The last of the skeletal halberdiers fell in pieces.
Thirty-odd red-boned monsters had rushed Kael in a screaming tide.
Now all of them were broken.
Some had been shattered into rib fragments. Some still burned in piles of black fire. Others twitched on the stone floor, jawbones clacking as if they still wanted to bite him even after losing their limbs.
And Kael—
Kael kept attacking.
He moved like a madman.
The flaming dragon-whip screamed through the tunnel again and again, smashing scattered bones into dust. Each strike exploded with sparks and chunks of burning marrow. He lashed at skulls that were already split. He crushed arm bones into powder. He stomped on writhing spines until they snapped.
He couldn't stop.
Murder blazed through his nerves like molten iron.
Kill.
Destroy.
Break them all.
The thought struck over and over inside his skull like a hammer. It wasn't even a voice. It was worse than that.
It felt like his own desire.
His breathing turned ragged.
His muscles trembled.
His eyes were bloodshot beneath the mask.
The Sevenfold Shroud clung to his face like living skin, and every heartbeat pushed more violent ecstasy into his body.
He felt powerful.
Gods, he felt powerful.
Stronger than he had ever been.
Stronger than he had any right to be.
And he wanted more.
Then the entire tunnel shook.
A violent tremor ripped through the earth.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
Kael staggered.
That single moment of instability snapped him awake like a bucket of ice water.
"What—?"
He reached up and touched the mask.
The smooth surface felt warm.
Alive.
He panicked instantly.
"No. No, no—"
He grabbed the edges and ripped.
The mask peeled off his face like tearing flesh.
Kael screamed through clenched teeth as it came free.
The instant it left his skin—
everything vanished.
The bloodlust.
The strength.
The intoxicating rush.
Gone.
As if someone had severed a cord.
Kael nearly collapsed.
His legs shook violently. Sweat drenched his robes so completely they clung to him like wet rags. His chest heaved as he stared at the mask in his hand.
The Sevenfold Shroud sat there quietly.
Its gray-black surface looked harmless.
But the empty eye sockets—
they didn't feel empty.
They felt watchful.
Hungry.
Kael's throat tightened.
"This damned thing…" he muttered hoarsely. "Of course it's cursed. A name like Sevenfold Shroud practically screams bad decisions."
He should throw it away.
He knew that.
He really did.
Yet as he stared at it, another feeling rose in him.
A terrible urge.
Put it back on.
Just once.
Feel that power again.
Kael's face went pale.
He immediately flipped the mask over so he couldn't see its eyeholes.
"Nope. Absolutely not."
He lifted his arm to throw it.
Then hesitated.
His greed arrived right on schedule.
Well…
It was an ancient relic.
And it had just helped him slaughter an entire squad of elite undead.
Without it, he might be dead.
Kael chewed his lip.
"What if…" he murmured.
He began rationalizing with alarming speed.
"What if I take it back and study it?"
He straightened a little.
"Yes."
"That's responsible."
"I'm an artificer."
"This is basically research."
He nodded to himself harder.
"Maybe I can purge the evil parts and keep the useful parts."
That sounded excellent.
"And if I can't…"
He shrugged weakly.
"I can always destroy it later."
A pause.
"…after salvaging any valuable materials."
That sealed it.
Kael shoved the mask into his Wardian Satchel before his better judgment returned.
Then his expression darkened.
"Aldric…"
He turned and walked back toward the dead smith.
The old man's corpse lay crumpled behind the shattered giant skeleton.
Kael stared down at him in silence.
Aldric Crucible had once been extraordinary.
A master craftsman.
A genius.
And he had died in madness, betrayal, and regret.
Kael exhaled quietly.
"You tricked me."
He crouched beside the corpse.
"But…"
He looked at the old man's ruined face.
"…I don't think you were entirely trying to kill me."
His voice softened.
"You were desperate."
The tunnel shook again.
Harder this time.
Kael nearly lost his footing.
Dust burst from cracks in the walls.
He looked upward sharply.
"What in the hells…"
His eyes narrowed.
