The angel felt the change in the forest as they marched on the morning of the third day. Something began to pervade the area around them. The trees, the grass, and even the very air the group breathed had a stagnant feeling to it. With the sensation came awareness. She knew this feeling. It was decay. Everything was in a state of slow but steady decay. It was unnatural but it did not bother Brivaria as it once might have. She felt strangely at home with the odd sensation yet she knew that it was wrong for the forest to feel this way.

“I see the cabin,” someone shouted and the pace picked up. The cabin sat on a clearing next to a stream. It was identical to the wood homes in Pemburne save that it was a little smaller. It was also surprisingly intact. With all of the roaming manaspawn, it was peculiar to find a cabin with no outward-facing damage.

The closer they got to the cabin the stranger the sight became because there were signs of the manaspawn passing. The shambling, dragging steps the creations of Wild Magic made were present in number yet they simply flowed around the building. The adventurers drew weapons and Silas circled around the area to see if there was a pack of manaspawn on the other side of the building. The human gave the all-clear signal moments later. Outwardly, the cabin was deserted.

The door was not barred and Duncan had his shield up as he pushed it open. The door swung inward and then… nothing. Nothing happened. Everyone peered inside but saw nothing amiss. Brivaria tossed a stone infused with light into the cabin and Duncan rushed in after it. The gaborn turned in place, spinning to look at the entire room past the door.

“Empty,” the boar man called. Everyone let go of the breath they were holding. Duncan and Rory checked every inch of the small dwelling in short order. They turned up nothing. It was a communal building. Any hunting team this far out in the forest could use it. The nearby stream was a place to refill waterskins and bathe while the cabin promised shelter from the cold or the rain.

“Did the manaspawn leave it alone because it was unoccupied?” Silas asked as he joined the team in the empty cabin. The human noticed an empty chair and happily seated himself. Everyone was making themselves comfortable. Trixie had claimed a very large, bear-skin rug. The golden had flopped onto her side and was loving every second on the plush rug.

“Seems so,” Duncan replied. Kseniya declared she was going to wash her tail while they were here. Everyone had similar ambitions of taking advantage of the stream. When Nyx wasn’t immediately asking to do the same, Brivaria looked for the catfolk girl. She was staring at something on the cabin wall, tail slashing the air.

The angel approached and joined Nyx in examining what she soon realized was a crude map. It hung on the wall and was extremely crude compared to even the cheap map the angel bought in Keaton. What few details it had were small landmarks likely used by the hunters to mark their positions. The cabin and stream were in the center. There was another cabin far to the north, the angel noticed. She was going to ask Nyx about that when she saw where the cat’s eyes were focused. There was a trio of pins to the southeast. Nyx was intently focused on them.

“What are those,” Brivaria asked. Nyx’s tail stiffened briefly and her ears twitched.

“Hunter teams. They use pins to represent their teams so other teams using or arriving at the cabin know what area is claimed. No one wants to step on each other’s toes. If a team goes missing then it also shows where other teams should go to look for them. This pin is,” Nyx paused as she spoke and pointed to one of the trio of pins, “my brother’s team.”

“Then the rest are the other missing hunter teams. It seems like they went to see what happened to their fellow teams and got caught up in the problem themselves.” Brivaria was only speaking what they had already surmised or known, depending on who one asked. “Hey Duncan, come look at this. I think we might know where to find our missing teams.”

Duncan came over and declared they would break for one hour to bathe and eat an early lunch for those so inclined to have a midday meal. If they ran into trouble later then it might be their only chance. Everyone took turns bathing. Brivaria even gave Trixie a good scrubbing. She used Current Control to dry them both in short order. Nyx requested the same while Kseniya blithely commented she should have waited to enjoy that herself. The men politely declined the angel’s offer for drying—the boar brothers doing so in a huff while Silas merely chuckled and thanked the angel for her offer. While everyone bathed, only Kseniya and Trixie took advantage of the time to eat. The men wanted empty stomachs for what came next and Nyx was too anxious to eat. Brivaria didn’t eat but one meal a day though Trixie was happy to have an early snack.

