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    The source of the never-ending wails revealed itself as they stepped out of the darkness. It was coming from the fire. Not a bonfire. A pyromancer. The pyromancer was naked, his skin melted. He stood erect, with his back arched as if someone was holding him up against his will. Flames danced around his body, covering him from head to toe.


    Lana gaped at the pyromancer, who appeared to be transforming into something horrendous.


    His face was bloated and deformed, twisting with each change. In one moment, he looked like a pig with a short, disgusting snout. In another, his human form emerged again before disappearing. His terrible wails of pain and terror broke into squeals, and his fingers slowly fused together. It was impossible to tell if it was due to the fire melting his flesh or to the priests forcing his body into a new form.


    The Wyndemir tattoo burned brightly on the pyromancer’s forehead, like he’d carved it himself with fire.


    "Why aren’t they moving?" Kax asked in hushed agitation.


    The enormous chamber around them, and the dark that lurked so close to the ring of priests, set him on edge just as much as it did her. The ripples in the air emanating from the pyromancer, and the humming song didn’t exactly make the situation cozier.


    "They are in a trance," Thys said. "We need to understand this before we attack.”


    Kax, ignoring him, immediately manifested his slightly longer blade and sliced into the nearest priest, lopping off his head with an almost nonchalant swipe.


    The head tumbled to the floor, purple eyes going dark, and the body followed. Their trance was interrupted.


    The priests of Wyndemir turned as one without stopping their humming. Lana caught one of them looking up into the darkness above and followed the priest’s gaze. Something mysterious stirred there, but she got the sense it wasn’t anything physical, at least not yet.


    Two of the priests stood while the rest remained seated, ceaselessly humming that jarring tune. The burning man stood on all fours now, arms and legs indistinguishable from one another. He was naked, his flesh dribbling onto the ground as if he was a burning candle.


    Lana threw daggers at the two priests who stood and, to her surprise, both landed, one in each of their necks. The priests’ eyes widened in shock, and they fell to the floor, blood pooling around them.


    Kax threw himself at the ring of priests, both swords in hand. He managed to cut one to pieces before he was tossed into the air without anyone touching him, and he soared away into the dark in silence.


    Thys advanced warily, sword in hand.


    The two on the ground, dead by Lana’s hand, suddenly jerked into motion, their legs kicking against the ground. She watched in horror as they both turned a purple hue, then melted into a pool of ooze.


    Lana didn’t wait to see what kind of horrors would emerge. Instead, she charged, throwing daggers as she went. Most of them struck the priests, but none of them flinched at her attack. All they did was hum. A loud rumble from back at the gate announced that reinforcements had arrived. Time was running out, and it was running out quickly.


    Kax returned, leaping through the air and dashing forward to strike out at another priest, then at the pyromancer. With the pyromancer in pieces, the priests finally stopped with their humming. They stood and turned as one, their eerie purple eyes enough to stop Lana in her tracks.


    She felt the changes come on as she raced through the group of Wyndemir''s worshippers, stabbing and cutting wildly. Desperation squeezed her heart as the color of her skin shifted and her thoughts grew muddled. Kax decapitated one of the priests, and her transformation reversed once again.


    A few priests looked at Kax with surprise in their corrupted faces. Did their foul magic not work on him?


    Thys began to change, his back cracking and his arms turning into forelegs as he was forced onto all fours. Kax and Lana continued to slaughter the remaining priests, saving Thys. He fell into a heap on the ground, screaming in pain as his body knitted itself back together. Four priests remained, as well as the pyromancer.


    The pig-like pyromancer wasn’t dead. Against all odds, he had survived Kax’s slicing into it, and white-hot liquid fire leaked from his wounds.


    Lana spun and threw herself to the side to avoid the pool of slow-moving ooze. The ooze grabbed for her leg. It stretched for her even as she leapt, but she kept her distance.


    The three of them were outnumbered, and the reinforcements were arriving in the form of a horde of corrupted rhinn in various stages of transformation. A few were beasts running on all fours, while some only looked deformed, with arms bulging with muscles or stretched out like ropes.


    Thys stumbled to his feet, but the pale look on his face made Lana think he was on the brink of losing it. Kax tore into two more of the priests and Lana extended her dagger into a thin sword, using it to pierce a third through the heart. They all died without making a sound.


    She didn’t know if stopping their ritual meant they’d succeeded in their mission, but they needed to kill them all either way. It was too great of a risk to leave any priest alive.


    Lana leapt into the air. "We have to get out of here!"


    Thys parried a massive blow from a fist the size of a man’s head. It did him little good as the force behind the monster’s attack send him sprawling onto the stone ground.


    A slight movement caught Lana''s attention. A man stood half hidden behind one of the stone pillars. No, not a man. Its head was too large for its body and what she saw of its partly hidden face in the shadows made her certain it belonged to no man.


    She pointed. "That thing, get it!"


    Kax didn’t even bother looking before dashing away.


