Darius limbered up, moving around his stiffened joints in ways he hadn't in a long time. The Magic suffused him, regaining his old elasticity. After his stretches, he sat down and meditated, feeling the pulse of the world rush back into his embrace, welcoming it like a breath of fresh air. He reached deeper into the Magic of it, feeling for any familiarity — his old teammates and youngest son — but found none of what he was looking for.

He delved even deeper, losing himself in the Magic and Earth Sense, but still couldn't find who he wanted. Opening his eyes, he looked around, landing on the now adult figure of his daughter talking with a man in the same armor as she was. He was proud of how she'd come and marveled at what kind warrior she turned out to be. While it wasn't his ideal setup for her to be up front and center with danger, he was happy to know she found her calling.

His thoughts turned to Aldrin, wondering why Adeline and Robert were being evasive about him and why he couldn't sense him. When he inquired subtly, asking the earth, he was blocked, which only added to his current worry about his youngest son. For now, they had bigger worries as the earthen platform they were on continued to rise. A fight would be on their hands, but he along with his other Tier 4 and 5 freed prisoners had been counting down the days they could strike back. He just never expected the chance would come from his own family.

The higher they rose, the louder the alarms blared. Around the perimeter, the Dwarven guards and overseers surrounded it with battlements and rolled siege weapons into place, quickly assembling them. They were all in formation with their weapons and spells pointed at the borehole. Darius simply smiled and waved his hand before cresting the top of the borehole.

Adeline watched as they were covered by a dome as they continued to rise. There was only darkness; one of the imprisoned fire mages immediately pushed that back when she lit a small flame that hovered above her hands. Besides that, the slow, steady rumbling of attacks thudded against the dome, signalling what awaited once the dome opened. She watched her father stand and roll his shoulders. "Everyone get ready!" He waved his hand again, and weapons along with armor made of stone formed, rising in front of the freed people. Without hesitation, they grasped them, donning the stone armor and getting a feel for the stone weapons.

Darius wasn't done, giving Adeline a cheeky grin as he snapped his fingers. Earthy brown tinged with green light engulfed the stone armor and weapons, turning them into polished iron. The slaves who were mages then took it a step further, imbuing the weapons with elements of fire, ice, lightning, and air that gave the blades an even sharper edge.

Darius covered himself in the same armor as his fellow prisoners, and a staff with a jaggedly shaped green crystal rose. He gripped it, and the earth rumbled, welcoming a kindred spirit. He turned back to see Adeline staring at him almost slack-jawed.

"Oh! That's right! You never came with your mother and me…" he said, getting lost in memories. "Your mother…" he tasted the words as memories of her resurfaced in his mind. "She was… a magnificent Druid, and she would be proud of you." He smiled wistfully at her.

The platform stopped with a thundering jolt once it fully rose to the edge of the borehole entrance. Outside, the Dwarves were in full defensive positions with their catapults launching boulders that turned the small dull thuds into thunderous booms. They lobbed their ammunition at the dome, the stones breaking upon it while more Dwarves rushed from around the town like ants defending an intruder to their colony.

Inside, Darius grinned. "Ready yourselves. We have a fight ahead of us!" He gave a curt nod to his fellow prisoners.

With practiced ease, the warriors with heavy iron shields stepped forward. Behind them, the skirmishers formed up, who would rush out to deal damage whenever the shields opened up gaps. Further back, the mages and archers waited, covered by leftover wielders of heavy shield warriors ready to intervene.

Darius counted down the timing in between the thuds, using his Earth Sense to count the siege weapons and the mustering guards outside of the dome. Then, he spread his scope, seeing paltry forces ushering the remaining prisoners deeper into mines or buildings to keep them from also escaping. That only earned a grin from Darius as he tapped his staff on the ground, and the earth responded with a violent shake like a slumbering beast awakening at the behest of its master.

Adeline had never seen her father fight but heard stories from his former teammates. She thought they were exaggerations, but when she looked at her grandfather, Robert, he only shook his head with a wide smile of his own. A silent, crazed joy and pride blooming behind his eyes. She quickly flicked her gaze back to her father, who stood in the middle.

"Form up!" She shouted to her men, and they, in their silver armor, readied themselves with shields, weapons, and spells ready to be flung. Ingram, forever at her side, slid his helmet on, becoming his usual steadfast guardian, ready to face the overwhelming odds whenever the dome dropped.

Darius tapped his staff on the ground again, and the earth rumbled once more, groaning. Outside, the Dwarves scrambled as the earthquakes rumbled nearby buildings and threw off the aim of their siege equipment, causing a lapse in volley. That was when the doom opened, spilling out the contingent of prisoners who were now armed with polished iron arms and armor.

The first spell was flung high into the air, a lightning strike that beckoned the dark clouds to part and swirl into a massive thunderstorm. The mages worked in tandem summoning and taming the storm that blew hail the size of watermelons to pelt the defenders, winds that acted as a buffer that shifted crossbow bolts to fall to the ground, and lightning strikes that thundered into the pockets of their once Dwarven oppressors.

