“Ribbit, Ribbit”

As the last streaks of purple vanished from the night sky to lead way to the sparkle of the stars, swamp water sloshed between Yuta’s feet.

“Ugh… This fucking stench”

Gripping onto the roots of a mangrove tree, he pulled himself from the slop and shook off his feet.

“Wabomp wabomp”

He turned his head to the strange croak and saw an oversized toad leap away from something in the distance, his eyes narrowed trying to catch a glimpse of what lie in the shadows.

SHING

His sword slid from its sheath with a satisfying flick.

“Who’s following me?”

The distant shadow disappeared behind a tree and didn’t move. Was his mind playing tricks? Was it just another toad? Or was he being followed?

The night dragged on as he pushed through the brush and travelled through woodland, and rolling pastures.

He stopped as ahead of him stood a shadow, but this time unmistakeable. Whatever creature it belonged to, now wanted to be seen.

“Fuck!” he said as he scrambled to grip the hilt of his blade.

SHING

“You are headed where, could I ask?” a wry and aged voice called out to him.

Yuta was taken aback for a moment, before he realised who the shadow belonged to.

“Oh its you”

Gid scrunched up his nose and sniffed at Yuta.

“Look its none of your business, leave me alone” he said as he pushed past.

Gid stepped back and let Yuta through while at the same time narrowing his eyes.

“You know nothing of what it is to be a vessel of such a soul, this much is plain to me”

“So? What business is it of yours, I’ll figure it out on my own. First I just need to get off this continent before it all goes to shit”

“You see peril, and you flee? This makes no sense to Gid”

“It’s simple, I just need some space to figure my thoughts out, especially after what happened”

“And what happened?”

“I… I don’t exactly know” Yuta said with the faintest hint of regret deep in the distance of his eyes.

“You not know? Even when you were there?”

“Is that so crazy? Of course I don’t know… Life is at time just flashes, sudden choices, the start of a thing rolling into another, and before you know it… You just end up somewhere you never thought you would be”

Gid remained silent and watched as Yuta pushed on ahead around the trunk of a tree. High in its branches a bird with dark wings took flight, and cast its shadow over the stars.

“Gid knows this better than most…”

…

“C’mon, don’t be like that” Tarkon said with a wink as he prodded at Silvia’s shoulder with the tips of his fingers.

“And another thing, don’t randomly decide that you can just touch me”

“Mhm, if you insist. I’ll oblige you of course if you just go ahead and take down the next rage claw we find in these tunnels with that same spunk”

“What? You know I can’t beat one on my own!”

“Mhm, sure, or how about this, I will keep teasing you until you wise up and realise my actual point is to try to help you”

“Help me? By telling me most Elven girls are too skinny for you but in my case you’ll make an exception? That doesn’t even make any sense”

Tarkon rolled his head around on its swivel before flashing the whites of his eyes at her with a shit eating grin, “I was just talking shit, I don’t even know what I’m saying half the time, my point is beyond the words girl. You know, subcommunication. You have to look at the subtle meaning”

“What subtle meaning is there to, your tits aren’t that bad” she said with drawn out lips.

“If you expect men to be good guys all the time, you are missing the point, that everyone’s nature at the end of the day, is like that of an animal. You are just hiding that truth from yourself, and hoping against all hope that men will hide it from you too”

“Hey!” she said as turning around to stick her finger in his face.

Tarkon pulled up his hands in surrender with an amused expression bubbling to the surface.

“I don’t want men to hide anything from me! Neither am I hiding anything from myself”

“Really? I’d buy that if you loosened up a bit and didn’t take everything I said so seriously”

“Oh trust me, there is no danger in me taking you seriously. In all of five minutes you’ve thoroughly turned my opinion of you around. Congratulations, from maybe an alright guy to someone I know I definitely can’t trust”

“Shh!” Tarkon said as raising a finger, “Ahead”

Silvia planted the heels of her feet and spun her hand back to an arrow at her waist.

The glint of red eyes shone in the tunnel ahead, at first one pair, and then two, three, four.

PITTER PATTER PAT

The scramble of scratching feet burst towards Silvia and Tarkon, sneering snouts, and bodies of thick matted fur burst from the shadows.

