“Hrm?” Conundrum asked at the same time he leisurely turned. His right hand went to the pendant-like axe at his waist in the same motion, and he pulled it off in a casual manner.

  Like he was playing a sport and coming around with a gentle backhanded swing, the axe grew from three inches to more than a foot and a half. Just in time for the flat of the blade to come in contact with the all-consuming fireball.

  However, instead of the devastating explosion Glorina expected—that she winced for—Conundrum simply backhanded the fireball up into the air with an almost comical whump.

  “You can’t do that!” Glorina shouted before her brain could catch up to her mouth.

  “Can’t do what?” Conundrum asked, turning back around to look at her, leaving his back facing an equally surprised Zazabar.

  “You can’t rally a fireball!” Glorina exclaimed.

  “Why not?” Conundrum asked, the look on his face one of genuine curiosity.

  “Because fireballs explode!” Glorina said.

  As if to punctuate her point, two hundred feet above them, said fireball did exactly that, bursting in the dusk sky in an explosion bigger than a house before gently raining embers down like the branches of a heavy tree. Those flames fell no more than forty or fifty feet before snuffing out, leaving the town beneath safe from the deadly flames.

  “See? Fireball did explode,” Conundrum said. “I’m not sure what the problem is.”

  “It should have exploded when… look out!” she screamed, another fireball already racing for Conundrum’s back.

  “Okay, let’s… here, let’s try it again.”

  True to his word, Conundrum spun around again. This time, instead of swatting the fireball out of the air with a backhand, he came at it with a textbook forehand. Another whump launched the fireball high into the sky.

  This one only got about a hundred and fifty feet up before it too, like the first, exploded in a shower of embers that was oddly beautiful. Probably not what Zazabar was concerned about at the moment, by the look on his face.

  No sooner did the shock turn to a scowl, than more fire licked on the palms of each of his hands. One, two, he tossed them at Conundrum, and one, two, the gnome played them high into the sky with a forehand-backhand combination.

  Even before these two exploded, another pair came his way. He stepped to the side, lined up his forehand, swatted it, then double-stepped in the opposite direction to get into position for his backhand. This one, with his second hand on the haft of the axe swatted the fireball aside with a bit of extra oomph that sent the ball of flame streaking higher than the others. These two new fireballs soared—at slightly different angles—into the sky at the same time the first two exploded.

  “Ooh, pretty,” Valeria said, her hands clapping beside Glorina. “Again!” she shouted.

  Zazabar seemed eager to comply—in the sense he wanted to see fried gnome—and more fireballs came in Conundrum’s direction.

  “That’s it, right here,” Conundrum said, hitting the first and then the second fireballs up to join the four that were showering light above the town.

  By this point, every window had a spectator in it. Every doorway stood open as the villagers tried to figure out just what in the hells was going on. To them, since it didn’t seem immediately dangerous, it had to be the show of a lifetime.

  Glorina had heard tale of a gnomish invention called fireworks. Powerful explosives of some kind that would be hurled into the sky where they did what explosives did. Explode. In booming eruptions of light, color, and wonder. Much the same as what the gnome in front of her was doing, except he was playing with lethal magic that should’ve, by all rights, been killing him the entire time. Instead, the madman was smiling!

  And… so was Glorina.

  “Come on, keep them coming,” Conundrum said to Zazabar, the mage growing more frustrated with every second, his hands whipping fireballs out almost before they were fully formed.

  Not that it mattered to Conundrum, who was forming a smooth path in the dirt road from his quick back-and-forth motions. With each step, his feet were always perfectly placed, lined up for forehand after forehand after backhand, like he was playing in some kind of relaxed rally.

  Soon enough, the sky was practically filled with something like those rumored fireworks the Princess of the Deep had heard of, each one now taking on a different shape. While the first was like a weeping willow tree, others began to take on the forms of starbursts and shooting stars, streamers across the sky. And that one—that one right there—Glorina was pretty sure that one was Conundrum’s face.

  “How?!” Zazabar roared. “How are you doing that?”

  “Good form, and a lot of practice,” Conundrum said. “When I was younger, my parents hired an excellent teacher that ran me through more drills than you can imagine. My own personal hell that I never thought would be useful. But, here we are! Thanks mom and dad!” Conundrum laughed, lining up and absolutely smashing the next fireball that came in his direction with a powerful overhead swing. This one streaked into the sky like a meteor in reverse, only to explode with just as much force.

