Closing my eyes always helped me focus. I told myself it was to shut out distractions, prevent the sensation of sight from interfering with what I needed to do. Tuning it out would help me sort my thoughts. For a long time I believed that until recent events confirmed for me what I had begun to suspect: that it was because I was tired of seeing what I didn’t want to see.

Right now, I definitely did not want to see the horrible monster crawling towards us.

Unfortunately, to read the flow of magic in the area, I had to “see” the monster, albeit in a different fashion. As I closed my eyes, I reached out with my magical senses, allowing them to paint a picture of my surroundings with perception that my eyes alone lacked.

First came the lines. Like drawing contours on a topographical map, they shot out in every direction, defining hard edges and boundaries, tracing the geography around me. Stones, walls, even the texture of the rock became clear in my mind as my sorcerous powers drew me a map of the surrounding area with the speed of a dozen cartographers working in tandem.

Next came something more complex. The power to see with my magical abilities showed me things more as they were in a metaphorical sense rather than the concrete physical that my naked eye did. Beside me, Kuro’s being flared into existence as a flickering blue spark within the outline of his small frame.

The spark shrank and sputtered constantly to mirror the fear in Kuro. The magic sense I’d invoked was no true window to the soul but it did allow me to intuit the strongest feeling I could lock onto in a person. As my senses spread out further, Yuzuruha’s aura became known to me; despite the presence of fear in the hissing and crackling purple spark of her soul, there was something that was stronger than that fear on top of it.

Longing. She had spoken of people waiting for her back in Blossom City. A loved one. The raw feeling clashed with her doubts, attempting to reassert itself like an animal fighting another for dominance whenever her fear tried to get the better of her. As scared as she is, she knows that she has to fight. She’ll never see those two again if she falls here.

When Alverd’s soul was bared to me, I nearly lost concentration on my extrasensory spell. His soul was no spark but an open flame, burning with certainty and purpose. Goodness. Even his soul is beautiful. He’s like a furnace. I could look at that all day…

I was about to lose myself when my range of perception encompassed the monster. The soul, if it could be called that, was a sickly green-black mass of tumor-like magic that pulsed slowly and weakly like a dying heart. A creature like this shouldn’t be capable of manifesting this kind of presence. For it to have the power to do so, it would have to be responding to a mage’s power or some kind of artifact, otherwise whatever remains of it would be too weak…

The tumor-heart lurched forward and lumbered towards Alverd and Yuzuruha. I could see the outline of its malformed body in uneven lines dripping with ectoplasmic slime, bounding forward like a demonic dog. Despite being initially bipedal, it had opted to drop down to all fours to move with greater speed. The way its unnatural legs propelled it reminded me of an injured dog, half-stumbling but still closing the distance rapidly.

What I didn’t expect was the nature of its attack. After it had gotten close enough, the creature’s jaw opened and a lashlike tongue shot from its mouth like a whip. Alverd brought up his shield just in time to deflect the bulbous head of the tongue, which struck with enough speed and force to have likely decapitated him. Not losing a beat, Alverd ducked under the tongue and ran toward the monster, his sword raised.

As he struck, the monster buckled its knees and hit the ground, executing a clumsy but effective roll to its right and out of the path of Alverd’s flaming sword. The tongue whipped back around even as the monster rolled, again going for his head. The momentum of the monster threw off its own aim enough that Alverd was able to bounce the tongue off of his shield again, but it was clear that he would have trouble pushing his attack if the creature proved faster than him.

On Alverd’s left, Yuzuruha charged in with her club raised. She had anticipated the creature’s end point and was already poised to strike when the monster righted itself. Her weapon slammed into the creature’s hide, discharging a blast of purple lightning into the skin of the creature that arced across its body. The monster let out a shriek and lashed out a misshapen arm at her. Planting her foot, she swept her club back around and up and batted the arm away, another explosion of electricity jolting the creature.

Where is the distortion coming from? The ghosts aren’t just acting abnormally, they’re reacting to some kind of stimuli that is actively distorting their normal pattern of behavior. Weaving my spell into a kind of net, I reached out to find places within the immediate area where anomalies in the flow of magic might account for the ghosts’ actions. There’s too much chaos going on. Nothing is making sense.

My approach to magic was different from a standard mage’s in that it relied heavily on instinct and emotion rather than practice or established theory. Under normal circumstances my intuition would allow me to find the answer I was seeking, but I couldn’t find any patterns or aberrations that gave me a clue as to what was happening.

My method did have one clear advantage, though. “Alverd, look out!” I cried as a surge of rage rippled out from the monster, like movement through a web. The rage was like a blade aimed in his direction, a cloud of almost palpable toxic gas that roiled in the vision of my magical sense like smoke. The warning was enough for Alverd to raise his shield and bash aside the monster’s leg when it raised itself and shot out at him, elongating unnaturally to stab at him like a pike.

