After a light meal, a shower and a little exercise, I logged back into Road to Purgatory, a grin on my face. I couldn’t wait to see what the night would bring, whether my plans would come to fruition, whether the magic Lenore and I had cooked up would work as designed. Testing yourself against the unknown was a thrill I was enjoying greatly, a challenge similar and yet unlike any I had ever experienced. Before, when playing Craft of War, I had enjoyed mapping out the many, albeit ultimately limited, paths our enemies could take, the tactics they could apply and what I was able to do to counter them. It had been a constant challenge to plan ahead, to be that one step before them and frustrate their efforts. But in Road to Purgatory, the paths that could be taken, the steps that were possible, were more varied by orders of magnitude. And yet, when in my Avatar, I enjoyed actively looking for patterns, my mind flitting around like a bird, trying to cope with a chaos that would normally render me catatonic. It was exhilarating. Giving it up, even for a short time, might be as difficult as leaving Sigmir behind, without knowing if I would be able to meet her again.

“There you are. If we want to take out the wolves quietly, we need to start moving soon.” Lenore said, as I manifested in my Hallow, with her already waiting for me.

“Excellent. Let’s make the show impressive, I have a feeling the Gods are watching over us.” I replied, thinking of the short message I had sent to Pantheon, making them aware of the possibly excellent footage they might get. I was planning to make a recording myself but at the end of the day, my limited viewpoint was problematic for wide-range magic, normal sight simply not showing the full extent of the events. I could feel Lenore’s curiosity at my statement but kept quiet, letting her make inferences on her own.

Leaving her Hallow, I took up a spot between Sigmir and Adra, both checking their gear one last time before we would set out.

“Let us move, quickly and quietly. The better the initial part of the night works out, the less risk we are under later. So, let’s make sure we are silent like ghosts, invisible like shadows in the night.” I softly said to all three of my companions, getting nods in return.

With a final nod, I started to form magic in my mind, the darkness of the forest around me coalescing into a dark cape, my efforts soon supported by Rai, chanting under his breath. At the same time, I felt Lenore reach out, appearing on my shoulder and taking the wind under her control, muffling any sound we might make while Adra joined Rai in chanting, albeit something different. Her magic was based on Nature and in this case, she drew upon the instincts of predators stalking their prey, silent and deadly, infusing us with them so we wouldn’t make any sound. Her magic was one of amplification, using our individual proficiencies in the stealthy hunt as a basis, boosting it to far greater heights.

Our preparations complete, we started moving without a sound, Lenore’s knowledge of the terrain and position of our foes allowed me to take the lead, while Sigmir, joined with Ylva, was keeping an ear out for trouble, her hearing not impeded by Lenore’s magic.

It didn’t take us long, maybe a quarter of an hour, to cross the short distance between us and the small pack of wolves that was keeping an ear out for trouble, two of them sleeping, one resting and two keeping watch for trouble. They were good but not good enough, of that I was certain.

Under the cover of darkness, shadows wrapped around us all like a cloak, we quickly communicated with gestures, making sure that each of us had their target, to take out instantly and above all silently. If the wolves raised the alarm, we would be in trouble, maybe enough trouble to force us to flee, abandoning our allies and quest. Unacceptable.

Adra and I had the task to take out the two wary wolves, while Rai would step through the shadows, making sure that the sleeping wolves would never wake. A quiet nod, a count to three and, at precisely the same time, a glittering spear of sparkling ice and an arrow, sheathed in azure light were let loose, just as Rai vanished in darkness and Sigmir threw an axe with all her considerable strength. Our attacks struck true, just as planned, the clueless wolves easy targets, just as Rai was stepping out of the shadows, his blades already in a downward motion, stabbing into the wolves’ spines without hesitation or mercy. Just as I had taught him.

The loudest noise caused by our attack was the meaty chunk of Sigmir’s axe splitting the resting wolve’s skull, killing it instantly. The other wolves died just as quickly, without any noise louder than a whimper, causing me to smile widely. The first, simple step had worked out just fine, the wolves posing no challenge, not to a party that was more than twice their level, attacking from concealment and with ample experience how to kill wolves.

Adra, Sigmir and I shared a quick nod, while Rai made sure that the wolves were dead, mostly unnecessary but making sure that an enemy was dead had been a lesson driven into him by Sigmir, that there was no easier way to die than miss an enemy playing dead, only to stab you in the back once you turned away from them.

Some of the spells on us now broken, we quietly made our way to the edge of the forest, near the valley the centaurs had made their camp in. From our position, we could see two centaur guards, one close, one further away. There might have been others, hidden in the darkness, but none of us were able to see them, even with the excellent senses some of us had.

A gesture to Adra made sure that she would take care of the distant guard while Lenore and I started to weave a tendril of shadow, slowly creeping towards the closer guard, crawling around her leg and up her body, wrapping around the top of her head, like a crown. It wasn’t a truly aggressive spell, especially not with the gentle care Lenore and I had taken in the casting, it was merely a sleep-spell, something we had used a few times already. Conspiring with the centaurs exhaustion after a day of marching, my magic was slowly seeping into her mind, a cool sensation, soothing in the lingering heat of the day, making her drowsy and slowly welcome the embrace of sleep, her body starting to sway even as more of my magic made sure to cradle her, keeping her upright and not giving away that anything was wrong.

Finally, I nodded to Adra and the soft twang of her bow, surprisingly loud in the silent night, signaled the death of the other guard, just as he was a little away from the edge, so he wouldn’t tumble into their camp, alerting them to our presence.

“It is almost time.” I mentally said to Lenore and felt her enter her Hallow, her mind closing with mine, ready to embrace the Avatar-State we shared. We had decided to use it, combining our power once again, allowing us to join our magic into one ultimate spell, something likely beyond either our ability. But together, we were more than the sum of our parts, our minds complementing and allowing us to reach greater heights.

“Indeed it is. Let them fear the winds of winter.” Lenore answered and together, we triggered our Avatar-State, our minds mingling and merging. But for once, it wasn’t only our minds that connected, even our bodies did, in a way I hadn’t quite expected. It was so very similar to moving into my Hallow, only that the Hallow wasn’t in Lenore, it was in both of us. In our combined minds, I could feel Lenore’s surprise, she hadn’t expected it either but was just as curious as I was.

Opening our eyes, we examined the body we found ourselves in and felt pleasure. It was an amalgamation of the two of us, mixed and matched, neither elf nor raven, but something else. It was the Raven’s Shadow, cast over the world, bringing death to those who deserved it.

Our combined form was bipedal, feet with wicked claws allowing us to grip the earth, powerful legs, covered in black feathers, allowing us to leap into the air, where our wings would take over. And what wings they were set on our lower back, feathers as black as the darkest night lined with silver feathers on the edges. We could feel that they weren’t just physical, they were just as much a magic focus, allowing us to fly, as they were physical wings. My hands had similar claws to my feet, looking wickedly sharp and shining with a silver light that made me curious what I could do with them, not just as tools to rend flesh but also to channel my magic through them. Touching my face, there was no real beak but my nose was elongated, as was my chin, forming something similar to one.

“Now, let us show the Centaurs what happens when they sow the wind. They will be reaped by the storm!” we announced, soft, cackling laughter bubbling up from somewhere deep within us.