An immense impact slams into the northern gate, sending it flying from its hinges. The northern wall around the gate is instantly flattened, the huge sharpened logs torn from the ground to slam into the walls of the nearby buildings with an earthshaking crash.

A skeletal stag stands silhouetted in the remains of the entrance, its spiked antlers covered in leaves and splinters. It paws the ground, shaking its head to remove some of the debris clinging to it.

The soldiers stop in their tracks, spinning to face the newcomer with surprise.

“Lilia, get the people out of here!” Reud shouts, gesturing at the villagers. “Run for your damned lives!”

The stag surges into a charge, its leg bones pounding into the dirt. It races towards the soldiers, head lowered.

“Turn, you clods!” Sar screams, his face red. “Ignore the creature, kill the mage!”

In a moment, the stag hits the first soldier. The sound of crumpling metal rings out, mixed with a wet crunch and a scream. The man’s body flies back to bounce along the ground, blood streaming out behind him, before slamming into a wall.

The crowd explodes into life, panicked screaming filling the air as they struggle to their feet.

The soldiers closest to Reud turn back towards him and charge, their blades raised. With a thought, Reud pushes mana into the link, his body instantly restoring. His shattered wrists immediately heal, and he lowers himself into a combat stance that Lilia taught him.

The first soldier thrusts at his chest and Reud dodges to the side. Straight into the path of another blade. White-hot pain explodes through him as it pierces his side. It hurt. It hurt a lot. But he was no stranger to pain.

Gritting his teeth, he springs forward. The man tries to step back, but not fast enough. Reud lashes out, gouging at the soldier’s eyes with clawed fingers. The man drops his blade and stumbles to the side, a garbled yell spilling from his mouth as he clutches at his face.

Another blade catches Reud in the back of the thigh, sending him to the ground, a shout of pain bursting from his mouth. Without even a moment of hesitation, the soldiers spring forward. Lance after lance of agony surges through him as their blades pierce his body over and over again.

Then it is done. The soldiers step back, faces red with exertion, no longer paying attention to the mutilated mage at their feet. A mistake.

Reud sends another pulse of mana along the link and all his wounds vanish, his body restored once more. This time, however, it takes a fraction of a moment longer. Performing three restorations so close together were starting to take its toll.

Before the soldiers notice his recovery, Reud rolls to one side, over to the sword dropped by the soldier whose eyes he gouged. Shouts of surprise come from the soldiers, but before they can react Reud has the blade in his hands. Exploding out of a crouch he slams the blade into the chest of the closest soldier, shoving him back into his companions.

Reud steps back from the soldiers, smiling menacingly. “You can’t kill me. I suggest you run.” He lifts his hands and his eyes blaze with magic, bathing his arms in indigo light.

Across the square, the stag slams its clawed feet into a fallen soldier, crushing his ribs with wet snaps. Blood bathes its once white bones with red, chunks of gore entangled on its antlers and stuck between its vicious teeth. Twisted, broken bodies surround it like discarded dolls.

One of the bodies twitches.

Then another.

A low groan comes from a corpse as it rolls on the ground, lifting itself into a crouch. Blood pours from a rent in its torso, its neck twisted at an unnatural angle.

Reud flicks his hand and the zombie springs from the ground, charging towards him, a low rumbling growl spilling from its shattered jaw. The soldiers in front of him spin around to face the new threat, Reud temporarily forgotten.

A flash of purple light illuminates the square. A bolt of lightning strikes the sprinting zombie in the back, sending it tumbling to the ground. It flips over before slamming into the legs of the soldiers, taking the whole group down into a tangled heap of limbs.

Striding down from the platform comes the female Seeker, her red hair standing on end as her entire body crackles with purple sparks.

“That’s enough of that.” She snarls as she approaches Reud.

Behind her the blonde-haired man has also jumped from the platform, his blade drawn as he runs towards the stag and the surrounding crowd of shambling zombies.

