The light hitting Virgil’s body hardly diffused as it passed through. He had become practically invisible. He moved as silent as the night. He creaked open the door to the main hall, and then slipped in and closed it behind him. No one saw. The hall lay as still as death. Ghaelvord’s massive blackwood throne adorned in bones and cryptic carvings stared ominously down at him from the end of the hall. Virgil crept slowly across the walls. He crept through the main hall and down the long side hall, past the side doors to the doorway leading to Ghaelvord’s study. This was it. The time had come. Virgil would swing open the door and attack. Ghaelvord would quickly slay him, but the body would merely vanish in a cloud of dust. The real Virgil, not a doppelganger, hid in a secluded part of the forest to the north. If Virgil opened the door and Ghaelvord sat inside, Hunter would move quickly from his position in the woods. He would sprint around the building, swing the front door open, and attack in a bum rush. Hopefully, Ghaelvord would immediately try to leave the building after the first attack and would meet Hunter in the great main hall. The true Virgil would follow close behind and provide support. Hongo sat perched high in a tree to the east of the front door to the main hall. If anyone or anything tried to disturb them while they were inside, he would gun them down in a burst of 7.62 millimeter bullets. Tiyana sat in the Khan, ready to put the pedal to the metal. Suddenly, the door to Ghaelvord’s study swung open. Virgil faded into the woodwork. Ghaelvord strode past him purposefully. When he left the building, Virgil spoke to Hunter over the earpiece that he wore.

“He left the building.” Virgil said over the microphone.

“Where did he go?” Hunter asked.

“I do not know. I am following him now. Do not contact me while I am stalking.”

Virgil slunk out the door behind the pale, dark-robed man. Ghaelvord walked north toward the creek. Virgil followed. As he drew closer, he saw Shenouda looking out over the water.

Virgil heard Hunter in his earpiece and he sounded excited, “It’s Shenouda! She’s at the creek.”

Virgil shushed him and briefly considered tossing his earpiece into a nearby bush to ensure that Hunter would not blow his cover by jabbering at him. He kept it in, however. Virgil saw Ghaelvord meet Shenouda at the creekside and begin conversing. He could almost make out what they were saying. He crouched behind a nearby bush.

“Hunter,” Virgil said over the tiny microphone, “I am going to neutralize Shenouda. After I do so, Ghaelvord will notice and will destroy my doppelganger. At that moment, you can attack.”

Hunter replied in a concerned tone, “What are you going to do to Shenouda?”

Virgil replied tersely, “I am going to create a barbiturate effect on her central nervous system. Whatever nerves she has left that were not destroyed or mutated by the virus will shut down, at least temporarily. Are you ready?”

“Yes, do it.” came the reply.

Virgil moved as fluidly as the wind. In an instant, he stood a few feet behind the conversing couple. Ghaelvord noticed him first. His bulging sapphire eyes caught something in their periphery and turned to focus. As they turned, Virgil’s translucent body became visible. Suddenly, the proud figure of Virgil in his white robes held by the gold clasp, holding his caduceus staff, stared menacingly at the tall, martial figure of Ghaelvord. Virgil acted quickly. His eyes lit up and he thrust his staff at Shenouda pointing the curved elliptical shape on the top at her.

He shouted in a stern, guttural voice that seemed to echo through from another universe, “Somon!”

Shenouda’s head twitched to the side. She staggered and lost her balance. After a weak attempt at staying upright, she crumbled to the ground. She moaned and struggled to get up, but she was quickly losing consciousness.

Meanwhile, the dirt and rocks beneath Ghaelvord’s feet melted into a swirling vortex of dirty magma. The ground shook briefly beneath Virgil’s feet. The dirt and rocks that supported Ghaelvord’s body caved in on themselves as the earth swallowed them up along with Ghaelvord himself. As quickly as the earth swallowed Ghaelvord, the earth spit him back up. Beams of brilliant light burst through the chaotic ground and blinded Virgil. Hunter had been running toward the creek and cringed at the flash. In an instant, the flash died down and Ghaelvord stood there in all his Dahjaat glory. His veins throbbed conspicuously throughout his sinewy joints along his leathery skin. He was the ox-like beast that Hunter had seen back in the labyrinth. He towered above Virgil.

