It was another few days before Darin's preparations were ready, but neither Iver nor Noctifer really knew what the wizard had been up to—Darin either fiddling with something or even disappearing for a few hours at a time with Argent. The tabs in his spellbook had been rearranged, and he now carried a sword on his back. His behavior had become quite odd to the rest of them, in fact, but they didn't know how to question it. Even Noctifer was at a loss as Darin dragged them around to seemingly nowhere all throughout the day, yet the wizard would always somehow make a point of it in the end. It was exhausting.

"Are you sure you all want to do this?" Together they stood on the wall just over the gate, and Darin gave them a hesitant look. "It's alright if you don't think you're ready. I'll be fine on my own."

"You don't decide what we can handle and what he can't handle," Noctifer said bluntly.

"I mean it, Noctifer." Darin looked at him sternly. "Especially you. This isn't a normal unseelie—or even a minor harbinger—and with only a sword to protect yourself, you're at an even bigger disadvantage."

"You said a sword can still cause harm, so I'll do what I can." As much as it peeved the warrior of being suggested as less capable of defending himself, he couldn't bring himself to be angry at the wizard. Not when he looked genuinely distressed over the fact they insisted on accompanying him. If anything, he knew Darin enough to know the man was more worried about his ability to protect them all than his own safety. Someone had to protect the wizard if he wouldn't protect himself.

"You keep asking us the same question," Iver chuckled, placing a hand on Darin's shoulder. "I can assure you, our answers will not change."

Although letting the boy follow is an odd choice, Iver thought. He couldn't help but find it strange how Darin not once had objected to Argent coming along. The boy was the wizard's apprentice, yes, but was he ready to face a harbinger? Darin had always put the boy's safety as his top priority—Noctifer and himself wouldn't be standing there if it weren't for that—so what changed? Did Darin know something they didn't, causing him to believe the boy was safer next to a harbinger rather than within the walls of Rokor? Perhaps he would ask another day. For now, they had a larger task at hand.

Darin sighed, finally accepting their presence. He would be lying if he said he wasn't relieved at that, but he would never admit it, either. "Then the rules apply now. Do as I say, don't question me, and don't try to save me. With that said!" Darin dug in his pocket, pulling out a handful of what looked to be iridescent blue beads, handing each of them six. "This is condensed mana. If you find yourself in a tight situation, possibly cornered by the harbinger, and are about to get your soul sucked out of your body, just toss one a few feet away. Best case scenario, the bead will break, causing a burst, and the harbinger will suddenly be more interested in that rather than you."

"Best case scenario?" Noctifer repeated, pocketing the beads. "What's the worst case?"

"The harbinger being more interested in you than the mana. So don't get caught."

"How much mana do you have left after making these?" Iver glanced at Darin suspiciously, and his eyes narrowed when the wizard looked away.

"Less than I should, but I'm going to make this work," Darin said cheerily, still avoiding Iver's gaze whilst pretending to locate the harbinger.

"Darin—"

"Rule number two."

Iver scowled.

"Over there!" Argent pointed to the left where the harbinger's pale form barely peeked above the trees.

"Perfect." Without another word, Darin raised his hand to the sky, releasing a sudden burst of mana. The harbinger roared before charging towards the walls. "Let's move!"

With the harbinger fast approaching, no one dared to object. But to Iver and Noctifer's surprise (and horror), both Darin and his apprentice ran down the stairs that led to the gate below them. They led them outside the wall before the gate dropped tightly behind them. The gatekeeper gave them a thumbs up from the tower above, shouting, "Ordephus be with you!" before disappearing from the window, and Darin threw up a barrier when the harbinger burst into sight.

"Argent!" Darin shouted. "The clearing!"

"Yes, sir!" The boy gestured for the swordsmen to follow, and they sprinted through the woods, leaving the sounds of Darin battling the harbinger behind.

"What is he doing?!" Noctifer demanded.

"Distracting it while we set up the array!" Argent explained, grabbing an inconspicuous bundle of straight branches before running into another clearing. A large circle had already been carved into the ground with other various lines and symbols inside of it in a cohesive pattern. He tossed them each a stick. "Retrace the lines, and make sure they're deep!"

Not knowing what else to do, the swordsmen quickly followed suit as the boy stabbed the stick into the earth and began dragging it across the ground. They redrew the array in record time as the roars of the harbinger spurred them on, constantly reminding them who was still there with it.

"Now what?" Noctifer asked.

"Put them in the holes!"

It wasn't hard for them to decipher what the boy meant, as there were three deep pits just outside the array, all evenly spaced from each other. Iver and Noctifer dropped the branches into place, the branches giving a hollow thump, but Argent kept his in his hand. Aiming his free hand to the sky, he sent out a burst of mana as his mentor had done. "Get out of the way!"

