Susain followed Gregory frantically through the streets of Vanderin. She’d wandered through the town hundreds of times. She thought she had mapped it out in its entirety in her mind’s eye. But now, with the abrupt chaos and destruction around her, she didn’t recognize anything. As if she had randomly wandered into a town for the first time. The only guide she had was her older brother in front of her.

On their trek through the town they called home, they had come across several gnolls. Most of which were in the process of eating or killing (or both) a citizen of the town. Gregory handled most of them with a heavy blow of his hammer to their head. Some, however, had managed to sneak up on them. In which case Susain was the one to end them… most of the time. At times she was too slow to carve a rune into the air and the gnoll would reach her, only to have their skull caved in by the steel head of a hammer.

“Stay near me, Susain. I can’t protect you constantly if you’re far from me.” Gregory shouted as he swung his hammer at another encroaching gnoll.

“I’ve never been-” She was cut off when Gregory grunted as he brought his hammer down.

“Doesn’t matter. We are almost there. Hurry.” He ordered, taking a quick glance back at his sister before bolting down the street.

“Going where? You don’t tell me-” She stopped her rant half-way as she bolted toward her brother.

Finally, he stopped in front of a large stone building. Susain stopped at the foot of the small steps to catch her breath as Gregroy stepped forward toward the door. “If you want to protect me so much, why do you keep-” Her voice was cut off by a loud crash as Gregory violently kicked the door off its hinges.

Gregory stepped through the door frame into a dimly lit room that the gnolls had seemingly yet to break into. The room was nearly pitch black due to the fact that nothing but the moon and stars hung in the stars. The only light in the room was the faint silver light flowing in from a small window at the edge of the room and the new hole where the door used to be.

Susain quickly stepped inside, glancing outside one last time as she ducked aside, out of sight from anyone outside. Then she bumped into something with a deafening clang. She turned just in time to catch a metal shield that had fallen from its rack against the wall. “Gregory,” She grunted as she carefully set the shield back in place. “Why are we in the armory? And how has no one gotten to it?” She mumbled to herself as she carefully walked toward her brother, being careful not to bump into anything.

“The gnolls attacked too quickly. No one had enough time to grab any weapons. The few guards in town were quickly overwhelmed. I saw their corpses on my way to get you. As for why we are here,” He picked up a shortsword from a weapon rack next to him before facing its handle toward Susain. “Take this.” He said.

“I don’t need-” She began, but Gregory just dropped the sword into her hands before walking to an armor rack. She set the sword back in place before walking toward her brother. “I don’t need these weapons. I have magic.”

Suddenly, Gregory stopped before turning to his sister. “Your magic is slow and a hindrance. its better for you to use a weapon untrained than to take time to cast a spell.”

Susain took half a step back. “I-I killed at least 3 gnolls before you got to me y’know. I can fight.”

“And you’d’ve killed twice the amount with a blade.” Gregory said.

“My magic can freeze things solid. It doesn’t take much to hit the gnolls before they get close.” Susain said.

“And what if they get to you like they did before?” Gregory asked. “You know how to cast your spells but you don’t know how to fight.” He explained. “You need to-” He was cut off by a sudden low growling sound from the doorway.

Both siblings ducked low and swiftly moved behind one of the weapon racks.

The growling grew louder as claws began to scrape against the wooden floor of the armory.

Gregory kept Susain’s head down as he peaked over the weapon rack. His eyes widened when he saw a large beast stalking through the room. It was nearly 8 feet long from its snout to the tip of its tail. Its fur seemed to have been charred and scared long ago as it was rough and stuck to the creature’s skin. Large rocky spines stuck from its spin and all over its tail. The creature’s eyes were glowing bright yellow like the inside of a furnace, as was the inside of its chest. Through the glow Gregory could see its ribs as it stalked forward. In the center of its chest he could see flickers of red cloth; the beast’s soul.

He looked back down at Susain who was struggling slightly to get out of his grasp and glance at the beast. He glared at her and put a finger over his mouth in a ‘quiet’ gesture. He then glanced over to the open door frame; Susain simply looked up at him and nodded.

Slowly, they both began stalking toward the doorway, weaving carefully between the racks of weapons and armor. They could both hear the scraping footfalls of the large beast across from them.

Gregory was nearly at the doorframe when he heard a loud clatter of metal behind him. He glanced back to see a shield, a spear, and a broadsword fall from their place and onto the ground as Susain’s leg bumped against it.

Suddenly, the beast across the room glanced toward the noise. The light in its chest glowed brighter as it snarled and charged forward.

Susain glanced back and screamed as the beast approached. She put her hand up and began tracing a sigil frantically in the air, however Gregory grabbed the back of her small cloak and tossed her back. “Get back.” He roared.

All the creature’s jaw caught was the long handle of Gregory’s warhammer as he began to push against it.

The creature took a step back as the sudden force pressed against its jaws. However, it simply growled and planted its claws into the wooden floor and began taking a step forward.

