The creature lunged forward, inexplicably fast despite its massive size.

  Jorge was the first to meet it head on, swinging his great axe in a wide arc above his head. The blade found it's way into the beast’s shoulder, digging into bone and slicing into flesh with a sickening crunch and a splatter of blood. It let out a piercing scream and swung at him with one of its limbs, knocking him back into a tree with a loud thud, his axe dropping from his grip somewhere nearby.

  “Elise, go!” Faris shouted, already unleashing an arrow. It buried itself into the creature’s chest, but the beast barely flinched, replying with a low growl.

  Elise was already a blur across the clearing, her daggers flashing silver as she dashed and spun between its limbs. She slashed its underbelly and twisted away from its snapping jaws, her eyes dark and focused.

  Remi stood behind them, her staff held high as she muttered incantations under her breath. Yellow mana flared at her fingertips and through her staff. “Faris, ten feet left!” she called.

  He rolled quickly, just as a flare of golden energy struck the creature’s side, exposing a weak point. Faris readied another arrow, and took the shot, clean and precise.

  The arrow slammed into its ribcage, sending a spurt of red, thick blood into the air.

  The group moved in sync. A unit, attacking in waves, backing one another up, while simultaneously reading the enemy.

  Soren watched and gritted his teeth, sword in hand, heart pounding, ready to join the fray. Then he heard it once again.

  “...Soren…”

  His legs stopped moving mid-step, the same fear and tug from earlier pulling at his chest.

  “Sweetheart… help me…”

  His head turned around slowly, brown eyes wide with confusion and disbelief.

  “Why… why didn’t you protect me…?”

  His grip loosened on the sword slightly, hand lowering slightly.

  “I needed you, Soren… and you let him take me...”

  It wasn’t just a voice, it was her. He could feel it in his chest, that raw sense of familiarity. He saw her eyes, her smile. The moment she was ripped out of his life. His mother.

  His knees buckled slightly, and his hand lowered further, grip almost loose enough to drop his sword. He clenched his teeth, but the guilt flooded him like a wave could not withstand.

  “It’s my fault…” he whispered. “I wasn’t strong enough. I couldn’t… I couldn’t save you, mother… I failed…”

  His surroundings disappeared into a blur, the nearby battle muffling as well. Everything around him slowed, and it was as if the very fog he stood within had begun rising in his mind, choking his thoughts.

  “Why couldn’t you save me?”

  He closed his eyes, tears welling up, head lowered.

  Across the clearing, Remi’s spell misfired as the wraith roared, landing against a tree instead. It lashed out in anger, slamming Elise to the side of the clearing through dirt and branches. Jorge was trying to counter its slashes, but to no avail, breathing hard and bleeding from a gash on his shoulder.

  Faris had his arm up to protect his face, backing away from the wraith while bleeding from his leg, his bow knocked from his hand too far to reach. The creature shrieked loud enough to wake up the entire forest, bared its teeth, and lunged at him.

  “SOREN!” Remi screamed, pink hair now messy and a worried look across her face, as she looked with desperation at his unmoving form.

  The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  No reaction.

  “SOREN, PLEASE!”

  Her voice struck, and pierced through the fog that had almost consumed his mind. His eyes snapped open, and the fog shattered. He turned around quickly and saw Faris, cornered, vulnerable, and the creature descending upon him at immense speed.

  “No.”

  He thought, gritting his teeth, eyes wide with anger and panic, as he lifted his sword up properly.

  “I won't let someone die again.”

  He ran, sword gripped tighter than ever before, the air around him passing by so fast it felt as if it was rushing into his ears. His boots slammed against the forest floor.

  He roared and swung wide, his blade slashing through the skin and muscle of the wraith’s back leg. It let out a howl of agony and twisted violently, only for Soren to duck under its front leg, and drive his sword across the joint of another limb, blood spraying across the dirt and onto his face, flowing down his sword. It collapsed to one side, hissing in pain and twisting unnaturally, uprooting the ground beneath it.

  “NOW!” Jorge shouted. He ran forward and slammed his axe into one of the creature’s pinned legs, rooting it’s bone and flesh into the dirt below.

  Remi’s staff glowed bright blue. “Hold it!” she cried out, a look of finality on her face.

  A rush of mana swirled around and above her staff, then launched forward and struck the creature in the form of dozens of ice spears, like a wave of arrows that did not stop. The wraith stiffened as each spear dug into its flesh and tore through its muscle, its limbs twisted but unmoving due to the positioning of the spears, as if it was chained to the ground beneath it.

  Soren stood before it, eyes filled with a look of contempt and acceptance. “You’re not real. You’re just… a lie. A pale imitation of the dead.”

  He stepped forward, brown eyes looking almost bored now, as the creature writhed helplessly before him, still trapped by Remi’s spell.

  “Though, if you insist on being dead...”

  He raised his sword slowly, the steel shining from the pale moonlight, and drove the blade straight through the creature’s skull, blood spurting out and into air, landing on and running down his arm

  The blade pierced through one of its eyes and into its skull, and the beast let out a final, devastating shriek. Its body twitched violently and thrashed at him, before going still. The orange glow faded, and its head lowered slowly to the side.

  Soren stood for a moment, breathing heavily, hands shaking. He slowly pulled his sword free from its skull, blood dripping from the blade. He stepped away from the corpse and wiped it clean against a nearby tree, chest rising and falling as the last of the adrenaline surged through him.

  Behind him, Elise stumbled to her feet, wincing in pain. He walked over and offered her a hand. She hesitated for a moment, dark eyes meeting his, then took it, nodding in quiet thanks.

  Faris looked over from where he sat, nodding to Soren with a shocked approval.

  Jorge exhaled, lowering his axe and letting out a whistle. “That was… impressive, kid.” There was surprise in his voice, maybe even respect.

  Remi walked forward, her staff still glowing, a faint smile on her face. “Good… save. You managed to deal even more damage than a Veteran-rank mage like me, without the use of mana at all.”

  Soren didn’t respond, just nodded, exhaustion catching up to him. Though he couldn’t help but think about her rank. “She’s a Veteran, the same as… as my father. Which means she can hold her own against most people.”

  Remi walked past the creature’s corpse, and stepped beside the rotting tree. “Finally, let's end this.”

  She raised her staff high, chanting a few incantations Soren couldn’t quite make out. The runes across the tree lit up one by one, now a gold colour instead of the earlier crimson red, and a wave of purifying energy rippled outwards. The tree cracked slowly, bark splitting as if it was screaming.

  With a final burst of mana, the tree collapsed in on itself, burning with golden fire. All around, the red runes of surrounding trees faded as if they were never there to begin with. The voices that once haunted the very air of the forest… were gone.

  The group stood in the silence for a moment, among broken branches, burnt moss, and the smell of smoke and rot.

  But also… in relief.

  They were battered, Elise had a shallow cut on her side, Jorge was limping slightly, and Faris had a cut along his leg. But they were alive.

  They exchanged brief looks, and small nods of a shared silent understanding. As they walked back toward Dunn Caster, the fog began to thin, and the forest, while still dark, felt a bit lighter.

  They talked on the way back, about the creature, about the voices. Jorge joked about needing a week of sleep, and Remi teased him back. Elise, more talkative than usual, simply muttered that next time she wouldn’t fall for it.

  Faris walked beside Soren. “You came through for us,” he said, with a tone of appreciation.

  Soren looked ahead, replaying the events in his head. He looked at Faris, and simply nodded.

  “I had to.”