Thaleous' stronghold was hidden somewhere in these mountain ranges.

And we were going to find it.

Soren had an idea as to where it was, but he still had his doubts.

"Damn, I hate all of this guess work." I grumbled to myself. "We don't have time for this."

"Luckily for you, I can be of assistance." Kybris chimed in. (Apparently she too could telepathically communicate with other people.) "If you don't want to stumble around in this wasteland of snow and ice, allow me to enlighten you."

Oh, thank the gods Kybris is on our side. I don't know how, but I knew exactly where Thaleous' stronghold was.

"Soren, follow my lead," I told him.

He looked at me in confusion, "Oh, okay."

I chuckled, "Kybris gave me a nice little tip."

He sighed in relief, "Thank the gods she's on our side."

"I know right?" I replied.

It took us a few hours to even see the stronghold on the horizon. Even if it took us a while to see it, we saw it nonetheless, and boy was it ginormous. It made the outpost Soren destroyed look insignificant.

I heard deep laughter as we continued to approach the stronghold.

"So you broke Kybris out of her prison? Most impressive, but still a move in vain. You know not what you are dealing with."

I laughed harshly, "Really now? Show your face then if you're so sure of victory, you saucy bastard."

"Saucy bastard? That's a new one," Thaleous mused, "No matter. You'll be in for quite the surprise."

I chose to ignore him (bad move) and chose instead to turn my attention toward my team: "I have a feeling we'll be met with heavy opposition when we get closer to the stronghold, so be ready for a fight."

Everyone nodded, only to hear Thaleous open his cancer-spewing mouth again: "Heavy opposition? You wound my pride."

I rolled my eyes, "Do you ever shut the fuck up?"

He didn't answer my question. Bitch.

As we drew closer, Stefan steered us away from various traps he caught sight of while Gwyneth described the wards surrounding the stronghold to me. She then told me how to disable them in the event they come back online.

"How do you even know the traps are there?" Dorrian asked the dark firewalker.

Stefan rumbled out a dark laugh: "I crippled my left leg stepping on one of these traps, so I know what to look for when traversing these paths. More often than not, Thaleous' minions set fire bombs, so stepping on one is a death sentence. It's taken several years of practice, but I've still been able to learn how to spot, avoid, and disarm fire bombs."

"But you're a firewalker," Nova pointed out, interest piqued by the conversation at hand: "I thought fire couldn't harm you."

"Normal fire, yes," he continued, "But Thaleous does not use regular fire. No, he uses hellfire in his bombs."

I cringed. I haven't read much about hellfire, but I at least know that it's nasty stuff. While regular fire burns items that are flammable, hellfire burns anything it touches: stone, wood, swords,  firewalkers, anything you could imagine. I've even heard some speculation that the greenish-orange flames of hellfire alone could drive people mad.

"Let's...Just be glad we're not setting them off," I added in with a high-pitched, nerve-wracked voice.

Stefan chuckled, "Indeed."

Another hour later, Thaleous' stronghold loomed before us. (Ho-Ho-Holy shit...) This place was huge. Seriously, the stone bridge that led to the large double doors of the stronghold looked as if it could hold an entire army on it. I didn't even want to know how long this damn thing was.

I looked at Luna and grabbed her hand. She squeezed my hand, and I smiled.

"Just like Volhime," I told her quietly.

She nodded, "Aye. Few versus many."

Analise sighed irritably, "Let's just get this over with. I wanna sink my knives into something before I lose my fucking mind."

Dorrian laughed nervously, "Go to your happy place...Go to your happy place..."

"Where's that? Your trousers?" Ana shot back with a devilish grin.

"Not helping Ana!" He snapped back.

Ben had an arrow nocked onto his bow, a surprisingly-serene expression on his face. He was muttering something under his breath-a prayer, I think.

Stanford stood beside Evelyn and looked unlike his usual self: he looked alert and ready to kill. He had a spear in his hand, and he made sure it was sharp by poking his cheek with it.

"Really Stan?" Evelyn demanded, "I thought you already made sure your spear was sharpened."

"I did, but it pays to double check," He replied quietly, "A dull blade is a useless one."

"Not exactly," I replied, "It's amazing what you can do with a dull blade."

Stanford rolled his eyes, "Not my point Helix."

Nova had her gauss rifle at the ready: ghastly purple vapors emanated from the nozzle of her deadly weapon: "I think I've tested this baby out enough times-nah, enough is never enough. I'm ready to light this place up."

Pip hovered around her head and shrugged his tiny shoulders: "Eh, I suppose there are worse ways to go."

Soren had his sword drawn, and I saw a lone tear go down his face: "I wish it didn't have to come to this, Thal. What happened to you? We used to be partners-friends. Now look at us. I should've never have let you wander off in this hellhole." I decided not to ask him about what he just said: I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

We continued to walk on the bridge, which took us closer and closer to Thaleous.

