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The fire tore at Hump’s soul as it invaded his body. It raged through his veins like lava, burrowing deeper and deeper. Not even dragon blood could slow its progress. That, too, was swallowed, overwhelmed, reduced to nothing more than fuel.
His connection to Nisha vanished from his awareness, their bond cut. The steady presence of the Book of Infinite Pages dimmed, drowned beneath the weight of what now consumed him.
He was truly alone.
His will against Karlac’s. His spirit against a Divine Spark.
In a battle of will, endurance was what mattered. Pain, strength—both were unimportant. So long as he refused to break.
Karlac couldn't kill him like this. Not directly. Only Hump’s own weakness could end him here. So long as he refused to bow, he would not lose.
The devil was wounded. In raw strength, Karlac might be stronger, but here, in this moment, in a contest of will, Hump could compete.
The fire surged again, and pain followed. It came in waves, each one greater than the last, crashing through him, building and building until it felt as though his body might simply come apart beneath it.
He forced himself to breathe through it. To think of what he was fighting for. Celaine, his friends, Nisha. He clung to the image of them, to what they meant to him. They were the light in the dark, the only constant in the storm that threatened to tear him apart. His anchor.
And he would see it through.
This was not the first time his soul had suffered directly. The gorger had made him suffer like this as it laid bare his soul and sought to devour it. The same pressure pervaded him now, the same suffocating invasion.
Only this time it was worse. Back then, he had resisted. Now… he had to accept it. To make himself the more appealing vessel. To match his intent to the Divine Spark and make it his.
But it did not come easy. Just as he tried to contort it to his will, it forced itself on him with its vast and absolute intent. Fire, not just as an element, but as a primordial truth. Creation and destruction intertwined, burning through everything it could.
Hump couldn’t push it away. He had to take it in. To feed it his own intent, shape it, and force it to become something his soul could take hold of. All the while Karlac fought him for it.
Karlac released Ordana’s throat, blood on his lips and staining his teeth.
“Give up,” Karlac snarled. “I have prepared for this for a millennium. You are nothing before it. The spark will not simply kill you, it will consume you. Burn your soul to ash, piece by piece. You will feel every moment. It will drag on for eternity as it destroys you. Every fragment of yourself torn apart and fed to the flame, and then that very flame will come to me.”
“Only if I lose,” Hump choked out. It was all he could manage.
The next wave hit. Hump tensed against it. The pain was not constant, it rose and fell, each surge worse than the last, never allowing him to settle or adapt. Just when he thought he might endure it, it grew.
And Karlac pressed harder with each one, the spark shifting toward him. More of it bent to Karlac’s will and slipping from his own. As its intent shifted, and the flame became more different, the pain only worsened.
He was losing ground.
Karlac’s intent thread through the flame, reshaping it. His hunger and need for control leeched through into Hump, compelling him to give in to the pain. To stop resisting. To succumb to his fate.
But Hump didn’t break.
Karlac’s assault fell on him like rain. It tore at him across his body and soul, but his walls remained firm even as they were battered. He felt pieces of himself ravaged both by Karlac and the flame. Chips in his wall—in his very soul. But there was essence in there too. His Spirit Well was full, and he let it flow. And the dense core he had forged at its centre was strong. So strong, that as long as he didn’t break, it would remain.
He could sense Karlac’s growing impatience. The frustration. And then, pressure.
Karlac’s domain pressed down on him with more force. The spark bent more to his will, yielding more. Hump felt himself slip further.
But in that force, there was a mistake. A momentary lapse. Karlac’s focus narrowed too far.
The spark wavered. Its structure faltered, its resistance thinning. For the briefest instant, it waned toward Hump, and the protective barrier over Karlac was broken.
Hump felt it.
So did Bud.
The impact came like thunder. Frostfire crashed into Karlac with cold radiance. Wings of blazing ice and light flared as Bud hurled himself into the devil with everything he had.
Karlac’s grip the throne was broken as he stumbled back from the force. It was only for a moment, but it was enough.
