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Chapter Text

Douxie yawned as he locked the door to the smoothie shop. He dropped the keys in the pocket of his hoodie and started home, a mango smoothie in hand. The Metro City sky around this time, just before dusk, was still a marvel to behold even after a year. Ribbons of pink and flaming orange against the soft blue gradient of a sky transitioning through the evening. Rich light glinted off every surface of the city. The changing billboards, the thousands of windows, the cars rolling by. Douxie always loved how peaceful it was right after working his daily doubles. Sometimes it made him believe no one was coming after them.

The rundown apartment complex loomed over him after a few blocks, ever bleak and sketchy. It was the cheapest place he could find. Maybe not the greatest part of the city in terms of company (Douxie could already hear tenants blaring crude music and bellowing swears) but well…Nothing a little magic couldn’t handle. Case in point, Crooked Smith came hobbling over to Douxie like he did every time he came back from work. High off his head and reeking of alcohol. Brandishing a pocket knife and yelling about deer. 

“I’ve seen him and I wanna eat him!” Smith almost screamed, flashing rows of hideous teeth miraculously crammed into a leathery mouth.

“Right, right, of course you do,” Douxie said, shoulders sagging, before conjuring the visage of a buck with a wave of his hand. “Oh, look, there he goes! Better go get him.” Douxie willed the ghostly deer to leap down the hall towards Smith’s apartment, shaking his head as the man yelled and stumbled after it. The elevator finally banged and clammered its way down, the door screeching open. Douxie stepped in. Just another night.

Thankfully his apartment was not only a short ride to the third floor but just around the corner as soon as he stepped out of the elevator. Apartment 3-M, Douxie’s safe haven for the past year. He released the magic seals on the door before turning the key and pushing, the smell of flowers and the sound of boiling water like a warm hug. Archie was perched on the countertop in the kitchen, grooming himself. Nari was on the couch, draped in one of Douxie’s band t-shirts and singing softly to one of her many plants. At the sound of Douxie coming in, Nari looked up and smiled sweetly at him.

“Hello Douxie!” she said. “Welcome home.”

“Hello, Nari,” Douxie said, locking and sealing the door. Douxie grinned and held out the mango smoothie. “Got something for you! Your favorite.”

Nari’s face lit up as she took the cup. She hummed, slurping it down and bouncing her feet happily. The aloe plant she’d been singing to perked up at her giddiness. Douxie couldn’t help but smile.

“What, you didn’t get me anything?” Archie huffed as Douxie went to the kitchen.

“Got you English Breakfast, didn’t I?” Douxie retorted, playfully swatting Archie’s ear. “Isn’t that what you’re putting water on for?”

“Well, no, it’s for your dinner.” 

Said dinner was the packet of chicken flavored ramen noodles on the counter. Douxie slowly grinned at his Familiar and placed a hand on his chest, leaned back in dramatic appreciation.

“Why thank you, Arch! Whatever would I do without you?”

“I ask myself that everyday, Hisirdoux.”

Once his ramen noodles were cooked, Douxie joined Archie and Nari at their small table in the living room. Douxie crossed his legs under the table and tucked into his dinner, inhaling all the noodles and soup in a matter of minutes. A content Nari set her now empty cup aside, smacking her lips. Archie enjoyed a can of sardines.

“Douxie, can we go to the park again tomorrow?” Nari asked softly, tapping the tips of her claws together. “It has been so long…”

Douxe felt his heart squeeze. After the first few months of being holed up in this sad little apartment, Nari had about lost her mind. Douxie tried to get her as many plants as he could to give her some semblance of the natural world. But the gray walls and constant lack of direct sunlight took its toll. And the few times Douxie had taken her out to see the city, there was still the lack of flora and fauna that a forest nymph craved.

Not being able to stand Nari’s growing distress, Douxie had made the executive decision to take her to the massive open park in the middle of the city, of course not without multiple layers of concealing enchantments. Upon seeing Nari frolic about, speaking to trees, feeling the grass, and making friends with birds and squirrels, Douxie had wished he could take her there everyday. While those few hours had been enough to satisfy Nari up until now, Douxie still wished that the world wasn’t at stake and that Nari could just be happy. No constraints. No risks. No need to constantly look over their shoulders.

“We’ll see,” was all Douxie could say, a pang in his chest as Nari’s face fell. He reached across the table and took her hand. “I’m…I’m sorry, Nari, it’s just…”

“Yes, I understand,” she said, staring down at the table. Then she met Douxie’s eyes, frowning. “No, I am sorry…I ask for too much.”

“No! No, you don’t. That’s not it at all…” Douxie squeezed her hand. He and Archie shared a look. “Oh, sod it. Alright, Nari. We can go. First thing tomorrow.”

Nari’s eyes glowed. “Can we really? A-are you sure?”

Douxie smiled. “We did it once and we can do it again. We just have to be careful like last ti–” Douxie was cut off as Nari flung her tiny arms around him.

“Oh, thank you, Douxie, thank you!” she squealed, nuzzling him. Douxie hugged her back, smiling.

