Ash had been observing Durgan Fortress for nearly three days. It took every fiber of her being not to ignore her better sense and sneak her way back in - she knew most of the hidden tunnels that she could take. Upon her initial return, there was a sense of dread that filled her entire body. It was an unnatural feeling and had to be supernatural. Or that was her best guess, considering she had no direct experience with magic or anything else that could even be considered to be similar. It wasn't long before she felt herself being involuntarily pushed away until she found herself in Low Riding, a small village that found itself in the shadow of the mountains and the fortress. Truthfully, the sense of fear was only slightly alleviated within the village. The village had been reduced to a ghost town, with most of the villagers now being confined to their own homes. For Ash, however, she had a singular focus, and her stubbornness was forcing her to return to Durgan, despite whatever was driving her away.

From observing Durgan for the past few days, no discernible signs of life could be seen. The usual men-at-arms that routinely patrolled the walls of the fortress were all gone, and Ash knew the names of all of them. The gates were sealed and there were no smoke rising from the fortress itself. As far as anyone could tell from the outside, Durgan was completely abandoned. Regardless of this, Ash knew that couldn't be true. So many people that she had known for her entire life, it was impossible that they could be all gone. Thus, this gave Ash the resolve necessary to find out what had happened. She knew that this wouldn't be an easy task in the slightest. Something malevolent was happening at the fortress; it was impossible to know for sure what exactly it was, but the unmistakable feeling was deep in her gut. Worse still, it wasn't abating. This dark cloud that was floating over her would persist until she found out what was really going on.

It seemed like a sensible possibility that the people of Low Riding would have some idea of what could have happened, but finding anyone to ask was quickly proving to be a fruitless endeavor. Most had hidden within their homes, only venturing forth when absolutely necessary. None would speak to her even when she insisted, and it became fairly clear that none of them would be all that helpful to her anyway. The only conversation she managed to have with anyone was with a man who had possibly gone insane long ago, or he was drunk, or both. Of course, the incomprehensible information that she managed to receive wasn't all that useful. She was mostly hoping that someone from the fortress had escaped down to the village, but that didn't seem to be the case. The fact that no one had managed to be impossible, yet that feeling in her gut was still there. She could have searched the other outlying towns and villages, but that seemed to be nothing more than a wild goose chase that was likely to lead nowhere.

It would appear that Ash would be all alone in this new endeavor. It was slightly ironic that she had fought so desperately to have independence for her entire life. Now that was all she had. Each day, she attempted to approach Durgan, and each day she succumbed to the insurmountable force that was keeping her way. However, with each attempt that she made, the weight that seemed to be exhibited from whatever was within the fortress seemed to dissipate by a bit, allowing Ash to progressively get farther and farther. Perhaps she was slowly building an immunity to the force, or she was becoming better conditioned to it. It was hard to say either way, this was entirely outside of her understanding. At this point, she was still at a significant distance away from Durgan, but she was already where she needed to be. There were dozens of open escape tunnels that flowed out of Durgan. It might exist as one of the most impressive fortresses in the known world, but there had always been precautions put into place if it's impressive fortifications were ever to fall. She had know found herself at the exit of one of these tunnels.

These tunnels were easily collapsible from within the fortress, assuming an enemy ever found one of these tunnels, they wouldn't be able to exploit it. This particular tunnel seemed to be wholly intact, which was fortunate considering many had been collapsed over the years. This also showed that her father, Lord Cassander, was no longer in control of whatever was happening within. If the fortress had been compromised, he would have taken every precaution. This definitely wasn't helping her nerves any. As she entered the tunnel, she placed her hood over her head, masking her face. As she continued, the fear that had once gripped her was mostly gone, but the specter of it continued to linger, placing her on what seemed to be the edge of an abyss. She heard a distant voice and reached for her dagger out of instinct.