By The Sword - Homepage

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The dark, twisted wooden forms of trees came tumbling into view as we pressed on through the dark.

Branches curled with unnatural grace, warping to form the outer rim of some entrenched magical circle. The dim green leaves wavered in the wind, casting pitch-black shadows onto the forest floor below. The escaping terror, silver scars still glittering all over its back, ducked into the trees and reformed back with the shadows to escape our vision. I slowed my pace, letting up for a moment to give myself relief as I narrowed my eyes on the source ahead.

The wavering shadows were shimmering, dancing, twitching as if the darkness itself was alive.

A shiver raced down my spine and I swallowed, feeling my own set of twitching as energy coursed through my muscles.

I took a deep breath, feeling the frigid winter air swirling in my lungs. My body responded to my every call, not slipping or faltering at all. Turning my attention inward, I marveled at the wonder of my own mind that was now unblocked and unburdened.

Deep in the back of my mind, I felt it stirring with almost imperceptible movements. I felt the commotion pressing lightly on the back of my skull. The pressure was there, but it didn’t hurt. It was a good kind of pressure, the kind of pressure that kept me alert—that reminded me I was alive.

A sharp breath escaped my nose and I glanced at Myris, watching the older ranger stalk through the trees. He was holding his bow low and angled right next to his quiver. His fingers twitched with power and I could feel the energy lifting from the air around him even from paces away.

My head whipped backward, dragging my gaze over the trees. Right behind me, Rian was trotting, trying to match my exact speed while he flipped the hammer in his hand like it was nothing. Beside him, the guard with the hooded cloak, Mayin, kept her head low and her hands clenched. The lightness in the air was ever-increasing as all three of my companions continued to cast through the night.

I shook my head, trying to force focus back to the forefront of my mind. My ears perked up and I strained them, listening for any deviation in the monotony that was the cold, dead forest around—

Footsteps.

My head whirled and my ears strained harder, listening to the soft thuds that I would’ve recognized anywhere. Myris slowed in front of me and glanced around too, obviously having heard the same sound.

Rian’s pace couldn’t slow exactly like mine had and he ended up stepping ahead, his expression contorting as he glared holes into my chest. I pricked my ears again, making sure I was hearing the correct series of solid pitter-pattering sounds getting closer every second.

“They’re coming,” I said without any thought.

Rian’s gaze burned into my neck as his eyes widened and his broad shoulders loomed over my form. I blinked for a few seconds before realizing my mistake.

“The other group,” I corrected myself. “They’re coming.”

Rian’s eyes settled as quickly as they had awoken and he just went back to fidgeting with his hammer, never making any noise.

Mayin glanced up at me, her eyes quivering slightly. The balls of her fists tightened and I saw her taking deep breaths, ones that were obviously forced to be calm. Every few seconds, the hooded pyromancer would flick her eyes around and scan the woods as if she was preparing for a threat only she could see.

The footsteps grew louder in the forest and after a while, a smile grew on my face. Without even realizing it, I began rolling my sword’s hilt across my wrist and flexing my muscles.

My grin deepened as the source grew nearer and nearer.

I was ready.

By the time we stopped, we were only about two dozen paces away, and each of us was on edge. Since first hearing them further back in the woods, the footsteps had only grown louder; we were ready for their arrival. Not even a second later, the four forms of the other group came surging through the trees.

The glint in Nesrin’s eye is what caught me first, and then the smirk on Jason’s face. Following behind them, Tiren jogged with overactive precision, and Cas filed right behind him.

Staring at the hooded guard a moment longer, I couldn’t help but be impressed. She’d obviously come prepared. Her belt was fully stocked, laden with a compact bag that looked like it held medical supplies as well as what looked like hundreds of extra daggers. But despite holding knives on her belt, her right hand gripped a sword that looked similar to mine. The long, silvery blade was bowed and sharpened to an end, slicing through the air as she jogged.

Myris gasped in front of me and I whirled around. The older, grey-haired ranger pulled his cloak tight around himself, trying to block off the wind, but his gaze stayed static. I furrowed my brows and followed his eyes all the way to the source—all the way to a specific patch of shadows that was twitching and taunting the night.

“You ready?” I asked, rousing the man in an instant.

Myris twisted, his hand already diving into his quiver before he recognized my face. The spinning energy in his eyes slowed and a sharp breath fell from his mouth.

“Yeah,” he said, only half-convinced. “I’m ready to destroy the source for good this time.”

