Witchers of Nifelheim - Part 4

Twilight flies up after Rain. "LET MY DAUGHTER GO! Leave her with them and get your own!"

She brandishes her weapon, intending to use force if needed. She doesn't notice the rest of the field of battle anymore.

"Good Idea! You take her and keep going that way, and i'll grab ursula and meet up with you after we lose them!" She quickly soars to twilight and thrusts her daughter into her arms, "She is burning up! Take her and hide!"

Rain quickly soars back down, dive bombing on ursulas position and landing beside her, she hefts the girl over her shoulders, summons her poleaxe, and takes a defensive stance, she eyes the kings, ready to guard any attack from anywhere.

When her daughter gets pushed into her arms she holds on to her, giving an angry look at Rain.

"She's not leaving them." she says coldly.

She flies down, to a place she thinks gives her a little seclusion. Once there, Twilight lays down the infected mare, doing things like feeling her temperature, checking her pulse, anything that could give clarity. She looked desperate, seeing the girl in such a state.

"Come on, Dusky, Viki, you can get through this. Do it for mommy, for your siblings and comerade in arms. Please, you have to live!" Her tone gets faster and more hopeless quickly. Her breath fast in her panic.

Looking at the girl, she resigns herself. "Duty before all."

With that, she gently picks Victoria's ill body up. Then she steps in sight again. "Ryuuken! I have your sister here! Can you treat her?! Can witchers cure this sinner infection?! If so, I'll give her back! I must do that! It's my duty... As family."
The last words get weaker, as tears form in her eyes. She knew this would spell disaster for her. Which way it cutted, she would lose, she knew. Thus, she made the choice, so she could live with it.

"What? No... NO!" she shoots back at Twilight, "You're going to give her back!? Do you understand how ass backwards that is! We have the chance to turn her to the right side, yet you want to throw her back into their arms so she can be used against us! We have a Sinner! Forget your undead bias, this is your daughter and Circi just opened up the possibility to take your daughter!" She looks down at Ursula, "Duty above all! Peace before war! Your children refuse to believe peace is an option! your daughters duty is to help save the world with us, not destroy it!" She shouts back, "Your daughter will be fine! Just shut up, and lets go!"

C̷O̴N̴S̶U̸M̵E̵ wrote:"What? No... NO!" she shoots back at Twilight, "You're going to give her back!? Do you understand how ass backwards that is! We have the chance to turn her to the right side, yet you want to throw her back into their arms so she can be used against us! We have a Sinner! Forget your undead bias, this is your daughter and Circi just opened up the possibility to take your daughter!" She looks down at Ursula, "Duty above all! Peace before war! Your children refuse to believe peace is an option! your daughters duty is to help save the world with us, not destroy it!" She shouts back, "Your daughter will be fine! Just shut up, and lets go!"

"After this debacle, I think we'd be lucky to convert a puppy to our side" Rogue remarks.

"You have it backward." Twilight softly said.

"That creature assaulted my child with intent with the intent of kidnapping her. When she would become awake, you would try to brainwash her so she would develop Stockholm syndrome. Any affection she would show would not be real!" her eyes shot open. If looks could kill, Rain's body would evaporate right on the spot.

"WOULD YOU BE FINE WITH THIS BULLSHIT IF IT WAS YOUR DAUGHTER INSTEAD OF MINE?! WOULD YOU?!"

She looks at the ill girl, her voice softening again. "What she needs isn't that sinner's inflence or our crap, she needs the support of the people she loves, the healing of the witchers. To sit down on the throne she earned and lead her people, how she chooses, not how you chose because you're blind to the sinner's true nature."

She looks at the witcher kings again. "Please, lower your weapons and give this girl what she needs. She must live, for the sake of everyone."

