Helplessness tastes like frozen copper and fresh bile. Sam stood before a buffet of it, swallowing it down in great mouthfuls until it burst his belly and seeped into his flesh, writhing in his muscles and contracting against his bones.

He spun in place, knowing it was futile but still seeking some solution in the featureless expanse of the White Room. The second ticked down like tombstones in his display while his mind sped off to nowhere. He wasn’t even confined in a room, where he might have had the vain satisfaction of beating his fists against a door or wall in the useless hope that it might give way.

“Cora!” he all but screamed up at the sky. “Sally! I need to get out of here! The lich king is in town!

-What? Wait, what?-

=I see him, Sam. But…=

But.

But there was nothing they could do. But the only ones who had a prayer of taking the lich on—his parents—were already on the scene. But even high-level as they were, the lich was sure to be higher.

But Sam was dead and the cooldown had to continue its inexorable march downwards, and there was nothing he or they could do about it and even if there as he was level 8.

There was nothing he could do, either.

“Damn it!” he howled frustration to the unhearing Room. He wanted to hit something, to shatter something, to feel the impact up his arms as bones bruised against solid surface. But only the floor offered that option, and pounding his fists against the ground like a toddler held even less appeal than doing nothing.

He whirled again, seeking… Anything. And not finding it. He sucked in a breath hard enough to give his lungs friction burns, then reached up and slapped open his Dungeon Map. The one in the White Room was even better than the one he had access to while he was alive, and showed the dungeon and the surrounding area in great detail.

He shifted the focus to Melloram, to the town square, and stared at the colored dots that represented friend and foe. Watched as the dots danced together, as the health bars over them flickered and fell. He saw his father’s dot rocket away into a building. Saw the lich grab his mother, saw Nat’s dot jerked away from the dragon and into the lich’s personal space.

No no no… He couldn’t look away. Couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t blink.

Which is why he didn’t miss it when a gray dot simply labeled ‘unknown’ came shooting in from somewhere to the west and collide with the crimson ‘enemy’ dot of the lich.

***

Nat’s eyes were squeezed shut. He couldn’t watch it happen. He felt the breeze pass over his head, and knew he was dead. There was a crunch, and a howling in his ears. The grip around his chest vanished and he fell to the earth, certain that when he hit his head would roll away from his body and he would join his ancestors in the great beyond.

His head did not detach, but it did bounce off the cobblestones, sending pain shooting through his temple and dragging a gasp of surprise from him.

His eyes flashed open just in time to see an angel land in front of him, shining golden and laughing as the lich—miracle of miracles, the lich was shooting backwards to slam into the ornate fountain in the center of the square, trailing teeth and bone shards from a new impact wound on its skull.

The angel was tall and slender, a woman, with a human’s round ears and red hair in a short spikey cut. She wore some kind of thin metal armour that Nat knew, somehow, would be able to turn aside a crossbow bolt. And she wore a pair of studded metal knuckles on her fists. A piece of skull was stuck to the one on her right hand.

“Nice trick with the hole, kid,” the angel said with a grin and a shiver of a wink in his direction. “Now stay down. The adults in the room need to have a little conversation.”

***

When I get back to Phyrexes, Araxes thought to himself as his jawbone snapped off on an ornamental cupid, I am passing a strict law against large ornate fountains.

The lich king plowed through the fountain, pinwheeled across the cobbles, and wound up upside-down and spread-eagle against one of the stone pillars holding up the roof of the town hall. His healthbar dropped by almost a quarter, and then quickly began refilling as his regeneration spells and items kicked in.

“Ow.” He waited for his jaw to regenerate, spat out a tooth that had gotten lodged in his soft palate, then rolled to his feet and adjusted his crown before taking stock of the newcomer.

She stood tall and unafraid, radiating power and confidence. Beside her, the blasted Tolliver woman was clambering back to her feet, as well as Jackson Tolliver himself. Together they were a formidable team. Not his equal, of course, but potentially dangerous. But this newcomer—and where the devil had she come from, anyway?—She could be trouble.

“And just who the devil are you?”