A sharp edge lined Myris’ tone, and he didn’t even meet my eyes. Instead, he clenched his jaw and gripped his bow, shuddering once more before he turned again toward the source.

The soft sounds of footsteps became all but booming against the quiet ambiance in the forest. And when I turned around this time, Nesrin’s gaze was already right in my face.

She slowed her pace and held a hand up, slowing all of her companions as well. Short breaths escaped from her lips, but once she regained her composure, her signature smile was back.

“Are we ready?” she asked, keeping her voice low and hushed.

I nodded and glanced at Myris, watching the way he nodded as well. “I’m about as ready as I’ll ever be.” I flexed my muscles again and closed my eyes, relishing in the unburdened clarity my mind had been given. The familiar images of Farhar flashed over my vision, bringing more interest from the back of my mind. I shook it away.

Nesrin smiled, a glint of something unreadable in her eye.

Rian stepped up next to me, squinting at Nesrin’s group. “Where’s Wes?”

I blinked, tilting my head toward Rian and then toward Nesrin. Then, as I scanned over the group again as if just to confirm, I was met with the conclusion that I already knew.

Westin was nowhere to be found.

“He got hurt,” Tiren said, stepping toward the front of his group. He smirked at Rian but didn’t dare step past the position of the head guard.

“We sent him back,” Nesrin added, leaving no room for further discussion. “That’s all there is to it. Our mission is still on.”

I narrowed my eyes on Nesrin but I held my tongue on the matter. “What’s the plan, then?”

Her lips tweaked upward and from the corner of my eye, I could see Myris turning his attention back toward us.

“We destroy the source,” Jason quipped, smugness radiating off him. I almost rolled my eyes right there.

Nesrin bit back a grumble. “We’re here to eradicate the terrors and the source they come from.” I nodded, as did everyone else. “So we need to kill all of the terrors in there and destroy that place for good.”

“That’s what I just—”

“First things first,” Nesrin said, barreling right ahead, “Mayin and Cas, you two already know your jobs. The terrors live in the shadows, so we have to make sure that there are no more shadows left.” Cas nodded shortly, her lips not even moving an inch. Then Mayin nodded as well only a few seconds after.

“We are going to sneak up and then rush in,” Tiren chimed in from behind. Nesrin’s neck tensed for a second, but she didn’t look back.

“Exactly,” she said. “We’re going to expel those world’s damned shadows and kill whatever crawls out.”

The people around me nodded, but I couldn’t just yet. A slightly bitter taste fell on my tongue and unease filled my gut. The plan sounded solid, but it was simple. It almost sounded incomplete. A part of me deep within my instincts was yelling at me to question it.

“Is that it?” I asked, calming that frightened part of my mind.

Nesrin tilted her head at me and raised one of her eyebrows. My eyes widened and a weak smile instantly tugged at my lips. I shouldn’t have asked, I told myself. I shouldn’t have questioned her orders.

“That’s it,” she said.

Everyone nodded again and I glanced back toward the source. Images flashed in my mind from the last time I’d even interacted with the source and the success I’d had. That had been while I was exhausted. That had been while I was nearly alone.

My eyes flicked back to the two groups of people. Now it was different. Now we were ready, and we had a lot more power. Finally, I nodded as well, confirming that our plan was a go.

“Let’s go then,” Nesrin said, glancing to the side. “Rian, keep us quiet.”

The friendly quality in Nesrin’s grin grew harder and harder to find as she surged to the front of the group with Rian and toe, dragging all of us into the night.

Our footsteps rang silent in the dark and for a while, the only sound I could hear was the pounding of blood in my ears. My mind twisted in confusion as the air continued to lighten and all sounds seemed to grind to a halt.

I blinked, expecting to hear the soft crunch of leaves under my boot as I walked. But I didn’t. With Rian’s sharp, concentrated expression shining next to me, everything was exactly how we’d planned it to be. Perfectly silent.

A grin started to sprout on my face as we approached the curved line of trees, but with an all too familiar sound echoing out across my mind, that grin faded in an instant. I shivered and shuddered as the sound of metal scraping on bone filled my ears from the inside, reminding me all the times I’d killed.

The idle scraping grew fast and intense, filling my mind and pulling at each of my individual fears. A bony smile flashed in my eyes, accompanied by the silver blade of a scythe. I gritted my teeth and forced my next step into the dirt, shaking the image away.

