To Anneliese, the journey up that endless stairwell no longer held the swollen clouds of self-doubt. No matter how dense the cover or obscured the path, her better instincts now guided her. The day and night cycle merged into a condensed time lapse, and the strenuous journey washed past her like a secondary thought. This was easily forgotten once she reached the break in the mountain – that weaving ledge around the jagged cliff face, to the faint torch-lit arches and the Temple of the Last, and then into the oval atrium, where the four pillars cracked and shifted under the traversing spirits.

‘They say you must become whole. The mind, body, and spirit,’ said a timid voice. It was Kulum, hidden behind a wall of perpetual fire. The flame manipulated around his shirtless body that shivered despite the radiant heat. It was a feat achieved against the desire to withdraw into his wizard state.

‘I hear you’re the chosen one?’ said Anneliese. She kept her distance while bracing against an unexpected shifting of the chaotic spirits, which wondered aimlessly around the temple atrium.

‘As I you?’ said Kulum. A quiver of jealously broke his concentration, before recomposing himself and starting again before the cold impeded his ability to harness the flame.

‘Must be what Ravenna tells everyone,’ Anneliese said.

‘It wasn’t Ravenna,’ said Kulum.

‘Coble?’

‘If you only knew what I went through.’ His concentration intensified as he drew out the flame from the fiery fissure. It was a fierce heat that not even Anneliese could withstand, and so she shielded her eyes from the ferocious flame – a stark contrast to the state of nirvana that engulfed Kulum while he tiptoed into a cross-legged levitation inside the manipulated inferno.

The heat imprinted dried skin and parched lips upon Anneliese. ‘It’s not like I had it easy?’ The discomfort made her mentally withdraw as projections of Lascivious displaced Kulum.

‘There are those who still love you. I have NOTHING. NOTHing. Nothing,’ said Kulum as he tempered his inner hatred to find peace within the intensifying flame. ‘They say you have the greatest magical potential of any wizard alive. Yet somehow, I am the chosen one.’

‘ENOUGH’ said Anneliese in a burst of cloudy-eyed rage, extinguishing the source of the flame with a flick of her wrist.

‘You see what we’re up against, Kulum?’ said Ravenna, going about and replenishing the scented essence upon the overflowing fountain.

‘She’s not my enemy. It’s not her fault,’ said Kulum. His eyes were closed under inward meditation. A battle of self-control caused an outburst of jitters as he breathed away the agitation. The moist air fed through his super-heated fingers and evaporated upon contact.

‘Very good, Kulum,’ said Ravenna. She then adjusted the floating essence into perfect symmetry, with the slightest of touch, careful to not cause ripples and dislodge the others.

‘I don’t suppose you know why I returned to this temple?’ said Anneliese, her gaze cast firmly towards the elder mystic.

‘Again, with the questions,’ sighed Ravenna. ‘I’ve little care for the living, but please feel free to entertain your friends.’ With a lazy, half-hearted gesture, she alluded Anneliese to the familiar forms that had morphed into the two rear stone pillars.

‘Simonet, Cestmir. If you’re here, then?’ said Anneliese before rushing to Simonet’s side to feel the rocky growth that became the late mother’s reformed right arm. While Cestmir’s golem stood hunchback, looking at his stony hands and fingers while they crumbled into a solid fists.

‘I knew the risks, but the stakes were too high not to try,’ said Simonet.

‘No, you shouldn’t have.’

‘Back at the village. When the Vikings took my arm. That was you who saved us, wasn’t it?’ said Simonet.

‘More my demon, but yes.’

‘No, it was you. Greater forces may guide us, but we own our destiny. I’ve seen the glimmer of golden gates and the chorus of angles calling my name, but I knew my duty was here. To remind my saviour, she’s needed now more than ever, and I’m not going anywhere.’

‘It may be rude of me to intrude,’ said Cestmir. His voice shunned the spirits away like a disgruntled shark through a school of fish. ‘But Bishop Arcadius has won the battle of Keesh, and there’s simply not another pagan force strong enough to repel him. And with Sir Bradfrey at their head, they’re likely days away from overrunning this temple.’

‘What of Verivix?’ asked Kulum as he peered curiously from his levitated meditation.

‘One would assume I share the same dirt-lined coffin,’ said Cestmir.

‘How many, and how strong?’ Kulum asked.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

‘Any man who can afford a sword and bears enough guilt to warrant redemption. They could lose half their army and still be too many.

‘I am not afraid,’ said Kulum.

‘It is not fear you lack, but if you go and face them, headstrong and naïve, it is fear you’ll surely find. I’ve seen it, and it’s not pretty.’ His rocky base pivoted away from the former outlaw, focusing instead on Anneliese, who focused back with the same intensity.

‘You underestimate the magic that seeps through my veins.’ Kulum spoke through deep, controlled breath while he tiptoed himself back to be squarely between Cestmir and Anneliese.

‘I watched,’ said Cestmir, his words drawing out as he stared blankly through nothingness, thinking back to his last hours of existence. ‘An army of battle mages emasculated upon a regiment of mere mortals. We unleashed ungodly magic yet made barely a dent to their numbers. Don’t think for a moment this is a battle we know to win.’

‘Ravenna?’ said Anneliese.

The mystic groaned. ‘It’s futile, and we’ll all be dead soon enough.’

‘If you don’t care, why were you helping Coble train Kulum? Some part of you still believes the chosen one will save us?’

