A spear penetrated the head of a ghoul, splattering its brain matter over the rocks.

“They’re on the run,” N-ta said, “but at least we’ve put a stop to this group.”

In the past year, Boshamta had trained at least a hundred new magicians and they’d traveled to the corners of the world. At least a hundred cases of people being experimented on by Rethif and his followers popped up and they’d put a stop to all of them. The former ally of N-ta had ended lives with the ease of pulling weeds. The mastermind himself, though, had escaped every time.

“But,” Wukong said, “we aren’t any closer to him.”

N-ta cursed. “You’re right, and the slippery bastard keeps outsmarting us.” Bringing up her magic senses, she found a path travelling from their current area to a spot in midair. “Somehow he keeps figuring out where we’re coming from.”

They traveled by portal back home. By this point, the magical city of Boshamta had exceeded the boundaries of its original location in physical space. Now, it expanded outward into a second world, which only had entrances at its original entrances to the valley.

Now the magic city had dwellings floating in the air, rivers that flowed uphill, and other wonders only possible through magic. Unbeknownst to them, they also created something the mortal realm wouldn’t have for thousands of years to come: the written word. In the stone dwellings of the magical city, scrolls had symbols on them which, when read, would imbue the reader with the knowledge within.

N-ta had sought after a place like this since gaining her powers. With the help of an ever-expanding set of friends and allies to train with, everyone’s magical prowess expanded on a daily basis. If it hadn’t been for Rethif and greedy followers of his, everything would’ve been perfect.

One of the newer students, Zofa Wasu, approached N-ta. She was from the far western regions, where the tribes largely hunted for smaller game in the forests. Her pale skin and red hair made her well-known, as well as her contribution of spoken magic.

“I’ve been talking to the other students,” she explained, “and we have an idea.”

N-ta perked up. She’d given it every kind of attention she could think of. “I’ve tried everything,” she replied. “So, what’s going on?”

“He’s using our magic against us.”

The dark-skinned tribeswoman slapped her forehead in disbelief. “Amazing!” she exclaimed. She lowered and shook her head. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that.”

Zofa pulled up an orb that displayed a magical energy flow. “If you see here,” she said, “you see that his magic uses a very different signal from ours. However…” she adjusted the flow, and suddenly, it matched their own. “Suddenly you see it.”

“It’s dead on for ours,” N-ta finished the thought.

“He could hide in plain sight,” another younger student said. She noticed that her older ally didn’t recognize her. “Xanthi Uonto, at your service.” She bowed.

“N-ta,” the tribeswoman said, bowing. “Nice to meet you.”

“I’ve been studying sigil magic,” Xanthi explained, “and it seems Rethif got his hands on someone to give him the basics, because some of the others been keeping track of what he’s left behind.”

“We killed a ghoul in the far east that could speak,” Zofa said. “They’re getting smarter.”

N-ta took a deep sigh. “That’s bad,” she lamented. “If this continues, he’ll be able to perfectly replicate my immortality, and if that happens, he’ll be able to amass a collection of followers that are each able to stand up to an entire tribe of warriors.”

“He’ll be able to sweep the world from place to place,” Xanthi stated, “enslaving any who stand in his way.”

“What’s the plan?” N-ta said.

Just then, Wukong entered the room. “We’re coming up with a way to predict where his next target is,” he explained. “If you’ll all come with me.”

They followed him to a larger temple, where dozens of students chanted magic spells over a glowing set of runes on the floor. A pattern had begun to emerge. “What’s the nature?”

“Tracking the bastard needs fire and void,” the middle-aged man said, approaching. “You may not remember me.”

“Voi-go,” N-ta replied. “I remember when you came here as a younger man.”

“I was a pup back then,” Voi-go said. “Anyway, the void isn’t something we touch very often, but it’s clear Rethif’s been using it quite a lot. So, we can trace it with the new method Zofa and the others came up with.”

“How can I help?” N-ta asked.

“You can help us focus power,” he explained. “You see, your power comes from the trace amount of goblin blood in you drawing power from your human spirit and pouring it back out as twice as much magical energy, so your power is always increasing.” He paused. “So that means you can focus more intently than we can.”

“Show me what to focus on,” she asked.

Voi-go placed his hands on her temples and poured a bit of his mental magic into her, allowing her to see what he thought. She caught glimpses of his intent and deduced the target. Afterward, she knelt and placed her hands on the growing sigil. Stilling her mind, she redirected the flow of mystical power within her to where it traveled from her core to her mind.

She redirected her magical senses to travel from one end of the sigil to the other, missing no detail. Every slight perturbation of the power within the growing sigil entered her mind. Attaching to it, she poured her own power into it in specific places, and the magical energy flows throughout the world appeared in her mind.