  This eruption lit up the town like the noonday sun—by far the most powerful fireball Zazbar had thrown—and with its eruption, frustration etched the mage’s face. His hands clenched in front of him like claws.

  “Encore! Encore!” Valeria said, her hands clapping, Trath and Mika beside her nodding in time, the light still reflecting off their skin.

  “I don’t understand,” Glorina said.

  “What’s so hard to believe?” Brawn Granitefist said from beside her. Unlike the others, he wasn’t clapping, but that was probably because of his custom gauntlets, the vambraces so long his knuckles rested on the ground. “This is Conundrum, the Walker of the Worlds, we’re talking about. You came looking for a legend. What did you expect?”

  “I didn’t expect him to volley fireballs!” Glorina said.

  “Look, it’s not so difficult,” Conundrum said, once again fully facing the five standing in front of the Whetstone Tavern. “It’s all about keeping a firm wrist, and good form in the follow-through. I’ll even teach you how to do it later, if you’d like.”

  Claiming that volleying fireballs from one of the most powerful mages in the lands was no more difficult than a hobby set a new fury running through Zazabar’s veins.

  “I’ll show you!” the Master of the All-Consuming Flame shouted. “I won’t let you cheat me again!”

  With his words, the man threw his hands above his head, palms facing each other as a new fire began to form within them. This one raged like a bonfire instead of swirling together in the form of a fireball. Whatever he was doing, it was something new. Something Conundrum wasn’t even looking at. No, the gnome was too busy showing the five in front of the Whetstone Tavern the proper form of a good forehand.

  Within seconds, Zazabar’s hands were forced apart, the bonfire going from the size of his head to the size of a small dog, to the size of a large dog, and then almost to the size of a cow.

  Conundrum, still looking at the five—and switching to showing them a backhand—didn’t seem concerned as the whole village took on an even more reddish glow. While the inn burned, its flames licking up to the second and third floors, this new flame between Zazabar’s hands emanated a different type of power.

  The flames consuming the inn looked almost natural. These… these seemed vengeful, like the man commanding them.

  “Die, gnome!” Zazabar shouted, his hands swinging down, bringing the inferno with them.

  As soon as his arms were horizontal in front of him, flames burst out, rushing and filling the street like a tidal wave roaring in Conundrum’s direction, while the force of them skidded the mage’s feet in the opposite direction along the dirt road.

  From their birth, the heat of the flames washed across Glorina’s face like she was standing in front of her father’s forge. Her whiskers wanted to singe, but luckily, she had invested in fireproof beard wax. Not that it would help her when those flames reached them.

  Already towering above the roofs of the town’s small homes, the flame came like an unstoppable stampede. Still, Conundrum barely looked worried. He even went so far as to meet Glorina’s eyes before sighing, giving a small turn, and lifting Fatespinner up. Then he drove it down into the ground behind the heel of his right foot.

  With the way the axe struck, it rested sideways in the street. What was that going to do? Protect his ankle from the fire?

  Conundrum just winked at the Princess of the Deep like he knew what she was thinking. With a tap of his hand on the haft of the weapon, Fatespinner once again changed size. This time, it didn’t become a three-inch pendant. No, this time, Fatespinner expanded. Grew to tremendous proportions. Its blade entirely filled the street, the long haft stretching far above the homes on one side.

  Just like that, there was a giant crystal axe between Conundrum and the angry mage.

  The roar of flames struck the other side, and despite the size of the weapon, Glorina half expected fire tendrils to come crawling over. The roar was deafening, like a waterfall, but there was another sound there as well.

  The same sound she heard when she drained her bathtub. Some kind of suction, like water going down a drain.

  Even as she watched, around the floating stars within Fatespinner, small sparks of flame sped into the galaxies and quickly vanished.

  On and on the torrential flame came, one second turning to three, to five, to ten, with no end in sight. All the while, as the flames burned, Conundrum hardly paid attention to the roaring inferno. Instead, he eyed the ground at his feet, pacing back and forth until he leaned down to pick up a thumb-sized rock. Bouncing it in the palm of his hand, he nodded at himself, then cocked his ear to the side.

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  As if perfectly timed, the roaring flames on the other side of Fatespinner finally extinguished.

  Conundrum tapped the giant axe again and, between blinks, it was the size of a greataxe proportioned for a gnome.

