It didn’t take a genius to understand just how screwed we were. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide… The only hope we had of surviving was to break through the lines of the endless ice zombies that emerged from the walls, like a clutch of mosquitos spawning from their eggs.

These beings felt no pain, or if they did, they laughed at it. They were relentless, and while not the hardest monsters I’d ever fought, they were by far the most numerous… And possibly the most intelligent.

“RUN!” I screamed, charging into the mob, driven more by adrenaline than any sane plan I’d concocted.

I bashed away the first ice warrior’s sword, my momentum carrying me forward as I plunged Light of the Fearless into his body. The sword’s twin abilities activated for a fraction of a second, shattering the surprised warrior’s ice body.

In the instant before I switched my gaze to the next warrior, I saw the light go out in his eyes. And I saw fear. The fear of death…

My brain didn’t have nearly enough time to process any of this, and so I kept hacking and slashing, favoring my right side when possible.

The first three were the hardest. After that, the ice warriors I encountered were either clutching their hearts or otherwise distracted, because I cut through them like a blade of wind parting waves.

The injury to my left shoulder all but forgotten, I hacked and I slashed, and I barely even noticed when their blades cut my cheek or slipped through the gaps in my armor, piercing skin.

I felt invincible. I was invincible. This was life or death, and I chose life.

And then Aerion joined the fray.

We moved like a single entity—a machine with two perfectly synchronized parts. When Aerion attacked, I parried. When Aerion ducked, I slashed. Every move of mine became a complement of hers, and vice versa.

We tore through the mob at a terrifying rate, shattering warrior after warrior. Some with war hammers, others with spears, poleaxes, and swords.

It didn’t matter. Against us three, they may as well have been nothing but water.

Problem was, even water could be lethal in great enough quantities, and these things were endless.

Every corner we turned, more enemies appeared. Every junction we encountered, a swarm awaited us. There wasn’t a single moment when we weren’t in combat, and despite my best efforts to look out for the markings I’d made, it proved a futile endeavor.

That wasn’t even the worst part, though. Every bend we rounded, he was there. A menacing figure on the other side of our wall in a parallel corridor. A figure decked out in ice armor far more intricate than the warriors we fought, and with eyes that glowed brightly of sky-blue ice.

Just standing. Watching. He never moved. He just… was there every time we turned.

By the twelfth junction, I knew we were hopelessly lost. And I didn’t even have the time to worry about it. Every second of every minute was a desperate fight for our lives. And through it all, the figure watched, his grin growing ever wider.

Aerion became increasingly lethal as those seconds passed, and soon, she killed three enemies for every one I put down. Which meant she had precious little time left. She’d activated [Fading Fury], and fueled by her own desperation, it practically made her a god.

A dozen. A hundred. Five hundred? I’d lost count of the number of foes we’d vanquished. More than any I’d ever killed, that was for sure.

I had to admit… We formed an incredible team. With Richard softening our foes and Aerion and I hacking away at the horde like a lawnmower cutting through grass.

Minimized notifications flew by at an unprecedented pace, and I suddenly understood. I was ‘in the zone’. I’d never really known what that was, and people had always said it couldn’t really be explained.

Right here, right now… I got it. My motions happened so fluidly, with almost no thought. Time ceased to have meaning, and if you asked me whether I was dreaming or awake, I honestly couldn’t tell you.

All I knew was that I moved in a way I never had. My strikes, my footwork, my coordination and timing were all elevated to a superhuman state unlike anything I’d ever experienced.

If I messed up, I’d die. But there was no stress. No fear or anxiety. In fact… I was happy. Hacks and slashes for days.

We weren’t perfect, though. Even ignoring Aerion’s impending crisis, the number of nicks and gashes on my body were no longer something I could ignore, even in my adrenaline-addled state.

My movements slowed. Imperceptibly at first, then more, and more, and when I looked down, my cuirass was stained red. Our enemies, being constructed of ice, didn’t have a drop of red on them, so it was pretty obvious where that came from.

When did that happen? Was it because of all the small cuts? Or had I taken a spear to the gut or something? I never even noticed.

Of course, the universe picked that exact moment to have Aerion go down, collapsing in an unconscious heap beside me. Her two hundred points of Essence had lasted long—far longer than before—but the end was inevitable.

After that, I couldn’t really tell you what happened. I scooped up my featherweight friend, and ran. I ran right into spears, swords, and all manner of lethal implements. My armor took most of the beating, but not all. The blood oozed from my body, and it was only after my manic rush that I thought to check up on Richard.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

My friend, surprisingly, looked fine. Spooked, but fine. He’d followed right behind me, leveraging the hole I’d created in my wake. Even then, I imagined he must have had more than a few close calls.

It was only a moment later that I realized he wasn’t spooked on account of our enemies.

“Friend… you’ve the devil in you,” he said, tears streaming from his eyes. “I’ve never seen anyone fight like that. But it’s killing you. You can’t do this. You’ve got to stop.”

“Stop?” I yelled, louder than I’d intended. “We stop, we die, Richard.”

“Maybe not. Don’t you hear it?” Richard said, cupping his hand to his ear.

