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“Out on the walls!” Marcela’s father, Count Daston’s voice cut through the chaos.
He stood at the front of the battalion, bare-chested, his skin streaming with white essence. he slammed his fists together, the impact ringing out like iron on iron. Light spilled from him in waves that steadied those around him.
Marcela snapped into motion with the others, her mind returning from Baelkor storming from the Tree of Damnation. She fell into formation alongside her party, spreading out over the wall and standing guard around the gateway tower.
Across the distance, still caught between the two collapsed walls just beyond the Tree of Damnation, Baelkor moved. The giant raised one hand overhead and hurled a globe of churning poison into the sky, straight at them. It swelled as it flew, a sickly mass of green and black that bled vapour into the air.
Before it could fall, a ripple of power surged to meet it—her father.
He floated in the air, the blessings of Avaroth rippling around him. The air distorted as the poison struck the invisible barrier and turned, flung back in Baelkor’s direction.
For a moment, Marcela thought it might strike true, then it unravelled mid-fight, It unravelled before it reached Baelkor, bursting apart into hissing droplets that rained down across the battlefield, eating into stone and flesh alike, demons howling out in pain, but Baelkor didn’t care.
“Advance!” General Korteg roared, leaping from the wall and descending into the chaos below, greatsword whirling about his body.
Marcela barely saw him land when something else drew her eye. To the right of the gateway tower, the ground was moving, stones shifting. A bulge in the earth split open, and from it rose a new Tree of Damnation. Its trunk forced its way skyward in seconds, bark twisting and writhing as roots tore through the stone foundations of the wall, driving straight toward the tower.
“They’re trying to bring in reinforcements,” Marcela said. “Father!” she shouted, essence empowering her voice. He looked her way and she pointed.
“Go!” he shouted back.
“Form a bridge for us, Varris,” Marcela said.
The Chosen of Osidium stepped forward, stone surging from the wall, connecting them to the section on the other side of the gateway tower leading to the tree. They raced across it at a sprint. Behind her, Teff and Tamsin crashed forward, Len and Faelor close, Varris bringing up the rear.
Marcela glanced up as roars sounded from the air. The Dragon Keepers of Drakalyn emerged from the tower, their mounts diving from the walls and taking to the skies. Fire poured from their jaws, sweeping across the battlefield in vast sheets of flame, turning the ground below into a sea of burning light as they sought to set the main Tree of Damnation ablaze.
Baelkor answered. The earth ruptured around him. Massive, twisted plants burst from the ground, thick as towers, writhing as if alive. Their surfaces pulsed with toxic growths, and as they lashed upward, they split open, releasing waves of poison.
The battlefield around the tree vanished before Marcela, demons and warlocks swallowed by green mist as it rolled outward, devouring dragon fire, swallowing blessings, and forcing their battalion back. Blessings ignited as Chosen fought to hold their ground, the entire world radiant with the power of the gods.
But they didn’t back down.
They were the Chosen of the Pantheon, and they stood shoulder to shoulder, their powers overlapping in layers of protection and destruction. Barriers flared. Light pushed back darkness. Wind carved through poison and steel met claw and spell alike.
She didn’t slow, setting her sights on her own task.
A thrill filled Marcela. This was their holy crusade, and they would rise victorious.
Ahead of them, the secondary Tree of Damnation emerged faster than she thought possible. Already its canopy formed overhead, and a rift opened in its trunk. From it, human shaped beings stepped forth, but their bodies were twisted by plant growth. Each of them had a hole where their heart should be, roots sprouting out from within and threading through the rest of their bodies. Their eyes were listless. Their arms were covered in thorns.
“We need to be quick,” Marcela said.
“I’ll clear a path,” Tamsin snarled, rushing ahead. Her twin axes carved through the first of the plant beings with ease.
Marcela surged forward as support, slipping past a lashing whip from one of the creatures, then carving out a path. The core was exposed still, red and shining at the centre of the tree’s trunk. She’d destroyed enough Tree of Damnations in her time to know what to do now.
Teff’s arrows felled creatures alongside her. Faelor’s arrows struck like boulders, sending the creatures flying from the walls. And Marcela dove through it all, her blade piercing the heart of the tree.
Shadowy faces screamed upon the trunk, vibrating through her soul. The trunk split, light bursting from within as the structure collapsed in on itself. The roots spasmed, then stilled, crumbling into dead, blackened husks.
One down, but already looking beyond it, more were spawning. The children of Baelkor were pouring through.
Then a weight pressed on her.
