“If you want to help Christena, let us defeat Black Cloak and bring an end to all of this,” Squishy said.

Though she still worried about Christena, Squishy was right. If they defeated Black Cloak now, then all of his magic would go away, too.

Addie took one last glance across the landscape from the rooftop, but just like before, she couldn’t see anything over the ghostly flames towering around the building like a giant wall. Christena was out there somewhere. But, she knew she could beat Black Cloak. She and Squishy had done it once before.

She sighed, “Ok, let’s go.”

The pair pushed into Realmspace and allowed themselves to fall for a few feet, effectively bypassing the ceiling of the building. They reappeared a few feet above the second-story floor and altered their momentum from exiting Realmspace to soften the landing. With a dull thud, Addie hit the ground, absorbing the impact by bending her knees. Beside her, Squishy landed much more silently.

Unlike the outside, which at least had some amount of light from the ghostly pale fire, the inside of the building was entirely dark. In unspoken agreement, both Addie and Squishy scanned the second floor with their spatial sense, but they couldn’t see the entire second story. Currently, they were in what appeared to be a bedroom. The floors were all made of wood, as were the walls. That made sense since it looked like a dilapidated stone house from the outside.

Focusing her spatial sense upward, she saw the stone tiles making up the roof. Dust covered the entire floor— appearing as tiny little specks from her spatial sense. The entire room was eerily empty. No furniture at all, just some particularly large piles of dust in some spots that almost looked more like ash. Maybe it was ash. Addie couldn’t see it with her eyes so it was hard for her to decide.

They turned toward the only door in the room and walked over to it. Using her spatial sense, Addie knew there wasn’t anyone outside of the door. It just looked like a straight hallway running right to left. With confidence, she opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.

Squishy took a moment to sniff at the air. “This way, my lady. The scentless air comes from this direction.”

Addie trusted Squishy, but even if she didn’t, he had tracked Black Cloak this way before.

“Ok, I’ll follow you.” She said.

Squishy turned right out of the room and ran down the hall, abruptly stopping in front of a crumbling railway on the left. He turned and disappeared around the bend. When Addie reached it, she looked over and saw him running down some stairs. She trailed her hand on the stair rails and chased after him.

Addie raced down the stairs after Squishy. At the final step down, Squishy’s paws scratched at the uneven wood for a moment, sending tiny bits of rotting wood up in the air as he tried to gain traction.

Following close behind, Addie jumped off the last two steps and allowed her feet to hit the ground hard, some of the rotting wood slightly buckling underneath her.

They ran down another dark hallway, easily using their spatial senses to navigate.

Then, Squishy came skittering to a halt, his short claws trying and failing to get traction on the floor, causing him to slide comically for a few moments before finally stopping.

Addie recognized why he couldn’t get traction immediately. A pale glow emanated up into the ground, almost too slight to notice. It seemed to turn the rotting wood into a polished ghostly purple, making Squishy lose his footing. Along the edges of the hallway, the ground had tiny pale purple wisps embering up.

Across the bond, Addie felt a tiny pulse from Squishy. She moved her spatial sense down the hall another meter or so, and standing right there with his hood up around his head stood Black Cloak.

For a moment, Addie just stood there in surprise. Why was he in the hallway? She thought he’d be in a room or something. But she quickly shook off those intrusive thoughts. It didn’t matter where he was or why.

All Addie needed to do was place her palm on him one time, and she would win. She and Christena had gone over the plan many times. Addie knew what to do, and her confidence rose as she remembered how weak he had been last time.

Squishy sprinted forward, his powerful legs propelling him swiftly across the hallway. Squishy soared through the air, razor-sharp teeth bared in anticipation. A snarl escaped from his chest— a deep rumbling that Addie had never heard him make before.

Squishy collided against Black Cloak with a fierce impact, sending them tumbling to the ground. Squishy snapped at Black Cloak’s arm, trying to keep him down. Addie seized the opportunity, darting forward with her hand outstretched, aiming for Black Cloak’s chest.

She reached her hand out to make contact, but Black Cloak’s bonded moved faster than Addie could. The white-headed bird pushed itself out of Black Cloak’s chest and pecked at Squishy’s eye with a flaming beak, forcing him to jump backward or get hit.

Flames erupted out of the bird’s beak. The ghostly flames exploded upward in a pillar, and for the first time ever, the flames felt hot. They exploded upward, breaking apart the ceiling and causing bits of wood to rain down.

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Addie put her hand up over her face to guard herself from both the heat and raining debris.

The flames stopped going up in a pillar. Instead, all of the fire pouring out from the bird’s beak started condensing in a sphere just above its head. Black Cloak turned his head away from the sight and put his arm over his face.

Addie wasn’t sure if it was because she saw Black Cloak guarding himself, or if it was because she felt unbridled terror emanating out from the bird, but she took immediate action. All in less than a second, she took a step forward, dropped herself right on top of Squishy, and curled up into a ball while hugging him tightly to her chest. She watched with her spatial sense as Christena’s cloak wrapped around them both in a protective embrace.

Then, the world erupted in fire. A colossal explosion shattered the silence, a blinding flash that left Addie temporarily sightless and deaf. The force of the blast sent her reeling, her senses overwhelmed by sheer intensity. Everything seemed to spin wildly, and she realized the breath had been knocked from her lungs.