On the far side of the platform the crowd of villagers surges away from the battle, Lilia at their head. A soldier goes to confront them, blade raised. Lilia flashes forwards, and with a flicker of steel the soldier collapses to the floor, his head separated from his body. It looks like she’d be able to handle the evacuation without any help.

“Look at me!” The red-haired woman screeches, her eyes wild and blazing with purple light. A surge of sparks travel down her arm before discharging in a flash of light towards Reud. In an instant the lightning was on him, as fast as a thought, far faster than he could ever hope to dodge.

White-hot pain floods Reud’s senses, his muscles seizing in agony. He tries to open his mouth to scream, but his jaws are locked shut. The moment stretches on, and on, his world becoming nothing but the pain. It fades slowly, and Reud becomes aware of the cold ground pressing against his cheek. Groaning he tries to roll over, but his body feels weak. He manages to suck in half a breath before another crackling discharge floods his world with the pain once again.

The woman’s taunting voice greets him when the world returns once more. “Not so strong now, are you?”

Turning his head with difficulty, Reud looks over at the Seeker. Her arms are wreathed in purple sparks, a thick bolt of electricity arcing between her hands.

Her mouth curls into a savage snarl as she glares at him. “Let’s see how you survive this.”

A deep roaring buzz fills the air moments before Reud’s world becomes pain once again. Waves of agony surge through him, flaring hotter and hotter. Every single one of his muscles are paralysed, tensed to their maximum extent, twisting him into an agonizing ball.

An eternity later, just when he was sure his body would die, it stops. When the world returns, it is the smell of burning flesh that greets him. Then the ringing in his ears fade, replaced by high-pitched screams. Reud opens his eyes to find the red haired Seeker writhing on the ground, engulfed in searing flame.

Another gout of flame surges out to cover the woman. Reud turns his head to follow it back to its source. The skeletal figure of Tel walks towards them, his arms raised and spewing a never ending stream of fire over the Seeker.

Her screams double in intensity, rising and rising, slowly becoming filled with a mortal desperation. She writhes around, trying to escape the blaze. No matter where she moves, however, Tel follows her. The smell of burning meat fills the air with an acrid stench, mixing with the metallic odour of blood.

Then the Seeker goes still.

Reud focuses inward, forcing another pulse of mana along the link. Slowly, the pain in his muscles vanish as his body restores itself. Tentatively, he sits up, the memory of the agony still vivid in his mind. For the moment, he wasn’t being attacked, and Reud takes the opportunity to look around the square.

A swarm of zombies crowd around the blonde-haired Seeker. White light covers his body as his arm flickers to and fro, each swing cutting a chunk from a zombie. Yet they still keep going, surrounding him on all sides, seemingly unfazed by what should be debilitating wounds. The man isn’t backing down however, holding his ground against the horde with impressive determination.

The villagers crowd down the southern exit from the square, Lilia following them and fighting off the few remaining soldiers.

The soldiers once attacking Reud have backed away, chased by the zombie of their mutilated former comrade. They swipe at the shambling figure, panic and fear in their eyes, but nothing they do slows seems to faze the undead creature.

Suddenly, a flash of intense light sends lancing pain through Reud’s eyes. Recoiling, he puts a hand in front of his face, blinking away the after-images dancing in his vision.

His sight returns to find the square illuminated with a blue radiance, emanating from the stage. Sar stands tall upon it, clad in flicking azure flames. Reud glares at the man, painful memories of the war resurfacing. This was classic Lightire pyromancy, focusing on indiscriminate destruction. Those villagers had better get out of here fast.

“It ends here, mage.” Sar shouts in a voice laced with the crackling of flames. “By my holy fire you will be purified.” He raises his arms and a ball of blue fire coalesces in the air.

Before Reud can think, long forgotten instincts kick in, and he throws himself to one side. An intense heat shoots by, barely missing him, followed by a detonation some ways behind. Reud hits the ground, tucking into a roll that takes him back up onto his feet. Turning, he pushes himself into a full sprint towards the blonde Seeker and the pack of zombies. He had to get something between him and the fire throwing Seeker.