The entire Bone Warren had gone strangely quiet.
That realization chilled him.
There were skeletons everywhere in this place.
He had just fought a loud, brutal battle.
Why hadn't more come?
Why had nothing answered the noise?
Something had changed.
Something big.
Kael hurriedly bowed three times toward Aldric's body.
"I'll get you out of here."
He stored the corpse in his Wardian Satchel.
Then he picked a random tunnel and ran.
He sprinted through twisting corridors.
One turn.
Three turns.
Seven turns.
Ten.
Still no skeletons.
Not one.
His unease deepened.
Then he entered a wider passage and finally saw movement.
A squad of silver-armored skeletons flew ahead.
Bone wings spread from their backs as they skimmed low through the air.
Kael's eyes widened.
Flying undead.
Fantastic.
He followed from a distance.
As he ran, sounds reached him.
Metal crashing.
Monstrous shrieking.
Wings beating.
And—
water?
No.
Not water.
Something heavier.
Something thicker.
A rushing sound like a tidal wave made of sludge.
Kael's heart pounded.
"Master?"
He accelerated.
Then he burst from the tunnel.
And froze.
The cavern beyond looked like hell itself.
Red.
Everything was red.
Massive pools of boiling blood filled the chamber.
Orange-red.
Dark crimson.
Purple-red.
Black-red.
Each pool bubbled at different temperatures.
The smell hit him next.
Burnt iron.
Rot.
Cooked flesh.
Human remains floated in the blood.
Heads.
Arms.
Entrails.
Chunks of skin.
Kael gagged.
Two of the massive blood pools had already ruptured.
Waves of thick blood mixed with organs and bones flooded across the cavern floor.
Thousands of red skeletons crowded the remaining dry ground.
Thousands.
Different weapons.
Different shapes.
Different armor.
All red bone.
All monstrous.
And at the center—
Kael stared in disbelief.
A giant cyclone of blood spun through the cavern.
It roared like a living storm.
Skeletons fled from it wherever it moved.
Even monsters feared it.
Dozens of elite undead surrounded it.
Kael recognized several.
A towering long-limbed skeletal general.
A massive two-headed tiger skeleton.
And the winged commander he had fought earlier.
That creature now hovered overhead with fully spread bone wings nearly twenty feet wide.
It carried a silver skull-headed flail.
Behind it floated rows of silver-armored winged skeleton soldiers.
Each held a gleaming repeating crossbow aimed at the blood storm.
Kael felt cold.
This place had an army.
An actual army.
If these things reached the surface...
entire cities would die.
Another squad of winged skeletons joined formation.
The commander raised its flail.
Silver light surged through the weapon.
Then it screamed.
The flail launched forward like lightning.
It ripped open the blood cyclone.
"Now!"
Nearly a hundred silver bolts fired into the opening.
Kael's heart stopped.
Then golden light exploded.
A massive rotating shield appeared inside the storm.
Every bolt shattered against it.
Kael nearly shouted from joy.
"Auryn!"
The broken blood cyclone collapsed into raining gore—
then reversed.
The falling blood halted midair.
It began spinning again.
Then surged upward like a crimson dragon.
The winged commander shrieked in panic and dodged.
Several winged skeletons weren't fast enough.
The blood engulfed them.
Their bodies smoked.
They screamed as they melted from the sky and smashed into the ground below.
Kael's eyes widened.
That technique—
That flowing control—
"Master!"
He saw them now.
Two figures moved inside the crimson torrent.
One in white.
One in gold.
Lady Magister Isara.
Auryn Gale.
Relief slammed into him so hard his knees nearly buckled.
He charged forward.
"MASTER!"
That was a mistake.
Several enormous two-headed skeletal beasts intercepted him instantly.
Huge blades crashed toward him.
Kael barely blocked with his fire-whip.
The impact nearly tore his arm off.
Then more came.
And more.
And more.
Nightmare creatures surrounded him from every side.
Axes.
Spears.
Hooks.
Chains.
Blades.
Everything came at once.
