Author's Preface
The team had rested and regained as much strength as they could. Eve looked back at them. “Thirty minutes,” she said. “That’s all we’ve got. Do what you need to in that time.” The group began making their way down the cliff, heading toward the structure in the distance.
“So we’re placing our bets that the anchor, or the last boss, is there?” Chris asked.
“We are,” Eve replied. She glanced at Chris and Darrien. “You two can still fight, right?”
Chris nodded.
Darrien shoved a piece of beef jerky into his mouth. “Hell yeah. This is just a flesh wound,” he said, lifting his arm to show the missing chunk of muscle.
Samantha immediately spat out what she was eating. “That’s disgusting. Put it down before I burn the rest of your arm.”
Cynthia let out a small gasp. “You two never stop, do you?”
They continued along the path, but as they moved deeper in, the world around them felt unnaturally still. There was no movement, no sound, nothing that suggested anything was alive nearby. When they reached the edge of the forest, they saw the temple standing ahead of them. There were no guards and no monsters in sight. Then the sound of drums began to echo from beyond them. The team turned as movement spread through the trees. Archers emerged first, followed by the invisible, bladed creatures they had encountered earlier. Behind them came others, creatures they hadn’t seen before. They resembled animals from Earth, but something about them was wrong. Bears with claws made of jagged metal pushed forward through the brush. Lions followed, their manes spread out like sharp, bladed fans. Tigers moved beside them, their tails lined with spikes, whipping behind them like weapons. Their bodies were distorted, their forms unnatural, and their teeth were bared as they advanced.
More and more of them continued to pour out of the forest until it was clear they were completely surrounded. There were hundreds of them, well over three hundred. Then the doors of the temple opened. A large figure stepped out, wearing a crown. It stood around seven feet tall and looked similar to the other creatures, but unlike them, its body was not twisted or deformed. It stood straight, controlled, as if it were something entirely different from the rest.
In its hand, it held a wand with a deep red crystal set at the top. Darrien looked over at Eve. “This is bad. Where the fuck did they all come from?”
No one answered. They all understood the situation without needing to say it. This was not going to be a fight they could end quickly. It would come down to endurance, and both Chris and Darrien were already badly injured. Eve stepped forward, ready to speak to the team, but the boss spoke first. The figure took another step forward.
“My name is Kavros.”
The jewels set into his crown flared to life, casting a deep, shifting glow across the clearing. At once, every creature in sight dropped to one knee. Their voices rose together, low and unified, chanting his name three times.
“Kavros… Kavros… Kavros…”
He lifted a hand, and the light from the crown dimmed. The chanting stopped immediately. “You’ve come far. Further than most who have entered my world. Tell me… did you enjoy my creations?”
Eve glanced around at the creatures surrounding them. She said nothing, but she understood what stood before them now. This was no mindless boss. He was aware, in control. Everything here moved because he allowed it.
Kavros’s gaze settled over the group. “If you kneel to him, I will spare your lives.”
Darrien shifted, grabbing his knee as if testing it. “See, the thing is… Kav-rod. Did I say that right? My knee’s a little sore from the hike.”
Samantha immediately slapped the wound on his arm.
“What the hell?” Darrien snapped, turning toward her.
Kavros didn’t react to the exchange. The moment the insult left Darrien’s mouth, he raised his wand. Clouds rolled in overhead, swallowing the sky. In seconds, the battlefield was plunged into darkness so complete it felt suffocating. There was no light left, only the faint glow of the jewels on Kavros’s crown as they lit once more.
Chris caught sight of it. “They’re coming. Get ready.”
Within seconds, the team found themselves surrounded. The bladed creatures and the beasts formed a tight circle around them, closing in to within a few feet. They were close enough to hear low growls and sharp hisses, but difficult to see through the darkness.
Then the attack began.
A volley of arrows tore through the air toward them. As soon as the arrows came, Cynthia raised a barrier around the team, just as she always did. The arrows struck against it, the impacts echoing as they bounced off the dense wood she formed. Then something they didn’t expect happened. A bear charged straight into the dome, slamming into it hard enough to form a visible crack.
“Chris!” Eve shouted.
“Don’t worry. I’m on it.”
Chris stepped in front of the fracture, bracing himself as another heavy impact hit the barrier. This time, the dome began to give.
“The next one!” Chris called out.
Everyone tensed, listening for the bear’s heavy footsteps through the chaos. The moment it broke through, Darrien was already moving. He had thrown four daggers ahead of time, aiming exactly where the bear’s head would be. As the creature crashed through the barrier, the daggers buried themselves into its skull. It dropped immediately, its body sliding across the ground and stopping just inches from Chris.