My eyes darted through the dark night, seething with fear-fueled fury as the scraping continued to bash against my wall. I supported it with the intense hatred in my veins. Each time I saw any movement in the shadows, my teeth clenched even harder and I saw the point of the mission more and more.

I wanted the source destroyed. I wanted their home destroyed.

I wanted all of them dead.

My hate-fueled thoughts carried all the way to the edge of the source where Nesrin’s hand told us to stop. She glared back, looking at each and every member of the group directly in the eyes. At the end, she stared right at Mayin, who only nodded in return and started furrowing her brow.

Fire pumped through my veins, my body falling into a ready crouch as golden sparks of light flashed out behind me.

And with a burst of crackling flames, the night exploded into light; I was already on the move.

My metal boots slammed on the ground, digging into the dirt like blades as I pushed myself forward. The tree line ahead flared ablaze. Beside me, I could see Jason, Rian, and Myris all running with me.

All semblance of blur was scared from my vision by the clarity of battle. Attacks spun through my mind. Movement registered ahead, and by the time we had all surged through the tree line and into the source, three terrors were already waiting.

Jason attacked first, curling his lips in angry pride as he brought his blade up and shoved it through the blank flesh of a long, tendril-covered, catlike terror. As soon as his blade entrenched itself, orange sparks of light seared through flesh, leaving silvery scorch marks wherever they hit.

I turned, sizing up the other two targets as arrows flew through the air around me. Two rounds of hisses split next to me as Myris somehow shot both of the other terrors at once.

A large, hulking, bear-like terror reeled back and emitted a low, roaring hiss that echoed out over the smoldering flames. But the smaller, humanoid terror that we’d been fighting before didn’t follow its lead. It ran right at me.

I stared it down with a toothy grin.

The terror surged at me. I twisted to the left, my feet moving in a perfect union that I hadn’t felt since I’d died. Pride rose up in my mind as its arm stretched into almost a dozen frayed tendrils, yet it still missed my form. I stepped back to it quickly, bringing my blade down through its flesh.

It hissed, but I didn’t pay the sound any mind.

“Duck!” Myris said from behind, his voice forcing me into a crouch as an arrow cut the air above me and slammed into the terror’s face. Thick, silvery blood cascaded down its skin, glittering gold in the firelight.

I surged back toward the terror, but I didn’t go all the way. Feeling the waves of heat blasting my skin in contrast to the cold air, I still felt it lighten. My eyes went wide and I ducked yet again.

Rian came barreling through where I’d been and slammed his hammer right into the scurrying terror. The thing flew through the air almost half a dozen paces before skidding on the ground and twitching as its sounds of pain died off.

Rian glanced at me, sparing a half-nod. I nodded back, completely understanding, and turned back toward the terror. An arrow sliced through its still moving form, removing whatever cold life was left in an instant. From behind me, Myris let out a light chuckle.

My lips split into a wicked grin as I twisted again, relishing in the fire pumping through my veins as I searched for my next target.

As I scanned over the clearing though, still listening to the crackling golden flames that burned through the trees behind me, I noticed something in the distance. Just past the bearlike terror that was now charging toward Rian, a group of terrors was massed together into a swirling, black blob that was escaping through the trees. The terrors looked like they were hiding something, and they were moving with calculated intent I’d never seen them use before.

My lips parted, ready to call out, but a loud crack echoed across my skull instead. Images of dead, decaying bodies that I didn’t want to recognize consumed my vision. Yet, as an impossibly cold hand touched my back, I broke past the sights and whipped right around.

Metal tore through the air as I sliced the terror’s arm off. Or, as I realized a moment later, its head. The tall, slithering terror writhed in pain, somehow still hissing even with its head on the ground.

My eyes went wide with horror as the wide, silvery scar formed over the terror-snake’s neck and a new, hissing head grew right out of its side. Bile rose up in my throat, but I pushed it down.

The blank, pitch-black snake jutted up again, dancing right in front of my vision and almost entrancing my eyes. I wasn’t getting tranced, obviously, but I didn’t quite move either.

“I’ve got you,” a familiar voice called. Only a moment later, Tiren’s form, gleaming in the golden firelight, barreled into my vision.

The overdramatic guard bellowed an attempt at a battle cry as he flicked his twin knives around with admittedly insane precision. A flurry of straight silver scars peppered the terror’s form as it fell to the dirt.

With the wicked grin growing back on my face, I stepped away and turned around to search for the next spot of action.