“Nymal zhoash!” Ghaelvord screamed as he descended upon the wizard.

As Ghaelvord choked the life from Virgil’s body, the body exploded into a powdery mist. In his rage, Ghaelvord had forgotten the monk’s tricks. The mist got in his face and distracted him long enough for Hunter to cover the distance. Hunter leapt into the air. As soon as his feet left the ground, the sky opened up. The beam hit Hunter in the mid-flight. As his body transmuted the energy into mass, he reached behind his back and felt the handles of his crystal-edged blades. As he descended on Ghaelvord, he pulled the blades from the cloth straps on his back and whipped them together in a scissor-like motion. They had felt extremely heavy only moments ago.

Ghaelvord barely reacted in time. He ducked and rolled to the side as the blades criss-crossed above his head. In a flash, he was on his feet. Hunter had a significant advantage because he was armed with the swords, while Ghaelvord was unarmed. Hunter advanced rapidly, swinging his blades in first an overhead and then a sideways swipe. Ghaelvord jumped back, evading the blows. When Hunter failed to connect, he doubled his efforts. He swung harder and more recklessly. Ghaelvord kept evading the attacks until Hunter got overzealous. Hunter swung quickly, without the full range of motion that he needed. Ghaelvord stepped forward this time, rather than backward and caught Hunter’s wrist. As he gripped Hunter’s wrist with one hand, he turned the plane of his body perpendicular to Hunter’s and hit Hunter hard in the gut with a side kick. Hunter grunted loudly and flew backward.

Meanwhile, the true Virgil sprinted from his post in the forest toward the creek. Before he arrived, Hunter leapt to his feet, activated the kebaac, and attacked. He threw one sword at Ghaelvord. Ghaelvord ducked. In a fluid motion Hunter dived forward and stabbed with his other sword. This time he hit paydirt. As he pulled the sword back he saw golden ichor dripping from its tip. Ghaelvord had been stabbed. Ghaelvord, however, despite being wounded, did not miss a beat. He sprung to his feet and lunged at Hunter. Hunter again tapped his emerald eye, and swung for Ghaelvord’s neck. He knew that he would decapitate the ghoulish rhinoceros. Hunter braced for the impact and prepared for a visceral display of carnage. The carnage, however, never came. Before the sword met the pale neck, the whole body vanished in a cloud of smoke. The acrid scent of the black wisps stung Hunter’s nostrils. Hunter lost his balance as the blow cut harmlessly through the nebulous matter. Hunter’s vision became obfuscated and he stabbed indiscriminately in the smog.

“Mwa ha ha ha!” An evil voice boomed from all directions around him.

“I know you.” The voice continued. “I helped you escape my labyrinth. Funny that you now intend to kill me. Life can be so full of irony.” The voice spoke in a mocking tone.

Hunter stopped making stabbing motions and merely took cautious steps in a poised crouch. He kept his sword in front of himself in a defensive posture. The black swirling ash and particulate matter still clouded his vision. He could see only a few feet. Hunter said nothing and Ghaelvord said nothing. The silence drug on awkwardly. Unexpectedly, the roiling strains of aerosol contracted. They accumulated rapidly in a tall, familiar form and solidified into pale flesh and dark robes. Ghaelvord solidified directly behind Hunter. Hunter did not have time to react. Ghaelvord wrapped his right arm around Hunter’s neck and gripped his left shoulder. Then he brought his left hand around and thrust it behind Hunter’s head. Ghaelvord’s left elbow overlapped his right forearm. Simultaneously, Ghaelvord’s feet left the ground and wrapped around Hunter’s thighs. Ghaelvord had Hunter in a rear naked jujutsu choke. Ghaelvord jerked his left arm backwards and sunk the chokehold in deeper. Hunter felt sharp pain as the blood flow to his brain ceased.

