Syllis kept throwing javelins into the crowd as they sped up and approached the three of them. The shaped spears had grown ineffective though. What had once torn through at least a handful of the around a hundred legion members was now tearing through a single one—at the most.

The flames that were emitted from their feet had also begun to spray outwards from the palms of their hands. These flames were influenced to occupy dead zones in the legion to give the appearance of legion members there. This was why Syllis’ javelins were little more than entirely useless now.

“Aura,” Syllis said, “I can’t do much more until they arrive. They’re contorting their flame to fool me. Why does everything in this fable have to be so damn complicated.” She let out a sigh.

“Then why don’t you throw it towards my dragon?” Aura suggested.

‘What?’ Syllis questioned her inwardly. She was not going to dismiss such an idea but it was certainly bizarre coming from Aura. Her dragon had just been executed and she had just gotten it back today. ‘Why would she risk losing it again?

“Ah… So this is how your bond works. You can continue using it but you still bear the full brunt of the physical and mental damage,” Syllis said. “Let’s do it.”

Aura scowled and sat down on the ashen, still smoldering ground. The embers weren’t lively enough to ignite their clothing.

Syllis watched as the ephemeral dragon hastily flew over to the back of the legion. She had always regretted the fact that she could not ride on top of it. Its supernatural movement was only possible due to this fragility.

The legion members screamed as the bone-winged creature landed behind their back lines. Suddenly, the flame veil that they were using to shroud themselves from Syllis’ javelins shuddered. It was no longer a viable method of camouflage.

Syllis manifested another javelin. This time, she refined it further. If this was to pierce a dense group of legion members, it needed this added condensing step.

Then, the waves of icy-blue rushed again as she threw the javelin.

Again, cries, louder cries. The legion was closer than before and their cries… twice as loud. Syllis did not revel in the cries. She was not fond of attacking unknown parties.

‘Though… How am I supposed to assume they’re anything but hostile when they have fire swirling around their bodies? Right! If they were passive then they would have surely yelled to try and communicate with us by now…’

Syllis tried desperately to justify the attack. In the end, she sighed. There was no justification for such an act, only will. The will to live.

Eventually, even this strategy dwindled. The legion would just shift away from the bone-winged dragon instead of trying to combat it. Then, the javelins would always miss in their entirety.

“Get ready, you two,” Clyde said.

“That might be better off directed solely at her,” Syllis said, gesturing towards Aura.

The woman—blessed with certain peculiarities within her bond—was muttering words to herself. She clawed at the ashen ground and the embers that flittered and danced within. Her emerald eyes were faded and dull. Curled around her, the bone-winged dragon. Comforting and sturdy, her rock in these hard times.

Clyde walked closer to the woman, kneeling at her side. Almost like a knight to his queen.

‘Too bad they’ve almost entirely faded nowadays…’

Syllis was particularly interested in the stories she heard while in school of this genre. A heroic knight that would save the city. ‘In this day and age, there is no room for such grand heroism. Everyone is doomed to rise to a common role and die in the same spot. I was going to die in that same spot before…’

“Aura,” Clyde said, softly, “could you hold on for just a while longer. Just twenty minutes.” He leaned close to her, taking one of her hands.

Aura’s dim eyes flicked to him. She seemed to understand what he said, but was reluctant. She flicked away leaving Clyde displeased. Her ephemeral companion dragged its tail against the ground like a knife to meat.

Syllis approached, her steps weighty. She placed a hand on Clyde’s shoulder and ushered him away before taking a knee just as he had before. “Take a break until the legion arrives.”

“Aura, what did Clyde promise you?” she asked.

The dragon let out a hollow sound causing Syllis to look up. This ephemeral creature did not seem to appreciate her company. It slowly lifted its tail from the dark ash and readied it like a rapier, swift and deadly.

Syllis looked into its inhumane eyes. She stared down the ephemeral vortex of green flames. They held the richness of emerald combined with the luminosity as a vibrant chartreuse.

The secare nymph contemplated coalescing a spear, equally as imposing as the bone tail. Though she decided against it. Her sanity was not infinite. In fact, it had rapidly depleted, javelin after javelin that she had thrown. She was not enthralled by the idea of wasting it as a scare tactic.

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Syllis disregarded the ominous bone-dragon. “What did he promise you? To make you participate in the fight.”

The bone dragon did not attempt to attack Syllis. She was unsure whether this was due to the dragon’s own fear of her dismissal of it or Aura’s conscious decision.

“He said… that he’ll kill me once we’re finished.”

“You know that he will never keep such a promise though, right?” Syllis asked. “Or, I guess you wouldn’t. He has taken advantage of your currently impaired mental ability.”

Aura remained silently. She muttered to herself, making sure Syllis could not hear. Her eyes darted around frantically a couple of times before she eventually looked to stabilize. Her gaze fell upon Syllis again. “Really?”

“That’s right,” Syllis said. “Clyde can’t get out of here without you, his bond is solely good for combat. Besides, he does not want to leave his longest known friend behind. He already lost Korman.”