Blinking rapidly, she fought to clear her vision. Her eyes stung fiercely, and tears streamed down her cheeks, unbidden. She wiped at them frantically, her hands trembling. After a few agonizing moments, her vision began to clear, and the blurry shapes around her slowly came back into focus.

Christena’s cloak was completely gone. Addie watched as the last bit of the magical fabric burned away from ghostly purple flames. The building was gone. Not damaged, just completely gone.

Addie shuddered, as she wondered for a moment what would have happened if she hadn’t protected Squishy from that explosion. What would have happened if Christena hadn’t helped protect Addie from the soul-damaging flames with her cloak?

She was back to where they had all started, kneeling in a field of solid ghostly flames. No longer protected by Christena’s cloak, the flames had enough access to start licking at Addie. Still holding Squishy, she stood up quickly to try and keep it off of her upper body. They still tried to burn at her booties, but she just hardened the layers of the transcendent loop around her soul and ignored the flames.

Like before, the Area was lit up in that pale ghostly way. The light strangely reflected off the flowers on her dress making it seem to glow.

Addie looked all around, both with her eyes and with her spatial sense. Black Cloak was still lying down on the ground just a meter or so away from Addie, looking the same as he did when Squishy tackled him.

The bird must have gone back inside of Black Cloak since Addie couldn’t see it poking out of his chest. That’s for the better, Addie thought. Seeing it push up out of Black Cloak’s chest like that was disturbing— even if it did so magically rather than physically.

“You may now release me at your leisure, my lady.”

He was kind of heavy. Addie gently put Squishy back down on the ground. Neither of them could do anything if she kept holding him like that anyway.

Together, they cautiously approached Black Cloak, but he didn’t seem to be reacting to them at all. Getting a bit closer, Addie saw that whatever that attack was had also left its mark on him, too. His bare feet seemed shriveled and blackened, with ridges reminding Addie of charcoal. His signature black cloak also seemed frayed at the edges. Looking at it, Addie wondered if it was only black because of how burnt it was, or if it had always been that color.

Addie walked right next to him and poked at him with her foot. Nothing happened. Addie took a deep breath, then she let it go. Just like the first time she saw him unconscious those many days ago, Addie kneeled next to him. This time, instead of putting her hands over his body, she put her hand right on his chest. Squishy put himself right underneath Addie’s legs, his whole body tensed and ready to catch that ghost bird if it showed itself.

After so much prep with Christena, Addie knew exactly what her role was. She grabbed ahold of the source of her magic— that place where her soul met Squishy’s. She drew out a large amount of it and held it within her core. She pushed it down her arm and out through her hand, making contact with Black Cloak’s soul bond. One day, she might be able to do this without touching someone -like Christena- but she needed more practice before that.

She started wrapping his soul up in her magic, cutting him off from using his magic in the outside world. This wouldn’t stop any internal magic, like Addie’s spatial sense, but it should stop him from using external magic, like his flames.

The white-headed bird flew out of Black Cloak’s chest, its beak alight with ghostly flames. It swiped at Addie’s face with its wings, flashing feathers and pain against her face making her recoil in surprise. Squishy jumped up from underneath her to try and catch the bird, but it flew down and disappeared back into the ground. Addie winced as she rubbed at her stinging face and saw blood on the back of her hand.

During the bird’s attack, Black Cloak used the opportunity to try and stand up.

Squishy growled from underneath Addie’s legs, then with a powerful flexing of his legs, he pounced onto Black Cloak, digging his claws into Black Cloak’s chest and pushing him back down onto the ground.

Scanning the inside of the dome, Addie looked all around for the bird, but she didn’t see it anywhere.

Looking back down she saw Squishy biting at Black Cloak’s face, while he tried to ineffectually push Squishy off and guard his head with either arm.

Addie ran a step forward trying to make contact with Black Cloak again, but the bird flew out of nowhere, Addie only realized it was back when it pecked at her back with furious intensity, each strike feeling like a searing brand on her soul.

Reinforcing her layers of the transcendent loop, she felt a spike of adrenaline and turned around ready to whack the bird with her hand, but she wasn’t fast enough. The bird swooped low and vanished back into the white flames making up the ground.

This stupid bird was seriously agitating Addie! It annoyed her by flying in to attack only to vanish a moment later, out of her reach. Her back throbbed in pain for a moment due to where she had been pecked. At least, now that Addie knew it could come out of the ground anywhere, she tried to stay on high alert.

She looked back over at Squishy and watched just as Black Cloak managed to shove him off and hurriedly stand back up. His charcoal-black legs looked like they would snap any moment, but somehow they managed to support his weight.

“You awful nobles!” He screamed.

Black Cloak opened his mouth to say something more.

But Squishy had other ideas than to chat. After all, Addie felt his intent through their bond— any good warrior would know not to make themselves vulnerable in battle by talking. Squishy took advantage of Black Cloak’s poor tactical awareness.

Squishy pounced again, and Addie followed his lead. Squishy attached himself to his ashen leg, clamping down and shaking his head violently.

“Get off me!” Black Cloak shouted and flailed his leg to kick Squishy off.

But before he could throw Squishy off, Addie tackled him. They both hit the ground hard, Black Cloak gasping out as Addie landed on top of him. Out of battle mania more than thought, Addie pushed everyone out into Realmspace, effectively separating Black Cloak from his bonded.