“That’s a terrible idea!” Erhi punched my arm. They’d huddled around me as I told them my plan, but Erhi barely let me get through the gist of it. We stood in the mist, but as still as we could so as not to attract the attention of any passing creatures. I could see them moving in the mist, but none came close to us yet. The heat of the mist made us sweat.

Batu would stab me, and she’d heal me at the same time, drawing the mist into me and turning my body into, essentially, one of Khulan’s jars.

“I don’t know,” Batu said. “There’s some solid upside, I’ll give you that. One, you could become invisible to them, which is cool. Two, I get to stab you, which would make us even for that time you stabbed my hand when I was eleven. But the downside…”

“You could, well, die, for one,” Khulan said.

“Erhi wouldn’t let that happen.” I smiled at her. “If she doesn’t try and stop us from doing it in the first place.”

Erhi sighed. “I know where this is going, though. You’re going to tell me it’ll be okay, I’ll resist, you’ll reiterate. I’ll end up doing what you want.”

“Whatever we’re doing,” Khulan said, “we should hurry it up.”

Batu drew a knife from his belt, rattling the jars. “Where do I stab?”

I pointed to my left shoulder. “Here.”

“Ready?” Batu asked.

Erhi and I nodded. Batu stabbed my shoulder, quickly like a jab. Erhi swatted him away, then put her hands on the wound. Batu wiped his dagger on his sleeve and sheathed it in one smooth motion.

“Are you okay?” Khulan asked.

“This is hardly the first time I’ve been stabbed,” I said. “Twenty-third, at least.”

“That explains all your scars,” she said. “I was going to ask, but—”

“When did you see them?” Batu raised an eyebrow, then grinned like a twelve-year-old after a moment. “Oh. Oh.”

The mist stirred around Erhi and me, weaving between her fingers like a cat worming itself into a lap. Blue light flickered, and the mist pulled into my wound. It burned at first, but settled down as they did their work.

I gripped my chest. My heartbeat felt heavier. My blood felt hot. I wanted to move, run, fight. I breathed and calmed myself down. Not yet.

Khulan started, but she relaxed when I settled down. “Looks like getting stabbed still gets to you.”

“Knife? No.” I said. “Weird mist from the Spirit Realm? I have to admit it’s only my… second time.”

“Second?” Batu said. “Did you get someone else to stab you that easily?”

“Erhi healed me earlier,” I said. “That’s how I got the idea. The mist did this last time too.”

Batu flicked my torso. “Do you feel more… jar-like?”

“A very angry jar, yes,” I said. “I feel like I want to tear something apart.”

I heard the sound of footsteps, but the ground underneath them smelled like it was burning. I squinted at the mist. A figure searched a house in the distance, throwing shards of a broken door into the street and screeching. It tore through everything it could, scratching at the chairs and tables and stone from the fireplace.

“I think I just found something to tear apart.” I pointed at the figure.

“There’s nothing there, brother,” Batu said, then nudged Erhi. “Is he… going mad?”

“You can’t see that? Can you smell that at least?” I looked each of them in the eye, and each of them shook their heads. I smiled. “Then I guess this is working better than I thought. How much longer?”

“It’s almost done actually,” Erhi said. “This place is stronger than the First Capital.”

“That sounds like a good thing,” Batu said. “But it’s not a good thing, right?”

“It’s bad. It means we have to close the hole soon, or Karakhorum will turn into—”

A wooden beam flew out of the mist like a spear. By the time Batu saw it, I’d already torn myself away from Erhi and stepping in front of them. I wasn’t fully healed yet, but this would have to do. I widened my stance and stuck a hand out, getting ready to catch it. The tip of the beam pressed into my palm. I felt it trying to push me.

I pushed back, forcing my palm into the pillar. It exploded, raining splinters onto the stone. A creature screeched deep within the mist and ran at me.

“Keep still,” I told Batu, Erhi and Khulan. “I’ve got this.”

I charged at it, my steps covering twice my normal gait. The creature stopped, searching for its target, nose pointed up like a stray dog after its supper. I stood in front of it. Moment of truth, I thought, and waved my arms.

Nothing. The creature couldn’t see me. Unfortunately for the creature, I could still see it. I spun, arcing my heel at its head. I expected it to go clean through, but I felt something solid give under my boot.

The creature flew off, crashing through a vegetable cart. It started to get up, but I was already following up. I kicked where its ribs would be and the creature folded like a piece of paper. Something cracked. It lifted off the ground before sinking back down. The mist surrounded the creature and dug into the side I’d kicked, presumably healing it.

