“Planes,” Sylph muttered, walking up to join Damien with a grim expression on her face. “How bad is it? That’s a lot of green.”

Damien shook his head mutely. “I don’t know. Henry?”

“Bad,” Henry said. “I can feel the Corruption, even from here. The only Corrupted monster I could feel at a range like this…”

“Second,” Damien finished. “We need to move. If he’s showing himself, there’s something he needs here. We have to make sure he doesn’t get it.”

“What’s going on?” Quinlan asked, limping up to join them. Her good arm was wrapped around Cheese’s neck as he supported her.

“We’re under attack. Forget about Forsad,” Damien said. “Do you have a way to get out of here?”

“None of us do. We need Derrod,” Quinlan replied. “What could possibly cause him trouble, though? He’s Stormsword!”

“Is it strong?” Cheese wondered.

“Too strong for any of us,” Damien said, teleporting out of the hole and onto the ground surrounding it. The molten rock surrounding them had started to cool, but it was still uncomfortably hot.

Sylph flickered up to join him. A moment later, Cheese leapt out of the hole, holding Quinlan to his chest, and landed beside them with a thud. He set her back down and squinted at the source of the light.

It was originating from the east of the city, where a jagged hole hung in the gray dome in the sky.

“I think I should probably let you know that I don’t actually have the artifact you were looking for,” Cheese said, rubbing his chin. “Aven does. We swapped just in case someone actually beat me.”

“You lied?” Quinlan exclaimed. “But I was fighting you that whole time!”

“Well, it was fun,” Cheese said with a shrug. “Blame Aven. It was her idea. But… she’s over in the direction of that explosion.”

“Well, I figured out what Second is after,” Damien said. “Let’s go. We need to help her. Quinlan, you should probably stay back. You’re injured.”

Quinlan clenched a fist. “Damn it. You’re right, I’m just a hindrance right now. I don’t even have enough Ether to fight if I’m propped up against a wall.”

“To be honest, I’m running a little low as well,” Cheese admitted. Much of his easygoing attitude had faded with the arrival of the Corruption. “I’ve still got some, though. Quinlan and I will catch up with you if this Corruption doesn’t kill everyone first.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Damien said dryly. “Let’s go, Sylph.”

He teleported, knowing that she was only a few seconds behind him as they sped toward the east of the city.

Houses flickered by in a blur as Damien accelerated the speed of his magic, covering ground at an incredible speed. He didn’t stop for more than an instant between teleports and only paused when he put a little too much distance between himself and Sylph.

His skin prickled as he grew closer to the east side of the city. Ether delicately pulled away from him and floated into the sky, following an invisible summons.

“Hold on, Damien,” Sylph said, appearing beside him in a burst of wind. “I’m not so sure Second is after any artifact. If he broke in this easily, he could have taken it at any time. There was no reason to wait for us to show up.”

“Then what’s he doing? We don’t exactly have time to sit around and figure it out.”

“Considering the time he showed up, he’s probably hunting. I was trained to do something similar,” Sylph said, nodding up at the hole in the sky. “He’s drawing attention on purpose. You only do that when you’re trying to draw someone out.”

“You think he’s after me?”

“Could be,” Sylph said with a curt nod. “But… there’s another option. There’s more than one person that could pose a threat to him.”

“Shit. Derrod?”

Sylph gave him a small nod. “Stormsword is a deadly warrior, even if he’s a terrible person. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. You aren’t wrong,” Damien said. “Eight Planes. He’s one of the strongest mages in the kingdom. If he dies, we’ll all be in trouble.”

“Just be careful,” Sylph said. “This is just a thought. He’s after you as well, we know that.”

“It’s a risk we’ve got to take,” Damien said. Sylph nodded and they both shot off again.

Damien teleported himself into the air, getting better vantage point of the city.

“There,” Henry said, drawing Damien’s gaze to a small group of people in a large, flattened clearing full of rubble.

Damien teleported again, arriving behind a building at the edge of it. He poked his head out, preparing the Ether to teleport once more at the slightest sign of trouble. Sylph appeared beside him, her face tense.

Second stood across from Derrod, the bandages covering his body twisting and churning like he was covered by a thin layer of white worms.

Four other Corrupted monsters, their flesh a sickly mix of bone white and lime green, stood around him. They were all humanoid, but lacked all the defining features that made man.

The monsters’ eyes were dark, sunken holes. Only two of them had mouths, but they were warped and empty, passageways into the empty black rather than a tool for survival.

Behind Derrod, Aven leaned against a building. A brutal cut ran along her chest, weeping blood despite the thick stitching holding it shut. The bodies of three Corrupted monsters laid around her, scorched and shattered.