“Now!” Chris shouted, drawing the attention of the enemies as they surged through the opening the bear had created.
Samantha and Eve unleashed their area-of-effect fire spells into the gap, trying to burn through as many of them as possible before they could spread out. It didn’t slow them down. If anything… it seemed like they couldn’t stop. The enemies fell one by one. Darrien and Blue cut down anything that got close to Chris, while Eve and Samantha launched spells past them, their attacks landing within inches of the two as they held the line.
Then Cynthia noticed it. The bear from before. The wound in its head was no longer the same. The exposed flesh had turned a faint pink, and something was growing where the damage had been. Without hesitation, she formed a wooden spike. It slid low across the ground, passing between Chris’s legs before driving straight back into the bear’s skull, striking the same spot as before. She pulled the spike back and crouched, picking something up from the ground. A crystal. Pink. Cynthia lifted her gaze to the bear again. The damage was already closing. The crystal embedded in its head shifted, reshaping the bone and flesh as if it had never been broken. She looked around. Every creature they had taken down, the bears, the lions, the tigers, were beginning to move again. Their bodies repaired themselves, reforming as they slowly rose back to their feet.
“They’re regenerating!” Cynthia shouted.
Eve looked through the pile of bodies and saw it too. At the same time, she realized how crowded the space had become. The enemies were pushing them back, forcing the team closer and closer to the rear of the dome. If this kept up, they wouldn’t have room to defend themselves.
“Cynthia, release the dome!”
Cynthia dropped the barrier. As it faded, the rest of the team began to notice it as well. Some of the creatures had been cut clean in half, but what lay where their bodies should have been were no longer animals. In their place were slabs of pink crystal, glowing faintly in the darkness. As they watched, the crystals began to pull themselves back together. Fragments slid and fused, reshaping into form. Within seconds, the outline of a lion reformed and rose again.
“What kind of creepy shit is that?” Darrien shouted.
Samantha hurled a fireball into the air, lighting up the battlefield. Everywhere they looked, the same thing was happening. The crystals were rebuilding, repairing, reforming the creatures as if they had never been destroyed.
Eve’s gaze shifted to the boss. Kavros stood where he had been, his wand raised. The jewels in his crown glowed steadily. He hadn’t moved.
“He’s controlling them,” Eve said, looking back toward Cynthia.
Before she could say anything else, the next wave hit. Cynthia remained in the center of the group, her focus locked on the battlefield as she tried to understand what she was seeing. Then something struck her. Not an idea... Samantha’s hand.
“Snap out of it, Cynthia. What the hell?”
Cynthia glanced down at a piece of crystal that had landed near her, severed moments ago by Blue. She looked back at the team, watching them struggle against the endless wave of creatures that refused to stay down. She reached out and focused on the crystal.
“It’s organic!” she shouted.
She tried to take control of it using her flux. Closing her eyes, she concentrated, pushing her will into the crystal. For a brief moment, she felt it. Then something pushed back.
"Too weak." The voice echoed in her mind. Kavros.
The connection snapped, and Cynthia was thrown backward, landing hard on the ground. Cynthia stood up. Blue glanced back at her. “Are you okay?”
“I am.”
As Blue turned back to continue fighting, he realized they couldn’t win a battle of attrition. No matter how many creatures he cut down, they kept getting back up. There was no clear path to Kavros either. Blue stepped back beside Eve.
“We have to do something, and quick.”
“I know,” Eve said as she released vines to entangle a creature rushing toward them.
Blue spun and took its head clean off before looking back at her. “So what should we do?”
“Blue, I need five minutes!” Cynthia shouted.
Eve looked at Blue, and he simply nodded. He knew what she meant. He hesitated for a brief moment. Even if he used his divine energy now, there was no guarantee he could cut through the horde and reach Kavros.
Chris turned back, holding off enemies with his shield. “Trust her!”
That was all that needed to be said. Blue released his divine energy. The moment he did, he surged forward, moving from one creature to the next, cutting them down without slowing. Eve called out for everyone to conserve what strength they had left as they watched Blue tear through the battlefield.
Cynthia crouched beside the crystal in front of her. Darrien drove daggers into the surrounding fragments, pinning them in place to keep them from reforming. Cynthia placed both hands on the crystal and let her flux flow into it. In an instant, everything around her disappeared. Her body remained where it was, but her mind, her consciousness, was somewhere else. She stood in a space that felt separate from everything. There was no sense of time, no sound, no movement. Only an endless white expanse. The crystal still lay in front of her. And in the distance, Kavros stood waiting.