“Of course, Nari. Now let’s get ready for bed, yeah?”

Archie finished up his sardines as Douxie took his bowl to the sink, filling it with water to soak. He went to his room to change into a light and loose band t-shirt and black sleep shorts before coming back out to tuck Nari in on the couch. Snuggled against her in her arms was the cute grinning cactus plushie Douxie had won for her from a claw machine. Douxie folded the spare blanket over Nari, caressing the side of her head as she settled against her pillow.

“Goodnight, Nari,” Douxie said, giving her a boop on the nose. Nari rose up to place a quick kiss on his forehead. She layed back down, giggling.

“Goodnight, Douxie.”

Douxie switched off the lamp and headed to his room, where Archie was already curled up on his bed.

“Are you certain about tomorrow?” Archie asked as Douxie lifted up the covers. “All of those powerful concealing spells took quite the toll on you last time.”

“As long as the Order has a harder time finding us, it won’t matter if I’m a little spent,” Douxie said. He sighed as his back hit the mattress, his head sinking into his pillow. “Besides…Nari deserves this much at least.” Douxie folded his hands over his stomach, staring up at the dimly lit ceiling for a moment. “…How long can we keep this up, Arch?”

Archie got up, stretching, before nestling back down right next to his human wizard Familiar. He nudged Douxie’s shoulder with his nose.

“As long as we can,” Archie said softly. Douxie looked into Archie’s eyes, a moment passing between them. Sad. Knowing.

Douxie sighed. He ran a hand down Archie’s back before switching his bedside lamp off, leaving the lights of the city to softly illuminate the room. He rested his hand back on Archie before closing his eyes. He’d been able to sleep a lot better, thanks to Nari. And at least for tomorrow, if only for another few hours, she could have a taste of freedom.

With that thought on his mind and at the sound of Archie’s purring, Douxie drifted to sleep.

-

Douxie shot up into a sitting position, already sweating profusely, heart hammering in his aching chest. 

Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

Archie was gone. Douxie didn’t bother with the light as he scrambled out of bed, the weight of something dark pressing down on him, seeping through his skin and into his bones. Choking his magic aura.

“Nari!” Douxie yelled as he burst out the room, the runes on his bracelet already flashing. Archie and Nari both stood facing the door to the apartment, which was glowing a menacing red. Jagged webs of frost splintered out from either side of the door, clawing across the walls. The sound of flickering fire grated on Douxie’s ears. Sweltering heat and freezing cold invaded the room and it was suddenly hard to breathe.

Douxie jumped in front of his companions, casting the strongest shield he could muster, before the door was blown right in, fire and ice creeping in. Douxie grit his teeth, steeled himself in the dreadful faces of the Arcane Order as the pair of them sauntered into the apartment.

“Nari…” Bellroc’s distorted voice made Douxie’s bones shake. With a swing of their staff, Bellroc destroyed his shield, knocking him backwards. “You’ve been a naughty girl.”

“We have found you and we are bringing you back,” Skrael shrilled, face horribly alight with gleaming eyes and a twisted smile.

Nari shrank back, glaring daggers at the malicious pair. Douxie summoned his staff, standing his ground between Nari and the Order. Archie shifted into his dragon form, snarling, smoke beginning to billow out from between his teeth.

“Not while I’m here!” Douxie bellowed. He focused his magic inward, winding it into a tight ball. Then he released it with a shout, going straight for Bellroc, slamming into her so that they were both flying out of the apartment, demolishing the porch rails. Bellroc growled, swinging his staff and knocking Douxie away. Douxie’s magic kept him afloat as they circled each other in the air.

“Give Nari back to us!” Bellroc spat, angry flames leaping from their person.

“Over my dead body!” Douxie retorted, brandishing his staff. A wicked grin stretched across Bellroc’s face.

“So be it.”

They both rushed forward, staffs clashing with a deafening clang, a hurricane of battling magic whipping around them. Windows on neighboring buildings shattered. Cars down below screeched to a halt. Sirens began to blare in the distance.

In the apartment, Archie shifted into a bear, his jaws snapping around Skrael’s staff, claws swinging wildly.

“Run Nari!” Archie cried out as Skrael threw him off, lashing his face with the icy, scythe-like blade of his staff. 

“Archie!!” Nari cried.

“You must get out of here, Nari! Go!!” Archie shifted back into a dragon, whirling around to unleash a stream of flames. Skrael sneered and countered it easily, a powerful blast of frost already beating back Archie’s fire.

“Naaaari…,” Skrael droned out leisurely, shrill and bone-chilling. Enjoying himself. Archie was soon bested, fire extinguished. Skrael’s magic blew him back hard against the far wall, ripping a cry of pain from Archie’s lungs. 

“N-no! No, Archie!” Nari rushed to him but was blocked by a manifesting wall of enchanted ice. Nari sucked in a breath, the voices of her plants suddenly screaming in her ears. Crying out for her. Nari shrieked, tears burning her eyes as Skrael crystalized all of her plants, killing them instantly.

