Valentina reverted, rushing back into my hands. I held her tightly, looking from her, to the corpse on the ground and trying desperately to turn and run, but my feet felt like iron, stuck firm in the sand.

Valentina whispered in my mind, begging, “Please hurry, they know we're here now.”

Her words struck me like a bolt of lightning, sending a jolt up my legs that allowed me to move again. I turned, as a woman’s shout erupted over the walls. “We got fresh meat boys! Time to catch the sorry fucker.”

An orange glow shot into the sky, disappearing in the clouds, before a flaming rain fell from the clouds.

It didn’t matter how fast I was, I would never escape the spread of the flames. Valentina fluttered open, presenting the isolation spell and I cast it, followed by a spell she learned from our duel with Amhir. The effects combined to create a space concealed in darkness and totally isolated from the outside world.

I could look out, like looking through a cloudy window, but as six magisters raced out of the camp, none of them seemed able to see me. Their heads twisted back and forth, looking for any signs of my presence, but found only a set of footprints near their wall. The trail led right up to my hidden space, but I was confident they wouldn’t find me regardless.

As one man came closer, looking curiously into the darkness, Valentina asked, “Now what?”

I shrugged. “Wait and hope they go back. What else can we do?”

“We could fight… ideally before they find us.”

I shook my head. Even if we could take down one or two, I didn’t think I could get all six plus the woman without killing anyone, and the thought of taking another person's life left a hollow ache in my gut.

A man called out, his voice rough and deep, “Oi, I'm seein' tracks 'ere.”

“Tracks? Where?” another man's voice, light and sharp replied.

A few other voices rose, then the group quieted as the first man said, “Righ' there, don’ go far though. The trail jus’ ends.”

The group gathered around, examining my footprints, as the woman summoned an orb of light over them. The man said, sounding suspicious, his accent thick, “That can't be all of them.”

Seeing the light, my heart sank. If she came too close, my space would be revealed. They might not break through right away, but if all of them used their magic I was sure my barrier wouldn’t last long.

One of them asked, “You see anything, Bricka?”

The woman's head tilted and the orb of light flickered. It looked like it might fade away as she shook her head. The orb pulsed brighter as her brow furrowed.

Bricka asked, sounding confused, “They just… end. Where the hell did they go?”

“I don't know,” the oaf grunted, “it's like a blank spot or something.”

As they inched closer, I knew I had to do something. My pulse was pounding in my head, and it felt like my heart was in my throat. Sweat soaked through my shirt as I racked my brain for an answer. There was a simple solution. I could use break, and let the ground swallow them like I did with the needle puffs.

That was a good plan; simple, easy. The ground beneath them could split in seconds and swallow them whole. But then my mind went back to how I felt after learning Seth died. I didn’t think I could live with the guilt.

I might be able to knock out two of the closer goons, but then there’d still be five magisters for me to deal with and they wouldn’t hesitate to kill me.

A flash of silver came sailing from somewhere over the wall. the big oaf grab at his back, slumping forward, then falling limp on the ground. After another two blades shot from the darkness, two more magisters dropped to the ground, before anyone could even react to the first death.

The other four magisters turned back to their fortress where a young guy with spiky red hair was tossing three more blades.

“Sun flare,” The woman said, holding her tome in front of her.

A small orb of light and fire burst from the book’s cover, flying forward then exploding in the air. The three knives missed their targets and the red haired man frowned. His mouth twisted up in a sinister smile as he stepped away from the wall and began an incantation.

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Bricka ran forward, chanting, “Garish, let us pierce their sight. Scorching sun, rise over the land and burn it all away."

A golden ball of flame the size of her fist burst from her book, then the orb spread into a wave that burned into the wall where the young man had been standing.

He was now behind Bricka, both his hands covered in a soft silver glow as he held his spell tome in one hand and pointed the other toward her back. Bricka whirled around, her mouth opening wide with shock as a silver sliver shot through her neck. She tried to choke out a word but it just came out as a wet gurgle, as blood poured from her mouth and neck.

I shuddered in fear as her head rolled off her shoulders. My mind flashed to her eyes and her expression right before death. The terror and surprise she must've felt was so obvious that it sent another cold jolt up my spine. I clenched my jaw to keep my teeth from chattering.