The longer we take to figure out how to defeat this thing, the worst it’ll get. It’ll feed off whatever is making it like this continuously and grow too strong for us to fight. If we cut it off from the source, it should return the haunting back to its normal state, but with all the interference it’s going to be like finding a needle in a haystack.

Yuzuruha ran forward with her club raised, and the monster opened its mouth. The tongue shot out and swept out her leg in midstep, causing her to faceplant on the ground. Alverd attempted to attack while it was distracted but the ghost rolled again while flailing its arms, assailing him with three whip-like appendages.

This is going to be dangerous but I don’t see a choice. I called out to Kuro. “Help them. I need to create a bridge to the ghosts to find out where they’re feeding from.”

His aura turned several different colors rapidly, signaling his concern. “A bridge? Are you sure? What if they try to reverse it? They’ll eat you alive.”

I grinned at him, or rather I tried to without being able to “see” him with my actual eyes. “Have a little faith. I can handle some dusty old ghosts.” That’s the bravado talking, but he doesn’t need to do that. He is right, though. If the ghosts are able to turn my link back around on me they could feast on my magical energy and shrivel me like a raisin.

He grimaced. “Alright. I’ll try to distract the ghost, but you’re only going to have a few moments regardless.”

I gritted my teeth. “More than I need.” He took hold of his staff and darted forward, holding it aloft. The ruby on its tip blazed in my magic sight as power gathered into it before coalescing into a bolt of energy that sailed out and into the ghost’s body.

The monster’s reaction was immediate. It leaped past Alverd and Yuzuruha, sailing through the air and landing in front of Kuro. Its tongue shot forward and wrapped around his staff, attempting to wrest it from his grip. While he was able to maintain his grip, he was yanked off his feet and towards the ghost’s gnashing jaws.

With a battle cry, Yuzuruha hit the monster’s head with her club, another burst of purplish lightning knocking it aside. The tongue slid free of Kuro’s staff and the young mage landed in a heap. Yuzuruha helped him up, hauling him to his feet by grabbing hold of his arm with her free right hand.

“Up and at ‘em, Kuro! Y’all make me do all the work and I’mma charge ya fer it.”

He shook himself, then planted his feet. “You don’t have to rely on melee attacks, you know. If you direct your weapons at the monster, you can utilize the magic that Sheena empowered your weapons with. The only way we’re gonna keep it at bay is by staggering our attacks from different angles. If we time our attacks properly, we’ll paralyze it into confusion; it won’t know who to attack first.”

He pointed at the ghost. “Just will the energy in the weapon at the ghost. The magic will do the rest.” Yuzuruha looked like he’d just tried to explain the entirety of magical theory to her in five seconds, but she nodded.

“Fine, I’ll try.” Alverd, who seemed to understand more of what he said, looked down at his sword, then swept it in an underhanded rising swing that scraped the stone floor of the valley.

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Upon contacting the ground, the sword’s fire ignited a trail of blazing crimson that raced along the rocks to where the monster was preparing for its next attack. The line of flame leapt up and seared across the skin of the ghost, tracing a line across its body and back and narrowly missing its head. The ectoplasmic skin of the ghost hissed as the magical fire ate away at it, tearing a hole in its shoulder that attempted to sew itself shut only to be torn open again by the fire.

Seeing his example, Yuzuruha ran around to the far side of the monster and aimed her club at the beast with both hands. A concentrated stream of amethyst lightning shot out, crackling across multiple parts of the ghost and ripping new holes in its body. Kuro waited for the creature’s head to swivel back around to her before launching his own attack, holding his staff aloft and sending out a barrage of small glowing light orbs that impacted the monster in the chest.

The three kept up their coordinated assault, stripping away the outer layer of the monster’s ectoplasmic skin. The more of the gooey transparent slime fell away the easier it was to feel the ghost’s hunger, and where it was drawing the power from. I could almost see a thin line of magic take shape tied to the cancerous heart. Just a little more. I just need a second to trace the connection of the magic and I can shut it down.

Then a horrid lurching feeling nearly swept me off my knees. It was as though someone had grabbed my heart and wrenched it violently. I felt bile in my stomach threaten to escape upward as I swayed but ultimately kept my feet. Damn. I thought I had more time. If I don’t cease my connection with the monster now, it’ll start feeding off of me instead. I was about to sever the bond when I finally saw where the other end of the thread was.

The trace of magic was wrapped around Kuro’s staff, which was radiating energy haphazardly in every direction like a beacon. How is that possible? How can he be so unaware of how much power he’s putting out of that staff, and why isn’t he able to control it? What was even stranger was where the energy was going.