    Thys screamed. Lana watched as he began to change again, this time into something that resembled a bear.


    "Thys!" Lana yelled, hurrying to her friend’s side. She ducked under a monster’s swipe, throwing daggers without looking if they struck her opponents. She knew she was depleting her source, but she didn''t care.


    Something caught her arm and she spun, thrown to the ground. Her arm hurt and she saw that it was covered in blood.


    "Thys!" she repeated, getting to her feet to pound on his now hairy chest. He’d grown so much his clothes were ripped to shreds, but when his inhuman face turned to Lana, she saw a flicker of intelligence there. Something heavy bumped into her side, but she ignored it and the accompanying pain. "Thys! The priests are all dead, why is this happening?”


    The last remnants of the warrior winked out of his eyes, but Lana punched him straight on the nose. He blinked and she saw a sliver of recognition in his eyes. Thys threw her off.


    He roared and reached out a hand toward Kax.


    Then, from one eye blink to the next, he returned to himself, and then looked at Lana. "You’re back?” he asked, brows furrowed.


    "What?" she asked, equally confused.


    Stolen story; please report.


    Kax came running. "Killed that big-headed fellow back there."


    Before Lana had any more time to wonder what happened, the pyromancer spewed liquid fire in a wide arc at the three of them. With no time to dodge, Lana threw up a shield in front of both herself and Thys, using up most of the source remaining to her.


    Kax screamed.


    Lana spun and saw her friend’s face on fire, his skin melting off in chunks. Kax’s clothes burned away.


    "Kax!" she yelled, no idea how to help her friend. There was no going near him with that heat and there was no water nearby. The last of the reinforcements lay burning on the stone floor, dead.


    The screaming stopped, and Lana and Thys both turned to stare at Kax, or what remained of him. He was there, and he wasn’t. With his clothes and face burned away, only a human-shaped void remained, pulling in the dim light from the lanterns, making the chamber even dimmer.


    A hissing sound erupted from the corrupted pyromancer, and fire shot out in all directions, much too fast for Lana to react with more than raising her arms in panic. The moving ooze on the ground burst into flames. It screeched despite not having a mouth and died.


    Instead of Lana being obliterated, the warmth winked away, and she lowered her arms to find Kax standing in front of them, arms stretched to the sides. The liquid fire poured into him and disappeared into his void.


    Kax stepped forward, absorbing more and more of the fire, then the pyromancer himself. It fell into Kax without making a sound.


    "What are you?" Lana asked, awed and afraid.


    Kax slowly turned to face her and Thys and spoke without having a mouth to form the words. "I am the Void."


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    Goslin


    Goslin jostled from side to side, pressed between Tomford on his right and an unknown soldier on his left. Behind him and in front were more soldiers, nervously fidgeting with their equipment, making crude jokes in an attempt to hide their fear, or hurling insults to their enemies up ahead. A few even whispered prayers to Eld despite the fact they would soon be up against the pyromancers hurling fire down at them.


    Fyrie, the capital of Eldsprak, would be returned to its rightful owners this day. Countless rhinn soldiers stood between Goslin and the city wall. On top of the defenses that snaked around the entire city stood men in red robes, along with archers and other defenders, ready for battle.


    As far as he could tell, the sides were evenly matched in numbers now that so many of the rhinn had defected to their side. However, it meant little if they could not breach the wall of the most fortified city in Maydian.


    Goslin volunteered to be part of the vanguard, the initial assault. Emeryn begged him to reconsider, but he told her it was his duty to his people and the city. If he couldn’t lead, he could at least use the tools given to him. The only reason Emeryn hadn’t outright yelled at him in front of everyone was that he promised to stay near Tomford at all times. A request easy enough to follow.


    Around him were a mix of Eldians, Loftians, and rhinn. All had volunteered to take the brunt of the first attack. Their task was to get to the wall, destroy it, and then aid in the taking of the main gate. A dangerous affair, but an important one. The main assault would occur further north along the wall. If Goslin’s division didn’t accomplish their goals, that gate might never fall.


    A bell tolled and Goslin set into motion as one small droplet in a wave that would sweep the rhinn invaders out of Maydian. He thought of his friends and their shared experiences. Together, they would make sure Eldsprak saw a new dawn, not one under the heel of the priests of Wyndemir.


    All along the wall, the Eldians and their allies attacked.


    The defenders outside the walls and Goslin and his soldiers crashed together with enough force to throw men off their feet. Goslin remained standing and thrust forward again and again with his obsidian sword with precision, puncturing armor and flesh with ease.


    Men and rhinn screamed and died all around them, but Tomford was what allowed Goslin and the others to press ahead, breaking through the rhinn lines.


    With Tomford by his side, it was easy to slip into complacency. Each wound closed due to Tomford''s magic. But Goslin knew he still had to take care as one fatal strike could kill him instantly.