"It's not too late: turn around and leave," He told us.

I set my jaw and continued to walk forward.

"Oh well..." Thaleous began easily.

The doors to Thaleous' stronghold opened suddenly, and a group of demons wearing ash gray-colored armor streamed out of the opening. At the head of the group was a lone figure, He looked at us through a pitch black mask. No detail, just two eyeholes.

"I guess I'll kill you all myself," He finished his thought, "I gave you the chance to flee, so expect no mercy from me."

Soren snarled, "Thaleous!"

The demon lord spread his hands out before him as if to say, 'what?': "You asked to fight me in person, did you not? Well, here I am."

His armor, much like his mask and his soul, was black and without detail. The eyes that peered through his mask were white. Just pure white.

Thaleous held a long war spear with a serrated spearhead. He had it at the ready and beckoned for us to come closer: "Come forth and fight me," His tone was calm, as if he was playing a round of chess.

Thinking as fast as I could manage, I issued my orders: "Dorrian, Nova, Ben: hang back and cover our asses. Everyone else: charge!"

Everyone followed my orders, and we engaged our enemies. For a fake attack, my team did fairly well: five demons fell to our backline support before the frontline charge met the oncoming group of demons.

Thaleous was just as smart: I had to strike down a few demons who had pushed past our frontline assault and were attempting to take down Nova, Dorrian, and Ben, who were loosing volley after volley of projectiles at our foes.

This seriously pissed me off.

"You fuckers!" I roared, ripping off the head of a demon that was trying to attack Nova, "Stay away from my sis!"

"Geez...Thanks bro!" She replied before sighting a target and squeezing the trigger of her rifle, blasting a demon's head off.

I caught sight of Stanford and Stefan fighting off three demons that tried to push past them. They were both blurs of motion, and they swiftly mowed down their foes. I then saw Analise as she jumped onto the back of a larger demon. She sunk her knives into its back and began to hack away at it before attempting to slit its throat. A few heartbeats later, Analise had downed her quarry.

Luna was hurling all manner of projectiles at her enemies while creating shielding wards to protect herself and other team members around her. Sweat ran down her face, but she seemed alright for now.

Evelyn was currently providing support to Soren, Sasha, and Gwyn as they tore into our enemies. I was amazed beyond words when I saw the spells she casted. She then turned her attention toward Stanford and Stefan as they were forced to give ground to our foes as they tried their damnedest to relieve them both of their heads.

Nova was blasting heads and limbs off with her gauss rifle, laughing madly every time she eradicated a demon's head or blew them in half. Dorrian and Ben worked together, releasing a barrage of arrows at their sorry targets and leaving them looking like porcupines.

I myself was alternating between hacking and slashing with my sword, and destroying enemies with my staff. My pack of wolves had also made themselves known, tearing our enemies apart effortlessly and with little trouble.

I caught sight of a demon charging at Luna. The poor bloke was reduced to ashes before he was able to attack her.

"Toasty!" I chortled, deflecting a demon's sword as it swung at me.

A few moments later, I turned my attention on Thaleous. I focused on breaking his concentration so I could land a killing blow. However, that was easier said than done. He kept me at a distance with his spear, which made my job much more difficult.

Just when I thought he was about to slip up, I heard a cry of pain emanate from behind me.

I instantly forgot about Thaleous and the fight I was currently in and turned around quickly: "Dorrian-!"

He had been shot in the shoulder by an enemy archer. Dorrian was currently in a kneeling positon while he and Ben worked on removing the arrow in his shoulder. I saw Analise finish off her foe and run over to them.

I then realized that our formation was breaking up: "Shit, shit, shit! Come on, we need to band together-!"

I felt a searing pain in my stomach, and I looked down to see a spearhead in my chest...and a whole lot of blood.

"Sh-Shit..." I breathed.

Thaleous violently removed the spear from my chest, and I fell to my knees as I felt them buckle. Thaleous then kicked my back and forced me onto the cobblestone pathway. I landed with a silent thud, and my vision blurred as I hit the ground. He then rammed his spear through my body again, pinning me to the ground.

"Helix!" Luna screamed in agony.

"I'm sorry," I sent her, "Go...Get out of here..." (Sometimes, having the ability to telepathically communicate with others can be a curse more than a blessing.)

Luna nodded, tears streaming from her face, "We-We need to get out of here. Retreat!"

I saw them start to run away.

Thaleous sighed, shaking his head sadly. He looked at one of his soldiers, "Gather a group and go after them. Leave no survivors."

With a fair amount of concentration, I blinked my family to safety.

"Not...happening...bitch," I growled.

As I slipped into unconsciousness, I heard Thaleous laugh darkly.

"No matter. You're the one I want."