The headaches started on the walk home.
By the time I reached my doorstep, another one hit—worse than the first.
A voice crawled through my skull.
"This pain will not stop until you feel what I felt."
I dropped to my knees. Groaned. Forced myself back up.
I stumbled inside. Climbed the stairs. Collapsed onto my bed.
The pain came again—sharper, deeper, unrelenting.
I couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't do anything but twist and turn and scream into the silence.
The hours passed slowly. Every minute brought more agony.
When the moon reached its peak, the pain finally stopped.
My head throbbed. The world spun around me.
Five minutes later, I passed out.
Morning
A letter waited on my doorstep.
From Cedric.
"The southern territory has dropped its border."
I pressed my palm against my aching skull and stumbled back inside.
At least I could think again. For now.
I didn't know when Mazza's curse would strike next.
I got dressed. Left the house. Started walking toward the vault.
Halfway there, the world began to shake.
My vision blurred. My legs gave out.
I hit the ground.
Voices surrounded me—citizens asking if I was okay.
Then everything went dark.
Two Hours Later
I woke in the doctor's home.
Jax sat at the foot of the bed. The moment I moved, she rushed to my side.
"What happened?"
"Mazza," I muttered. "He did something to me."
"Did what?"
"A spell. When we attacked him and Amera... he hit me with something. I thought it missed."
Her face paled.
She left to inform the others.
The doctor walked in.
He wasn't what I expected—older, weathered, with symbols tattooed across his arms.
"Quite a spell he put on you," he said.
I frowned. "How did you—"
"Know?" He smiled faintly. "I'm no ordinary doctor. I'm a witch doctor."
He moved to his desk.
"I managed to suppress the curse. But only for two days. After that, it'll return—stronger than before. The magic is too powerful for me to remove entirely."
I stood slowly, my head finally clear.
"Thank you."
He glanced back at me.
"I may not be the cleverest man in the world... but time is ticking."
Something in his tone told me he knew more than he was letting on.
I didn't ask.
I ran.
The Conference Hall
I found Jack and told him to gather the leaders immediately.
Within the hour, we were assembled.
"We need to find Mazza," I said. "Now."
Flake shook her head. "How? Amera's dead. We can't track him through her anymore."
Silence.
Then it hit me.
"Dixon and Cast."
Everyone looked at me.
"They were under his control. They might know where he is."
I told them to wait. Then I ran to the vault, grabbed the pyramid, and stepped outside.
I aimed it at the sky.
Nothing happened.
I closed my eyes. Thought of Dixon and Cast. Together. Alive.
The pyramid glowed.
Light pulled me in.
The White Realm
They stood before me—Dixon and Cast.
Cast spoke first. "We know why you're here."
Dixon nodded. "We know his location. But there's a downside."
"What downside?"
"Only one person can go," Cast said. "Mazza placed a spell on the area. If more than one person teleports to him... all but one will die."
"There's no way around it," Dixon added.
I exhaled slowly.
"Where is he?"
"A place called the Land of Hell."
I thanked them.
The light swallowed me again.
The Plan
I returned to the conference hall and explained everything.
The plan was simple: I would go alone. The others would track me and follow as quickly as possible—arriving after I had already landed.
We moved to the city gates.
I activated my armor.
And teleported.
The Land of Hell
The air hit me like a furnace.
Hot. Molten. Suffocating.
This was a place where dragons could live—and die.
And standing at the center of the scorched earth was Mazza.
He raised his wand and shot a spell into the sky.
Clouds rolled in. Rain began to fall.
The moment the drops touched the ground, steam and smoke erupted everywhere.
I charged.
He smirked.
"I'd love to fight you. But not now. The time isn't right."
I swung.
My blade bounced off an invisible barrier and flew back toward me.
He waved his wand.
My body went stiff. I rose into the air, frozen.
"I want to fight you alone," he said calmly. "No interruptions. A true one-on-one."
He circled beneath me.
"So I've taken steps to ensure that. I've placed a mind spell on the southern territory. Started a war between them and your precious city."
He smiled.
"Think of it like adding wood to a fire. It will only grow."
