The air shook with the force of the explosion.

Hump was on his front, face hidden in his arm. Stones and dust—pieces of the gorger—thumped against his back, but any serious impact was absorbed the enchantments of his cloak. It was over in an instant, but for a few seconds, he lay there frozen, ears ringing painfully and blinking dust from his eyes.

He forced himself to ignore it. Peeking out from behind his arm, he saw the flesh prowlers had jumped back from the explosion, retreating to the perimeter of the temple where they now lingered. It seemed even without their leader they felt fear, though with some already taking a few curious steps closer, he guessed it wouldn’t last long. Already he could feel the gorger’s magic working. It would reassemble itself given time, which meant they had to move fast.

Pushing himself to his feet, he looked over the stunned townsfolk. Lucile was before them, shield held before her, caked in dust having taken the brunt of the shrapnel.

“Is anybody hurt?” Hump asked. When no answer came, he shouted, “Then move!” Get to the gateway.”

They didn’t need to be told twice. There were few motivators as powerful as the threat of being torn apart by monsters; Hump knew that first hand. As they raced past him for the gateway, Hump fell in with Lucile, who handed him his staff.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine.”

Her eyes were fixed on the gorger’s heartstone over by the gateway artefact. It was a large, yellow gem, like three fist sized gems crushed together, forming a cracked and deformed crystal. Hump wondered how many souls it had consumed to become like that.

“Good. Go with them. My party are waiting on the other side.”

“What about you?”

I’ve still got something to do.”

He searched the ground for Hestia’s Star but couldn’t find it amongst the rubble. The explosion must have blasted it somewhere. A shame, but he didn’t need it. More importantly, the gorger’s heartstone was defenceless on the ground nearby. Beside it, the artefact it had used to maintain the gateway was still in its fixture on the podium, pulsing faintly with the dark, flickering essence of this world.

The formation was still active. The gateway was not closing.

Hump knew what he had to do. Vivienne told him not to take risks, but he knew what would happen if they left the gorger to reform. He’d told them he’d get it back through the gateway so that they could finish the job, and he was going to do it. His heart pounded. Fury welled from the very depths of his being. The gorger had to die.

As he darted for the podium, snarls picked up around him and the flesh prowlers circled closer. They were hesitant—torn between fear and hunger. That hesitation was going to give him all the time he had.

When he reached the gorger’s heartstone and stood over it with his staff, they stopped, snarling as if he held a knife to their young. Hump grinned around at them victoriously. His first thought, idiot that he was, was how much coin he’d get for some a large heartstone. He pushed it quickly from his mind and focused. Something was holding the creature’s back, as if they feared he’d destroy the core of their leader.

Reality hit him like despair given form. They hadn’t stopped because of him.

The air was swept up by a churning power, and to his left, dust rose before his eyes as if swept up by a tornado. Shades were caught in its winds, dragged into the cyclone, black smudges within the dust. The flesh prowlers turned to it, snarling and whining, confusion as much as fear.

Hump’s eyes went wide as he recognised the gorger’s magic. Bud how? Its heartstone…

Hestia’s Star.

As if on cue, the bodies of the closest flesh prowlers were assaulted by the power. Their snarls turned to screams as their skins were ripped from flesh. Their muscles were torn from bone, and dragged up into the wind. Blood, and dust, and bone flung into the air like the judgement of the blood god had descended.

But it was no god. It was the gorger, and it finally had its feast.

Ten bodies were gone just like that, merging with the dust. Within the tornado, a shadow was taking form. It grew cleared as all the debris that surrounded it was absorbed. Bone and stone formed a skeleton on the inside, and muscles formed from flesh upon it. its skin was like clay, layered with bits of bone and rock like armour. And spikes protruded from it, sharp and terrible, caked in the blood of those it had taken. It towered in the air, twice as tall as a man, if not more. This was no longer just a powerful spirit.

Hump gawked at it, wide eyed, enraptured by its power.

The gorger whirled and faced him, leaning forward and bellowing a furious roar that shook the air all around. Bloody spittle sprayed from its mouth. It was the insane roar of a beast that had not gotten its way. Any trace of reason in its eyes was gone. Now Hump saw the monster unrestrained. The hunger unrestrained.

Hump grabbed the artefact from the podium, essence surging into the air around him as its connection to the formation was broken. Not the wild essence of this realm, but that of his own. Warm and renewing, like the energy of life itself. He shoved the artefact into his pocket, then, with a quick application of will, let loose an Essence Blast that sent the gorger’s old heartstone hurling through the air. Straight through the gateway into the human realm, even as it started to close before his eyes.

In that moment, the gorger launched into a charge. Hump sprinted for the gateway, the beast’s footsteps heavy against the earth behind him, beating it like drums. Tremors shook the ground.

Hump cursed himself. He’d miscalculated. The power he’d sensed earlier hadn’t been the gorger reforming its body, but transferring to a new vessel. One with Hestia’s Star as its core.

It was closing on him fast. Against something this large, even a glancing blow would break bones or crush his ribcage. There was no room for mistakes. No room for it to even touch him. An indirect hit was all it would take for it to be over.