“It’s working!” I shouted to Erhi. “See, I—”

The creature swiped up, trying to slip in a cheap shot. I leaned back and dodged the blow, but the movement tore open my shoulder, blood seeping through my shirt. The mist seemed to rush at me, like a gust of wind hitting me from every direction. My hair whipped back and forth. My wound burned. I glanced down. The mist burrowed into me, sealing my wound on the way in, a thin glow of violet light closing the skin.

The creature swung wildly. It still couldn’t see me. I put my heel into its chin, but it just shook it off, screeching and slashing around itself. I waited for an opening, and when I saw one, punched it in the gut. It moved back, but stayed on its feet. It paused, as if in thought, then turned and ran.

I strolled back to Erhi, Batu and Khulan. “Still a terrible idea?”

“Yes,” Erhi said. “But like all your terrible ideas, it works out in your favor, in the end.”

“It’s not the end yet. I can hit them, but I don’t think I can kill them.” I pulled my shirt off my shoulder, revealing the healed knife wound. “But I don’t think they can kill me either.”

“Great,” Batu said. “More being-killed for the rest of us.”

Erhi touched my arm, but pulled back from the heat. “The mist must think that you’re a part of it.”

“Mist can… think?” Batu said.

“You’ve seen an invisible night-hound and creatures made of mist,” Khulan said. “The mist thinking isn’t that unbelievable.”

“Not think think,” Erhi continued. “I mean, it’s treating you like you’re part of it, like you’re one of those… mistings.”

“Mistings?” Khulan said.

Erhi shrugged. “The creatures needed a name.”

“Better than mist-fuckers,” Batu said. “That gives off a… stranger impression.”

“So the mist thinks I’m a misting,” I said. “That’s why it healed me.”

Batu drew his knife and let the tip rest on his shoulder. “My turn. Ready, Erhi?”

“For…? No!” Erhi pulled his hand down. “It only worked for your brother because his body’s been soaked in spiritual energy. Far too much than it should have been, I might add.”

“You can barely take travelling with the map, brother,” I said. “This much spiritual energy is going to make you throw up organs instead of pork stew.”

“What’s a little vomit between me and supernatural healing?” He raised the dagger again.

“It’s not just a little vomit,” Khulan said. “You’ll probably just burn up like a roast boar if you try the same thing. Bleeding from your eyes, bones breaking and turning to dust inside you… That kind of thing.”

“Roast… boar.” Batu pursed his lips, then sheathed the dagger. “Fine. Then what’s the plan?”

“The plan is,” I said, “for you three to get inside that yellow house over there, stop the mist from getting in and sit tight.”

“And you?” Erhi asked. “What are you going to do?”

I started walking away. “Whatever has to be done.”

#

I ran through Karakhorum, beating my way through every misting I found. They fell, but they always got up. I kicked one across the jaw; it got up. I punched one so hard it went clean through two houses; it got up. I tore the leg off one, and it got up one its one remaining leg. They fought back, clawing and biting. One slashed up my back, but the mist healed me. We were at a stalemate – except they could afford to stall. I couldn’t.

Our men couldn’t either. I’d seen the bodies of three giants, all torn apart and burning to black. I’d seen more of my men, though. Dozens of them had been strewn over Karakhorum, trails of blood and fire marking their graves. Most of their armor had been unnaturally dented. Breastplates were twisted, helmets had been flattened as if under a foot.

I dashed for a misting twice my size. I bounded, leading with my knee, and stepped onto his shoulder. I jumped, the force slamming the misting into the dirt. I got about twenty feet into the air, and unfortunately for the misting below, I descended. The misting had just gotten onto one knee when I crashed into the back of its neck.

Two other mistings charged, one from my left and the other from my right. Their flaming skin whooshed as they moved wildly. They couldn’t see me. They were slightly off course, but they were big enough for that not to matter. Even if they attacked randomly, they’d hit me if I stood still.

Good thing I had no intention to stand still. I let them come close. The left one swung high, and the right swung low. I dove between them, then swept the right’s leg. It tumbled, but the left threw another blow. I caught its forearm with my hands and pivoted the misting over my shoulder like a sack. It crashed into the other misting.

I wiped my brow. I needed something more effective. I slipped my hand into my satchel. “Sorry, Erhi.” My finger hovered over Karakhorum. I paused, then drifted over to a cliff near Ulaanbaatar and pressed.

The blue light took me in, but it wasn’t welcoming. It felt like a rat was gnawing at my insides. My bones felt like they were being torn apart. When I landed, I coughed violently, puffs of mist coming out with each spasm. I stood on the edge of a cliff, but I couldn’t waste time on the view.