The group set off toward the southeast not using the full hour despite Duncan’s offer. Every minute they dallied was one more they weren’t coming to the aid of the missing hunters. Brivaria spent a couple points of mana to envelop the entire team with Current Control to speed their steps or slithering as the case may be. Despite the once again brutal pace the boar brothers set for the team, Nyx gave the angel a thankful smile.

Brivaria was too lost in her own thoughts to notice Nyx’s expression. The feeling of decay that stretched out across the land was getting stronger. Once she realized that’s what the group was heading toward, the angel also realized she didn’t even need the map marker. It was like walking toward the sun. Her body drank in the magic that filled the air and she found herself enjoying it.

The march stopped when they saw two prone bodies on the ground ahead. Worry transitioned to relief when the adventurers drew closer and discovered the dead things were manaspawn rather than people. Brivaria had a sudden thought.

“The manaspawn are fleeing this area. They’re running from the spreading decay. That’s why they ignored the cabin. They didn’t break into it because they were trying to get away,” she said to the group at large. She’d mentioned the decay magic back at the cabin. While the angel briefly considered keeping it to herself, there was simply no good reason to do that. The team had to know.

“That’s probably why the ones we encountered were so far from their origin,” Kseniya added. “Usually constructs linger wherever they’re made unless ordered away. The ones we fought must have fled the area in haste but then kept heading in the same direction until they ran into us.”

“So even the brainless monsters are trying to get away from what’s ahead of us. That’s reassuring,” Duncan said sarcastically.

“Aw brother, we’ll just have to find the source of this evil magic and smash it.” Rory mimed slamming his mace down into something with a grin.

“Aye,” was all Duncan said in reply.

They got back on the move and Rory continued boasting what they’d do to the source of the “evil magic” as he put it. Despite their pace being rather quick for most of the group, it was breezy for the two gaborn giving them an easier time bantering about. Brivaria caught Rory looking toward Nyx very briefly during his antics. The mood was steadily growing darker among the adventurers but the younger boar brother was doing his best to lighten it. The angel sighed inwardly. For a people renowned for being direct, the brothers seemed anything but sometimes.

The trek got worse the closer they came to the source of the magic. There was more of the churning mud and petrified trees had collapsed in places. At one point one a tree had collapsed against another which then fell over to collide with yet another. The broken trees formed a barrier the group was forced to go over rather than around. Yet more terrifying was a sink hole that Silas narrowly avoided. The occasional snapped branch falling from above and the still standing trees completed the triangle of the adventurers needing to be wary of the ground, the forest, and even the sky. It felt like the whole world was falling apart around them.

It was after crossing the second barrier formed of fallen trees that someone called out a word that no one wanted to hear. Dungeon. Surrounded by partially fallen and decayed trees was a set of unassuming stone stairs leading down. It was comically out of place in the forest and there was no life anywhere near it. There were no animals and no living trees. Even the vegetation normally covering the forest floor had withered and died.

The whole area was a blight upon the land. It was a festering sore that swelled and grew with time. It was abhorrent in every possible way and a complete affront to nature itself yet… Brivaria enjoyed it. The complete desiccation of everything struck a chord of satisfaction deep within her. Feeling such a powerful force steadily wrestling the world itself into submission was awe-inspiring.

The adventurers stopped at the entrance to the dungeon. The stairs leading down were made of gray stone and were wide enough for three of them to walk abreast or one alongside the winged angel. Trixie tested the first step while everyone considered their next move.

“Same formation as before,” Duncan said, turning to face the group. “My brother and I take point. Snake and human will be behind us. Cat and hey!” Duncan shouted as he noticed Brivaria descending a few steps who was, herself, going down to stop Trixie. The dog seemed intent on going ahead of the group as she’d done while they were with the Second Sword. The angel had only gone in half a dozen steps when she realized something. Trixie barked at her and walked back up.

“It’s not a dungeon,” Brivaria said with obvious confusion. The dog barked and her tail wagged as she stood with her front paws on the top step and her back paws on one further down.

“Then what in blazes is it?” Rory asked.

“That is, I think it was a dungeon but it’s no longer one now,” the angel clarified. Kseniya slithered past the angel and back up.

“She’s right,” Kseniya confirmed. “The dungeon field isn’t present. All dungeons possess a mana field all their own. It represents their territory. I would expect it to be right here, you know?. I’m not sensing anything. It feels like normal stairs.”