A roaring hiss rumbled through the clearing and I darted my eyes to it. My own footsteps were already thundering on the dirt when I realized what I’d heard. The bulky, bearlike terror screeched and swiped down at Rian, who only barely got out of the attack.

Power twitched in my muscles and more fire poured into my blood. My grin tweaked upwards even further as I realized how much stamina I had left. Months ago, I would’ve never been able to go this long, but now… I could’ve done it all night.

My blade stabbed into the large terror, ripping a silver scar across its side while Rian dashed out of the way. The terror turned, but I was already dodging, pushing off the ground with all the force I could muster.

As my body flew backward, green flames caught the corner of my eye. I flicked my gaze to them, watching a controlled, snake-like tendril constructed entirely of green fire ripping across a terror’s throat and into the tree behind it.

My eyes widened and I wanted to gawk, but my attention was diverted.

The bearlike terror hissed again, shaking the insides of my ear. I gritted my teeth. My wall went back up with all the urgency I could put into it and I shrugged off the sting of the cold as I charged back toward the golden flames.

The familiar twang of a bowstring echoed out, cutting through the noise. I grinned yet again and hastened my charge as the large terror hissed in agony, two more arrows finding their way into its chest. The plethora of silver scars adorning the terror’s surface twitched and flared out, ripping in through the terror’s form as they reflected the pure golden light.

I raised my blade, an attack already primed in my head, but I couldn’t execute. Orange sparks flew through the air as Jason’s blade sliced the thing’s shoulder, ripping and searing flesh as it went.

A loud, pained grunt escaped the swordsman’s lips, but I couldn’t see where he was. However, as the gleam of firelight caught my eye off his blade, staying exactly where he’d left it, I didn’t need to. He was sent stumbling backward with empty hands and that was all I needed to see to know exactly what he was doing.

My body surged forward again, closing the small gap between the terror and my blade. The curved, silver metal that I would’ve trusted with my life dug into the terror’s leg and sent it hissing.

I tore my blade out and scrambled away, not even waiting for the aftermath of our attacks.

The rapidly spreading yellow flames engulfed branch after branch, consuming the outer rim of the source and filling my vision as I raced back to the other members of my group. Jason’s face was contorted in furious frustration, but his features softened again as the hissing stopped behind me and a loud thud accompanied a tremor in the ground.

I whipped my head back, feeling oppressive warmth brush against my skin.

Where there had just been a tall, hulking terror, there was now just a corpse. Lying there, seemingly pinned to the ground by Jason’s weighted blade in its chest, the terror’s life bled away from it. Silver scars slowly stopped twitching as it drifted further and further to the house of its creator.

The image of the beast flashed again, but I pushed it away with ravenous fury. I didn’t want to see it. I didn’t want to see its face. I just wanted to give it more work by killing the horrible spawn it had brought upon this world.

“What the hell did you just do?” Rian asked, his voice coming out clipped as he stopped casting and his silence was lifted.

Jason just smirked, breathing hard as he made his way back over to the terror and tore his blade out. “I increased the weight of my sword. Simple stuff.”

I chuckled, letting the words continue to pile up in my ears. But I didn’t listen. Not really. Fire was smoldering the source, but it hadn’t consumed it yet. And fire was still pumping in my blood, but I wasn’t done yet.

My eyes scanned over the clearing, watching the thick, swirling shadows that had once populated the ground all disappear due to light. A golden glow painted the ground, signaling the success of our attack.

A confident, powerful grin came back onto my face. I was reminded of the expression I wore in battle as I fighter back in Credon. The grin I wore now was the exact same one I’d worn when I’d first beaten the king’s battlemaster in single combat. That, I remembered, that had been a good day.

And as my eyes latched onto a terror’s scurrying form, I knew.

This night was just as good.

I glanced at my companions only once before running off, watching the pained looks on their faces. They were tiring out. Admittedly, I was too, but there was still more to be done. So I was going to do it.

As I left the front section of the source in the dust, the shadows pressed in again. Just beyond the reach of the flickering fire, the air stung cold again. But I pushed right through it, my eyes still trained on my target.

No, I reminded myself. I’d called my enemies targets as a knight. But now, I was a ranger—a hunter in these woods. The terror wasn’t my target.

It was my world’s damned prey.

The short, scurrying terror that I’d eyed seconds before slipped into shadows and left my vision wanting. My eyes widened and I strained them again, searching the darkness for movement. But the entire time I tried, I kept glancing away. I kept glancing at the dancing green flame I’d seen before.

