As Nazak crawls from the sea, the magma falls from his hunched figure slowly, as if it does not want to let go, but desires to impede him further, to drain the last remnants of his strength and drag him back into the fiery depths. He nearly falls to this force; his will to fight fades for a second, then he roars a curse and his strength comes surging back. He breaks free in a cloud of molten, hissing droplets.
He stumbles forward across the glassy black beach, his metal boots shattering the shards loudly. Runeknights follow in his trail, far less than he dived into the sea with. He fumbles at his heat-mask, trying to pull the blindness from his eyes with fatigue-aching fingers, but when he eventually manages and light comes around him, it is no relief. The orange radiance seems to burn him even through his scratched and dented armor. He tears out his three-quarters sealed breathing cable and sucks in deep fumes. Toxic as they are, they are a relief to his starved lungs.
The other survivors stumble up the beach after him. He hears the crash of one collapsing, then heavy splashing as he writhes. Nazak turns and stumbles back to help him.
“Jadat!” he shouts hoarsely. He grips the second degree's wrist and pulls him up, then pulls his air cable from his helmet. “Jadat, are you injured?”
Jadat sucks in a deep breath, then screams: “I can feel it! Feel it!”
“Feel what? Where are you hurt?”
“I can feel it!”
Another runeknight grabs Jadat under the arm to support him. Nazak looks up and down the struggling second degree's armor, but can see no major damage, just scratches and shallow dents.
“He might be—” begins the other runeknight helping to drag him, but Nazak cuts him off.
“We need to get inside!”
A third degree dashes to the gate and knocks the correct rhythm fiercely. The door opens slightly—shouts are exchanged—it opens fully and the remnants of Nazak's force hurry through. Several collapse outright onto the floor. Those whose discipline has not been so shattered help Nazak to strip off Jadat's armor. This is a difficult task—the injured dwarf is still writhing, battering against them, trying to throw them off. His strength, for having pulled himself through the magma for such a long way, is remarkable.
“It burns!” he cries. “I'm burning up!”
“Where are you hurt?” Nazak demands.
“Inside! Inside me it burns!”
“Someone get some damn healing chains!” Nazak shouts.
“He's been taken!” another second degree says urgently. “Commander, it's too late!”
Jadat gasps. “No! I'm not taken. I can fight it! I'm fighting it!”
Some of the dwarves who helped strip Jadat's armor back off.
“Commander, get away from him!”
“Get some healing chains!”
“Here!”
One of the third degrees has retrieved some. Nazak snatches them away and begins to wrap them around Jadat's chest. Jadat yells out in agony. His eyes roll madly.
“It's burning hotter! Stop!”
“Stay still!”
Several of the others draw their weapons and form a circle around their commander and the convulsing, sweating Jadat. The door to the corridor flies open and a troop of runeknights hurry in, led by Helzar.
“What in hell's happened?” she shouts.
“We went too far!” Nazak snaps. “We lost two-thirds of everyone. Tell your runeknights to get more healing chains! Jadat's dying!”
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Jadat's eyes stop rolling. They fix on Nazak, who sees instantly that Jadat has just lost the battle he's been fighting this whole way back from the scene of their defeat. Whatever is now looking out at him is no dwarf. Jadat, if he still exists, has been buried deep.
Four runeknights strike simultaneously; four weapons stab and slash downward. The demon inside twists its new body with such speed that every one of the four strikes instead brings sparks up from the stone floor. It contorts itself then springs up with hands outstretched; its fingers find their mark and clasp around a runeknight's helmet. Heat boils in its palms, then its hands erupt into an inferno. The runeknight screams as his helmet melts around his head. The demon laughs as the inferno spreads from its hands to engulf the rest of its stolen body, turning it into a living torch.
Nazak slashes quickly at the possessed Jadat's legs. His axe does not strike fully through the burning flesh, on purpose, for in his fatigue-addled state Nazak believes there still could be a chance to save his subordinate.
The demon spins Jadat's body around and launches itself at Nazak. Nazak uses the haft of his axe to guard. The demon grabs it and uses Jadat's lungs to scream. The flames wreathing his body flare hotter, to white and shades of blue.
