Water rushed over the edge of the island as we slowly rose back up into the air. Six Demonkin strode towards us with a murderous glint in their orange eyes.

My dad cursed as he pointed his weapon towards the advancing creatures. “Everyone spread out. Don’t get caught in the explosions if your protection glyph has already taken a hit.”

The mercenaries nodded and took up a formation in a semi-circle facing the Demonkin. With a single hand signal from Esben, three of the mercenaries stayed behind to guard Charly and another two moved next to me.

As everyone prepared for a hard fight, the Demonkin came to a stop a dozen steps away. A Demonkin that looked like the upper half of a man with the lower body of a snake stood at the front, staring at me.

We waited, expecting the Demonkin to charge, but instead, it started clawing at its own face with razor-sharp nails. Orange flames sparked from torn skin as the creature tore its own eyes to shreds. Completely disfigured beyond recognition, the Demonkin froze. An unnatural smile spread across its face as empty eye sockets looked in my direction.

“Let’s see if you can use that trick of yours on something with no eyes,” the Demonkin spoke. Its unnaturally long tongue ran across its lips expectantly.

Curious, I ignited the flame in my right eye, but no matter how much I wanted it, there was no reaction from the undead. I sighed and shook my head in disappointment. A bright green flame roared to life around me as I took a step toward the undead. “I will admit Irene, I am impressed. You have been more annoying than I expected, but in the end, you still have not learned. No matter what you do, you cannot defeat me with my own talent.”

The Demonkin chuckled with a slow, ominous laugh. “Defeat you? I already told you last time we talked that if you struggled it would be your family that suffered.” Simultaneously, all six Demonkin turned towards Charly. “That crossbow you stole from my family is rather annoying. I think I will start with you first.”

There was a flash of lightning as my mom moved to stand in front of Charly. “If you want to get to him, you will have to go through us first.”

The unnatural smile on the face of the undead spread wider. “That is fine with me.”

The six Demonkin burst forwards with superhuman speed. All of them were charging directly towards my mom and Charly without even glancing at anyone else.

I cursed as I moved to intercept the Demonkin closest to me. A wave of green flames flew from my fingertips. The green flame carried no heat, but it seeped into the skin of the undead Demonkin where it clashed with a strong orange flame. My talent was not yet strong enough to overpower Irene’s, but the conflict between the two flames fighting for control forced the undead to pause. This momentary pause was all I needed and I leapt at the Demonkin with my dagger held firmly in my grasp. With three quick slashes, I severed both arms and the tail of the half-snake Demonkin.

The creature collapsed to the ground, unable to move, but laughing like a madman. I had stopped this one Demonkin, but in the few seconds it took me to disable it, the remaining five Demonkin had almost reached Charly. I sprinted forward, desperate to do something before they reached my brother.

A thick wall of ice formed in front of the remaining five Demonkin as my dad attempted to halt their advance. However, the creatures did not even slow down. The Demonkin at the front of the pack started glowing brightly as it threw itself into the wall of ice. An explosion rocked the island and the ice was instantly shattered into thousands of pieces. The remaining four Demonkin charged through the explosion without care for any injuries they received in the process.

A second explosion nearly tore apart another Demonkin as Charly fired his crossbow. There was a flash of lightning as my mom appeared behind the largest of the charging Demonkin. Orange faded from the creature’s eyes as my mom’s blade sliced clean through the glyph on its back.

The mercenaries protecting Charly stepped forward as the remaining two Demonkin and the one injured one continued their suicidal charge. As impressive as the mercenaries were against human opponents, they were not able to compare to the rampaging beasts before them. The three mercenaries each attacked one of the three Demonkin. Their skin shone with the bronze glow of their divine bodies working in overdrive, but only the injured Demonkin was kept back. The remaining two Demonkin took the mighty blows of the mercenaries. Skin tore and bones shattered, but the undead creatures shrugged it off without even seeming to notice.

Finally close enough, the two Demonkin leapt at Charly. Just as the creatures were about to detonate, there was a flash of lightning, and Charly was gone. The two Demonkin froze, stopping their detonation as they looked around in confusion for a moment before seeing my mom and Charly standing near the other side of the island.

There was an angry roar as the two Demonkin prepared to charge again, but while they were looking for Charly, the two creatures had paused just long enough for me to catch up.

Furious at Irene’s insistence on attacking my family, I leapt at the two Demonkin. I wanted nothing more than to tear her puppets into a thousand pieces. Rage clouded my judgement as I dropped my dagger. The metal clattered to the ground as green flames rushed to my left hand. In my right hand, blue flames flared to life.

