The fire cracked and roared, sweat prickling Hakara’s forehead. She reached into her pouch and pulled out a thin glass tube of yellow powder. She used her thumb to pop the cap off, then flicked it in front of herself. The sulphur hovered there for a moment as she focused her will, finishing off the spell. The rune-circles slid into place as she spoke the incantation, a bead of light shooting forth down the tunnel, and then exploding into a fireball. The ghostly forms flitting towards them were briefly illuminated by the sharp flare of light, their ancient armour and weapons clearly backlit for a moment as the fire blasted through them, melting holes through their phantasmal bodies like embers through parchment.

The ghostly horde slowed for a moment, before their bodies started to regenerate, the holes rapidly filling in again. Arrows streaked through the air, tearing even more holes through the targets as Parth volleyed shots at them. Hakara glanced over her shoulder – Carissia was suspended above the floor in a blazingly hot pillar of fire, her eyes burning with power. A ghostly arrow shot towards her, the fire flashing forward and consuming it. Carissia’s hands were clasped together in prayer, before she slammed them forward. The pillar of fire around her rippled and pulsed, before countless streams of flame shot forward, lancing towards the ghosts. This was enough to entirely consume them, the wraiths fading away to nothing but motes of light.

The pillar of flame faded away as Carissia sank back down to the ground, the surrounding rock somewhat melted by the experience, rapidly starting to cool but scorching the air, Hakara’s own protective spells warding off any harm from the scorching heat, but not making it any more comfortable. Carissia moved forward, her robes fluttering in the draught she had created, long ribbons trailing from her wrists. From ahead of them came a loud growl, two dots of cold blue light appearing from the darkness. Claws scratched against rock as a creature entered their view – misshapen and vaguely insectoid, with a chitinous body of blue, four legs ending supporting a ridged thorax, but with the torso and head of a human atop it. Unnaturally long arms held a barbed spear.

The thing screeched at them – if it was speaking, it was a language Hakara didn’t recognise, but she didn’t know if the thing was even truly aware, or simply working off some strange instinct. There was a rush of air, a swirling draught of clashing temperatures as it gestured, a biting chill suddenly present. Air started to crystalise and solidify, a gleaming barrier of ice forming, forcing her to take a step back, feeling her body start to chill already.

She linked her thumbs together and cast another spell, a fan of fire sprouting from her spread fingers. The ice started to melt, but the cold air made Hakara cough and splutter as she breathed it in, her body struggling to adjust to the changing temperatures.

Carissia strode forward, eyes burning, pulling her arm back and creating a sphere of bright light. Parth cast her bow aside and drew her sword, blinking out of sight before reappearing next to the creature and slashing it, then vanishing again and appearing behind it, slicing into its defenceless back.

It spun around, stabbing at Parth with its trident, a frigid aura around it slicking the ground with ice. Hakara repeated her spell, blasting the chill barrier with more flames, holding her breath to try and avoid inhaling the frozen air, managing to create a wide enough gap for Carissia to stride through. Despite the flames surrounding her, the icy air still snatched at her ribbons, the material starting to freeze solid. From her expression, she must have inhaled some of the burning-cold air, as she struggled not to cough and splutter.

The creature spun again, Parth blinking out of sight, before it threw the spear at Carissia. She gestured, just in time, a barrier of orange flame appearing. It flashed into ash as the spear struck it, absorbing the worst of the impact, but still striking her with enough force to knock her backwards, into the remaining ice of the barrier. It froze to her body, pinning an arm in place, as the spear snapped back into the demon’s hand.

It chitter-clattered at them, twisting its body and slamming its bulk against Parth as she flashed back into existence, knocking her against the cavern wall. As Carissia fought to free herself from the ice, frozen to it and unable to cast her spells, Hakara reached into another pouch. This time she pulled out a small glass lens, circling her fingers around in. Trying not to drop it, she laid it on her palm, so that it was facing the creature, even as it tried to attack Parth again, who barely dodged, rolling beneath it. She clicked her fingers, rings clicking against each other, while trying to chant the spell. She’d only ever done this in the lab, never in combat! Her fingers clicked, without any reaction, as she forced herself to relax and focus. She clicked her fingers again, a mote of light appearing in the air.

