Dawn wasn’t asleep for long, yet still, Harlan’s blood was pooling and citizens started to gather back towards their homes now that the Cast had gone.

She stood up as best she could, everything in her body was functional, but she was shaking off the blackout.

“I NEED AXES, PICKAXES, ANYTHING HEAVY TO SWING.”

The golems and citizens both started moving at her command.

She hacked away at the ice that held the rest of Harlan’s body, carefully placing a large chunk by Harlan’s body to suck up the extra heat that he was putting out.

Left alone, the void mist would kill him, he’d burn up like every other test subject.

With his lower half freed from the ice things still looked quite grim as she dragged it towards him.

She didn’t see when, but Elk had appeared and helped the golems to stabilize him.

Seeing Dawn with his body, Elk decided to start putting his organs back in his body.

She reached down to use her hand, without his having hover active her telekinesis wasn’t enough to push his heavy parts back inside of him.

“WAIT.”

Elk severely scalded her hand, the sticky black blood was like pitch that clung to her.

Dawn used blood magic to pull it off of her, and long with the blood came a layer of skin, degloving the girl.

“Calm down, I still need your help.”

Dawn soothed the burning first, separating out the damaged and dead flesh just like she saw Harlan do dozens of times when he was in his healing classes at the academy, and then she regrew the missing flesh followed by the skin itself.

“We need to match the temperature, any other damage can be handled by Harlan’s natural healing and a bit of magic on our end.”

“Putting frozen parts back-”

“I know Harlan, so long as we don’t shock his system with frosty blood, he’ll be fine.”

The bits of ice that were still on Harlan’s beastly body had been broken down enough that their ability to absorb heat was less than the effect the heat could have on it; no ability could absorb without limit.

Sure enough, when Harlan’s body got close enough the pieces of armor on both sides of him pulled together and started healing him.

“Much of that was necrotic, are you sure he is going to be alright?”

“Most of Harlan is made from necrotic flesh given life back to it by his sigils. He’ll seamlessly incorporate charred, frozen, or severely broken bodies into himself all the time.”

“He’s not even awake.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m more worried about him burning up, help me set up freezing arrays.”

“How cold?”

“It’s in the name.”

Harlan was still in the street when he woke up.

There was no delusion, no bargaining, he held in all of his rage, he knew that he failed, and he knew that if they took Darrath alive then they’d be back to negotiate, so he needed to prepare for that moment.

A layer of frost was on the brick street, but he felt like he was burning up with fever still.

He shifted his body back into his humanoid form, not having fur or feathers helped to let off more heat.

Dawn was nowhere to be seen, which he took to be that she left him there to recover while she helped with efforts to help the other injured.

Harlan hadn’t had the time to think about it before, The Darkness told him to be a weapon, to use the sigil, and so he did.

The boost to strength was welcome, but now he needed to remove it from his soul, he could already feel that all of his extra bodies had been affected by it and burned away.

Through the golems Dawn was informed that Harlan was awake again.

Fear, sadness, those were the two strongest emotions he could feel from her.

“You need to make a bracelet or something like you gave that fox, do you need me to-”

“I was prepared for this already, I had a theory on how to get rid of it once I became one with it.”

He sat there with crossed legs and held his hands over his stomach.

After a few more minutes, boney voidplate on his hands crumbled, and his temperature began to go back to normal.

“There.”

“How?”

“When I studied the way a Fenrir shifts its soul to shift its body I picked up how to do it, in theory. I can’t remove it, it’s stuck too much into my soul, but I can lock it away and bring it back as needed, which is how I always wanted this to go. It is good that it worked.”

“How about you explain a little-”

“Are you trying to keep me here?”

“I just think that you could use a little more time to rest.”

“I know you are lying to me. What happened? Beyond what I already know.”

“I think that you should really rest, you haven’t had time to process-”

“We will get him back, I have faith that I can do that. What is wrong right here, right now?”

