I unhook the harness from Verando and set it aside; as much as I want the protection for him, it seems just to weigh him down. 

"Do you see now why I tell you you must eat daily?" I grumble at him, frustrated with the hindsight of his reluctance to cooperate. I dragged him with him to the river; at least I could insist that he drink something. Sniffing the water cautiously, he seems to approve as he laps at the icy stream. 

I take the moment to take in our surroundings and evaluate just how deeply we are in trouble. Lifting my hand, I measure the sun to the horizon over the cliff the river disappears into. "Looks like a waterfall?"

"Sounds like one." Verando yawns, stretching and rolling his shoulders. "I'd say we have about four more hours of daylight. I hope this has proven to you that these people are incapable of doing what we can do. It might have worked before, but we barely escaped those wraiths with our lives." 

His light eyes scan the edge of the forest, his coat bristling at the thought. 

"Soul eaters usually aren't so motivated; I wonder if they smell the celestial being?" 

I can't help but think they're probably just starving. This place was pretty much off-limits to anyone; getting here would be nearly impossible without serious intent. 

"We need to consider that the Dead City community will come looking for us if we don't get out of here by tomorrow. If that happens, the end of the world couldn't come soon enough, this forest is overrun." 

With access to an entire population of magic users, it would take much more than a dark forest to contain them. The earth below our feet rumbles, and I grip him tightly, pulling him close to my chest as if he were my lifeline. 

Everyone takes cover, save for my warlord, who watches us as if we've all lost our minds. "It's an earth tremor, get up."

"Earthquake." Grayson corrects, receiving a growl for his trouble. "Not notorious for this area."

Verando shrugs, tipping his nose towards the sky. "We're nearing our deadline. End of the world, remember?" 

It seems to bring a hush over the group as they pile around the stacked wood. I allow him to have a moment to himself as he drifts towards the edge of the cliff to peer out over it, moving to check on Helen. 

"How's your foot?" I ask, grateful to her once more for saving both of their lives. She smiles as best she can.

"Hurts, but it's not bad. Sef thinks it will leave a cool scar."

Tyler frowns deeply. "If she gets to keep it. It would seem the tissue is dying." I consider the fact that wolf saliva is healing but would it really be worth risking someone dying by licking the poisoned paw? I float my hand over the injury, but with little healing ability left, I can't do much for her. 

"Can I try?" Tyler asks, desperate. 

I nod; it's worth a shot. 

"It's going to drain you; try not to be too selfless; draining off too much of your life force will render you unconscious, and then we will be stuck taking care of you when the wraiths come tonight." 

He nods, seeming to understand but with his nature, I have my doubts. I guide him through the process, he's young enough that maybe he hasn't specialized yet. It took me quite some time to lose my ability to heal. 

As Tyler begins to chant, it allows me to think of what Verando had proposed. I should start a school, where we rebuild the magical community, and this time, we do it the right way. As we had intended to so long ago. 

Could I?

Once more, I'm brought full circle back to that tiny little boy, and all I can think of is how badly I want to make this world safe for him. We can't keep doing this, we can't keep putting ourselves at risk like this. I had finally received everything I'd ever wanted, I intended to keep it. 

"Is it working?" Tyler asks hopefully. I make a face, trying to appear encouraging. "So that's a no?"

"Healing is subjective; you're doing very well, Tyler, considering you've had little schooling. Solomonari only performs under extreme stress. With the state of the world, don't worry; you will get plenty of practice. 

The words will reveal themselves to you as they happen; that is how a Solomonari works. Nature wishes to be in harmony with us." We are the guardians of the natural plain, healing what is broken and tending to what needs nurturing. I drift my gaze towards the sky, pondering what my warlord was looking at, and I note the heavy cloud cover as if it were going to rain. 

That would be our luck, rain would put out our fire. I lift my hand, casually playing with the cloud to encourage it to move elsewhere. Verando bounds back to our group and snags my coat, pulling me towards the deeper snow. 

"Everyone get down! Bury yourselves in the snow!" He curls around me, and I throw a layer over us. I nestle deep in his coat, lying as flat as possible and hardly daring to breathe. I smell the sulfur before I can see the beast, and my heart flies in my chest.  

The earth trembles as the beast lands with heavy claws.

The thick, wet tongue of the multiple-headed creature flickers with interest as the inky black nose sweeps the ground. Verando huddles closer, and I rest my hand on his muzzle to keep the growl at bay. 

The creature inhales through its fangs, sampling the air. 

"Dowser, come." The voice is male, rougher than I expected from a Solomonari. Nobody else could have such a dragon; this breed only comes from the water. I fight against him as he wraps one paw around me, forcing me not to move. This is our chance; we have to see who this person is. 

"So someone's in the forest. I'm sure the wraiths have gotten 'em. Shame but good for the ghouls." 

The man is wearing a heavy cloak, pale in color but dingy with use. 

