Shanna’s cabin is ripped apart in a silent, fireless explosion that sends shockwaves rippling across the village.

  Davon gasps as he falls through the portal he quickly summoned to escape the blast.

  His breath is fast, his heart is racing even faster. Triminiv senses it a Kiloclick away and speeds toward him, turning into a soundwave that reaches out to strangle him.

  Her body manifests before Davon, so her fingers can more easily dig into his flesh, and her lips can deliver the killing word.

  “Triminiv!” Nadeden shouts, nocking an arrow as she runs over to the pair.

  “Nadeden.” Triminiv addresses her in the safe, ghastly tone.

  “Put him down, this is my fight.” Nadeden lifts the fletching of the arrow to her cheek, pulling the string back and aiming straight at Davon.

  “He hurt Shanna.” The Elf of Death’s voice threatens to become violent once more.

  “Is that where you draw the line? You’re all for compromising and keeping the peace until someone gets hurt? This was inevitable, especially from him, so let me do the honors.”

  Triminiv stares into Davon while Nadeden speaks, watching his every move to be sure that he doesn’t do anything rash.

  The breathless expression of horror on Davon’s face tells the Elf that Nadeden is right.

  She’s been a hypocrite, acting with emotion and without thought. She’s done so much to protect this village, only to now recklessly unleash her powers upon it.

  All this work, all this compromise, and now, of all times, she chose to act without considering the consequences.

  How foolish.

  How utterly foolish.

  But on the other hand, Davon acted in a similar vein. He attacked this village unprovoked.

  He threatened the peace maintained between Trimininv and the Officers. Even worse than that, he attacked Shanna.

  Triminiv’s grip on Davon’s neck tightens as does Nadeden's grip on her bowstring.

  Davon struggles under Triminiv’s hold.

  Summoning a portal now would be idiotic.

  Not only would he risk injury or death in his escape, but Triminiv would most likely just follow him through the vortex.

  He may be as good as dead, but he’s not completely helpless.

  He has one card he can play. One thing he can tell both Triminiv and Nadeden that may lead them to spare his life. But should he say it? Should he be the one to deliver that revelation?

  How would Nadeden react to learning that her son is alive?

  Davon is unsure, but he decides to risk it anyway. Wrestling his neck from within Triminiv’s clutches, he turns to Nadeden. “Wait… you should know-”

  A hulking mass of stone strikes the forest outside the village.

  The very planet trembles at the sheer strength of the impact.

  The ground shifts, catching Triminiv by surprise.

  Her grip loosens on Davon. He slips out of her hand and hastily snaps his fingers.

  Triminv scowls and whistles, transforming back into a soundwave to track down Davon. Nadeden does her own search by frantically scanning the area for him.

  She finds Granix instead.

  “What are you doing here!” She shouts at the giant, who carefully kneels down in the forest, toppling trees and disturbing wildlife as they do so.

  “Smith told me that you required assistance.” Granix’s humble voice booms over the village. If everyone in it wasn’t awake already, they definitely are now.

  Nadeden shakes her head, lowering her bow. “That stupid kid…”

  “Behind you!” Granix calls out, attempting to reach forward without causing any damage as Davon attacks Nadeden from behind.

  Stupid! Nadeden curses herself, springing back into action to fire an arrow that launches itself back at her through a portal.

  She only narrowly dodges the projectile, twisting with the cold breeze as it flies past her.

  Separated from his daggers, Davon resorts to his fists, summoning a series of portals that he reaches through in rapid succession to strike Nadeden from afar.

  Much to his dismay, Nadeden notes the flashes of blue light and avoids each portal before any blows can make contact.

  Frustrated and filled with adrenaline, Davon charges forward while Nadeden simply draws an arrow and fires it. Davon snaps his fingers before it can hit him.

  The portal he redirected the arrow through opens in front of Nadeden’s stomach. She twists, letting out a wail of pain as the stone arrowhead grazes her tightly bandaged abdomen.

  Davon grins as she stumbles backward. However, the expression soon fades into surprise as two thin, sickly arms block his hand from striking her.

  “Are you alright?” Smith glances at Nadeden, still holding back Davon.

