Hump was back in the void. The same void he’d gone to each time the gorger had come for him, except this time, it had been of his own volition. He had dragged the creature here, and now it would suffer the price.

Heat bubbled from the core of his soul, grumbling like a building fire, power smoking from him. He could feel the fury of it, the rage. It quaked through him, resonating with him, and he let it, consequences be damned.

His body was out of reach, the sensations of the physical world gone, and his soul in its place. He had no real sense of distance here. He was a light at the centre of a dark world, and off in the distance, beyond the curtain was the thing he had to destroy.

The gorger shone like an orb of bronze. A sickly, red tinge clung to its light, like the stained edge of a bloodied, unwashed knife. And from it, Hump could hear the many souls it had consumed calling out at once. Terror, misery, anguish—all of it beyond anything Hump had ever felt. They were desperate for an end. For an escape. It was hell before his eyes, and it washed over him with crushing force.

That could have been him. It could still be if his attack failed. One shred of doubt. One moment where his will faltered. One mistake, and his essence would crumble before the gorger’s might.

But the fact he could hear the fragments of its being also meant that it was weakened. It could no longer keep all the parts of it suppressed, and now he would tear them apart.

“A foolish mistake, wizard,” the gorger said, its voice echoing through the void. “Even weakened, you are no match for me. I shall devour you, and you shall only make me stronger.”

“You have lost your path home,” Hump said proudly. “You have failed to take on human form. Your plans have fallen apart, and I shall die happy knowing that you suffered because of me.”

“You little humans!” it snarled. “Pesky, spiteful vermin. I should have drained you dry when I had the chance.”

He had brought the gorger here. Not out of some hope that he could beat it, but out of spite. He stood no chance in a proper battle of wills and he knew it. His only chance was to attack now, while it was weakened and off-guard.

He let what remained of his power rise from his core. It seeped from him like blood, manifesting in the void around him, leaving him cold. So cold he feared what might happen. But the moment the fear surfaced in his mind, the image of Lucile falling to the ground came back to him. The scream when he had first tried to break her free of the gorger’s hold. The blood that trickled from her mouth as its claws pierced her. The sound of her shield clanging against the stone, and the thump of her head against the ground.

After all her suffering, after all she had gone through to escape,, she had died. And she had died saving him.

Everything had been for nothing.

He felt his fury ignite, and a roar shook the very foundations of his realm. He focused all he had at the creature before him, and his essence responded in kind.

It surged around him in a way he had never felt before. Not simply obeying his command, but jumping to it. It was so full of energy he thought it might burst free of his grip and vanish into the abyss. But it didn’t. Fractals formed around him, cracks of light. Essence ready to strike. It moved on its own accord, as if it had a will of its own, radiating intent. The same fury that filled his heart burned hot in it. It enveloped him, a veil of power that would protect or attack with his thought. He envisioned weapons—swords that would pierce and carve the gorger to pieces. Limbs that could tear apart its soul.

His essence emerged from his back like spider legs, bending at the middle and pointing toward the gorger, sharp as needles. Pure white essence—his life, or at least, what he could part with of it.

As bronze streaks rose from the gorger to meet him, he let his power go. All at once it stabbed the creature from a dozen directions. Bronze light exploded from its core, encircled by Hump’s power, held within his grip. Its screams pierced the void like distorted echoes, becoming clearer and clearer as the spikes dug deeper into its domain. Other voices joined it, so loud a part of Hump wanted to scream with them.

Instead, he laughed. He could feel his own soul weakening as the gorger’s essence tore back at his. Every moment that passed, the cold dug deeper, but the gorger’s pain was like music. Its anger filled him with the heat he needed to push harder. Die. He had to make it suffer, even if it killed him.

Die.

And then the pain and the cold left him, all he felt was ecstasy. The dragon hummed in his core, and he laughed at its screams. He watched the gorger’s essence fade into the void, even as his own was consumed.

“You were right!” Hump shouted. “You should have killed me when you had the chance.”

He pressed harder, piercing ever deeper. He could sense the cracks in its heart and he targeted them, egged on by its screams. Die. Die. Die.

A voice shook the void. Not the gorger’s and not his own.

He felt a third power join their battle. Green essence pierced his realm—no, it was absorbed. His soul reached out for it even as he willed it not to. When it connected, he was struck with a warmth that felt like a distant memory. It flooded through him, pushing back the cold.

“Hump!” It was Dylan’s voice.

“Gods, he’s dying,” Celaine said. “Vivienne do something.”

“I… can’t,” her voice was strained.

“Hump, you have to wake up,” Bud called.

More essence came, warm as the summer sun through leaf filled branches.

“Come on, buddy. Come on!”

Hump wanted more. He wanted the cold to go. He wanted to live. He reached for it, he clutched at it with all his will, he gasped—

His eyes opened.

The world was shaking. Water crashed down all around them. Between his hands he held Hestia’s Star. He could feel it fighting to break free of his grip, pulse after pulse of power pushing his hands back so that it was suspended between them. It took every shred of will he had to keep it there. He felt a gap in his defense, but he was too late to stop it. An arc of power cracked off like a bolt of lightning, tearing up everything in its path, a piercing boom within the chamber.