I needed to see what kind of damage the mistings could take, and twenty feet wasn’t enough. I stepped off the cliff. The map fluttered. My clothes pulled tight against my body. I picked up speed, headed straight for the waves crashing into the side of the cliff. I had to time it right. Fifty feet left between me and my skull hitting a rock. I could go faster. Forty feet. Faster. Thirty. Faster. Twenty. Faster. Fifteen. Come on. I shifted, diving head first. Ten. Five. Four. Three…

I pressed Karakhorum on the map. The Spirit Realm kept my momentum, but it felt like swimming without any water around me. My hair sunk back down over my face. My clothes loosened. My heart still pounded in my chest, though.

The force of my impact pushed the mist back three feet. The dirt rippled like a lake. Dust hung in the air, drifting down as the echo of my landing rolled through Karakhorum. I’d landed on a misting; it twitched beneath me, but something seemed off about this one. It took a few seconds for the mist to settle back around me, but in that short time, the misting I’d pinned to the ground seemed to lose it spiritual energy. Its tiny worm-like spirits crawled onto my boot, writhing up my leg.

I pulled back as the mist sunk back into place. The worm spirits on my leg seemed to burrow into me. The misting groaned.

“What… is…” The misting said.

The worm spirits that crawled up my leg hadn’t been replaced on the misting’s face. Half of its… his face was left bare. He blinked rapidly, like he’d just woken up, then looked down at this body.

He screamed. “What… what did you do to me?!”

“I didn’t do anything,” I said. “I’m trying to fix you.”

“Fix what? What is this? What are you trying to—” His hand swiped at me. “I didn’t make my hand do that. It just—” Another swipe with the other hand.

“We’ll get you out of this,” I said. “You just need to calm down. What’s your name?”

“Calm? How can I be calm? I can feel something…” He scrunched his face and locked his jaw. “I can feel it in me. My… name? Ulan. My name is Ulan.”

“It?”

“The mist.” He tried to kick me, but I dodged it easily. “It’s… controlling me.”

“It’s not controlling your face, Ulan. We just need to get you out of the mist.”

“I can’t make my legs run,” he said.

“You won’t need to, Ulan. Just trust me.” I dashed and slid underneath him, stopping with my foot on his lower abdomen.

“What are you—”

I kicked. He shot up into the air like an arrow, but that wouldn’t get him out of the mist on its own. I got back onto my feet, aiming my jump. I bent my knees, mustering as much force as I could, and released. The misting flailed in the air, but he froze when I hit him, my shoulder spearing him at the torso.

The mist got thinner and thinner until we broke through. As soon as we did, the worm spirits latched onto me. They bit into my shoulder first, then spread over my skin like a rash. My flesh felt like it was bubbling and about to boil over. The misting looked at his body, human again and about a third the size of his misting form. He screamed when we started falling downward.

I had to get to the ground before him, so I spun and dove downward, gritting my teeth to spite the pain of the worm spirits sinking into my bones. When I re-entered the mist, it seemed to pull me closer like I was one of its lost children. The mist’s tugging made me hit the ground more quickly and harder than just gravity would allow.

“I’ll catch you,” I shouted at him, but he probably couldn’t hear me over his own wailing. I held my arms open, shifting around trying to anticipate where he’d be falling. His silhouette grew darker until he popped out, waving his arms and screaming, “Aaaaaaah!”

I caught him and set him down. “Are you okay?”

He patted his chest, arms and legs, then sighed. “I think so.” He stepped back from me. “Are you? You’re… bigger.”

I felt bigger, too. “Get inside. You don’t want to be out in this mist.”

He nodded and shuffled off. “Wait. Who are you?”

I grinned slightly. “Kublai.”

“Kublai.” He walked off, limping slightly. “Kublai.”

I started running. I had to find another misting. They could be cured, but knocking them out of the mist every time would take long. Too long. But it was all I had for now. I ran until I reached a bridge. I looked at the dry riverbed over the side. I scanned the other side of the river. Black, round marks the size of hearths spotted up the street. Houses had been burned, but not by fire. By acid.

That water-misting from earlier, I realized. I hadn’t heard its footsteps in a while. It must’ve been moving away from me. That wasn’t good. I was around the outskirts of Karakhorum, and its footsteps winded toward the center of the city. Towards the courthouse.

Towards the citizens. The war-room would keep some of the mist out, but judging by these melted houses, that misting would make quick work of the stone.

I followed its footsteps, taking in the carnage as I went. Houses folded over, steam drifting from their walls. Melted glass leaked down window frame, hardening over the front porches. The whole street reeked of rotten wood and salt water. A misting rummaged through the remains of someone’s kitchen, slashing at everything that moved in the wind.