Hunter still held the sword in his right hand, but with his left, he reached up and activated the kebaac. Hunter’s consciousness became geometric shapes. In an instant, he knew what to do. He dropped the sword and grabbed the arm underneath his chin. He pulled down hard on the arm and jerked his head backward. Contemporaneously, he jumped backward. He had enough strength in his inhuman legs to launch both bodies into the air. As they fell together, Ghaelvord landed with a great deal of his weight on his injured shoulder. Hunter heard Ghaelvord yelp involuntarily at the instantaneous pain. In the periphery of Hunter’s vision he saw shimmering blood dribbling down his left shoulder. Hunter shot his feet forward and bucked Ghaelvord’s leg hooks. As he freed himself from the vice grip, he lunged for his sword. He grabbed it and swung recklessly at Ghaelvord. Ghaelvord again burst into smoke.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are.” Hunter shouted into the acrid black cloud.

No response came to Hunter’s taunting.

“I can do this all day.” Hunter shouted

Again, no response, just swirling clouds.

“Try that again. I dare you. Try something else. Try anything. As soon as you stop hiding, I am taking you down. You can have it now or you can have it later.” Hunter jeered.

At that moment, Virgil finally arrived. He saw Hunter pacing through the black cloud.

Virgil shouted at Hunter, “Hunter! Get ready!”

Hunter had no idea what he should get ready for, but he crouched a little deeper and kept his sword poised a little bit straighter. Hunter turned in Virgil’s direction, but could hardly see the old wizard through the smog. He saw the lightning, though. He saw that clearly.

“Cydingar!” Virgil shouted.

At the moment that the words left his mouth, a thunderclap boomed across the clear sky. Without a cloud in the sky, a lightning bolt rocketed up. Virgil’s cadaucus staff acted as a lightning rod and sent a powerful discharge of electric light into the sky where it branched out and dissipated into the atmosphere. Virgil’s staff, however, retained a potent charge. The staff glowed. Blue electric arcs gyrated across it. An arc formed across the two points at the end of the elliptical C-shaped tip. The arc oscillated and thrummed, low at first, then more frenzied.

“Verkfall.” Virgil said the word calmly and purposefully.

As the word left his mouth, he tilted his staff toward the cloud of smog. The arc of electricity careening across the tips of the staff now careened towards the cloud of smoke. The blast hit the cloud and branched out, spiking in every direction. The blast dissipated throughout the nebula. Little arcs formed and died in capricious progression. The cloud immediately began convulsing and contracting. Ghaelvord’s body solidified near Hunter. His jaw sat unhinged and he quivered a few times before regaining his composure. Hunter gripped his sword with both hands and brought it down quickly in an overhead swipe. He stopped the blade with a hard jerk just before it hit Ghaelvord’s neck. The blade hovered menacingly a few millimeters above Ghaelvord’s jugular. Ghaelvord did not move.

“Stay where you are.” Hunter said with an iron gaze.

Hunter did not need to add more words. The sword did the talking.

Soon, Virgil approached. He pulled a large lapis lazuli stone from his robe and chanted. The stone glowed with azure light. Ghaelvord’s eyes fixated on the glow. It mesmerized him. Hunter suddenly felt cold. Heat left Ghaelvord’s body and Hunter could see tiny crystals forming on the surface of his skin. For the first time, Hunter noticed a small chain around Ghaelvord’s neck. An argent ring hung from the chain. Interlaced gold and copper triangles were on the flat face of the ring. Tiny gemstones filled the gaps in the triangles. In the center was a round depression. Intricate sigils lay etched around each gem as well as in the center of the hexagram.

A surge of relief washed across Hunter’s psyche. It was over. Just like that, they had subdued the great, all-powerful Ghaelvord.