He dropped me.
Then blasted me across the wasteland with a single spell.
By the time my friends arrived, he was already teleporting us away.
We reappeared in Forsaken.
The city was under attack.
War
Southern invaders poured through the front gate.
Knights and guards held the line—barely.
Soldiers from the Kingdom of Bane scaled the walls.
I sent the leaders to reinforce the perimeter.
And I fought.
Fifteen minutes of chaos.
Blood and fire and steel.
When the others returned, we pushed forward together—forcing Bane's army out of our city.
We fought until the last enemy dropped.
Bodies littered every street.
The Announcement
We organized a clean-up crew.
Then we gathered the citizens.
I stood before them and spoke.
"This city is now at war with the Kingdom of Bane. You are not safe outside your homes. We ask you to stay indoors. Board your windows. Lock your doors. Protect yourselves and your families."
The reaction was immediate.
Screaming. Crying. Running.
Within the hour, the streets were empty.
Forsaken had become a ghost town.
The Counter-Attack
We couldn't wait for them to strike again.
We assembled what remained of our forces and launched a counter-offensive.
Flake led a wave of warriors to hit Bane's front line.
The knights flanked from behind.
A blindside assault.
I stayed in the city with Jax and Jack—defending against any secondary attack.
But Mazza never left my mind.
Mazza
He stood in the southern territory, watching the chaos unfold.
Then he raised his wand.
Monsters erupted from the earth—hundreds of them.
He sent them to Forsaken.
The Slaughter
The ground shook.
Creatures burst through the streets—through the floors of homes—dragging citizens outside.
We fought.
But we couldn't save everyone.
Innocent people died screaming.
Then I saw her.
A child.
Running.
A monster chasing her.
I moved—but not fast enough.
It killed her right in front of me.
Something inside me broke.
Wind exploded outward, throwing debris in every direction.
My head dropped.
My armor ignited—black fire, darker than night.
I took one step.
Every monster around me was sliced in half.
Jack stared at me, trembling. He didn't know if it was still me.
I looked at him.
"He wants a war?"
My voice didn't sound like my own.
"Then he's going to get one."
The Assault
I vanished.
Reappeared in the southern territory.
The Kingdom of Bane was already burning. Our army clashed with theirs inside the walls.
And at the top of the castle—Mazza.
He stood on the ramparts, wand raised, firing spells into the chaos below.
I teleported behind him.
Swung.
He turned to smoke—reformed behind me—and knocked me to the ground.
His wand pressed against my forehead.
I closed my eyes.
Accepted fate.
Then realized—fate was exactly what I needed.
I summoned the Blade of Fate.
And cut off his hand.
The wand went flying.
Mazza screamed, clutching the stump where his hand had been.
I stood over him.
"Maybe fate wants you dead, Mazza."
I raised my sword.
"I know I do."
A figure appeared—blocking my strike.
Cast.
My heart stopped.
Then he vanished.
An illusion.
I dropped my blade. Walked toward Mazza. Started beating him with my bare hands—over and over and over—
He waved his remaining hand.
I flew backward, slamming into a ledge.
And when I looked up—
He was gone.
Again.
Aftermath
We returned home.
The monsters had been killed. The battle was over.
But less than half our army had survived.
Everyone who returned was either critically injured or dead.
The Kingdom of Bane had lost their entire force. They were defenseless.
So were we.
I got patched up.
Then I left.
My friends tried to stop me.
I didn't listen.
"He put murder in my head," I said. "And it won't leave."
The Land of Hell — Again
I returned alone.
Mazza's shelter was still standing.
I raised my hand and set it ablaze.
I didn't bother checking if he was inside.
Then I felt something burning inside me.
A portal opened before me—wreathed in fire, pulsing with heat.
And something stepped through.
Not a man.
A monster.
Tall. Muscular. Skin the color of blood.
Horns jutted from his skull. A tail whipped behind him, ending in a sharp point.
He wore only a tattered cloth around his waist.
Fire coiled around his weapon—a trident, three-pronged and glowing with infernal light.
He looked at me with ancient, burning eyes.
I stared back.
"Who the hell are you?"