Glass Throat - Chapter 3

A moment of disorientation — flipped upside down and inside out — and then Elia stepped through the Realmgate. She let out a breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. There was always a risk, particularly with a realmgate like this with both gates in the wild, that the gate had been sabotaged and anyone attempting to use the gate would end up dead or stuck in the realm of chaos.

Hysh was ascendant in this part of Ulgu right now — which only meant the shadows were a little softer, not truly gone. Even at its brightest, the area was still different shades of dark.

The sky was a uniform dark plum colour. As if someone had placed a blanket over a light source, and only a little bit of light had managed to sneak through.

She could see darker sections rise up on either side of her, the sky almost bright in comparison to the land surrounding her. The Mouth of the Shade-Delta.

The Throat of Lies.

This, she thought humourlously, is probably as bright as it gets here. Ahead she could see the glint of glass.

The Mirrorhold.

A citadel. A stronghold, with gates of ironoak and near-invulnerable walls. Though simple, it was nonetheless a bastion of Sigmar’s strength in the mortal realms. The records she’d studied had indicated that her people had not built the Mirrorhold, but had instead found it here centuries before. A citadel within bowshot of a realmgate to Aqshy, not to mention a backdoor to Sparkbright, was almost too good to be true, and so they’d sent a company of Free-guild and a chamber of Phalanx Tempestus immediately.

The glass of the citadel seemed to eat light, which is why it had been named the Mirrorhold.

Elia started walking towards it.

“A citadel of glass in the Throat of Lies,” she muttered to herself. “If I could take these shadows and shove it down this glass throat, I would.”

What else is in the Throat of Lies? she wondered as the wind itself whispered promises of pain and glory.

She hated Ulgu, and the sooner she made it to the Mirrorhold, the sooner she would get to leave and return to Aqshy.

Spitting on the ground, Elia made her way through the Throat of Lies towards the citadel.

~

At least, she was sure that she was heading towards the Mirrorhold. But after a few minutes of walking, it was noticeably further away.

She swore. And tried jogging forward.

No. “I can see you getting further!” she muttered.

Closing her eyes, Elia paused on the spot. Trying to see if she could sense the citadel.

“Okay, got it,” she said to herself. She walked for a minute, careful not to trip. But when she opened her eyes, the citadel was further away again. The valley was still caught in dusk, it looked empty as far as the eye could see except for the dark mountains climbing in either direction and the Mirrorhold in front of her.

But for every step towards the glass citadel, she seemed to get a step further away. What was going on?

“I hate Ulgu.”

Maybe she needed to move further away from the Mirrorhold? She tried stepping backwards but after several steps, she could tell that the Mirrorhold was still getting further away.

Spinning around, she noticed something else very important.

The Realmgate was gone.

She was stuck in the Throat of Lies.

Elia kneeled on the ground to meditate. She would try her lantern next, but best to gather up her strength and concentration.

Placing her hands on her knees, she closed her eyes and slowed her breathing. The wind still whispered lies into her ears, but she managed to shut them out.

A few breaths later, the sudden sensation of being watched struck Elia.

She lept to her feet, sword out of her scabbard.

“Welcome to my home,” whispered a voice. “Ssso good to sssee you.”