“Wererats” Tarkon said with a chuckle as Silvia loosed a chain of arrows in rapid sequence.

FWET FWET FWET

THUNK THUNK THUNK

She jostled the last arrow in her quiver as she reached for it in a panic. Darting her eyes to her bow and back towards the last of the creatures, she hurried and slipped her arrow into place.

FWOOSH

Tarkon casually flicked his finger, and the rat’s smouldering corpse skidded up to Silvia’s feet.

He looked at her studiously, and rubbed his chin in thought.

“Your fault isn’t in your technique, you just are thinking too slowly. Let go of your form a bit and trust yourself, think faster first and then tighten the technique back up after. Take risk, be flexible, discipline alone isn’t enough if you want to be worth a damn”

“Uhh…” Silvia let out a laboured breath as he mind rushed to catch up to the present moment, “Huh?” she said with a scowl.

“Let go of your technique, relax, let things flow more, you’ll think faster and then have more room to tighten up on the back end” he replied with a shake of his head as he moved ahead of her in the tunnel.

…

Gladly’s eyes swelled as he looked upon Mirio standing firm against the Guardian as its feet lifted from the ground. What was already an imposing figure had become even more so. There was a reason the black hand revered the Guardian of the Steps, for it was said to match the gods in battle even after it was stripped of its immortality by Baal Odur, the strongest of them.

A creature skilled enough even in its mortal state to challenge the divine, how couldn’t one worship such a being for its ferocity and intellect. If Gladly knew one thing about the Guardian, he knew that its cunning was unmatched in all the known realms. The markings on its body were evidence of it, each one, carefully devised and crafted for a purpose. Mirio was talented beyond measure, and skilled, but the experience and power of such a being would inevitably win out.

Gladly turned towards the Duke and the Princess, “His containment of the creature won’t last, you must get back!”

“My good man, you know as well as I, it’s up to Val here if we live or die, not the boy”

“Damn it! Val can’t do it on his own! Get back so we all have more time!”

Alyssa clutched at the Duke’s arm in response to the intensity within Gladly’s voice. She tugged at his arm and pulled him reluctantly back from the fight.

“Gladly” Mirio called back over his shoulder, “It’s coming through, I can’t stop it”

“I know…”

…

RWOAAAR

The captain of the wyvern riders screamed as his lance pierced through the flared nostril of the Arakaze, and shot out the back of its skull to impale the rider.

The force of impact forced him and the now dying Arakaze into a spin, flinging him free of his lance and sending him hurtling back through the clouds.

With a quick flick of his sword arm he pulled daggers from his waist belt and focused his eyes.

The clouds peeled back in a flash and the chaotic swarm of Arakaze rushed up to meet him.

“Ahhhh!”

Blood splattered across his face as he slashed his blades across in front of his body.

…

THOOM THOOM THOOM

Mirio could sense the creature’s heartbeat as the spirals of its divine light spun up its dark form and flashed through its tattoos and sigils.

The creature’s manner of thought had to have been intense for it to counter the most powerful magic he had ever wielded. Not even his barrier spell could unravel its preparations. Before today he would not have even imagined the power to peer into the world winds, and now… It was obvious that even that would not be enough.

How could he stop a being this powerful with the element of surprise fading?

It was clear to see it had sized him up in the first melee and that Mirio had nothing more than a puncher’s chance. Was the only option left to him a suicidal run for its heart?

Mirio grit his teeth as a bitter taste crept up his throat.

He opened his mortal eye to the beast, allowing its aura of terror to flood through him like a storm, holding onto but a thread of his sanity as its eyes glared at him with roaring white flame.

*If I’m going to die… I’m going to do it on my terms, not in fear of you!*

Mirio’s brow buried itself deep into the creature’s light and his eyes shone back at the creature with defiance, as he threw off the fear.

“Hmph” he said as he shuffled the hilt of his blade in his hand.

WHOOSH

The creature lunged forward with such speed that the cavern shook and a heat wave blasted from the point its clawed hand swept through the ground.

Mirio spun and slid under the blow, slashing in a wide arc.

The creature looked down in shock as a wedge of its wrist slid out from its arm, and pools of magic poured out after it. Its eyes flashed open, as it quickly snatched the small creature with its other arm, and flicked its burning sword off into the distance.