“No, no, no, stop it!!” Nari faced Skrael defiantly, face contorted into a pained snarl. “Stop it right now!!”

“Time to come back with us, Nari.” 

Skrael’s eyes glittered sadistically. He lowered the blades of his staff, taking aim at her, before being distracted by a thunderous crash just outside the destroyed doorway. When the smoke and blue magic cleared, Douxie was being pinned to the porch by Bellroc’s foot on his chest, his face bruised. His bloodied arm could be seen past the tear in his shirt sleeve. Douxie gripped Bellroc’s ankle, kicking and struggling. He gasped in pain when Bellroc dug their heel further into his chest. Bellroc sneered above him, angling the pointed gemstone tip of their staff at Douxie’s throat.

“We’ve had quite enough of you, boy,” Bellroc snarled. “Now, as promised, we will take Nari with your death!”

There was a booming yowl. 

Everyone looked. Wisps of golden light tumbled off a growing figure. Archie, now a humongous dragon, roared and lunged, grabbing Nari in one clawed hand as he snapped his jaws around Skrael.

“Gahhh!!!” Skrael shrieked as Archie, after a few violent shakes, tossed him aside like a ragdoll. Before Bellroc could react, Archie was already clamping down on them next, scooping up Douxie with his other paw. Archie spread his now gigantic wings and leaped into the air, Bellroc still struggling in his mouth. He spat Bellroc out as Skrael emerged from the apartment, reared his head back, and dowsed them both with bright blue flames, the evil pair denting the side of the apartment building as they were blown back. Civilians all around gasped and shouted in awe and terror. Pictures were being taken. Police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances were pulling in. A helicopter hovered above.

Without a second thought, Archie turned tail and took off into the night, soaring aimlessly through the clouds. He clutched Douxie and Nari close to his chest, allowing the two to see each other.

“Nari…Nari, are you alright?” Douxie reached across and took Nari’s head into his hands, wincing.

“Y-yes, yes, I am fine…My plants…” Grief flashed across Nari’s face. Then she looked up, anxiously smoothing her hand against Archie’s paw. “A-and Archie…Archie!”

A deep groan rumbled out of Archie in response. A moment, and suddenly they were descending. Fast. Clouds rapidly clearing and the expanse of land now rocketing up towards them.

“He is weak and gravely injured, Douxie!” Nari said. “He cannot hold this form much longer!”

“I’ve got you, Arch!” Douxie hollered, straining to summon his staff and get his runes turning. Concentrating with an exhausted mind and heart to conjure the largest anti-gravity spell he could. There were several hard, aching thuds as Archie slammed against each net of magic before crash landing onto a field of grass, Douxie and Nari ejected out of his grip. Douxie spat out a mouthful of grass and dirt and scrambled to his feet without missing a beat, rushing to Archie’s side as he shifted back down into a humble cat.

“Arch…” Douxie knelt down and cradled his Familiar in his arms, ignoring the sharp sting across his right arm now streaked with drying blood. He ran his thumb over Archie’s ears. “Arch…H-hey…Hey, Archie, I’ve got you. You’re going to be fine. You saved us, you’re amazing…” Douxie turned to Nari, voice quivering. “N-Nari…Nari, please…”

“Yes, Douxie.” She crouched in front of Archie in Douxie’s arms, spring green and pink petals whirling in her palms. The grass surrounding them were magicked into longer, delicate strands, lightly touching and encircling Archie’s frail body. Nari’s magic pulsed through the ground, streamed through the grass. Archie let out a low, drawn-out meow, twitching, before finally relaxing. As soon as it began, it was over, and the soft light of Nari’s magic vanished. 

“Archie?” Douxie heaved painfully at the feeling of Archie going limp in his arms. Nari touched Douxie’s hand.

“He is sleeping now,” she said, petting Archie’s head. “He will be fine.”

“Thank you, Nari.”

They’d landed in a vast open field on the cusp of the city outskirts. Rows of simple homes before them. Skyscrapers now in the distance behind. Douxie held Archie close, trying desperately to formulate a plan and reign in his spastic breathing. The anxiety eating away at his brain stilled when he felt Nari’s hand slip into his, her gentle magical aura brushing against his. Douxie held her hand, gazing down at her with welling affection and gratitude. After a tender moment, they shared resolution. Douxie let go of her hand and took out his phone, miraculously still in the pocket of his shorts. Scrolled through his contacts. Prayed for an answer.

Three rings later, “Hello? Teach?”

“Claire…” Douxie swallowed thickly. “Claire, you need to tell Jim. Tell everyone -” A raging pillar of fire erupted from the city, bathing the night sky in a sinister red glow. Douxie hugged Archie to his chest. Nari gripped the bottom of his shirt. 

“It’s the Order…They found us.”

Chapter Text

Jim never burnt anything, but then he went and caught his reflection in the spatula. Looked too long at his own eyes. The shape of his face. His teeth. The scars.

