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    You could plan and prepare for an eternity and think you had a solution for each and every eventually, but that was a fool’s dream. Goslin had learned in recent weeks that all his careful planning vanished the moment two swords clashed. In his case, when his shield smashed into the face of a rhinn soldier.


    Fire erupted from the windows lining the tower but was mostly diverted by powerful gusts of wind that gushed over his head, ruffling his hair. The assault had begun.


    With the Loftians agreeing to Landé’s plan, their target had been set, and the pyromancers were due a reckoning. No one knew how many remained in the tower, but they had all come to crack it open and spill its contents.


    Goslin was part of the main assault, just one among many on the front line. Their job was to breach the main gate. With his shield and Kax by his side, the rhinn died in droves. They’d found the tower surrounded by the enemy, the village around the enormous structure deserted. Lana was already inside the tower’s walls, having soared through one of the lower windows. Goslin wasn’t sure what her task was, but he was sure they’d reconvene once they’d breached the main gate.


    Spears were thrust at him again and again from the tight rhinn formation. They never learned that his shield would splinter their weapons and obliterate their defenses. It truly was a work of art, Sarien’s creation. For once, the combined forces of the Eldians and the Loftians, with the allied rhinn, were the greater force on the battlefield. They outnumbered the defenders, but gateways were opening up everywhere to deposit reinforcements.


    For the first time in a long while, the overall battle strategy was not his burden to bear. Goslin felt free to immerse himself in the flow of combat, slashing with his sword before following up with his shield.


    Kax slid through the enemy ranks like a shadow, his swords appearing in his hands as if from thin air. Rhinn fell around him as if he was cutting them down like blades of grass.


    The stink of sour sweat filled his nostrils. Disgusting odors came and went as he moved across the battlefield, trying to follow in Kax’s quick footsteps. Goslin couldn’t match his prowess and soon Kax disappeared behind enemy lines. They closed behind him, coming together like a wall to stop Goslin’s advance.


    No matter how many rhinn fell by his sword, more took their place. When he spun to strike out with the flat of his shield, someone from his right took the opportunity to kick Goslin in the hip. Pain flared, but he kept his feet.


    A wave of heat swept across the human lines and Goslin screamed, "Get down!" It wasn’t a fireball or a torrent of flames, but an unseen heat mage. The men around him cooked inside their armor. Terrible burns bubbled across their skin. Eyes boiled inside their sockets before they fell dead at Goslin''s feet.


    Goslin stood alone. The humans were not the only ones who’d come under the heat mage’s attack. Several lines of rhinn were obliterated as well, the stink of burned flesh turned his stomach. Goslin retched before returning to the fight. More humans advanced, and together they struck into the rhinn defenders again, putting pressure on their lines.


    Goslin saw the main gate where he, not so long ago, had come to retrieve Sarien. The Loftians were attacking from the other side. Together, the tower was nearly surrounded, but they had not been able to break through the rhinn lines. Fire bloomed down from one of the windows in a stream that would land near Goslin, but an unseen aeromancer diverted the attack down into the defenders. Those caught burned and shrieked before falling.


    Up above them, Wade circled the tower and threw bolts of lightning into the structure, causing it to tremble.


    Arrows and bouts of flames flew from the Landé''s troops, aimed at the small openings in the stone tower in an attempt to dissuade the pyromancers within from attacking.


    It was up to Goslin and the others in the front lines to push through. He raised his right arm to avoid a spear, then caught the haft between his body and arm, pulled it toward him, and struck with his shield. He punched into his opponent’s upper chest, tearing it to shreds. The blood and gore no longer made him flinch. He let the spear drop to the ground. Another opponent filled in the empty space in the rhinn lines, and Goslin blocked his thrust, destroying his weapon. A single thrust with his sword was all it took to down his opponent, but another quickly took his place.


    He watched in surprise as the main gate to the tower began to open. Flabbergasted, he didn’t catch a blow coming from the side, but the spear only caught the cloth of his stained tunic. It snagged, pulling Goslin forward and into his enemies. Before someone could skewer him, Goslin pushed back against them.


    When he straightened, he saw why they’d opened the gate.


    Monstrous creatures flooded the battlefield. They wore tattered clothes and looked human. Their skin was gray with a tint of brown and they were all hairless with lithe muscles, clawed hands, and fangs. One wore the white apron of an innkeeper and Goslin’s stomach dropped. The villagers. Anger swelled inside his chest. Kax had been right then. The priests of Wyndemir could corrupt and turn men into beasts. How could even the pyromancers allow such an atrocity?