I didn’t have time to waste on that misting. I had to get to the courthouse. I picked up the pace, leaping over two or three of the large misting’s footsteps at a time. My hand slipped into my satchel, reaching for the map out of instinct, but I couldn’t stop the courthouse from behind attacked if I died getting there. The Spirit Realm fought the mist inside me last time I used the map, but this time I had much more of the mist coursing through my veins. I could feel it writhing over my bones.

I leapt over a melted wall, my feet squelched when I landed in what was once a garden surrounding the courthouse The grass had gone brown, and I tore it up with each step. I was close. The water-misting’s shadow was faint in the mist.

The water-misting leaned over the courthouse. One of its feet rested on the stairs, acid streaming down and mixing with the melted granite. Its head peeked into the smoke-hole at the top of the courtroom, like a thief peering into a keyhole. It rested a hand on top of the guards’ barracks, roof tiles clinking to the ground. A lone guard fired arrows at the misting’s other hand as it tried to reach into the guard tower.

I had to divert its attention. That guard wouldn’t last long. I stopped and looked for something to throw. A stone wouldn’t work – too small. A chair from one of the houses? No. I glanced to my left. An oak tree?

I put my arms around it and pulled. Its roots had been dissolved by the misting’s acid. I heaved and got the tree onto my shoulder. I stepped in place, getting my balance, then took aim. Three, two, one…

I launched the tree, branches rattling in the wind. It spun like a throwing axe. The tree hit the misting in the wrist, separating its hand from its arm. Acid rained down on the outside of the courthouse.

I rushed forward, going up the stairs seven at a time. When I reached the doors of the courthouse, I ran at it, using the grooves as footholds to get onto the roof. The guard in the tower fired arrow after arrow, emboldened by the misting stepping back to recover its hand.

I got to the base of the tower and looked up. “Hey!”

The guard peeked over the edge. “My lord! You should be inside—”

“That goes for you too,” I said. “Get down from there and get inside.”

“My lord, it’s my duty to defend Karakhorum.”

“It’s your duty to obey my orders too,” I said. “Get inside. Keep the women and children safe. That’s an order. I’ll deal with everything going on outside.”

He glanced at the misting, paused, and then nodded. I heard his footsteps hitting the stone as he ran down the guard tower. Now that he was out of the way, I turned to the water-misting. Absorbing the worm spirits from a normal misting almost made me sick. From one this big wouldn’t be pleasant.

Mist hit my back like a gust of wind. The water-misting held up its hand, and mist curled up into the space where its hand was. The healing started with a bone-like frame, then wrapped around it to form the sinew. When its hand was completely healed, the mist seemed… thinner – and the water-misting seemed to be bent down lower.

It’s using a lot of the mist, I realized. Too much. I couldn’t take the water-misting out of the mist, but I could force it to use all the mist to keep itself alive. I’d suffocate it.

The water-misting screeched, deeper than the smaller ones. The sound sent a shudder through the courthouse. It raised a hand and swung it faster than I expected. Its forearm cleaved down, but I dove to the left. Acid splashed off the courthouse’s roof, but the water-misting’s arm went through the bricks like a hot knife.

Some acid hit my chest and arms, but as soon as the pain bit, the mist spun into the wound. A sharp pain in my heart brought me down a knee. Another one in my right side. The mist healed me, but evidently this was more a curse than a blessing. If I got hurt again, the mist might stop my heart.

There was always the age-old solution to that problem, though: don’t get hit.

The water-misting lifted its arm and dragged it along the rooftop. I jumped off the roof. I rolled to lessen the impact of the landing, but the water-misting already had something waiting for me.

Thousands of thin veins raced towards me, the granite clunking as acid cut through them. I jumped onto a gap between them, pivoting on one foot as they changed course. I leapt to another, then to another, then to another. The misting couldn’t keep up, its tendrils crashing into one another. I leapt over a cluster of them and bolted.

The water-misting turned its head towards me and spat. A thick mass flew at me like a meteor. I stopped dead and it crashed in front of me, dissolving into the ground. The water-misting fired off two in quick succession. These two were accurate enough to force me to dodge. I changed direction, one landing behind me and the other to my right.

This one can sense me, I realized. It’s different. Come to think of it, when I encountered the creature attacking Erhi, before I’d thrown it into the river, its body looked different. It had looked much more like Oktai’s black fire than the other mistings I’ve seen.

The water-misting groaned and bent over, resting on all-fours. It screeched, but its mouth hung open after the sound faded. Mist circled its open jaw. I shielded my eyes against the wind. It felt like a hurricane was forming – with its eye in the water-misting’s mouth.