The Dwarves were no slouches as they called forth their own Earth mages to counteract Darius and his mages. However, that was only a distraction as Darius rose on a platform, transforming himself into a titan of a golem. He took it a step further, transforming from solid stone to the same polished iron he armed his fellow prisoners with.

He ran, and that scared the Dwarves more than anything as they tried to maneuver their siege weapons to attack the titanic iron golem that ate up the distance between them in two steps. Darius squashed them beneath his feet, paving the way for the prisoners to engage the Dwarves that were caught off balance from the attack.

Adeline summoned her horse, Canadir, in his gleaming silver armor, as did her other followers, including Ingram. Her grandfather, Robert, rose into the air in a bubble of golden light, following behind Darius. His plan was to free the other prisoners along the way, hoping to sow more chaos along the way and give them time to escape.

With a sharp kick to Canadir's flank, Adeline charged along with her group, weaving around the former prisoners that rushed to strike back at the Dwarves. With a clash, the two lines met, each blaring Skills and flinging spells.

Darius continued to trample forth, caving in the roofs of buildings while also raising pillars of stone to keep the buildings from completely collapsing. With Robert hot on his heels, swirls of light Magic broke the chains of the prisoners. Some were unlucky when the Dwarves killed them before Darius gave them weapons or shielded them.

Forgoing any plan, Darius raised his titanic iron golem foot and stomped once, causing a shockwave of rumbling earth to flow forward like a wave. The wave brushed up against the enchanted steel gate, resulting in massive damage to the very thing that kept them in their cage. Unfortunately, the Dwarven towers that were further from the attack angled their runic cannons and fired them upon Darius' golem form.

Three shots hit him: one in the head, shoulder, and knee joint, causing the form to crumble. He managed to shoot out of the back in a protective ball of earth that was caught by a giant mud-shaped hand. He released his hold of the earth and weaved his staff in the air. The earth rumbled as walls shot up in front of him to brace against the next wave of magical cannonballs. The walls didn't hold, forcing him to dive out of the way as they plowed through Dwarves and prisoners alike.

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Darius looked back to see only the silhouettes of the fighting through the dust of the cannonball. The screams of the dying echoed in his ears, but he had no time to react to them as the cannons roared their volleys again. Darius weaved his staff again as more earth walls rose, and this time, Robert came hurtling down to land beside him, adding his own shields of light to enhance the rock walls. Darius transformed them into iron right before impact.

The magic cannonballs broke through three of the five walls, giving enough time for reprieve. "I need more mages if we are going to make it out of here!" Darius shouted over the roar of battle as he hunkered down behind a raised wall of earth, shooting spikes at any Dwarves that ran in their direction.

Robert sent rays of searing light into the fray. "Well, if you didn't charge forward like you did, we would have the backup we need!" He shouted back, quickly raising a barrier as a stray bolt of lightning cracked against it.

When Darius was about to shout something back, Adeline rode past on her horse, heading straight for one tower. With a sharp hand signal, half of her force broke off towards the other tower.

"Where is she going?!" Darius screamed, striking his staff against the rock wall, which splintered into a shower of rocky fragments that turned an oncoming rush of shieldless Dwarves into Swiss cheese.

Robert enveloped himself and Darius in a shield around them. "Just let her do her thing!" he shouted back when a stray fireball splashed the ground in front of them, rocking the earth beneath their feet.

Dwarven warriors charged with their shields raised and weapons glowing. Freed prisoners from a nearby building met them, clashing steel with iron. Darius and Robert supported them with spells of their own, but against the Dwarves the tier 2 and 3 prisoners were no match. It rapidly became a losing battle meant to buy time.

"Can you become the golem again?" Robert asked through gritted teeth, firing laser after laser.

Darius raised his hand, his fingers forming sigils as words of power fell from his mouth in a hypnotic rhythm. The Earth rumbled but stuttered when Dwarven mages countered the spell, causing backlash to Darius. His spell was cut short as a splitting headache bloomed between his eyes. Robert threw a mending spell on Darius to alleviate the headache and the backlash of the failed spell.

Amidst the chaos, the mage cannons roared again, and the air screamed with the cannonballs headed straight for the fight. They whistled overhead, landing in the thick of the fighting, causing black outlines to flash as they exploded their payload.

Darius gritted his teeth and kneeled to place his palm on the earth. Like water, the earth rushed into blobs of vaguely humanoid shapes that took the form of smaller golems, then he enchanted them into iron. The iron golems strode forth, swatting away the Dwarven defenders, but their mages summoned their own golems of magma.

The storm that was summoned by the lightning mages was steadily making its way towards them, and with it, hope bloomed within Darius. The higher tier prisoners were close. "Robert! We need more high ones! Free them! Quickly!"

"Will you be alright here?" Robert asked, casting a mass heal on the rapidly depleting prisoners that fought for their freedom.

Darius summoned more stone golems to add to the fray. "I'll have to be! Go!"

Without further prodding, Robert enveloped himself in a bubble of light and flew off to the other boreholes. He hoped the chaos here had caused enough of a distraction to pull any forces guarding the other deep mines. He was proven correct with the first borehole he landed in, quickly blazing through the small force of Dwarven guards. As quickly as he arrived, he freed the prisoners and told them of the battle raging above them to hurry and join if they wanted their freedom before zipping off in his bubble of light.