  “If you’ll excuse me,” Conundrum said to Glorina, even offering a small bow. “I should probably get this finished off.”

  “You…!” Zazabar roared, his finger pointing in Conundrum’s direction. “I’m going to…!”

  “That’s enough out of you,” Conundrum interrupted, then stepped forward, the impressive muscles of his waist, chest, shoulders, and arm flexing as his hand whipped around to hurl the small stone he’d picked up.

  A boom echoed out from the sheer velocity of the throw, the buildings rattling on both sides of the street, and a trail of dust kicking up behind the small rock. It struck Zazbar just above the right hip and then continued on without slowing, leaving a fist-sized hole in the mage’s body.

  Zazabar’s words choked off in a grunt of pain, blood suddenly spewing onto the ground beside him. He staggered once to the side but didn’t fall.

  A mage though he was, Zazabar had been in a hundred battles. He’d fought, he’d killed, and he’d been injured. Though this wound was a bad one, it wasn’t the worst he’d taken, and his hand immediately went to his side, flames licking out to cauterize the wound.

  “It’ll take more than that to defeat me, you cheating son of a…” Zazbar started, until he found Conundrum standing right in front of him.

  Glorina blinked. She hadn’t even seen the gnome move, and just like that, he was a two-hundred feet distant.

  Fatespinner held above his head in both hands now, the weapon stood the same height it had when she’d first seen it leaning against the table in the Whetstone Tavern. A towering nine feet long, with a terrible, double-bladed, crystal axehead. Not that the weight seemed to hinder Conundrum in the least. Within it, shooting stars whipped through the spinning galaxies, and then just stopped. Like they were exactly where they needed to be.

  “I don’t cheat,” Conundrum said, then swung the axe straight down.

  The legendary Zazabar, Master of the All-Consuming Flame, offered no resistance to the razor-sharp edge of Fatespinner. The blade struck the crown of his head and continued down through his face, his throat, his torso, and out his crotch before crashing into the ground with an earth-shaking force.

  Past him, a line of force continued on, carving through the road and the forest beyond for an entire mile. The shockwave tore apart and carried shredded trees to clear a path right up until it reached what looked like a distant lake. Only then did the force expend itself—waves gently rolling across the lake, while the torn trees somehow fell into a convenient and orderly pile—just in time for the two halves of Zazabar, Master of the All-Consuming Flame, to fall to the ground.

  “I tried to warn you,” Conundrum said to the motionless body, Fatespinner once again reduced to a more appropriate size for a gnome. “Now, just one more thing to do,” Conundrum added, dropping the head of the axe to the ground and leaning on it while he turned to look at the inn. The one that was very much still on fire.

  Glorina, still gaping at the devastation a single swing of his axe had wrought, could only woodenly turn her head, wide-eyed, to look at the gnome as he pointed a finger at the inn.

  What was he going to do next? Extinguish the flames with a wave of his hand? Smash the whole thing with another powerful blow? Command it to go out and expect it to follow his orders?

  “That’s just enough out of you,” Conundrum said to the inn. Apparently, he’s going with option three. “You’ve had your fun, but now it’s gone a little too far. You’re going to stop what you’re doing, and you’re going to put everything back the way you found it.”

  As if in response to Conundrum’s words, the flames raging across the inn flared up, reaching ever higher for the sky.

  “Who’s he talking to?” The words spilled out of Glorina’s mouth.

  “That’d be the All-Consuming Flame,” Mika said.

  “The all-con—what?”

  “The All-Consuming Flame,” Mika said. “As in Zazabar, Master of the All-Consuming Flame. Maybe you’ve heard his name?” The woman chuckled along with her question, Valeria joining in.

  “Of course I’ve heard…” Glorina started, but shook her head to focus not on the friendly jibe, and instead on the more pressing matter. “But how is he talking to it? Why is he talking to it?”

  “Oh, you didn’t know? I guess it’s not common knowledge. Anyway, Zazabar’s flame is actually a bound summons. He mastered a very powerful spell—ancient, I might add, and honestly kind of impressive if we weren’t rivals—that summoned and shackled an entity called the All-Consuming Flame to his will. That’s why he was the master of it.

  “Now it’s on the inn, and Conundrum… well, he’s scolding it for misbehaving.”

  Even as Mika said that, Conundrum waggled his finger at the flames.