The spatula clattered to the floor and Jim was backed up against the sink, his nails digging into the counter. Breaths labored and quick. Blinking erratic. Nostrils now burning with the smell of a smoking pan.

“Jim!!”

His mom was in front of him in seconds, cupping his face in her hands. Bringing him close and into her shoulder. Walter turned the stove off.

“Jim…Jim, hey, it’s okay…” Barbara stroked his hair. Rocked him side to side. Whispered tenderly into his ear. “I’m here, Jim. You’re alright.”

Jim locked his arms around her. He hoped he wasn’t hurting her.

“S-sorry, Mom, I’m f-fine I just— ”

“Don’t be sorry, honey,” Barbara said, holding Jim tighter. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

When his heart finally stopped pounding, Jim pulled away but still held onto his mom’s arms. Barbara kissed his brow and leaned her head against his.

“Let us take care of dinner tonight, Young Atlas,” Walter said, chucking charred pancakes into the trash bin. He got to work scrubbing the blackened pan in the sink.

“No, it’s fine, I can— ”

“Jim,” Barbara cut him off, “it’s not a problem at all. It’s okay, sweetie, please…”

“Go on and have a seat then.” Walter got out the milk and pancake mix again along with fresh eggs and a packet of bacon.

Unable to say no to his mom’s soft, pleading face, Jim sighed heavily and let her sit him down at the table. Barbara joined him, holding his hand. Jim leaned his forehead into his palm, face scrunched in exhausted frustration.

“Jim, talk to me,” Barbara said softly.

“It’s just—!” Jim looked at her, then at the ceiling, then back down at the table. At his clenched fist. “It’s been a year, Mom. I should be fine by now. But no, I’m still not and the world’s still in danger and I’m just…I’m so…! Ugh!”

“Jim.” Barbara held his shoulders as Jim’s movements became spastic, not knowing what to do with his hands. Curling in on himself. Head shaking. “Jim, look at me, honey…”

As soon as he did, Jim felt the urge to sob. The way his mom looked at him always did that. Especially now when he still felt like an animal hiding from the sun.

“Do you remember,” Barbara began, “when you were eight and you got that really nasty scar on your leg from falling out of a tree?”

Boy did he. That deep, gnarly tear in the skin on his left shin. Toby had almost thrown up, a memory that had Jim laughing a little.

“Yeah,” Jim replied quietly. The sweet smell of freshly made pancakes and the sound of sizzling bacon filled the air.

“And you remember how it took five whole years for it to fully heal? Until the scar was completely gone?”

Jim sniffled and looked down.

“…Yeah.”

Barbara reached out to cup her son’s cheek in her palm, gently turning his face back to her.

“Jim, wounds take time to heal,” she said. “And some heal faster than others. But there’s nothing wrong with you if it’s taking a little longer. What matters…,” Barbara brushed a strand of hair off Jim’s face, “is that you’re in the process. And as long as you are, as long as it takes, we’ll be here. Right beside you.”

Tears welled up in Barbara’s eyes as she took in her son’s face. The weary and damaged look in his eyes that better suited a veteren of war, not a boy who’d only just turned eighteen.

Yet he was both those things.

“I’m sorry,” Barbara sobbed, one tear falling. Jim clutched her hand. Nothing made his heart ache more.

“Mom…”

“I know it’s been so hard. I can’t imagine what…what your wound must feel like. You shouldn’t have gone through that, through any of it and I…”

“You’ve made it easier,” Jim said, wiping her tears away. “You, Walter, Tobes and Claire…You guys are the best and I…I can’t thank you guys enough. I love you guys…I love you, Mom, please don’t cry…”

The table was soon covered in plates, a stack of pancakes and a platter of bacon and eggs in the center. After setting down the forks and knives, Walter came up to rub Barbara’s shoulders.

“If our past wounds have taught us anything,” Walter said, “it is that this, too, will pass and make us stronger.” He placed a clawed hand on Jim’s shoulder. “And that strength of yours, Young Atlas, will only burn brighter.”

Jim gazed at the two. His mother who he’d give the world for and his once-enemy who he’d come to love. Thought about the countless nights they’d been at his bedside when the night terrors came. Their gentle encouragement and touches of support. The cups of hot chocolate. The trips to The Bluff from sunset to moonrise. Jim held Barbara’s hand with one hand and Walter’s hand on his shoulder with the other, his weariness ever present but with renewed peace in his heart.

Then the shadow portal opened.

Claire and Toby emerged from the darkness, faces grim. Jim pulled away from his guardians and stood up, alert.

“Hey, Jimbo,” Toby said.

“Guys?” One look into Claire’s eyes was all Jim needed.

“Douxie,” he uttered, a sinking feeling in his gut.

Claire nodded. “We need to go.”

◇

Everyone was showing up to the Lakes’ door within the next hour, Blinky and Aaarrrgghh being the first to arrive followed by Steve and Krel.

“The time has come,” Blinky said grimly. Aaarrrgghh grunted in agreement.

“Don’t worry, Mister Magic Man!” Steve said, rolling his neck as he set his tooth-axe on his shoulder. “The Palchuk’s coming to the rescue!”

