Kadeus retreated when the massive Elder that was Karthas began firing blasts of energy from each of his impossibly large hands. Moving behind a suitably distant mountain peak, Kadeus was soon joined by his brothers. Karthas seemed content to ignore them, though Karavash wasn’t so lucky, as a trail of explosions followed his every move.

“This was unexpected,” Psylaric said while leaning back against the cool stone.

“We should have sensed his presence long before he arrived. Being able to disguise it…” Drakus added contemplatively.

“Is as remarkable as what he is,” Psy finished, and Kadeus raised an eyebrow. “He Emerged in our time, with power great enough to be considered a threat. Now, it appears he’s Emerged for a second time; I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“His power, and what he said,” Kadeus replied, while reaching out with his mind to explore the energy that seemed barely contained by the massive Elder. “I had a vision of Karavash, I felt what the Gods did to him. I think Karthas tried to do the same to himself…though,” he shook his head and turned back to his brothers, “thankfully I don’t think it’s quite at the level of his progenitor.”

All three ducked as the top of the mountain they were sheltering behind exploded above them as Karavash raced by, sending a series of counter attacks toward the giant. Drakus lowered the shield he’d erected above them and spoke in an irritated whisper, “This complicates things, but I don’t believe it changes our goals.”

“It might make it easier to achieve them, in fact,” Psy said, then shook his head angrily. “I’m wrong. I’m thinking like myself, not this shadow that I’ve become,” he let out a long sigh. “Karavash should be easier to weaken, but we’ll still need to deal with Karthas…all with the mere morsels of power left within us.”

Drak nodded in sympathy, and Kadeus spoke into the uncomfortable silence. “We know what we need to do then, just defeat them at the same time.” Even Psy chuckled at the audacity of the assertion, and Kadeus grinned. “We know how to do this. We’ve done it more times than I can remember. We take the battle up close, Karavash follows suit or we blast the hell out of his shield.”

The brothers looked at each other, knowing they had no other options, then as one they turned and charged back at Karthas. The enormous being was enraged, as Karavash moved too rapidly for the continuous attacks to connect. Drakus landed suddenly on the Elder’s head, his spear penetrating deeply then bursting into bladed shards which scythed through flesh.

Karthas roared in fury, two hands reaching up to slap and paw desperately at the insect-sized warrior carving into his skull. A moment later Psylaric was there, powered fists slamming into the Elder’s chest, knocking him off balance. Kravash, watching from a safe distance, began laughing at his progeny’s predicament, but his joy was short-lived as Kadeus unleashed a flurry of attacks on the nearby shield protecting the World Shaper.

Karavash’s scream of rage echoed that of Karthas as he raced to protect the artifact. Kadeus felt the man’s approach and Spite met battlestaff in an explosion of force and power. “Why do you persist in this nonsense?” the former priest hissed as he pushed forward. “I can sense how you were made, and you’re not one of the fools of this time. Surely you can feel how wrong everything is? The world is broken!”

Kadeus abruptly stepped back and let Karavash’s momentum send him directly into an outstretched elbow. He followed the blow with a devastating slash of Spite, carving into the older man’s flesh. “When was this world anything other than wrong, ancient one? Give these people their peace and find yours in the ground!”

Karavash recovered, then smiled wickedly as he looked past the shield to the glowing runes surrounding the artifact. “I think peace is off the table, prince.” Kadeus followed his gaze and saw that more than half of the symbols now glowed ominously, and he could feel power flowing outward from the World Shaper already.

“What is this, what have you done?” he asked, unable to keep the desperation from his voice.

“Take solace, you and your brothers will be dead before you need to find out!” he cried, then rushed forward into another attack. Kadeus strained to hold to the plan, drawing Karavash toward Karthas. The former priest must have known what he was doing, but there was no other option–he had to protect the shield, which was already close to breaking.

Then the battle became true madness. Four monstrously powerful warriors ran up and down the body of a city sized giant, who swatted wildly at them between devastating eruptions of energy. Nearby, runes continued to light as time ticked away.