“Fight it!” Nazak yells. “Fight it!”
“There is nothing left to fight with!” the demon inside roars triumphantly. “This dwarf, this Jadat, this defiler of our home is dead! Dead and gone!”
“Ignore its words! Fight, Jadat! Fight!”
“I said that the invader of our home is dead, foul dwarf!”
“Kill it, you fool!” Helzar yells.
She charges with her spear held forward, its barbs glinting, ready to tear and kill. The demon releases its grip of Nazak's weapon and spins to meet her and the others charging behind her. It ducks under her barbed blade and shoves her bodily. She flies back, glowing handprints set into her armor.
Nazak screams a curse. This demon that has taken control of Jadat, one of his most loyal subordinates who marched with them all through their long chase across the surface, is a truly powerful one. Perhaps it is one of the five leaders of the force that attacked them—Nazak recalls that one was only struck lightly, then retreated away to let its followers overwhelm their reeling, disorientated force.
One of Helzar's runeknights stabs at the demon. It dodges and rushes forward to grab him around the neck. Oily flames burst and the runeknight screams and falls. Two spears enter the demon in the same moment, and its flames momentarily shiver and fade, revealing blackened flesh beneath. The demon forces itself forward along one spear and strikes at the wielder, carving burning lines in his helmet. That runeknight falls. The demon twists to escape the second spear in it, but the barbs hold and it cannot withdraw.
Nazak charges. The haft of his axe is ruined, so he holds it near to the head. The demon writhes madly and tears itself free of both spears, roaring in pain as it does so. Nazak leaps and slashes at the demon, aiming to cleave into its ribs, but he misjudges the distance and misses. The demon sees the opportunity instantly and springs at him.
They collide. The demon's strength is greater and it brings Nazak to the ground. They roll. Nazak yells in agony at the pain. The demon's flames are hotter than magma, far hotter. His runes start to melt.
“Foul dwarf!” yells the demon. “Cruel dwarves! Invaders!”
“Murderer!” Nazak screams back. “Let my runeknight go!”
“He is burned up, burned to nothing, as you all will be! Defilers and hypocrites! Now that I can see from within one of you, I understand why we have been given life for our task! Demons, you call us?”
Three of Nazak's runeknights hack into Jadat's back. The demon's ranting is cut off at the pain and dimming of its flames. Scorched bone becomes visible as white heat fades to red. But it still has strength—it propels its stolen body upward and lashes violently at its assailants. Two block; two are thrown down screaming.
Nazak dashes his axe into Jadat's foot. The demon roars in agony and knees him in the face. Securing hinges snap with the force and Nazak's helmet is cracked open.
“We are not demons!” roars the demon. “You have no right to call us creatures of evil! We are angels—a word I see you rarely dare utter! We have been tasked by our god to protect the city from you, and now I understand why! Your depravity knows no bounds!”
Helzar and three of her runeknights are charging at the demon's back. Nazak sees this.
“You are the depraved ones!” he shouts. If he can keep its attention for but a few seconds, its life will be over. “You turn our comrades against us! Twist them and burn them from within!”
The demon laughs. “We kill, but we never kill our own. Foul dwarves! Liars who claim the slaughter of a dragon! I see your lies! I see your evil, dwarves! And I see your strategy!”
It spins around and leaps up, over the jabbing barbed spears. It falls quickly and sinks its flaming fingers into the neck of a runeknight. Steam explodes out, and fragments of shattered tungsten fly.
Helzar is quicker than the rest. She whips back her barbed spear then buries it into Jadat's belly. The demon screams. Nazak slashes Jadat's arm off as it reaches for him.
“Lying dwarves!" roars the demon through Jadat's mouth. "You will never reach our secrets! You, who slay your own fellows and hide the crime! Who lie about slaying a dragon—liars who kill true dragonslayers—who slaughter the noble then hide their shame—who—”
Helzar twists her spear and rips it out. Charcoal dusts billow from the gaping wound, and the demon's flames fade. In its last moments, it laughs:
“Lying kinslayers! Such evil will never stand against our citadel! Victory will be ours!”
Ash blows from its mouth, and then Jadat's body collapses into gray powder.