A Hand-Woven Universe 160 159. Deserted City?

Just one, lone, dark elf.

Despite having a magic light which floated several meters in front of the group, lighting up the otherwise intimidating shadows of the cavernous city, a lone arrow from a hidden crevice easily shot through the relatively small distance before arriving at the nose of one of the front-most soldiers.

One of the unlucky young recruits.

"Shit!" An older soldier said as he rushed to bring up his large shield to defend the kid. His reaction was quick but not quick enough. The arrow had unprecedented speed, and it was deathly silent. Not leaving any noise behind as it split the air in front.

Noone frowned. He had his divine sense up to its limits the whole time and he had seen the arrow well before the magic light had illuminated it.

"He's not gonna make it." Noone thought as he watched the soldier try to move his shield into the arrows path.

Finally, at the last moment the young recruit seemed to realize what was about to happen. His entire body jerked backwards as his instincts to live pushed his muscles to their very limits – but by then it was too late.

Noone sighed. His entire body flexed tight as his left arm squirmed with muscles like iron cords – it shot up from his side at a speed matching the arrow and his hand quickly closed like a vice around the tail feathers.

The sudden stop caused the arrow to vibrate violently, but much to Noone's surprise the arrow didn't even splinter. The vibrating left a strange sound in the air which persisted well past the shocked half-shriek of the young recruit.
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Everyone near the front of the group who saw what had happened felt their jaws hit the floor nigh simultaneously.

Even Tobias – who had seen the arrow coming but was too far away to react in time – couldn't help but reappraise Noone. Was his reaction speed always that high, he thought to himself.

Noone stood there like a statue. The muscles under his flesh taut and ready for battle while the white lines which looked like celestial cracks across his otherwise dark skin gave him a gentle glow in the darkness of the cavern.

He held the arrow in his hand, debating what to do with it before finally deciding just to hand it to the young recruit. The young man's eyes were so wide and his face so pale he looked to be on the verge of passing out.

"T-T-Thanks." The young man finally managed to stutter out as the more experienced soldier helped him up. Other people moved forward to block them from any follow up strike.

"Yeah." Noone said nonchalantly before turning back to face the direction the arrow had come from. Despite the wandering shadows, Noone was easily able to tell which crevice the arrow had been shot from. Not because he had any type of night vision, but instead years of growing up within the cavernous conclave of Tapestry had given him a special insight in the way light reflects from carven tunnels.

"What were you doing boy?" The older soldier scolded. "You are at the front! You need to keep your shield up. Although their arrows come quick – if you keep your shield up you should be able to block it in time." He sighed. "Ready yourself. We continue." He then turned and extended his thanks to Noone. He had seen this strange being a number of times around the camp, but had yet to make acquaintances with him. Suddenly, the older man regretted his prior indifference.

"Be careful Noone." Tobias whispered as they walked. The steps of a hundred padded shoes leaving what may as well have been a deafening echo in the cavern. Only Noone – who enjoyed going barefoot like the druids of the forests – made next to no noise even with his large size.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You didn't just block that arrow, you caught it. That dark elf is going to report you as one of the heavy hitters that they are going to want to take out first." Tobias sighed. "Just, be careful. Stay close to me." The bad feeling Tobias had only continued to build in his chest.

Noone nodded, glancing over to the young man next to him. "Should I have…?" He thought to himself.

There were no more incidences for the next ten minutes of walking. Everyone was on edge and the tension in the group was heavy. According to the reports they received, it was only a ten-minute walk from the entrance to the main city. The entrance hall was supposed to be a long and straight tunnel with no side hallways to check.

So far this had been accurate. Up ahead of them the magic light illuminated the end of the tunnel – opening into a huge cavern which housed the main city of Stone-Eye.

An old smithing city run by dwarves – it had a high cavernous ceiling and hundreds of short 1 or 2 level buildings carved directly from the cavern itself. When the smell of centuries old stone hit Noone he couldn't help but think back to tapestry.

Because of the size of the cavern, the small light in front of the unit couldn't match up against the enshrouding darkness.

