Bright veins of electricity shot off Tara as we walked down the cave’s passage. They targeted stray monsters that loomed above us, hiding in the darkness beyond the moss-light. They were tiny, spider-like, skittering down or hanging in wait. They exploded at the first touch of Tara’s spark, shrieking in pain. And yet, they kept coming. Like a crazy wave. The larger ones stumped on the smaller monsters, eyes wild with hate as they lunged. Only to be slashed by Claire or pierced by Zoey’s flying arrows.

The pace was slow, but they kept moving. David spied a monster with two large hairy heads trying to spit out something just before Claire cleaved it in two. They side-stepped it, avoiding the colorless sludge that oozed out of its dead mouth.

“What are these things?” David asked. He had expected Orcs. Battle-smart monsters with weapons that would put up some kind of fight. These seemed like they were made to delay them. But why?

“Krak’s spawns,” Tez said, his hands still clasped behind him. His head leaned right as if listening for something David couldn’t hear. The old man seemed to be at peace here. Perhaps it was because this was one of the places he’d spent most of his time back when he still worked with Galan and the other outworlders. He seemed relaxed, even as the battle raged in front of him.

“Spawns?” Hanna asked. Tez gave her a look, smiled, and nodded. He had taken a liking to her. David couldn’t understand that either.

“One of the many abilities Krak has acquired is transformation. He believes that no resources should be wasted. These monsters you see now were once humans. Those with low potential were transformed into this.” He stared at Hanna as her face deepened into a frown and grinned. “There is very little Krak is not capable of doing. Balek encourages a curious mind, in all directions. According to Krak, Balek is more of a scholar god, than a warrior one.”

A small winged creature screeched, but Zoey’s arrow tore through its slim throat and its body hit the rough ground with a small thud. She pulled her bowstring and let loose eight shimmering arrows of emerald light. They sailed in a smooth arch and then crashed into the crowd of monsters in front of them and exploded. Dust and stones flew up, but Elisha quickly shielded them from the force of it with his shadow.

“David,” Tara said, turning to him. “You might be better suited for this. You can burn through the horde at once and we can move faster.”

David pushed forward, Ignis’s bone in his hand. Behind him, he could sense their expectations. He took a deep breath in and exhaled. He didn’t just have to burn through the monsters. He had to control the flames in a way that wouldn’t bring down the cave on top of them. That was going to need him to focus completely on the volume of essence and the skill he could use. World Tilter would shatter the walls. He summoned Ignis, linking his consciousness to the dragon so he was in sync with the sword. He’d learned as much in the time they took to prepare for this raid.

Are you ready for this? Ignis asked. David grunted. There was only one way to find out. He’d tried this so many times and every time had given him a different result. He let essence flow freely within him. At the edge of his focus, he felt something probing him, like a tentacle. It felt corrosive, tainted. As if it could consume him. He pushed the feeling aside, instead letting Ignis’ memories anchor him to the ground under his feet and the warmth behind him. Something moved and hissed and drew closer. David put his sword up, waiting for what was slowly building up in him.

“Anytime now, David,” Tara said, slicing into the smooth form of his concentration. David exhaled. He could feel them, as far as they go. He could feel their breath, their moans as they dragged themselves forward as if pulled and controlled by invisible strings. They were in pain. Not all, but most. Many were already mad from the suffering. There was something inside them that wanted to be let out. Their humanity? David couldn’t make sense of it. He wanted to fix the puzzle, unmake whatever they had been made to be. He wanted to reach out to them and wipe away the essence that folded and remolded them.

You don’t have time to pity them, Ignis warned. And David knew the dragon was right. Tez didn’t tell the whole truth. Perhaps that was for the best. This kind of hesitation could get them killed.

David felt understanding slide into place. This insight had been within him for so long. It was like remembering a forgotten name. A simple push and it had come to him. He pictured the spell, and then said the words, coming essence to mold into a physical form.

Spell: Requiem

Essence consumption: High

Requiem is the beginning of a two-layer spell. Requiem consumes the body and soul; a complete erasure. If not controlled, it hunts the user. You have attained true resonance with Ignis, father of dragons.

You have been blessed with temporary Willpower.

You have acquired the scales of Arathorn, the elder dragon slain by Ignis, and remade into an armor of pure essence. (You can only use this for two minutes due to your lack of insight.)