“You have a strong will,” Kavros said. “He will be pleased with you.” He lifted his arms slightly at his sides. “This is what he can offer.”
Cynthia didn’t respond. In an instant, pink crystals formed above her and came crashing down. She reacted on instinct, raising a metal wall in front of her. She dropped to one knee, bracing for the impact, but it never came. She looked up. There was no metal. Her barrier shouldn’t exist here.
“How?”
“A strong will, indeed,” Kavros said. “But that was only a taste of a conjurer’s power.”
Crystals formed around her ankles, locking her in place. Another shape took form nearby, the same bear from before, its body assembling from crystal as it charged straight at her. Cynthia focused. Turrets. The moment the thought formed, two turrets appeared beside her and opened fire, tearing through the charging bear before it could reach her. She understood then what Kavros meant. She had a strong will. This was a battle of wills. Cynthia formed a chain in her hand and lashed it toward Kavros. He raised a crystal wall in response, but the chain shattered through it and struck him, sending him backward across the white expanse.
Kavros stood. “I underestimated you, human.”
He raised his hand, and a barrage of attacks came down toward Cynthia. For what felt like an eternity, she stood her ground, raising wall after wall to block the constant assault. Her arms trembled from the strain.
"I wish something would just crush this guy."
An anvil appeared above Kavros and dropped straight down onto his head. The attacks stopped. Cynthia leaned slightly to the side, peering around the barrier. Kavros was on one knee beneath the weight of it.
“Holy shit.” Cynthia’s eyes were wide.
Kavros pushed himself up, forcing the anvil aside. “This is my world. You can’t defeat me.”
Back in reality, Blue was reaching his limit, trying to break through the horde and reach Kavros, but the creatures wouldn’t let him. He glanced back. Samantha was out of mana. Darrien could barely stand. Chris was fighting with his fists, no longer able to use his shield with one good arm. Blue turned and cut down the nearest threats, clearing space around the team. Then he stepped forward, planting himself in front of the next wave, ready to hold the line.
A message appeared.
[Energy threshold imminent]
[90 seconds remaining]
[Death is all but certain if you do not stop]
Back in the white space, Cynthia and Kavros continued their exchange. Cynthia was taking minimal damage. Kavros was the one being pushed back.
“What is the meaning of this?” Kavros demanded.
“It’s just like you said before,” Cynthia replied. “Your power is borrowed. Mine is inherited. Years of practice, and I've made it my own.” She steadied herself. “You manipulate. I control.”
She was exhausted. She knew she had to end it. Cynthia gathered everything she had left and formed one final attack. Metal spikes took shape, spinning so fast they began to glow with heat. Then she launched them forward. They tore through the layers of crystal walls Kavros formed to defend himself.
“This is impossi...”
The spikes pierced through him. The white space collapsed. Cynthia’s consciousness returned to her body. Another message appeared in front of Blue.
[System Notification]
[Divine energy will run rampant if you do not stop. Threshold exceeded.]
Blue turned and saw her. Cynthia.
He dropped to his knees, a faint smile forming despite everything. “Did you win?” His vision faded. Then he collapsed.
Cynthia’s will surged. She reached out with her flux and took control of the beasts. Every crystal creature on the battlefield turned at once. In seconds, they tore into the archers and the bladed enemies. Within moments, everything else was gone. She directed them toward Kavros. Kavros stood in place, unmoving. Blood streamed from his eyes, nose, and ears. Then the horde reached him. The team watched, unsure of what had just happened or how. Then they saw Cynthia. She was on all fours, blood running from her nose as well. She looked toward Darrien.
“Finish him.”
Cynthia fell to the ground. As her consciousness faded, the crystal creatures broke down into dust, leaving Kavros exposed. Darrien and Chris didn’t hesitate. They gathered what little strength they had left and rushed forward, striking him down cleanly. The moment Kavros fell, the pressure in the air disappeared. The darkness above them began to break apart as the clouds slowly pulled back. Faint light returned to the battlefield, revealing what was left behind.
The forest was gone.
Where the creatures had stood, there was nothing but scorched earth, bodies, and scattered fragments of crystal, already beginning to fade. For a moment, no one moved.
Chris was the first to step back, his breathing heavy as he looked down at what remained of Kavros. “…Is it over?” he asked.
No one answered right away. Eve turned, her eyes scanning the battlefield and then finally settling on Blue. He hadn’t moved. Cynthia lay a few feet away, completely still.
Eve exhaled slowly. “…Yeah,” she said. “It’s over.”
No one celebrated. No one spoke. They just stood there, trying to catch their breath, surrounded by the aftermath of a fight they had barely survived.