Kael's earlier battles suddenly felt like children playing with sticks.
This was real war.
He fought desperately.
His whip moved slower.
His arms burned.
His lungs screamed.
A blade carved across his back.
White-hot agony exploded through him.
Kael screamed.
He stumbled forward.
The horde rushed in.
He saw hundreds of weapons descending.
This was it.
He was about to be crushed into paste—
Then his body suddenly lifted.
"What?!"
He rose into the air.
Below him, skeletons swarmed the spot where he'd been standing.
A second later he realized someone had grabbed him by his belt.
Kael twisted upward.
Lady Magister Isara carried him one-handed as if he weighed nothing.
Auryn flew nearby, her massive golden shield blocking incoming aerial attacks.
"Master!" Kael gasped. "I found you!"
Isara's face remained cold.
Though her cheeks were slightly flushed.
"Why," she asked flatly, "are you alone?"
Kael blinked.
"I—I was following all of you."
He awkwardly looked away.
"Then I got lost."
Isara descended toward a boiling blood pool.
Kael panicked.
"Master?"
His face accidentally pressed against her waist.
Soft.
Warm.
His brain briefly stopped functioning.
A faint fragrance reached him.
Clean.
Cold.
Dangerously intoxicating.
Kael's thoughts dissolved into static.
They descended until they hovered barely a foot above the boiling blood.
Isara's sleeve lashed outward.
She stopped in midair.
"Hold tightly."
She released him.
Kael reacted instantly.
He wrapped both arms around her waist.
Very tightly.
Possibly too tightly.
A strange thrill shot through him.
He ignored it with heroic dishonesty.
Isara began forming hand seals.
Fast.
Normally her spells were instantaneous.
This one wasn't.
That terrified Kael.
Auryn became a golden blur around them.
Her Auric Manacle expanded into giant shields as she intercepted wave after wave of attacking skeletons.
Three assaults.
Five assaults.
She drove them all back.
Meanwhile the light between Isara's palms grew brighter.
Brighter.
Then violet.
Kael stared.
A sphere formed.
Deep purple.
Perfectly round.
Space around it distorted.
Tiny blue sparks crawled over its surface.
Kael's eyes bulged.
No way.
That technique—
One of the supreme arts of the Five-Force Path.
"The Five Forces Return…"
The sphere grew darker.
Heavier.
More terrifying.
Then Isara shouted.
The orb floated from her hands.
Slowly.
Quietly.
It drifted into the massive wall of bones and organs surrounding the blood pool.
Then silence.
One heartbeat.
Two—
The world exploded.
The blast deafened Kael.
The cavern shook violently.
Blood erupted skyward.
Bones flew like arrows.
The wall ruptured.
A massive breach opened.
Boiling blood surged out in a catastrophic flood.
Skeletons fled in every direction.
Many failed.
The blood caught them.
They screamed as they dissolved alive.
Kael stared in awe.
He had heard stories.
How Isara once killed a thousand-year phoenix with that technique.
He had never seen it himself.
Now he understood.
Those earlier tremors?
That had been her.
"Move," Isara said sharply. "There are too many of them here. We leave first. We plan later."
Auryn used the Gilded Stride and shot toward them.
The three regrouped instantly.
Only then did Isara remove Kael's arms from around her waist.
He almost complained.
Instead she grabbed him again and flew.
Auryn guarded their rear.
Kael dangled helplessly.
Blood poured from the wound on his back.
His vision blurred.
He gritted his teeth.
Stay awake.
Stay useful.
Don't pass out.
They raced through twisting tunnels.
Then Auryn shouted from behind—
"Master!"
Her voice carried real alarm.
"Kael's back wound is severe!"
Isara stopped immediately.
She turned.
Her eyes dropped to the blood soaking Kael's robes.
Without hesitation, she pressed her hand against his back.
Green light bloomed.
The Wood-Seal Art.
Agony ripped through him as flesh tightened around the wound.
Kael nearly bit through his tongue.
The bleeding slowed.
Isara's expression hardened.