With an effort of will, Hump seized the spark and dragged it inward. He ripped it free from Karlac’s grasp and the formation of the chamber, pulling it into himself.
It was too much.
He knew it instantly. This would kill him. The power surged without restraint, flooding him, overwhelming every boundary, every safeguard. The walls of his soul fell. His body couldn’t contain it, his channels straining under its weight.
But it didn't matter. Not anymore.
He staggered forward, essence tearing from him in violent waves. The air around him cracked and split under the pressure. The chamber trembled. Reality itself seemed to warp and bend around his presence.
Karlac lay before him, struggling to rise, exhausted from the battle. There was an arrow in his chest. Hump hadn’t even seen when it landed.
Hump stared down at the devil, vision swimming, body barely holding together.
“It was your hubris… that killed you, Karlac.”
“Wait—” Karlac rasped, blood spilling from his lips. “A deal—”
“I don’t deal with devils.”
There was no spell. No incantation. Just sheer force of essence.
Power descended with a crack.
Karlac screamed as it pressed against him. He struggled to push back, both essence and body trying to defend himself. Bone snapped. His arms bent, flesh tearing apart from the force. He gargled a scream, only for the air to be pressed from him as his defences caved. His eyes bulged as his ribs cracked one by one until he was no longer able to withstand the force. His chest collapsed, blood spraying across the floor.
Karlac’s eyes went wide, staring up at Hump—anger, fear, shock written in them. His mouth moved, but no sound came out.
Then there was nothing.
Silence filled the chamber.
For a few seconds, Hump stood over his fallen foe victorious. He heard words, but they didn’t register with him. The others were talking.
He tried to turn and see what they were saying, only to sway on his feet. The fire still raged inside him, burning through what remained. He barely managed to turn enough to catch a glimpse of Celaine racing toward him, panic etched across her face. Nishari was with her. Emilia was standing now, alive and well, Dylan’s blessing still around her.
Hump smiled.
They were alive. That was enough.
All at once, the last of the devil’s intent was lost from the spark and it flowed into Hump. His body was failing, breaking under the weight of what he had taken. The pain returned all at once, worse than before. He could feel it slipping—control, structure, everything. This was the true will of fire. The very intent of the world—a primordial law that dictated its existence.
The pain was gone. Hump’s body was burned to ashes—the very world obliterated. Now he stood in a place where there was nothing. He couldn’t see. Couldn’t hear. There was only the blazing divinity of Ordana and the small, flickering flame of his own soul.
Before it, Hump felt like he would be blown out. He was a candle in a storm so inconceivably large that there was nothing he could do to stop it. It wasn’t just the Divine Spark. It was the idea. He sensed fire in the ground beneath him, in the sun that gave light to this fragment, and even in the very distant stars.
In it, Hump sensed a terrifying heat, destruction, and a desire to consume.
Understanding was branded on his soul, and with it, pieces were seared from him. The walls he’d put up and that had held so strong against Karlac vanished like sand to the wind. It bore deeper, digging its way to the very core of his being. The solid core that he had forged through Spirit Forge, and now even that was being eaten away.
***
Celaine stared in terror at Hump as he fell to is knees, screaming in agony. His eyes blazed with fire so fierce it hurt to look at. His chest was blackened, charred as though he’d been burned through to bone. His fingertips were the same, cracked and glowing faintly, like embers at the end of a fire. Even his battle robes were failing, smouldering as they clung to him, threads curling into ash.
Everyone was watching, unsure what to do, as terrified as she was. The divinity radiating from him was so great she didn’t even know how to begin to help him.
Celaine’s hands trembled as she clutched her bow, then let it fall uselessly to her side. This wasn’t a fight she could shoot her way through. This wasn’t something she could fix.
Owalyn… The prayer came without thought. Please. Please, he’s done enough. He’s suffered enough. Don’t let this be how it ends.
There was no answer. Only the roar of his screams and the fire consuming this.
