He unsheathed his claws and set himself to meet their charge, but suddenly the asteroid spasmed as a circular wall of rock erupted from the ground, separating them from the wraiths. Zogrusz met Anecoya’s shocked gaze and then they looked to the stone man, who had raised his hand, open palm turned upward. He clenched his fist and the rampart high above them began to curve as it grew, eventually forming a dome that sealed them off utterly from the outside.

“Mine deepest apologies, strangers,” he rumbled. “Thou has stumbled into a rather perilous situation.”

“Who are you?” Zogrusz asked, half-expecting the cowled creatures to teleport inside the sanctuary the stone-man had created.

To his surprise, the stone man dipped into a stiff and very formal bow. “Mine name is Origenius Grex, and I am the last of the Sedimati. Mine people hast been hunted to extinction by the demons beyond these walls, and I fear I shall finally join them.” He let out a deep sigh like an avalanche gathering strength. “I am sorry that I mistook thou for mine ancient enemies in disguise. And that by drawing mine sword I drew their attention to this hiding spot.”

The wall trembled, cracks fracturing its surface as dust sifted down from above. Zogrusz turned to Anecoya, who was staring at the buckling barrier in consternation.

“Your thoughts?” he asked her, and she shrugged without looking at him.

“I have no idea what’s going on,” she said, “but I have to admit I like the rock person more than the things outside.”

“I agree.”

“Also, he doesn’t seem to want to fight us anymore,” she said, glancing at the stone man. “Is that right?”

His faceted yellow eyes dimmed before brightening again. “Aye. There is no quarrel twixt us.”

“Good enough for me,” Zogrusz said, flexing his claws as he rolled his shoulders. “Fight?”

“Fight,” Anecoya agreed, the flames of her sword flaring higher.

The stone man’s rocky features contorted strangely, as if he had suddenly become overcome with emotion. With a blocky finger he wiped something glittering from his eye, and it clinked and bounced when it struck the ground, coming to rest near Zogrusz’s taloned feet. It certainly looked like a diamond. “Thou wouldst stand beside me in mine moment of need? To encounter such noble spirits quickens the magma in mine channels. Tis an honor to meet thou, mine new friends.”

A curving shard of bone burst through the wall before being violently wrenched back. Through this gap, Zogrusz glimpsed flowing dark robes and corpse-pale flesh, and then the rock knit together like it was liquid flowing down to fill a hole.

“I canst not bear them back much longer,” the stone man grunted, his voice sounding strained.

“You do not have to,” Zogrusz said as he turned to Anecoya. “Let us show them whose realm they are intruding in.”

The Phoenix crooked a smile, then plunged her burning blade point-first into the ground. A great pillar of flame burst upwards to consume her, and the stone man reeled back in shock.

“By Charox’s heavy ingots!” he cried, raising a quartz-encased arm to shield his face from the fiery geyser. Within that roiling maelstrom, Anecoya’s shadow was growing and twisting as her blazing wings unfurled.

Zogrusz also embraced his true form, power rushing through his veins as he began to swell. The top of his head struck the dome and it shattered as he emerged like a fledgling fighting to free itself of its shell. The walls toppled outwards as chunks of rock rained down, the cowled creatures scurrying away to avoid being crushed.

A surprised shriek rose up from below. Horror!

And then he heard Anecoya thrashing herself free of the rubble and the hollow voices came again, and it might have been his imagination, but he thought they sounded almost panicked this time.

Phoenix!

Zogrusz stomped down on a wraith, mashing it into the stone. He tried to crush another, but it leapt away, though one of his curving talons caught the trailing edge of its robes. It fell flat on its back, losing its bone scimitar as it fell. Before he could finish it off, Anecoya’s copper beak flashed out and plucked the wriggling creature up. Then with a shake of her great head she tossed it into the air, so high it must have passed beyond the asteroid’s shallow atmosphere because it never came back down again.

He turned his attention to the remaining wraiths, but they had apparently decided that they wanted no further part in this fight. With frantic haste they once more tore open holes to elsewhere, and then threw themselves through these portals, which immediately sealed shut behind them.

Anecoya made an explosive hacking sound, and he turned to find her wiping at her beak with a crimson wing.

Her feathers blurred and grew hazy as she dwindled back to human form, then she immediately doubled over as she tried to spit out whatever residue that creature had left in her mouth. Zogrusz compressed his true form down to about the same size and somewhat hesitatingly lifted his foot to examine the stickiness he felt on its underside. There was a little bit of dark ichor clinging to him, but thankfully nothing more disgusting. Most of the pulped wraith must have sloughed off when he shrank.

They turned as the stone man’s voice came from behind them.

“Mighty warriors,” he rumbled, sounding awed. He had slipped to one knee with his head bowed, his hand resting on the hilt of his malachite sword, which was sunk a hand-span into rock. “Ne’r hast I seen the Desiccated defeated with such ease. And thou hast saved me. I must know thy names.”

“I’m Zogrusz, and you’re welcome, friend,” Zogrusz said, faintly embarrassed by the stone man’s behavior.

“Origenius,” the stone man said quickly. “Please, call me Origenius.”

Anecoya paused her spluttering long enough to introduce herself. “And I’m Anecoya.”

“Zogrusz and Anecoya,” the stone warrior breathed. “I am in thy debt, and I swear on mine blade I shall serve thou till that debt is paid.”

Zogrusz held up a scaled hand. “Oh, you know that’s really not –” he began, but Anecoya interrupted him by clearing her throat loudly.

“We accept your service, Origenius,” she said with the cadence of a formal investiture, raising her eyebrows pointedly at Zogrusz.

Perhaps she had the right idea, he admitted. “What were those things?” Zogrusz asked, nudging the bone-bladed scimitar with his foot. It hissed and crackled like coals doused with water.

Origenius rose stiffly and slid his malachite sword once more across his back. "The Desiccated are the remnants of a once-proud people. As am I. Long ago our races encountered each other, and I do not know the origins of our war but it hath spanned countless aeons. I am the last of mine kind, and they are the last of theirs.”

“You’d think they could finally let go of this grudge, then,” Anecoya muttered, folding her arms across her chest. “Surely reducing an entire people to a single member is enough.”

Origenius shook his head slowly. “They live only for revenge. If live is the proper term – they long since changed their natures to be nought but avatars of vengeance. When I am gone from this universe, I believe they will soon follow me.”

“What did your kind do?” Zogrusz asked, surprised by the intensity of the hate the stone man was describing.

“I do not know,” Origenius replied, turning his jeweled eyes to the robed body Zogrusz had crushed. “I was the last born of mine people, and they ne’er told me our history. Perhaps we are guilty of some terrible crime – I know not.”

“Children do not inherit the sins of their parents,” Anecoya muttered.

Zogrusz glanced around to make sure those ragged portals had stayed closed. “Should we expect those things to come back?”

“I do not think they will dare return so long as I am with thou,” Origenius said. “They waited ten thousand years for me to draw mine sword and reveal where I hid – they can wait ten thousand more. Time means nought to them.”

“Now I understand why you swore yourself to us,” Anecoya said.

Origenius’s gray face seemed to darken slightly – was he blushing? Zogrusz wondered how that was even possible. Maybe there was indeed magma coursing beneath the surface of his stony skin.

“It is true, I will be safer with thou, beautiful and fierce Anecoya. But I also hast a debt to you, and I swear on the molten souls of mine ancestors that I shall find a way to recompense it.”

Zogrusz shared another meaningful glance with Anecoya. “Well, Origenius, about that . . . there is something we could use some assistance with . . .”