Finally, I tore my gaze toward the green flame. It danced and snapped through the air like the crack of the whip. And when I noticed the hand the flame had been produced from, I wasn’t far from the truth.

Standing there with her head low and her hood on, Cas fed the green flame with her magic, forming it in a way more elegant than I’d ever seen. Briefly, I was reminded of a folktale I’d learned when I was a child about a serpent of pure fire.

And as another terror came running out of the shadows at her, the green flame ripping directly into its neck, I was proven almost correct again. The terror hissed and writhed as the silvery burn mark ravaged its surface, but Cas ended its suffering quick.

The green flame whip she carried tightened around the terror's neck, holding it in place. Stepping toward it, she sliced right through its head in a single fluid motion that left the terror dead in the dirt.

Cas looked up, her eyes—grey, but tinged with a sharp green in the corners—meeting with mine. A hitch caught in my breath and the light air she was casting through flooded my lungs. But she just nodded to me and turned back around with a smile almost imperceptible to my eye.

As soon as Cas turned around, another terror was getting burned, and my jaw hung in awe. She whipped, burned, and killed the terror in a matter of seconds. White-hot power twitched in my muscles and jealousy itched in my mind as I watched her work, gawking at her impeccable form.

“What the hell is that?” a voice screamed from somewhere else in the clearing. I didn’t pay it any mind.

Instead of focusing on the noise, I adjusted my grip and stared back into the shadows to wait for any terrors that came. My watching was rewarded after only a few moments and I surged toward the same short terror that I’d seen before.

The small terror stared at me, its form shifting. Scraping grew heavy in my mind and my lips quivered with fear. But my body was already barreling forward, and the terror’s paltry tricks did nothing to prevent its fate.

My blade sliced through the terror’s horrible blank flesh with ease. I lodged it deep into its side and pulled with whatever power was still getting fed through my bones. I met resistance in its flesh and it hissed, sending cold jolts of pain through my hand and arm. But I just snarled into the air and pushed even harder, stopping its movement with one of my own.

When I tore my blade out, the terror’s life was fading and its blank surface somehow got even more blank as it slumped to the ground.

“—what?” a voice cut to my ears. Somewhere in my memories, I recognized it as Nesrin.

“They’re combining!” another voice called out. The voice was deep and distressed, but I couldn’t tell who it had come from.

“They’re not supposed to be able to—”

Nesrin’s voice cut off again but I paid it little mind. In the corner of my eye, I could see Cas looking up as she breathed heavily and tore her blade out of a terror’s flesh.

My lips curled upward as I stared at my prey, dead in the dirt.

“Make them stop!” a much more scared voice shouted. I blinked, recognizing the tinge of Myris’ voice. “Make them stop! Kill it! Make it—”

As soon as my fellow ranger’s voice cut out, I was already running. The clearing flew around in a flaming blur of dark wood and shadows as I pulled my sword close to me and ran blindly toward his voice.

The tone in Myris’ voice. I recognized it. The high quality, the edge he hadn’t intended, the absolute fear—I recognized it far too well.

Beside me, Cas’ form appeared as if out of thin air, matching my pace with her own. Her lips were pressed together and the whip of green flames she’d been casting only moments before was nowhere to be found. As we dashed across the clearing, she veered away from me somewhere in the middle. I glanced over at her, seeing the phantom of wide-eyed horror painted on her face. And when I followed her gaze, I could only feel the exact same thing.

At the edge of the clearing, near where we’d surged through the tree line, a terror was shifting its form. The large, frayed being tore at the insides of my skull, pulling up each and every mortal fear it could. I could barely describe its form with all the tendrils jutting out of it. And the only thing I could describe was the absolute horror displayed on the faces of all my companions as I ran right past it.

The golden flames provided the perfect backdrop for their pain as the terror twitched one more time and flew toward them all.

A blur of silver, grey, and black swept through its path in an instant. Screams and shouts followed.

In the black blur, I saw the glint of Rian’s hammer raising. “I’ll—Let me—” he started.

But before the next moment was over, a screeching high pitched noise ripped through my ears and almost made me stumble in place.

The noise warped and swirled with intensity that seemed to vary with the beat of my heart. I couldn’t even hear the pumping of my blood. No matter what I did, my eyes stayed stuck on the terror continuing its path of destruction through my companions and right into the golden flames.

“Kill it!” a voice wailed next to me. I skidded to a stop, tearing away from the terror and causing the sound to fade in my ears. As I blinked away the horrifying fear and felt my body again, I saw the source of the voice.

