Efrain had seen many battles in his time, but most he had been running away from, not toward. Unfortunately, he seemed to have little choice now as he barrelled down the hill. Though he was not a warrior by any means, he had studied military history and strategy, and was putting all of his knowledge into use.

The creatures looked as if they’d been thrown out of Carnes’s laboratories. Twisted constructions of bone, flesh, and gristle, with bony protrusions and sharp joints. One of them was a lumbering giant, with fists more like knotted tree trunks. Another was a small, sinewy creature that walked on all fours, it ribcage jutting to the sky. The other two were roughly human in size, but all with extra limbs, and proportions most unlike normal men.

But by far the most striking thing about them was the fog that drifted from their bodies. It was difficult to see with sight alone, though not impossible. But with his insight into magic, Efrain could see the tendrils of coldness that drifted up and out from them, suffusing into the bank of fog.

Fortunately, those four creatures were distracted with the corpse of the man they’d brought down. They only perked up when a sudden brightness caught their attention. A blanket of flame cast upon them, sending them stumbling to the ground. Efrain spun a crude nexus, a simple construction with only a reservoir and a single command - burn.

They’d already past it by the time Innie had filled the power source, so Efrain tossed it behind them. The explosion of flames felt good indeed, like burning away rot on one’s favourite tree. Soon, however, that triumph was replaced by an uneasy dread as the fog grew thick and cold around them.

The sounds were distorted, just how it had been in the cemetery, ringing out this way and that. The screams of man and monster, the clatter of claw and blade faded in and out. Finally, they reached the core of the fighting, an encampment, sieged on all sides.

It was a relatively small troop, maybe one hundred or less men. For the most part, they were behind a shield wall, jabbing with spears and unleashing flurries of arrows. The creatures crashed upon them like a pale wave - teeth gnashing and limbs clawing for any purchase on the metal and leather.

But that meant they were all together.

Efrain looked at Innie, and she cocked her head, eyes now pulsing with inner light.

“Do you think you can hit all of them?” Efrain said.

“Yes. And probably some of the soldiers too, with them currently like that.”

Efrain was silent for a moment, which earned him a reproachful glare.

“No. If I am going to lend you my power Efrain, you are not going to use it to torch them.”

Efrain briefly considered the potential trade-offs, then nodded in reluctant agreement. Some relationships had to be respected, and sharing power was a mark of inviolable respect and trust.

“They have shields, they’ll be fine,” Efrain said as he looked around them for any surprise visitor.

“You better behave,” she said, and began to glow. She grew brighter and bigger, from red to orange to yellow to white hot. While she was building up the surge, Efrain fashioned the channel. It was quite a while since he’d had to craft a nexus on the fly like this, but found himself enjoying it, despite the circumstances.

The overall theory was simple - create a construction of magic that repelled or attracted other magic in the way you wanted. Of course, in application, even rudimentary nexuses were quite difficult to do this quickly, but Efrain had several lifetimes of reading and practise.

Innie was practically another sun by the time Efrain had adjusted for the winds and the magical dampening of the fog. He cast the nexus out in front of him, letting it drift toward the front lines. Innie followed it up with a blast of molten air.

To the men in the line, it would’ve appeared as if the monsters suddenly were pushed upon them. Then they’d see something stranger still, as the things began to blister and burn, then char. The weight would increase two-fold, then three-fold. Some of the stronger would be pushed back, the rest would tumble to the ground.

And when it was done, they pulled themselves out of or back from a mound of blackening corpses. The pale swarm laid, as burned and dead as if they’d been laid upon a bonfire. Innie had been correct about their lack of resistance to fire, which was a good thing to know. He spun around, trying to judge if any further engagements were likely in the near future.

The mists were already beginning to recede, which was as good a metric for the creatures’ withdraw as any. Efrain knelt by a downed solider, trying to whimper through a smashed and bloody jaw. The younger man flinched away as he saw this new, mysterious figure.

“Do not worry,” Efrain said, as he examined the wounds, “I’m here to… help.”

Damn, he thought, now I’ve said it.

The man let his arm be draped over Efrain’s shoulder, and struggled to his feet. Dark blood poured out of the remnants of his lower jaw. He coughed and tried to speak, but Efrain silenced him.

“Don’t speak, try not to cough either, before the blood is drained. You could breath it in and choke.”

The man was quiet after that, and the pair limped toward the shield line. It had remained more-or-less locked during the whole affair, which was credit to the soldiers’ discipline. W

Well, Efrain thought, time to sell a story.

