“Hurt!” I yelled at the colossal fire elemental named Volcanic, but if he felt anything, his aura was doing an Oscar-worthy job of hiding it. Lurin started playing the flute, cue Gloria sprinting toward him, knives out, but she came to a screeching halt. The heat emanating from him was like a physical wall. How on earth were we going to beat this guy?

I activated my trinket and summoned both the ice wall and the ward. It was an all-in gamble that drained my mana faster than a teenager going through a data plan. I closed in for a few hits, but the relentless heat quickly turned my ice wall into a slushy. Backing off seemed wise unless I wanted to experiment with being a human marshmallow.

Lurin stopped playing the flute, clearly fatigued. The guy was still reeling from our earlier scuffles with Fønix and Pyrola. And Volcanic? He stood there as if he were enjoying a day at the beach, his flame-formed grin widening. We'd just thrown our best at him, and it was like trying to defeat a tank with a peashooter.

“HAHAHA. You're even weaker than I thought,” he declared, his voice a seismic rumble that shook my core. “Watch your village turn into the world's biggest bonfire!”

Then, with a theatrical wave of his flaming arms, Volcanic unleashed an all-consuming firestorm. We were thrown back, scorched and dazed. My last-ditch ice wall barely held up, but it was enough to keep me from becoming a charcoal sketch.

“NO!” I screamed, my eyes darting around frantically.

But...nothing.

Not a single building had been harmed by Volcanic's apocalyptic fire show. I thought I caught a blue glint around the structures as the inferno hit them. A shield. Merlin had been pulling a Gandalf—defending the whole town while we went on our little offensive quest.

“Gladroum!” Gloria bellowed.

I was confused. Was that a spell? A battle cry? An elvish insult?

“Doughebelynn!” She continued, stepping cautiously toward Volcanic. Her ice ward shimmered around her, but her pace was too slow to reach him in time.

“And Elrfegit!” Her voice cracked as smoke billowed from her clothing. “Those were the names of my family that you killed. And this, THIS is my REVENGE!” Suddenly, she sprinted toward the fiery behemoth, her clothes fully alight.

I know fire elementals don't have faces, per se, but I swear Volcanic looked, for a split second, as he'd just realized he'd left his oven on. Gloria vanished into the flames, her twin blue blades a blur of vengeance. This was a one-way ticket, a suicide mission. And she knew it.

“Lurin! We need to do something!” I screamed, but he was already playing his flute intensely.

This was it, the end of my life, and I was OK with it. I wouldn’t stand by watching Gloria die alone. I ran toward him, drinking the only satchel of Aqua Vita- mana potion- that I had left. When I pulled the moonblade it started to shine bright blue, just like Gloria’s knives.

My armor smelled like a barbecue joint, but adrenaline had booted my pain sensors offline for the moment. When I reached him, I swung at his leg with everything I had, my eyes squinted against the brilliant flames. I hoped to every deity listening that I wouldn't hit Gloria. My blade made contact, sizzling on impact. Through the blaze, I thought I caught a glimpse of Gloria's own blades.

“You're supposed to be the final boss? You're more like the final ember!” I said and at the same time something hit me hard, slamming me to the ground, the world suddenly went completely quiet and I could see the stars in the sky looking down at me.

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“Tim, get your butt off the ground, we've got more uninvited guests!” Gloria yanked me up, her appearance resembling a chimney sweep who'd just had a field day. I looked around and couldn’t see Volcanic. Was he dead?

“What? Who? I said and stood up, my head spinning like like a dreidel in overdrive.

“The imps They're setting the town on fire!” A tear slid down her face, carving a clean trail through the soot.

“Where’s Volcanic?”

“He ran and summoned his imps. He is going back to the portal.”

I looked at her. It had to mean we hurt him. “We should go after him!”

“NO! We need to save the citizens,” she said. I knew Volcanic would be impossible to beat when he got the power from the gate, but he hadn’t won the war yet.

“Hey, my grandma bakes scarier imps than you for Christmas!” I shouted, charging at the closest imp. It vanished in a puff of smoke. One down, a horde to go. I glanced back at Lurin, who was casually sipping an energy potion, sitting like he was at a picnic rather than a battlefield.

Whatever magical mojo he'd pulled off, it was the only reason we weren't currently resembling overcooked brisket.

Gloria was a one-woman imp-pocalypse, slashing and burning with a zeal I'd never witnessed before. When the villagers caught on that we weren't part of the infernal parade, they turned into makeshift firefighters. Buckets of water rained down from their windows, causing the imps to sizzle and recoil, buying us precious time.

I raised my ice shield alone against five imps. Their fireballs were hard-hitting, and I had to chain-cast Rest until I got two of them down with my moonblade. They were hitting me with their small arms, annoyingly, but it didn’t do much damage. I quickly dispersed the three remaining and ran over to Gloria who was fighting at least ten at the same time.

“The only good imp is a dead imp!” I screamed at one of them.

Nine left.

Gloria made short work of three more, and then something incredible happened. The villagers burst from their homes, armed with brooms, buckets, and whatever kitchen utensils they could find, driving off the remaining imps like they were shooing pigeons from a park bench. Lurin got in a few good hits, capturing some fleeing imps in a melodious trap of his own making. Those who escaped into the woods were now somebody else's problem.

“Are you OK?” an elderly lady said, carrying a blanket in front of her with a rather puzzled look on her face. Only then did it dawn on me: Gloria and I were in the buff. Yep, we'd gone full commando, thanks to our now incinerated armor. And thus was born the legend of the Two Bare-Naked Dwarves Who Took on a Horde of Hellspawn.

“I'm alright,” I said, draping the blanket around myself like a makeshift toga. “Anyone else hurt?” I scanned the faces in the crowd, relieved to see only minor damage to the town and its residents.

“I need some armor, preferably something that can handle the heat,” I said.

“Tim, we can't go back now. By the time we reach the gate, Volcanic will be powered up and unbeatable,” Gloria cautioned, wrapping the old lady's jacket around her torso like a mini cape.

Grasping her hand, I tried my best to summon my inner action hero. “Glomrinerym, I have to. It's why I'm here. My destiny. You stay and protect the villagers.”

For a moment, I thought I saw pride in her eyes. Then she let go of my hand, let her jacket slip to the ground, and clocked me one right on the jaw. So much for my hero speech.

“Who do you think you are?! I am not going to sit here while you go fight him. He is mine to kill, not yours. Someone! Bring me some armor!” She said and held out her hand.

“And some for me,” came a feeble voice from behind. It was Lurin, clutching his flute as though it were a life raft.

“No!” Gloria and I chimed in, harmonizing perfectly like we were about to break into a musical number.

“You need to rest, Lurin. You have done more than enough. Now, please stay here with the citizens. They need someone to protect them.” I said.

Lurin started to open his mouth but Gloria beat him to it. “He's right. You have to stay, dear Lurin. And you know this is true. We will be OK. He is weak, Volcanic was on his last embers when we left him. We just need to catch him before he reaches the portal.”

Lurin looked at us both and nodded. “Yes. You are right. My powers are spent. But, please take this. It is a summoning stone for Merlin. If…When you have beaten him, summon Merlin immediately. He needs to mend the gate.”

Taking the stone, I flashed back to the time I had activated a similar trinket in Lurin's basement. “Thanks, buddy. May the moons be forever in your favor,” I said, pulling off an epic salute that was only slightly marred by my blanket toga slipping.

Lurin nodded solemnly. “And may your banter be as sharp as your blades.”