“I will never let you harm my family!” I shouted as I brought the two flames together.

There was a moment of pause as brilliant golden flames filled my vision, consuming everything. My rage was overwhelmed by fear as I grasped the full weight of what I had just done. The golden flame was like a living thing as it rampaged out of control. I had only a moment to see the Demonkin blasted into a million pieces before the flames engulfed me and everything faded to black.

A spark of green flame shook me from unconsciousness. Seering agony consumed every one of my senses. I tried to move, but the pain from what was undoubtedly a broken rib or six nearly made me blackout again. I tried to speak, but my voice only came out as a weak, miserable moan. I coughed up blood as my chest heaved. A copper taste filled my mouth and it became even more difficult to breathe. I did not have to look to know my injuries were bad. I mentally cursed the long-dead guardian for giving me the terrible idea of using the golden flames in combat.

The last time I had tried to use the golden flame, I had only combined two tiny sparks and I had still been knocked unconscious. This time I had used two handfuls of the flame. If it were not for my dad’s protections glyph, I would be nothing more than a corpse. Not that I was much better off right now.

Green flames flared to life in my chest as I prepared my final trump card. A single green wing of flame sprouted from my back. I was only alive right now thanks to my innate talent holding my body together. If I wanted to stay that way, I would have to sacrifice at least two days of training. Another three days would have to be sacrificed if I wanted to be able to move anytime within the next month.

I mentally braced myself as two feathers on the green wing shattered. The flames flowed back into my body, roaring through me like a wildfire. Piercing agony racked my body as my bones and flesh were melted back together. I would have screamed if my lungs had not been pierced by one of my ribs. The fire raged through every inch of my body for what seemed like an eternity before it slowly faded into a low smolder.

My eyes blinked open to the sight of the tear-stained faces of my family kneeling over me. Their eyes were wide in amazement.

“How… How did you do that?” Charly asked in disbelief, “Your entire body was charred black! Now... How are you ok?”

“I am the Immortal Calamity,” I mumbled weakly, “It takes a lot more than that to kill me.”

“Do you have any idea how worried we were! We had already won that battle. What possibly possessed you to do something like that?” my mom shouted furiously before pulling me into a tight hug. I felt her tears fall onto my shoulder as she held onto me with all her might.

My body still hurt everywhere. I had not been willing to sacrifice more of my power than necessary, leaving everything only half-healed. My mom’s hug aggravated those injuries but I could not find the will to pull away. I felt how her body shook as she silently cried into my shoulder and reached out to hug her back.

“I am sorry mom. I know that was stupid. I was not thinking straight, but I am ok. Please do not cry.”

My mom continued to hold me tight for nearly a solid minute before she finally released her grip on me. She held me by the shoulder and looked me in the eye without bothering to wipe away the tears. “Never make me worry like that again.”

I grabbed one of my mom’s and rested my cheek against it. Closing my eyes, I felt the heat of her hand on my cheek. “I promise.”

After a couple more minutes of my family making sure I was really ok, my dad helped me to my feet. His shirt was draped over my shoulders to cover the burnt tatters that remained of my clothes. With my family helping, I slowly walked towards the one Demonkin I had cut apart at the beginning of the fight.

I looked down at the helpless torso of the undead Demonkin. “Still there, Irene?”

The empty eye sockets looked back at me with a wide grin. “It seems you are full of secrets I do not know about, but that golden flame does not seem to be under your control. How much did you have to sacrifice to survive this time?”

“Not much,” I replied with an overly dismissive tone. I then knelt down next to the corpse and poked it with my finger. “Do not detonate this one just yet. I think it is about time you and I had a proper talk.”

The corpse started laughing hysterically. “You want to talk? Fine, you can keep this broken toy. I will enjoy wasting your time while you try and figure out what I know about Envy’s plans.”

I motioned towards one of the nearby mercenaries. “Take her to a secure room away from any of the ones we use. I will have a chat with Irene later.”

The mercenary nodded and got an extra protection glyph from my dad just in case the corpse decided to self-destruct while he was transporting it. My eyes lingered on the corpse until the mercenary disappeared inside the mansion.

I bit my lip for a moment as I considered everything I wanted to ask Irene. I knew she would not answer anything truthfully, but there was still a lot I might be able to glean from a conversation with her. However, all that would wait for tomorrow. I had used too much energy today to think clearly. Everything hurt and right now all I wanted was to enjoy the fruits of this misadventure and soak in the bath for as long as possible.