I only felt the ground shaking at first. The next thing was heat, as if the sun was rising from inside me. But the heat was… moving. It curled, spinning itself into my bones, then stitching itself into sinew, muscle, veins. It spun and shape me, like a potter shaping clay.

“…not possible,” Oktai muttered.

I tried to move my arms, but they didn’t respond at first. Move. They shifted. Blood flowed into them for the first time, burrowing between my muscles and awakening them. My bones felt even denser than before, as if they’d been reformed out of steel. My skin shifted and writhed at first, like a new coat sinking into place. I cracked my neck as I stood.

I opened my eyes. The map lay next to me, so I picked it up and returned it to my satchel.

Oktai stepped back. “This isn’t… possible.”

The mist thrashed around me, grating against my skin. It slammed into me, front and back, shifting directions instantly between blows. I stood steadfast. It curled around me legs, like a hunting dog.

Oktai stuck a hand out. “Come!”

The mist started. Some of it broke off and spun into his palm, but most of it clung to me. I swatted the air and the sliver of mist in Oktai’s palm dissolved.

“Come!” Oktai stepped back, shaking his open palm. “Come! Come!”

Nothing materialized.

“Come.” I held out my hand. Mist shot up from around my ankles into my palm. It sparkled in the light of Oktai’s black fire. I spun my fingers, curling it into a sword. The hilt formed first, dragging out into a short blade the color of iron. I gripped it, and the mist tightened, locking into the form of the sword.

“Fine,” Oktai puffed his chest up. “I have other tricks.”

Oktai’s black fire peeled back with a crunch. Blue light swam inside him, but it looked darker than the Spirit Realm’s, as if his had been polluted. His chest sealed itself a moment later, and his black fire roared like he’d poured oil on it.

“All the portals to the Spirit Realm I opened on this continent,” he said. “All of them are powered by this one in me.”

“Good,” I said. “Then I only have one target.”

He dove at me. His attacks were faster, but I felt them coming in the mist. He swiped, but I swatted his hand back with my blade. His fire felt harder, as if it was made of stone. He kicked, but I grabbed his leg and flung him. I grinned. Oktai regained his balance and kept coming for me.

Let’s see what this mist can do. I threw my mist-blade aside and it dissolved. I told the mist to come to me in my mind. It listened, snapping to attention. A stream of it hit Oktai on its way, sending him into a fence.

All of it, I told the mist. It responded. Mist streamed into my chest, packing itself in tightly. My lungs felt like I was drowning, but I could breathe fine. The veins in my arms swelled and blackened. If I didn’t feel like I could lift the moon right now, I might think I was ill.

Karakhorum looked normal again – albeit in shambles. Only one house had been left untouched in this street. Rocks piled up the courthouse stairs like a mound of granite snow. The ground beneath Oktai and I had been burned, but the rest of it looked like it had been tilled. I’d have to think about rebuilding later – for now, I had to close the portal inside Oktai; it still posed a threat even with the mist under my command.

Oktai came at me again, wielding a piece of broken wood like a desperate spear. I caught it and it burned to ash between my fingers. He tried to grab at my flesh, but he pulled his hand back when it started to burn. I wasn’t cloaked in black fire like Oktai, but steam leaked from my skin.

“Your other tricks are less impressive,” I said.

Oktai scowled. “I’ll show you less impressive.”

His attacks got faster. His hands whooshed past me, barely visible. I blocked each strike, twisting his wrist when I caught it. He pulled back, his hand dangling loosely on his broken wrist. He groaned and the black fire snapped it into place.

Oktai didn’t let up, but I could deal with him. The problem was the portal inside his body. I didn’t know what would happen if I killed him. I blocked his blows, slapping his hands away like they were mosquitos in the night. He even tried throwing in a head-butt, but I took it. I head-butted him in return. He didn’t take it as well as I did.

He stumbled back. I didn’t let up. I grabbed his chest, using my thumbs to pry open the flames. They didn’t give in, burning hotter the harder I squeezed. Oktai pushed he back.

“Close the portal,” I said.

“It’s too late for that.” Oktai dashed for me.

