The village of Harrow's Creek was burning.
It wasn't the clean, crackling fire of a hearth, but the choking, oily smoke of destruction. The Slate in Mith's pocket was vibrating so hard it bruised his hip, its violet light pulsing in a frantic, erratic rhythm.
"He's here," Jis said, gripping her sword. The blue runes were screaming, flashing almost blindingly bright.
They found him in the village square. Aldrein—the stoic, iron-willed lancer who had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with them and Tuk at the High Bridge—was standing amidst the carnage. But the man they knew was gone. His armor was fused to his skin by black veins, his eyes were pools of ink, and he was laughing as he pulled his lance from the chest of the village elder.
"Aldrein!" Mith shouted, horror seizing his chest.
Aldrein turned. His smile was too wide, splitting his face. "Mith! Jis! You're late! The choir has already started singing!"
"Stand down, Aldrein," Jis commanded, stepping forward, her blade raised. "Let us help you."
"Help?" Aldrein tilted his head, bone cracking. "I am cured. The whisper told me. It said to make way."
He lunged.
There was no human hesitation in his movement. He crossed the thirty feet between them in a blink. Jis barely brought her sword up in time.
"Shadow-Step Strike!" Aldrein roared. His lance became a blur of darkness, striking Jis's guard a dozen times in a single second.
Jis gritted her teeth, her feet skidding backward in the dirt. She twisted her wrists, deflecting the final blow. "Sapphire Bastion!" she cried out. A dome of hard, blue light exploded from her sword, knocking Aldrein back.
Mith saw his opening. He didn't want to hurt his friend, but he had no choice. He thrust his palms forward. "Crimson Lotus Bloom!"
Three swirling spheres of fire materialized, rotating around each other before detonating. The explosion engulfed Aldrein, but the mad lancer simply cut through the smoke.
"Void-Eater's Maw!" Aldrein swung his lance, unleashing a wave of hungry, black energy that swallowed Mith's fire and kept coming.
Mith rolled to the right, feeling the dark energy singe his cloak. "He's absorbing the ambient mana!"
"He's not controlling it," Jis shouted, leaping over a cart to close the distance. "It's driving him!"
Jis engaged him in a flurry of steel. "Moonlight Severing Dance!" Her blade glowed white-hot, tracing intricate arcs in the air that lingered like ribbons of light, cutting into the darkness surrounding Aldrein.
Aldrein laughed, ignoring the cuts on his arms. He slammed his hand into the ground. "Grave-Spike Eruption!"
Jagged pillars of corrupted earth shot up from the cobblestones. Jis was launched into the air. Aldrein prepared to skewer her, his lance glowing with a sickly purple aura.
"Solar Flare Cannon!" Mith screamed.
He condensed all his heat into a single point between his hands and fired a beam of concentrated plasma. It slammed into Aldrein's side, sending him crashing through the wall of the burning tavern.
Jis landed gracefully, breathing hard. "Mith, we can't save him. The corruption... it's rewritten his soul."
Mith looked at the rubble. Tears stung his eyes, boiling away instantly from the heat of his skin. "I know."
Aldrein emerged from the debris. He was missing an arm, but the black veins were already forming a shadowy limb to replace it. He looked more monster than man now.
"Endless Nightfall!" Aldrein shrieked. He threw his lance. It expanded in mid-air, becoming a massive comet of dark energy, large enough to wipe out what was left of the square.
Mith stepped in front of Jis. He reached for the deepest, most volatile part of his flame—the part that scared him.
"I'm sorry, brother," Mith whispered.
He clapped his hands together, then pulled them apart. "Supernova extinction!"
A sphere of blinding white starlight expanded from Mith. It didn't just burn; it erased. It met Aldrein's darkness and devoured it, washing over the square in a wave of purifying heat. The dark comet disintegrated. The shadow-arm vaporized.
The light cleared.
Aldrein lay on his back in the center of the scorched crater. The black veins were receding, leaving his skin pale and grey. The madness had faded from his eyes, leaving only a terrible clarity.
Mith and Jis rushed to his side, dropping to their knees.
Aldrein coughed, blood bubbling at his lips. He looked at Mith, recognition finally returning. "Mith... the fire... always so warm."
"Save your strength," Jis said, her voice trembling. "We have healers at the citadel."
"Too late," Aldrein wheezed. He reached out, gripping Mith's wrist with surprising strength. "The curse... it didn't just find me. It hunted me. It knows us."
"Who knows us?" Mith asked.
"The Court of Shadows," Aldrein whispered, his eyes widening as he stared at the sky. "The curse has caught me... but I am just the first."
He coughed again, his grip failing.
"Their followers are rising, Mith," Aldrein gasped, his final breath rattling in his chest. "They are rising to welcome the King... and the King... has darkness face."
Tuk must be there . He must be there he said spitting blood in his last moments
Aldrein's eyes glazed over. The Slate in Mith's pocket gave one violent, sorrowful pulse, and then the lancer was gone.
Jis was surprised to see this and shocked .
Jis ," We shall ask about this . First we should burn his body and let him sleep"
They were emotional. Mith didn't say anything.
Jis saw and realised mith became expert and used his techniques much better .
He used supernova and solar flare with ease . These Jis couldn't learn .
He asked Mith about this," You have become expert in these ."
Mith said ," We are destined to do this."
Jis: Tell me how ..
Mith : I practice in my dreams and i think this stone has something to do .
Jis : Well Mr Aldrein may you sleep peacefully and Mith I will practice in sleep too and meditate hard .
Mith encourages him as they both cry on a hilltop watching Aldrein.