“In the middle of the forest?” Rory was incredulous and highly doubtful.

“Could this be a set of ruins?” the reporter offered. “Not all dungeons collapse upon themselves when destroyed. Perhaps this one was defeated at some point. Though, I’m not aware of any dungeons having existed near Pemburne…” He didn’t finish the statement, but raised a hand to stroke his beard in thought.

“Most dungeons rely on the dungeon field to spawn and regenerate monsters as well as rearm traps. If it’s not present then-” Kseniya began but she was cut off by Duncan as the boar held up a hand.

“Field or no, we treat it as an active dungeon. We’re going down but we’re doing it professionally. Finding or rescuing those missing hunters is our mission but my priority is getting everyone here back to Pemburne in one piece. No chances. Rory, let’s do this. Slowly.” The gruff boar man gave Trixie a rough pet as he passed. The dog wuffed and looked at Brivaria, tail wagging. She gave it the smart hound a couple pets before getting into formation behind the others.

Shields were raised as they descended. Brivaria cast a light spell on her sword while the boar brothers activated magic lamps on their belts. They lacked a sweeper or anyone with a proper dungeoneering skill but they made do with what they had. Stairs were tested. Eyes scanned the steps, the walls, and the ceiling. Everyone was on high alert.

Silas noticed a pressure plate set on one of the stairs leading down just before he stepped onto it. The man had only spotted it after the boars went over it to no effect. This gave credence to the theory that this was a former dungeon. Down they went until they came to the first room.

Stone gave way to brown soil and wilted vegetation. The entire chamber was overgrown and filled with flora yet it was all dead and on the cusp of decaying into nothingness. There was no need to cut their way through as there were paths going through the vegetation already. Signs of men and monsters both coming and going were present.

“Plenty of foot traffic through this place already,” Silas observed aloud. His voice was the only thing to break the silence. Death hung in the air.

“Yet nothing seems to be here,” Rory commented. The boar slowly turned about to take in the entire room.

“Come look at this,” Nyx called. She and Trixie were standing near one of the exits. Brivaria noticed there were almost no prints in the soil leading in their direction.

“What the…?” Duncan asked as he peered into the corridor beyond. It stopped barely half a dozen feet inside. That wasn’t to say it was collapsed but rather it looked unfinished. It was though someone had begun constructing the room beyond and simply abandoned the project partway through the task.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Kseniya admitted. The sorceress frowned at the half-finished passage. “Maybe the dungeon wasn’t destroyed. Maybe it never fully formed?”

“Is that possible? I’ve never heard of something like that.” The reporter looked first to the two boars then to Brivaria. She shook her head. She’d never seen nor heard of something like this. Mana that formed a dungeon could form many things. The creation of a dungeon was only one possible outcome. The idea that it could begin the transformation and then be stopped midway through was plausible yet she’d never heard of it occurring.

“No telling how many dead ends this place has. I vote we follow the footsteps. If this place never fully formed then it’s not going to have treasure. No point in exploring it all,” Rory stated. Brivaria didn’t think anyone but Rory had a mind to look for treasure in the first place but she nodded at his words all the same.

“Back into formation. Let’s get this done,” Duncan barked. They maintained their wary stances as they pushed deeper into the malformed dungeon. Nothing obstructed their path. They came across what looked to have once been some sort of tree monster but it was as dead and decrepit as every other bit of flora. Kseniya insisted on sending a trio of her green bolts at the thing but there was no horrifying reanimation when they struck. It was long dead like everything else they’d encountered.

Finally they moved into an enormous, rectangular room that looked to have been an underground garden at one point. There was more of the brown vegetation on the side of the room near the door they entered from and the far distant side. In the center of the room was a terrible scene.

The dead and dying filled the view before the adventurers. They had found the missing people. Short trees were stripped of branches and had their tops filed to a point. They were rotting, wooden spears thanks to the deadly magic in the air and impaled at the top of each was a person or what had been a person. The macabre display was joined by those still alive. They writhed upon the chamber floor, secured to the dirt by copious brown vines. None moved yet they did breathe.

Beneath the hunters, living and dead, was a grand ritual circle that spiraled outward from the center of the room. Brivaria immediately knew that this was the source of the decay. The circle extended just far enough to be under all of the kidnapped people. Finally, at the center of the circle was something that gave every present pause.

