Adventure of Tuiwen 2

The heartstone shudders under Tuiwen’s light. The split seam widens, and white-gold fire spills through the crack like daylight through a wound.

Radagast throws up an arm against the blast of shadow. "There, Tuiwen, press it open. If the heartstone breaks, the corruption in the forest breaks with it."

The stone answers with a deep, hateful pulse. Black vapor tears free from the seam, and the chamber walls groan as Dol Guldur feels the blow at its core.

For a heartbeat, the way forward is plain, if Tuiwen can shatter this heartstone, she cuts the source of the forest’s corruption at its root.

Tuiwen brings her blade down in a single clean arc. White-gold light bites through the split seam, and the heartstone cracks open with a dry, terrible snap.

The core of Dol Guldur gives way. Black vapor bursts outward, then gutters into ribbons as the stone fractures beneath the blow.

The chamber shudders hard enough to loose grit from the ceiling. Far below, something ancient stirs with a low, resentful pulse.

Tuiwen drives the shattered edge through, and the crack runs like lightning across the heartstone's face.

The stone does not yet fall apart, but its grip fails, the seam gaping wide and trembling under her blade.

Tuiwen answers the trembling seam with another downward cut. White-gold fire bites deeper, and the heartstone bursts apart along the fracture.

Black vapor floods out in a choking wave, then tears loose into ragged wisps as the stone gives way beneath her blade.

The chamber lurches. A crack races through the floor, and grit sheets down from the ceiling in a stinging rain.

Tuiwen drives through the fractured core once more. The remaining center splinters open, and the heartstone collapses at last.

Her blade flashes free with a hiss of heat, and a sharp sting crawls up her arm from the force of the blow. Below the fortress, something vast answers with a dull, fading shudder.