"Where else are you injured?"
Kael shook his head, trying to clear the ringing in his skull.
Then he saw it.
High above the black throat of the ravine, there was a narrow slash of deep blue night. Tiny stars glittered through it like scattered silver dust.
His heart slammed against his ribs.
He twisted, ignoring the white-hot pain in his back, and pointed upward.
"There!" he shouted hoarsely. "That's where I fell from! That opening leads to the surface!"
Not far from the wall, half-buried in stone, stood another towering skeletal statue like the one he had crashed through earlier.
Freedom.
For the first time since entering this nightmare pit, freedom looked real.
Isara tilted her head upward and saw the same strip of sky.
Decision flashed across her face instantly.
"I'll take us out with the Sword-Flight Art," she said.
Then her cold eyes shifted to Auryn.
"Keep his wound closed."
Auryn gave one sharp nod.
Her palm hovered over the shredded flesh on Kael's back. Golden Vitae pulsed around her hand while she stabilized the injury without touching it directly.
The pressure made Kael grit his teeth.
Then Isara reached into her robes and drew Dreamgate.
The divine sword sang as it left its sheath.
She threw it upward.
The blade spun through the air while she whispered an ancient command.
At once, the sword expanded.
Longer.
Wider.
In seconds, it had grown from a weapon into something the size of a river barge.
Kael stared.
Even half-dead, he still thought it looked magnificent.
Then movement erupted from the tunnel bend.
A swarm poured into view.
Kael blinked once.
Then again.
His mouth slowly fell open.
"What in the hells…"
The things rushing toward them had human skulls.
But below the neck—
they were spiders.
Massive ones.
Each body was as large as a horse, bloated and crimson, with eight long hooked legs made of blood-red bone. Their human skull heads clattered their jaws while black slime dripped from their fangs.
Kael nearly gagged.
"How does something like that even exist?!"
Auryn narrowed her eyes.
"There are many stitched horrors in this nest," she said coldly. "These look like blood skeletons fused with giant wolf spiders."
The creatures noticed them.
And charged.
Fast.
Far too fast.
Their legs hammered against stone with shrieking metallic sounds.
"On the sword!" Isara barked.
The three of them leapt onto Dreamgate.
The massive blade shot upward through the ravine like a silver comet.
The blood-spiders slammed into empty air—
and then kept coming.
They leapt onto the canyon walls.
And ran vertically.
Like gravity meant nothing.
Kael stared in horror as dozens of them raced along the cliffs beside them, keeping pace.
Their hooked legs stabbed toward Dreamgate.
One nearly skewered Auryn's throat.
She moved first.
Her jade arm snapped outward.
The Auric Manacle expanded into a massive golden shield blade.
One slash—
a blood-spider split clean in half.
Another lunged.
She carved that one apart too.
All while keeping one hand focused on sealing Kael's wound.
Kael's stomach churned violently from the speed.
His torn back felt like someone was dragging hot knives through his spine.
But the screaming of dying monsters below gave him some comfort.
Until he looked down.
And his blood turned cold.
More were climbing.
Hundreds.
Maybe thousands.
They covered both canyon walls like a living red plague.
"Oh no..." Kael whispered.
Dreamgate finally burst free of the ravine and into the open night sky.
Cool wind slammed into them.
Everyone breathed easier.
Even Isara visibly relaxed.
She slowed the sword.
Then looked back at Kael.
"How bad?"
Kael forced a weak grin.
"I'm alive. Auryn's protecting me. I'd complain more if I weren't enjoying being handled by beautiful women."
Auryn looked unimpressed.
Isara looked even less impressed.
Then Auryn suddenly froze.
Her gaze dropped toward the ground below.
Her expression shifted.
"Master," she said sharply.
"Look."
Kael followed her gaze.
And his stomach dropped.
The blood-spiders were flooding out of the ravine.
An endless tide.
And charging directly toward a group approaching from the forest.
Kael recognized them instantly.
Lyra.
Sylva.
Mira.
Zaeli.
Rovan.
