Despite the significant gap in power between myself and the monstrosity standing before me, I reached into my inventory, drew my sword and shield, and angled myself in front of Greta and Jorn. Holding my shield high and my sword at the ready, I said in as firm a voice as I could muster, "Don't step any closer!"

  Before the final word left my lips, Jorn appeared beside me. His shield locked with mine. "Did you actually think you were about to do this alone?"

  "Jorn?" My heart clenched.

  He grinned. "Us old men can't let you young guys earn all the glory, you know?"

  The sounds of chairs squeaking and silverware clattering echoed behind us, and in barely another breath, Renard locked his shield with ours. Khadrel locked shields with his brother, and Ro did the same with Jorn. Then, one by one, Silan, Pawel, Voss—followed by every single Templar who'd come to visit—locked shields with ours, forming a large half-circle of wood and steel around the skeletal mage.

  "Disgusting thing," Maven said behind me as her bow creaked. Claws whistled on her shoulder in response to her words.

  "I bet we can get him in both eyes," Berik said lightly, her words were punctuated by the creaking of her bowstring.

  "I'm game," Maven replied.

  "Lady of Light, Protect us!" Tristan's voice was bright and firm as she spoke in the Goddess's tongue. There was a ripple of energy as her spell took hold. That was [Bless].

  As Tristan's light washed over us, Na-Ya's words rang out. "Guide our hands and steel our hearts!" A second wave of humming energy washed over us, forming a shimmering veil over our skin before fading away.

  I didn't know that spell, but I felt like I could get munched on by a dragon and come out the other side unscathed all of a sudden.

  "May Her light never cease to guide our lives!" Lady Varga's voice rang pure and bright. A wave of blinding light rippled across the room, washing over all of us.

  "Ugh..." Kasimir groaned. "I..." His voice was low, shaky. "What is this?" His bones began to smoke. As they did, his portal wavered, then vanished.

  Rather than answer him, all three priestesses began chanting together, invoking the same spell.

  The lich's red eyes locked on them and smoldered.

  Whatever spell that was, the dead guy sure didn't like it.

  "I never fucking liked that guy..." Vral growled underneath me. "And now I'm gonna kill him."

  "I knew he smelled wrong!" Ark said beside her.

  "The fucker reeks!" Grort agreed.

  "He's stanky!" Klart added.

  Angled just enough that my voice would carry to the others, I shouted, "Anyone who isn't strong, leave!" Chancing a glance backward, I saw that a dozen civilians and all of the Black Ears were slowly plodding toward us. The fear was apparent in their eyes.

  At my words, they began shaking their heads and whispering to one another.

  "But boss..." Grort whispered.

  "We can help!" Ark shouted.

  "Go!" Along with my shout, I sent a small push of will through the threads that tied me to nearly everyone there.

  That got them moving. The entire lot of them, except Urik and Berik, rushed to the waystone. One by one, they touched the crystal and vanished.

  "I'm... sorry..." Falwell's voice was strained, and his hand gripped hers tight. He was clearly trying to resist the compulsion.

  "It's okay..." Urik's voice cracked as she spoke. Despite the threat, Urik's eyes locked onto Falwell as he pulled away from her.

  When he reached the stone, he looked back at her. "I'm sorry..." His face was pained as his fingers brushed the stone, and he vanished.

  Digging deep, I sent a command through our thread, commanding her spirit.

  Go. Protect them.

  Her eyes trailed to her sister, then back to the waystone. With a sob, she ran to the crystal, pressed her hand to it, and vanished.

  With everyone else gone, I scanned the room for Fluffy, but I didn't see him. Offering a silent prayer to the Goddess, I turned back to the old mage and took comfort in knowing that I'd protected everyone I could.

  Now, we had to fight someone who might be the second strongest person in Reail. Luckily, we had the first strongest person here with us. It should be easy. No big deal, right?

  "Templars!" Renard's rumbling voice shook the Dreaming Crown. "The monster standing before us is why we train!"

  "Ooo!" Every one of his students grunted exactly the way he taught us.

  "In the face of true evil such as this, do we shy away?"

  "No!"

  "Do we waver?"

  "No!"

  "Do we fear?!"

  "NO!"

  I felt my soul turn ablaze at Renard's words. The man didn't talk much, but when he did...

  "Ready yourselves, for tonight, we are tested once more!"

  "Ooo!"

  "Kasimir." Faye's voice was ragged as she circled the shield wall.

  The lich's eyes ignited as they followed his sister. "Do not judge me, woman. I have always done what I must." He gestured at his skeletal frame. "What you see before you is the consequence of my unshakable duty to this world."