The magic coming out of the ruby embedded in the head of the staff was sending out waves of power that were then wrapping around and infusing Kuro’s body. He was completely clueless to the phenomenon. Much of the power was lost as it flew off in random directions, but a steady stream of it was reinforcing his magical aptitude, almost like a reservoir he could draw from to amplify his spells.

I knew there was something odd about that staff. I’ll have to get some answers out of him later. For now I focused on a solution to our current problem. If the ghost is feeding off the magic from the staff, then perhaps we can gorge it so much that it can no longer sustain itself once it gets that supply cut off. If I can redirect the current of power straight to the ghost and then shut off that feed, it’ll cannibalize itself to maintain its present shape until it falls apart.

Alverd and Yuzuruha went in for simultaneous attacks, weaving in and out of the ghost’s wild swings to strike one after the other. The ground was slick with the translucent slime falling off of its tattered body, filling the air with a sickly sweet but burnt smell. Feeling a second tugging at my heart, I severed the connection between the ghost and myself, ending my concentration on my magic sight. The world returned to the colors and solid shapes of normal reality, and when I opened my eyes I sprinted forward to where Kuro stood.

The young mage was aiming for the creature’s legs, trying to time his shots between the flailing of its arms. “Did you figure out how to deal with the ghost?” He panted, not even turning to look at me. I reached out my right hand and grabbed the staff above his own hands, channeling my magic into it. “Hey, what the hell are you doing? Stop that!” He yelled.

Overwhelming him, I pointed the ruby at the ghost’s head. “Just concentrate. Direct your focus through the ruby and towards the ghost. I’ll do the rest.” Just as I was about to release my gathered power, I felt an oppressive weight land on my shoulders, like something heavy had jumped onto me. A horrific feeling of dread and hate flooded my consciousness, causing my breath to catch in my throat.

What is that? Is that the ghost? I didn’t feel anything like this while I was linked to it earlier. Something wrapped around my throat, strong as steel, but when I tried to scream it squeezed tighter. Beside me I could hear Kuro yelling. “No! Stop it! You can’t do this!” Who is he talking to? It doesn’t sound like he means me.

If I don’t do it, we’ll die. We can’t keep this fight up forever. Against the pressure, I kept pulling the staff in line with the target, my vision starting to fade as I struggled to breathe. Kuro’s words became a far away sound, garbled by the chaos. Please work. Please just let this work…

Then suddenly the pressure was gone. The oppressive feeling on my body vanished as suddenly as it had appeared, and without any further issue I willed all my power through the staff and towards the ghost to establish the link anew.

The ghost felt the link solidify and reacted faster than I expected. It lurched past the two warriors trying to engage it and made its stumbling way towards us, its body swelling and its ectoplasmic skin reforming at terrifying speed as it greedily fed on the magic it absorbed from the staff. If this doesn’t work I won’t live long enough to regret it. The ghost will eat both Kuro and I, and without my empowerment Alverd and Yuzuruha won’t be able to fight it. It’s all or nothing here.

With its body bulging and contracting as it gorged itself on the magic from the staff, the ghost grew in size until it was nearly twenty five feet tall. Seemingly random mutations sprouted from its body, from an extra arm to several wiggling appendages that looked disturbingly like fingers. Beside me, Kuro gulped loudly.

Finally, the moment I was waiting for arrived. The ghost’s need to consume had outpaced its ability to sustain itself, and now it was stuck on that magical line like a fish on a hook.

“Now, Kuro!” I shouted.

With a cry of exertion, I forcibly cut the connection from his staff to the ghost, and he wrapped his hand around the ruby, using his own magic to effectively smother the magical artifact like he was snuffing out a match. Without a food source, the ghost thrashed about wildly, no longer able to sense where its power had come from. Tossing slime in every direction, the ghost’s skin began to dissolve as it literally ate itself to sustain its form. The creature let out a chorus of screams, and we all watched as the many ghosts that comprised its form sloughed off the main body, pooling at its feet as it continued to devour itself. The lesser ghosts sounded like the souls of the damned, and I pressed my palms over my ears to try and dull the horrible sound.

It didn’t take long for the ghost to liquidate into a puddle of frothing ectoplasm. Soon the only thing left of the ghost was a sizzling pool of frothing goo. I could still hear growling and snarling noises emerging from the pool, so I had no desire to get close enough to see if the ghost was well and truly defeated. When it didn’t try to reform, I gave it the benefit of the doubt.

Alverd walked over and prodded the pool with his still-flaming sword. When the edge of his blade touched the slime, the entire puddle slithered back into the recesses of the narrow valley opening, the ghosts wailing at the top of their nonexistent lungs. He nearly fell over himself scrambling away, but when he saw that he was in danger he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Everybody sound off. Are there any injuries we should know about?” Yuzuruha shook her head, still trying to catch her own breath.