But it wasn’t a hurricane. A dark purple sphere condensed outside its mouth. Light streamed from it like a black sun. I couldn’t look at it too long. The water-misting dug in with all four limbs and arched its back. Shit.

It fired. The sphere tore through the district. Houses far from it disintegrated like snow thrown into a blaze. Its light was blinding. I glanced back. If I dodged the sphere, it’d crash into the courthouse; the war-room was built to withstand dragon’s fire, but this… this would tear through it and everyone inside.

The ground shuddered. The heat of the sphere made me sweat from three blocks away. From two, it felt like I was in a furnace. From one, my hair burned at the edges. My hands shook. My skin felt like it was about to flake off, but I stood my ground.

As soon as the sphere touched my fingertip, my body screamed for me to pull my hand back. I resisted, and flattened my left palm against the sphere. Its force pushed me back, my heels dragging through the dirt. My left arm cracked, and the skin peeled back, my blood boiling. I gritted my teeth. I couldn’t stop it completely – but I didn’t have to.

I dipped down and used my right hand to support my left arm. I pulled up, lifting it with my legs, and threw it back. It arced over the courthouse like an orbiting sun, and I fell back.

I couldn’t move my left arm. Smoke trailed off my arm. The skin had been burned black. I touched it with my right hand and it felt like tree bark. The mist streamed towards my shoulder; it healed what it could, but it seemed to leave my left arm alone completely.

Get up, I told myself. My body felt too heavy to move. Get up. I rolled off my back and onto my stomach, trying to use my right arm to lift myself off the ground. Get up. I spat blood. The heavy footsteps of the water-misting shook the ground, slipping my tenuous right arm. I fell. Get up.

I pushed and got onto my knees. Get up! Then one knee. Get up! Then I got onto my feet. My left arm throbbed, but the courthouse was safe – for now.

The water-misting opened its mouth, baring steel-colored teeth and screeching. Shit. Another sphere. The last one took out my left arm, but I still had my right.

I had to stop it before it started.

I reached into my satchel and pulled out the map. Using it might kill me, but standing here waiting for the water-misting to fire off another of those spheres would definitely kill me – or, worse, tear through the people in the war-room. I’d have to take my chances.

I pressed on the same cliff I had before. The pain of my arm eclipsed the pain of the Spirit Realm rejecting the mist inside me. When I landed, I fell, but I couldn’t waste time. I ran off the cliff immediately, map in hand. I held my finger over Karakhorum.

I need to make sure this one deals with the misting, I thought. If it survives…

I pressed on the black desert. Usually, I’d just let the Spirit Realm’s energy soak into me on its own; not this time. I had to get as much as possible. The blue light enveloped me, and I embraced it, pulling it towards me like a glutton at a summer feast. I felt the mist and the blue energy fighting one another in my gut.

The map spat me out over the silver desert, the sheen of it forced me to shut my eyes. Some of the violet mist had leaked out here, but I couldn’t see the hole. I fell, but I drifted my finger over the map before I got too low.

I pressed on the Split-Skull Forest. The spiritual energy resisted me at first, gushing against my flesh instead of seeping into it, but I clawed at the blue light. It felt more solid now than ever. “Give it to me!” I screamed into the void. It seemed to respond, diving into my body. My skin cracked, leaking mist and blue light.

I blinked and I was falling over the Split-Skull Forest. The tops of the trees swayed in the wind. I didn’t have much time before I’d hit the forest canopy, so I pressed on Karakhorum on the map immediately.

The blue light didn’t need to be forced this time. It burrowed into me – into my eyes, my mouth, my veins. My heart beat at thrice the speed. My veins felt they were about to burst. I felt my bones shattering and being stuck back together by spiritual energy. The mixture of the mist and the blue light felt like I’d swallowed a lightning cloud and drunk an erupting volcano. My hands had been stripped of flesh and looked like two claws made of violet magma.

The map spat me out with an explosion of light, like a hundred bolts of lightning firing off at the same time. I appeared above the water-misting. It snapped to attention, but that wouldn’t help it. I dove at it like a comet turned flesh.

I hit its neck, slamming the water-misting into the ground. The shockwave pushed the mist back, and the spiritual energy on the water-misting latched onto my arms. It peeled off his body and streamed into mine. My arms swelled to the size of giants’ legs; my legs shook and expanded to the size of tree trunks. My shirt tore and I shed my boots like a cocoon. I stepped back and sunk down, as if I was suddenly twice the weight.

The water-misting shrunk beneath me. Patches of skin blossomed as I took more of its spiritual energy. First its neck, then it back and arms and legs and face…

I narrowed my eyes at the human face. Oktai.