    Goslin fought, struggling to get past the rhinn who were trying to push forward and away from the monsters coming to join their ranks.


    In his anger, Goslin grew reckless. He pushed forward, not waiting for assistance amongst his allies. He bashed the shield into the enemy line again and again to obliterate each of those who dared stand in his way, to enact justice on those who would allow such a heinous act.


    These corrupted villagers mingled with the rhinn soldiers, and continued past the front lines, slashing with their elongated hands and claw-tipped fingers. When he reached the first one, he saw no humanity left in the beady, sunken, and yellow eyes of the poor soul before him. The pitiful creature had been a woman once, he thought, as she wore a ripped open dress decorated with small flowers.


    She struck out, and he caught the blow with his sword. Unprepared for the force behind it, Goslin staggered back, almost dropping his weapon. The woman followed, slashing wildly with her claws.


    The Eldians who’d fought beside Goslin thrust their spears to pierce the woman’s skin and flesh. No blood bled out from her wounds, but she slumped forward, the light going out of her eyes. Another one took her place, a man this time, big and burly. The corrupted human roughly pushed the rhinn aside. Then, a gateway suddenly opened up in front of him, obscuring the monstrosity. A splattering of gore from the poor creature was all Goslin saw before people emerged from the gateway.


    All strangers except a friend he dearly missed.


    "Sarien!" Goslin shouted in pure joy.


    The air around a young woman near Sarien thrummed loudly. Goslin didn’t know what was coming, but he took cover behind his shield.


    A thump sounded followed by a blinding light. It enveloped everything around him. The shield prevented him from being blinded, but a high pitch whine lingered in his ears.


    Sarien turned and a wide smile spread across his face when their eyes met. "Goslin!"


    "Where have you been?" Goslin shouted, hurrying up to stand beside his friend. "You’ve been gone for far too long!"


    They embraced briefly before turning to face the rhinn. "Oh, here and there," Sarien said. "Looks like you’ve been busy." He indicated to the tower.


    Goslin nodded at Sarien’s companions, tilting his head to the young woman. "I could say the same about you, my dear friend."


    Sarien bent down to pluck a sword from the ground, a decent enough weapon as far as Goslin could tell, even if it didn’t compare to his own. Black flames sprung from his friend’s hands, and he used it to touch the nearest rhinn, whose eyes deadened as his body collapsed to the ground. The blade turned obsidian black, and he handed it to Goslin. "You’ll need one of these."


    "Thank you," Goslin said, accepting the weapon after sticking his own in the mud. "I’ll put it to good use."


    "No hesitation this time?" Sarien asked.


    Goslin hefted the blade. It still made him uncomfortable to use the imbued weapons, but he knew that he needed them if they were to defeat the enemy and take on whatever was to come next. At least he didn’t have to listen to the screams of the one trapped inside, like Kax reported with his swords. "The time for hesitation is over."


    A rhinn dodged a blow from one of the humans then pointed an angry finger at his attacker, then to Sarien. "Hey, stop that! I’m with him."


    Goslin gave the order to give the new arrivals the right of way.


    "This is Mica," Sarien said. "One of the leaders of the rhinn resistance in Rhinerien."


    "Well met, friend Mica," Goslin said. "You should find your countrymen and ask for a red cloth to wrap around your arm, so we’ll know not to attack you."


    "You have other rhinn under your command?" Mica asked, surprised.


    "They fight under a Sword of Wyndemir named Thys."


    Mica’s eyes darkened, but he nodded and turned to Sarien. "I’ll find you later."


    A gateway opened up beside him and the rhinn disappeared.


    "It appears that he knows Thys," Goslin said. They lagged behind the others, giving them a spare moment to speak.


    “Old friends, I hope,” Sarien said.


    Goslin pointed his new black blade at the gate of the tower. "Everything will be settled as soon as we’ve taken the tower."


    "Is everyone here?" Sarien asked. "I think I saw Kax."


    "We’re missing Tom, Em, and Heylien."


    "Well, let’s go get them after we’re done here," Sarien said, opening a gateway to what looked like a dim corridor. Sweat streamed down the young mage’s pale face.


    Sarien’s companions immediately passed through the gateway, and Goslin followed.


    He marveled at how much more self-assured his friend had become during their time apart. It suited him.