    Goslin blocked and dodged what he could, not wanting to put his friend under undue pressure. The other healers still wouldn’t join the fray, but Tomford was a walking miracle in and of himself. The whole plan of breaking through rested on him and he carried the responsibility beautifully on his broad shoulders, keeping near the front without throwing a single blow.


    A spear sliced into Goslin’s arm, and he screamed as he dropped his sword. Someone pulled him back and off the weapon, and the wound immediately started to heal. Goslin went down on one knee to pick up his sword. Someone stepped on his fist, and he had to grit his teeth against the pain so he wouldn’t lose his grip again.


    He was surrounded, preventing him from swinging his sword without fear of hitting of his own men. Goslin focused on pressing forward with and used his shield to bash a path ahead, turning his opponents into mush. His progress soon came to a grinding halt.


    The sheer number of opponents overwhelmed him. Goslin was shoved back, and he tripped, falling with a grunt. He flipped his shield up to protect his face and chest. That quick thinking was the only thing that saved him from certain doom. Spears and swords were thrust against the unprotected parts of his body, drawing blood again until Goslin’s fellow Eldians could fight their way to him.


    Tomford’s healing was in range during the whole ordeal, but that did little to mitigate the pain of cold steel piercing his thighs, side, and even the lower part of his belly.


    "Don’t press forward alone," a panting Tomford barked at him when they finally drew near enough to rescue Goslin, who almost struck out with his shield in blind agony when his friend grabbed his arm.


    "Sorry," Goslin muttered when he finally calmed down enough to see that he wasn’t dying. "I’ll be more careful."


    It felt like they’d fought for hours once they finally broke through the rhinn''s outer lines. Tomford had long since stopped healing most soldiers, unable to keep up with the many wounds. Their fellow Eldians, Loftians, and rhinn were dying by the scores with each step won on the path to Fyrie’s walls.


    They charged over the open field to close in on the wall, seeing other rhinn formations pulling in to intercept. Fire rained from above, obliterating large swathes of Eldians before the hydromancers from Vatnbloet closed in near enough to intercept the fire, dousing it with enough water to rival a gushing river. They’d been hiding among the soldiers just for this purpose.


    Lightning struck the wall again and again, chipping away at the massive stone construction and striking wildly at those stationed on top. This was part of the plan to disrupt their pyromancers. Goslin couldn’t see Wade, but he knew that the pyromancers hiding with him would begin their assault next.


    Exploding fireballs came soaring over Goslin’s head, striking the walls with a destructive force unmatched in all of Maydian. The magical attack concentrated on one specific part of the wall, blasting it again and again as Goslin readied himself for the charge that would follow once the wall crumpled.


    "It isn’t breaking," Tomford said, his voice unnaturally calm in the chaos surrounding them. The fighting never ceased, but the healer remained unruffled.


    "I can see that!" Goslin shouted, striking out at a rhinn soldier who’d run to intercept them. "Why?"


    Flames gushed down from the top of the wall and Goslin raised his shield overhead, protecting himself. A few other soldiers did the same, and Tomford grabbed a dropped shield for his own protection. Those without cover screamed as they died, burned alive. Goslin saw Tomford wince, but that was all. Everyone else with shields screamed in pain as the metal grew warm enough to burn them before the fire ceased.


    "I hate fire," Tomford grumbled, healing a few of the nearby survivors.


    Goslin looked up to make sure another bout of fire wasn’t coming. The defenders pulled back after many of them were burned alive by their own pyromancers.


    "What do we do?" Goslin asked. The wall needed to fall here or the attack would stall. "We should have brought the geomancers."


    "Perhaps they’re faring better at the gates?" Tomford asked.


    The gate wasn’t visible from where Goslin stood. "We need to break through here."


    Goslin hefted his shield and scrambled up to the wall. He spun and smashed into the stone with the flat of his shield. Stone crumbled and cracked, falling to the ground. The wall shook as he struck again, then again. Fire blasted down and he raised the black metal to protect himself when he felt the heat coming.


    Tomford sent word to the attackers, ordering them to intercept the defenders, giving Goslin enough space to bash the wall again and again, forcing his way back into his own home through the crumbling defenses.


    "Goslin!" The cry barely registered amidst the sound of falling rubble and debris.


    A hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, and he came face to face with Tomford, who looked awful. His face twisted and Goslin thought he heard a bone snap.


    “What’s happening to you?”


    His friend gritted his teeth. "For now, I can keep it in check.” Tomford turned to the rest of the army. "But not for all of them."


    Human and rhinn soldiers alike were changing into beasts wherever he looked. Amid all that fighting, one or several priests were turning the battlefield into a monstrous mayhem. Those fully corrupted into hulking beasts or slithering lizard-like creatures, or any number of other horrific sights, turned on their fellow man with teeth, claw, or brute force, quickly tipping the scale in favor of the enemy.


    "Can you keep them off me?" Goslin asked, turning back to the wall to continue his laborious work. "The priest has to be on top of the wall."


    Tomford’s voice wavered with uncertainty. “For a time.”