The dwarves had delivered a decisive blow to our forces. After we had returned to the outpost, I began taking stock of our forces. We had gone into today with thousands of troops. Yet now we number in the hundreds. We had dwindled by such a large number that we all fit into the walls of the outpost.

“Close it,” Tiger had commanded me.

So, as the last member of our war band entered I closed off the gate entrance behind us. I then moved around the rest of the outpost, closing all the other openings that had been created for ease of access to the outside world. I regrouped with the rest of our forces where Tiger was barking orders at them. She was preparing for the last stand from inside our walls.

“You need to close all of it!” Tiger yelled at me when I finished sealing the walls.

“I did,” I replied to her.

“Look up! Does that look sealed? I will not be sitting ducks for them to lob cannonballs into!” Tiger commanded. So, I did what I was told and sealed the entire outpost. Creating a makeshift ceiling over the top. It took some time to get the column spacing right. But after the first chunk fell, I overdid it with the columns. I put twice the columns I thought I needed. The ceiling held. I had to construct it out of the yellow clay from beneath our feet. It created a kind of sinkhole where the floor of the outpost used to be. The entire outpost base had a foot of yellow clay removed.

I collapsed tiredly from the effort. All I could do was hope that it was enough to keep the dwarves out.

“How are we supposed to see them, Devin?” Tiger questioned. How long had she been standing there staring me down?

“You said to seal us in?”

“Stop questioning me and do what you are told!” she screamed at me. This caused the troops to look over at us.

I did what I was told and worked with the goblins and gnomes to create spots they could fire from. I could have made the process easier with Tiger’s help. She was one of the few people left that knew both the monster tongue and the common one. I knew it would be a bad idea to ask her. So, I worked with vague gestures and shrieks instead.

I had theorized before that if I had a soul of another race within me I could speak the same languages they could. But, as of now all the souls I had control over were within my golem. After all, I did not like the feeling of other souls fighting for control of my consciousness.

“Anything else?” I asked Tiger.

“Don’t give me attitude Devin! Those walls are the only things that are keeping us from the dwarves,” Tiger growled at me.

“Are you going to at least reveal your face before we die?” Marco said as he walked up.

“Why?” Tiger defended.

“Because I would like to see the face of the captain who put us in a coffin for the enemy,” Marco replied.

“Fine,” Tiger spat. She unveiled her mask to reveal her face. I was shocked to find she was not a member of the human race. She was a half-breed. From the looks of it, she was half devil-kin and half-human. “Happy? Your leader is a member of the monster race. Not just any of them, either. I am what you would call a devil-kin.”

Marco stepped back as he saw this face. In his confusion, he tripped on a rock and fell. “I thought your kind was dead?” Marco questioned.

“So, Malfuchsia was a devil-kin, and your mother?” I asked Tiger.

“How do you know her name!” Tiger began. “You better answer carefully, Devin! Because right now I might just take everyone out with me,”

“I overheard it from the orcs. That was when I could understand them. When their souls were within me…” I didn’t finish before Tiger cut me off.

“Those stupid orcs could never keep their mouths shut! What now? Do you two want to continue following me? Otherwise, we can test your strengths here and now!”

“I will follow you, and so will Marco,” I replied. “You have sealed our fate by putting us in this coffin. So, we have no other choice.”

“Watch your tongue 471. I may not be your equal to your golem but I could kill you before it could save your pathetic life. Besides, I command the forces in this dome as is my right, and I will not be questioned!” Tiger screamed.

“Even so, we both made peace with working with monster races. Marco and I do not differ from any of them. No, we aren’t different!” I gained bravado by saying this. “All of us bleed! We all suffer! Nothing separates us. I know that better than anyone. I have had their souls within me.”

Before I could get any more of a speech going, cannons blasted. “They are here,” Tiger's typical calm tone returned to her. “Our last stand is now! We will fight until we are dead!” She repeated something to the monsters that seemed to fire them up.

They had blasted a hole straight through the wall. The heavily armored dwarves poured into the gap.

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“Looks like they used your speeches as cover to attack,” Marco joked.

“Try and find me in the cover of this battle. We might die if we don’t flee soon,” I whispered to Marco.

Thankfully Tiger had been too busy commanding the forces to register what I was saying to Marco. With our plan to regroup when we got the chance, I commanded the golem to attack. The golem swooped outside of the outpost and into the middle of the dwarves. They did not expect the creature to its advantage. It cut through the dwarves as if they were made of paper.

The golem bought our troops valuable time to regroup and form up against the walls. Gnomes rushed to their work, firing the cannons through makeshift holes back at the approaching dwarves. The front-line troops quickly repositioned, deciding that the cannons were the only points worth defending. Marco, Tiger, and I all split up, going to one cannon each.

The dwarven cannon continue to barrage more holes in our walls. The dwarves were pouring in through all the holes in the wall now. We were surrounded! I called the golem back to me since I would need it to defend myself.

Then Alfonso showed up on the battlefield. His presence was immediately noticed by all combatants as he arrived with a large strike of lightning hitting our forces that had yet to fully regroup. His dwarven ally Nerma followed closely behind him. She must have found him after our previous failure of an attack. She would pay for bringing him into this fight! I wanted to kill her for being the wedge between Alfonso and me. That would have to wait. For now, Alfonso was going straight toward Marco’s group!