“Where is he?” Krel asked with deep concern. “How will we get to him?”

“Got it covered,” Claire said, displaying a mini ball of shadows in her palm at which Krel’s eyes lit up with wonder.

“Ready, Wingman?” Toby nudged Aaarrrgghh with his elbow. “Er, Claire, you wanna make that portal a tiny bit bigger?”

“Um well…” Claire looked off to the side. “We’re actually waiting on one more person.”

The group shared looks of confusion.

“You might be waiting for a while then,” Barbara said. “Not sure what NotEnrique’s got himself into today…” Walter shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Sorry, Chompksy’s got a date today,” Toby said, rolling his eyes and shrugging. “Priorities, amirite?”

“Stuart is gone for the next five delsons,” Krel muttered. “A convention. For burritos.”

“Nomura’s taken a trip to Germany!” Walter said. “Attending some sort of Winter Requiem Symphony. Lousy timing.”

“Er, no, guys, not any of them,” Claire said. She checked her phone. “I think she’ll be here in a few min—”

There was a knock on the door. When Walter opened it, there stood the pink-haired girl who worked at the record store. She crossed her arms and cocked her hip, intense electric blue eyes scanning each of their faces before settling on Claire.

“Hey,” she said bluntly, waltzing on in and everyone felt it immediately. The air becoming slightly charged as if a thundercloud had drifted into the foyer. The girl was on edge, exuding the vibe of someone you didn’t want to cross right now or probably ever.

“You!” Krel exclaimed, pointing a finger. “The magic techy girl of the hedges!”

The girl scowled a bit, not too thrilled to see a past shoplifter and obnoxious customer.

“Yes, hello.”

“It was…Zoe?” Claire asked.

The girl nodded. “Claire, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Um, I’m sorry,” Jim said. “But who are you?”

“She’s a wizard, too, and she really helped us out a year ago,” Claire said. “Douxie gave me her number after he left and said to call her if he was in trouble.”

“Right…” Jim ran a hand through his hair. But of course. “Anyone else in town secretly a wizard?”

“Oh for sure,” Zoe said, stepping to the center of the group. “Now, I’d love to chat but we need to go.” She looked Claire in the eyes. “Douxie needs us.”

“Right.” Claire closed her eyes, filling her mind with thoughts of her teacher and friend. Let the affection from those thoughts brush against her magic aura so that they were intertwined, becoming a roadmap to wherever Douxie was. And once she could see the vague outline of Douxie’s tired face in her mind, Claire felt her magic stream through her fingertips. A shadow portal manifested in front of her, darkness pulsing and whirling within.

“Everyone ready?” Claire asked, getting determined looks and nods in response.

“Be careful,” Barbara pleaded. Walter held her close to his side. Jim smiled softly and nodded at her.

With that, they all stepped through the darkness.

◇

Douxie collapsed against the wall of tree roots, wincing for the hundredth time at the throbbing in his right arm. Nari had fixed him up as best as she could but Bellroc’s magic had sliced deep. Douxie was sure he would’ve lost his arm if it weren’t for the runes tattooed on his bicep.

Nari had given him a magic boost while he’d been casting multiple layers of concealment spells over their little makeshift hideout Nari had formed from the roots of nearby trees, but Douxie could still feel his magic reserves being stretched thin, the seam where his soul met his body tingling with a near burning. Archie remained unconscious, curled up on Nari’s shirt on the ground. She’d willed her leaf-like armor back onto her body, her hair woven back into its intricate design adorned with pink flowers.

“That is enough, Douxie,” Nari said gently. She knelt next to him and took his hand, closing her eyes and sending more of her magic coursing through him, soothing the ache in his own aura and the nerves wracking his mind. “Rest now.”

“Fuzzbuckets…,” Douxie sighed, running a hand down his face. He looked at Nari and tried for a bit of levity, sad as it was. “Sorry we can’t go to the park tomorrow, Nari.”

Nari smiled softly. She rested a tiny palm against his temple.

“It is alright. I am just glad you both are safe and that we are still together.”

Douxie held her hand on his cheek and glanced over at Archie, his heart clenching with love and relief.

“Same here.”

It was then that a shadow portal swirled open just outside the shelter’s entrance, and Douxie sat up, his eyes already feeling warm. Despite Nari’s protest, Douxie was on his feet in seconds, stumbling outside to meet his friends halfway as they appeared before him.

“Teach!” Claire said, immediately rushing to give him a hug. “We’ve missed you so much!”

“Douxie Dude!” Steve exclaimed, throwing an arm around Douxie’s shoulders. “How’ve you been, man?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa easy!” Douxie strained, wincing at the pain in his arm, but held his friends close nonetheless. He sighed, relaxing against them. “It’s good to see you both again.”

When Claire and Steve pulled away, Douxie smiled warmly at the rest of his friends. Blinky and Aaarrrgghh smiled in greeting. Toby went in for a hug also. Douxie gripped Krel’s hand and pulled him into an embrace. Then he reached out to hold Jim’s shoulder, Jim lightly touching Douxie’s arm in return.

