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    Kax sat on the grass near where they’d entered the world earlier. Much of his skin was ripped away, revealing the darkness beneath. Even as they approached, Sarien watched as Kax’s skin regenerated. Bit by bit, he returned to himself. Daisy sat beside Kax, happily panting and wagging his tail at their approach.


    “Are you well?” Sarien asked.


    “I’ll be fine.” Kax stood and brushed himself off, ignoring his torn clothing. “Hey, why did I understand what those people were saying? Didn’t you mention something about your new Malac friends not knowing the language?”


    “I did,” Sarien said. “They needed a gateway open between the worlds to understand.”


    “Wayfarers and Slayers have an affinity with languages. Perhaps it is borne of the void, so Kax here shares in that affinity,” Ein said.


    Kax looked at Sarien, who shrugged.


    “Why didn’t you follow the attackers inside?” Ein asked.


    Kax looked up from where he sat. “I’ve seen what Sarien can do. Didn’t think you would have any problems with the few I let pass.”


    Something about Kax’s tone of voice made Sarien wary, like his friend had deflected the question.


    “Is that really the reason? Seems unlike you.”


    Kax licked his newly formed lips and fidgeted. “I don’t like those walls. There’s something about them that makes my skin crawl.”


    “Must be because of your transformation into an ugly black void,” Ein mused.


    “You don’t look so great yourself, old man.”


    “I’ve spent years in a void slowly going insane, my dear boy. You’d be lucky to look this good.”


    Sarien looked from his father to Kax, then back again. “Do you know what’s happening with Kax?”


    “I don’t.”


    Sarien frowned. “How about a best guess?”


    Ein glanced back to the structure and grunted in satisfaction when he saw they were not pursued. Turning to Kax, he asked, “Do you hear voices?”


    “No.”


    “Do you feel an overwhelming need to exact justice?”


    “What kind of question is that?” Sarien asked.


    Ein ignored him. “Answer the question, boy.”


    Kax shrugged. “Justice has never been my thing.”


    A point in front of Ein’s chest darkened, then grew darker still. It was the first time Sarien had ever seen his father’s slaying. Before he had a chance to ask why his own was in the shape of a flame, while everyone else’s looked like a dim orb, Ein pushed his power into Kax. It disappeared when it touched him.


    “Endless,” Ein said.


    “Can’t feel a thing,” Kax said, looking down at his chest where the orb entered his body.


    Ein grabbed a rock from the ground, then tossed at a section of Kax’s skin that had yet to regenerate. Instead of bouncing off, it fell into the darkness.


    “Mhm,” Ein said, nodding to himself. He scratched at his chin while staring intently at Kax, then narrowed his eyes. “Just like I thought.”


    “What?” Sarien asked.


    Ein shrugged. “I haven’t a clue. It’s like your little friend here is a walking void. A Slayer’s power makes him or her a steward of the void, a link between what is and what is not. Kax here is not.”


    “What?”


    “There is nothing of the slaying in him. He is part of the void itself.”


    “You said ‘endless’,” Kax said. “What does that mean?”


    “When we create a prison in the void, we dedicate part of it to the specific being that we’re incarcerating, but in reality, the void has neither beginning nor end. What you carry within you is the void itself. A nothingness without end.”


    “I don’t understand,” Sarien said.


    “That’s why I told you not to use your power back when they first manifested. You don’t have the training. That’s also why your slaying and wayfaring are in the shape of a flame, because you imagined yourself a pyromancer, and a pyromancer’s power is in the shape of a flame.”


    “Been wondering about that,” Sarien said.


    “In your stupidity, you linked your friend to a part of the void, and then the void took over as he fed it with an endless supply of victims.”


    “So, this is my fault,” Sarien said, resigned.


    “Of course, it’s your fault, son. That’s what I’ve been trying to say.”


    Kax walked up and put a hand on Sarien’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, I don’t mind carrying the void inside me.” He clapped his hands together. “Now, where are we headed to next?”


    Ein looked to Sarien. “You mentioned a blockage between you and your mother?”


    “I can’t get in,” Sarien confirmed.


    “Well then, I think it’s time we go meet an old friend of mine. I’m sure she’ll be overjoyed to see me.”


    Daisy barked and the dog somehow sounded full of amused doubt.


    Ein gave the dog a dirty look. “Here is what you do,” he said to Sarien. “Remember when you used your mother’s book to find her?”


    “Yes?”


    “That was just a tool to help you find her location in the wayfaring. You’ve grown more skilled now, so you should be able to trace my connection to my friend and find her that way. It is probably similar to how you found this place.”


    “I think I can do it.”


