Enzo stood atop the wall as a silent night descended upon the village. He and the other guards stood poised and ready for war. Tobias stood just inside the gate, ignoring the looks his armor and sword were attracting, instead focused on the coming battle.

A rustling along the treeline broke the silence. A horde of raiders, at least a couple hundred in number, began to filter down the road and through the trees. Few rode horses, and those few seemed to command from the rear of the force. The main body of the warband was made up of wild looking men. They held swords and axes and shields high in the air as they emerged from the darkness of the forest and assembled in the low hills in front of the main gate.

As they neared the village, a terrifying war call sounded throughout the hills. Enzo looked at Oskar.

“There’s far too many of them, we don’t stand a chance,” Oskar said quietly, to avoid scaring the others. “We should have turned and hid in the mountains.”

“It’s too late now,” Enzo replied, his voice gravelly and face grim. “All we can do is fight. They’ll aim to kill us, then the pillaging will begin.” He looked away from Oskar to watch Gunnar.

The captain of the guard called out to the handful of guardsmen armed with bows upon the wall. “Today, we fight for our families. We fight for our brothers and sisters. We fight for our lives! Men, they outnumber us a hundred to one! Think of the stories they will tell! The brave men of Starstone stood tall and held strong against such an overwhelming force! You will not die alone, brothers! A thousand will fall for every one of us tonight!”

The men cheered and nocked their arrows. The ground began to rumble as the advancing horde neared, almost in range of their bows. Enzo closed his eyes. He emptied the last of the fire whiskey in his flask.

Enough of this. Enough hiding from what I can do. I won’t watch good men die when I can put an end to this.

He calmed his breath and cycled energy, pulling from every source. Every fire in the village, every beating heart, every blade of grass. The mana of the Geschmolzen clan melded with his own, and he felt his control increase tenfold. He flooded the mana into his warhammer until the hammer began to glow with heat.

Beside him, Oskar jumped aside. The intense increase of heat Enzo gave off was unbearable to stand near. The thrill of energy that came with imbuing this much fire mana was irresistible. Before anyone could stop him, Enzo vaulted the wall and landed on the ground before the horde.

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He continued building the heat in his core to the point that his warhammer could hold no more. Satisfied, he began to fill his body with mana. The air around him began to rotate as he shaped more heat, forming an orb of energy. Several guards shouted at Enzo from the wall, but he tuned them out.

The horde saw him jump from the walls and paused their rush to the village. A man called out, presumably the leader.

“Have you come to talk, boy?” the man called, mocking him. Enzo focused on the energy that flowed around him. “Archers, put that fool in the dirt!” the man shouted again, and coarse laughter pulsed throughout the horde. Archers nocked arrows. Enzo began to walk forward. The men of the horde fired.

As the arrows rained down upon Enzo, something strange happened to them. An updraft of wind seemed to catch them, and throw them off course. Shafts and feathers ignited and started small fires in the grasses of the field. As soon as they appeared, the flames were snuffed out again, as though they were siphoned into some other realm. The man called for the archers to fire again but Enzo didn’t wait for them.

Now several dozen paces from the edge of the wall, he’d created enough distance to ensure he didn’t accidentally burn the village down. He inhaled deeply and set his feet. The mana I’ve been building has plateaued. I need more fire.

He held his warhammer high above his head. The weapon now glowed an eerie reddish orange. Light flickered across the battlefield like that of a giant bonfire. Enzo took a deep breath and smashed the flat head of his hammer into the ground. A shockwave rippled through the ground, and, after a moment, gouts of molten rock spewed in lines that spread across the hills.

The rivers of lava expanded until they were several feet across. Thunder rumbled in the distance as the grasses and trees of the area near the lava burst into flames. The rain would be here soon, but not yet. Not in time to stop the wildfire from spreading. Enzo drank in the energy as a wall of fire exploded in front of the village. Enzo stepped beyond the flames and faced the horde.

“Leave now or burn,” he called to the men. His voice rumbled through the hills, echoing with an ancient power far beyond them. The villagers watched from the wall, shocked. Tobias quietly snuck through the gate. A woman on a horse at the rear of the formation drew a dull green sword.

The men of the horde were unsure of what to do. It was just one boy, right? They looked to the man who’d spoken before.

“Thanks, boy! We were going to do that ourselves, you just saved my boys some time!” the man laughed derisively. “Kill ‘im! Take the village!”

I warned you.

The men let loose another war cry as they charged Enzo. He drew two charcoal stones from his pocket and threw them along each flank of the formation as they charged. Fire exploded where they landed, injuring a few but giving Enzo two new points to work with. He channeled walls of fire from the surrounding inferno to the two points, creating a funnel the charging fighters would have to pass through to get to the village.

As the first raiders approached him, Enzo gripped his warhammer in a low stance and prepared to fight.