If the dark-elves were going to attack, they would do so now.

From the back of the unit, 2 more blue spheres of light shot forward. These were much larger than the first one and they quickly shot into the middle of the city before lifting high into the cavernous room – hovering near the ceiling.

They illuminated the dark town and the soldier's eyes adjusted, everyone tensed.

Despite prior expectations, not a dark-elf was in sight.

However, no one believed they had disappeared. Even in this artificial light – there wasn't a person alive who would underestimate their ability to hide and sneak through this city.

"Hold here." The gruff voice of the dwarven officer called. "Send two people back to bring unit 2 forward." Everyone understood instantly. They would hold here at the entrance of the town to act as a stop-gap and keep the dark elves from blocking their path back.

The thing about making use of the only entrance… is that it is also the only exit.

Fifteen minutes passed by silently before unit two finally approached, setting up a barricade of heavily-armored and large shielded soldiers.

"Alright." The dwarven voice echoed into the soldiers. "Stay in groups – you know what to do." And like this the entire unit of one hundred split up in groups of 5 to 10 and began walking out into the deserted town within the mountain.

Noone and Tobias moved together, Noone stretching divine sense out to its limits as he scanned every corner, pocket, and crevice which might have room for a dark elf.

The silence within the large open cavern was deafening.

Despite reports saying there were a couple hundred dark elves at most – not even seeing one yet put the entire party on edge. At any point they worried they might around a corner and be completely overtaken by dark elves.

"This is ridiculous! Where are they?" Nearby someone scolded under his breath.

Noone was now frowning as well. The initial plan was to come in and cause chaos – hopefully stirring up some trouble before they could organize into a proper force. Early mornings for dark elves was similar to late nights for humans – the perfect time to attack.

However, no one was prepared for this. It almost seemed like a complete retreat.

"This is no good." Noone thought to himself as he continued scanning the deserted buildings. "If we don't get into a battle soon… I might not be able to escape into the chaos."

"Noone-y." Suddenly an old voice tinged with humor whistled into Noone's mind. It was Alaviv.

"Hey. I've been waiting for you. What took you so long?" Noone scolded. He had been within Stone-Eye for half an hour now with no word from the wizard.

"Excuse me." The gnome feigned indignity. "I'm sorry. But you try activating an centuries old portal all on your own and then come complain mmkay?"

Noone had to restrain himself from the bitter smile which he nearly let slip out.

"Alright, alright. Where are you? And where are the dark elves. We just entered the town but so far no one has made any contact."

"Hmm? Let me take a look." A few moments passed and Noone wondered what the gnome was up to. "Um… Noone. What assumption is the army working under, with the number of dark elves you're dealing with I mean. Cause I only see about 200 of you." Alaviv's voice had lost its usual flighty humor.

Suddenly, Noone had a sinking feeling in his chest.

"We were told it was a breakoff group of most likely a hundred – no more than 200." Noone thought quickly. He glanced around at the soft-lit buildings surrounding the group he was in.

"Well… I hate to break it to you, but there's more than that. And they are ready for you-" As if on cue, a series of shouts broke out in another part of the city. What sounded like an entire party screamed all at once and then their voices faded out of existence. Everyone tensed up violently as they turned to look in that direction.

"Alaviv." Noone almost shouted. "How many?" He said each word carefully and meticulously, restraining himself from bolting into the nearest building for cover.

"Don't worry about that. Just get here as fast as you can. I have begun activating the portal so I can send us off as soon as you get here. But I can only maintain it for five minutes once it hits full power." Alaviv spoke quickly, however Noone could hear the subtle notes of pressure in his voice.

Presumably the gnome was watching what was happening throughout the whole city.

Not even a whole minute had passed before another group of shouts pierced the silent city and then faded – like ghosts.

"HOW MANY ALAVIVGHREHMLA!" Noone shouted in his own thought, using the gnomes given name. He didn't like not knowing what was out there, especially if he was about to be caught in the middle of it.

"Five hundred."

Chapter end