The adventurers watched the creature at the heart of the ritual circle rise. At first it looked as though a brown, nigh featureless person was riding an enormous gray wolf. The wolf was enormous by any standard but the rider stood out as its brown arms ended in a pair of enormous brown blades that resembled scythes. As the pair moved, everyone learned the truth of what they faced. There was not a wolf and rider but a person-shaped growth rising from the wolf’s back. They were one creature, one thing, one monster.

“It’s drawing strength from the circle,” Kseniya surmised as they readied themselves for battle. Brivaria could feel herself drawn to the circle. The magic was so familiar to her now. She could touch it, manipulate it, use it. It called to her.

“Aye, it’s growing. Let’s put it down before it gets any stronger,” Duncan said while readying his axe. “Shield and Snout!” The gaborn charged forward.

“Shield and Snout!” Rory chorused while following his brother’s lead.

Just like that the battle was joined. Kseniya coiled in the back. Green bolts flew from the sorceress toward the monster and struck it. The boar brothers took their places on opposite sides of their foe and bellowed. The brown, person-shaped thing that grew from the wolf had black eyes with glowing yellow pupils which fixed on Duncan first. It attempted to strike the gaborn with one of its long, scythe arms only to find the strike unexpectedly pulled toward Rory’s shield.

Trixie barked at the wolf head and drew its attention. Nyx used the distractions provided by the group to get in a solid hit through which she delivered all the stored energy through Kinetic Discharge. It would have been a crippling blow to a normal animal however this amalgamation was anything but. It shrugged off the blow and darted forward, biting at her.

Brivaria hit the thing with several Withering Ray spells. It might have been fast enough to dodge them normally but the brothers kept occupying the creature’s attention and their shield skills prevented it from breaking the stalemate. It was all the time that Silas needed to launch is own devastating attack.

Time slowed down as the reporter appeared behind the beast. He landed on the wolf’s back behind the monstrous torso. The reporter’s dagger thrust forward and everyone in the room felt the impact. It was exponentially stronger than Nyx’s best strike. No one had seen the reporter go all out in a single attack before now and the thing’s brown torso was exploded outward in a shower of gore.

It was a lethal strike or it should have been. The gargantuan wolf bucked. Silas was flung into the air and the creature’s hind legs rose from the ground then snapped backward. The reporter’s chest was crushed inward and he went flying back. The wolf had casually mule kicked the man away like he was nothing. As the adventurers looked on, it began healing.

“That ritual circle, we have to break it,” Kseniya shouted. Brivaria looked back at the circle. She could feel the magic calling to her. She knew she could do it.

“I’m on it!” the angel shouted. She turned in the air and flew toward the center of the chamber. She saw the reporter fumble a health potion out from a pocket and smash it against his chest. The crimson liquid flowed into the terrible wound and began mending the man’s broken body.

The fight had suddenly changed. The creature attached to the wolf’s back wasn’t simply a monster and everyone now knew it. It was a demon. The twisted fusion of the two as well as the terrifying regeneration left no doubt. This was a being far beyond the adventurers’ levels. They’d held it off valiantly but it only grew stronger with each passing moment.

Nyx struck from the side but those haunting, black eyes turned to see her coming. It met her attack with the flat side of a scythe and slammed the cat girl into the dirt. She bounced up and one of the wolf legs snapped out. The sound of bones breaking was audible as Nyx went flying away. She landed hard and rolled. The catfolk girl didn’t get up.

Rory screamed with outrage but both scythe arms came down at him. He evaded one then two but the third swing caught him tearing a chunk of his armor away along with much more. The boar toppled backward. Duncan was standing protectively over his brother in seconds. The adventurer drew the healing potion he kept for emergencies and poured it over his brother’s wound. He then readied himself for what came next.

Brivaria hovered in the center of the ritual chamber. As soon as she entered the area of the ritual circle, she could feel the tides of power shift around her. They flowed from the dying men and women affixed to the ground, from the incomplete dungeon, and from the forest. The power flowed into the demon but it also flowed into her even as she tried to destabilize it. Her familiarity with decay tested and found… lacking.