    One of Sarien’s companions, a wide and burly man with an impressive musculature, fought back a horde of the corrupted villagers that filled the hallway.


    A tall man, who reminded Goslin of Heylien, leaned against the wall while his shadow danced around and delivered ceaseless attacks to anyone who got too close to the group. Goslin joined in the fight, slashing and thrusting with his new blade. Sarien joined in too, wielding his spear with that familiar sense of awkwardness. Apparently, that hadn''t changed. Sarien was no warrior, but the black flame around his weapon meant he didn’t need to be.


    The group made short work of the remaining corrupted villagers without incurring any serious injuries, except for the burly man’s arms, which had long claw marks running in every direction.


    "Doesn’t hurt, not one bit," he said, holding out a hand to Goslin. "I’m Haen."


    "Emiril," the shadow-fighter said.


    The young woman looked back from trying to open the gate. "Myn. Can someone come help me with this?"


    "I’m Goslin. Pleased to meet you all. Thank you for bringing my friend back," Goslin said, going over to assist in the opening of the gate.


    "They’re not from around here," Sarien said, looking at the dead villagers lying broken on the stone floor. "Found them in a place called Malac."


    His words were hushed, but still echoed in the silence, as he looked up a huge set of stone stairs that branched off into smaller stairwells.


    "I’m sure we’ll all become good friends in time," Goslin said, also peering into the deceptively empty tower. "You know your way around here, Sarien? I haven’t been since I was a child."


    They managed to open the gate lock, then everyone helped to push it open. The din of combat grew stronger as they did.


    "Some," Sarien said. "But I was only here a short while."


    "That’s good enough. Why don’t you lead the way?"


    "Don’t you want to help the others break through the rhinn lines first?" Sarien asked.


    Goslin peered out the opened gate and saw a small, dark shadow flitting to and fro along the rhinn back line. "No, Kax will take care of it, and they’ll catch up soon enough. Let’s go find the director before he escapes."The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    "Fair enough," Sarien agreed.


    Goslin knew that Lana was already somewhere inside, as was Wade. He hoped they would find each other soon enough. Traces of their rampaging became evident after they’d hurried up a few flights of stairs. A few scattered rhinn soldiers lay dead, their blood blending to the thick red carpet. Further along the stairs, by a set of windows, they found a pair of pyromancers, exploded into pieces from a lightning strike, judging by the acrid smell.


    Other than that, the corridors were eerily quiet.


    "Where is everyone?" Goslin asked, as they stopped to catch their breaths.


    "It was sparsely populated the last time I was here," Sarien said. "Not deserted like this, though. I’ll want to check the top floor once we’ve paid a visit to Director Elden."


    A collective groan ran through his companions at the mention of the top floor, but he continued, unfettered, "That’s where the embers are housed, the students. They might very well still be here. I’m sure they will join us. Especially Tre."


    "I like the sound of that," Goslin agreed, even if he wasn’t thrilled about adding more stairs to their journey. "Wait, did you say Tre?"


    Sarien was about to start climbing stairs again but turned to Goslin. "Yes, Tre. Tremalian. You’ve heard the name?"


    "The boy is already with our troops. Lana scooped him up somewhere in Loft."


    "Sounds like he got some of the adventures he always yearned for."


    Goslin looked at Sarien and grinned. "Not unlike someone else I know."


    Once they made it up a few more flights, faint echoes of shouts and tramping feet on stone drifted up from below. The Eldians had breached the tower.


    "Just a few more floors until we get to the director’s study," Sarien said.


    Neither of them was quick enough to react when flames gushed down from above. The brawny man took the brunt of it, the stink of his searing flesh tickling Goslin’s nose, making his stomach churn.


    Goslin pushed down the rising bile and his accompanying disgust and pulled Sarien out of the spiral stone staircase to a nearby landing. The young woman followed, and the shadow man was right on her heels.


    Goslin didn''t remember the brawny man''s name but was amazed to see him move after such a grievous injury. His entire front was a mess with all hair burned away, his skin red and angry. His shirt had been burned away, exposing his chest that was covered in burns and rising welts.


    "Oh, Haen," the young woman said, holding her hands up to her mouth in horror.


    Haen tried to speak but found that he couldn''t, so he held his hand out and gave her a thumbs up, despite obviously being in tremendous pain.


    Fire filled the stairwell again, the heat radiating to them as they pondered how to proceed.


    "Why don''t you let me go first?" Goslin asked. "My shield can withstand the flames."