I went straight for his chest. I clawed at the black fire and called out to the mist inside me. It leaked out from my skin and pushed Oktai back, tearing into his black fire.

He pushed against it, crossing his arms in front of his chest to protect it. I strode forward, blasting mist at him. Black fire splintered off, but not enough to open his chest. Harder. The mist responded, blasting Oktai at twice the rate. It lashed out at him, but he dodged the whips. I stepped forward. He stepped back.

Crack.

His chest split open, spilling blue light out like a waterfall. He tried to pull the black fire over the portal, but it only fell off like rotten flesh. I charged at him and gripped the edges of the portal. I pulled on the edges, trying to bring them together. Oktai clawed at my face, but I had to focus on closing the portal. I groaned. It didn’t budge.

Help. The mist streamed out from my forearms, curling around my hands. It attached around the edges. The portal shifted an inch closed, but that was far from enough. Oktai pushing my shoulders and used his legs to pry himself free of my grip.

Footsteps caught my attention. Three sets. It caught Oktai’s too. His head turned sharply. Erhi, Batu and Khulan waved in the distance, running toward us.

I knew what Oktai’s was thinking, and when he started to run at them, I punched him clean across the jaw, sending him into the dirt. He jumped back with a whoosh and dashed at them, but I caught his ankle as he leapt. I threw him like a doll; he crashed into the last house standing in the street.

Batu jogged up. “You look… kind of badass, actually.”

Erhi and Khulan weren’t far behind.

“What happened to the mist?” Erhi asked.

“The mist is under control.” I held out a hand. Mist spiraled into the shape of a rose. I gave it to her. “Literally.”

“Always the charmer,” Khulan said.

“But I still have to close the portal,” I said.

“We can just throw some dirt in them,” Batu said. “A lot of it. Holes are holes, after all.”

Erhi rolled her eyes. “No. That won’t stop the spiritual energy from leaking in.”

“We have to shut off the source that’s keeping them open. The main portal is inside Oktai.” I pointed. “If we close that one, we close them all.”

“Inside…” Batu narrowed his eyes. “…Oktai.” He paused. “Didn’t he melt?”

“Evidently not.” Khulan pointed at Oktai shifting in the rubble.

“Get behind me,” I said.

They listened. Oktai was still leaking blue light. He reached down, curling some of it into a sphere. It spun between his fingers, black fire igniting it. He raised it, but I was ready. The sphere shot at me. I ran to meet the sphere, my palm stretched outward.

I caught it. I let it travelled back over my shoulder, just so it would wind up my throw. Oktai saw what I was planning, but it was too late. I craned my arm back and pushed forward, launching the sphere at Oktai at twice the speed.

He dove out its path, but it clipped his foot. He rolled back up, but stood with a limp, his foot smoking from the heat of his own attack. The limp didn’t stop him from coming at me again.

“Erhi,” I called out. “I have an idea to close the portal.”

“Is it a lot of dirt?” Batu said.

“No, but it feels dirty,” I said. “Oktai said he needed you to heal his body before.”

“So you want me to…”

“Heal him.” I sent a blast of mist to slow him down. It did, but he was still headed for me. “That portal in his chest is like my injuries from when I use the map too much.”

“Except it’s about a thousand times worse,” she said.

“Can you handle it?”

Erhi pursed her lips, then nodded.

I smiled. “Get ready.”

I dashed at Oktai. He swung at me, but I blocked the blow and slipped underneath his raised arm.

Oktai threw his free elbow back at me, but I caught it. “What are you—”

I pulled his arms back and put him in a headlock. Oktai wriggled, but that only made me tighten my grip. I kicked the back of his knees, pushing him towards Erhi. His gut was open, spilling blue light like a fountain.

Erhi stepped forward. She lifted her hands, but Oktai jumped up, swiping at her with his feet and bounding into the air. He twisted himself free of my hold, but not for long. I caught his head mid-air and slammed him into the ground face first. He tried to get back up, but I kicked his arms out from under him, then tipped him over so his chest faced the sky.

I pinned his arms down with mine and called the mist to keep his legs in place. The mist formed hard shackles around his ankles. “Quickly!”

Erhi rushed over. “Hold him still.”