She didn’t answer him—rude—and instead threw back her head and let out a belly laugh. “I’ll give you one chance, bone-bag,” she called in a mocking voice that pealed like sterling silver. “Go home and stay there.”

“And if I refuse?” he asked, more out of idle curiousity than actually considering her suggestion.

“Then bad things happen,” she said, giving a gap-toothed grin and raising her metal-adorned fists. “To you.”

“Do they indeed?” Araxesendenak cocked his head to the side. His health bar was almost full once more, and he felt the power building in him, channeled by his armor and his scythe and his crown. He flicked some plaster dust from his sleeve, then whirled his scythe and slapped the haft into his free hand. “I don’t know who you are, child, but I am—“

He paused, then rolled his eyes. “Actually, why don’t we just skip the tedious hero-villain monologuing bit and jump straight to the ‘killing you’ part. Objections?”

“Not a one,” she grinned savagely and twitched her fingers in a ‘come on’ motion. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Lich King Araxesendenak nodded once, released his power, and charged.

***

Nat screamed as the titans collided. Pure mana exploded outwards, shoving him again into the dragon’s scaled chest, and again the dragon’s arm came up to shield him from the raw violence. He felt blazing heat and freezing cold wash over him. Colors and light that seared at his eyes sprang out as the angel and the lich danced together in a frenzy of kinetic violence.

His eyes couldn’t even track the movement. Everything seemed to be chaos. Spells were cast, abilities triggered, blows landed and dodged and blocked and thrown again—

And then they separated. The angel’s cheek was marred by a single long line of red that started leaking down her jawline. And the lich’s armor was dented and caved in, fist-shaped impressions crushing inwards around his chest.

“Not bad,” the undead creature said, sounding grudging. “I’m curious where you learned that style of fighting. I do not recognize it, and believe me young lady that’s saying something.”

“I’ll tell you, if you beat me,” the angel said, grinning wide.

Nat tore his gaze from the titans and looked around wildly for the Tollivers. The lich’s power had thrown them somewhere… There. Mrs. Tolliver was helping her husband to his feet. They were both bleeding and moving stiffly. She was snarling, eyes focused on the lich, and there was such hate in her eyes that Nat almost didn’t recognize her. And Mister Tolliver—

Was staring at the angel like she was a ghost.

“Child,” The deep rumbling voice of the dragon jerked him out of his observation and brought his head up. “There are innocents within these buildings. I require thy aid in removing them from the scene of the coming conflagration.”

“Huh?” Nat blinked.

“Help me get these people out of here,” the dragon commanded jerking his head. Nat followed the motion…

Oh gods, there were people in those houses. He saw faces peeking out of windows, saw flutters of motion in doorways. And suddenly remembered that Zed and Emmy were in the tavern, right on the fringe of this whole thing.

“What—“ He swallowed. “What do you need me to do?”

“Convince thy neighbors to leave their houses and flee outwards, away from this. I shall ward them as they flee.

Nat licked his lips, and glanced back as the titans flew at each other again, unleashing devestation that surely wouldn’t be contained in the town center for long.

“Okay,” he squeaked. “I can do that!”

***

Sam stared, breathless, as salvation streaked in and sent the lich’s dot spinning away. The map didn’t know who it was, or what it was, and right now Sam didn’t care.

“Yes!”

The battle unfolded in simple colors and motions. His parents, their dots huddled together, twitched and moved as the unknown dot and the lich clashed again. The large orange dot representing Quentin moved in front of the small blue one representing Nat, shielding him from the fallout.

Quentin I swear I’m sending you a fruit basket if we survive this. The dragon was protecting his friend—And not just his friend, he saw as more blue dots started to swarm out of the buildings surrounding the town square. Some of them had names hovering above them, people he knew and would have recognized had he passed them on the street. Zed and Emmy, Nat’s younger brother and sister, staggered out of the ruined tavern and Nat sped to them to usher them away from the square.

And all the while the gray ‘unknown’ and the crimson ‘Araxesendenak’ circled and collided and flew apart. Health bars appeared over both of them, sinking and rising faster than storm surges.

And all he could do was watch.

Cooldown Timer: 5 minutes.