“There!” she said, committing the location to memory and sharing it amongst all present.

“I see it!” Wukong exclaimed, aligning his inner energies with the sigil.

“He’s…” N-ta began but paused. “He’s converted an entire tribe into ghouls.”

Their hearts weighed heavily as they sensed. “And…these are thinking,” Xanthi uttered. “How horrible…they know the pain they’re enduring.”

N-ta clenched her fist. “I’m going to kill him.”

Zofa prepared her magic for attack mode. “After me,” she declared.

“It’s war,” Wukong said, attaching Nyoi-bo to his side with rope.

“I don’t want anyone not a full-fledged magic user fighting,” N-ta said. “For the good of Boshamta, we must not sacrifice our fledglings against him.”

“Agreed,” Voi-go replied. “That’s why we’re giving it our all.”

Wei-ulan entered, and Po-roha was right behind her. The two of them looked visibly aged, yet with a resolve steeled by age. “If there’s one thing we studied magic for all this time for,” Wei-ulan said, “it’s this.”

“Don’t try to stop us,” Po-roha replied.

N-ta laughed and grinned. “I wouldn’t dare,” she said. “I’m gonna need your help if anything.”

With the preparations made, they traveled by portal directly to the site.

Rethif grinned as the warriors emerged into his space. “I knew you people would track me at some point,” he said.

Po-roha thrust hands into the air, blasting a sigil into the sky and one behind the enemy. “You’re not escaping this time.”

Wei-ulan expanded her teammate’s spell to the entire area. “Better or worse,” she explained, “one side is going down.”

“Good enough for me,” Rethif declared, summoning two magic blades. He shot forward and struck, but Wukong’s Nyoi-bo blocked both attacks in quick succession.

“Not really,” Wukong shot back.

“Good luck with my friends, though,” Rethif said, before sending out a signal.

Just then, the scenery exploded in a thunder of footsteps, as at least two dozen ghouls burst forth. Wukong knocked the evil mage back and started throwing strikes at ghouls, who actually dodged and parried.

More portals opened and a dozen other mages emerged. Rethif looked around and saw his allies arrive. “No one’s leaving until the battle’s over,” N-ta reminded him. “Everyone you call for help will either die or be captured.”

Rethif adopted a malicious grin. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said.

Wei-ulan stuck her arms out forward and scores of curved blades of pure light shot forth, carving up ghouls and disciples alike. A pair of ghouls attempted to sneak up on her, but at the last moment she spun around and delivered an explosive cylindrical beam of light that punched a hole through their hearts.

“You’ve really outdone yourself,” Po-roha sarcastically praised the enemy.

Rethif stood firm as his allies took on N-ta’s friends. This was between him and her, and the external distractions wouldn’t dare interfere. He couldn’t stand the hypocrisy of his former ally. N-ta had gained immortality and the moment she thought someone else was getting close to it, she left. It was by pure luck that he had survived the process that turned her into an immortal. Most of his attempts had simply corrupted people into ghouls or burned them to a crisp as magical energy overloaded.

He threw a magical punch, spells swirling around his fists as he swung. “You just can’t stand the possibility of people being powerful like you,” Rethif told her. “It’s why you left.”

N-ta pushed his fists aside as she spun and delivered a kick to his side. “I’m against people being turned into ghouls against their will,” she told him. He hit her in the gut with a shockwave spell. She halted her movement with magic and parried the gut blow he aimed, swinging at his face.

He ducked below and came up with a spike spell. She pulled back and the spike-shaped light flew past her. “A few sacrifices are a small price for others to be like us!” he declared.

She bent her torso inward to avoid a magical blade slash. “Their lives are short enough as is,” she shot back. “Let them live their lives.”

He saw her dodge the blade and he summoned a blunt impact weapon out of light and knocked her backwards with a direct hit to her face. She yelped in pain but managed to flip over and land on her feet. At that moment, he shot out a beam that impacted her in the chest. He aimed again at her face. She disappeared into a glowing circle on the ground.

“What…”

His cry got cut off as she emerged behind him, blasted him in the back, and summoned a blade of light she ran him through with. He pulled away and cast away the wound with healing magic. She did not hesitate. A flurry of strikes came upon him in a moment. He attempted a shockwave to knock her away but she delivered a counter spell that discombobulated him. As he stumbled, she stabbed him repeatedly.

“Save him!” someone shouted.

Before N-ta could lose focus, more portals opened and a dozen of her fellow mages emerged, casting restraining spells. “Your fight’s with us!” one of the instructors shouted.

“You think you’re going to win?” Rethif announced.