The magic was like water. She could feel it all around her. Its power was soaking into her yet when she tried to grasp it she got nothing. It all slipped through her fingers. She could draw it in but she couldn’t draw it away from the demon. With each second that ticked by, she came closer to a horrible realization—she wouldn’t be able to do it. She had made a terrible mistake. Kseniya should have been here doing something about the circle, not her. She began panicking. She was about to shout for the snake sorceress when a voice whispered into her ear.

“She’ll never be able to do it in time. They will die. They will all die unless you do as I say.” It was a voice that held endless amusement at the poor angel’s plight, at the folly of this group of mortals that thought they could challenge something above them, and Brivaria shuddered with fear for one simple reason. She recognized it.

“Enough!” Duncan shouted, pulling the demon’s attention to him. He moved. The boar was the most experienced adventurer of the team and his skills were on full display for all to see. His shield blocked every scything blow. He twisted with each and used the momentum to deliver one vicious chop of his axe after another.

Duncan’s axe bit into the wolf’s neck and drew blood. Seconds later it hit the same place. The impacts of the man’s weapon staggered the monster. Even with its healing, fending off the gaborn was an untenable task so long as Duncan had mana and stamina to spend. Health, mana, and stamina were the currency with which adventurers paid for their victories. Yet these things were finite. They could run out and, when they did, adventurers died.

Duncan nimbly evaded one scythe arm only for another to connect from the side. It dug through his armor and impaled him. He screamed in agony as the demon lifted him into the air. The other scythe swept in to strike him from behind but the gaborn gave the monster a bloody smile.

“Got you,” he said with deadly mirth. Those eerie black eyes and their golden pupils went wide as it realized what the boar was going to do. His axe came down splitting the demon’s head in two.

It was the perfect killing cut. Health and regeneration could only do so much. A truly lethal blow was unmendable by anything but the greatest skills. Duncan had done everything right but his opponent was not an animal and not even a normal monster. It was a demon.

What the gaborn veteran expected to be a decisive blow was simply not. There was no brain to bisect. The terrible creature had simply rearranged its own anatomy with a thought. The second scythe found Duncan’s back, locking the gaborn in place, then the demon’s chest rippled like boiling water.

Brivaria watched in horror as spears of blood and bone erupted from the demon’s chest. In the moment that should have been Duncan’s triumph, something terrible happened. Eleven spears emerged from the man’s backside, dripping with his blood. Rory was back on his feet and let out a cry of anguish that cut deeply into the angel’s very soul. Tears fell across her cheeks as she tore the ritual magic away from the demon but it was too late.

“You bastard. My brother. You gods damned…” Rory began cursing as the demon casually discarded Duncan’s body. The head began sealing and with a sickening pop the axe flew free. Rory dropped his shield and walked forward to pick up the axe from where it landed. The front of his armor was torn open and blood still dripped from wounds but he didn’t care. “On the honor of Duncan and Rory Blackspur, I will see you dead monster. I swear it.”

A hail of green missiles struck the monster as soon as ritual magic was no longer empowering it. The sudden weakness of the demon-wolf was readily apparent as Kseniya’s missiles began poisoning its flesh wherever they struck. The sorceress had been waiting for this opportunity and she took it. Rory, too, saw his the thing’s weakness and he was merciless in his assault.

Axe and mace whirled with primal rage. Loss, grief, and pain fueled every swing. What Duncan had done to the wolf head, Rory finished. The two weapons moved in a blur, cutting into the wolf’s face and bashing it into something unrecognizable. The demon tried to swipe at the gaborn with one its forepaws but that was a mistake. Rory’s mace came forward and smashed straight into the leg—it shattered.

The wolf head dangled limply and one of its legs was broken but the demon pressed forward. The scythes met Rory’s axe and mace. Kseniya’s bolts rained down upon the thing and a green lance dug deeply into its side yet none of those stopped the demon’s rampage. It met Rory’s berserker rage with killing fury.

For a moment it looked like Rory would win. Victory was within reach. It was a blessed moment yet that’s all it was for one of those wicked scythes came down just as he ran out of stamina. It pierced down into the boar’s neck and through his body. Blood fountained upward as it withdrew. Rory just sat down, legs unable to hold him upright. He collapsed on the bloodstained earth.