Alfonso collided head-on with the cannon. His hand jumped with a flash of lightning underneath his feet. “Bam!” An explosion erupted from the impact. Alfonso had destroyed the cannon with one swing of his blade. The blade shattered as it connected with the group, breaking up into a thousand little pieces.

Just as the first sword disappeared, another formed in his hand. He began slicing through the orcs. He did it with the same ease as my golem was currently cutting through the dwarves. An ax came close to my head, and I was surprised. My golem had been paying closer attention to the battlefield as it managed to smash the ax out of the air.

Dwarves also surrounded me at this point. It did not seem like my golem could continue to hold them back forever. I couldn’t help but drift my eyes back to Marco. He was trying to fight Alfonso head-on. Alfonso was on fire, but it didn’t seem to slow him down. Alfonso sliced down the final orc between him and Marco. As this orc fell the fire evaporated from around Alfonso. He had somehow managed to dispel Marco’s prison flame. For as powerful as Marco had become, he was nothing in the face of Alfonso. After all, Alfonso’s ability was of the hero which gave him the power of his greatest need.

Seeing that his battle was over Marco dropped to his knees. He looked to be surrendering himself to Alfonso. Alfonso could have stopped there, the fight should have ended. Alfonso didn’t stop there, though. His sword shined throughout the outpost’s dome. Then he let it come down on Marco. He cut Marco straight down the middle. There was no doubt in my mind that Marco died in complete surrender.

“You bastard!” I screamed. I directed my anger straight at Alfonso. He finally put an end to what I ever considered a friendship. No matter how intense my anger was, it did not matter. Because I too was about to die. What they had left of my comrades around me had fallen.

The Golem, though, radiated with energy. It seemed more powerful than ever. Then I got a twisted idea. An idea that I was not sure would work. But what did I have to lose by trying? Nothing because Alfonso had taken away what was left of my life! He had even taken away my chance at a new life with Marco away from all of this conflict. If only he could have waited a few more moments then maybe things could have been different. Maybe Marco and I could have escaped. But, it was too late for that and too late to ever forgive Alfonso.

I placed a hand on my chest, then felt for my soul. I twisted and jerked my body as I ripped apart my existence. I had a small window to do this, but it was my only chance to enact my revenge. My soul shot out of my body and into the golem. My body disintegrated into dust.

I awoke to the full strength of the golem, its power pulsed around me. It felt incredible, the sense of power flowing over me power I had never experienced before. I waved my hands and devoured the souls of the dwarven soldiers around me. Their bodies turned to dust, as mine had done moments before. The sensation of their souls joining my body was like eating an entire chocolate cake that only made you skinnier.

I launched myself forward into the dwarves. A single push from one of my quartz legs sent me flying. It was like my entire body was moving at an incredible speed. Even my comprehension of the battle increased. Nothing came close to being able to stop me. A stray cannonball to the chest had even hit me. The cannonball did nothing to me except stun me for a moment. But no lasting impact was noticed.

It was only moments after my metamorphosis that the dwarves retreated. Then I was drawn back into the outpost. Something was calling me. It was like a wellspring of power. The source of this power was Marco’s corpse. His soul had been calling out to me. I needed it, no matter the cost. I landed next to him. If I could still cry at that moment, I would have had tears running down my face.

I pulled his soul and the souls he had captured throughout his life into my body. His body slowly turned to dust. I then began performing a ritual using Marco’s leftover remains. The ritual was to collect all the souls within the room that were trying to flee into the afterlife.

“Stop golem!” shouted the smug Alfonso. “I will be your undoing creature.” Alfonso launched out at me with that same lighting step that was now a staple. I let him hit me so I could prove a point that I was not to be trifled with. However, his attacks had more power behind them than I originally expected. Even now his power seemed to eclipse anything I could manage.

He continued to unleash a flurry of blows on me. He used a different technique with each move to land one injury after another. I wanted Alfonso to suffer in a way that he had made me suffer. Something that would last with him for the rest of his meager existence. But, I could not make it through his onslaught of swordsmanship. I was outclassed in every way. How could a lowly wretch like me ever hope to rise up against someone like Alfonso?

In my own dread, I had left an opening for Alfonso to exploit. A large pillar of stone began to protrude from the ground following the point of his sword. He whipped the sword around him in an almost dance-like technique. As his sword swung above his shoulder the point of the stone pillar struck me straight in my gut.

I was sent flying up through the air as the stone pillar continued to climb up. The force of the pillar slammed me straight through the earthen dome I had constructed. As it reached its peak hundreds of feet above the outpost I finally saw the carnage of the battlefield in its entirety. If it wasn’t for the fact that I no longer had internal organs I would not have been able to see our complete annihilation on this battlefield. All of our forces were either dead or scattered, and I was lying helpless at the top of a stone pillar. Then I noticed that my vessel was leaking out blood from the protrusion of the stone pillar. The power from the blood slowly leaked out as I did my best to close it. But it was too late, and too much of my power had left me. I could do nothing to stop the encroaching blackness from overtaking my entire vision.