Rain growls not wanting to waste more time, "No Twilight! I would be feeling the same way you do!" She shoots back, "Of course I wouldn't want to kidnap my own daughter, yes she loves all of them and I get it you dont want to seperate them from the people she loves. Giving her back wont make them leave Twilight! They fully intend to kill us and I'd understand the nonhostility if the situation was diffrent! If we can show her that we aren't liers and that we dont want to kill her and everyone she loves, then we can work on getting the rest. I'm not asking you to understand I'm letting you know that you're passing up a huge opportunity."

Viki's forehead was too warm, she was running a fever and her pulse was a little high. Quietly breathing, she was asleep. Up close, you noticed a few dark circles under her eyes that she tried to cover with makeup. It doesn't look like she was properly sleeping lately.

When Ryuuken ran closer to Twilight, his blade had already vanished. Gently taking Viki from her arms, he shot a dangerous glare at Rain, then looked at Twilight again and his gaze softened.

The turmoil going on inside his head was reflecting vividly in his expression. He didn't know what to do. Two very conflicting emotions were fighting inside him and he wasn't at all sure of the right course of action.


He sighed, then unexpectedly leaned closer to Twilight and whispered something, only she could hear.


Then straightened up, nodded to her and trotted away.
Off to the side, you became keenly aware of Bastila who had an arrow knocked and aimed right at Rain's head. She was clearly expecting a sudden move towards Viki and had her bow aimed as deterrence.



A series of distant explosions attracted your attention. One by one, a series of flares exploded in the sky to the east, all of them red, all of them displaying the same red skull, a parasite warning. Four flares detonated in a row, forming a line. Then a fifth one.


Ryuuken, Bastila and Zoy all stopped for a second and looked at the flares, forgetting about the battle for a brief moment.


"..a horde" Bastila quietly said: "...they'll try to retake this position again."


"What the heck are you doing!" Zoy screamed off to the side. She was still sitting in the snowdrift, with Kaylee holding her in a tight grasp. It seems Kaylee had locked her in a tight hug, eyes closed shut and desperately clinging to Zoy. Zoy, eyes still watery, was trying to wiggle her way out and push Kaylee away:
"Get off!!!" She screamed, finally managing to separate from her.


Kaylee and Zoy were now sitting a foot away from each other, eyes wet, just starting at each other and heavily breathing.


"Zoyah" Bastila loudly called: "Zoyah, we're needed at the front line."

"AND LEAVE THESE PEOPLE TO WANDER OUR PLANET UNSUPERVISED!?" Zoy loudly barked, trying to wipe her cheeks and angrily staring at Kaylee.


"Where are they gonna go? They can't escape the Machina Portal. You know that." Bastila called again: "This is a maximum security prison. Escape is impossible. Let them wander the snowdrifts while we deal with the horde. We can pick them up later. Lets go."


Zoy scowled, tears continued to roll from her eyes, no matter how many times she wiped them.
She finally nodded:
"Fine. Disengage and move out"


All three of them made eye contact with you, tracing your movements and expecting an attack, as all three began slowly backing away from you, in the direction of the parasite flares in the distance. It looks like they intent to completely leave battle. Bastila still had her arrow knocked and trained at Rain for deterrence.




Squiggles managed to scoop up Circi in the meantime and hung her over his back. He was now making a large circle around everyone, trying to get away from the kings.


Johan fired a quick healing spell towards Ana's body, enveloping her armor in a ghostly teal light.


(Anastasia Health restored to 3 HP)
(Anastasia regained consciousness)



Deep inside Ana's soul, Rose only managed to release a quick sigh and whisper a few words, before Ana was suddenly awakened:

"..try not to leave yourself open to deadly attacks like that in the future, there's two of us in here, remember?" Rose said, just as Ana woke up.

"Sorry" she answers to Rose "I really thought not fighting them would work. But at least we're not back in a cell again eh? These machine folk are much less worse than they tought us about."

"Thanks," she nods to Johan then stands back up "and here I am getting healed by a machine folk I've never fully met while a leader from my world stabs me in the face. Well at least he acted and did it himself."

She shrugs then uses her remaining mana to cast heal as many times as she can on herself.