The lens focused and amplified it, the single dot of light becoming a bright beam, lighting up the tunnel. The creature was so large it couldn’t dodge, the beam slamming into it, making it scream in furious pain. She maintained her focus, ensuring that the energy kept pouring out, hoping that Parth had managed to escape, until the screams went silent. Then she let out the breath she had been holding, and let the light fade.

It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the low light again, bright green and purple phantasms dancing in her vision for a while. A hand touched her shoulder and she jumped, turning around to see a slightly-singed looking Parth, her armour a bit melted, looking at her.

‘Potent. But indiscriminate.’

‘Ah, sorry, Miss Parth. But my other spells would have done a lot less damage, and I wanted to be sure it was defeated.’

The body of the thing was still there, smoking and burnt, fleshy parts virtually destroyed, leaving only the bulky mass of its lower body, collapsed to the floor. Carissia pulled herself off the ice, leaving red marks where she had torn herself away, one of her arms now bare and bloody. She gestured with her uninjured arm, more fire smiting the body, disintegrating it utterly.

‘And so the Demon of Ice perishes.’ She twisted her shoulder, before warm, soothing heat washed out, as she healed herself, ignoring the dried blood still on her arm. ‘A shame there is no word of Janaxia, I was hoping she would have appeared by now.’ The expression on her face did not bode well for Janaxia, should the two ever meet. ‘That was an interesting spell.’

‘Ah, yes, it’s a new one. I, um, analysed Miss Stathis’ essence a bit, and have managed to focus similar energies. I believe it to be most efficacious against undead. I hope you weren’t injured too badly?’

Parth made a show of brushing away some of the scorch marks, the armour beneath still looking intact. ‘Warning, please.’

‘Sorry. It seemed the simplest way to defeat it.’

Carissia nodded. ‘A win’s a win. That teleport-strike of yours is convenient as well. Going to be handy if we ever get to fight some wizards, you can disrupt them quite conveniently.’

‘Sudden strikes, from empty air.’

There was a loud metal clang, as a weapon struck rock, and everyone turned to see where the noise had come from, Hakara and Carissia already preparing spells. Pajaran stepped into sight, her own armour battered and worn, blood trickling down her face, chunks of ice frozen onto her breastplate.

‘Fuck me, where did you guys go? I tumbled down that pit trap and was expecting you to follow me! I had to fight some bastard icy insect demon that kept trying to run me through with a spear. But I think this is what we’re looking for, right?’ She reached across herself with her left arm, the armour over her right so mangled she could barely move it, and pulled out a large pearl, set into a base of gold, liberally studded with gems. ‘Looks a bit gaudy, but it was in the middle of a big magic circle, so it seemed important.’ She tossed it to Carissia, who grabbed it from the air. ‘You guys find anything interesting?’

‘It seems there were two of the Ice Demons then. And you managed to defeat it?’ Carissia breathed onto the pearl and buffed it with a sleeve.

‘Had to collapse a tunnel on the thing, but even if it’s alive, it’s not getting out anytime soon. Good thing they’re lousy architects. What do you need that thing for, anyway? Another powerful and lost geegaw?’

The pearl started to shine with a soft white light, pushing back the chill of the tunnels. ‘Indeed. It may help restore Stathis. Her soul still lives, but is absent. This is the Dreamthief’s Eye, said to be able to peer into the furthest realms.’

Hakara looked at it, whispering a quick spell to be able to see the flows of magic. ‘Ah, yes, of course. Accreted residuum of the far realms, around a self-coalescing ether matrix. The gems are largely cosmetic, except for the emerald, which acts as the focus point. It should be possible to use it to enhance and focus divination spells. And Miss Parth might be able to use it to enhance her transport powers.’

Pajaran looked up, as the tunnel shook around them. ‘Could she learn to do that really damn fast? Because I think a lot of what held this place up might have been ice, and now the ice demons are gone, it’s starting to melt.’ Water was dripping from the ceiling, droplets getting faster and faster. ‘Really should have tried to lure them out.’