Out of the seven boreholes, he could only get to five before the Dwarves got wise and collapsed the other two holes before he could get to them. Veering off his current course, he circled back and below him, minor battles broke out all throughout the city as prisoners who started freeing others fought against the guards.

Robert returned to see Darius regrouped with the other tier 4 and 5 prisoners from his borehole quickly pushing past the Dwarves. He looked to see that two of the three towers were in flames. The third tower, however, fired once again, aimed directly for the pocket where Darius was.

Without thinking, Robert rushed forth, speeding through the air, compounding his bubble with as many defensive spells he unlocked, hoping it would be enough to hold off the magic cannonball. He met it in mid-air, and the clash was explosively violent as the barriers of shields broke from the pressure of the blast. Darius looked up to see Robert fall and crash into a building.

"Fuck!" he shouted more to himself and summoned more golems to bolster the current ranks of the current force he was with. "I need two mages! Doesn't matter who comes with me!" he commanded, and immediately a wind mage and a water mage flanked his sides as he ran to where Robert crashed.

Dwarves blocked his both as they built a shield wall, using their Skills to chain link them into one solid wall. The air and water mages flung sharpened discs of their elements at the wall, but they only managed to scratch it. Darius growled and jutted his hand forward as a mound of earth rose, forming into a fist and punched through the wall. The water mage summoned a torrent of water from the moisture in the air, sending it forth. The air mage followed it by adding compressed air bullets that streaked behind the water jet.

They barreled through and towards the ruined building where Robert lay half buried amongst the rubble. His head was bleeding, and Darius assumed part of his body was crushed from the impact. Luckily, he was alive, but barely. He called upon the earth to help him shift the rubble as gently as he could. He picked up Robert, and the air mage picked up his staff. The water mage summoned tentacles of water to whip and lash any Dwarf that got too close.

A horse neighed, and Darius saw a group of knights Adeline bolted off with come smashing into the flank of a Dwarven defensive line. He registered that there were a lot less of them than when he saw them last and that only incensed his worry for Adeline.

One knight broke away, rushing to Darius and the bleeding form of Robert. "Let me have him!" The knight shouted over the throes of battle.

Darius placed Robert on the ground, and the knight pulled out a deep red Health Potion, forcing it down Robert's mouth. The potion worked wonders as it knit his flesh back together and snapped bones back into place; however it did nothing to wake him. The knight sucked his teeth. "Gods damn it, Earl, I told you we were gonna need you to be better after Lor-Vold." Darius looked confused but saved his questions for later once more. "He will be alright. He just needs time to rest." The knight told him then took out a horn and blew it, sounding a deep long note that was soon echoed by another further out.

The knight grabbed Robert and threw him on his horse and took the staff from the air mage, then he hopped on. "Commander Adeline is on her way to the last tower! Head for the gate and escape!" He told Darius and then wheeled off, following behind his unit that raced through the crowded streets, uncaring of who was in front of them.

Darius and the other two mages raced back to their group, who were steadily making progress towards the gate that was crushed from Darius' titan attack. The heavy shield defenders in front soaked up as much damage as they could, but they were falling, as were the skirmishers that struck out when they could only to be met with swift blades and crossbow bolts. The remaining mages did their best to defend while still flinging spells of their own, but they were running low on Magic as was Darius.

Darius flinched at the sound of the magical cannon firing its payload but was relieved to see it arch over them and hit the enchanted steel gate, punching a wider hole through it than what he did with his iron golem. The sight of freedom invigorated the prisoners as they fought fiercer than before. The mages forwent their reservations about conserving their Magic and started focusing on offensive spells.

The Dwarves seeing their cannon turned against them, sounded a horn of retreat that echoed around the city, and with it they‌ disengaged, retreating and relinquishing their holds on choke points. The tower fired its cannon again, aiming at the retreating Dwarves but Darius paid no mind as his only focus was making it past the threshold of the gates and into freedom.

With one last push, what was left of the freed prisoners crossed the threshold, and Darius turned back to see more desperate prisoners running for the gates. He raised his hand and pulled it towards him, and the earth beneath them rolled forward in a wave. The running prisoners were basically flung through the threshold as more earth mages saw what Darius was doing and did the same, saving as many as they could.

Gleaming silver armor and white horses glinted in the distance as Adeline and her unit raced towards them. The sight was sweeter than the freedom he now held as his daughter raced back to him, triumphant and unhurt as far as he could see. The other knights who helped him rescue Robert came from a side street with prisoners behind them, each with the same desperation of reaching freedom.

"Is that everybody?!" Darius asked once Adeline passed.

"As much as we could get," Adeline said, grim-faced as she looked back at the collapsing and burning city.

Darius nodded and thumped his staff, the earth rumbled in response, and earthen spikes rose, converging on the entrance, sealing it from any would be pursuers. "Come on," Adeline held out a hand to her father to help him up on Canadir then turned to catch up with the rest of the group that was still running as fast as they could to get away, leaving behind the horrors of Janik and their imprisonment.

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