“Just… just walk with me.”

Harlan felt his stomach drop, he knew someone was dead, and his mind raced to understand who.

D’if? No, he knew that Dawn wouldn’t care that much, and Harlan kept him around because he was useful, not because he particularly liked him.

Mercedes? A divination showed she was still there, and once in range he could feel she was alive, her mind burned as brightly as always.

Joan was there as well, a hate like the sun burned in her, but it was reflected inward.

Harlan knew the answer before he reached the room, but there was never any level of preparation that could make him accept death like this.

“You don’t need to go inside.”

He hesitated, he wanted to believe her.

“I need to know, I need to face it, to burn it into my mind.”

Arrow looked to have been hit with something heavy, his chest was caved in and his fur matted red.

Harlan averted his eyes from the other body, he already knew she was gone, but for just a moment, another instant longer, he wished that he could pretend it hadn’t happened, it was so much easier to act like the only death was a pet.

He breathed fast and shallow, his heart tightened as he forced his head to turn towards her.

Viviane laid against the wall, a gaping hole in her heart.

From their proximity, he assumed they both leapt to Darrath’s defense and died for him.

His lip trembled and his eyes watered as his shaky hands closed her cold eyes..

The shadows of the city mourned, but he made no sounds.

To the citizens, it was like an army of demons had appeared without warning.

Harlan’s face was stuck in a scowl, every fiber of his being demanded someone be punished, but there were no enemies left in the city.

Instead, he made his way to Joan.

She broke down in tears the moment he entered the room.

Joan had not a scratch on her, her blade had tasted no blood that day.

“I’m a coward, I’m sorry, I’m-”

Any attempt at communication failed, and he just let out a growl.

D’if was recovering in the same room, he had taken a sword to the gut and was missing a hand, but he took a few scalps of his own fighting off the invaders.

“I’m sorry boss, I couldn’t stop them, they came in fast and quiet the second Dawn was out.

They delayed me, got me away from him, I couldn’t do anything.”

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“You tried.”

Those were the best words that Harlan could use, D’if had at least done something.

He healed D’if, and then left the room.

Away from them, he contacted Carmilla, and she said it was best to speak in person.

“Have you received the demands yet? You are certain that he was alive when they took him?”

“I know I felt his mind as they fled. The only reason I can see that they want him as a hostage is to force me to negotiate for my magic.”

“Do you intend to give it to them?”

“I need to do everything that I can to get Darrath back and kill them. I need you to be ready, as soon as Darrath is back and I have those two where I want them, you and Dawn can-”

“No.”

“What is the plan then?”

“Darrath isn’t even your blood, but if they learn your magic, the consequences will be dire.

Anyone who can still resist them will fall.”

“I shouldn’t have bothered coming here.”

Harlan’s body was paralyzed by her gaze and a little blood magic.

“You cannot be allowed to give them the magic, if you want to live, you will make a vow to me right now that you won’t.”

“Why not? Why can’t you help?”

“When you kill a Finger, a Hand will always appear when next available. Fighting a Hand cannot be done without the land being destroyed, the clashing of anyone on their level will have such an effect, if they come to either of our countries, we will lose entire cities. I’ve never even seen the Hands of this generation, so the extra time it would take to learn how to fight them back, because killing a Hand isn’t going to happen, the best I will do is beat them back as you have the Fingers which attacked Kor.”

It made him want to vomit, not the magic, but what he was considering.

“If the world falls to the Cast, it wouldn’t matter that Darrath is saved, for I would only doom us all.”

He retched, the words were like shit rolling up his throat.

“I must do the right thing if it comes down to it.”

“As a ruler must. Were it to be Camilla and I had no other option I would do the same.

I cannot directly appear on a battlefield, but I can offer you some elite troops which are unknown to others, and I can offer materials, metals, gems, things of that nature for weapons.