Amareth blesses you!

“Are you going to do it?” Tara asked, just before an amethyst tongue of fire erupted at the tip of David’s sword. It flared, hungry, and yet peaceful. In David’s head, he could hear the soft hum of a song, then he realized it was Ignis. He was singing. Tears slipped down David’s cheek, and when he opened his eyes, what he saw in front of him were no longer monsters.

He felt them all, heard their pleas. Most were begging to be killed. Others wanted vengeance. They stopped right before David, eyes still crazy, but they stood still. As if somehow they could recognize the growing flame at the tip of his sword.

Ignis’s voice rumbled in David’s head. The language the dragon spoke was Skraelig. It was unmistakable. David wondered how he’d never thought to ask. Then he lifted the sword, said a small prayer for the souls he was about to vanquish, and then swung the sword.

The fire spread. Not as a storm, but a quiet, growing thing. It stretched, moving from one monster to the next, devouring them. They screamed and howled and cried. The passage shone purple, and for a moment they were transfigured. Then they began to shed as Requiem undid Krak’s spell and devoured it. It took seconds.

Nothing was left when the purple light faded. The passage was silent, and the silence was heavy. David stared hard at the space they’d left behind. He couldn’t fathom the rage building inside him, but suddenly he wanted to bash Krak’s face so hard the man’s teeth would go up his nose. His fingers strangled the hilt of his sword, his knuckles stretched and whitened. Then he felt a searing pain from within as if someone had run him through.

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He turned just in time to see Tara’s confused face, and then he fell back.

“Got you,” Elisha said, catching him before he hit the ground. David’s body trembled. Something was happening that he couldn’t understand. His sword fell off his hands, his fingers too weak to hold it. He brought his hand, growing at his shaking fingers.

“What is wrong with him?” Zoey asked, but Tara’s frown was all David could look at. She seemed worried. David wanted to scoff. Of course, that was impossible. The only people Tara would worry about were Claire and Jeremy. Elisha guided him to the left wall of the passage. His breathing came with shivers. He tried to fold his fingers and control the nausea that was coming, but he couldn’t. He leaned left and retched, his whole body heaving as it emptied itself.

Requiem took more essence than you thought it would, Ignis said and David grunted his answer. He could see why Chaos had been so worried he was going to kill himself. It was so easy to miscalculate. He’d think he had enough essence for that spell. Sentiments, David realized. He’d almost killed himself because he felt pity for people who were more or less already dead. So stupid.

What we do creates the people we become, David.

David waited to see if the dragon would say more, but it slipped into silence, apparently done. David sighed. He focused on Chloe’s worried face, and managed a smile before closing his eyes. The essence here was darker as if tainted by something. David traced it as he absorbed it, finding the source of the taint. He gathered essence into a spinning orb in his palm, cradling it like an ostrich’s egg. He pulled more and more until it was a dark thing in his hands.

Then he heard footsteps.

No, he felt them. Like small echoes in his mind. He was confused at first, but then he was sure. They were coming. He counted the steps and isolated each one according to rhythm to find out how many of them were coming.

“Five,” David said without opening his eyes. “Five people are coming.”

He couldn’t tell if they were like the acolyte they fought outside or real seasoned outworlders. He focused on the essence in his hands. He had to find a way to remove the taint. He probed it, trying to find where the shade of stain clung to the natural essence, but nothing. He rushed through it, turning it either way, searching as the steps got closer. Then he heard the crack of Tara’s lightning, felt the sweet taste at the back of his throat, and knew that the threat was right in front of them.

Five, indeed. They all wore armor. Burned steel, with their helms fashioned into dreadful masks. Tez walked forward, still relaxed as if he couldn’t see the armored men in front of him. His head leaned left, and David had the impression that he wasn’t listening this time. His left hand went to the hilt of his sword. The first guard with the wolf snout’s helm lunged forward, his short broad sword coming down on Tez. The old man pulled his sword so fast David couldn’t see, he only heard the sheath hit the ground. The katana went through the guard’s sword and then the meat of his arm. There was a pause in the passage; a moment where everyone simply stared in shock. The guard broke the silence with a deafening scream and David could have sworn he saw Tez’s face transform. The old man grinned, his one good eye peering at the four other guards who had now slid into fighting positions, swords drawn.