Myris mumbled something under his breath. The humanoid terror standing over him stared him right in the face and held out its hand. I blinked, remembering all too well what the terror was trying to do.

Metal shrieked through the air at my hands and stabbed the terror through the chest. Another silver scar ripped across its already battered body; its hand stopped in place.

Fear slowly faded off Myris’ face until he was able to shake his head. The terror turned toward me, moving its arm into my view, but my wall was still up and I was having none of its games. I ripped my blade out of it then stuck it back in, sidestepping its strike like it was nothing at all.

The terror hissed something horrible before falling into the dirt and I nearly spat on its corpse. But instead, I just glared at Myris.

“What was that?” I asked, unintended poison in my tone.

Myris swallowed, his breathing long and heavy. His grip loosened on his bow and he put the arrow in his hand back in the quiver by his side.

“It… I…”

Sounds of struggle still echoed behind me and I shook my head. “Nevermind. We’ve got a situation to deal with.”

I twisted on my heel and glared behind me, watching the incomprehensible terror amalgamation whirling and writhing around. It was pressed right up against the still-burning side of the source at this point, golden flames searing across its surface.

“What the fuck,” Myris said.

I just shook my head. The previously frigid air around me was getting warmer and warmer by the second as the fire spread to trees all over the source.

“We need to help,” I said. But I wasn’t convinced by my own words. Staring at the horrifying mass of things that fed off my fear, I didn’t move. I couldn’t move.

Myris was silent for a moment, leaving only the sounds of their pain. “What are we going to—”

A loud, rumbling hiss rang out through the clearing and splitting the forest beyond. The terror reeled back in an instant, and a flash of green flame told me why.

Its frayed, terrifying, insect-like legs were seared and cut one by one with green fire. In the distance, I saw Cas’ stoic, motionless expression as she disabled the terror one leg at a time. Shouting followed the terror’s immense pain—and both orange and golden colors bathed the damned thing in light. Silver scorch marks covered its being.

The twang of a bow sounded next to me and I didn’t even need to turn. Myris let out his last three arrows within the space of a few seconds, each one of them finding their mark.

“You ready yet?!” Nesrin screamed. I widened my eyes, movement surging into my muscles again.

“Get the hell out of the clearing!” Mayin yelled after her. Behind the terror’s scrambling body, I saw a terrifyingly bright flash of golden light.

“Holy shit,” Myris said, but I was already running.

I glanced back at the grey-haired ranger and gestured for him to follow; he didn’t even need my advice. Both of us were dashing out of the clearing before the next few seconds were up.

Surging through the burning trees, Myris and I didn’t let up our run. Seconds bled together in one anxious, horrifying mess as we made out escape, scrambling back toward where we’d entered the source.

The next thing I knew, I was shouting and waving my hands, trying to get the attention of Jason and Nesrin as they each helped a limping form out of the trees. Each of them darted their eyes to mine, instantly looking past me at Myris as well.

Relief washed over Jason’s shoulders. Dragging a body that I recognized as Tiren, he sighed, with Nesrin not far behind.

Catching up with where they were standing, my heart sunk as I saw Rian’s pale face singed at the sides. He looked battered and cold as ice; his lips were twitching, mumbling incoherent sounds that forced memories I didn’t want to think about to the forefront of my mind.

I shook my head and ripped my gaze to the source. The world in front of me was consumed in golden fire. Before, only the trees had been set ablaze. But now, it was as if the air itself was on fire, cooking anything that could’ve possibly still been inside to death.

The thought left a fearful bitter taste on my tongue. My mouth was dry when I tried to swallow. I felt heaviness in my limbs and I wanted to collapse, to sleep in the cold dirt until it was no longer a dream. But I didn’t tear my eyes away. No. Not while they were still inside.

After what felt like an eternity of suspense, Cas came running out of the blaze with Mayin’s body in her arms. The golden-flamed pyromancer was slumped, coughing and looked like she’d been exploded and put back together—but she was alive.

And Cas, her expression still as removed and resigned as always, was breathing with a heaviness I was sure we all felt.

But at least she was alive too, I thought.

My body slumped in the dirt, somehow finding its way into a sitting position.

The people around me stirred and swirled, tending to the injured in an effort that I didn’t help in. At least, not yet.

The presence at the back of my mind gawked, as speechless as I was.

And I just sat there useless, staring at the fire while the world spun around me for just a moment longer.