<div>


    <div>


    <h2 style="text-transform: uppercase"> </h2>


    <div>


    A dull thud reverberated against the gate, followed by another. The prison shook and creaked, and Sarien worried that it was about to come down on their heads.


    “It’s not going to hold,” Ein murmured.


    “Why aren’t the Wayfarers using their gateways?” Sarien asked.


    “Don’t be preposterous!” the old slayer barked. “That is impossible!”


    Sarien eyed him but said nothing as Ein led him away from the others.


    “What did the geezer mean? I had no trouble opening a gateway into the greater void. This shouldn’t be much harder.” Sarien said, speaking softly so they wouldn’t be overheard.


    “There is much about that gray flame of yours that moves beyond the realm of what Wayfarers and Slayers alike see as possible,” Ein whispered back. “There is no point in explaining it to them. They won’t be around much longer.”


    “I could help them escape.”


    Ein shook his head. “Even if you offered, they would not accept it. Protecting this place is their duty.”


    Sarien was astounded. “Could at least ask.”


    “I’d advise against it. Why don’t you focus on getting your friend so we can leave?”


    “How am I supposed to do that?”


    Ein shrugged, then waved his hands in the air before him. “Magic?”


    “We’ll have to go out there to get him.”


    “Oh.” Sarien’s father thought for a moment. “How close are you two?”


    “Father!”


    “Sorry, sorry. Of course, we’ll go and save your foolish friend.”


    Sarien glanced at the number of closed doors. Cells, he figured. “What will happen to those trapped here if the prison falls into enemy hands?”


    “Nothing,” Ein said, sighing. He stopped, groaned, and settled on the ground, lying flat on his back. “Unless they know how to release those trapped within the voids.”


    “Oh,” Sarien said.


    “Oh,” Ein agreed.


    Heat rose to Sarien’s face. “What do we do?”


    “There is nothing we can do,” Ein said, his eyes closed. “There are thousands upon thousands of beings trapped in this prison alone.”


    “Where are their bodies?”


    “Dumped onto a long dead world.” He opened his eyes and fixed his gaze on Sarien. “Why?”


    “Since this prison is being attacked, there must be a reason. Seems likely that the Wayfarers and Slayers found a way to release the prisoners from the void.”


    Ein fell silent.


    Sarien continued, “So if they’re going to get in here anyway, we might as well use those trapped as weapons against them.”


    “Or we could kill them.”


    “Kill them?” Sarien asked.


    “Not the Halvgudar, of course, but most of those held here can easily be destroyed within the void.”


    “Then why capture them in the first place?”


    Ein sighed in exasperation. “The Slayers decided against the death penalty many eons ago. I’ve always believed it was a waste of manpower to keep running the voids beyond some of the more powerful entities.”


    “Like the Halvgudar.”


    “Among others. But there are political prisoners here too, and various other offenders who aren’t monsters.”


    “Political? As in people?”


    “Sure.”


    Sarien’s head spun. Destroying all the monsters and evil creatures kept in the lesser void prison was one thing, but dissidents? “Are there records of who and where these people are located in the void?”


    The prison shook again, and Ein glanced at the door. “Like I said, this isn’t my area of expertise. I’m sure there are records available, but we’re out of time. We need to leave now.”


    Sarien gritted his teeth as he slowly spun to take in all the different cells. Each would contain an item that housed a void. If they fell into the hands of the enemy, Sarien was certain they would be used as a weapon. Thousands of indestructible weapons.


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    “We can’t leave them like this,” Sarien decided.


    “What then?” his father asked, “do you intend to go from cell to cell? We don’t have the time!”


    Stubbornly, Sarien sat. “I’ll reach them from here.”


    Concentrating, he delved into the wayfaring through his gray flame. The prison stood out as darkness to his touch with small pockets of nothingness sitting in the cells.


    When stretching out his ability, he sensed the Slayers and Wayfarers outside the heavy doors. Traitors.


    Ignoring them, Sarien flitted past seeking out Kax. When he sensed him, he saw that Kax was still fighting and the only one remaining on the defender’s side. All others were dead.


    Sarien narrowed his eyes in concentration. The void in Kax felt different, like an emotion rather than a blank nothingness. Mirth. Glee. The darkness sucked in the surrounding light with hunger unmatched by anything Sarien had ever felt.


    Disgusted, he pulled away.


    Sarien refocused. His main objective was not Kax, it wasn’t even the enemies outside the gate.


    He reached for the prisoners.


    Tendrils of gray flame flowed through the closed doors and into the objects within. The layout was different from the previous void prison. This one only contained one floor but housed a multitude of cells. Sarien forced himself into each of them and felt them reaching back.


    Screams assaulted his senses. Each prisoner wailed against their bonds. He mentally shut out their cries and focused.