Ember spun through the air and stuck into the crystal wall of the cavern.

The screech of crushing armour echoed in the cavern, as Mirio was pinned in the being’s grasp. With a wrap and twist of its fingers, the wedge that slid from its wrist drew back into place as though time itself rewound.

“NO!” Dasha screamed out as she summoned forth a tumbling wall of ice.

The creature swatted its hand in frustration, blasting the ice into vapour and sending her sprawling back along the ground like a rag doll. Dasha’s last view as she faded from consciousness the scream of Mirio as the dragon armour cracked and buckled under the pressure of the beast’s grip.

“Noo…” she whimpered as her hand fell limp.

…

Valian’s hand pulsed up against the godstone, flashes of its corrupting influence creeping into his mind. Promises of power and whisper’s of a future of peace, filled him from his very core. There was a time in his life when such things would have been all he could have ever dreamed, but as ruthless as he was now, why should he care? It just seemed like a bunch of impractical nonsense.

He focused on Azmit, and the obsidian cavern where he had projected himself.

He knew that his former “teacher” was powerful beyond imagining, and that he had even travelled across worlds for a time, but he also knew that he was arrogant and that some part of him still wanted Valian to witness his greatness… After all, who else but his student could comprehend the things he could wield?

If Valian had to guess, Azmit would have summoned the greatest of all beings known to the five fingers. Of all the arch mage’s Azmit was the greatest summoner, a specialist of pulling beings from the other worlds against their will to serve his cause.

“What did they used to call you old master, back in the day when you respected the other fingers?”

“Ah, you remember?” Azmit replied with a smirk

“The Hand Of Carnage”

“As fitting a name for the power I wield as any other I suppose, though those damned fools only ever saw what I wanted them to see”

“You managed to do it didn’t you?”

“Ah, so you figured it out already?”

“You summoned the Guardian of the Step”

“I did”

“Did you not care about the consequences? What of the gods? I doubt they’ll take it lying down”

“Bah! I don’t fear those fools, it is they who should fear me”

“Perhaps…”

“Hmph, I would have thought you would have spent your final moments differently. You are awfully chatty. Does this mean you are up to something clever?”

“Do you remember what I said to you the day I left?”

“Honestly, I wasn’t paying attention, you rambled on quite a bit you know”

“It was really quite simple in the end, I said that I would deny you all you believe you are owed, you will live to the end of your days knowing that it was I who took it all away from you”

“Oh really, and what am I owed?”

“Immortality”

“Hahaha! And you intend to stop me! Hahaha!”

“Yes, and no…”

“No man can stop me, you know this, not even you”

Whispers and promises wound their way through Valian’s blood soaked mana channels, and amidst the weak promises shouted a voice. The voice was defiant to the end, furious, and unbending in its will. Gathering up the fragments of the voice had not been a simple task, but as they gathered together they produced a shape that could not be mistaken from any other.

The voice asked for one thing in return for its aid, something Valian had already agreed to give.

The red channels on Valian’s body grew white hot, as the tips of his fingers crushed into the god stone releasing searing light.

The shadow of a dragon filled the dark obsidian cavern behind Valian’s projected form and loomed large over the godstone. Its golden light flickered and then dissipated like a candle left out in the wind.

Ladon’s growling voice echoed out through the obsidian cave as Azmit turned in wide eyed fear to its gnashing jaws.

Valian’s grip fell from the stone, and he slumped to the ground as the magic of the godstone blasted out into the cavern and syphoned into the gate.

His eyes, and body, at last completely spent.

…

Alyssa screamed out as clutching onto the Duke’s arm, “It’s killing him!”

The Duke turned away from Mirio in an attempt to shield his eyes from the horror of a child’s life cut short before it had really had any chance to begin. If only his eyes could have found a quiet place to shelter in, but they couldn’t, as they found Valian’s collapsed body on the floor as the godstone’s light blasted into the gate.

“My god!” he said in shock, “We’ve lost”

Alyssa screamed at the top of her lungs, “Noooo, you have to fight! Please!”

…

The pain crushed in from all sides, as Mirio’s head cranked side to side under the force of the beast’s pulsing grip.