  As she walked past the last Templar, she reached a hand out to Elise, who'd been locked in her chair, her eyes wild, her body shaking in absolute terror. Cupping her hand on the noblewoman's cheek, Faye whispered, "It's okay. You're strong." A small trickle of white flame snaked from her lips and entered Elise's mouth.

  Inhaling the flames with a choked gasp, Elise shot out of her chair, rushed to the waystone, and vanished.

  "You know I would never harm an innocent," Kasimir droned.

  "I don't know if I know anything, Kas." Faye turned back to her brother. For a long time, her eyes scanned the Lich's skeletal body. They lingered on the scraps of flesh, the bits of muscle clinging to his weathered bones. And, most of all, they paused on his skeletal face. As she took what was left of her brother in, the sadness and exhaustion became more and more apparent. Finally, when she looked like she could cry, she asked him a simple question: "How long?"

  The lich's red eyes flickered. "When Dorian withered away to nothing, his mind broken and body destroyed, I realized that neither you nor the witch was capable of doing what must be done to preserve the peace and sanctity of this world." Even without flesh, his upturned nose socket somehow looked haughty. "It took me many years of study and sacrifice, but eventually, I learned much of the old magics." Pressing a skeletal hand to his exposed ribs, he said, "Through the so-called old ways, I managed to untether my essence from this body of mine, freeing myself from the shackles of mortality itself!" His voice was getting louder. More passionate. "While I might have broken Her laws, who better to guide this world than one not bound by it! I am untethered, not just in body but in spirit, too! I am not blinded by the ache of my heart like you are," He pointed at Faye. "Nor am I blinded by my base compulsion like you!" He thrust his bony finger at Greta. "Though it was not my fate, I have done everything for Reial!" He clenched his fist. "So what if some sacrifices must be made? May their spirits revel in the fact that their deaths were a necessary evil! For this world to continue to exist, the people must rise and—"

  "How." The Hero's voice promised pain. "Long."

  His red eyes narrowed. "You have nothing to say to me? No thanks to give for all I've done?"

  Other than her jaw tightening, there was no response.

  His joints ground as he shook his head. "Since..." He hesitated. "Fifth Era, one fifty nine."

  "Her eyes narrowed. "The same year the Cleft of Shadows opened in Evron?" The words were half-question, half-statement.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  His jaw opened, shut, then opened again. "Yes."

  There was a blinding flash of light. A burst of flame followed, filling the entire hall with tendrils of smoke.

  Blinking the smoke out of my eyes, I waited for the space in front of me to clear, but it was no use. It was too thick. The only thing I could see was a flickering, glowing... thing in the center of the smog, right where Kasimir had been standing. For a good minute, the smoke remained dense, thick. Without a clear line of sight, we Templars stepped forward as one, closing the space around Kasimir and Faye. After a few steps, the smoke thinned, slowly revealing what was beyond.

  Faye was covered head to toe in her gleaming silver armor. Twin trails of steaming, burning, smoking tears streaked down her face. From her mouth, flickering flames snaked into the air, coiling and crackling as they rose toward the heavens above. The path she'd taken across the wooden floor, one she'd crossed in a fraction of a second, was charred and smoldering. Holding her long, deep lunge, she kept her shining sword locked out in front of her body. Slowly, with a single wracking breath, Faye's face twisted, and a burst of flames escaped her lips as she whispered one word.

  "Rest."

  At the sound of her voice, the smoke faded away, revealing where her sword was buried.

  It was buried halfway into Kasimir's chest, directly where his heart would have been.

  "We've seen this sight once before, haven't we, dear sister?" The lich reached for the blade and, grabbing it with his skeletal fingers, groaned as his bones began to smoke more than they already were. "Your dear old would-be flame, who you cut down far too soon." His bones creaking, he pushed, and the sword slowly carved its way out of his chest.

  "H-how?" Faye snarled.

  "As I said, I've seen that move before. I made precautions against it long ago." As he spoke, a shell of energy formed around the blade and began pushing it from his chest. At the same time, where his fingers met the blade, black energy snaked out of the lich's hand and licked up and down Faye's sword. The light emanating from the thing flickered and grew dim.

  "Damn it!" Faye wrenched her sword from her brother's chest. As it pulled free, he let go, causing his black energy to fade from its gleaming edge.

  Gazing at his hand, he chuckled. "I've used so much energy keeping my true form hidden from you, I didn't realize how powerful I'd become." Mid-sentence, a beam of starlight cut through the air, washing over him, but he hardly seemed to notice it.

  "Faye!" Greta shouted.

  "I know!" The Hero cut horizontally at her brother's neck.

  "Now!" Renard roared.

  Three globes of light erupted from behind us, striking Kasimir directly. As they erupted into waves of healing light, the lich roared as his bones burned.