  “Don’t you talk back to me, young man! You know very well you’re being naughty. And no,” Conundrum said, as sparks flew in his direction. “You cannot blame this guy.” Conundrum pointed to the two halves of Zazabar on either side of him. “Yes, he was a bad influence, and that’s the only reason I’m talking to you instead of…”

  Conundrum lifted the axe just enough so the flames would get the idea.

  “So, put everything back the way you found it. Or else.”

  With the last two words came another thump from Conundrum’s direction. There was no shockwave or swing of the axe, but something deeper, something more primal, like the heartbeat of something waking up that any sane person would desperately, desperately want to stay asleep. Between blinks, the gnome in front of her seemed to change, like she was seeing two shapes superimposed over each other.

  The first was the Conundrum she had met in the Whetstone Tavern. Three feet tall, impressively muscular—for a gnome—and with a playful twinkle in his eye. The second image, however, couldn’t be further from the first. Instead of standing three feet tall, the gnome towered above the inn, the three-story building not even reaching his knee. In place of his boots, bracers, loincloth and jewelry, it looked like he was armored in pieces of the night sky itself. Not just his armor, either, with his hair, beard, and eyes taking on the appearance of the same star-filled material.

  Gone was the good-humoured expression on his face, instead replaced by something that reminded Glorina of nature’s fury. Just looking at the gnome had some small part of wanting to kneel and pray to The Three Below to keep her safe. Something else in the back of her mind could’ve sworn it heard them praying for the same thing.

  Then, with the next blink, Conundrum was back to his normal size and shape. The terror that had gripped her heart and stolen her breath, gone like it had never been there. Was it all her imagination?

  If it was, she wasn’t the only one who’d dreamed it up. At her side, four other legendary heroes had their heads bowed like they didn’t want to be noticed or make eye contact with an existential threat.

  And, in front of her, the All-Consuming Flame visibly weakened in the time it would’ve taken her to snap her fingers. The fire running across the sides of the inn shrank, and before Glorina’s eyes, the inn began to rebuild itself. The charcoal wood took on new life, even the paint coming back like it had just gotten a fresh coat.

  “You’re all seeing this, right?” Glorina said.

  “It’s the All-Consuming Flame,” Mika said. “It’s a very interesting entity. It consumes, but doesn’t necessarily destroy what it consumes. Meaning, if it so chooses, it can put it back. It’s basically vomiting the inn up.”

  “Yuck,” Trath said. “I hate vomiting.”

  “At least it’s not rainbows,” Valeria said. “Those are the worst to throw up.”

  “Most people hate vomiting. Especially rainbows,” Mika said, like vomiting damn rainbows was somehow a normal occurrence. “The All-Consuming Flame isn’t really fond of it either. But when the Walker of the Worlds tells you to do something, you do it.”

  “Or what?” Glorina asked.

  To the question, four heads turned to look at her. Gone were the previous smiles and easygoing faces she’d seen since she’d entered the Whetstone Tavern.

  “There is no ‘or what,’” Valeria said. “When the Walker of the Worlds tells you to do something, you do it.”

  Around her, three other heads nodded. And, remembering like a half-dream what she’d seen earlier, Glorina understood. The ‘or what’ had only the end after it.

  It was a lesson the All-Consuming Flame apparently knew as well. The inn once again stood tall and proud, honestly looking newer than it had when Glorina had passed it earlier. Now, what was left of the fire rested above the doorframe, no bigger than her hand from the wrist up. An ember of once-angry flame, reduced to hoping it wouldn’t be snuffed out in the next breath.

  “See?” Conundrum said. “You can be well-behaved when you try. I’m very proud of you. However,” he added, and the small bonfire seemed to shiver at the word. “I can’t just leave you here, can I?”

  Again, the flame shivered, and maybe it was Glorina’s imagination, but to her it appeared as if the fire was looking side to side for a way out of this problem.

  “I also know it’s not your fault you’re here,” Conundrum said, “so you don’t deserve to die for that.”

  There was a small puff in front of the fire as if it had just breathed out a sigh of relief.

  “So, you’re coming with me,” Conundrum said. “I just need to find a place to put you. Ah, let’s see… anything in here we can use?”

  He opened the pouch at his hip and began to look inside, despite it being no larger than a coin-purse, while talking absently to the All-Consuming Flame. His head tilted back like he had a sudden idea.