"They'll be good and stirred up tonight, it'll be a great harvest." The dragon hisses low in its throat, I can feel the heat of flames as it growls. "Do you think someone's been left behind?" The voice is curious; I hear the feet shuffle in the snow. 

I want to stand, I want to break free, I have to know who this is. "The clouds were acting strange, like someone was messing with them. But, Red wouldn't be stupid enough to come in here. She knows better than to harvest wraiths on her own. 

Leave it, boy. The dead will get them and then we'll come to clean up the mess. We must get off the ground before these bastards get too hungry."

 The dragon responds with a sickening slurp as it drinks from the river. I sigh in frustration as I hear the wing beats. 

The snow is lifted, blowing up and off of us as the creature takes flight. I force myself to my feet, taking hold of the river and blasting the dragon in the sky with a whip-like tentacle. The beast bellows, wheeling around to breathe fire, and I block it with a wave of water before harvesting the steam and kicking it toward the beast in a spike. "Get back down here-" 

Verando shoves me down in the snow. "Are you insane?!" He snarls at me, his expression indicating that he has confirmed I've lost my mind. 

"We might never get another chance like this! I have to know who this is!"

"So you attack him?!"

Of course? How else would I decide who he was? 

He grips my coat and leaps out of the way of a firey blast, pulling me with him and dropping me on the other side of the smoldering burn pile. "I can handle this; just keep everyone safe!" 

The ghouls take advantage of the smoke, snaking their way out of the dense woods and into the shadows of the billowing, black cover. 

"Hank!" Verando calls out; the fire mage audibly groans as he ascends on the creatures coupled with Grayson's electricity. 

Pascal rushes over to stand beside me along with Tyler. 

"So why are we attacking this man?"

"Anyone harvesting wraiths is using it for dark magic," I tell her firmly. 

The figure turns to face us and leaps down from the back of the dragon. He puts out his hand, floating just off the ground before he lands. 

Tilting his head, he takes consideration of us. "I thought there was another Solomonari here, but two? That seems quite unfair." He lifts his hand and closes it, Tyler screams out in agony, holding onto his body as blood seeps from his mouth. 

The strange man was controlling his blood. I reach out for the river, creating a tentacle and splintering spikes off as I whip the figure. The man kicks the spikes away but, in that effort, drops Tyler, who coughs a frightening amount of blood. 

"Take Tyler!" I tell Pascal. "Take him to Sef!" I keep my voice low as I feel the fingers of magic reaching for me and block them away, stomping on the ground and using the raining sky to produce a bolt of lighting.

 With a chuckle, the man barely redirects it in time as the bolt strikes the forest and sets the trees ablaze. 

He claps casually, the chuckle turning to laughter. "Wow. That's pretty good for a youngster. Most Solomonari can't do that until they're in their senior years."

"I'm nearly thirty." Excluding time travel, of course. 

I begin the assault, using the power of the river to send a full-blown arsenal of ice and piercing darts. It seems too simple for him to dodge me, too easy for him to step around my attacks. Though I can tell I am challenging him, it's not enough. It's difficult to compete with dark magic; without the celestial being, I didn't have much of an edge. 

"Care to tell me what you're doing with the wraiths?"

He touches his cheek where one of my darts nicked him; I can see the beginnings of a red beard beneath the hood's darkness. "You're the one Red was always bitching about, aren't you? The kid who fights like he's been training for centuries. Interesting. She'll be pleased to know I finally met you."

"She's dead!" I tell him firmly, firing water at the dragon as it breathes fire down on me. "I killed her." 

This seems to shock him and brings him to pause. The dragon stoops in, and I wish I had my sword; a gun just isn't cut it. Instead, I use the water and ice to fashion a sort of scythe, managing to rid the dragon of one head; I note the collar firmly on its neck. 

The way he was avoiding our exhausted group, he wasn't a bloodthirsty lunatic like Red was. As long as they didn't interfere, he seemed only interested in removing me and Tyler from the group. It confirms my suspicion that this was the man we had been looking for—the man who could use mind control. 

"Mind telling me how you're controlling a dragon with six heads?" 

He's fashioned his collars, only one head wears the golden collar yet he's hardly even thinking about controlling this beast. The creature jumps down on me, and I form an ice shield, flinching as the pointed nose crashes into the shelter. Verando rushes for me, diving under the shelter to grab me out and pull me onto his back as the dragon lands with both front feet on the ice. 

"He's controlling the dragon remotely."

Giving me a look, he skids to a halt. Dowser spews fire, and I use the wind to direct it to Hank, who receives a supercharge; the forest erupts into flames taller than the tallest trees. 

"Stop firing, you damned lizard!" The cloaked man shouts, gritting his teeth as storm clouds roll in. "This is growing quite tiresome." The sky begins to swirl, and the ground trembles; a funnel trickles down from the clouds, and I jump off Verando's back to hold my ground and push back against the edge of the funnel. 