The swordsmen ran to the side as they heard the harbinger's heavy footsteps charging towards them, and moments later Darin burst into the clearing with the harbinger viciously snapping at his heels. Argent bravely held his position as the harbinger charged straight towards him, but as soon as it fully passed the first circle, he plunged the branch into the ground. An electric streak arched through the air from each pole, and they soon connected to form a solid barrier. Darin grabbed Argent when he passed, pulling the boy away as the harbinger lunged forward. It was struck back, however, as the barrier refused to budge.

"Ah, good. It worked," Darin said loud enough for the other two to hear from across the clearing.

"You mean you didn't know if it would work?" Noctifer said, gritting his teeth.

"Didn't I warn you I would be improvising?"

Noctifer almost threw back a retort, but his eyes widened in alarm as he saw the harbinger's mouth gape open towards the boy. "Argent!"

Darin reacted before Argent could, pulling the boy behind him as a shadowy black cord grabbed him around his chest. He stumbled forward, the breath being knocked from his body as he felt the harbinger's magic begin tearing away at his soul. But before he could cut the cord, the harbinger suddenly recoiled with a shriek. Iver was already at his side when he staggered back, gripping onto his arm to keep him from falling. Noctifer had pulled Argent a safe distance away from the array.

"Darin! Are you alright?" Iver asked urgently.

Darin gave a dry laugh. "Yeah. I guess this harbinger is a picky eater. It released me before doing any real damage." He straightened and turned to the group. "Let's get this over with quickly. The more the harbinger tramples around in there and wears away at the lines, the weaker the array becomes. Argent, do exactly as you were told and don't try anything else. And you two, our goal is to hack at it until we have a clear view of its core." He pointed to the raging harbinger, and that was when Iver and Noctifer realized the condition the harbinger was in. Strips of its skin were already peeled away, exposing its bones and hollowed insides. There was a faint light glowing from its belly.

"You've been sneaking off and fighting it all this time," Noctifer growled after the realization, sending a glare in the wizard's direction.

"Not now," Darin cut him off. "The best way to do this is attacking whenever its attention is not on you. The more confusion, the better. Jump up and down. Make loud noises. Do anything to distract it if you see it turning away from you."

"Sounds like the perfect job for you," Noctifer quipped.

"Rule number five: Don't snark at me!" Darin retorted. "No more chatting."

A streak of light collided with the harbinger's head, Argent having released a spectral arrow that disappeared on impact, and Darin jumped back into the array with his sword drawn.

It was a long, grueling fight from then on, none of them ever allowed to stay in one place in fear of the black cord wrapping around them and consuming them. Hacking, slashing, calling, and jeering. Maybe a spectral arrow or a flash from a mana bead every now and again. A repetitive process, all for the sake of exposing the harbinger's core. Darin had switched back to his spellbook, opting to keep the harbinger occupied as the swordsmen took every opportunity to they had to hack away at it. No one knew the spells he used as the harbinger shrieked every time it was struck. Neither Iver nor Noctifer knew what Darin would do once they did get to the core, but they didn't have the time to question it, either. Rule number two, Darin would've said, anyway. Together they had managed to cut away at its chest, the core now shining brightly and taunting them with its existence. That was when an awful crack sounded from above.

The array shattered, and the harbinger's full power returned.

They were quickly backed into a corner as their feet became bound to the ground. Argent was nowhere to be found or detected, thankfully, having since nullified his own magic (as Darin did for him before when they first encountered the harbinger). The harbinger's face loomed closer to Darin, its mouth pulled back to bare its teeth as the black cord slowly crept towards Darin's chest once more. The swordsmen struggled to reach the wizard, to pull him away, but the bonds held tight.

"I found you . . ."

Darin's eyes widened as the cord pierced through his body, the harbinger no longer aiming to consume his soul. It wanted to corrupt it. To make the wizard the same as it. To make him a harbinger.

There was a flash of white, and for a moment it seemed as if Darin's person flickered. But before anyone could fully process what they had seen, a thick, suffocating energy surrounded the area, and the harbinger began screaming; writhing in pain. Darin's spellbook fell to the ground as the wizard's energy changed. Instead of the pure blue that usually emitted while conducting a spell, a deep red light surrounded the harbinger's exposed core with a single line connecting the core to Darin's hand. His eyes almost glowed a ghastly red as the light reflected off of them, and his expression was blank. The black cord had long disappeared, and their feet were no longer bound.

Iver lunged forward as he felt every drop of mana drain from Darin's body, and he saw Argent from the corner of his eye do the same. "Darin!"

A pulse suddenly pushed them back, nearly knocking them off their feet before a barrier kept them in place. It was the same red as the strange magic Darin wielded against the harbinger. It felt harsh. Vile. Even corrupt. What—what is he doing?! He couldn't bring himself to try forcing through the barrier, however. Instead, he found himself taking a few steps back. Argent followed, equally terrified of the foul energy before them. Noctifer seemed to be the only one unaffected.

