Piper wrenched her legs free of the mud. Her next steps only sank into more of the same. The more time she spent with this ugly snake, the deeper and wider these pits seemed to grow. Her legs plunged into what looked like solid earth. It liquified and pulled her as deep as her knees. Any more and she wouldn’t be able to move at all.

The snake had no problem moving through the enchanted ground. It dove and rose at will, stalking Piper. It was not the first time a monster had tried to kill her, but it was the first time she had the means to kill back.

Master Abine had taught Piper how to channel magic. How to feel its flow within her body and direct it to where it was needed. That was only ever in sparring bouts. Now her skills would decide if she survived. If she would ever carry out her goals. The thought excited her denizen. In the natural flow of her magic, her denizen was an empty outlet, greedy to consume as much as she was willing to expend. To live, Piper was willing to give it everything.

The girl’s mana, her emotional energy, grew the denizen to let it emerge from her body. It was why she could grow an extra arm and how her face changed. It was why she could command the flames that would burn this snake to ash.

Mana swelled in the extra hand. She moved it like her others, an unnatural and additional limb that she could only command with great clumsiness. Piper lobbed a ball of fire. The snake dove under the attack, hiding beneath the surface of the ground. The warden detonated the mana around her fire and it changed directions. It flew straight up into the sky. The snake breached the surface. Its human jaw unhinged. The maw was like one of the many cave mouths, dark, treacherous and hungry.

Piper detonated the fire again. Its fall changed paths. Flames of many colors washed over the snake’s head. She had struck it like that a few times, but the monster would not die. How much more could it take? How much more could Piper deliver? Piper reared back her two right arms and pummeled the snake’s body. It hissed in pain. The girl noticed both of her arms sizzled with the heat of her magic.

The gwyll within her body ruled elemental spirits of light and fire. This fire seemed to burn from Piper’s own body.

All of a sudden, someone was very close to Piper. Then he was gone again with a gust of wind in his wake.

Cyril. The rambling teacher. Piper had volunteered to leave Abine’s mentorship when she watched the two older wardens fight. Even without using spellcraft, Cyril had trounced the woman who taught Piper nearly everything she knew. Piper was surprised that Abine was so disappointed with the girl’s decision, even if Wakahn had made the same choice. Now, it seemed like it might have been a mistake. In less than half a day, the old man had almost gotten her killed.

He did intend on teaching her something after all. Cyril was trying to fight a shambling black skeleton. Many of its bones had been broken and two black birds flew around the body. Still, the older warden shared his thoughts with Piper.

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“Piper,” he shouted, “your denizen resides in all of your body, not just in the parts that are new and different. Your whole body is a weapon. Don’t be afraid to use it!”

Piper didn’t really understand and she didn’t respond. Both of her right arms reacted to her magic the same way. To fire in the same way. Had she been scared of the flames? Of the power they commanded? Beneath the potent anger and the rage… did fear sit at the burning core of her feelings? If that was really the case she would burn it away.

The snake hid itself under the earth again, but Piper was focused on herself. She tried summoning spellcraft in her normal hands. Flames sprouted and she flinched at the heat. Piper did not let them extinguish. The young woman’s flesh did not burn. It was not only this new and clumsy hand that commanded the fire. It was all of her. Piper brought her open hands together. She channeled mana through her body to gather a dense, compact seed of fire.

It burned azure. Eager tongues of flame broke from the seed in unpredictable blues and reds and greens. Piper had never held such power. Like she had plucked a star from the heavens and cradled it in her fingers.

The monster breached the surface. Its face barreled towards Piper. It would swallow her whole for certain. Piper stared into the monster’s cavernous maw. Into the darkness. She brought light to it. The seed flew from her hands to flood the snake’s mouth with tremendous fire. It left only ash and cinder and a warden.

Cyril had to force himself to refocus on his own fight. Piper’s spellcraft was extraordinary. A window into an exemplary warden in the making. He filed the thought away. This skeleton refused to die. Again. Every part of the monster he broke failed to deter its assault. His attention fully on his own fight, he pushed the skeleton monster backwards with a kick. It was missing so many pieces that the monster toppled over itself. Above it, birds kept chirping frantically.

Cyril leapt into the air and slapped them down in two swift movements. The birds flattened into stains of ash against the quarry surface. With that, the skeleton stopped moving.

Only the two laughing devils now. They weren’t laughing anymore. One clawed at the surface of its bubble prison and the last monster in this pack buzzed around helplessly.

“Don’t leave that thing be,” Cyril ordered Wakahn. The young initiate stood guard over Soraya, but he turned his head to hear the warden speak. “Gwyll are intelligent when it comes to magic. Leave it in there long enough and it’ll find a way out.”

Wakahn nodded. “I understand. Excuse me, Miss- or, rather, Soraya.” The boy walked a distance from the girl and then picked up speed. He ran towards the monster trapped in his bubble and swung his arm across its midsection. The dorsal blade on his elbow ripped through the prison. Its bisected prisoner dropped to the ground shortly after.

No hesitation. Wakahn learned quick. Even in the midst of a panicky situation, with someone helpless at his side, he moved well. But, there was still one monster left to dispatch.

“Piper looks burnt out,” Wakahn said. “Allow me to handle this one as well.”

“Go back to your princess, fishy,” Piper said. She could not hide her heavy breathing. “I’m not done.”

Even after nearly losing their lives the pair had not forgotten to bicker. Normally, Cyril wouldn’t mind them escalating to another blowout, but if more monsters followed this pack then they’d be in real trouble. Besides, he was overdue for a new denizen.

“Actually, kids, this one is mine.”