Then one more person stepped out of the portal before it disappeared, and Douxie’s mind went blank.

She was as beautiful as ever, looking up at him through her lashes and with her arms all crossed in that way Douxie had come to find so endearing. Seeing her right in front of him now reminded Douxie of the countless hours, the infinite moments, he’d spent longing for her company over the past year. Reminded him of how badly he’d missed her lovely blue eyes and cute pink hair and red lipstick. The way she said his name when she scolded or encouraged him. Her smiles both coy and full of attitude that never failed to take his breath away but even that poker-faced, kind of rough and stony look she always had by default made his heart flutter…

“Hello? Anyone in there?” Zoe leaned forward, looking quizzically at his face.

Douxie blinked, then heat rushed to his cheeks at the realization that he’d been staring.

“I-I…,” Douxie began, tongue tied and head filled with Zoe and only Zoe. “I’m so sorry, Zoe… I’m so, so, so sorry I didn’t have a choice and the Order was coming but I wanted so badly to see you and to reach out but—”

He was cut off by her fist, light but firm, thudding against his chest. Douxie just glimpsed the pained look that flashed through Zoe’s eyes before she tilted forward, touching her forehead to his collarbone. Douxie carefully settled his hands on her shoulders. She was trembling.

“Zoe…”

“You’re the worst, Hisirdoux Casperan,” she uttered. There was a pang in Douxie’s chest and he gently folded his arms around her, holding her close like he’d been yearning to do for so long. Zoe twisted his shirt in her hands. The faint smell of vanilla and strawberries tickled Douxie’s nose.

“I know,” he murmured into her hair, letting out a soft, tired laugh despite himself. “I’m sorry…”

“Don’t you freaking do that ever again or I’ll kick your ass.”

Another chuckle, accompanied by Douxie giving her a squeeze.

“Of course.”

Zoe pulled back and gave him a once over. Her expression became both incredulous and concerned as she took in the singed hair around Douxie’s battered face, the nasty gash and dried blood on his arm, his bruised and scarred legs, and bare, scraped up feet.

“You look terrible,” she said.

“Compared to which era in history?” Douxie said, grin lopsided.

There was a cough behind them, which made Douxie blush again and reluctantly pull away. Jim and Claire, holding hands, were smiling. Toby rubbed the back of his neck.

“Soooo, mind giving us a proper introduction Doux?” Toby said.

Douxie cleared his throat. “R-right! Well, some of you already met her, albeit briefly, but yes, this is my dear, longtime friend—”

“Zoe Ashildr,” Zoe finished, once again crossing her arms. Her gaze softened a little. “Nice to meet you all.”

“The name’s Jim Lake Jr.. Good to meet you, Zoe.”

“I know we sort of met but I’m Claire Nunez. A magic novice, haha.”

“Toby Domzalski!” Toby made a cheeky grin and posed, flexing one arm and shooting the other diagonally into the air. “Warhammer! Sidekick extraordinaire.”

“Iiiii’m Sir Steve!” Steve threw a thumb at his puffed out chest. “Of Palchukia. Certified knight and Creepslayer and Spring Fling King—”

“I am Aaarrrgghh,” Aaarrrgghh rumbled out kindly. “With three R’s.”

“Blinkous Galadrigal! Though my good friends simply call me Blinky. A pleasure.”

Last was Krel, and Zoe couldn’t help the narrowing of her eyes as he approached her with his hands behind his back, squinting back at her evenly.

“I am Krel Tarron. The King In Waiting of Akiridion-5 and intellectual genius.” Krel opened one eye at her. “And I am not a stealer of records! I am, however, very curious about your magical technology.”

“…..Right,” Zoe said. She jumped when Krel abruptly dropped the act and invaded her space, hands balled and eyes alight with curious excitement.

“How do you do it? Are there microbots inside of your hands that help you channel this energy without a dekyon device?”

“A…what?”

“Or is the molecular structure of you wizards,” Krel gestured to both Douxie and Zoe, “comprised of a secret natural energy that you have learned to control to enhance your technology? Do you have magic Cores? How do you create anti-gravity rays?”

“Er, it’s more of a spell, really,” Douxie said.

“Spell?” Krel rubbed his chin. “So instead of numbers you use letters? Spelling…equations? Oh, oh, is it like chemistry—”

“It’s magic,” Zoe huffed, brushing past Krel and the rest of the group. “Enough chit-chat. Where’s Nari?”

Douxie took the lead and everyone filed into the hut made from roots, save for one.

“Sorry, Wingman,” Toby said to a sad-looking Aaarrrgghh, patting the troll’s head. “Looks like we’re at maximum capacity here. You keep an eye out!” The pair shared a fistbump before Toby ducked inside.

Douxie glanced around, only seeing Archie snoozing on the ground.

“Come on out, Nari,” he said. “It’s alright.” A pair of antlers poked out from behind a particularly large, curved root. Nari emerged, quiet as she went up to Douxie and loosely gripped the side ends of his shirt. She peered around him at his friends. Douxie held the back of her head in reassurance before turning back out, keeping Nari steady.