In response to his mental command, the stag bursts into motion, charging towards the platform. The crowd of zombies and the blonde haired Seeker stand between it and its target.

It doesn’t even slow down.

Lowering its head, it ploughs right through the crowd of undead, sending them tumbling. The Seeker in their midst spins and attempts to dodge, but it’s too late. The stag’s antlers tear through his side, spraying blood everywhere, and with a flick of its head it sends the man flying. He lets out an agonized scream that ends when he hits the floor with a sickening crunch. The stag continues its charge straight towards Sar.

Lowering his stance, Sar holds out his hands towards the stag, palms open. The flames surrounding him flare higher, and his eyes blaze brighter with purple light. Reud feels the mana in the air surge towards the man in a great wave.

Frantically, Reud commands the closest few zombies to stand, forming a wall between him and the blazing Seeker. Crouching behind the wall of walking corpses, he can just about make out the stag still charging ahead.

Then, with a vast roar, a blinding beam of blue fire blasts out from the Seeker’s hands, slamming into the charging creature. It judders and its charge slows to a trot, its head lowered as it fights against the onslaught of flames.

The beam surges, growing in intensity, showing no sign of stopping. Chunks of flame break off the main beam, forming little flaming whirlwinds that spiral out across the square, setting light to wood and cloth alike. The very air skyrockets in temperature, making even breathing difficult. Sweat breaks out over Reud’s face as intense heat washes over him.

Ahead of him, the stag has slowed to a mere walk, its bones blackening. Periodically parts break off, thrown away to break into ash in the air. Reud reaches out with his magic, trying to bolster the spell animating the bones.

It’s not enough.

The stag takes one final step forward before collapsing, crumbling into ash. The beam winks out, the afternoon light seeming dark in comparison. Sar stands on the platform, breathing heavily. Reud ducks back down behind the zombie wall. Hopefully, that was not something the man could perform again. Otherwise, this would be a short fight.

“You cannot hide from me, mage!” Sar shouts. “I’ll burn this entire place to ash just to kill you!”

Lying on the floor, Reud draws on his magic, feeling out the corpses in the area that once contained a soul. With practised ease, he pours his magic into the space left behind by the soul's departure, forming an artificial construct made of mana. Then, with a single command, all around the square the newly dead once again stand. Turning to glare at Sar from between the legs of the zombie wall, he raises a hand. Let’s see you deal with this.

The undead launch themselves into a charge towards the blazing seeker. In response, the man surges into action. Blue balls of flame shoot out from him, one after the other, engulfing body after shambling body. Every now and again a ball misses its target and flies onward, igniting the surrounding buildings. Soon the village square is ringed in a raging inferno.

A lone zombie makes it up onto the platform behind Sar, its head missing. The Seeker hasn't noticed its arrival, focused on the approaching horde to his front. The zombie raises its arm, a dagger held in a death grip. It steps closer and swings the dagger high, before bringing it down on the Seekers back.

The moment before the dagger would pierce him it slips from the zombie’s hand. Then the zombie’s hand melts like candle wax, then bursts into flame. It steps forward again to grapple the Seeker but instead ignites, its exposed skin sloughing off. A moment later it collapses, burning brightly.

Reud rolls back out of sight. Well, that makes things harder. He glances around, looking for something, anything, he can use.

A detonation snaps his attention back to the ongoing battle. Chunks of flaming gore rain down to shower over his protective wall. Reud does a quick count of his remaining forces. Beyond the few zombies forming a wall around him, only a few others remain, though it wouldn’t be long before Sar burnt them into uselessness too. To one side, Tel stands over the body of the female Seeker, flinging his own flames at Sar.

Reud has an idea.

Responding to his mental order, Tel stops sending ineffectual gouts of fire at Sar and spins, gathering the flaming remains of the female Seeker and tossing them to Reud. Her charred body sails through the air and skids along the ground beside him.