“Ahhh!”

FLASH

FLASH FLASH FLASH

Light sparked from the edges of Mirio’s eyes, lips, and veins.

White flames burned as within the pain all Mirio could reach for was the most primal of his feelings. The spark of enlightenment that had caused him to fall to his knees that day arriving to the city, and yet again when he had tried to save his brother’s mind from the thrall of the sawtooth queen.

“Ugh… Ahhhh… RAAARRR”

Mirio pulled and tugged with all his might to free himself, but all he could manage was to free up room for two of his fingers.

*It has to be enough*

Digging deep into himself, he summoned forth the dagger of shadows, and sparked it against his blazing white flesh.

FWOOOOOOM

The cavern lit up with a blinding flash, and after a blast of unbearable noise, everything was in a washed out silence.

VWOM VWOM VWOM VWOM

Mirio blasted free from the creatures grip, and held himself upright on one knee, his hand blasting forth a violent pillar of light, pulsing and growing in intensity with each passing millisecond.

The Guardian, sheltered itself behind a raised arm, turning its head from the blast as its body took the full force of the wild magic.

VWOM VWOM VWOM VWOM

The Guardian bit its teeth together and turned back towards the light in a rage.

*Wait… What? How!* Mirio thought as the beast stomped towards him through the beam.

The whole cavern shook from the force of the spell, rays of its light scattered around the guardian and pierced through the mountain and out into the night sky.

*It… It… Has to be because its already made of both light and dark! Its the only way!*

Mirio scrambled to his feet as his mind throbbed and surged with incomprehensible forces at battle within him.

*I have to carve them into magic like it does*

The creature swatted at Mirio with the back of its hand. Mirio dashed backwards while holding the spell firm.

Struggling to hold the spell’s power his muscles began to fracture like thin sheets of ice under foot. He clenched and strained to find a way to maintain the terrifying beam of clashing light and dark energy.

Amid the intensity of the beam’s power, his mind was adrift in a place his mind had never truly taken residence within before, a place like the world winds but more primal. Mana boiled from the subsurface structures that lie below the conscious mind’s grasp, seeping upwards into what he could sense. This boiling mana had a thick and yet aromatic quality, sticking to his mind wherever it searched, and grasping it like vines of quicksand.

Looming before him stood an oppressive wall of self doubt like he had never witnessed in his life. Almost as if the thoughts and failures of millions of people had pooled here, wherever “here” was.

The doubt was contagious, strangling, and forceful in its attempt to grasp what remained of his tattered consciousness. Where the world saw brilliant power emanating between him and the Guardian of the step, he felt a cold slap of terrifying isolation. His humanity, the essence that animated his trivial wanderings and day to day life was seeping away with every moment that the spell thrived.

His broken thoughts flickered back to a memory of something he had once said to a struggling adventurer in passing.

“There is a cost to success”

In all the moments he had faced it before, never had he once wanted to quit. Yet now… He felt as though he could throw his soul at the foot of the wall if only it would save him the trouble of having to face this agonising state of uncertainty a moment longer.

Where the handful of onlookers saw Mirio yelling amidst a spell that rivalled the power of any seen across the world before by masters of magic. His screams were not of power and adrenaline, but a terror racing through him, quickly seeking his heart just as he had earlier rushed towards the glowing orb amidst the illusions of the beast.

No wonder it had hesitated.

Was this the terrible nature of who he was when he fought?

Did all his talent, strength, and effort amount to forcing another to face terror beyond his imagining?

In the flickers of an instant he did not need to hear the answer, because he already knew the struggle others felt by memory. The subtle hint of disdain as they pulled back from the rhythm of his strikes, the sudden loss of self belief as he appeared to vanish from view to appear to their side or arrive behind them with a flurry of blows.

The wall congealed into a single sentence fragment.

“How dare you”

How dare he wield power no one could reach as though born to it? How dare he know of the right path within conflict by instinct? How dare he be admired for it?

Strength?

No.

It was gluttony.

“Argh!” Mirio screamed as he tossed his head to the side within the light, trying to shield himself from all it forced upon him to face.