And they were walking straight into hell.
"Oh, shit."
The blood-spiders shrieked and rushed their new prey.
Lyra reacted first.
Her sleeve whipped through the air.
A charging spider was blasted sideways—
but to everyone's shock, it wasn't destroyed.
It merely staggered.
Then retaliated.
Several hooked legs lashed toward her.
Even Lyra looked startled.
She twisted backward in midair.
Too slow.
RIIIP—
Half her sleeve was shredded away.
Smooth pale skin flashed beneath torn silk.
Below her, the others were already being overwhelmed.
They were swallowed by the red tide.
Isara cursed under her breath.
Then drove Dreamgate downward.
"Everyone aboard!" she shouted.
She reached Mira first.
The terrified earth sorceress scrambled onto the blade.
Then Isara turned sharply toward Selene.
Kael's heart nearly exploded.
Selene was in serious trouble.
She hated spiders.
Always had.
And this was her worst nightmare brought to life.
She was pale as death.
Barely able to breathe.
She used the Surging Tide Dance desperately to dodge incoming attacks, weaving between strikes—
but there were too many.
The blood-spiders boxed her in.
Kael forgot his own injuries.
Forgot pain.
Forgot fear.
All he saw was her.
"SELENE!"
Dreamgate swept over her.
Kael reached down.
"Take my hand!"
Selene jumped.
For one beautiful second—
she made it.
Then disaster struck.
A spider leg hooked her dress.
The fabric tightened.
Her body jerked downward.
She screamed as she began falling back into the swarm.
A dozen hooked legs rose to impale her.
Kael didn't think.
He moved.
He threw himself off Dreamgate.
Headfirst.
Pain exploded through his back wound as flesh tore wider.
But he caught Selene's wrist.
Their hands locked.
Auryn reacted instantly.
She grabbed Kael's leg.
Hard.
Dreamgate surged upward.
Selene's dress tore apart with a loud rip.
Then she broke free.
Kael hauled her upward while hanging upside down.
Auryn dragged both of them back onto the sword.
The second Selene landed—
she broke.
A sob tore from her throat.
Then she slammed into Kael's chest.
Shaking violently.
Crying like a frightened child.
Kael wrapped both arms around her.
"It's alright," he whispered.
"You're safe. You're safe."
Truthfully, he was shaking too.
He had nearly watched her die.
Again.
Isara moved swiftly, rescuing Rovan, Zaeli, and Sylva one by one.
Then only Lyra remained.
Unlike everyone else—
she looked almost bored.
She glided through the swarm with graceful footwork.
Every movement elegant.
Untouchable.
Then she stepped onto Dreamgate like she had merely finished a dance.
Isara immediately drove the sword higher.
The blood-spiders shrieked helplessly from below as they disappeared into darkness.
Selene cried against Kael for several long moments.
Then suddenly realized what she was doing.
She jerked backward.
Her face turned bright red.
Kael looked disappointingly empty now that she was no longer pressed against him.
Then pain ripped through his back.
He hissed.
Zaeli gasped from behind him.
"Oh gods—Kael!"
Everyone turned.
Blood soaked his robes.
Fresh blood.
A lot of it.
Selene froze.
"You're hurt?"
She climbed over him without hesitation and pulled at his torn robes.
When she saw the wound—
her face went white.
The entire back of his clothing was drenched red.
Her voice trembled.
"You got this saving me?"
Kael forced a grin.
"No. That happened earlier."
Her eyes filled with tears.
She looked furious and terrified at the same time.
Kael softened.
"It's nothing. Just a scratch."
He secretly reached for her hand.
And squeezed it.
She didn't pull away.
Warmth bloomed in his chest that had nothing to do with battle.
The pain somehow felt smaller.
Selene suddenly snapped toward Sylva.
"Help him!"
Then she hesitated.
Her cheeks reddened again.
"Help... our junior frater."
Kael blinked.
Our?
His heart nearly stopped.
She used to call him by name.
Now she called him junior frater in front of everyone.
Distance.
Formality.