Gregory gritted his teeth as he began to slide back as the creature stepped forward. He began pushing clumps of souls to his legs to empower them. The tattered red cloth coiling around his legs only made his force equal to the creature despite his efforts.

Suddenly he forced his head to the side as something sharp shot toward his eye. The object flew past the side of his face, making a thin but deep cut across his cheek, before retracting. The creature’s spinal tail had shot forward at immense speed. A second later the tail shot forward again, straight for Gregory’s forehead. He ducked his head to the side, but the tail persisted and tracked toward his skull once again.

Gregory’s eyes grew wide as the sharp tail approached his head. Suddenly, a shard of ice struck into the tail, impaling into its hide and knocking it off course. The tail just grazed the side of Gregory’s ear as he jumped to the side only to see Susain at the beast’s side tracing another rune with her hands.

“I told you to-” He began.

“Just shut up and help me.” She shouted back. She finished her sigil before thrusting her hand forward into the rune. A massive thunderclap sounded through the entire room, rattling the equipment around the room and echoing off the walls.

A massive shockwave burst from the rune toward the creature, pushing it back several feet before knocking over several weapon racks and slamming into the nearby wall. The wooden wall cracked as the weight of the beast fell upon it. The creature shook its head, shaking off the wood chips that had fallen on its head. It turned to growl at Susain but it was only met with the metal head of a warhammer to its snout.

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The beast fell back again, crashing into the wall once again, the crack growing larger as more weight was put onto it. The creature snarled again as it started forward. However a bolt of ice shot toward its face. its spindly tail moved in a blur as it waved in front of its face, shattering the shard of ice into tiny crystals. As the tail moved back to its original location, Gregory grasped the tail with all his strength.

The creature roared as embers fell from its maw. It attempted to lunge forward at the man in front of it, however when they clenched their jaw down they felt a sting through their body.

Gregory had pulled the beast’s tail into its own mouth as it bit down; cleaving off its own tail.

The beast whimpered and screeched in agony as it began swiping frantically at Gregory, who quickly knocked one claw aside with his hammer and side-stepped the second.

It then went for a bite only to have a wave of frost flow over its head, covering half of its face in a thin layer of ice. A second later a hammer hit its face once again. The beast fell back into the wall, breaking it into splinters and falling to the other side of it.

Gregory and Susain exchanged glances as they glanced at the beast as it slowly rose to its feet. They were both breathing heavily from exhaustion. Susain hasn’t casted spells in such quick succession like she had then. And Gregory wasn’t used to fighting for so long and running through the entire town.

“Why is this thing so durable?” Susain grumbled, tracing another sigil in the air and tossing it to one of the many fallen blades on the ground. She stepped forward as the blades began to hover above the ground. She thrust her hand forward as the blades shot toward the white beast.

Oh the many blades on three connected. One barely missed, making a large gash across its side. Another blade struck straight through one of its legs, causing the beast to fall to one side. The final blade struck directly between the eyes of the creature, imbedding itself deep in its skull.

Nonetheless the creature roared weakly and made one last charge forward, faint embers spewing from its maw as it ran. It stopped dead in its tracks when the end of the blade was pounded deeper into its cranium by Gregory’s hammer. As if he were hitting away at a large nail.

Finally the creature fell, the light from its chest fading away into nothingness. Gregory still glared at the beast, as if it would get up any second and begin its rampage again. However, his body loosened at the familiar red slivers of cloth began to flow from the wounds in it's skin.

Gregory reached out and touched the streaks of cloth. In an instant they began wrapping around his limbs, tightening around them. Then more shreds of fabric began wrapping around his head, blocking his vision and his only way of breath. He began to struggle as he felt the cloth tighten and begin to crush him.

Then it all faded as quickly as it had begun.

“Gregory. Gregory, are you ok?” Susain asked frantically just as he began to regain his senses. A second later he felt a light sting on his cheek as Susain smacked him.

“Why’d you do that?” Gregory glared at Susain in confusion.

Susain breathed a sigh of relief. “Ok good you’re alive. You fell to your knees a second ago.” She said.

Gregory looked down at him as he rose to his feet. He definitely hadn’t imagined the soul trying to crush him. Although after the experience he did feel his fatigue lighten, not enough to fight at full strength, but enough to keep going forward. He glanced at the large white creature in front of them, along with the many shards of ice and nearly frozen wounds upon its flesh, before turning away. “Alright, let's get going.” He said, grabbing his hammer which had fallen onto the ground.

Susain sighed. “I’ii grab a sword.” She muttered.

“No.”

“What?”

Gregory looked at Susian as she turned around. “Use your magic. It's useful.” He said.

Susain smiled and ran back to meet her brother as they began walking the streets again. “Time to kill more of these stupid dogs.” She muttered.

Svalken was getting bored. He’d killed more of these dumb gnolls then he could count. Some had tried to ambush him but they were all so slow. Not to mention they were as durable as tissue paper. One hit, even a glancing blow, was enough to shatter their skulls.