Before she could press further, he shot away from her and drew his arms out to his sides. She sensed the magic coming out of him and swirling around him and her eyes went wide. “No! You can’t!” she insisted.

Before she could close the gap, he drew the life force out of about ten of his allies. They dropped like stones and his magical potency increased at least a hundred-fold.

“By the gods…” Wukong gasped, staring. “He…he converted their life essence into magic!”

“You son of a bitch!” N-ta shouted, right before he blasted her with a shockwave that launched her through several trees.

Unfortunately for her, his assault continued.

Wukong tried to smack him with a hit to the side of the head, only to be flung into a group of his allies. A cluster of beams impacted Rethif, and the mage redirected them back at their casters. N-ta apparated to behind him, only to be struck from a defensive shockwave before he even moved. He used the free moment to send her allies flying.

“I learned a lot just by practicing,” Rethif said. “I learned that sometimes, you have to make the dark choices.”

“How could you be like this?” N-ta pleaded. “You were such a proud warrior!”

“How?” he scoffed. “Simple. When you left, I knew there would be warriors, mages out there stronger than us. I just wanted to be the one to get ahead of everyone. Simple survival. People with power are going to conquer and kill. It’s the law of survival.”

“So,” she countered, “you don’t care who you have to step on to get there?”

He lifted his hands and shafts of light blocked several attacks. “Enough of this,” he simply stated.

In a flash, he was in front of her, knocking her back with balls of energy impacting her all over. Shafts of ice formed out of nothing and impaled her all over. He drew a blade of pure power.

“N-ta!”

Po-roha jumped in front of her, shoving her back with magic. The blade went through her heart.

“YOU BASTARD!” Wukong shouted, hurtling Nyoi-bo. It spun and extended, colliding with Rethif’s head and launching him several feet. The young man lifted his hand and the staff returned to his hand, and he leapt several meters and landed just as the evil mage recovered. He threw a punch but Wukong ducked and jabbed him in the gut with the staff, before delivering a sharp kick to the man’s chin.

N-ta collapsed next to her friend. “Don’t talk!” she pleaded. “I can heal you!”

Po-roha put her hand on her friend. “It’s okay,” she said. “I’ve lived longer than I would’ve if I hadn’t met you. Let me help you.” She converted the last of her life into magical power and pumped it into her friend.

The tribeswoman knew better than to protest. She simply snapped her eyes shut and shed a few tears, then stood up, and steeled her will. “I won’t waste this,” she said.

Wei-ulan launched Wukong forward into Rethif, the added speed catching the evil mage by complete surprise and throwing him off balance. He recovered just in time to see N-ta arrive in front of him and drive a blade of energy through his heart.

He threw spells at her left and right but she dodged and summoned new energy blades, stabbing him all over. With his immense magic stolen from life force, he began to heal wounds as he attacked. His foot came up for a kick and she smashed his knee, so it bent backwards. He screamed in pain.

“NOW!”

N-ta gave a shout and eight of her allies ensnared him in ropes of magic. He poured all his magic into offense.

“No!” Wukong shouted, pulling the ropes taught.

“Die for what you’ve done!” N-ta shouted, throwing a ball of power into him that exploded his entire torso from the chest down.

“I’ll…return…” Rethif yelled, then died.

When they carried the injured and dead back to Boshamta, the entire city held a day of mourning and recovery. N-ta knelt before the honored burial site of Po-roha.

“She gave her life for us,” Wei-ulan said.

N-ta lowered her head. “I can’t believe it came to this,” she uttered, wiping her eyes.

“It’s not your fault.”

N-ta let out a deflated chuckle. “Then why does it feel like it is?”

Wukong approached, kneeling before the headstone. “She was one of my favorite teachers,” he said.

“Do you think it’s over?”

They looked at Zofa, who approached.

“No,” N-ta said. “It’s not over. Given how powerful he’d become, he can probably come back.” She thought about it a moment. “What’s worse, as the population grows, so will his source of power.”

“What do you mean?” Wukong asked, shooting her a look.

“People breed like flies on a corpse,” N-ta explained. “I think eventually there will be places with people as far as the eye can see.”

Wei-ulan gave it a thought, then her eyes went wide. “He’ll have so much life to draw out of people for power!”

N-ta nodded. “Exactly,” she said.

“So,” Wukong advised, “we’re going to have to gear up for war.”

“We’ll have to be constantly on the lookout for his return,” Zofa thought out loud.

“So, from now on, we train even harder.”

N-ta’s declaration got a firm nod from each one.

“We need to find our way to every corner of the world so there’s nowhere to hide.” Wukong said.

N-ta nodded. “Here’s where our real journey begins.”