  The entire shield wall closed in on the lich, pressing into him as Faye tried to cleave her brother in two.

  "Everything has its time." Faye growled, "You aren't needed anymore."

  Kasimir scoffed. "What? Should I leave this world to you?" He cackled. "My dear sister, the Divine Hero Faye. A mere simpleton without the will, intelligence, or foresight to use the power granted to her." He shook his head. "If I'd left it solely up to you, this world would have already died."

  While he spoke, every one of our weapons rained down on the thing. However, rather than doing any damage, they all bounced off a globe of invisible energy that hugged his bones like a second skin.

  "Cleanse this wicked magic from your land!" Varga screamed in the divine tongue.

  "Damn it!" I shouted. Rearing back, I punched the back of his skull.

  [Stoneshatter]

  Unlike our weapons, my fist passed right through the barrier, slamming into the back of the lich's head with enough force to crack its skull.

  It also completely shattered my hand.

  [Unbreakable]

  The bones in my hand snapped back together. The thing was, even as it mended, a brutal chill rushed up my arm and into my chest. Half my body went numb.

  "Begone, pest." Kasimir swatted at me with the back of his hand.

  I barely had enough time to raise my hand before the lich struck me. The blow was one of the heaviest I'd ever taken. I was thrown to my side, flying in a haphazard somersault before slamming into a wall. I crumpled to the ground with a loud thud. Dizzy and disoriented, I tried to pull myself to my feet, but it felt like ice had wrapped itself around my heart and was squeezing it for all it was worth.

  "YOU'RE DEAD!!" Vral screamed as she leapt in the air, daggers pointed at the lich's neck.

  Kasimir turned and reached for her, shrugging off the countless swords, axes, hammers, and arrows falling on him like rain.

  [Intercept]

  The world bent around me, and then I was in the air, taking the hit for Vral.

  "Babe?!" She slammed into my back just as his blow landed. Together, we hurtled through the air and crashed down onto one of the long benches.

  Renard and Khadrel reared back with their axes and struck in unison. When they struck, the former's buried an inch into the lich's ribs, but the latter's axe shattered on impact.

  "I'm tired of this." Kasimir performed a quick series of gestures, causing a wave of energy to pulse off of Kasimir's frame, pushing all but Renard and Faye flying backward. Before he could lower his hand, though, Faye's sword severed it at the wrist. "Augh!"

  "You're just another monster." She slashed again, this time at his knee. The blow landed, tearing his kneecap off just as Renard's axe struck him in the ribs again.

  "Heed our call with your radiant light!" The three priestesses cried in the Goddess's tongue. From their outstretched hands, a brilliant beam of light streaked through the air and slammed into his chest, knocking him back a step, driving him into Renard's axe for the third time. This time, it bit deep.

  In a deep, hissing, guttural tone, the lich intoned another spell. As he spoke, the shadows roiled throughout the hall, twisting and bending into vaguely humanoid shapes. At the same time, the temperature plummeted, and ice bloomed on every surface.

  "I thought that I needed you people." Kasimir waved his remaining hand, and the shadow took shape. They were monsters, of all shapes and sizes. Big ones.

  "Break formation!" Ro commanded the others. "Fight the monsters and protect the priestesses!"

  As the monsters lunged at us, the Templars broke formation to hold them back. However, one had formed next to Tristan and was too close for the others to reach her in time. As it reared back with its massive claws, I moved.

  [Intercept]

  I appeared next to her in time to take the hit. An instant later, a blade of wind cut the beast in half, spraying black blood across the hall.

  "Thank you, love," Tristan breathed.

  Turning back to Faye, I said, "Stay safe, okay?"

  "Okay."

  Kasimir took a step toward Faye. "I thought you would make it easier for me. No one can be everywhere, after all." His severed hand, which had fallen to the floor, crumbled to dust, then reappeared on his stump. "I thought I would nudge you along, guiding you to the only future in which we survive. I realize now that line of thought was nothing but folly."

  "We don't need you anymore!" Faye struck at his chest, cutting through half of his ribs, burning a long, black streak across his chest, but the bones reformed nearly as fast as she'd damaged him. "I don't need you!"

  He laughed. "You've always needed me, dear sister."

  She screamed and slashed at his throat.

  "Rrraaah!" Vral appeared above Kasimir's head. She stabbed with both her daggers, slamming them up to the hilt into both of his eye sockets before sailing past Faye, weaponless.

  He reached up and tried to pull the daggers out of his skull, but as he did, he took a hit to the spine from Renard's axe. Despite the solid hit, he didn't seem fazed. "In all your time in this life, have you not once thought to step up? To take charge?" He attempted to swat another one of her blows to the side, but he lost his arm for the attempt. Grasping at his shoulder, he asked, "When will you step up?"