    Sarien looked up through the ceiling with a thoughtful expression. "Did any of you get a sense of how far above the pyromancer was?"


    They all shook their heads.


    "Can''t you make a gateway where we need to go? What is the point of climbing all the stairs?" the shadow man asked.


    "I''m sorry, Emiril, but I wanted to take the long way in case we found someone," Sarien said, looking at Goslin. "We''re here to take over the tower, yes?"


    "We are."


    "Then we can''t leave pyromancers running around behind us. We might be ill-equipped to deal with them, but what would it say about us if we left them to the Eldians? A pyromancer can easily hold a floor for hours against an infinite number of soldiers." He glanced at the big man. "You should return to your wife. What I can do is open a gateway for you, so you can head back down."


    Haen shook his head.


    "Then let''s get going," Goslin said, hefting his shield and holding it out in front of him.


    Flames blasted down the stairs intermittently as they spoke on the landing, but once Goslin set foot inside the stairwell, flames met him immediately. He stepped back to avoid being burned to ash.


    Goslin waited, then drew in a breath and ran up the stairs, holding his shield above him and taking the steps two at a time.


    He stumbled onto another landing and heard a grunt of frustration as he deflected the attack with his shield. Not much further now.


    At his next sprint, he ended up face to face with a woman about his mother''s age, with gray hair and beady little eyes. The woman’s thin lips were set in a flat line, and she reached her palm up and forward, just as Goslin closed in on her. Fire connected with his shield when he was a mere step away from her. He felt the metal of his shield begin to warm.


    The woman screamed as the fire billowed back at her. The stream of fire cut off almost instantly, but it was already too late for the pyromancer.


    Goslin peeked out from behind his shield. She still lived, but it felt like a compassionate act when he thrust his sword into her heart, ending her horrific pain.


    Goslin turned the shout down the stairs. "It''s safe!"


    The others joined him, with Sarien and the young woman up front, the brawny man trailing behind, obviously having difficulty moving with his injuries.


    Not for the first time, Goslin wished Tomford was among them. They would need to find the Vatners and their healers soon.


    Now that Sarien had returned, it would be possible. The young man seemed to have a knack for opening gateways to where he needed to go, rather than to a specific location. Unlike the rhinn prisoner, who’d told them that a location was absolutely necessary, and who had laughed when they explain what Sarien could do, calling them liars.


    Their powers were similar at first glance, but from Goslin’s limited understanding, the rhinn possessed a weaker version of wayfaring compared to Sarien. The source of their powers was the same, but the rhinn’s traveling had lost some of its potency from what their ancestors could do. Goslin hadn''t fully understood Sarien’s explanation, and wasn''t sure the mage himself did either, but Sarien was connected with the rhinn through his mother.


    It made some sense, with Sarien’s large eyes and wide mouth. They weren''t nearly as big as the rhinn’s, but surely the largest he''d ever seen on a human.


    "Pyromancers!" the young women shouted, bringing Goslin''s attention back to the moment. He''d been lost in his own head, not taking note of the stairs they continued to climb.


    Pyromancers laid dead or dying around him. Daggers of white light stuck out of their chests, then dissipated, leaving behind deep, bleeding wounds.


    "Lana!" Sarien shouted, waving to a small figure at the other end of the corridor.


    She rushed up, her eyes wild. "Sarien! Have you seen her? Have you seen Mia?"


    "Who?" Sarien said.


    "Don’t think we’ve seen her," Goslin added. "Unless it was her I killed on the stairs."


    Lana disappeared down the stairs, a wildness shining in her eyes.


    Lana soon returned. "Not her." With that, she was gone again.


    Emiril spoke, his voice thick with exhaustion. "Is this the right floor?"


    "No," Sarien said. "One more set of stairs."


    Goslin wondered how Sarien could remember the way. As far as he could tell, every floor looked the same, with bare walls and thick red carpets on the floor, and the same number of doors lining the walls.


    Despite the sameness, Goslin knew they arrived at the correct floor when he saw the gateway opening. Rhinn soldiers appeared. He cut through their opponents with ease with his new blade. Goslin almost felt like he was cheating, but that didn’t stop him from using it. The world wasn’t fair, and he would use every advantage without shame.


    As another gateway opened, Sarien reached out and within a few heartbeats, it shimmered closed.


    "That’s convenient," Goslin said.


    "Can they do the same to yours?" Myn asked Sarien.