My suggestion is to go to your Goliath allies, if they take part you could potentially turn the attention to them, as their king is already fighting off a Hand, any blowback wouldn’t matter to Lith.”

“I will find out what I need, then I will return.”

He offered no thanks, and she did not scold him for it, she knew that there no good way to tell someone that you weren’t going to help them get their stolen child back.

Bartholomew was surprised to hear from Harlan, both of them hadn’t spoken in some time as a result of Harlan putting so much time into trying to help the other three nations.

“I see from your face that this is not a good time. How may I help?”

He patted him on the back, his massive hands reassuring Harlan, who was presently refusing to confront the stress of the day.

“Darrath has been kidnapped, the woman I hoped I would love and who loved me is dead. I need a reason to not start doing the worst things that I can to get him back.”

“Who did this?”

Bartholomew was a calm man, but Harlan could hear the edge on his voice as he rose from his seat.

“Helik, Sholl, and some of their soldiers.”

Bartholomew sat back down.

“This complicates things, we have no formal alliance, I can’t really ask for troops from Lith, only my private men.”

Harlan closed his eyes and slumped back in his seat, the allies he had here were useless.

Carmilla didn’t want to put her people in any danger by taking part in the retrieval herself, Colton was just a man, and would amount to nothing in combat, Fangre lacked strength as well, and Tatton was a bastard who Harlan wouldn’t spit on if he was on fire.

“So I can only offer myself. I’ll ask the others of my group, my friends, but I won’t make any promises about them coming.”

He nearly leapt from his seat in excitement.

“I am a father, a daughter, two sons, one lost to war. If I stood back, I would not be able to face myself.”

Harlan’s lip quivered, but he held back any tears.

“As soon as you know where we need to be, call on us, until then, I need to prepare.”

“Wait, there is something I can give you.”

Harlan used gate to get to a closet that had spare shifting suits.

“Those are a bit small.”

“Trust me.”

Harlan tossed three suits at the man which all turned to liquid and flowed over his body.

“I can’t promise they offer much defense, but please, take them. If you have a weapon you like, I can soulsmith them, extend that offer to anyone you invite.”

“I will do so. I do hope things turn out well.”

Harlan sent Bartholomew away with a gate and prepared his next meeting.

It was time sensitive, so he had put it off until now, but he rowed over to the island covered in mist, the miles and miles of land that came into existence to sustain a people.

The Sea Drake rose above the water, but recognized Harlan, and simply went back to guarding.

Periwinkle did not meet him by the beach, and so Harlan saw their town for the first time.

It wasn’t impressive, the Pixies knew nothing of governance or how to survive, and Periwinkle was a poor teacher, she never had to know how to survive, not really.

He walked up to the giant tree, hundreds of feet around with a canopy so wide Harlan could barely see its end.

The Pixies murmured and fled at the sight of him, and finally she appeared.

“I do not believe I invited you in.”

“Darrath has been taken.”

“By who?”

“The Cast, the Fingers, elite-”

“I know of the Fingers. But I cannot leave the island.”

“When I call, you’ll only be gone for-”

“You do not understand, I cannot leave the island, it is not a matter of debate, I am locked here.”

“What?”

“This landmass did not exist, I made it myself, I control it, but at a cost.

For the next century, I cannot step foot off of it.”

Harlan called Xol, it was a shot in the dark, he didn’t even expect an answer at all.

“I will be there soon.”

A void gate brought him to the cliff where Harlan stood and watched the island fade into the mist again.

“What is the issue now?”

“Darrath is gone, a woman who loved me, and whose presence I enjoyed is dead.”

“What do you need?”

“What are you allowed to actually do? What restrictions are you operating under?”

“That isn’t the question.”

“Can you fight against the Cast?”

“Yes.”

“Can you get him back for me?”

“And when they come again? Would you call me once more, hope I am there to do this for you again and again?”

“I shouldn’t have expected anything, every ancient powerful being I know is either an asshole or they have some rules that prevent them from ever doing a single godsdamned thing.”

