Jano hadn’t thought that Dariea’s prediction would come true so quickly. This was the second battle in as many days and he was starting to get used to the craziness of the fighting. The defensive force of the combined forces of Molinia were much more effective than the original ambush a week ago, but it was still carnage at times.

He poked out over the makeshift balustrades of the camp and surveyed the attacking Shimmer. They had been battered all day and there weren't many left. Those who did remain were pushing through in small pockets and trying to reach the weaker flanks of the defensive force. Handily for them, they were made up of death, so they could withstand a decent amount of damage before they would fall.

Fire had ravaged the battlefield ahead. The defensive position which had been picked was well away from any of the buildings which Jano had spent all that time fixing.

Jano had been partnered with Gryff once more. He had requested Jano to form part of their small unit. He had thought it was odd that the Prince of the clan was leading a fighting unit, at least in name, but apparently it was quite common. And he seemed filled with a drive for revenge.

Gryff was particularly powerful, and Jano’s attacks looked like child’s play next to the white hot vortex of flame which he could control. While Jano’s spirit was feeling much stronger than it ever had thanks to the elixir, Gryff never seemed to struggle during his attacks. And Jano had not managed to understand the new attack Dariea had given him. It was a series of runes and every time he tried it, it seemed that his spirit gave up on him. It started to form every time he tried but then the attack just fizzled out. It was a familiar feeling. He simply wasn’t strong enough yet.

“Jano, get your scythe ready. We’re heading out for clean up duty.” Gryff shouted with a smile.

He sighed. ‘Clean up duty’ was a fun little term which apparently meant that the main battle was over and they were the chosen unit to pick off the stragglers. Jano had done it several times so far and he still felt a bit ridiculous with his weapon, but Dariea had insisted that he keep using it. After all, it helped strengthen his spirit with every enemy he felled. The Shimmer Soldiers were all essence, and he felt the rush of power every time he had managed to defeat one.

They leapt over a small bridge which Jano had helped erect. It was only about a foot high off the floor, but it kept the supplies clean and away from any still sentient arms or torsos which might wildly swing; whether attached to a Shimmer or not. That was the trouble with death essence.

Jano’s feet landed with a thud onto the packed mud and the sound of others landing around him sounded like really heavy raindrops. He held his scythe which had its familiar nip as his hands grasped it. She hadn’t explained why it does that.

The unit was around twenty strong and made up of a mix of all of the Molinian clans, but Jano chose to stick near Gryff. He still wasn’t entirely sure what he should be doing, but this left him near the front. Gryff, for his part, wasn’t massively concerned with potentially dying. At least he gave that impression as he crashed into a small pocket of stragglers.

Gryff wrapped a roaring flame around his sword as he thrust it through a green neck and twirled to assist a fellow soldier with his fight. He slashed and cut the attacking arm off and the fire soldier dealt with the rest. Jano was swept to the side of that fight and found himself facing an isolated massive ghoul. In death, and whatever spell gave them life once more, they retained vaguely the shape of the humans they must have been.

Vaguely human maybe, but something just wasn’t right about them. Other than the green glow. They had lost something. Death essence, as Dariea had explained could not be entirely controlled. She said it was vaguely related to chaos essence in that way. They looked twisted and contorted. Things which shouldn’t exist but do. The Shimmer attacked slowly, like it’s very limbs were cumbersome. Jano raised his scythe to block but the force behind the blow was much more fierce than he was expecting. It knocked the scythe from his hands.

Jano managed to duck out of the way, roll and regather his weapon. But he was a little shaken by the brute force. He gathered as much chaos essence as he could in the circumstances and fired off a handful of chaos blades. He stood up and sliced upwards with his scythe, straight into the armpit of the ghoul. It groaned with a mindless roar.

Fire began to consume Jano’s opponent from its feet upward and Jano took the opportunity to drive the scythe into its head. He felt the slow trickle of relief into his spirit which signaled the end of the fight.

Gryff hopped over with a smile, “I know, I know you’d have had it. But we need to get this done as soon as possible!” Jano gave him a shrug but he was a little relieved. He was glad that Gryff had taken a liking to him though it was a little troubling to witness in the delight he took while carrying out revenge on his brother's killers.

They moved down the battlefield, scattered enemies being consumed by fire and blades. Some of the Shifters had assumed different forms depending on the needs of their last fight and Jano thought their ability was nothing short of amazing. The less experienced couldn’t entirely shift forms, but they were still deadly. He tried his best to keep his distance from some of the more intense fighting, preferring instead to use his chaos blades to assist from afar. Even still, he was getting enough practice with his scythe. It didn’t feel as awkward as it once had.

They reached the end of the demarcated zone and headed back. They hadn’t lost any of their unit. The Shimmer were simple fighters, they were formidable when they had numerical advantage but when they were isolated they were slow and relatively easy to pick off.

Debris from the battle was scattered amongst the now empty base. It was a far cry from the scene Jano had seen when they had first approached. This had been where the attendant of the King had met him and Dariea. Only a couple of weeks before, when all of this seemed so weird and exotic.

They began returning back to the makeshift base when Jano spotted some ruined farm buildings. “Gryff, do we have a little bit of time?” He shouted. The Prince wandered over with a confused look on his face.

“What’s up? We don’t want to hang around too much, we don’t know when they’ll send another wave.”

Jano pointed to the boulders and debris. “I could make a wall and we could reinforce it so it’s harder to batter down. That way, we could channel the enemy where we want them to go?”

Gryff considered his words and a smile crept across his face. “That would stick it to the other clans, I mean, we would be useful!” He bounced up and down excitedly.

“Put it there!” He said, pointing at the middle of the field. “That way, it forces them to split up.”

Jano nodded. He would have preferred to have channeled them right down the middle and limit the numbers which could come through, but there wasn’t enough stone. He began to do his work, drawing on the stone essence around him. That was the nice thing about stone essence, it was almost everywhere. Much like when repairing the buildings, the essence seemed limited when compared to the vast amount of chaos which surrounded the settlement, though it was less strong this far down.

Soon enough, he had constructed a wall blocking the middle of the battlefield. It wasn’t orderly in any way, but it would be enough to block their path for almost one hundred footsteps.

“We should be able to make use of that. Come on, let’s get back and tell the others.” Gryff shouted.