    This was it. He held thousands with his power. With a simple mental squeeze, he could end them all. He grabbed their essence and pulled them in close. His gray embrace held no respite, no comfort.


    “Don’t worry,” he whispered. He would not hold them for long.


    The huge metal gate crashed inward as the locking mechanism shattered.


    “Tell the others to pull back,” Sarien grunted, holding out against the torrent of voices and screams. Finally free from their bonds, those he held demanded freedom. They wanted to flee. Sarien held them tighter.


    Ein set off running as Sarien walked slowly toward the gate. He still hadn’t known what he would do when he started pulling prisoners from their voids, but once he held them, all doubt washed away. Touching these creatures, beings, and men with his gray flame connected each and every one of them to him. He knew them. They were scum.


    With the defenders cleared and the gate opening, monsters clambered inside like the coming tide. They roared in triumph as a few Wayfarers and Slayers slithered and hid behind their mass.


    Sarien waited. More and more flooded the prison. They charged for the defenders who fled deeper into the building. As soon as all the defenders were behind Sarien, he unleashed his hold on the prisoners.


    Swathes of gray flames instantly materialized in the air, hurtling into the horde of beasts. Upon touch, the monsters popped like thin waterskins full of blood and gore. Their victorious roar turned into a deadened silence.


    Very few survived Sarien’s assault. Those who remained stood dumbfounded. A wayfarer among the dead bodies had lost his arm, but in his shock, he hadn’t realized it yet. Blood spurted as the man turned and watched Sarien’s attack crashed into the wall and ceiling, shattering the building like an egg.


    Defenders screamed in horror as their void prison crumbled before their eyes. Not all of it was destroyed but removing the prisoners from their voids had weakened the structure. The walls surrounding the gate fell inward, crushing attackers trying to flee.


    Flames burst from Ein’s hands as he burned the remaining attackers out of existence.


    “Neat trick,” Sarien’s father said, eyeing the defenders who huddled behind the old man who was doing an admirable job of staying calm.


    “Thank you,” Sarien said, panting. Sweat beaded on his forehead and ran down the small of his back. The attack took a lot out of him, but at least his mind was quiet again.


    “Too bad you had to destroy the void prison and release all its prisoners.”


    “If they,” Sarien pointed at the mass of dead, “took this place, they would have found a way to release them all anyway.”


    “Maybe,” Ein conceded. “We should make haste, before the Slayers and their soldiers come to their senses.”


    Sarien glanced behind him to where the defenders stirred. “I think you’re right, but what about them?”


    “What about them?”


    “They can’t leave, can they?”


    Ein ran a hand through his hair, now matted with obsidian dust. “I’m sure a Wayfarer will come and get them, eventually. They can’t all have gone bad.”


    “What if they don’t?” Sarien asked. He didn’t wait for his father to respond and headed to the old man.


    “What have you done?” the old Slayer asked. His mask of composure trembled as Sarien approached, but the man’s voice remained firm.


    “Saved your life.”


    “Destroying a void penitentiary is a most heinous crime. You have my gratitude for dispatching those beasts, whatever flow you used to do it, but I’m afraid you must come with us now.”


    He held out his hand and a dim, black light appeared above it. Several others behind the old man did the same, with varying levels of darkness to their power.


    “What are you doing?” Ein barked.


    “We all know who you are,” the old man began, but before he had a chance to continue, Sarien’s father interrupted.


    “Then you know what I’m capable of. My son just saved you all, and this is how you repay him?”


    “S-Son?”


    “Son,” Ein confirmed.


    The old man’s face pinched. “Then I’m afraid you will have to submit to us as well.”


    “We just saved you!” Sarien protested.


    “And we are grateful, but the law is the law.” The darkness in the palms of their hands intensified and Sarien glanced at his father, hoping the more experienced mage would have a way out of this mess.


    “Enough of this,” Ein muttered, raising his hands. Rather than using his slaying, or fire, water rushed forward in a torrent. The Slayers reacted instantly, and darkness bloomed out toward Sarien and Ein.


    Sarien summoned his gray flame, and his power enveloped them, consuming their feeble attack. He reached out to seal them away, but the gushing water washed the Slayers and remaining soldiers deeper into the prison.


    When it was over, Ein collapsed over his knees, panting.


    “Too much for you to handle?” Sarien asked.


    “Me? Never.” His father peered into the distance to where the others were regaining their feet. “It might be best if we move along now. Is your friend still out there?”


    Kax. He’d forgotten about Kax!


    Racing toward the decimated entrance, Sarien reached out in search of his friend. The attack using the prisoners couldn’t have hurt Kax, could it? His friend was nearly indestructible in his new form. But, with the power of thousands of released souls, would it be enough force to finally kill Kax?


    Frantically, Sarien stretched out his power past the heaps of dead bodies and out of the prison.


    Sarien sighed with relief. “He’s waiting for us outside.”