"Get to him; he might have something on his arms to control that dragon. Fetch, for lack of a better word."

With offense, the wolf snorts at me. "We are going to have a long discussion about this later." He wheels on his back legs and bolts the long away around the circle as I fight against the bottom of the impending tornado. The weight is impressive; for every inch I push back, it gains two. The dragon thunders, pouncing after the wolf while trying not to disrupt the tornado flow of its master. 

"Pascal!" I call. She leaves Tyler with Sef, rushing towards me. 

"That collar. Can you hit it if I fashion you a bow and arrow?"

"Which collar?"

I roll my eyes dramatically, shoving back against the tornado with everything I have and unseating the other man. "There's only one that matters; I challenge you to guess which dragon I care about!" 

I conjure a bow and arrow from ice and capture the bottom of the tornado just before it can land. "Just hit the collar; we need to make it mad!"

Pascal swallows as she aims, firing and narrowly missing the creature's eye, nowhere close to the collar. "Shit!"

"Focus!" I shout; my legs begin to tremble from the exertion. I need to use this energy; I need to make this work for me. I can use this; this could be a good thing. "There's just one collar; keep it distracted."

"One collar." She murmurs, shooting again and narrowly missing. I spot Verando nearing the back of the Solomonari, and the man's diverting the remainder of his attention to blow gusts of wind towards the oncoming arrows. It's horrifying how he quickly multi-tasks—fighting with me, controlling the dragon, and flicking his hand absently as he deflects each arrow. 

I'd think he was limitless if I didn't see the bulging vein in his temple.

"Last chance, Pascal. Make it count!" 

She nods, swallowing hard before firing. 

The arrow lodges into a collar, and Verando leaps, sinking his teeth into the man's forearm and disrupting the communicator. The man screams, jerking his arm back and redirecting his attention to fire a burst of wind into the lycan, sending him reeling across the small clearing. 

I take hold of the tornado and focus all my might on turning it, aiming it towards the forest. "Piss it off, Pascal!" 

She aims her last arrow, catching the beast in one of its eyes. The dragon thunders, roaring at us as it spews fire from all its heads. "Hank! Direct it!" The man cries out in the effort of shoving the inferno into the tornado as I compress the funnel and shove it into the forest. 

Screams surround us, shrieks and howls as the forest erupts in flames. The tornado creates a vacuum that siphons the undead from the very bones of the structure. They fry in the fire pit, unable to withstand the remnants of light and the intense heat. I release it, falling back onto my ass as I pant from the effort. 

The cloaked man rushes for the dragon, now only bearing three heads. He hops on and departs without a word of remorse or departure. I feel drained, my body running on empty. 

"Randy," I murmur, forcing myself to my feet as I search in the snow with careful gusts for my warlord. "Randy!" I call quickly, my eyes locked on the river, and I run to the edge of the falls and look over. "Randy!!" I belt out, patting my body down for anything that I can use to climb down this godforsaken ledge. My heart was pounding; I could feel the lump in my throat. 

I knew he was hurt; I shouldn't have asked him to do something so outrageous.

The cold nose bumps me from behind, and I spin around to see him standing there; I throw my arms around his neck. "Where were you?!"

"Finding this communicator." He drops the grounded piece of equipment from his muzzle, and I pick it up, examining the advanced technology. "I bet Marcello can better explain what that is."

As excited as I am, I couldn't care less about the communicator. I hugged him again, squeezing him as tight as I could manage. 

"I thought you went over the falls," I whisper as he nuzzles his cheek against my shoulder. "You scared me half to death."

 My legs shake, and I sag; he supports me with his shoulder, and I allow him to help me back towards the group. I feel on the verge of collapse, and looking at the others, I can see they feel the same. 

"That isn't going to hold them off for long; we should leave now while we still have the chance."

With the last of the tornado evaporating, it took with it all the remnants of the fire. Burnt out, there was no energy left to devote to keeping the phantoms at bay once they regrouped. I wasn't foolish enough to believe we'd wiped them all out.

There is no argument, no good reason to stay; as much as I wanted to help the lost souls of this forest, it wasn't worth our lives, and we desperately needed to get this communicator back to Marcello before our Solomonari friend decided to return.

 I couldn't call the mission a success with all our injuries, but if nothing else, it was reassurance. Reassurance that the little group could survive and a warning, the confirmation that there was at least one last Solomonari out there and he was an elemental just as I was. 

As I climb onto Verando's back and we depart the heavy destruction of the woods, I can't help but feel that this is far from over. Instead of figuring this man out, we had only merely scratched the surface of what was truly going on outside the city limits. 

It would appear that the earth had not gone cold; by our accounts, the tables had just shifted. The magical realm had taken over the dead spaces, and humanity was no longer welcome; outside the city limits was a whole new world. 

A much more dangerous set of circumstances. 

Our world.