The temple on top of Mount Smoke looked more imposing from up close. Perhaps it was the desolate landscape that it looked down upon, or the craggy rocks upon which the temple was built. Built somehow onto the very top of the mountain, the temple looked almost as if it encompassed the entire mountain rather than just the peak.

Three beastmen in silver robes and a demon with red robes stood outside the entrance. I used magic to detect about two dozen guards hiding near the entrance, some standing by windows in the towers, others lying prone behind some spiny bushes. Once we started fighting these guards, more enemies were sure to come out of the temple. With how close we were to the ceremony, I wouldn’t be surprised if they sent almost everybody who wasn’t required for the ceremony out here to defeat us. This meant a full frontal assault would be the perfect distraction and it was, after all, why I had brought Paris with us.

There were no living plants up here, only twigs and bramble. The ground was hot to the touch, as if one could feel the magma inside the volcano from the top of the soil. Our party was standing in the middle of the road, hidden purely by magic. Unless Noel and Alek were using strange magic to monitor us, even they shouldn’t know that we had arrived.

I walked over to Paris, who was remarkably calm. I had always felt the Fil Tusker was smarter than other monsters. She responded to my words, and even showed emotions not too different from those of other sentient beings. I also knew she had not always been like this. Her remarkable intelligence was definitely caused by something that had to do with me. Perhaps she was blessed by the Simurgh, or the thing that allowed me to create magic also gave her increased intelligence, but I knew this was something important. If she could get out of here safely and return to her kind, she could change the world. Years from now, a new race of sentient beings might appear in this world. I felt a responsibility to protect her, but I also knew her transformation wasn’t complete. She was missing one final thing.

I put my hand over her forehead and breathed in. I concentrated my magic, focusing on the principles I had developed for my new magic system. Paris closed her eyes and I felt her consciousness cocooned around something in her head. I reached out. The cocoon was covered in thick, scaly skin. I pressed my will against it and pictured, at first, a red star, then a beating red heart, but bleached the color inside my head. A vignette appeared in my head, sketched in black and white and with smudges and sharp strokes trying to come together to build an image. The image roiled and rumbled around until it began taking shape into a symbol that might represent me.

The Evil Eye had the red star.

Madness had the silver moon.

And the Simurgh had the thirty birds.

But what was my symbol? Did I even need one? I was not an Immortal and I did not wish to become one either.

The image turned to silver hair then to a green globe then a ball of fire, a crimson shield, a blue cube, green cone, a bunch of numbers, words, sounds, symbols, noise, sludge, diamonds, books, pens, everything…

Then nothing.

I breathed out.

Paris opened her eyes. I met her gaze. I smiled, brushed her forehead, and jumped back. The massive Fil Tusker leaned down, inspecting her own body, before bringing her head back up again. She breathed in, raised her two tusks to the sky, and let out a bloodcurdling roar.

Her roar shattered the invisibility magic I had cast on her and decimated the other spells meant to hide her sound and scent. Paris’s tusks cleft apart the air, glowing pristine ivory white. Her glowing tusks left afterimages in the air, as if they were imprinting themselves onto my vision even after they had moved.

I nodded to myself, satisfied. Paris didn’t need my symbol on her body, that was something insecure Immortals like the Evil Eye did to increase their own power or reputation. What Paris needed was a symbol of her own, something that could be passed down to future generations, and could set her apart from the other Fil Tuskers. And whatever would be her symbol, she had to choose it herself.

And she had chosen to make her already massive tusks even sharper, larger, and deadlier!

The guards fell to the ground, knocked unconscious by her cry. Even the guy hiding in the bushes lost his nerve and fainted where he lay. The guards inside the temple gather their wits quickly and raised their hands to the air. The silver-robed guards sent out small bubbles and the red-robed guards fired red beams of energy.

Paris raised her tusks towards the approaching spells and thrust into the air. A boom resounded across the mountain peak, sending rocks tumbling down the mountainside. Two walls of white light appeared in front of Paris and the enemy’s spells crashed and wilted against those walls. Paris let out another cry, shaking the front of the temple like an earthquake.

More people began to arrive, a few of them with robes that had some more decorations and symbols on them. The guards outside had had one red star or a couple of silver moons at most, but these guys had three of their respective symbols on their robes. They raised their arms towards Paris and let out much larger, more dangerous looking spells.

A ball of fire appeared in front of one of the new attackers. The ball of fire seemed to materialize out of thin air, singing the enemy’s robes before he could even look down. The ball of fire exploded, sending the enemy crashing into the wall behind him.

A gust of wind pushed against another enemy, and before he could react, he was swept off his feet and went careening off the peak of the mountain. A gentle thud echoed back up the mountain, followed by another, then another, and then silence.

Kol and Taoc removed their invisibility magic and appeared behind the new group of guards. The guards turned to face them, but that was when Paris jumped forward much faster than her massive frame would suggest was possible, and she knocked a couple of guards out with the sound of her trampling feet. Her tusks cut through a hastily conjured up bubble spell cast by a three moon follower of Madness, and the man was sent sprawling by another exploding fireball.

Shouts came out from inside the temple. The entire mountain began emitting a strange translucent energy and the bright morning hue of the sky began to darken. Slowly, a monotonous thrum echoed through my ears.

Regular like a heartbeat.

Flat like footsteps.

Rough like gravel rubbing against itself.

The thrum calmed the temple and made our party sweat. I barely hung onto the spells that I had cast around myself and had to assist Kelser maintain his own. The sun flickered like a faulty light-bulb and the sky blinked between blue, red, and silver.

A shrill whistle filled my ears. The sky froze in blue and the sun began blazing once again like the faulty light-bulb had been fixed with a gentle tap. More whistles filled the air.

No, not whistles.

Chirps and cries and calls and birdsong.

The temple shook once more and more guards began to flood out of the gates. Kol and Taoc ran back behind Paris, shooting spells back at the gates. Paris rebounded from the terror of the skies and became enraged. She lifted her giant body and reared in the air with her forelegs. Her two glowing ivory tusks began to hum with power.

A red-robed woman with four stars on her robe jumped in front of Paris with a flashing scarlet sword. Paris brought her feet down at a frightening speed and smashed the woman down into the ground, splattering red blood on the earth and sending the enemy’s crimson sword flying into another enemy, who collapsed to the ground with a thump.

Kol tripped up a four moon follower of Madness and Taoc finished him off with a spell of her own. Paris’ tusks cleaved an enemy in two, but although blood covered her feet and face, not a single drop appeared on her tusks.

I glanced at Kol and Taoc. They were doing well with spells from the old system of magic. They knew they had to stick to those spells for as long as they could. I looked at Paris, still completely uninjured, and knew that wouldn’t last forever. Still, her skin was thick and her vitality was strong. I would have to hope she could hang on for long enough.

I exchanged a glance with Kelser. He nodded. We faced the gates of the temple and waited for enough enemies to come out. Then, we rushed in.