The boy, still standing with his silver glowing hand, gave the dead woman a cold smirk before turning to the last three magisters. “You boys done shitting yourselves yet? I’d hate to kill a man while he’s relieving himself.”

They stood around staring with stunned looks of shock as Bricka's corpse crumpled to the ground.

The guy gave them a few more moments, but none of the men responded. Instead two of them turned to run and the third fell to his knees. Spiky hair shrugged. “Imp’s hunting mark, guide these blades to their target.” With a flick of his wrist, he flung three blades straight up into the air. A moment later all three of Bricka’s men fell to the ground dead.

Then the spiky haired guy walked around the corpses, glancing from each of the dead with an indifferent sort of amusement.

Looking up from his kill, he shouted. “Hey, pinkie, where’d you go?”

He must’ve been talking about Valentina.

My body tensed. My knees wobbled. The pounding in my head intensified as the world around me grew darker and more terrifying by the second. My chest felt hollow, like there was a big hole in me. The thought that he would kill us terrified me to the very depths of my soul.

We had to escape somehow.

“Please don’t make me call the imp detective. I will…but I’d rather not have to pay.” He let out a frustrated breath, then added, “What if I promise not to hurt you? I just want to talk, that’s all.”

I hesitated. My voice stuck in my throat. It didn’t sound like he wanted to kill us, but it could still be a trap.

Valentina said, “We could just wait, maybe he’ll go away.”

I wasn’t sure if she was being serious or not, but I didn’t think spiky was going anywhere, not before he found us.

Before I could reply to Valentina, Spiky shouted again, this time he was closer. “Come on, you’re not really going to make me waste a spell on this, are you?” He looked down at my footprints and frowned. After examining them briefly, he said, “These are different.” Then looking up from the trail, he seemed to see into my space as his gaze settled on me and he added, “Found you.”

Valentina gasped, then her pages fluttered open.

“Dark colossus, come forth. Drag my enemies into the void!” I cast the spell without hesitation, another learned from Amhir.

Before the beast fully formed, I turned and ran with Valentina tucked under my arm. I didn’t think the colossus would be enough to kill him, but hoped it might slow him down enough for us to escape.

We hadn't made it more than a dozen feet before I was hit with a massive force, knocking me off my feet. Valentina and I fell forward onto the sandy earth, and I immediately pushed myself back to my feet.

Wicked laughter, almost like psychotic howling, burst through the air. A pair of blood red eyes appeared before me, then a line of jagged yellow teeth formed a broad smile. The rest of the creature's features were completely shrouded in darkness.

I gasped, stumbling backwards and falling again.

The beast laughed, letting a long tongue roll out of its mouth as its hideous cackle filled the air. An upside down scythe appeared beside the beast, swinging back and forth like a pendulum as it took hold of the shaft.

I crawled back on my hands as it raised its blade, pointing it at me, then slowly advanced forward, all the while laughing like crazy.

The scythe swung in two complete circles, then it slashed forward and my chest lit up like I'd been touched by a hot poker. My mouth opened with a silent scream as the scythe was swung up then down again, lighting my leg up with an equal agony.

“Dexter!” Valentina screamed.

My heart pounded. My mind went blank. I was afraid, and I wasn’t ready to die.

I knew I had to do something.

I reached for Valentina as she zoomed toward me. “Scorch the ground with my fury, Mako, go forth!”

Shooting directly from my head, a stream of flaming wisps swarmed together to form a beast of flame. The creature crouched low, growling, then pounced. Bright orange fire cleared away the darkness to reveal a sickly little creature with purple skin stretched over its skeletal frame.

The fire beast bit the imp on its neck, latching on and letting its flames dance across the dark creature’s flesh.

Even as it burned, the imp didn’t stop laughing. It released its scythe, letting the blade swing on its own. With several full rotations, the scythe sliced through my Mako at least five times, but the flaming beast didn’t release the imp and the flames that formed his body simply rushed back together after each pass of the blade.

I jumped to my feet, but fell back over almost as fast, stumbling with a sudden weakness in my leg.

A fireball blasted into the imp’s side. Then another burst in the creature's face as the scythe swung the fire beast’s head, breaking Mako's bite and sending him tumbling to the ground.

My blood felt hot as I watched. My arms grew heavy. Then, everything seemed to swirl together. Pain exploded from the wounds given to me by the imp and a cold sweat beaded across my forehead and dripped from my brow as I fell backward.