  “I’ll walk it off.” She chuckles, fighting off the pain.

  Davon sweeps Smith’s legs, throwing them off balance and leaving them to fall to the dirt as he tosses both his hands out to snap at Nadeden.

  But he makes the fatal error of underestimating Smith’s recovery time. The Machinst launches their leg into Davon’s crotch as they roll over to Nadeden and stand.

  “Is this Davon? I saw the Mystic portals.”

  Nadeden nods, nocking another arrow into her bow. “Yeah, it’s him. Keep your eyes on his hands. He snaps his fingers to summon those portals.”

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Davon dusts the dirt from his jacket before discarding it entirely and regaining his composure to snap his fingers again.

  Smith is separated from Nadeden just as quickly as they came to her aid, as two trees rain down from portals in the sky.

  Granix knocks one tree aside with their finger while Smith leaps out of the way of the other.

  The massive rock catches Davon’s eye. He snaps his fingers, sending a piece of Granix hurtling toward Nadeden. Granix juts out their thumb to shield the chunk of themselves from Nadeden, who crawls on top of them to fire at Davon.

  The arrow finds its target, landing in Davon’s shoulder with a sputter of blood before he can do anything to defend himself.

  Pushing down the pain, Davon snaps to close the gap between him and Nadeden.

  He slams his fist into her eye as he leaps down from the portal, leaving it swollen and blackened.

  She fights through the stinging sensation, firing off an arrow at close distance that grazes his neck.

  Nadeden awaits Davon’s retaliation, preparing to counter it, but is taken off balance as Granix’s thumb rises into the air.

  Davon struggles to stand as the shaking rock shifts beneath him. Nadeden seizes the opportunity to kick out a few of his teeth before being forced to run up Granix’s forearm for the sake of her own safety as the thumb joins with the other boulder-like fingers into a fist.

  Davon snaps his fingers, teleporting himself away from the danger of falling, only to be faced with an even greater threat.

  “Found you.”

  Trimminiv’s words become literal icy daggers that stab into Davon’s hands, pinning him against a tree.

  The Elf approaches him with a merciless intensity. She seems to size him up before speeding forward in the blink of an eye.

  For the first time since gaining his powers, Davon finds himself terrified at the thought of his own death.

  Triminiv is no mortal woman; she’s the Grim Reaper herself, and she’s come to collect the soul that evaded her judgment just mere moments ago.

  But Davon isn’t frozen by his terror. He’s motivated by it.

  He can’t die here.

  Not like this.

  He came here to kill Nadeden, and he’s going to accomplish that task even if his body is broken, bloodied, and pleading for the sweet release of death. He has to push forward.

  Not out of obligation, but out of sheer unbridled rage.

  Davon lets out a piercing scream as both his fingers and bones snap.

  “Nadeden!”

  Smith calls out as Granix lifts them up onto their rocky mountain of a shoulder. “I lost track of Davon!” Nadeden grasps the arrow lodged in her bleeding stomach at Smith’s news.

  “Triminiv might have him!” She shouts back, walking onto the shoulder opposite Smith to meet them.

  The air is thin up here.

  Nadeden’s head feels like it’s going to touch the stars glimmering in the dark sky as her breathing begins to slow.

  This wouldn’t be a bad way to die. She thinks with a smile, her eyes search the forest beside the village before gazing on Smith, who stands idly beside Granix’s head.

  “Nadeden?” Smith questions, leaning on the giant’s chin. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

  She only smiles in response. The smile fades as a flash of blue light knocks Smith off Granix.

  Nadeden lunges forward to snatch their leg, her bow and satchel fly up into the air before falling into the abyss of a forest that Smith now dangles over.

  “I got you!” She yells, which does little to reassure Smith; their pale face shoots an odd look her way. It takes Nadeden far too long to realize that the look is one of shock.

  Something knocks her off Granix with a hefty kick.

  Granix moves what little rocks they can gather on the exterior of their body without completely destroying it to catch both Smith and Nadeden.

  The pair rises back up to Granix’s shoulders on a stone elevator to meet “Davon?” Nadeden gazes in horror at the stumps that were once Davon’s hands.