It felt as if hours had passed, but it couldn't have been longer than a minute when Darin decided he had gathered enough of the red energy. He reacted faster than expected, drawing tainted vines from the ground to wrap around the harbinger's body as it continued to shriek and wail. Argent had covered his ears and closed his eyes tightly at that, and Noctifer moved to stand in front of the boy to put his hands over his. He gave Iver an apprehensive look, silently asking what was going on, but Iver could only shake his head. Whatever Darin was doing now, he had never seen anything like it before. They returned their attention to the wizard in time to see him standing before the harbinger's core. The vines held it upright, its neck pulled back at an unnatural angle, leaving the pulsing heart of the creature at Darin's mercy. The swordsmen watched in morbid fascination as the wizard gripped the core in his hand and ripped it out, and the harbinger went limp. The core quickly dulled, dripping to the ground until it disintegrated to nothing. The barrier lifted as all went silent, until Darin heaved forward with a violent cough wracking through his body.

Iver once again ran to Darin's side, relieved that the wizard hadn't pushed him away again. Darin had his hand covering his mouth as he coughed, and blood dripped steadily from his nose. Iver couldn't tell if the man was coughing up blood as well, but he wouldn't have been surprised if that were the case.

"Lower him to the ground," Iver commanded Noctifer. "Do not let him fall or jostle him too much."

Together they sat him down, keeping his torso leaned forward. Argent hovered nearby, shaky hands rustling through his bag to dig up the remaining mana potions they had. With a nod, confirming that his hold was secure, Noctifer kept Darin upright while Iver rustled through his medical pack. He first pulled from it a cloth, dousing it with water, before using it to wipe Darin's face.

"I can do that myself," Darin huffed out a laugh, taking the cloth from Iver to press it against his nose. Iver couldn't help but scowl as it was apparent Darin knew exactly what was happening to him.

"Your heart could stop at any second," Iver stated, pressing a faintly glowing hand to Darin's chest to make sure it was safe enough for him to drink anything while simultaneously slowing the bleeding. "Congratulations. I estimate you have a year less to live."

"Only a year?" the wizard quipped lightly.

"Darin."

"Sorry, sorry . . ."

The inspection didn't take long, and Iver nodded his head in approval. He signaled for Darin to remove the bloody cloth from his nose and gave him another one to wipe his face with. "You can give him the potions now, Argent."

A quick nod and Argent set the remaining two potions in front of his mentor before sitting as well. He drew his knees to his chest as he watched Darin drink the first one with an anxious expression.

"What was the red magic?" he asked Darin, his voice still quivering lightly.

"Something I'm not teaching you." Darin drank the second, and Argent nodded and gulped as he put the glass bottles back into his bag.

"I didn't like it, anyway."

Darin chuckled. "I don't like it, either." He then reached out to ruffle the boy's hair, and for once, Argent didn't protest against it. "I'm sorry that I scared you."

The boy only shook his head. "You didn't scare me. The red magic did."

"You still didn't say what it was," Noctifer said, keeping his hand on the wizard's back for support while Iver set another concoction in front of him. Darin nearly gagged as he drank the third potion, but he didn't dare complain so long as a scowl was still on Iver's face. It was a stark difference from the elf's usually gentle expressions, and he was sure the other was mentally strangling him at the moment.

"It's . . . a spell I found long ago. One that could be dangerous when in the wrong hands," Darin said vaguely. "I don't want to say anything more about it."

For once, Noctifer dropped the subject as Darin requested. "Then what about the harbinger?" He gave a wary glance to the pale, still body just a few feet away from them. "What did it mean when it said, 'I found you?' I didn't even know harbingers could speak."

"Most can't, but some develop the ability if they have consumed mostly human souls," Darin explained before shaking his head. "As for it finding me, I'm not sure. Perhaps it's referring to me having fought a harbinger before, but I couldn't imagine why it'd care."

"Let us not stay here any longer," Iver said. "Darin needs rest and better care than what I can offer here." He pressed his hand firmly on Darin's shoulder when the other began to stand. "You will not be walking; you are still in danger. Noctifer will carry you back to Rokor."

"Ah, I'm sure I'm—" Darin's mouth clicked shut at the scalding glare Iver gave him, and he heard Argent snicker to the side. He jumped as Noctifer's arms slipped behind his back and under his knees before lifting him from the ground, and Darin momentarily gripped onto the other's shoulder. It was suddenly a very menacing sight to see himself so far up from the ground. If he drops me, I swear, I will—his attention snapped back to Noctifer as the other snorted at his concerned expression while gazing at the ground. Darin couldn't help the flush of embarrassment that crawled up his neck, and he glowered at the smirking man.

"I don't know what you're laughing at," Darin stated, crossing his arms and looking away with a huff. "I'm not the one who has to walk all the way back to Rokor."

"Say whatever you need to keep your dignity," Noctifer said mildly, not reacting at all as Darin jabbed his elbow into his chest.

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