“You’ve read into my response more than it is. I will find Darrath, I will keep him safe, but you must face this battle with you and yours. I’m not The Darkness, I’m not throwing you to the wolves, but I will not do all of the work for you. I’ll act as a safety net, prevent the worst outcome, but that is all.”

Xol gripped his staff and wondered if his next words were ones which should be said, a cascade of terrible consequences could arise from such simple things.

“You need to make an example, one that cannot be forgotten.”

It took three days before Sholl and Helik contacted Harlan, but their exchange would not take place for another four days. Xol had been around Darrath, or at least something from Xol had been around Darrath the entire time to ensure he was safe even if he wasn’t happy.

He was a prisoner, but it was in their best interest that he be kept in relatively good health.

“You are late, I hope that isn’t a sign of something to come.”

“It is said that revenge is a dish best served cold, but I disagree.”

“Good, ominous. You’ve gathered your forces?”

“Yes.”

“I will remove Darrath, would you like me to take him to your home?”

Harlan hesitated.

“Can you put him to sleep? There are things I need to say to him, and I need to be the first person he sees when he is home.”

“A simple matter.”

Harlan used a series of gates to gather his forces.

A dozen Goliath warriors, a couple of vampires who could hide what they were and their ties to Redhaven, Dawn, D’if and his men.

The location of their fight was the ruins of the city of Portal.

Harlan made his way there under the guise of negotiating a complete surrender, and a small fleet of Castian ships had gathered, though not all wore the colors of the empire.

Helik stood in front of Sholl and began to speak.

“I am glad that you’ve come to see sense. Surrender your weapon, your clothes, and put on this collar, then we will return your son to your nation.”

“That is certainly one proposal, but look over there, to the west. You have another port city there, right?

Ceres. Population right around 120,000, a beautiful place.”

“Is this the part where you claim that you’ve destroyed the city or that you will destroy the city?

Then we are supposed to quake and decide that it isn’t worth the risk you pose to our citizens because bla bla bla. You give us magic, we don’t send your son’s corpse to you in a dozen pieces.”

“I could never do this where I came from, the defenses in place are simply too well covering for this to work. I guess this is partly because you are conquerors, but poor rulers, so you leave much of the land in control of your vassal states, you don’t really care that much about them or how they are really defended. How strong is your hold on these nations, really? Because you rule through fear, and not respect, that means anyone who can make them more afraid than you could rule them.”

“Are you just wasting time for some plan of yours?”

“I’m a little worried that my plan didn’t work really, but that is more of a show of force than anything I need to kill both of you.”

“Fine, I’ll admit, I am interested. How long is this going to take?”

“It should’ve gone off about three minutes ago, if it doesn’t go off in another five I’ll assume it is a failure.”

One of the Cast rushed outside.

“THE PRISONER IS GONE.”

“Oh, so that is your plan. Doesn’t really matter much.”

“No, the one that took Darrath to safety is just making sure that my son isn’t caught in the crossfire, that I can fight, and my people can fight, without worry that you’ll use him as a hostage.”

“I don’t imagine that we’re going to get him again, so we’ll just take you by force now that you’re here.

I’ll be gentle if you comply, just strip down to bare and I’ll put a slave collar on so you can’t use magic without our say so.”

“Any chance you want to wait another few minutes, see if my show of force is going to work or not.”

“How will I know?”

“Should be a big burst of light, a cloud that stretches up from the ground and looks like a mushroom.”

“You mean the sunrise?”

“Like a second one.”

Sholl decided to pray while they waited.

“Any god he is asking for help won’t make a difference.”

“So you say, but unlike yours, our god can provide direct provable results when we pray.”

Harlan felt the shift in the air and saw a faint golden glow fall over all of the soldiers he could see.

Then everyone saw the light over the horizon, when the sun had already risen, it was as if another rose below it.