***

Salarus had never been pushed like this before. Despite reaching heights of power he hadn’t known were possible, he found himself continually struggling to meet the relentless onslaught of attacks that Alomagus sent toward the lumbering form of Anton. His loyal companion continued slowly plodding along, each step bringing the Keeper army closer to home, and leaving ever more pieces of itself behind.

Sal deflected another particularly deadly strike, struggling with the exertion. The Elder he assumed was the original Alomagus had taken to combining all six of its elemental crystals’ power into a devastating singular beam, and Sal feared what would happen if it ever connected with the increasingly injured Anton.

Unfortunately, the constant barrage of attacks had locked Sal into an entirely defensive position, and he knew he was running out time to defeat the first Sorcerer. He risked a glance through his elaborate shield, and saw hundreds of sets of eyes staring up at him with a mixture of hope and fear. Soon it would be over, one way or another.

Salarus began working on a plan. The solution to this battle had always seemed obvious, even if that didn’t make it easy. Alomagus wasn’t really that different from most Elders: he was enormously powerful, but his abilities were relatively simplistic. Primitive, really, with the possible exception of his remarkable duplication trick.

The answer, of course, was for Sal to use his superior versatility. That said, for what felt like an age he’d been forced to desperately scramble back and forth to protect Anton and the Keepers. If he was going to make this work, he’d need to take a chance, and that terrified him.

Gathering his power, he began to work on a complex piece of magic, something that should even the odds. In his mind, he heard Anton’s screams of pain as elemental strikes lanced through its massive stone form. Salarus forced his eyes shut against the agony he felt in those cries, and focused on his spell. He needed to be ready for his moment…and finally it came.

The true Alomagus had gathered its strength, and was once more preparing to use its powerful beam attack. Sal had to time this perfectly, as he knew he would only be able to manage this once. Not only would his opponent be unlikely to fall for the same trick twice, but Salarus could tell he was draining a worrying amount of his master’s power for this one opportunity.

It seemed to happen all at once. Alomagus unleashed his attack, trying to take advantage of, and possibly distract Sal from what he was clearly preparing. Each of the elemental crystals released a ray of continuous energy that met in front of the Elder, coalescing into an enormous blast of multicolored power, surging toward the Keepers with deadly purpose.

In the instant before the destructive surge of energy collided with the shield, a portal ripped its way into existence. The attack passed directly through it, only to appear through another portal on the opposite side of the battlefield–right behind one of Alogmagus’s copies. It passed through the simulacrum with no apparent difficulty, but Sal wasn’t done.

Another portal, and another angle of attack. And another, and another, alternating rapidly between the two copies. Alomagus’s own power carved through his doppelgangers a dozen times over, before at last they both dissolved into nothing. Exhausted, Sal opened a final portal, turning the power back onto the original caster, but by then it had burned through almost all of its energy, and Alomagus contemptuously knocked it aside.

But Salarus was smiling. He could only imagine how much of its power the Elder had forced into those copies for them to have been so destructive, and as drained as he felt, he sensed his foe wasn’t much better off. Now the battle could truly be decided.

***

Kadeus was being pushed to his limit, and he sensed the same was true for everyone involved in this mad battle. He was charging endlessly upward and across Karthas’ massive form, finally putting Wrathful Strikes to good use, as Spite endlessly flickered back and forth, carving hundreds, then thousands of wounds into the Elder.

Whenever he was forced to reposition, or one of his brothers needed a distraction, he would jump away from the Elder, and with a snap of his finger–style mattered–the accumulated energy would explode. The technique was as effective as Kadeus had hoped, and enormous chunks of Karthas were obliterated as if they were nothing, leaving gaping wounds the Elder had to desperately heal.

Kadeus intentionally focused on the arms and legs as much as possible, knowing that they provided the greatest distraction as the behemoth was alternately forced down to one knee, or furiously regrowing an entire arm as his rage echoed throughout the mountains. Drakus and Psylaric made good use of these moments, carving into the Ancient with their own impressive abilities, or punishing Karavash when they could.

Truthfully though, none of the Princes were as effective at distracting their opponents as the ‘father’ and ‘son’ were at distracting each other. “DID YOU REALLY THINK I WOULD FOLLOW YOU, OLD FOOL!?” bellowed Karthas.