Marcela’s breath caught as a vast power settled over her. She turned to the battlefield to see Baelkor had stopped, his attention on them. The battlefield seemed to shrink beneath it, every other sound dulling to nothing.
“Oh that’s not good,” Len started as Baelkor lifted his hand.
“Len! Barrier!” Marcela shouted.
The barrier formed just as the attack struck. Not a spell, but sheer, force through essence.
The barrier shattered on impact. Len screamed, forcing it back together as cracks spiderwebbed across its surface, light bleeding through as the pressure drove them backward, boots carving trenches through the stone. Blood sprayed from his lips.
Varris stepped before them, a wall of stone forming just as the second impact struck. Stone rained on them. Marcela and Tamsin carved it apart, their sword and axes blurring with their speed. Water surged around Marcela. She was one with her blade, flowing in time with the world, dancing as she sent stone after stone flying to keep her party safe.
But she couldn’t stop Baelkor.
He clenched his fist. She felt the force was different this time—greater.
Fire split the sky.
A dragon slammed down between them and Baelkor, its wings beating with hurricane force as its rider unleashed a volley of silver arrows that crashed against Baelkor’s hand before his attack unleashed, sending him stumbling.
“Rejoin the others!” the rider shouted. “Tell Korteg to advance on the main keep. We will slow down Baelkor.”
Marcela looked the woman up and down as she and her dragon leapt from the walls, rejoining the battle. She wasn’t Yunillia, the one in charge of the Dragon Keepers, but she was perhaps even more powerful. She loosed another arrow from her bow, and it contained such deadly intent that the sight alone sent a shiver through Marcela. It wasn’t the power, but how well controlled it was.
“Who was that?” Teff asked.
“I don’t know,” Marcela said.
Tamsin grinned savagely. “Whoever she is she’s strong.”
***
The air warped from the intensity around Karlac. Tapestries burned on the wall behind him. Floor tiles melted. Only the thrones remained intact, their own divinity protecting them. Light flared so bright it cast the chamber in harsh, violent shadows.
Karlac’s skin was red. Channels bulged beneath, pulsing with all the power now raging through him. His eyes were wide and wild. A raw, primal scream escaped him, filled with such agony Hump thought the pain alone might kill the devil.
But such hope was always for nothing.
Karlac didn't let go. The fire climbed higher, wrapping around him in a blazing storm of divinity and heat until he was encompassed entirely.
Hump levelled his staff, spellbook falling open in his left hand, and prepared his most powerful spell. The runes of Erupting Core burned like molten ink, essence surging from the page with force that shook the air. Immediately, Hump sensed it was more powerful than usual, the pure intent of fire coming off Karlac empowering his own magic.
“Erupting Core,” Hump said. Scarlet and bronze essence danced from his lips in a cloud of power. His voice echoed through the room, though it was overshadowed by the raging inferno around Karlac.
The demon didn’t even look up as light surged from Hump’s staff and coalesced before him. Fire and earth came together as one—at first subtle, but quickly building to a narrow point. Condensing. Growing strong enough that the wind howled around it.
Hump’s cloak billowed from the force of it.
Around him, he sensed Bud and Celaine adding their own powers, the might of all three of them building. Nishari snarled at his side, flame building in the back of her throat, the golden flakes on her black scales shimmering. With Karlac focused on the flame, there was nothing to interrupt them.
A bead of molten heat took form at the centre of his essence. Its crust was that of earth, while lava rose and spluttered through the cracks beneath it, arcs of heat bursting from it. Loose rock from Karlac’s attack orbited the core and Hump. Sparks of red lightning cracked around him, lancing toward the floor and walls.
Holding it aloft was like a great weight. Moment by moment, Hump felt as if he would lose control of it. Until finally, he knew the spell was ready.
With a thought, Hump let the spell go. Molten rock erupted from one side of the bead in a shattering explosion, booming through the chamber. Lava streaked through the air in a beam, straight for Karlac.
At the same time, Celaine’s arrow streaked forth, empowered by her blessings. Bud brought down his blade, a streak of Frostfire beaming down from above, straight onto Karlac. Nishari roared as she unleashed her own flame, the chamber shaking.
Hump watched, heaving from breath. Cold spiked in his veins at the sudden loss of so much essence.
For a moment, Karlac was obscured by the cloud of essence that formed around him. As it cleared though, Hump’s heart sunk.
The ground around him had been shattered, forming an empty moat, yet the attacks themselves had vanished into the storm of essence around the throne. Swallowed whole. Overwhelmed by divine intent and only adding to the blaze.
