exits while other patrons stood up and drew their weapons in response to the foreboding presence, as their souls prepared to unleash spells and sorcery. "Snap out of it, Khiraen. We need to go!"

"Running won't do anything. She's here for me." Eldrad dimly registered that his companion's hands were shaking. An unwelcome cold feeling slithered down his back.

The presence halted right outside the doors.

"My Lady." A voice said hesitatingly. "You said you had a task for us."