Kseniya looked about the battlefield. Silas, Nyx, Duncan, Rory… they were all on the ground. The serpent sorceress looked toward the little angel and smiled. The blonde girl had given them the power to finish the fight but, in doing so, trapped herself within the magical maelstrom. Trixie stood before the lamia, barking and whimpering as her friends fell.

The demon-wolf bore wounds all over its body. Duncan and Rory had done their best. It was nearly dead but it clung fiercely to life. Now it was limping toward her. The lamia gave the monster a fanged smile. She would meet her end with dignity. The last of her spells were sent at the beast and then she slithered forward. She pushed the golden hound out of the way. The little angel would be even more sad if the cute, cute doggy died. She wouldn’t let that happen.

The wounded demon ran at the lamia as best it could with a wounded leg and Kseniya met it in battle not as a sorceress but as a lamia. She dodged its scythes to go under, around, and then over. A scythe arm jammed into the scales of her tail but it didn’t matter. She had moved quickly and coiled her long black tail around the thing. Now she constricted.

Bones snapped and broke as the snake woman flexed muscles across her whole body to crush the demon. She rose above and behind the demon’s torso. Its head turned 180 degrees to face her and she grinned at it. It had underestimated her. She was no puny mage who cowered before her foes. Now it would pay the price.

“Dodge this, you arrogant fuck,” the snake woman said while pushing mana into the scepter. A green blade poured from the end of the scepter plunging down straight into and all the way through the wolf. She cut off one of the demon’s arms and it fought desperately to keep her from doing the same to the other.

The demon-wolf hurled itself toward one of the walls while it struggled in the grasp of the lamia. Bones in its body were snapping under the force of her tail and it no longer had the rapid regeneration to heal them. The two struck the wall and Kseniya took the brunt of the impact. Again and again it slammed her into the wall until finally the tail started to loosen.

“We’re… not all… dead,” a voice said from behind the demon. Something hit one of its back legs and snapped it. The behemoth turned, dragging Kseniya’s limp body along with it.

Nyx hopped back. One of her arms hung uselessly at her side and the other held Duncan’s axe. The catfolk girl was on her last legs but so was the demon. The wolf head was bludgeoned into something unrecognizable and two of its legs were now useless. It crawled on the ground while the demonic torso had yet to fully reform. Only one of the scythe arms was left but that was surely enough to finish off a half-dead cat. Nyx stood firm as the thing that would be her death drew closer.

A sudden, intensely bright light filled the room before it could reach the cat girl. The demon recoiled in surprise and pain as the light stole its own life-force. It turned to face the source of the painful, deadly radiance.

Brivaria descended. The maelstrom of magic was gone and she was free. Her sword was infused with so much of the killing light that it was a miniature sun that burned the eyes to even look at. It was also coming straight down upon the demon with the weight of a hurricane.

The one scythe arm the demon had left rose to meet the angel-made sword. It blocked the blade but the remaining two legs the wolf had snapped under the weight of the impact. The creature’s black and gold eyes met Brivaria’s own. Her crystal blue eyes were filled with tears and she roared with anger, forcing the blade down. Both saw the crack form in its scythe. The flesh weapon was breaking, crumbling under the withering light. The demon saw death in the winged girl’s blue eyes. Nyx saw something else.

“Brivaria, look out! It’s going to…” Nyx shouted but she was too late. She saw the demon’s chest. It rippled and bubbled just like it had before killing Duncan. A single spear of bone was all it could create yet it aimed straight for the winged girl’s heart. Nyx cried out in horror as it pierced the winged woman and the bloody blade emerged from her back.

The demon grinned in triumph but so did its opponent. For a single moment in time, the two beings locked in a deadly embrace stared at one another. When that moment passed, the demon realized its mistake. It had aimed perfectly for the girl’s heart. The spear pierced her armor, her flesh, and found… nothing. Brivaria’s heart dodged. Her insides reshaped themselves at the last second to avoid the strike. The demon knew surprise, fear, and horror in its final moments and then it just knew death.

Brivaria’s sword cut through the scythe and the demon’s body. She reversed the blade and then tore it up and out. She let out a pained cry as she pulled herself off the spear and leaped away.

The battle was over.