“Boy,” Tez said, turning to David. “You have until this bunch dies to fix yourself. After that, we are leaving you behind.” Then he pounced, his body moving as if it’d adjusted to the space. He danced, his sword moving like a knowing partner.

Focus, David, Ignis growled. David panicked, almost losing his grip on the ball of swirling essence in his hands. Tara glared at him. Jeremy had shifted away from him. His eyes closed to slit as he watched them. Tara knelt beside Zoey and Elisha. Claire held Chloe back.

David sighed. The shaking had stopped, but he was sure it would begin again if he moved too much. He turned to Tez’s fight to see that the first armored guard was dead. The others were holding Tez back, but only barely. He was making little cuts on them, his sword sliced through their armor like a hot knife through cheese.

“What are you trying to do?” Tara asked, worry heavy on her voice. “You know what will happen if you lose control of this thing.” she pointed to the dark ball of essence. I nodded.

Absorb it, Ignis said. I frowned. You can’t do anything about the taint like that. You don’t have to mold the essence either. You just have to take it in. We naturally absorb it by breathing, to get it faster, you have to guide it, push or pull it where you want it to go.

David nodded. He could see how that would work. Yet, it scared him to try. The passage wasn’t wide enough to protect the others if things got complicated. His heart thundered in his chest, echoing in his ears. He steadied his breathing.

“More guards are coming,” David said. Tara turned to Jeremy and gave him that familiar nod and the swordsman quietly walked toward Tez just before the others came. “He might not be enough for them. I think we are close to the portal chamber.”

“Then get on with whatever you have to do,” Tara said, standing up. “The rest of us have to help.” She led the others away, except Chloe. Chloe sat beside David, her eyes shiny with unspilled tears.

“Will you be alright?”

David nodded, smiled at her, and began.

First, he let the essence he had molded dissipate slowly. Then he folded his legs under himself and sighed deeply. There was no need to meditate. According to Ignis, he simply had to guide the essence. A sharp pain lanced his chest and his breath came ragged and hollow. There was something wrong, but he couldn’t focus on that yet. He started again, first, reaching out for essence as he did when he created the ball. But instead of forming a ball, he simply pulled, using himself as the center point.

The ache came again, but this time David knew exactly what had happened. The tainted essence was mixing with the pure essence in him. It was like a clash of cells and his body was fighting against the consequences of that. He pushed against it, filling himself with the tainted essence as much as he could.

“David,” Chloe whispered, but David couldn’t focus on her voice. He drank more of the essence, even as the pain intensified. There was something else underneath, a sensation unlike anything he’d felt before. It was soothing, as if he was in a storm and yet all he felt was peace. He groaned as he lifted his hand to stare as fluid dripped out the pores of his skin. Something was happening.

Stop! Stop!

Ignis’ voice was swallowed, engulfed in something far, larger than the dragon. David shivered, but it was more from the pleasure of this new feeling. He let himself be pulled into it. He was going to be gone forever. Then he heard the stum of strings and a voice filled with so much warmth and fear that it pricked him, opening a shallow wound in him, but a deeper cut in the darkness drowning him.

David opened his eyes to Chloe’s golden essence suffusing him. Again, he thought. He had made her save him again. A thin line of blood dribbled out of Chloe’s nostril and down her lips. Her eyes were red. David held his sister’s hand, stopping her mechanical movements. She was in some kind of trance.

When the song stopped, the light vanished and Chloe staggered back, blinking rapidly. Then her eyes focused and she leaped on David.

“You were dying!” She said and started to sob. “You almost died. You said you will be alright.”

David held her for a moment. Behind them, the battle was coming to an end. David let Chloe down and smiled.

“You saved me, Chloe, thank you!” But David could see only fear in his little sister’s eyes.

You have wrestled with Balek’s influence!

Your willpower has increased!

You have acquired a new title: First Sovereign!

This title helps you subdue Balek’s low-level monsters. (It can be used for one minute)

Essence consumption: Low (passive)

“David!” Tara yelled. And David turned to find Elisha and Hanna fighting the last of the guards.

“Ready, boy?” Taz asked with a mocking grin. “You missed most of the fun.”