*No… This question… It is an illusion… Distracting me from the truth… I need to act to stabilise the spell…*

He attempted to think soberly, and to objectively guide his actions away from the intricate weave of truth’s that conspired to veil his eyes behind responsibility that was not his own to carry. He knew the feeling might not have an answer, and that to respond would only lead to apathy and despair.

Defiantly he turned back toward the light, as he had before opened his mortal eye to the beast in all its terror, and saw the creature pushing towards him.

His eye widened in surprise as its hulking form was no longer eclipsed by the spell, but only slowed by the force of the stream.

He spat a thought derisively at the doubt that gripped him within, and balled up his free hand ready to fight.

“From that twisted perspective, the world is far too foul to make any damn sense”

“I never tried to be anything other than what I am”

“Terrified of a world without meaning, but brave enough to face it”

“Just like anyone else”

“I am driven by a choice to do more”

“So get off my back”

With a swell of focus returning to his thought, he gripped up the vines of boiling mana and traced their destinations to the root of the surging mana powering the spell. His innate channels merging with the subtle machinations of the cursed blade.

As his magic spewed forth in a turbulent flutter like white water rapids, he calmed his mind and let flow the speed of his thoughts. Plucking upon moments of opportunity like a musician playing a quaint little melody, he devised a series of magic circles and sigils to simplify the major forces into neat streams. He opened his fist and snapped his fingers in sigil patterns, as he set about containing the leaks of the spell. Starting first from the largest and then proceeding ever smaller into the whir and spitting boil of mana just below the surface of his consciousness.

The energy harmonised and lost its chaos, flowing like a pure stream of water until crashing upon the Guardian.

WHOMP WHOMP WHOMP

The guardian sprinted forward as the pressure of the spell eased.

If the spell was a double edged sword, hurting both Mirio and the guardian, it had now considerably dulled in that destructive power.

Mirio instantly recognised the mistake, and had no other choice but to discontinue the spell.

WHAP

The spell stopped like the power had been pulled at its source.

WHOMP WHOMP WHOMP

Talon’s grew along the Guardian’s finger tips, and with a forceful swipe it lunged toward Mirio.

SHING

The Talon’s sparked as they deflected off an impenetrable wall of force.

A blue wall of energy similar to Mirio’s mage armour spell expanded from his hand and grew to the size of the beast and then quickly wrapped around it in an impenetrable sphere.

As the ball of force lifted the creature up towards the center of the crystal cavern. And within a fraction of a moment it zoomed through the gate.

Gladly looked on slack jawed, as the Duke and Alyssa stared at each other in confusion.

Mirio dropped to his knees as the gate evaporated.

He turned to survey the damage of the battle. Dasha was sprawled over unconscious at the other side of the cavern and by the base of the now subdued glow of the godstone Valian lay motionless in a pool of his own blood.

He had no time to celebrate the win, nor time to reflect on how he had conjured such a spell. He only knew that such a thing was beyond him and a measure of luck and stunning coincidence was involved. He didn’t expect to be able to pull off such a thing again, though he did recall that his old wizard mentor had used the spell against the Lich he rescued Ezee from.

It didn’t matter now, all he felt in those moments was pride. A surge of confidence from having harmonised a spell of chaos. It had inexplicably made his thoughts faster than even he could follow. Weaving through all he had ever seen and known in an instant, it had pulled forth a singular possibility from the ether and manifested it without hesitation.

He knew not what this form of inspiration was, but he knew it was connected to thought speed, and the solid underpinning of confidence within himself.

How had Dasha gotten so hurt?

He knew the fight would have had a traumatic effect on anyone unversed in such absurd magic. His deepest concern wasn’t for her body, but her mind. He hoped against all hope that she had not suffered the fate his brother did…

He stood to his feet in a rush and locked eyes with Gladly, pointing to Valian as he took strides towards Dasha.

DASH DASH DASH DASH

His knees skidded along the ground as he slid up beside her to check her pulse and slap her hand repeatedly to test if she was at all awake. With no other response than the beat of her heart under his fingertips he sliced free the lashings of her armour and placed a hand on her chest.

Coloured energy poured forth and seeped into her body, causing her dreary complexion to lighten, and her skin to ever so subtly bounce under the touch of his hands.