“I think that following me would have been your greatest accomplishment, you spoiled child!” returned Karavash as he sent a series of attacks directly into his progeny’s face.

“I WOULD SOONER CHOOSE DEATH!” roared, Karthas. “AS I CHOSE FOR THAT DISRESPECTFUL FILTH, ALTERA!”

This, at least, seemed to give Karavash pause. “You killed her!?” he screamed, while hovering directly in front of the Elder. “Altera was a pawn, but she was my pawn! I knew she lacked the courage to defy me!” Their heated exchange was forced to a stop as the brothers took advantage of their distraction.

Metal exploded through Karthas’ chest, as Oblivion tore through Karvash’s side, disintegrating two of his arms. As they both tried to recover, hundreds of black chains suddenly wrapped around the ailing former priest, pulling him tight against the massive Elder’s face. Before they had a chance to question this odd maneuver, a finger snap echoed, followed by a tremendous explosion of white-hot energy, centered right where the two were forced together.

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The heated five-way battle returned to its previous rhythm then, with everyone involved now feeling the strain of the continued intensity. Kadeus was still uncomfortably aware of the ticking clock that was the runes, now nearly three-quarters full. There wasn’t much longer before the World Shaper would be ready to unleash the Lost God.

***

Things weren’t going the way Salarus had imagined. Once he’d brought down the copies of Alomagus, he’d thought it would be an even playing field at worst, with him holding the advantage being more likely. But the Elder simply wouldn’t stop. Again and again Sal met brute force with elegance and ingenuity. He turned spells back on their caster, he unraveled magic as it hurled toward him, and he sent counter attacks that seemed to achieve nothing.

Now Sal was falling back into his former position, rapidly depleting his master’s power as he desperately raced to intercept attacks aiming for Anton and the Keeper. His loyal companion was now barely capable of moving forward, as the stone giant had simply taken too much damage. Salarus knew his borrowed power was almost ready to run out, but he simply didn’t know what else to do.

He’d used every trick of magic he’d ever learned, everything he could possibly recreate from his master’s memories, and even a few things he’d invented on the spot. Nothing seemed to work, Alogmagus was an unstoppable force, with seemingly bottomless reserves of energy. It was starting to feel like magic was useless–

He froze in the middle of battle, missing a blast of intense fire that crashed into the weakening shield protecting the Keepers. But the revelation had shaken him–he recognized this scenario. He’d been here before–twice. This wasn’t really his first battle with Alomagus, after all. Even if the other two encounters had been against an insulting shadow of the Elder inside his Trials of Karthas, this was still painfully familiar.

He deflected another attack as he asked himself a risky question–could this actually work? Was there any chance that Karthas had been less foolish and ill-informed than Salarus had wanted to believe? In some ways this wasn’t really a choice; he had no more magical trump cards to pull, merely a last gambit that felt foolhardy at best. Perhaps he’d at least buy the Keepers time.

Decision made, he began to soar toward the enormous first Sorcerer, gathering every scrap of his master’s remaining power, and channeling it all into a single spell that was traditionally seen as a waste of magic. As he neared the Elder, he felt the magic surge through his body, reshaping it, infusing it, and making it grow.

Alomagus reacted with surprise as its opponent came hurtling forth at an alarming speed, and its own spells were forgotten as the Elder scrambled into something vaguely reminiscent of a defensive posture, but clearly unpolished. It was almost entirely unprepared for Sal’s fist to slam into its hooded face, sending it reeling back in surprise and pain.

The hood was thrown off to reveal a surprisingly bland face. A single horizontal line of glowing energy bisected the head vertically, but there were otherwise no features. Still, it seemed to convey its fury and offense as it gazed upon Salarus, now its equal in size. Sal gave it no time to consider its defenses further, as he unleashed a flurry of attacks at the flimsy Elder.

As Alomagus struggled with obvious futility to protect itself, each attempt at a spell interrupted by another tremendous blow from the enormous young Sorcerer, Salarus found himself almost laughing. He wondered if Karthas truly knew that the first Sorcerer was so utterly unprepared for physical combat, or if it really was just a baseless prejudice that turned out to be accurate.