Rain glances up at Bastille, "You have a fine aim..." she smiles, "...mines better." She chuckles, "I intend to prove it the next time be it a friendly competition, or armed combat." As they back away Rain slowly stands, picking up Ursula and backs away into the party, "Ready to leave." She waves squiggles over and skritches just under his mandibles, "Atta boy."

C̷O̴N̴S̶U̸M̵E̵ wrote:Rain glances up at Bastille, "You have a fine aim..." she smiles, "...mines better." She chuckles, "I intend to prove it the next time be it a friendly competition, or armed combat." As they back away Rain slowly stands, picking up Ursula and backs away into the party, "Ready to leave." She waves squiggles over and skritches just under his mandibles, "Atta boy."

"Next time, can we vote on actions that'll affect the group as a whole, because this has to be the second... No, third, worse escape attempt I've ever been involved in?" Rogue asks to the group at large.

Rogue Fire wrote:

"Next time, can we vote on actions that'll affect the group as a whole, because this has to be the second... No, third, worse escape attempt I've ever been involved in?" Rogue asks to the group at large.

"I agree, perhaps it would be best to think of some tactics for when we face another set of foes." Twilight follows up. "Right now, we're getting in eachother's way a lot."

It seems Ana had two more shots of healing left, her entire body became enveloped in bright sparks for a moment, glittering with teal light and dancing around her before fading away,

(Ana was healed for 10 HP, 13 HP remaining)


"Please don't worry about it" Johan sheepishly smiled to Anastasia and waved his hand: "I'm something of a healer, back on Earth, gave the Hippocratic oath and everything. Though I see you're a healer as well."


"Not to.. imply that I don't trust you.. especially after you helped our escape.." Alyx quietly began, looking at Ana: "But I would like to hear an explanation as to why you were sent to a maximum security prison.. Miss... after we reasonable evade our pursuers of course"



Squiggles approached Rain, his sharp, pointy spider limbs stabbing the snow as he walked. He emitted something akin to a cats purring sound as Rain scratched just under his mandibles, then turned his head to look at the retreating kings.


The four all but disappeared from view now, sprinting fast and rapidly turning into miniature dots on the horizon. And where the warning flares hung, the first explosions of fire and lightning began to light up the sky.


"Tactics.. tactics sound good" Alyx nodded, thinking: "Perhaps we can even come up with some kind of standard procedure for combat. Assign roles to each party member, plan everyone's actions in camp, so when battle begins, everything will already know what to do, it might make future engagement a bit easier.
A designated healer, a designated scout, someone with Scan and Heightened Senses, that sort of thing..?"



"For now, lets move" Squiggles called and broke into a sprint along the snowdrifts. The rest of the path presented no obstacles, the featureless, barren snow planes just stretched on and on in every direction. Even the remains of tanks and machines slowly faded from view.

No one was pursuing you and there was no opposition in front. You just ran through the snow, as the distant echo of shock waves, rang somewhere behind. Each time you'd look back, you'd see a horizon awash with orange flame.

Fire rained from the sky, creating massive explosions on the horizon. Rows upon rows of meteors peppered the landscape and the night was lit up with flashes of pale green and purple. To seem so massive in scope at this distance, the carnage happening out there was unsettling in the least. Level 3 and 4 spells rained down in droves, the sheer scope of the battle was difficult to grasp.


Kaylee finally made herself look away from the battle and stare forward, as you ran and ran through the snow:
"...you think they'll be okay?" she quietly called after a while.

"There's three kings fighting out there.." Alyx replied on the run: "I'm fairly sure these outposts were meant to hold off incursions like these, even without the kings. And with them.. I imagine they'll grind the opposition to dust, then turn right back and come after us again, so we better keep moving"


Meanwhile, in front of you, on the horizon, you began to make out some sort of structures ahead. A tight grouping of buildings and some sort of contraption, you're not quite sure of its scope yet, from this distance.

"..some kind of village?.." Johan asked, squinting ahead.