    "They can," Sarien confirmed. "But I’m confident that they''d need to overwhelm me with numbers to do so."


    Goslin nodded down the corridor. "You’re sure this is where we’ll find the Director of Embers?"


    "This is where we’ll find his study," Sarien said, pointing with his spear to indicate another corridor.


    "Let’s go see what he has to say then," Goslin said, though he doubted that any of the directors would still be around. More likely they''d scurried away, like rats fleeing a sinking ship.


    Though, when Goslin caught sight of the guards standing on either side of the door to the director''s study, he thought that perhaps he was wrong. Guards might have been too grand a word. Two of the corrupted villagers loitered in the corridor, listlessly moving back and forth until they spotted Goslin and the others. Instead of rushing to attack, their skin began to glow faintly. It bubbled, almost as if some creature was burrowed under the surface trying to find its way out.


    "What are they doing?" Myn asked.


    Haen stepped out in front of her. "Get behind me, girl."


    "Do you want me to pop one of them?" Emiril asked. His shadow stood ready, weapon in hand, next to one of them.


    Sarien looked to Goslin, who didn’t know what to expect. "I suppose so.”


    A shadowy dagger reached out to poke a hole in one of the creature’s skin. Molten fire gushed from the small incision, tearing the skin around it apart. It flowed forth with the appearance of liquid metal, red hot and bright. The creature swayed back and forth, spraying the substance across the floor and walls. Goslin stepped back from the mess.


    It shrieked in rage and pain but remained in place.


    The second one rushed them, the bulges growing with each step until it was dangerously close. Then it exploded.


    Its innards sprayed out. Goslin dropped behind his shield. Burning goop sprayed across the metal and over the brim with enough force to spatter behind him. Thankfully, nothing ended up on Goslin himself.


    He looked to his right and saw Sarien with an open gateway facing the creature. On the other side of it was the sea and a tiny speck of an island. There was another creature through the gateway that looked like a luison. It died instantly when the molten substance landed on it.


    "Haen!" Myn shrieked. Myn and Emiril were fine, huddled behind the wide expanse of Haen''s body. However, the brawny man had not fared as well.


    The man’s wide back took the full brunt of the corrupted pyromancer’s spray. It ate into his entire back, sizzling away at his flesh. Haen whimpered as the attack burned and burrowed deep into his body. The stench was incredible, and the wounds would have gushed blood if not for every inch of flesh and innards touched by the incredibly hot substance instantly being cauterized.


    "Get away from him!" Sarien shouted, and Emiril stepped back hastily, pulling Myn along with him. The gateway in front of Sarien snapped shut, and another one opened in front of Haen. Sarien struggled to keep the gateway open.


    "Push him through!" Sarien shouted.


    "What?" Myn asked.


    Sarien ran up behind Haen and pushed, and Goslin joined him. Together, they forced Haen through the gateway. Sarien closed it behind their friend. He made the motions of preparing to open another gateway when the whisper of footsteps rose up from behind them.


    Goslin began to turn when Kax rushed past him.


    "Watch out for the fire!" Goslin shouted.


    Kax held out his right hand to the side and a blade appeared, so dark the light around it dimmed. A single swing sliced off the first creature’s head, and burning hot liquid gushed out to cover most of Kax’s arm.


    "No!" Myn shouted.


    Kax stopped and looked at his arm, his sword disappearing. The strange liquid fire burned through his clothes, but when it touched his blackened skin, it grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared, like it had fallen into an impenetrable void.


    "That tickled," he said, frowning.


    Myn grabbed Sarien’s arm. "Where did you send him? Where is Haen?"


    Goslin pulled his astonished gaze away from Kax. Compassion shone through Sarien’s expression. "I don’t know where exactly, but I opened a gateway to a place where he can find proper healing."


    "What do you mean, you don’t know?"


    Sarien appeared uncomfortable. "Well, it’s hard to describe. I didn’t send him to a specific location, but to somewhere where he can find healing quickly. Vatnbloet, I’m guessing. My thought was to drop him right into the lap of any healer who can help. Does that make sense?"


    She nodded enthusiastically. "So, he''ll survive?"


    "I don’t know," Sarien admitted. "I hope so."


    "Can’t we go to him?"


    The double doors to the director’s study burst open, and flames roared out like an inferno. Goslin took a hasty step back despite being farther down the hall. Kax barely seemed to notice the attack. The fire died away as quickly as it had appeared, and a voice replaced the roar of the flames.