    “It’s an advanced technique, I’ll admit, but I’ve seen it done a few times with other Wayfarers.”


    “Met a lot of those, have you?” Kax asked.


    “More than you’d know. I’ve traveled the worlds for longer than you can imagine.”


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    “How old are you?”


    “Let’s talk about that another time,” his father said. “Focus on me now.”


    Ein closed his eyes and Sarien did the same.


    “They’re coming,” Kax warned.


    “Hush now,” Ein ordered.


    Sarien held his gray flame and focused on the thin network of white strands linking each and everything in the world and beyond. He felt, more than saw, his own connection to his father and to Kax, strong and pulsing. Kax emanated darkness as well as light, with dark tendrils floating around him. Frowning, Sarien focused on the tendrils.


    The eerie darkness drew Sarien in.


    “They’re getting closer,” Kax said matter-of-factly.


    “Focus, Sarien,” Ein said.


    As he pondered the void reaching out from Kax, Sarien thought of Myn and the others as they escaped Malac and landed in Rhinerien.


    “The soldiers are getting close. Want me to kill them?” Kax asked.


    “No,” Ein said. “They are our allies, even if they’re ox-brained. Sarien, take us out of here, now!”


    Startled, Sarien opened his eyes and saw the Slayers and soldiers charging toward them. He noticed the eagerness in Kax’s eyes.


    It was too late to locate his father’s friend. Sarien scrambled to open a gateway and pushed his father and Kax through. He caught Kax’s fingers twitching, as if wanting to reach for his sword.


    “You coming?” Sarien asked Daisy.


    Strangely, Daisy didn’t follow. Sarien waited as long as he dared, then closed the gateway. It didn’t matter much. The dog would find them again, he always did.


    “This is not where we’re supposed to be,” Ein said.


    They stood near where Sarien and his group in Malac camped the night before entering Malac’s capital, Yelnia. In the distance, he saw the sprawling city burning. A horde of thousands of beetle-like creatures picked apart the walls of the city. The air crackled with magic. An enormous tear ripped open across the sky, spreading slowly like a shattering pane of glass.


    “Where are we?” Kax asked in awe of the chaos.


    “This is Malac,” Sarien whispered.


    “Was it like this before?” Kax asked.


    Sarien slowly shook his head, unable to take his eyes off the broken sky. “No.”


    He pointed up at the tear. “What is that?” It was large and wide enough to show what lay beyond. Nothing. Though, unlike the void, which had a natural order to its existence. This did not.


    “It is one of the signs that this world is near its end,” Ein said.


    “What does that mean?”


    “It’s very rare, but it can happen when the lifespan of a world has run its course. I had my doubts the stories were true. Never seen it before,” Ein answered.


    “I helped remove what was blocking their use of magic in this world. Is this my fault as well?” Sarien asked. His actions had led to unintended consequences before, but if he was somehow responsible for this, he didn’t know what he’d do. The death of an entire world on his conscience.


    “Of course not. Don’t be stupid.”


    A flash of purple among the chittering beetles in the distance drew Sarien’s attention. “Wyndemir.”


    “Yes,” Ein agreed. “It seems so.”


    “Can we stop him?”


    “I haven’t killed a priest in ages. Should I go?” Kax asked excitedly.


    “It is beyond saving. We best leave while we can.”


    “What about everyone else?”


    A look of resignation passed over Ein. “We can’t save everyone, son.”


    The smell of burning flesh was carried on the wind, and then Sarien heard the world groan. Rain started suddenly, cool and refreshing, against Sarien’s warm skin. Bright white branches of lightning struck the besieged city again and again, then the beetles and the forest beyond. Rain turned to large stones of hail and then the sun shone an instant later. In the sky, the rift widened, and the world twisted.


    “Why is Wyndemir destroying this world?”


    “It’s his influence, not a conscious act.” Ein answered. “Now take us away from here.”


    Sarien opened a gateway. This time, he knew where it would take them.


    The three stepped into the lower floor of the greater void prison, leaving the dying world behind.


    “Good thinking,” Ein said, sitting down on the floor with a groan.


    “Will Wyndemir do the same to Maydian?” Sarien asked.


    Ein pursed his lips. “Doubtful.”


    “Why?”


    “So many questions today,” Ein complained.


    “Didn’t get many answers last time we met,” Sarien said. “And Heradion danced around the truth like a foal discovering its first hedgehog.”


    Sarien’s father chuckled. “Sometimes I miss that man. I wonder if he’s still mad at me.”


    “So?”


    “What?”


    “Why wouldn’t Wyndemir destroy Maydian?”