Carissia held up the pearl, grimacing as she raised her arm. ‘Pajaran, with me. Parth, you take Hakara.’ There was a loud crash from somewhere nearby, soggy dust pulsing through the air. ‘Close together.’ Pajaran stepped in close to Carissia, as she started to cast a transportation spell.

Parth darted forward and grabbed Hakara, the world turning grey and dull as she was dragged into the ethereal realm. Carissia and Pajaran transformed into large spheres of light that shot off into the distance, fading from view, as Hakara let herself be dragged along, running through the walls of the place, hoping that she was being pulled towards the surface. The passages and hallways they ran through were all starting to collapse, brackish-looking water trickling along the surfaces, walls and ceilings already starting to give way.

It was an effort to keep up, but she didn’t let go of Parth’s hand, not wanting to have to try and find her own way through the place, trusting to Parth’s own sense of direction. Things always seemed rather frenetic with Carissia in charge, tactics consisting of the brute application of power. Which, to be fair, Carissia had no shortage of, but it did mean that when things went wrong, it was very touch-and-go.

They ran through a tomb-chamber, a sarcophagus sliding open, something gaseous oozing out before Hakara was pulled through a wall and into more stone tunnels, the roof starting to give way, water rushing along and sweeping away debris.

She was pulled through more walls, and then a lengthy patch of darkness, where all she was aware of was Parth’s hand, before they popped out into the light, emerging onto a tree-covered mountainside. As Parth released her focus, they slid back into the real world, and Hakara could hear the mountain shaking beneath them, as parts of it collapsed, making her lean against a tree to keep her balance.

‘Satisfying. Destroyed an evil.’ Parth nodded in satisfaction.

‘Yes, but…’ Hakara had to wait until the rumbling had died down a bit. ‘But I’m worried about Priestess Carissia. She’s…’

‘Burning brightly.’

‘I was going to say reckless, but also that. I can see why she changed groups so often. Can you ask her to stop, or at least slow down?’

‘The Flame of Heaven shall be a beacon.’

‘She could be a beacon! Just a more slowly burning one that’s not running into fights all the time. Stathis at least seemed to have some idea of what was going on, and when things went wrong would be at the front trying to sort things out.’ She shook her head, trying to clear away the tiredness. Having to improvise a spell in the middle of combat was really tiring! But at least it had worked. ‘Do you think Stathis will be alright? Her body seemed to be OK.’

Parth shrugged.

‘Are there any other prophecies about her?’

She raised a hand and tilted it uncertainly.

‘You’re not sure?’

That got a nod. ‘Well, I hope she will recover. And I would like to talk to Miss Janaxia as well. I know her family are all evil, but she didn’t seem so bad. Despite the, um, horns. I don’t believe that she would deliberately have hurt Stathis. Maybe she’s possessed, or under an enchantment or something?’

‘Temptress of the dark.’

‘Well, yes, but I think that’s more of her style, rather than as “destiny” thing, and it does look good on her. Maybe if we see her again, we could get her to wear more white instead of reds and blacks?’

Parth tilted her head, apparently considering this as an option. ‘Change of forms. An option. But easier to purge.’

‘Well, we don’t even know where she is! Or Semari. I know that Saltstone’s too hard to get to, and protected, but I doubt Janaxia would stay there for long. She didn’t seem to like her family much, although growing up around that much lore and knowledge must have been fascinating. So she’s probably being put to work somewhere, and I don’t think she would do anything that evil. Well, not anything too evil. Um, probably. So can you find out where they are or anything? With that pearl, I might be able to attempt divination to try and find her, as long as I can get some lightning. If you have anything of Janaxia’s, that might work as well.’

The earth beneath them started to shake, nearby trees cracking as parts of the mountain began to sink.

‘Unsafe.’

‘Yes. I think it’s time to leave.’ Hakara began to hurry downhill as quickly as she could, Parth easily outpacing her, as she tried not to trip, hoping the mountain would stay stable long enough for her to get out of the immediate aftermath.