“Hi Nari,” Claire said, kneeling down and extending her hand. Nari’s eyes flickered over Claire’s face before she reached out, their fingers brushing. A sense of warmth and kindness trickled through Nari’s magic aura. A peaceful smile graced Nari’s face, her fingers closing around Claire’s.

“What’s up little Veggie Lady?” Steve said, joining Claire on his knees. “Sir Steve’s here to protect you as always.”

Nari giggled. “You are very brave. Oh, and you are the one with tricks!”

Toby grinned and wiggled his eyebrows.

“The one and only Duke Domzalski! Glad you remembered, Nari!”

When Nari noticed Jim, she let go of Douxie’s shirt and Claire’s hand. Jim went down on one knee as she came closer, giving her a smile.

“Um…Hi, Nari,” Jim said. “Not sure if you remember me but I’m Jim.”

Nari only stared, studying his face. For a moment, Jim feared she was seeing the monster that had threatened her a year ago. The longer Nari remained silent, the more Jim began to shrink under her gaze, pitch irises encircled by luminous rings of gold. Jim shuddered, jerking his gaze away from hers. He started to stand up, but then Nari grabbed his hand.

“You do not have to hide anymore,” Nari said. Jim met her gaze again. Seeing the tenderness there, Jim took a deep, shaking breath and managed a smile, reciprocating her gesture.

“Archie!” Claire gasped. She rushed over to where Zoe was caressing Archie’s head, Zoe’s face dark and unreadable. “What happened to him?”

“Do tell us, Master Hisirdoux, how you found yourselves here,” Blinky said.

“Right…” Douxie took a seat, leaning back against the roots, and filled his friends in on everything that had happened. The Order’s attack on them in the middle of the night. Archie’s valiant efforts to protect Nari and his last ditch transformation that had saved them all. Douxie could only guess that the Order had caught wind of them on a day he’d taken Nari out in the city. He bumped his head back against the wall, kicking himself.

“You and Archie did everything you guys could,” Claire said. “You kept Nari hidden for this long.”

“Well we need to hide her again,” Zoe said. She sat beside Douxie and knocked her knuckles against his forehead. “You’re not doing it alone this time.”

Douxie also wanted to say he never wanted to spend more than a day away from Zoe ever again but decided not to.

“Is there anywhere else we can take her?” Jim asked. “Somewhere super off the map?”

“Maybe the ol’ Domzalski’s headquarters?” Toby said. “Kept Aaarrrgghh a secret, didn’t I? And he’s not exactly kid sized.”

“Well your Nana’s not exactly the Arcane Order, Tobes…”

“Dude, Krel, what about that super secret alien fortress?” Steve said. “Er, you think Fire Chick and Frosty Dude know about aliens?”

Douxie frowned. “I’d rather not take Nari to a place where peculiar lifeforms were experimented on, Steve…”

Krel shrugged. “It’s been decommissioned. And that would be too close to Arcadia and last thing we need is more of this planet’s madness in Arcadia…This planet…” Krel’s eyes brightened and he snapped his fingers. “Oh ho ho ho, great Seklos, that’s it!”

“What’s it?” Zoe asked.

“Why didn’t I think of this sooner?” Krel said. “Hide Nari on a different planet! And not just any planet.” There was a flash and burst of blue. In his excitement, Krel now stood in his true extraterrestrial form. He opened his four arms and beamed. “The magnificent Akiridion-5!”

While Zoe gaped at Krel’s new appearance, Douxie staggered to his feet, now pumped with hopeful adrenaline.

“That’s…that’s brilliant, Krel!” he said. “Right, there are other planets, aren’t there? And I doubt the Order’s been to space, haha!”

“And she will be protected by Akiridion forces!”

“Great idea, Krel!” Claire said.

“Uh it was technically the Palchuk’s idea!” Steve griped.

“Can we all go?” Toby asked. “Would looove to see the alien motherland!”

“Akiridion.”

“Will Nari survive in such a place?” Blinky asked.

Toby shrugged. “I mean Krel said there’s oxygen so…”

“How soon can we get her there?” Jim asked.

“Approximately three horvaths if I contact Aja right now—”

“No.”

Everyone paused. Nari had stepped away from the group and was facing the entrance to the hut, her silhouette outlined by faint moonlight. She slowly turned to look at all of them before settling her gaze on Douxie. Douxie stumbled forward and knelt beside her.

“I…I know it sounds a bit scary, Nari,” Douxie began. “But this may be our best option. Archie and I are going with you, no doubt about it. Zoe, too, i-if she’s alright with that and…Oh, gods, going to space…B-but Krel said there’s oxygen and you’ll have more protection and—”

“No, Douxie,” Nari said, shaking her head. Douxie’s shoulders drooped. He took in her face, ever soft but now firm with an unwavering resolve. Her eyes locked onto his. “I do not wish to hide anymore.”