His boredom didn’t last long however. He began to hear rumbling, like large footsteps, coming from behind him.

He turned just in time to jump over a skull flying toward him, only to meet a second that he knocked away with his weighted chain. But a third came from his side and slammed into his ribs.

He was sent flying into the cobbled roads before rolling and hopping back to his feet. He glanced up to the figure who controlled the skulls.

A large gnoll, nearly the size of some of the smaller buildings stood before him. In its hand was a flail with three chains hanging from it. At the end of each chain were the skulls, each glowing a very faint orange in their eye sockets. The gnoll’s fur was overgrown and gray.

Svalken could see infernal embers flowing from the sides of its fur. Its eyes were a vibrant blood red and both lacked any irises.

“A Flind? Of course something like you is here.” He mumbled to himself. He opened his free hand as a kama formed in his palm. He let the handle of the sickle go as it began to swing from a chain coiled around his arm. “I really hate you fiends.” He continued. He then began swinging the sickle around next to him from the chain. The blade and chain became nothing more than a blur as it sped up, throwing up bits of dust around him. “You just walk in here like you own the place.” The blade began to emit silver sparks, flinging them in a brilliant ring as the blade spun. “It's you kind of creatures,” The blades burst into silver light as it spun, making a burning silver ring of souls next to Svalken. “That severely piss me off.” He said before waving his hand as the silver ring dispersed and shot toward the Flind like a silver shooting star.

The Flind took half a step back and swung up with its flail, putting the skulls and chains between it and the silver streak. One of the skulls of the flail shot forward and knocked the blade away as it soared forward. The Flind then reared back its arm for a swing when a small weighted chain struck the side of its face. Despite its size, the weight struck with immense force, knocking the Flind to the side and crashing into a nearby building, caving in its stone wall.

The Flind tried to reorganize itself when the same gleaming silver blade lodged into it's chest. The beast roared as it's skin and fur began to corrode around the wound.

The infernal gnoll grasped the handle of the kama and began to dislodge the blade from it's chest when the chain attached to the kama’s handle was pulled taught.

Suddenly, the Flind felt itself getting pulled from it's wound, like a fish attached to a fishing hook.

With a grunt, the Flind held it's feet to the ground after it was pulled nearly 10 feet by the force of the chain. He held one monstrous hand on the chain to pull against it without opening his wound.

On the other end of the chain Svalken glared at the flind as it resisted him. His jaw was clenched as he pulled the chain toward him with one arm. He muttered a curse under his breath as he spun and tossed the weighted chain at the flind. The weight burned with silver embers in a glowing arc as the weight curved downward towards the Flind’s skull.

With yet another ferocious growl the Flind swung up with it's skull flail to intercept the weight.

“What a waste.” Svalken mumbled. Suddenly the embered weight nearly tripled in size, dwarfing the sets of skulls that rose towards it.

As the force of the giant weight fell upon the skulls the bones began to crack. Then, with a howl that pierced the air, all the skulls shattered in a burst of necrotic energy.

The Flind’s eyes widened as it bared its teeth at Svalken, its prized weapon having been shattered to pieces. The beast roared as it lunged forward, crying out a curse in an abyssal language. No sooner did the weight, nearly half the size of it's body, crash down on it's back.

The Flind let out a whimper as the lower half of it's torso was completely crushed into the ground; the stone road beneath it splintering into cracks.

The Flind’s eyes still stuck on Svalken as he casually stepped forward. The beast’s vision was beginning to blur as it's lifeforce began to fade away, the only reason it stayed conscious was it's rage toward the creature in front of it.

Svalken looked the Flind in the eyes as he saw it's soul begin to rise from beneath it's fur in the form of silver embers. He saw the rage in it's eyes, the hatred that it held toward him for beating it so effortlessly.

The eyes quickly turned to shock as it glared into Svalken’s eyes which now looked like silver embers. He saw a form appear behind the elf. A being of hatred. A being made of silvery flames. He saw death itself.

Then Svalken spoke in the same abyssal language the beast had. His voice was calm and deadly cold. “Tell Yeenoghu it's best he stays in the abyss, less he never wants to return to it again.” He spoke before the Flind burst in silver embers as its soul erupted from its body.

Svalken flicked his wrist as the chains around his arms faded into embers. Under the weight was the flattened lower half of the Flind.

Svalken stood glaring at the soul of the abyssal creature as it began to pull towards him like a magnet and iron. He turned and began to walk away as the soul was forced into Svalken as the spectral arms of many more souls began to pull it in until the Flind was fully absorbed.

Svalken took several more steps before he glanced down at his hand that shook lightly as a few small sparks began flowing from his fingertips. He looked back at the Flind’s corpse before continuing his walk. “That mut’s stronger than he looked.” He mumbled before leaving the corpse in the street, paying it no more mind.