His brief joy collapsed into confusion.
Sylva hurried over and examined the wound.
After several tense moments, she exhaled.
"He'll live."
Kael smiled weakly.
That sounded promising.
Sylva formed hand signs.
Green light spread across his back.
The Wood-Seal Art flowed through torn flesh.
Warm vines of energy stitched muscle together.
The agony eased.
Kael nearly moaned in relief.
Selene's face regained some color.
Rovan looked back toward the shrinking horde below.
His expression remained grim.
"What were those things?"
He swallowed.
"They were worse than the skeletal cavalry. I could barely hurt them."
Auryn's expression darkened.
"There are worse creatures still below."
That made everyone go silent.
Lyra finally spoke.
"Did you find the central pool of the Grief-Binding Array?"
Isara nodded.
"At the bottom of that ravine."
Her jaw tightened.
"There were over a dozen blood pools feeding the array. We arrived while they were actively refining new blood skeletons."
Lyra's eyes narrowed.
"And you destroyed them?"
"Two."
Isara looked furious at herself.
"That's all."
"There were too many of them. Too many powerful undead. We couldn't finish it alone."
Even Lyra looked shaken by that answer.
She stared toward the distant Bone Warren.
"How long has this been growing beneath us?"
"No idea," Isara said.
"But judging by the scale of what we saw…"
Her expression hardened.
"This has been building for years."
Rovan inhaled sharply.
"Then I return to Mirekeep immediately."
His voice turned iron-hard.
"I'll report this to the imperial court and bring the Iron Maw Legion into the Dread Mire."
Kael stared at him like he'd gone insane.
Your soldiers will die screaming, he thought.
Before he could say it—
laughter echoed across the night.
Deep.
Rotting.
Wrong.
Kael's heart seized.
The sound made his blood run cold.
Everyone turned.
Far behind them—
red light exploded into the sky.
It spread across the heavens like bleeding skin.
Stars vanished.
Moonlight disappeared.
The night became crimson.
The light moved like something alive.
Expanding.
Hunting.
Lyra's expression remained eerily calm.
"A larger problem has arrived."
Everyone except Isara visibly tensed.
Then a second sound shattered the air.
A roar.
Low.
Ancient.
So powerful it nearly made Kael black out.
His soul trembled.
Even Lyra looked surprised.
"That sounded like a dragon."
She frowned.
"Are there dragons in this region?"
Kael's fear briefly turned into excitement.
"A dragon?"
His eyes widened.
"I've heard stories my whole life and never seen one—"
The red sky split open.
Something enormous emerged.
Long.
Serpentine.
Coiling through the crimson clouds.
Kael's grin died instantly.
It was a dragon.
Thirty yards long at least.
Five claws.
Massive horns.
Ancient majesty—
twisted into horror.
Because it had no flesh.
No scales.
No skin.
It was made entirely of blood-red bone.
A skeletal dragon.
Kael's voice cracked.
"What... what kind of dragon is that?"
Laughter answered him.
A voice like dry bones grinding together echoed through the night.
"It is indeed a dragon."
The voice hissed with pride.
"Once a celestial dragon that hunted evil."
A pause.
"Those days are long dead."
"Now it is my corrupted bone dragon."
"And my mount."
The dragon coiled in the sky.
Only then did they see what dragged behind it.
A war chariot.
Built entirely from skulls.
Bones.
Ribs.
Thousands of screaming faces fused into its frame.
And seated upon that throne of death—
was a man.
Or what remained of one.
He wore white robes.
His scalp was bald except for thin strands of white hair whipping in the wind.
His cheekbones jutted sharply.
His eye sockets were hollow pits of darkness.
He looked like a corpse that had forgotten to die.
Isara's composure cracked for the first time.
"Lord Ossian."
Even she sounded stunned.
The skeletal figure grinned.
"Heh…"
"Among this flock of children…"
"Someone still knows my name."
Rovan's face lost all color.
"Oh gods…"
His voice shook.
"No wonder the Mire is drowning in monsters…"
"It was you."