  Flames roared to life all across her body. "All I do is step up!"

  As Renard's axe bit into his spine, Kasimir laughed. "You do nothing but flex your muscles and pout when there's real work to be done." When she stabbed at him, he took the hit to his chest, allowing her blade to burn through his ribs. Then, reaching out, he grabbed her by the throat and squeezed. Her flames scorched his fingers, but still, he began lifting her into the air. "

  Kicking off his chest, she landed on the ground and sprang back up. With a rising cut, she slashed through his jaw. "Because it's not my job to control the world!" A horizontal cut slashed through the lich's femur, sending him tumbling to the floor. "And because I believe in people!" A third slash sent a chunk of skull flying. "And..." She leveled her sword at Kasimir's eye. "Because I believe in a better future." She swallowed. "I know if we just try, we can get there." Her sword slowly traveled to his eye. "But we'll never do it with people like you around. People who think they know better than everyone else. People who think everything of the world and nothing of the people living in it." Flaming tears began streaming down her face. "I'm sorry, but it's time for you to go."

  Gazing up at her with his empty eyes, he whispered, "In all the countless worlds I've witnessed, I've never once not seen the end." He barked out a single laugh. "You will not find my phylactery."

  "Those worlds aren't real." With a single clean movement, she drove her sword directly into his eye socket. With a low, solemn tone, she said, "If you keep coming back, I'll just have to kill you again. Again and again." With a single wracking sob, she whispered, "So stay asleep, big brother."

  There was a terrible crack as her sword punched through the back of his skull. He let out a whimpering shriek as his bones ignited and quickly began to crumble. As he crumbled into ash, the shadow monsters flickered and wavered all around the room. Slowly, he reached for her, but Renard's axe severed his arm at the shoulder. Shuddering to his feet, he stepped toward her, creaking as the flames burning his bones turned into an inferno.

  "Stop..." Faye took a step backward.

  With his remaining hand, he reached toward her. "You'll regret this..." His leg nearly gave out. "Everything I've learned... everything I've gathered... everything I've created..."

  "Stop!" She took another step backward, but the fight had left her eyes.

  [Intercept]

  The world blurred, and I was suddenly standing in front of the burning lich. "You heard the lady. It's time to go to sleep now."

  [Stoneshatter]

  My fist collided with the hole where his nose should be.

  His skull exploded.

  Like a puppet whose strings were cut, his bones crumpled to the ground and quickly burned away, turning to nothing but ash.

  When the last piece of bone became dust, a faint shadow rose from the ashes, floated into the air, and stared down at us. Where the shade's mouth should be, a hole formed, and from it, there was a hissing voice. "Perhaps... I... am meant... to motivate you..." The shadow floated closer to us. "Without pain... without struggle... nothing will change..." He reached for Faye. "Without an enemy... the people grow complacent..." The space where its eyes should be grew darker. "I can be that enemy. Or maybe... maybe I can find a new one to—"

  Grrroooaaaa!

  Looking upward, I saw something small and white falling toward us.

  "Ri ri!" Fluffy was furiously flapping his little wings as he half-flew, half-fell toward us.

  "Fluffy?" There was no way he just made that noise.

  Grrrrrrr...

  Above him, there was a streak of white. Then, shaking the entire tree, the Great Mother appeared out of the night and landed atop the throne dais. With a massive inhalation, she reared her head back and exhaled.

  A wave of scintillating motes poured from her mouth and coalesced around Kasimir's spirit.

  The lich tried to flee, but the motes pressed to his spirit, locking it in place.

  Crawling down the dais headfirst, the Great Mother's golden eyes never left the spirit as she inhaled a second time.

  I could have sworn the shade's nonexistent eyes grew wide as the dragon exhaled a second time, this time in a massive wave of pure-white light. The beam struck the lich directly in the chest. As it did, the motes flared even brighter, and the spirit became tangible. Sinking into the shade one by one, the motes stretched outward and crystallized. Kasimir thrashed and tore at the stuff, but it was no use. All of us watched as the lich-turned-shade became a glowing, flickering crystal.

  When the process was done, the object fell to the ground with a loud, unceremonious thump and fell to its side. Her work done, the Great Mother fell to her belly, yawned, and placed her chin on the backs of her hands just as Fluffy fluttered onto the top of her head, arced his head to the sky, and let out the mightiest little "p-r-r-iii!" in the history of Reial.

  Marching up to the crystal that had been Kasimir, Vral kicked the thing before asking, "I guess you didn't see that coming, huh, asshole?"