"This close to the Portal?.." Alyx frowned: "..unlikely... this area is probably considered a combat zone"

"Could get some supplies there though" Johan replied: "Maybe even change our clothes.. blend in with the locals bett-"

"WATCH OUT!" Kaylee suddenly screamed, grabbing Johan by the torso and yanking him back, making them both collapse in the snow.

"Oh my GOOOD!" Squiggles yelped, also coming to a rapid, grinding halt, digging all his six limbs into the snow to slow down. He did just in time. As you look towards the source of their panic, the following picture suddenly came into view.



The path before you, abruptly and treacherously ended with a hidden steep drop, that turned into a massive canyon, outstretching to your left and right. It took you several moments to grasp your surroundings and realize the geometry of the land.

You were standing on something that looked like a massive, gigantic circle of land. Separated from the rest of the continent by a bottomless canyon. At least it seemed bottomless from the edge. Looking down to its depths proved both mentally and physically painful, reflexively forcing you to look away.

The faint glow of Shimmer was visible there, hundreds of meters below. Perhaps a whole river of it flowed there, below.


The canyon was maybe 100 meters in width, impossible to jump across. And the other side was filled with barricades. The small grouping of structures you saw earlier, turned out to be defensive positions and barracks. A line of Witchers already stood there, maybe 50 of them in total, already forming a defensive line and summoning their weapons, but no one fire a spell yet. No one tried to attack.

And in the middle of it all, behind them, was a massive contraption of wood and metal. It took you several seconds and a lot of imagination, before your mind began piecing it together. It looked like some sort of a colossal, collapsed bridge, that could fold in on itself, or extend over the canyon, to let carriages and people across.

The only issue was that, it was only accessible from their side. The bridge could be opened from the mainland to the portal, but not the other way around. There were no extending bridges on your end. And whoever entered the ground of the portal, would have to stay there, until the Witchers from the mainland allowed access.



"...my god... this must be the Second Defense Line" Alyx said, exhaling: "Ursula said the Portal was surrounded by several lines.
The First Defense Line... that must've been the countless pentagrams and the Witchers stationed directly around the portal.
The Second Defense Line... and impassable canyon, with no way across for ground machines or sea ponies... and a line of Witchers on the other side..."


He sighed, brushing his hair back in thought. The Witchers on the other side still haven't fired a spell and you're fairly certain you're well within their firing range. They just kept eyeing you suspiciously and holding their burning weapons raised, pointed up. At least, you think they're suspiciously eyeing you, it was hard to tell from this distance:


"...I can see why they call it a prison of no escape" Alyx grimaced: "Nifel folk are sea ponies... they can't cross.. even if they reach this canyon...
Thankfully, most of us are not sea ponies and we can just fly across... hmm.. some sort of an oversight?"


"I wouldn't call that line of mean guards on the other side 'Oversight'." Squiggles grimaced: "You know what's gonna happen if they catch you with a spell over the canyon? You gonna end up in the Shimmer below and I don't feel like getting my existence dissolved today"

"...there's over 50 of them and they haven't fired yet" Alyx said: "...how are we gonna play this?" he looked back at everyone.

Kaylee Brown wrote:"...I can see why they call it a prison of no escape" Alyx grimaced: "Nifel folk are sea ponies... they can't cross.. even if they reach this canyon...
Thankfully, most of us are not sea ponies and we can just fly across... hmm.. some sort of an oversight?"

"I wouldn't call that line of mean guards on the other side 'Oversight'." Squiggles grimaced: "You know what's gonna happen if they catch you with a spell over the canyon? You gonna end up in the Shimmer below and I don't feel like getting my existence dissolved today"

"...there's over 50 of them and they haven't fired yet" Alyx said: "...how are we gonna play this?" he looked back at everyone.

"Depends on their communication network" Rogue suggests, "If they've had word of rogue Witchers heading their way, we'll need to back off and try to circle around. If they've no idea who we are, we could blag our way across as messengers of the kings, with an urgent message about the Glystaria incursion?"