Hump threw himself to the side, forcing the gorger to turn in its pursuit, giving it less chance to build up momentum and buying a precious second or two—time he needed to dart back the other way for the gateway. Time he needed to get home.

He clawed his way to his feet and ran. There were flesh prowlers close, but they didn’t dare to stand in the gorger’s path. With each shudder of the earth, Hump was reminded that this was not a monster he could fight. At least not alone.

“No! No!” The gorger wailed. “Stop him. Bring it back.”

Its flesh prowlers abandoned their fear and rushed for him, but it was too late. Hump crossed the gateway at a sprint. Bud caught him on the other side before he could slip in the ankle deep water.

“We’ve got this, get to shelter,” Bud said.

Hump let the knight push him to the side, then stumbled over to where a nearby pillar where he took cover. If he went down hereit would only take one accidental stomp for the gorger to finish him off. Bud on the other hand—well, the knight better have a plan. Dylan was with him, a bear in human form, his staff ready and vines creeping up around him like a field of snakes. Behind them, Vivienne had a spell ready, and Celaine her arrow.

Hump watched the gateway. The shadowy figure of the gorger growing larger, growing closer. Before his eyes the gateway shrank, but not fast enough.

The gorger barrelled through, roaring madly. Its new body allowed the ravenous beast to pass through the gateway that had once prevented its passage. The gorger’s hands grew and hardened, forming mace like clubs on the end. It swung for Bud, but the knight ducked the blow skilfully, stepping in closer to the beast. Dylan charged it too, and Hump realised they were going for its leg. Bud carved a long line of ice through where its hamstring should be, curving his blade so that it sliced up the length of its leg, crystallising the back of its knee. Then Dylan was there with his staff, slamming it into the front of its knee. His vines rose into the air, wrapping around its club like arm, pinning it down by its own weight.

The gorger let loose a scream like a dying beast, the entire temple shaking at the sound. It tried to keep its feet, but there was no maintaining its balance with a being this size. It fell—something that a human-sized opponent might recover from, but for the gorger it was like a boulder striking stone. It screamed as its damaged leg took the brunt of the force, ice and stone cracking away, blood dying the murky temple water red. The bone inside made an earth cracking snap, and it hit the ground, rolling until it slammed into the pillar opposite Hump, crashing straight through it.

The pillar crashed upon it, dust and stone filling the air. The creature clawed at the ground, digging its long, stone like fingers into the floor. Hump realised it was the same charcoal grey stone that made up the ground on the other side too. But unlike the ruins there, the chamber was still largely intact. At least it was for now. Where the pillar had come free, a trickle of water leaked in.

We’re under water, Hump thought grimly. Well shit.

Water rose from the pool to wrap around Vivienne like a serpent, flowing and flowing until there was an entire stream gushing around her.

“River Serpent,” Vivienne barked.

The stream suddenly shot from her, hissing furious like a waterfall. It flew for the gorger, surfing the shallow pool and rearing up. It snapped forward like a viper, a torrent of water bombarding the creature’s core. The gorger screamed as flesh and stone came away in a burst of water, so thick it misted the air. A silver arrow flashed, piercing through the mist, and straight for Hestia’s Star.

The screams went quiet. Vivienne magic faded, and she staggered in her place, gasping at the expenditure. They watched as the mist faded.

And the gorger stumbled to its feet.

“Come to me!” it roared, magic infused in its voice. It drew essence from the gateway in a stream of violet power, filling its body.

Flesh prowlers burst through the closing gateway, barely squeezing through. More followed, both shades and flesh prowlers, filling the temple. If they all made it, Hump knew they stood no chance. He had to stop them. He had to buy time for the gateway to close.

Hump held up his spellbook in his left hand, the pages falling open, following his will. He brought up his staff, taking aim at the gateway with all the will he could muster. His essence surged, and he drew even more from the chips he still had in his pocket. And then he felt it. The dragon’s power supporting him, suppressing the wildness of the chips. The suddenness of its presence was almost enough to break his focus. He could feel it fighting for control. Demanding its wrath be unleashed.

He fought it down, suppressing the dragon’s power. He remembered the lessons of his master. He couldn’t let emotion take control. Not his, and certainly not some dragon. He needed a clear mind and a clear heart. He threw all that fear to the river and let the dragon’s rage and power wash away in the waves. He would not let himself slip. He would not become a warlock.

He let his power surge, reaching for the earth with his will, commanding it to move with his spellbook. “Transform Earth.”

Earth erupted before the gateway, a pillar of stone that sent a cross flesh prowler flying. Yet many had already arrived, taking up defensive positions around the gorger. He thought what his master would do, and did the same. He turned the ground to sand, soaking in the water and dragging at their feet. The snarled and yelped as they fought the force, panicking in the water.

The gateway shut with a visceral tear. That was it. No more could come to the gorger’s aide, and it could take no more essence than what it had.

“No!” the gorger screamed in its rage.

The gorger stumbled to its feet, grabbing a flesh prowler that came to stand by it like a guard dog. He showed not one shred of humanity, consuming the beast. No, absorbing it. Its flesh giving form to him once more.

Just like that, it was back on its feet. The combination of three Chosen and a Rank 5 wizard not enough to bring it down for more than a few seconds.