    "No!" someone shouted. "Please!"


    "That’s Director Elden!" Sarien shouted. "Let’s go!"


    They jumped over pools of liquid fire that still clung to the ground, slowly eating its way through the stone floors.


    Director Elden was not alone.


    "I know you," Kax said, pointing his sword, that had once again reappeared in his hand, at a robed individual with the tattooed forehead. Without the discerning mark, it would have been difficult to identify the being before them as rhinn. His skin bulged in places, deforming its features, with sores leaking pus and blood. Its eyes were a dull purple, giving him a bug-like appearance that did not take away from his menacing aura. Perfectly white teeth flashed in a grin that dripped with condescension. Where his nose had been was only a hole, and even his ears looked to be on the verge of sloughing off his bald head.


    "Children," the priest said. "This one is mine, but you may play with him if you’d like."


    Director Elden lay on the ground in a heap, his red robes flowing out around him. The pyromancer screamed and raised his head before crawling on all fours, trying to stand. He twitched violently.


    "Don’t do this, Qieza!” Elden shouted, his words coming through with a strange hiss. "We had an understanding!"


    Qieza raised a hand to the director, a mocking smile spreading across his misshapen face. "This was always part of the deal, little human." The pyromancer’s robe caught fire, and the man screamed a wordless cry of despair as his skin began to burn. Fire shot out of Director Elden’s palm in a desperate attempt to save himself. It hurtled toward the rhinn but immediately dissipated at a wave of the priest’s hand.


    Soon, the entire pyromancer was immolated inflames, but he did not die. The screams turned to popping and crackling sounds of flesh being cooked, then died away entirely. The director stood and then, to Goslin’s surprise, bowed to the priest of Wyndemir.


    Daisy suddenly barked from near the door. Sarien turned. "Daisy? I told you to stay and protect Freyn!"


    The dog barked again, not taking its eyes off the corrupted priest, who gave the animal a searching look, as if not understanding what he was seeing. Qieza shook off the confusion, his purple eyes intensifying. "Kill them."


    The priest opened a gateway and disappeared. Before anyone had a chance to react, he closed it behind him.


    "Bjorn?" Sarien asked.


    The human-shaped bonfire slowly turned, then tilted his head back as if to scream, but the only sound coming from it was the roar of the flames.


    Kax was by its side in an instant, cutting through the flames with both swords. The fire parted where his black metal slashed, but it resumed its form immediately. A burst of fire struck Kax hard, sending him flying and crashing against the stone wall. Pieces of stone fell loose on top of him.


    He bounced to his feet, as if the attack hadn’t affected him at all. "Well, I’m out of ideas."


    Emiril’s shadow struck out at the creature with similar results.


    The heat radiating from the creature was incredible. Goslin felt sweat forming in his brow, which evaporated instantly. It felt as if the moisture within his body was being sucked out of him.


    "What do we do if we can’t hurt it? We don’t have any hydromancers with us."


    The fire elemental held out its arms. A wall of flames sprung from the floor and grew to surround the group. The carpet caught fire, as did the drapes, desk, and bookcases. The air turned thick and hot, filled with black smoke. Goslin gasped for breath and his lungs burned.


    "We have to go!" Goslin shouted, trying to be heard over the roar of the fire. But their escape was cut off as the wall of fire spread to the door. A whimpering Daisy stepped a little further into the room and went down on his paws.


    Myn screamed something into Sarien’s ear. Goslin thought it sounded like she said water. Sarien apparently understood, and a gateway opened up beside the fire elemental, spewing a deluge of water.


    Massive amounts spilled forth, dousing the flames. Hot steam billowed, obscuring Goslin''s vision. Still, Goslin could see the fire elemental. Its feet were gone, but it floated in place, silently regarding them.


    "Bjorn, stop!" Sarien screamed, but their opponent took no notice. Fire exploded from its core, aimed straight at the group. Everyone dove to the floor and into the pool of water that rose up to Goslin’s knees. Fire filled the entire room, roaring above the surface of the water.


    When it dissipated, Goslin struggled to his feet.


    "We need more water!" Myn shouted, her hair plastered to her face.


    "Sarien?" Goslin asked.


    The mage nodded. “I’m trying!”


    His first gateway closed and then another opened by the elemental. This time, the water doused it completely, hissing and turning into steam the instant it touched the elemental.


    The fire elemental extinguished. There was no trace of the man. The Director of Embers was gone.