A man pushed through the back of the shield wall, dark hair tumbling through a helm as he stepped forward. Before he could so much as speak, the man’s hand was at their sword belt.

Those negotiations were short, Efrain thought bitterly as he raised his hand.

The wail coming from behind him shook him out of the oncoming and overwhelming sense of ‘I told you so’. Efrain dropped the injured man unceremoniously as he turned around. A sole pale thing was charging toward him, arms outstretched, mouth snarling.

Efrain dropped his hands to the snow, and channelled some of Innie’s might. As the creature approached, the water underneath it turnt from solid to vapour in an instant, and the pressure exploded the bank in its face. It was knocked back, failing as it tried to regain balance, and by that time the man from the line had already closed the distance, and had driven it sword through its head.

The thing twitched, shuddered, and then slid down the steel blade, leaving a dark trail. Efrain returned his attention to the injured man, and helped him up. Two soldiers came forward to retrieve him, whispering questions, to which he tried to grunt an answer.

As for Efrain, he turned to face the slayer of the thing, who’d removed his helm. His eyes were a pale sea-green, his hair black as a raven’s wings. He clasped it under one arm as he relaxed back, taking the measure of Efrain.

“Did you… do that?” he asked, indicating the scorched bodies. Efrain said nothing, merely nodded, trying to gauge whether this would turn ugly or not. The man, for his part, seemed rather unsurprised by the magic.

He was about to ask a further question, no doubt, when someone called from the line behind them. It was a woman, dressed in filigreed plate, bronze accenting the steel in uncomfortably familiar ways. Efrain tried to parse out the exclamation, but she stopped half-way as she saw him.

“Who are you?” she said, eyes narrowing, fingers curling around the hilt of her sword.

A Paladin. Figures.

“I am merely a humble servant,” Efrain said, slower and less reproachful than he might’ve otherwise, “these creatures have been destroying trees and killing animals, poisoning the water and the lands.”

“So this,” the man once again indicated the charred corpses, “was a happy coincidence.”

“I suppose you could put it like that,” Efrain said, eager to take the life line offered. The man considered the scene, eyes sweeping back and forth between the bodies, Efrain, and the paladin.

“Then, I suppose we have to offer you our thanks,” he said.

“I’m afraid there’s little we can do beyond that,” he said as he withdrew his hand. His smile did not quite reach his eyes, apologetic as it was.

“That’s quite alright,” Efrain said, slowly, “after all, I had merely wanted to stop the monsters.”

The paladin walked around the line, to take a second look at Efrain. She clearly was not pleased by what she saw.

“You say that you killed these creatures, no?” she said, to which Efrain nodded, “how?”

Efrain regarded her, analyzing the best answer to give here. Strictly speaking, at least if he recalled correctly, paladins weren’t technically supposed to subjugate mages. That was an auxiliary pleasure, it would seem.

He would have to gamble upon the man’s apparent good will, and if that didn’t pan out… well, Tykhon was only so far up the hill. Efrain steadied himself, and made his play.

“Why, magic,” he said, getting read to run from the woman.

Fortunately for him, she didn’t immediately unsheathe her sword. Unfortunately, her eyes grew noticeable darker and her jaw clenched. The man, noticing the reaction, stepped forward. It was an oblivious motion, though Efrain suspected there may have been deeper meaning as the brassed shoulder plate lept into the relief of the torch light.

“Well, that is… certainly unexpected. I’ll have to apologize if we seem rather agitated. We’ve had some chaotic days out on the road.”

“I see. I take no offence,” Efrain said, keeping a way eye on the paladin.

“There is no offence for you to take,” she said, hands curling.

“I think it would be remiss of us,” said the officer quickly, “not to offer our full thanks. You may have saved the life and limb of many of our men.”

The remark was accompanied with a glance at the paladin. Efrain was put in mind of someone saying ‘behave’ to a particularly confrontational pet. He wondered just how high the rank of the man was, that he could offer a dangerous remark so openly.

“Of course,” Efrain said, “although, I’m afraid I was a little too late for that poor soul to the north.”

He indicated the direction were he’d seen the young man dragged out of the fog, and men were promptly dispatched to retrieve whatever was left. The shield wall was dissolving, albiet cautiously, wounded men being laid down and treated, others taking stock of their arms.

The man held out his hand. Karkosian - at least Efrain was somewhat familiar with that. He accepted the hand, and shook it firmly.

“Efrain,” he said.

“Naia,” said the man, eyes glinting in the torch light.