Nishari rushed forward in a panic. All Celaine could do was grab her and hold the dragon back. She writhed in her arms, claws scraping against Celaine’s armour, her body trembling violently.
“Dylan, do something!” Bud said.
“There’s nothing I can do,” Dylan said softly. “This is his battle.”
“He can do this,” Emilia said, voice tight. “He has to.”
They didn’t see it. To her eyes, the destruction was even more devastating. She could see the essence tearing through him. Destroying him. His body was giving in, piece by piece. Every second he held on, there was less of him left to hold with.
“Hump…” she whispered. His name broke in her throat.
Heat rolled off Nisha in waves. She was trying harder to break free now.
“I know,” Celaine said, pulling her closer, pressing her forehead gently against Nishari’s. “I know, girl. Just stay with me. He’s going to be alright.”
But Nisha wasn’t listening. Her gaze was locked on Hump. Golden light flickered faintly in her eyes, and then her violent shaking stilled. She wasn’t exactly calm, but focused.
Suddenly, Nisha pulled back slightly and looked up at Celaine. There was something in that look. A certainty.
Celaine’s grip tightened instinctively. “No, Nisha. Don’t.”
Nisha wriggled free, and this time, Celaine didn’t stop her. She leapt from her arms and hit the ground running, claws scraping against tiles as she raced toward Hump. The heat from him distorted the air, turning the space around him into a furnace, but Nisha didn’t slow.
Flame poured from her mouth in pinkish streaks. It spilled out in steady breaths, washing over her body, surrounding her like a shield. A healing flame.
Her eyes burned gold as she reached Hump and stepped into the fire. The Divine Spark surged around her, lashing out, devouring anything that came close. It struck her the moment she crossed into it.
She cried out but didn’t stop. Step by step, she pushed forward, her body swallowed by the terrifying fire, until she reached him. She pressed her head to rest against his chest.
Her scales started to change.
Their black colour turned to ash, floating up into the air to reveal gold beneath, gleaming through the fire. Light burst from her chest, mirroring Hump’s. Her eyes flared brighter like two suns.
Hump’s pained screams seemed to lessen a little.
Celaine’s fists tightened. Hope kindled in her heart. “Come on, Nisha. You can do it.”
***
The pain was all encompassing. Hump thought he understood pain of the soul. His body had suffered countless wounds. Fire and seared in his very blood. The gorger had tried to feast on his soul alive, and dragon blood had almost destroyed his body only to remake him.
This was beyond even that. A world of nothing but pain. Time dragged on as his very soul was destroyed. Moment by moment, little pieces of him turned to char. And it was just like Karlac had said—as if time were pausing just to drag out his agony.
Hump could do nothing but endure, until finally, he sensed a change.
Another light in the darkness.
He latched onto it without thought, and with it came a warmth and love that brought with it clarity.
Nishari.
Immediately, Hump tried to stop her and keep the spark away from her.
“It’s… alright…” he tried to say, but only essence spilled from his mouth. “Go to Celaine. Get away from me. I’ll be fine, girl.”
Then he felt it. A pull. She was drawing from him, and he was too weak to resist it now.
“No… girl…” he tried, but the words barely formed.
It didn’t stop. It was too late now. He had reached for her, and she completed the bond.
A dragon roared. A phoenix cried.
Her own insight on fire rushed into him, clearer than any thought she had ever had. Not just destruction and consumption, but rebirth, life, and energy.
At once, the power of the spark rushed along the bond, burning at them together. But this time, her will was bound to his. Her intent a part of his own. More essence poured out, feeding into her. Too much.
Divinity surged through Nishari’s body.
Her cries echoed through this place of nothingness. Hump could feel her agony. It was an agony that mirrored his own.
However, with it, his pain diminished. His soul began to stabilise. Pieces of himself came back together as he cycled his essence with the River and Waves. As he did, he felt himself growing stronger. His mind returned to him more completely. The walls around his soul began to rebuild. And trapped within them was his half of the Divine Spark.