My mad rampage had apparently scared our enemies… Either that, or there were just fewer in this area for whatever reason, because for the first time since we started running, we weren’t being attacked. There was nothing but ice for at least twenty feet in either direction.

I tried to listen to what Richard was hearing, I really did. All I heard, though, was the mad pumping of my own heart and my ragged, heaving breaths.

But then, something intruded on that rhythm. Something from far away.

“What is that?”

“Sounds like someone’s fighting. And nearby.”

I peered through the wall of our ice corridor, squinting to make out whatever it was that lay beyond.

It took me a moment, but I did see something. Movement. In fact, lots of somethings were moving. And yelling, too. Someone was fighting out there.

“Is that who I think it is?” I rasped, my voice hoarse and low.

“Seen anyone else in the area? Think it might very well be our Viking friend.”

“Uh, okay? But how do we get there?” I asked, turning to face a group of ice warriors who’d emerged from a wall thirty feet away.

“That… Not a clue, I’m afraid. Not unless you can bust down this wall.”

“With Aerion on my shoulder? While fighting off the ice zombie horde? Yeah, don’t think so, Richard.”

Richard frowned at me, but the time for chatting was over. The enemies were upon us again, and I went back to hacking and slashing.

Only this time, when I’d gotten through my second enemy, I fumbled. My balance was thrown off, and I crashed into the ground.

I instinctively curled up into a ball, bracing myself for the onslaught of ice spears and swords that were about to skewer me.

This might really be the end… Going down in a fight was a death sentence, and against this many? Hell, they didn’t even have to attack. They could just trample me, and I’d probably die.

That didn’t happen, though. The spears never struck. The swords never slashed apart my armor.

Because a guardian angel had grabbed my sword, and was fending them off.

“Aerion?” I cried, disbelieving. “You’re back?”

“Not for long if you keep lying there!” Aerion said, frantically dodging, parrying, and striking. “Get up, for Dominion’s sake!”

I did as I was told, and the moment I was up, Aerion tossed me my sword, drawing Aurora… And then we were back. Maybe not as fresh as before, but we were back.

Except this time, we had a plan.

“Aerion! I need you to break down that wall.”

“Why?” Aerion shouted in between blocking and striking.

“Because I think Eskil Magnusson is on that side. And if we want to have any hope of surviving this shitstorm, we need to link up.”

“Link up with him!?”

“Believe me, I hate the idea as much as you,” I said, dodging a sword before smashing Light of the Fearless into the enemy’s ice cuirass. The warrior’s chest cracked and shattered a moment later. Ice… Not the best choice of material for armor. “But if you don’t do this, we’re all dead. This horde’s endless, Aerion!”

“Okay!” she shouted, skewering one last enemy before jumping back. “On it!”

That left just me to fend off the horde. Except now, we were no longer mobile. We had an area to defend until Aerion broke through. That made us vulnerable.

“Richard!” I yelled.

“Going as fast as I can, friend!”

Great. Whether two Champions lived or died came down to whether we could hold off the horde long enough for Aerion to punch through that wall.

I cracked my neck and lunged as a new dose of adrenaline flooded my veins. What was I afraid of? This was gonna be a cakewalk.

----------------------------------------

“Aerion?” I shouted. “Now would be good!”

Aerion, of course, didn’t reply. Her ability to converse while under [Reave]’s effects was limited. Besides, she hadn’t been out for very long at all. She couldn’t have recovered much Essence, which meant—!?

Before I knew it, my berserking elven friend was beside me, hacking into an enemy that had been about to thrust a spear in my direction.

“The hell do you think you’re doing!?”

“She’s off her rocker!” Richard said. “Stopped hackin’ at the wall and jumped right into the fray.”

“Christ. Richard. I need you to cover for us.”

“Sorry? Cover?”

“Yeah. Get your ass to the frontline and stall these motherfuckers long enough for me to get Aerion under control!”

“Can you do that?”

“I better,” I said. “Because if I don’t, we’re all dead.”

Richard drew his sword with unsteady hands and approached the front line on equally shaky legs.

At this rate, he was gonna die. No doubt about it.

I snatched his sword out of his hands and thrust mine into his hands. “It has an ability I never told you about.”

“W-what’s that?”

“It makes you invincible for a short time,” I lied. “You literally cannot die. So go out there and kick some ass.”

Richard’s expression fell, and his eyes narrowed for a moment before flashing me a pained smile. “Well, why didn’t you just say so?” he said, and even I could tell it sounded forced.

Maybe it wasn’t the nicest thing to do to a friend, but I needed Richard to get out there and fight if we wanted any hope of surviving, and I didn’t have the time for a pep talk. I’d apologize all he wanted later. And I’d be sure to buy him a beer.

With vigor I would’ve thought impossible from our frail-looking Champion, Richard charged into the fray. And I?

I tackled Aerion, bringing us both to the ground.

I had about ten seconds before Richard uncovered my lie. Ten seconds to convince the writhing, berserking elf with 120 Dominion to hack a wall instead of the nearest enemy, and by Dominion I was gonna succeed.

I only prayed I didn’t die in the process.