Scrabbling forward on hands and knees, Reud reaches the body. Reaching forwards he grabs the woman’s skull, digging his fingers through her crisped flesh and forcing them in until they touch bone. It was no time for finesse work such as that he performed on Tel. Crude work would have to do.

Reaching out with his magic, Reud follows the link from the body to its departed soul. Working fast, he fashions crude hooked chains of mana, casting them out to sink into the woman’s soul. With a yank, he pulls it back out of the beyond, forcing it back into its body. The soul struggles, tearing itself to shreds in its desperation to escape his control. To no avail. With one final push, Reud shoves it into the corpse, binding it in place. Wisps of soul-matter immediately begin oozing out, leaking out of the rents torn in the soul. The reanimation wouldn’t last long like this, but it should be enough. Please let it be enough.

Reud floods the body with mana and it twitches, raising its arm from the floor to point at Sar. Another surge of mana and purple sparks flicker over it, crackling across the cracks in its skin and sending tingles through Reud’s hand.

Reud pushes more and more mana into it, and with each surge the lighting builds in intensity. Spasms of pain flow back through him as the lightning surges up his arm. He had no resistance to the magic as he lacked the woman’s lightning affinity. Gritting his teeth, he forces himself to hold on, to push the power higher.

Then, it discharges.

A huge bolt of purple lightning arcs out between the corpse’s raised arm and Sar. The lightning pierces straight through his burning shroud as if it wasn’t even there. With an agonized scream, the man drops to the platform.

Reud commands another lighting bolt to form, exhaustion building in his mind as he struggles to hold the tattered soul together.

Sar struggles upright only to be hit by the second bolt, sending him back into his back, contorted in pain. This time his flames wink out.

Reud smiles, a small surge of elation rising within him. In the moment of inattention, however, his grip weakens a fraction. In an instant, the remains of the soul collapses, fading away into nothingness. The corpse in Reud’s hands slumps, it’s outstretched arm flopping down onto the ground.

On the platform Sar pushes himself to his feet, his body shaking. Reud tosses the useless body to one side, sending a command to the remaining zombies.

It was time to finish this.

Sar looks around the square, ringed by flames and littered with burning bodies. His eyes pass over the zombies shambling towards him, then finally focus on Reud. With shaky hands, Sar pulls a necklace off over his head, the silver ornament the only part of his outfit that survived his flames. He fiddles with it for a moment, then the pendant pops open, revealing a pale blue crystal, shimmering with some internal light. Reud’s eyes go wide as he stares at it, feeling the power washing off the tiny gem. Serious mana was packed into this thing, requiring spellcraft he didn’t even know was possible.

Sar takes the crystal in his fist and looks at Reud, hatred in his eyes. “Burn in holy fire, mage.” He clenches his fist, dust pouring out of his hand. Blue light spreads out across his skin, encasing him in a glowing shell. Then, with a flash, he vanishes.

In his place is a sphere of blue flames, roiling chaotically, shaking as if trying to break free. The orb shakes, expanding and contracting at high speed. Air rushes past Reud, whistling in his ears as it’s sucked into the sphere blazing above the platform.

Reud watches it vibrate faster and faster, his mind strangely detached. It was fascinating, a true marvel of magical construction. He could sense the mana pattern that went into forming it, weaving it tighter and tighter into the tiny crystal. Now finally free. Bands of white can be seen within the blue flames, glowing brighter and brighter until it forces Reud to look away.

Suddenly the wind stops.

Then it explodes.

The sound reaches him first, sounding like the very air is tearing itself apart, mixed with splintering wood and wet crushing of bodies. Then, before Reud can react, the shock wave slams him into the floor. Following on its heels is a wall of white-blue fire, searing all it touches. It washes over Reud, flowing straight through him.

Unbelievable agony shoots through his body as his clothes and skin vaporize. The world goes dark as the flames burn through his eyelids and then his eyes. All the sensations fade, blissfully, as his body shuts down.

Then, nothing.