“Who are you?” Derrod asked, his sword pointed at Second.

“Your future,” Second replied. A bandage shot from his arm, reaching for the mage. Derrod’s sword flashed and the bandage split in two. The bandages on Second’s face wrinkled in anger and the severed cloth fluttered back up to his arm, reattaching itself.

“You aren’t like the other Corrupted monsters I’ve killed,” Derrod said. “You’re… more. Why do you challenge the Queen?”

“I don’t care about your kingdom,” Second said with a grating laugh. One of the monsters beside him stepped forward, letting out a keening wail.

Aven flicked her hand a bolt of black light shot from her fingertips, punching through the monster’s neck. The spell wrapped back around, entangling it with a shadowy net. The net snapped taut, slicing through the monster in dozens of places. It crashed to the ground, diced.

Before the wounds could heal, Derrod pointed a finger the creature. It shuddered, and the lines of Ether connected to it started to snap. Second snarled and a wave of green light washed out from his chest.

Derrod summoned a cloak of storming blue energy around him, but the light washed over all of them harmlessly.

The monster that Aven had chopped reassembled itself piece by piece, strands of green acid stitching it back together.

“Did you really think I’d just let you chop my soldiers apart?” Second asked, cocking his head.

“Stormsword, we need to retreat,” Aven said. “I’m losing my Ether just by standing next to him. I don’t know if we can win this. We have to get out of Forsad and seek reinforcements.”

“Try it,” Second encouraged. “Your son was equally as apt at running away, but he’s had help. You don’t.”

Magic stormed around Derrod, sending arcs of lightning scoring across the ground around him. Second laughed, raising a hand as Derrod’s magic leapt for him. A green rune circle spiraled out in the air before his palm, stopping and absorbing the lightning before it could even touch him.

Derrod flashed forward, swinging his sword down at Second’s neck. The Corrupted man dodged to the side, moving just out of the way of the blow and thrusting his palm for Derrod’s chest.

Lightning wrapped around Derrod and he vanished, reappearing on Second’s other side mid swing. Shimmering blue afterimages sprung up around him, all lashing out in unison. Second blocked the main attack, but two of the images drove their weapons into his chest.

Acid sprayed as Derrod unleashed a flurry of strikes into Second’s back, shredding the bandages covering the man before flickering back to avoid the green liquid.

“You’re just another Corrupted monster,” Derrod growled, flicking his sword clean. A thin layer of his magic coated his weapon, keeping the acid from burning it. He raised a hand, sending magical energy out to stop the other man’s wounds from healing.

“You aren’t wrong,” Second said. Stone built over his wounds, sealing them shut. Then, slowly, the green acid reached out as well, stitching his flesh shut before his bandages shifted to cover the site of the wound. “But you lack understanding of what you’re talking about. There is no ‘just’ in this. I am Corrupted.”

His bandages unraveled and he lowered his arms, hiding them within the folds of his cloak, as they started to gather on the ground around him.

“Stormsword, you have to cut him off from the Ether,” Aven hissed. “You’re letting him heal!”

“I did,” Derrod said, raising his sword once more. “He should be cut off.”

Second shimmered with sickly green light that rose off him in wisps of rancid smoke. The monsters around him started to advance on the two humans.

“Such a limited understanding,” Second said. Two of the monsters leapt. Derrod flickered, reappearing where he had been standing a moment later. The monsters crashed to the ground on either side of him, shredded to pieces.

“You talk a lot, but I’m not seeing any real threat from you. You’re just a cockroach. Difficult to kill, but harmless,” Derrod growled. The monsters started to piece themselves together, but Aven thrust her hands forward. One of them collapsed back to the ground, turning to stone.

“Ultimately amusing,” Second said as the monster at Derrod’s side stitched itself back together and took a step back. “You have some skill, but it doesn’t matter. You have no idea how many other skilled men just like you float, forgotten, in the farthest reaches of the Void.”

“Nor do I care. Why are you here?” Derrod demanded. “What do you have to do with the Void?”

“Everything,” Second breathed. His bandages lifted into the air, hissing and popping with dark green magic. “Everything.”

The bandages shot forward. Derrod’s sword flashed and he shimmered back. The ground where he had been standing vanished under a rain of blows that shook the earth. Some of the bandages fell to the ground, cut, but they pulled themselves back together only moments later.

“Stormsword!” Aven said urgently. “We need to leave!”

“Tell me what you know about the Void,” Derrod said, ignoring Aven. “What is it? Why is it here? What threat does it pose to the kingdom?”