    “From what I can tell, Wyndemir has some sort of history with Maydian.”


    “What do you mean?”


    “I don’t know for certain, but I was told before leaving for Maydian that Wyndemir has a connection to that world. Never saw any signs of it, but there are hints in old tomes linking the Prime of Chaos with your world.”


    “How do we defeat Wyndemir then? You keep mentioning other Primes. Could we ask any of them for help?”


    “I doubt it.”


    “How then? He was imprisoned before, so it must be possible to defeat him.”


    “Your logic is sound, son, but I’m afraid I don’t know.”


    “Isn’t it your calling to find and capture, even kill, these beings?”


    “It is, or was, but you must understand that the time you have experienced in your life is like the single beat of a wing of a horsefly. In comparison, my life has stretched across both time and space, but even I have not always existed. Other Slayers have lived much longer than I. Slayers do die.”


    “So?”


    “So, our annals have records of eighteen generations of Slayers. Perhaps we’re up to nineteen now, but regardless, this means our organization has been around for thousands upon thousands of years, far longer than you can even imagine.”


    “And?” Sarien said irritably. He wasn’t asking for a history lesson.


    “And,” Ein let out a drawn-out sigh. “The imprisonment of the Prime you call Wyndemir predated the existence of the Slayers and the Wayfarers. We do not know how he was beaten, not fully. What I can tell you is that other Halvgudar were used as beacons to draw him in, but even that alone would not be sufficient. Even if it were, we’re fresh out of Halvgudar.”


    Sarien tried to absorb this new information. If a Prime was defeated once, it must be possible to do it again. His father’s final comment made him frown. “But the other Halvgudar are trapped in Maydian, are they not?”


    Ein narrowed his eyes. “Heradion always had the tendency to talk too much.”


    “Too much?” Sarien barked out a laugh. “Crumbs of truth veiled in the ramblings of a madman. The fact you legendary heroes didn’t actually kill Eld, and the others was something I had to piece together myself. And, on that point, why did you let Taera run free?”


    “Heradion has been keeping an eye on her for us. The capture of Eld, Anea, and Ocea was only possible with the help of their own subjects. Without the Eldians rising up, Eld would still be ruling them today. Without the brave people of Loft and Vatnbloet, Anea’s and Ocea’s reigns would be absolute.


    “Taera was different. It wasn’t until the others were dealt with that we understood how she controlled many of her people directly. To overthrow her, we would need a grand invasion of Jordfaste. With certainty, that mad bitch would have thrown every single person of the Kin at us before we reached her. All those wasted lives. Instead, we opted to wait. Sooner or later, she was bound to expose herself.”


    “She’s left Jordfaste,” Kax said. “Took all the growers with her.”


    Ein’s eyes widened. “Where did she go?”


    “The dark continent,” Kax said.


    “Where the other Halvgudar are located,” Sarien added.


    “That is not good. Maybe if we leave now, we can join forces with Heradion and deal with the broken god once and for all.”


    Sarien crossed his arms. “We have our own mission. My friends will deal with Taera.”


    “You possess a strong confidence in your friends, son,” Ein said, the hint of a smile on his lips.


    “The obstacles before us seem the greater ones,” Sarien replied.


    “Indeed. You are right. There must be a way to stop Wyndemir. We must confer with the Wayfarers and Slayers.”


    “You share a world?”


    Ein shook his head and laughed. “We’d destroy each other within the year if we did. A group of Slayers and the Wayfarers I’ve told you about, The Gatekeepers, work together representing both our organizations, and a few Slayers and Wayfarers live on each other’s worlds, but that’s about it.”


    “We need to find The Gatekeepers.”


    “We need to find your mother,” Ein emphasized.


    “Can we please leave now?” Kax shook uncontrollably and his breaths were shallow, his skin pale in the ever-changing light.


    Before Sarien could respond, Kax collapsed.


    Sarien got down next to his friend. “What’s wrong?”


    Kax spoke through gritted teeth. “Told you. The floor. The walls. They all want in. Something is wrong. Can’t keep them away.”


    “Father, help me find that friend of yours. We need to leave. Now!”


    “Concentrate,” Ein said, his gaze not leaving Kax’s convulsing form.


    Sarien closed his eyes and stoked his gray flame. This time, his mind did not wander. The thread of white appeared, and he followed it in an instant, and found a realm that did not seem to exist. The wayfaring felt strange and it resisted him when he tried to open a gateway.


    Tired of being rebuffed, Sarien flexed his power and forced his way through. The blockage shattered and a gateway opened.


    Ein scooped up Kax and hurried through. Sarien followed.


    They emerged in the strangest place Sarien had ever seen.