  “Or, there’s that guy in the tavern who’s got a good ring. That might make a nice home for you. Tsk, but no, he already uses that for some other fire. That’s not going to work.” The gnome shook his head in disappointment. “What can we do, what can we do? It’s not like I can put you in a forge. I mean, you’d be great for a forge, but I don’t carry one of those with me. Then again…”

  Conundrum trailed off and looked in the direction of the five standing in front of the Whetstone Tavern.

  “…Something tells me we might be heading to the Monolith. And if there’s one place that has good forges, where you can do some good, that would be the place. We just need something to carry you.”

  He looked back in his pouch a second time.

  “Ah, here it is! Here it is!”

  Conundrum reached into his small pouch, and somehow, against all logic, pulled out a five-sided lantern that he lifted in front of himself. When he took his hand away, the lantern continued to float there, bobbing gently up and down.

  “Got this from a nice fellow I met. A twin whose brother made the best stew. Just don’t ever call it soup. Anyway, he used it for something different—some kind of life energy thing, I think—but that’s close enough to fire, right? I’m sure it’ll be fine. This is going to be your new home for a little bit,” Conundrum said, flipping open the front pane of glass. “Be a good lad and hop right in there. And then I think it’s time to go find out what a certain princess came here looking for.”

  All too eager to please, the fist-sized All-Consuming Flame bobbed through the air and into the lantern. As soon as it had settled into place—Conundrum even going so far as to ask if it was comfortable—the gnome closed the pane of glass and flicked the latch.

  “Now, you’re not going to be going around consuming too much. Don’t worry, don’t worry. We’ll find something to feed you. We can take care of each other. Now, come along, let’s go talk to the princess.”

  Pulling Fatespinner free from the crevice he’d created by slamming it into the ground, Conundrum hefted the axe over his shoulder and began walking in the direction of the Whetstone Tavern. Behind him, as if connected by a leash, the lantern floated, gently bobbing in the air.

  “Now then, Princess Glorina Stonewall, daughter of King and Queen Stonewall, rulers of the Monolith, etcetera, etcetera… I believe you were just about to tell us what threat is so great that you came here searching for me.”

  “Yes, Princess,” Brawn Granitefist said. “What could be such a threat to the Monolith that you would travel this far? That the king and queen would be willing to ask for help?”

  “What threat could be so great that it might make an excellent legend?” Trath said.

  “Sounds to me,” Mika added, “like there might be some fame involved for all of us in this one.”

  Glorina looked from each face around her. She’d come seeking Conundrum, the Walker of the Worlds, and found something entirely unexpected. Brawn Granitefist, the Smasher, she’d expected to bring him back with her regardless, even if she’d had to give him a royal order. From the sounds of things, Trath One-Tusk and Mika of the Heavenly Wrath were also willing to join her on this quest.

  “Yeah, before you ask,” Valeria said, “I’ve never been to the Monolith. You can totally count me in.”

  “We’re not going there to steal stuff,” Trath said.

  “We’ll see,” Valeria replied with a wink.

  Glorina was half-tempted to stop the halfling there—to keep her kingdom safe—but from the look on Valeria’s face, she’d go where she wanted to, no matter what Glorina said. Well, that meant it was too late--the Undauntant’s interest was piqued—and it was better to bring the little thief with her and keep an eye on her as best she could. At least until the royal guard could take over that responsibility.

  “You’ll all help me?” Glorina asked, instead of voicing her concern about how much treasure would likely go missing if Valeria made it into the Monolith.

  “That’s what it sounds like to me,” Conundrum said. “Quite the group of heroes you’ve found. But still, we’re waiting to find out what we need to be heroes against. Tell us, what did the prophets see? What’s coming for the Monolith?”

  “The prophets haven’t been able to tell us much,” Glorina admitted, standing on the steps of the Whetstone Tavern. “All they can see is a deep shadow rolling across the horizon. One that will wash over the Monolith and all the lands if it’s not stopped.”

  “Some kind of evil?” Brawn asked. “A dragon? An army?”

  “Did your prophets see anything else?” Conundrum said. “A name, perhaps?”

  “Not a name exactly,” Glorina said.

  “What do you mean, ‘not exactly’?”

  “More of a title,” Glorina said.

  “Spit it out, girl,” Mika said. “What’s coming for the Monolith?”

  “The prophets called it… The Enemy.”