Bandages lifted Second into the air, writhing around him in a form eerily similar to Henry’s tentacles. Streamers shot at Derrod in rapid succession, moving so fast that Damien could barely track them.

Derrod flickered and vanished, remaining in vision for mere instants at a time. Beams of light carved through Second, but every wound Derrod inflicted on the Corrupted man healed moments later.

A brilliant blue flash lit up the clearing and Derrod reappeared on the ground only a short distance away from Damien, his brow furrowed in concentration and anger. Second sank for a moment, a thick cut weeping acid along his chest.

“You aren’t immortal,” Derrod snarled. Tongues of lightning stretched down his arm, wrapping around his sword.

“I am to the likes of you,” Second replied. “I’ve fought a Blackmist teacher before. Even if you possess the ability to mildly injure me, they don’t matter if you can’t get close. I know what you value.”

Five bandages blurred toward Aven. Her eyes widened and she staggered back, too weakened to escape. Derrod blurred, but in Second’s direction instead of Aven’s.

There was no time to think. Damien cursed, teleporting and appearing before the wounded student. He arrived, Devour springing out before him just in time to block the attack. The tendrils vanished within it and Derrod thrust his sword through Second’s chest. A brilliant explosion rang out, filling the clearing with blinding blue light.

Damien raised a hand, squinting to try and see. Sylph stood beside him, her scythes poised at the ready. Derrod stood below Second, his sword still lodged in the other man’s chest. Acid poured down from the wound, and the two were locked in a violent battle of mental energy.

“If you don’t answer my questions, you will die,” Derrod said.

“That is not possible,” Second hissed, reaching down to his chest and drawing the sword from it. For a moment, the wound started to turn to stone. Then it cracked, giving way to acid as Second healed himself once more. “I am already dead. And soon, you will be part of me.”

Derrod disappeared, blurring back into view behind Second. He drove a palm into the Corrupted man, knocking him away with a blast of condensed energy, and grabbed his sword from the Second’s hand in the same move.

Second caught himself with his bandage tentacles, turning back toward Derrod with a low chuckle. “Damien. I had been hoping you would arrive, but I wasn’t certain I’d be able to lure you out.”

“We’ll deal with that later,” Derrod said, flashing toward Second again.

A tendril blurred and Derrod slammed into the ground, cracking the stone beneath him.

“No,” Second said. “We won’t. You are enough of a bother that I will deal with all of you now. There will be no further interruptions.”

Second raised his hands. Damien let out a strangled gasp as the Ether in his chest bucked. The air shimmered, tickling his skin as golden motes flooded toward Second, pouring out of everybody and everything.

Damien desperately grabbed onto what he could hold, but it took all his power just to keep his grasp over two motes of the magic. Sylph crumpled to her knees beside him, gasping for breath.

“This is but a taste,” Second said, his voice a threatening whisper. “Behold what is to come. This is the fate that awaits those of us that fall into the cracks in the Void. There is nothing. Nothing but Corruption. You are nothing without your magic.”

Derrod groaned, pushing himself up. His sword flickered faintly, then went out once more. Second started to lower toward Derrod, a tendril sharpening to a point at his shoulder.

Sylph struggled to push herself upright, but collapsed back to the ground with a wheeze. Her scythes retracted back into her body and she groaned. Aven crumpled behind them, completely spent.

Damien tried to form a gravity sphere, but his last two motes of Ether vanished as soon as he drew them out of his body, siphoning away into Second.

Henry!

“Just run,” Henry yelled. “I can’t stop him like this. He’s stronger than the last time we met him.”

We won’t make it. I don’t have enough Ether to teleport, and even if I could, I can’t take Sylph with me. I need your help.

Damien pulled his shirt back with shaking fingers, pushing the mage armor out of the way. Second stopped before Derrod, reaching out with his bandages and lifting the mage into the air.

“To do what?” Henry screamed mentally.

You already know. You can read my thoughts.

Damien grabbed a rock from the ground and carved a line across his palm. Blood welled up in his hand and he dipped a finger in it, tracing several extra lines across the runes on his chest.

It didn’t take much to ruin a rune circle. With just a few strokes, runes meant to keep something in could be changed to those that keep that very same thing out. Damien’s chest tingled. The tendrils of shadow swirling across his chest expanded, reaching out across his body.

Damien shuddered. The life blinked out behind his eyes, replaced by a pitch black that devoured all the light that touched it. For an instant, his shoulders slumped. Then, as if yanked upright by strings, he jerked straight.

His control of his body vanished, blown out like a candle in the wind, as It Who Heralds the End of all Light took over.