‘You want me to help, fine. LASCIVIOUS,’ said Ravenna as she clicked the demon into stone-molded existence.

‘Well, what an introduction,’ said Lascivious. From the front-facing pillar, Anneliese’s demon appeared with a slow, pretentious clap. ‘Here I was wondering if you truly wanted to stop Arcadius, then some nihilistic witch called me into existence. Anyway, how does my subject wish to indulge me?’

Anneliese’s grimace was felt by everyone as she fought the instinct of disgust to instead hold her head up high and confront the demon as her equal. ‘You know how to defeat Arcadius?’

‘Please, it’s Master Lascivious?’

‘Lascivious. You were right, I was wrong. But defeating Arcadius matters about as much to you as it does to us. So, what do you say?’ Anneliese asked.

Her confession ran like sweet nectar to Lascivious. ‘Ahh, exquisite. Well then … Arcadius is not the ancient. He was a wizard like me. Of similar blood, but the ancient demon Id is the master, not Arcadius. And the ancient Id is a manifestation that’s simultaneously spiritual, magical and physical. Where the ancient Id is the father, Arcadius is the son. Or specifically, a rather talented telepath, capable of unnatural persuasion,’ said Lascivious.

‘You’re starting to sound religious,’ said Simonet.

‘Some things have a common thread. But no, the ancient Id is not the second coming, nor the devil’s own. Together, Arcadius and Id are the corruption of belief in pursuit of moral absolution. They feed off desire and insecurity and replace it with prejudice and uniformity,’ said Lascivious.

‘What of the monks? I’ve seen them deflect all manner of magical projectiles,’ said Cestmir.

‘The Gutians, the monks, are not many, but they are a unity, minds melded into one. They live in this symbiotic existence that both constrains the ancient Id’s chaotic nature within the magical realm, while feeding off Id’s magical potential to enhance their own abilities. Because Id is unstable, chaotic, impulsive. It has no true form but offers its subjects unfathomable magical potential. In return, Arcadius replenishes the ancient Id’s with the hearts and minds of those he controls. That is, until the day of uniformity, at which point … How does one imagine hell on Earth? Because thankfully, none of us will be alive to see it,’ said Lascivious.

‘How do we defeat them?’ said Anneliese.

‘You could kill the Gutians and see what happens, otherwise if the Gutians were to become too … hungry in relation to Id, they will consumer their master. Until Id is but a withered husk, and the Gutians so famished they cannibalize each other. Neither a threat nor Arcadius capable of controlling any more than a handful of willing disciples. But to do that, we’re talking about a good chunk of Arcadius’ followers going … poof, wshh,’ said Lascivious, his hands making explosive gestures before wiping away the surrounding spirits. ‘That is, unless you’re unwilling to do what is necessary?’ asked Lascivious.

‘I will neither relinquish control nor kill innocence for the sake of weakening Id,’ said Anneliese.

‘Well, in that case. The traditionalist approach is to let it play out and hope his intermediary succumbs to old age before Id achieves uniformity.’

‘Is that why you hid?’ said Anneliese. ‘All those centuries inside the pagan stronghold. Waiting for your ancient to pass?’ The cloud of Anneliese’s subconscious was lifting – the emperor had no clothes.

Lascivious’ pillar cracked with deformations.

‘More waiting for my turn, but hey, what’s another century? Afterall, we could turn this temple into another stronghold. See out the storm and conquer the new day,’ said Lascivious.

‘After all this time, I thought you wanted me to become your puppet. But really, this was about Arcadius. You needed a vessel strong enough to clear the path, so the next poor soul could do your bidding.’

‘Careful, now. You’re nothing without my magic, and I’m perfectly willing to restrain myself.’

‘If the ancient Id is tied to Arcadius, then let me at him,’ said Kulum, calm but with fiery intent.

‘What of the army?’ said Simonet.

‘My demon can take them. He’s done it before,’ said Kulum.

‘You won’t get past the Gutians,’ said Cestmir.

‘Not without Anneliese,’ said Ravenna. Detached and condescending, she picked at the specs of dust under her elongated fingernails.

‘Not the Gutians, not their protective shield,’ said Cestmir.

‘Simonet,’ said Ravenna as she leant crossed-armed against the far wall, scolding at the chaotic spirits while they dislodged her perfectly symmetrical essence. Their floating platforms then rearranged into a yin–yang formation, rotating around the central whirlpool.

‘Sir Bradfrey may not appear the amiable to our cause. But if Anneliese can make clear the choice between good and evil, he will defend her, and, by his leadership, the rest will follow.’

‘Pit Arcadius against Vasier’s favorite son … It could work,’ said Cestmir, still bitter as he hugged the side of his chest where Sir Bradfrey’s blade had lodged itself.

‘That’ll only sever Id’s connection to the physical world. To truly stop him, you must eradicate its spirit from the magical realm,’ said Lascivious. He rolled his wrist with open palms, encouraging Anneliese’s mental juices to draw the missing piece.

‘That is why Bjarke is here?’ Anneliese asked.

The realization then flicked the spiritual lights, and the room fell dormant, the pillars solidifying back to their stagnant form.

The elder mystic was nowhere to be seen, leaving Anneliese and Kulum alone among the dimming flames, where even the fountain lacked the steady supply to sustain its overflowing state. It’s burning essence, dead to ash. Only the illuminated arch entrance guided their path forward. Annelise and Kulum – together. They were the last generation of magic, Vasier’s only hope. Not the heroic wizards of the past, but the flawed and demon-possessed of the here and now.