  Blood drips from them, not in soft droplets but sizable clumps as he holds the mangled monstrosities out toward her.

  “I have to hand it to you, Nadeden, you are one difficult Woman to kill. And you keep some extremely fascinating company!” Davon spits the words, his mouth aching and foaming with saliva.

  His face becomes that of a wild animal as he slowly stumbles forward, laughing manically, “But we’re the same now! Because I refuse to kneel over until you’re dead!”

  The stump flies forward.

  Nadeden and Smith both dodge out of its way, the wet clumps of crimson stain them as they both take turns exchanging blows with Davon.

  Smith follows Nadeden’s lead.

  They’re still new to this. The fact that Davon intends to kill Nadeden at any cost eliminates any second thoughts of not raising their hand or remaining the uncompromising pacifist they once were from their mind.

  They counter each strike Davon throws with one of their own.

  Nadeden attacks Davon with the same fury as Smith.

  The fact that she was the one to train them certainly helps.

  She expertly sets up Smith to take advantage of any openings that Davon makes the mistake of revealing to her.

  The duo works in a fine unison while Davon refuses to relent.

  The battle can only be described as a brutal ballet.

  Each member of the fight screams out a battle cry at least once and spills blood more times than they can count.

  Throughout the conflict, Smith remains the most agile and least injured, Nadeden the most strategic and defensive, and Davon the most brutal and aggressive.

  He hardly even cares about how overwhelmed he is by the violence of the pair. His mind may not be clear, but his focus is.

  As Davon’s scornful bloodshot eyes meet Nadeden in the midst of a punch, the realization hits her harder than any attack ever could.

  One of them is going to be dead by the end of the night.

  Nadeden’s fist plows into Davon’s shoulder, breaking the arrow lodged inside it down into splinters that line her knuckles and drive into his body.

  Smith strikes him next, slamming their elbow into his nose, breaking it.

  Davon grinds his teeth, mixing blood with saliva as he swings at the pair, who both slam their arms together to block the bloody attack.

  Then, as if reading each other's thoughts, Nadeden and Smith both gather all their strength into a single uppercut that knocks Davon onto his back.

  Before he can stand, Davon hears a faint whisper in the wind behind him that manifests into Triminiv and slams him down.

  Granix then restrains him with an army of pebbles. Davon fights against the restraints, howling as his neck, which is still bleeding after being grazed by Nadeden’s arrow, is forced against the rough rock.

  Nadeden stomps her wooden leg atop his helpless body, standing defiantly. “You should have told Gelmidas to send an army, Davon.”

  “I couldn’t do it,” He gasps for air, “I couldn’t live knowing that someone else would have killed you. It had to be me.”

  Nadeden stares into Davon’s now unrecognizable face. She refrains from displaying how surprised she is to not picture Gerry’s face in its place.

  “Why did you do all this? Why did it have to be you to kill me?” She inquires.

  “Because I hate you.” Davon sneers despite his agony. “I’ve hated you since the day I met you. I worked my whole life in service of a system I believed in and one that you dismissed. You came to us drenched in blood, saying that you were defecting from the Republic, but you were just using us as a survival method. That’s all you ever cared about, Nadeden, survival. You didn’t care what happened as long as you were still breathing the day after. Some days, I wonder if you even loved Gelmidas the same way I did, but then I remember that I love the Division more, and you never loved anything, not even yourself. I breathe for the Division, I bleed for the Division, I will die for the Division. Can you say that you did that for anything, Scorched Archer?”

  He coughs out his last words, “Can you say that you ever lived for something greater than yourself?”

  Nadeden removes her wooden prosthetic from Davon’s dying body. “I can, Davon.”

  A tear falls from her black eye. “I can.”

  She rests her hand on Smith, turning away from the Messenger of the Division as Triminiv mutters a killing word.

  Despite spending years awaiting this, Nadeden finds that she feels nothing but emptiness at Davon’s death. She doesn’t even regret surrendering the kill.

  All that rage and all that vengeance that boiled inside her and fueled her has simply drifted away like the cold wind of the night.

  As a matter of fact, it left a long time ago.

  It faded with age.

  Just like all things do…