Kuro fell to his knees and patted his body with his free hand. “Nope. Still in one piece. But I definitely need a vacation after that.”

I went to check on Alicia, kneeling by her side. She was still unconscious, but didn’t appear to be hurt. Her chest was rising and falling slowly, and she had enough color in her cheeks to confirm that she was physically alright. “Kuro, if you could be so kind as to start working on that seal. I want to check Alicia before we attempt to move her.”

“Right. Either way though, we can’t stay here. I won’t be long.” Removing his hand from the ruby, he walked over to the chaotic energy that was blocking our path and began to unravel it. I’ll get him alone later and press him on what happened. He needs to know that that staff of his was to blame, and we need to know if it’ll continue to present danger to the rest of us.

I placed my palm on Alicia’s forehead. Her skin was warm, and she hadn’t broken out in a cold sweat. All good signs. I wouldn’t be surprised if she just slipped and bumped her head. Stranger things have happened. I was about to let go when something surged up my arm as if it had caught fire. Fear gripped me, cold and empty like a winter’s night. There’s some kind of psychic stain on her mind. It left an imprint of pain on her memories.

It took a great effort to rip my hand away from her head, but I did. “Alverd! Come here, quickly!” The knight was by my side in a flash.

“What’s wrong? Is Alicia okay?”

I shook my head. “There’s some kind of magical affliction on her. Sort of like a curse. We need to get her as far away from this valley as possible.” He knelt down next to me, his face full of worry.

“Can you fix it? Will it cause her harm?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I should be able to undo part of it, but it seems very complex. I would prefer to get the help of a cleric before attempting any kind of treatment. How far away from Blossom City are we?”

He scowled, definitely not a good sign. “A few days away. We’ll go as fast as we can.” He lifted up Alicia in both of his arms. A pang of irritation shot through me as I saw her limp form tucked safely in his strong, manly arms. That’s starting to become a habit. And more than a little annoying.

“Are you alright?” His voice brought me back to the here and now.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“You look angry for some reason.” I waved my hand dismissively.

“I simply wish to be as far away from this nightmare valley as soon as possible. That reprehensible ghost tried to eat my magic power like a bunch of grapes on a platter. Were we not in an emergency, I’d have half a mind to go hunt that disgusting thing down and teach it a lesson.”

Yuzuruha came up, her face scrunched up disapprovingly. “Hey, y’all can go runnin’ off after ghouls n’ ghosties but leave me outta it. Got more than I bargained for on this trip already.” She pointed at the far end. “Kuro’s got the seal open, so maybe we get while the gettin’s good.” She lumbered away quite fast for a woman in such heavy armor.

“What about the wagon?” I inquired.

Alverd shrugged. “We’ll have to wait until morning to retrieve it. All of our supplies are in it, so we can’t just leave it behind. The ghosts will be a lot less active once the sun rises.” I blinked in honest shock.

“How did you know hauntings stop being active during the day, Sir Alverd?”

He shrugged again. “I think Kuro mentioned it a while back. We may have pulled a job or two involving areas known to be haunted, that we had to do during broad daylight despite the inherent risk. Of course, if this situation taught me anything, it’s that I’m glad we went during the day on those jobs now.”

Together, we stepped out of the narrow valley through the opening Kuro had made. It was like stepping out of a building that was cool on the inside and emerging into a summer heat wave on the outside. The sense of normalcy that was the real waking world reasserted itself as I passed the threshold, and everything on the far side of the valley was as it was before we had dove headfirst into that hellhole.

There were the remains of a poorly maintained road beneath us, and a dirty, ill-tended monolith meant to memorialize the battle on this end. We moved off the road and to the side of the clearing, putting significant distance between us and the opening to the valley. When we were finally far enough to take shelter beneath some thick trees, Yuzuruha planted herself beneath one and fell straight asleep.

“Well. Some people certainly do not waste time.” I said.

Kuro snorted. “Can’t say I blame her. Lots of Kierhaians are pretty superstitious, although they don’t always show it. That fight with the big ghost probably took a lot out of her.” He sat down on the ground near her. “On that note, I’m going to catch some shut eye, too. I’ll take the second watch.” He lay down and folded his arms under his head, then was out like a light.

Alverd set Alicia down on the ground next to him, facing the valley. He leaned back against the sturdy trunk of one of the trees. “You can go ahead and sleep, too. I’ll take the first watch.”

I planted myself on the other side of Alicia. “My mind is too wound up to try to sleep. I’ll see what I can find out about Alicia’s condition.” He nodded, then started his silent vigil.

Inwardly I was afraid, though. Kuro’s staff, his odd behavior, the ghost going into a feeding frenzy. I’m going to get to the bottom of this. I laid my palm against the side of her forehead, preparing to try and untangle the magic within.

Somehow, I don’t think I’m going to like what I find.