Still, Karlac latched onto Ordana’s throat, drinking deeply. The Divine Spark in her chest was fading, his own channels shining more resplendent.
“What do we do?” Celaine said, she and Bud approaching. The knight was limping, his armour dented from the explosion. Celaine seemed unharmed.
Behind Hump, Dylan was already tending to Emilia’s head wound.
“We didn’t even touch the spark’s defences,” Bud said. “I could take Kelisia’s spark. It’s been calling to me.”
The flame grew larger still. Karlac’s scream had become twisted but more powerful. His intent spread throughout the flame, selfish, greedy, and full of hate. If it kept up like this, Hump feared he would succeed.
Hump glanced at Bud. Even if he could claim Kelisia’s spark, Karlac would likely succeed first. Not to mention the fact that Loften himself had said that the attempt would kill them.
“No,” Hump said. “It won’t work.”
“Then what?” Bud asked.
“The ground beneath him,” Emilia muttered. “If we bring it all down, he might lose his connection.”
“There’s no time,” Hump said softly. “But I can think of one thing. My will against his. I could contest him for the spark—invade it with my intent.”
Celaine’s eyes went wide. “It would kill you just as it would Bud.”
“But my soul is stronger,” Hump said. “And it would be me against Karlac. If Bud attempts it, Karlac will finish absorbing the spark first even if he succeeds. He’ll lose. But if I fight Karlac for the spark, I can stop him before he gains its power. I don’t have any other ideas.”
“You can’t,” Celaine said softly.
“Agreed,” Emilia said.
“Yep.” Dylan nodded. “This is a terrible idea.”
“Let me do it,” Bud said. “The Pantheon isn’t your problem, it’s mine. Let me be the one to do this.”
Hump looked over each of them and sighed. He glanced at Karlac. “We’re running out of time. Karlac is injured—I can beat him.”
“Beat him and that just means the spark will be yours,” Celaine said. “It’ll kill you too.”
“We could leave,” Dylan said. “Let others deal with this.”
“Karlac will still come for us,” Hump said. “He’ll be one step closer to a god at that point. Not to mention all these Divine Sparks will still be here to be claimed.”
Silence held between them. Nishari pressed against his leg.
Suddenly, Celaine planted a kiss on Hump’s lips. “Do it,” she said with absolute confidence. “You’re right. If it’s you against Karlac, you will win.”
Hump met her eyes—green and mesmerising in the flickering flame. He kissed her back, holding her close, then turned from her and left without looking back.
Resolved, he rushed at Karlac.
The fire was searing hot as he drew closer, but he didn’t pause. He let his own soul manifest, filling the air around him with a violet haze, warding off the worst of it.
If he couldn’t interrupt Karlac, then he would simply take the spark first. Even if it killed him, at least his friends, Celaine, and Nisha would be safe.
Approaching the spark, Hump reached for it much the same way as before. Essence flowed from his hand with a thought, threading into the structure of the throne, into the corpse, and into the binding ritual that held the spark in place.
It resisted again, still connected to everything else. Karlac hadn’t gotten that far with it yet. Hump pushed deeper, feeling for the points where the spark was fixed, where it drew strength, and where it was held in place. It was there that he wormed his way in, following those same currents and tracing lines of divine intent.
And there, he found its core.
He couldn’t help the scream that followed. A rush of essence surged back in return, and with it came agony. It tore through him without restraint—divinity in its purest form. Immediately, he sensed the quality difference compared to the last. This was not power meant to be held by the likes of him. It was power that defined reality itself—the Will of the World. The true intent of fire.
That intent consumed his mind. Not just heat, but creation, renewal, and energy. His body couldn’t contain it. His soul buckled from its weight. It felt like he was being torn apart, piece by piece, burnt and remade all at once.
All he could do was hold on. As his mind grew used to the pain, he sensed another in there too.
Karlac.
The devil must have felt him as he finally looked up, fury in his eyes. The devil’s will crashed into Hump’s with soul crushing force. His Soul Domain expanded, shadow merging with flame, pressing down even more. Hump answered with his own soul, letting it flare. He was weaker, an entire tier beneath Karlac, and that difference was suffocating.
Still he held. The dragon in his blood roared inside of him. His essence ignited, pushing back. His will held firm, locked together with Karlac’s, bound by the spark, each fighting for control.
Already, a plan was beginning to form in Hump’s mind. Karlac was so desperate to force him out that he was distracted. But Hump didn’t have to defeat him. He only had to outlast him. The spark would do the rest.