The temple was falling down around them. Water streamed in through cracks in the walls and broke upon an invisible barrier. The townsfolk were huddled in close, packed tightly behind Bud who shielded them with his body. Vivienne stood at their centre, the only reason any of them were still alive. She held a blue spellstone in her hand, brilliant light shining from it. She was keeping back the waters but he could see the paleness on her face. She looked ready to pass out.

Dylan was holding him up, his hand pressed against his chest, radiating essence even as the druid bled out.

“He’s awake,” Dylan said.

“Emirai’s mercy,” Bud said. “What’s going on? Can you destroy the star?”

Hump gave a quick jerk of his head, struggling to maintain his pressure on the gorger. He threw every shred of power he had at it, but still he could feel it breaking free. Essence streamed from the cracks in the star, bursting into the air like smoke and dissipating around them. There was still so much strength left. His own power pressed around it, but it wasn’t white here. It was dark as shadow, dark as the power Kassius had wielded.

“It’s too strong,” Hump said through gritted teeth. “I can’t hold it. Destroy it while it’s distracted.”

“How?” Bud asked. “We barely scratched it while attacking full force!”

“You’ll have to freeze it,” Hump said, jaw clenched. “Freeze it all the way to its core, or at least as deep as you can go. Then Celaine, hit it with everything you’ve got.”

“We can’t,” Celaine said. “Not with you holding it.”

Hump ground his teeth as the burns on his hand seared like fire flickering across his skin. The world was fading again. He felt himself shrivelling away before the gorger’s might. Before he could go completely, he felt more heat at his chest. Dylan’s power shone almost as bright as the star.

“I trust you,” Hump said to her. “I’ll hold it as long as I can.”

Another arc of power shot from the star, exploding against the wall. He took a deep breath, then extended his essence once more, and the world returned to black.

Things were different this time though. Hump realised he’d forgotten something in his fury. The one advantage he had over the gorger. He was not alone. He didn’t have to destroy it. He just had to hold on long enough for the others to find a way. He could see them out of the corner of his eye, blurred and distant, but fighting. Standing by him. Dylan’s healing power, Celaine’s silver light, Bud’s radiant blue essence.

If he died now and set the gorger free, then they would all die. That was something he couldn’t let happen.

He pressed back the gorger’s power, his own power wrapping around it, a black veil surrounding bronze. Bronze cracks formed as it attempted to break free with its tendrils of power, but Hump carefully shut them down. Already he could feel his power fading and the gorger’s strength growing. A crack formed and essence burst free of his own. Whips of bronze flashed outward like chains of fire, and Hump knew each one might end someone’s life. Each one was a mistake. He had to fight on as long as he could. Time was all he needed. The others would come, just as they had before.

The world turned dark. He was back in the realm of nothing, a bleak white light before the sun. Just when he thought there was nothing left in him, the void erupted in icy blue light. Frostfire pierced the veil, and the curtain of his realm went up in flames. They surged down the strings of the gorger’s essence like wildfire, freezing them in place in a web of ice. When it reached the gorger’s soul it blazed with a cold that Hump feared might turn the whole world to ice. The gorger’s screams became desperate. They were as hollow and shrill as burning shades.

It fought to break free of the ice, its ethereal body contorting and bulging as it searched for any way out. Hump was there to cover the gaps, pressing it down with his will. Filling in the gaps with his essence. He searched for wounds, anything he could worm his way into. Anything to increase the pressure.

And then he stopped. Everything stopped. The gorger froze just as he did, shocked into stillness from fear. There was a flash of silver, lighting up everything. And then the gorger’s essence burst apart. Fragments spread throughout the darkness like stars, held together by silken strings of power.

Hump would not let it reform. He wouldn’t let it drag itself back together. The moment to strike was now, and he wouldn’t let it slip. He wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

He let the dragon out. He let its roar shake the foundation of this fabricated world, and sent his essence into a rage. It lashed out with fury, a barrage of pointed limbs that tore what remained of the gorger to pieces. He didn’t care what he hit. Where there was light, he cut. Where there were screams, he gave chase.

Amongst its dissipating essence, he felt something. Whatever the gorger had once been was long gone, and what remained had changed. He witnessed flashes of its past. Sensations of history. A great overwhelming power that sent it scuttling underground to hide, surviving only because of its affinity to the earth. When it finally escaped, few of its kin remained. Those that did were famished.

Hump had experienced hunger, but not like this. Not enough to eat his own kind. None of that mattered now though. The gorger had tried to take Hump’s life, and it had already taken Lucile’s. Now he would make it pay the price, even if that meant he died for it. He didn’t stop, even as his own soul became cold. His attacks slowed. What remained of his essence was dragged out to fuel the attack, until every strand of the gorger’s power was torn asunder.

It was then that the screams stopped, and the final wisps of the gorger dissipated into darkness.

All that remained was Hump, surrounded by his own raging essence.