“We both lost Korman…”

“Right,” Syllis said, solemnly. “How about this… we will make a deal?” Her tone was that of a cheat on the outer ring. One that would sell overpriced and especially harmful drugs to addicts when the usual suppliers would run out.

Aura hesitated, running her hand through the side of her hair. Then, she leaned towards Syllis. “What’s the deal?”

“Isn’t it simple to guess?” Syllis asked. “I’m going to really kill you. Unlike Clyde, my bond allows for utility. I don’t need you, so I can kill you.” She held out her hand and smiled crazily.

It almost seemed like she was the one with an entirely compromised mind, yet her corruption only reached maybe the thirty percent mark. Still, this was almost half of what she was comfortable losing.

Aura did not respond, merely taking the hand that was offered to her. This noble, whose hand had once been soft and supple, was rough. It was filled with callouses. Her once beautiful tanned skin was caked with ash and dirt.

It was a poor sight. Though, Syllis had no time to worry about that. The sounds of marching legion members were growing louder by the minute. They would arrive in five at the most.

There was a peculiarity to them though. Even more of one than their bizarre control of flame and lack of a need for sustenance. It was that… they did not speak. They did not let out cheers to rally their people. They did not make any sounds aside from the steps of their bare feet and cries of pain when injured.

“Clyde,” Syllis said, her voice hoarse, “are you ready?” She pressed down on the seated man’s shoulder.

“What do you think I’ve been doing for the last five minutes of your discussion with Aura? Right, I’ve been sitting here thinking that I’m not ready. I actually had to convince myself of this fact.” Clyde said, sarcastically.

“In the name of Halarion Holis, it was only a question. Just some reassurance, not an attack on the entirety of your character!” Syllis laughed wryly. It was cut short by the reminder of the impending threat.

“Yeah well… I’ve probably done enough of that. Pulling us into the fable and failing to keep everyone alive,” Clyde said, dejectedly. “I should have let myself burn. Korman should have lived.” He laid back down against the ashen ground, taking in a breath of the smoky air.

“Yeah, you have,” Syllis took a seat next to him. “But you can’t blame yourself for Korman. That was all me. I would not have let you die. If you die then I would follow suit. That damned upper class…”

“They’re here,” Aura said. She pointed towards the legion.

They were no further than a hundred feet out by now. Syllis still could not discern the details of their faces or any details for that matter. Every part of them was obscured by the flames they flaunted in front of them. It was almost impossible to see behind aside from the occasional crack. Before, the broad details of their weapons and clothes were simple to decipher but after the secare nymph’s assault, they had begun to shield themselves from harm and by extension her gaze.

Fwoosh! Searing flame swished and crackled as it traveled towards Syllis and her two companions. The ground beneath it shook and was ignited with new embers that quickly died out in their attempt to chew through already burned ash.

Syllis narrowly avoided as Clyde pulled Aura and himself out of the way. The corners of her mouth twitched slightly. ‘Everything in this fable is really built on deception…’

If she could be so threatening with long range capabilities, then they could as well. It reminded her of the large titan taran that Syllis confronted on her first battle at the foot of the wall. It imitated her, the same as this legion had.

“Are you two alright?” Syllis asked. Her voice was already strained and she was on the verge of losing it all together. It was a combination of lack of water and long sessions of talking to a woman who did not respond.

Clyde rose and helped Aura up. “We’re alright.”

“It seems that people cannot stop copying me,” Syllis said with a sigh. She rubbed her eyes, they were burning.

The smoke from the burning skies and brimstone was already a lot to deal with. The addition of the legion’s flame made it unbearable. She felt watery tears well up and stream down her face.

Their attack did not slow them down in the slightest. By the time she had recovered. The legion was pretty much standing over top of her, only ten meters away. Syllis saw their scarred faces. They looked to be shaved clean by aggressive flames. This same flaw was present on their hands and feet.

‘So where along the way did they stop getting burned? Why did they get burned to such a point in the first place?’ Syllis ruminated over these thoughts. The first idea that came to her mind was a sort of ritual.

These legion members would need to be exposed to fierce flames for so long to gain a resistance and eventually, with enough time, they would be able to use them. She had never gotten an answer on how the elmannise learned their own incantations and assumed that it was a sensitive topic. This idea seemed to hit both boxes.

‘Then again, they are entirely different groups of people…’ Syllis wondered what the chances were that she was truly right on both accounts.

These people were not overwhelmingly tall like the elmannise. They did not seem to have the same advanced physical features. Their heights were only slighter taller than Clyde, standing lower than Syllis herself. Their hair was a blazing red. It was not camouflaged in with the searing flames of the same color anymore.

Blood streamed down from their lips and down their chin towards their neck. They did not both wipe it off. Syllis wondered just what it was from. She had not seen them eat even once, or stop at all.

Clyde muttered a few words to Aura before calling out, “Syllis—”

The secare nymph understood what he was asking before he even needed to finish his sentence. She rose a vast wall of icy-blue, shielding herself and her companions from the legions quickly willed attacks.

“Aura! Clyde!” Syllis yelled out. “Get ready!” She was nervous. The legions' numbers did not dwindle as much as she had hoped.