Either way, he knew he’d won. There was nothing left of his master within him now, but he was confident that his spells would hold long enough as he literally beat the Elder to death with his bare hands. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t elegant, it was everything that Sorcery was not, but it was working. And it was undeniably gratifying to feel his magically enhanced fists crushing his opponent’s bones.

Nearby, hundreds of Keepers watched with relief–and some discomfort–as their tormenter was torn limb from limb before their eyes. Salarus had changed the reputation of magic forever, this day, and in more ways than one.

***

Psy and Drak understood what they needed to do, and Kadeus raced toward the flickering shield as his brothers did everything they could to buy him time. Thankfully Karthas and Karavash were still at each other’s throats, ancient disputes and the overwhelming urge to kill one another making the three princes almost an afterthought.

Kadeus arrived at the circle of runes surrounding the World Shaper, and saw that the purple shield would no longer be a true barrier. He wasted no time, hurling a blast of Chaotic energy at it with fury, and felt relief flowing through him as the shield winked out of existence. Kadeus knew Karavash would feel his connection severed, and wasted no time in getting to work.

First he tried the easy path, trying to destroy the runes themselves, but was unsurprised when he wasn’t able to affect them at all. Their energy was tied to the artifact, and he turned his attention to the lone white rod, the final layer of unlit runes being all that stood between it and the Lost God returning, bringing all the horrors of the Cycle with it.

Kadeus swung Spite with all his strength, and felt the vibrations through his body as the greatsword bounced harmlessly off the artifact. He grit his teeth in frustration, and repeated the swing several times, just to be certain. Inspecting the rod he saw what he expected–not even a scratch marred the pristine, ivory surface.

Tossing the sword away, which dissipated into a puff of energy, he moved on to his next, desperate option. He grasped the World Shaper in shaking hands, not at all liking to think that this thing was somehow responsible for his creation, or that he’d carried it around, wrapped in chains made from his own Soul for so long. Still, there was some comfort in the touch, as he felt not just a familiarity, but a kinship to the deceptively simple object.

There was something–

His explorations were cut short as a blast of energy slammed into him from behind, and he collapsed over the World Shaper in pain and surprise. Looking back, he saw Karavash, fury painting his features, and a struggling Drakus held in two of the man’s arms. Kadeus could sense that his brother was barely hanging on, his energy nearly spent. It was so close that a sliver of Edwin’s power could be felt leaking through.

Karavash tossed the Knight aside like trash, and Drakus looked back at Kadeus from the ground, his helmet disappearing in a flash. They locked eyes for a single moment, and Kadeus felt an ache in his Soul as he watched his twin whisper his final, painful words. Goodbye, brother, and in a blink it was only Edwin lying there, unmoving.

Karavash ignored the exchange, his eyes never leaving Kadeus. “You dare!” he barely managed to spit. “You’ve done enough harm to this world! You and your heretic brothers should never have been born!” All four of his arms wrapped around him then, and Kadeus felt the dense energy gathering, his executioner staring at him with unbridled wrath.

Kadeus could feel his own power nearly run dry, and lamented that he’d been forced to use so much on Karthas. Risking a look at the massive Elder, he saw that Psylaric unfortunately had drawn the giant’s full attention. Evidently the Elder had decided a wielder of Oblivion was too dangerous to be ignored any longer. Neither would be coming to his rescue.

Kadeus forced himself to his feet, determined not to meet his fate on his knees. Karavash spoke no further, and neither did Kadeus as he gathered the last of his fading energy, hoping to at least pain the deadly Elder before meeting his end. With a scream of rage, Karavash unleashed his power, all four arms reaching out as if to tear Kadeus apart.

Kadeus reached forward as well, not sending his own power forward, but instead gathering it into his fingertips, by some barely understood instinct. The full force of Karavash’s attack crashed into him, but he willed himself to remain standing, the energy rushing over him like an untamed river. He could feel the other man’s power, as it burned and flayed his flesh, tearing him apart.

But then something was different. The pain didn’t lessen, but as Kade forced more and more of his borrowed strength into his hands, he realized the power washing over him wasn’t just a torrent of light and power, it was…something else. He didn’t have the words, but he could almost understand the energy that was killing him, as if it were a book, written in a language he was just barely beginning to understand.