"I think we're the first to arrive from the Portal camp. I didn't see anyone going this way" Alyx said, thinking:
"..hopefully that means no one could have traveled here ahead of us and warned them. That leaves only the Flare warnings. Ryuuken fired one, but it was so far away and on such low altitude, there's no way they could see it.

I think we're safe for now. They probably have no idea who we are and just lined up as a standard welcome for all arrivals... probably"

"Probably?!" Squiggles squeaked: "You won't mind crossing first then"

"I would if I had any wings" Alyx shrugged with a smile.

Kaylee Brown wrote:"I think we're the first to arrive from the Portal camp. I didn't see anyone going this way" Alyx said, thinking:
"..hopefully that means no one could have traveled here ahead of us and warned them. That leaves only the Flare warnings. Ryuuken fired one, but it was so far away and on such low altitude, there's no way they could see it.

I think we're safe for now. They probably have no idea who we are and just lined up as a standard welcome for all arrivals... probably"

"Probably?!" Squiggles squeaked: "You won't mind crossing first then"

"I would if I had any wings" Alyx shrugged with a smile.

"I wouldn't recommend it. Pegasi're rare over here, so we should probably disguise the fact that half of us're of the winged persuasion" Rogue says, "Maybe we can call over to them to lower the bridge?"

"I think they're close enough and the wind died down" Alyx nodded a few times:
"They'll probably hear us if we shout"

"Is it possible we just walk a bit in one direction and fly across out of sight?" Anastasia eyes the contraption with a look of concern "I'm guessing they probably have orders to only lower the bridge for the Kings or a few specific people. Probably have a code phrase too"

"I think Rogue's comment about flying is on the spot, we shouldn't exactly use that.." She says, pondering. "We better come up with something quick though, the longer we stand here, the more suspicious we look."

"Yeah.." Alyx grimaced: "They probably see a lot escapees as well, if this place is a prison.
I'm worried that if we tried to leave now, after we all saw each other, they'd grow even more suspicious. Why did we run up to the bridge, then turned back, after spotting them?

If they'll suspect us to be fleeing convicts, they might just alert all the other outposts, on their side of the canyon. Maybe even give chase.."

Rain looks down at the snow, "Messengers sounds like our best bet right now." She looks back at circi,  "...or a prisoner transport to lead circi out of the prison. We are currently tied up in the mechanica portal. Hell, for all they know, we're back home." She looks to circi, "However, that sinner doesn't belong here, especially with the horde coming in." She smiles to the witchers, "So we are 'releasing' her back into nature."

Twilight looks at the sinner, looking quite angry at the one infecting her daughter. She composes herself and asks the group.

"Do witchers have offcial places for executions? It would be believable if we take her there after what she did."

"I.. don't know" Squiggles cringed: "Ursula probably knows.. she should wake up if we heal her.
But anyways, yeah, I think Ryu was planning to release Circi, after everyone was sent through the portal. It gives us a good excuse to cross the b-"


"HEY!" one of the Witchers on the other side of the canyon angrily barked: "WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON DOWN THERE!!!" he yelled on Nifel.
His fifty comrades seem a little on edge, eyeing you with suspicion. You make a mental note that signs of battle are still visible on the horizon behind you. Now and again, the sky there would lit up with orange and go dark again.

Kaylee Brown wrote:"HEY!" one of the Witchers on the other side of the canyon angrily barked: "WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON DOWN THERE!!!" he yelled on Nifel.
His fifty comrades seem a little on edge, eyeing you with suspicion. You make a mental note that signs of battle are still visible on the horizon behind you. Now and again, the sky there would lit up with orange and go dark again.

"There's been a major Glystaria incursion towards the Machina Portal!" Rogue calls back in perfect Nifel to the Witchers on the other side of the canyon, "Several of the Kings're currently engaging them! We have orders to escort this Sinner away from the combat zone!"

"Why aren't you following procedure!" The Witcher called back, squinting:
"Give me the Password!"

His comrades continued to watch you in silence. At the very least, they don't seem to be arming any spells for the moment.