His spell wouldn’t heal, but he knew it might help her to consciousness and clarity of thought.

She murmured and stirred, her eyes peeling open to Mirio’s bloodied and scarred face.

“Ugh…”

“Take it easy now just get your bearings first”

“Who? What? Huh? Wait! What about that demon!” she said as her eyes shot open and her hand gripped around Mirio’s - soaked with sweat - forearm.

“Easy, easy, its gone”

“And the gate?”

“Gone too, don’t worry, just take a breath”

Dasha paused for a reflective moment and brushed aside a flicker of momentary stubbornness to take in a breath and gently release it through her nose and slightly parted lips.

She turned to Mirio with a speck of disbelief “But it doesn’t make any sense. We should be dead”

Mirio chuckled softly and shook his head, “Don’t say so lightly what should be, especially when the expectation is so messed up. We made it”

His smile shone with an authentic warmth and he gently retracted his hands before looking over to Gladly as he scurried for potions at the base of the godstone.

“Valian is down, I think he managed somehow to weaken the gate, it seemed to just shut on its own after I pushed that thing back through it”

Dasha cocked her head and raised an eyebrow, pushing towards Mirio with a cocky mocking tone “You just pushed the thing back through it, huh?”

Mirio scratched at his temple nervously, “Well, more or less that is what happened”

“I’m guessing less” she said as she swatted him aside and got to her feet.

“What’s wrong with him?” she said as kneeling around Valian with all the others.

Mirio paced back and forth in the background, his mind filled with loose ends he couldn’t easily swat away.

“Well from the look of it? He’s just lost too much blood… Potion’s can’t help him now”

The Duke kneeled down, and brushed a strand of Valian’s silver hair from his face.

“He was a ruthless bastard, but no one cared more for the good of the nation than him. You saved the nation today, a worthy legacy, and I will see it remembered”

Alyssa gasped, “His hand just moved”

Gladly stepped back and turned to look where Alyssa had just pointed.

His hand rattled and shook, as a black liquid oozed from the flesh, and snapped around it like a glove.

FWOOSH

A stale breeze blew out from Valian’s corpse.

“It’s the black hand of Azmit, he has inherited it by bringing about his death”

“Does that mean he’s still alive” Dasha said with a slither of disgust audible in her voice.

“I don’t know… I have no idea how it works when both die at the same time”

Mirio stopped pacing and glanced toward Valian out of the corner of his eye. The world winds were swirling around him in gentle eddies and currents of silver flame.

Valian’s hand clenched, and the red rivers that flowed through the runic inscriptions of his mana channels filled once again with flesh. His muscles tensed as black magic oozed through his veins, animating his body from the dead with a fierce convulsion of his muscles to kickstart the heart.

He gasped for breath and shot up.

“By the gods!” the Duke couldn’t help but remark.

“What happened with Azmit?” Gladly said as standing eye to eye with him.

“Dead…”

“How did you do it?”

“I-I found an ally. Where he brought forth the Guardian, I discovered the spirit of Ladon”

“Ladon? You mean the Dragon of Black River? From the age of the cataclysm?”

“Yes…”

“But she’s dead”

“Apparently not…”

“Remarkable”

The Duke interrupted the mages with the shine of his grin, “You crafty bastard, I knew you could pull it off. Well, I guess that ties up that, the day is ours”

Valian gripped onto the Duke’s forearm with a look of shame and despair in his face.

“Not without a cost I’m afraid, don’t hate me for this, I know your sense of morality when it comes to the life of a child”

“What are you babbling about?”

“The Dragon’s alliance was secured under one condition”

“What condition?” the Duke said as pulling back.

Valian raised the index finger of his blackened hand towards Mirio.

Gladly quickly spun to Mirio then back to Valian, “What do you mean, you can’t have!”

“It’s already done” Valian said as his eye’s traced up to meet Mirio’s with a look of deep respect and gratitude.

Mirio sighed and nodded, “I knew something felt off about how the gate closed”

He gritted his teeth and bitterly sucked in his lips, balling his fist ready for yet another fight.

VWOMP

A gate tore open behind Mirio, and lashes of dark energy snapped around him like vine’s pulling him through its maw and into the abyss.