Only a few desperate moments had passed since the enormous wave had washed over him, but to his mind it felt like eons spent in study. Each second paid for in agony, was like another century of examination, as every part of his body was drowning in energy that somehow was Karavash. Kade realized he was beginning to understand the man’s power as intimately as he understood his own.

Focusing his will on a single fingertip, he examined the strangely delicate flow that passed over it, feeling it in a way that was so recently beyond his senses. And as he came to truly understand it, he realized he was able to master it, and soon there was a tiny, teal streak in the otherwise purple haze washing over him. The moment that streak appeared, he understood what he was doing.

He’d seen Wrayeth perform the same impossible feat when he’d been barely conscious in the cavern of Karavash’s ancient Soul Core. He hadn’t understood what the man had done, but he’d seen the powerful warrior turn his opponent’s power back on him, and Kade now at last understood that Master of Energy would let him do the same.

With renewed hope, Kade doubled his efforts, forcing himself to bask in the unimaginable pain that was still ripping his body apart. Miraculously, it was working. Soon the single teal streak was duplicated by each fingertip, and he felt a small touch of relief as the power raging over him slowly felt less like it belonged to Karavash, and more like an extension of himself.

Kade could feel the disbelief in his opponent as the power being directed at him grew in intensity. But it was no use, the power belonged to Kade now, more with each passing second. Soon, teal light was everywhere, with the power being transformed the moment it came in contact with his body. But Kade wasn’t finished.

Gritting his teeth, he took one shaky step forward, and began to extend his will past his own body, causing the endless wave of purple energy to transform before it even touched him. He was distantly aware of Karavash yelling frenzied words at him, refusing to accept what was happening, but Kade’s entire being was directed to one singular task.

He couldn’t see anything through the haze of purple and teal light, but suddenly he was within reach of Karavash himself, and he could feel the pulse of the man’s Soul Core, so close. With a sudden burst of movement he slapped aside the Elder’s hands and placed his own right against the man’s chest. He didn’t have much of his namesake’s power left, but he unleashed it all.

Karavash screamed in pain and confusion as Kade carved his way into the man’s very being. The power beneath Kade’s hands was as malleable as clay, and he realized that his own Soul still remembered the ‘taste’ of it, from when a fraction had been a link in his chain. He used that familiarity now to do something unthinkable, but unquestionably necessary–he began to destabilize the power of the Soul Core from within.

Karavash roared even louder as pain turned to dread, but it was already too late. Kade felt the man’s Core crack and begin to burst, and he kept pushing. He reached into the other man like a parasite, his own power devouring everything it touched, and leaving it a volatile mess of discordant energy. Finally he could sense the man’s Core overloading, his own power tearing itself apart, and at last he stepped back.

Karvash was no longer screaming, he merely hunched over, his jaw slack and his eyes gazing sightlessly and his own energy turned on itself. His flesh grew haggard, and then cracks and rents began to appear, sickly purple and red light beginning to spill out. Kade knew the man only had moments left, and turned his own pain-wracked body toward Karthas, the fight with Psy clearly reaching its end.

With a desperate heave, Kade threw the bomb that had been Karavash toward the towering Elder, while screaming for Psy to get away. Shockingly, his brother merely turned and gave Kade a single nod before charging to intercept the ragged body of the dying Karavash. Grabbing the husk in one hand, he pivoted rapidly to speed back toward Karthas. An aura of Oblivion formed in front of the pair, and Karthas desperately tried to slap away his approaching doom.

It was a fruitless gesture, and the two men disappeared into Karthas’ chest with disturbing ease. Kade watched, unbelieving as Karthas tore at his own flesh, trying in vain to stop the inevitable.

He didn’t have to wait long, as the world suddenly seemed to contract, and Karthas’ entire body was pulled in on itself as Karavash’s volatile power mixed with Psylaric’s world-ending Oblivion, creating a void in space and time that was immediately filled by Kathas own destroyed body, which was crushed into an enormous ball of ravaged Elder flesh, that fell to the ground with a crash of dust and debris.

All at once Kade found himself the only one still standing in the ruined Mountains of Karavash, and an eerie silence took hold. They were dead, he thought. They were all dead.