Batu drew his sword and poked at Oktai. Khulan squatted down and peered into the portal. Erhi waved her hands over the blue light, as if she was knitting a blanket.

Oktai groaned. “I’ll fucking kill all of—”

Batu kicked him across the chin. “I liked him better when he was melted.”

“I’m almost there.” Erhi’s hands moved faster and faster, flickering as she coerced tiny spirits to do her bidding. They writhed over the edges of the portal, some of them getting sucked in. “I’ve nearly—”

Oktai threw his chest up, shaking violently. “Let me go, you bitch!”

Batu kicked him again, but Oktai bit the tip of Batu’s boot instead. I pressed hard on Oktai’s elbow, shattering it. He yelped and released Batu’s boot.

“It’s… tricky.” Erhi wiped the sweat on her brow. “This takes at least two seers.”

Khulan shifted. “I can help.”

“No, you can’t,” Erhi said. “You haven’t been exposed to this concentration of spiritual energy. You can’t take it. I need an extra pair of hands, but not if those hands burn up as soon as they try to—”

Hands, I told the mist. Two pillars of mist formed on my back. They crept over my shoulder, spilling over Oktai. One had six fingers and the other four.

“Hands, asked and answers,” I said. “What do you need?”

“Reach into the portal and grip the sides.”

I did.

Erhi stood up and swung her leg over Oktai. She held out her hands and breathed. Tiny spirits circled around the portal, then stopped along its edges. She tensed her hands and nodded at me.

Pull. The mist gripped tighter. I felt the strain in my chest. Erhi gritted her teeth, her hands shaking. The edges of the portal cracked. I pulled harder, and so did Erhi. The tiny spirits reached over the hole, as if trying to hold hands across the gap.

Oktai shook beneath me, shifting his chest to try and break my grip. It didn’t. I only pulled tighter. The portal cracked again. Erhi bent down, getting as close as she could. Spiritual energy shone from her fingers. I poured more mist into the effort, the hands thickening as soon as I told it to.

Oktai yelped, and one loud crunch closed the hole.

“Hold it closed!” Erhi shouted.

Blue light still leaked from the slit on Oktai’s gut, but his black fire retreated and extinguished. Erhi fell on top of him as soon as it did, pressing her hands over the crevice. Spirits weaved through Oktai’s flesh like a thread sewing through cloth. He writhed, but it was too late.

The wound glowed for a moment, then the blue light died slowly, like a torch sinking under water. The lights beaming to the sky around Karakhorum flickered and died.

Oktai stilled, his eyes shut. I released my mist, drawing it back into my body, and lifted my hands off Oktai’s arms. Erhi fell over. I slipped my arms under her shoulders and picked her up. She was out cold, and so was Oktai.

“Is it over?” Khulan asked.

Batu kicked Oktai across the chin again. “He didn’t bite me. Seems over.”

Khulan gave him a flat look.

“What?” Batu shrugged. “I had to be sure he was out.”

Khulan turned and stomped on Oktai’s crotch. “If you’re going to check, check properly.”

“Eternal Blue Sky,” Batu said. “I didn’t believe the guards when they called you a monster, but that was… monstrous.”

I turned and started walking towards the courthouse. “Let’s go find her a bed and assess the damage.”

Khulan and Batu nodded.

Stones shifted behind me. I glanced over my shoulder. Oktai rolled over, breathing heavily. His hair started falling out and blood gushed from between his teeth. His skin hung on him more loosely with each passing second.

“Hold her.” I passed Erhi to Batu and strode over to Oktai.

Oktai glared up at me and spat. “You think you’re… something special. You think you can rule this continent. He is not a foe you can handle. He will come for you, someday. When you think you’re the most safe, the most powerful…” A strong gust of wind blew through Karakhorum. “…He’ll put you in your place, and unlike me, you won’t be able to get back up. You’ve destroyed the last man who could stand against him—”

I reached down and grabbed him by the throat. I lifted his frail body with one hand.

“Let him come.” I squeezed Oktai’s throat. “We’ll see who puts whom in their place.” I snapped his neck and let spiritual energy pour into Oktai. His body cracked and caught alight, flaking off in the wind, bit by bit until his skull shattered between my fingers.