“What…what are you saying?” Unease burgeoned in Douxie’s chest. He grabbed her shoulders. “Nari, we have to keep you away from Bellroc and Skrael! It’s the only way we can protect the world.” Douxie’s heart ached. “It’s the only way we can protect you.”

But Nari shook her head again. She calmly brushed past Douxie, making her way through the group until she reached Archie. Nari gently lifted him into her arms. Archie whined and nuzzled into her, his front paw twitching.

“You and Archie have cared for me in such a way I had never known,” Nari said. Severity flashed in her eyes. “And Bellroc and Skrael almost killed you both. Because of me.” Nari’s eyes clenched shut. “Because all I have ever done is run.”

She gazed at Douxie’s friends. Looked long at each of their faces, at their souls ever bright with kindness and courage in the face of darkness. It reminded Nari of why she could never bring herself to loathe humanity as her siblings did. Why she continued to love this world.

“I will not run anymore,” Nari declared. Everyone shared concerned, uncertain looks.

“Nari,” Blinky said. “Surely you don’t mean…”

Douxie limped towards her, expression frantic. “No…No, Nari, you can’t…we can’t—” Nari reached for his hand. She looked up at him, her eyes tender and sure.

“No more running, Douxie,” she said. The only thing that gnawed at Douxie’s mind in that moment was the thought of losing Nari forever. Before he could protest any further, someone touched his shoulder. He looked to see Zoe. She held his gaze.

“I think Nari’s made up her mind, Doux,” Zoe said. She looked down at Nari with a grin. “She’s right. Maybe the time for hiding is over.”

“And it’s going to be okay.” Jim stepped forward and Douxie turned to face him. “Because you’re not alone anymore, Douxie.”

“You never were, Teach,” Claire said.

“You guys can count on Warhammer Domzalski!” Toby said.

“The Palchuk’s got your back!” Steve said.

“I’m no warrior,” Krel said, “but I’ll do what I can.”

“We knew this time would come, Master Hisirdoux,” Blinky said. “And though our fears are great, the anchor of our courage,” Blinky rested his hands on Jim and Toby’s backs, “our truest of friendships, remains!” Confidence sparked among them, all emboldened by Blinky’s words. “We have triumphed in the face of calamity before and we shall do so again! Together!”

Douxie regarded his friends now standing around him, the reality of their unyielding support filling his heart to bursting with gratitude. The weight of his fears and burdens lessened. He turned his attention back to Nari. She smiled at him with a nod. Douxie tightened his fingers around hers. A deep, shaking breath.

“No more running.”

◇

The sky was getting lighter.

A cool wind brushed over the barren land where Nari sat between two trees beneath the twilight. Leaves fluttered down around her as she meditated in her magical aura. The voices of her friends whispered in her mind. Otherwise, it was silent. Even as Nari felt the first traces of burning, frigid darkness creep over her. Even as the Order made themselves known in a show of fire and ice.

“Nari!” Skrael said. “Have you been waiting for us this whole time?” He and Bellroc circled her.

“Wise of you,” Bellroc said, “to come back to us quietly.” They held the pointed gemstone end of their staff beneath Nari’s chin. “We had grown tired of your little game.”

Skrael drew closer, stroking Nari’s cheek with icicle nails.

“Time to make things right, Nari,” he said with a mad smile. Nari placed her hand over his before meeting Skrael’s eyes. A glower and a smirk.

“That is the plan,” she said.

Before either of them realized, Douxie and Zoe were dropping from a shadow portal above, their arms wound tight with magic. In synchronized flashes of blue and pink, they flung magic binds around Bellroc and Skrael, the insidious pair dropping their staffs in shock.

“What is this?!” Bellroc spat.

“Nari!!” Skrael snarled.

Douxie and Zoe were beside Nari in seconds, Douxie’s bracelet alight and electricity sparking wildly between Zoe’s fingers. A rejuvenated Archie perched himself around Douxie’s shoulders, teeth bared and wings spread. Moments later, the rest of their friends descended from the shadow portal.

Aaarrrgghh slammed his fists into the ground with a hostile grunt, Toby, now clad in his armor and wielding his warhammer, riding utop his back. Steve donned his Creepslaying attire, Toothache at the ready and Krel at his side putting up four fists. Jim, Claire, and Blinky made it through last. An armor-clad Claire grounded herself, wisps of darkness churning in her palms. Blinky readied himself with dwarkstones.
Finally, Jim rose up and brandished a bladed serrator.

Nari was the first to move, the trademark spring green glow and floating pink petals of her magic gathering in her hands and around the two trees behind them. Nari pushed her palms out with a guttural shout. The trees’ trunks elongated, their enlarged branches shooting out to coil around Bellroc and Skrael before flinging them both into the air. Nari willed the branches to release them, then brought the branches down, slamming Bellroc and Skrael back into the earth with sickening thuds. Before they could recover, the branches coiled around them again, holding them in place.

“Now!” Nari shouted. Zoe and Claire stood beside her and put their hands out. Douxie summoned and brandished his staff. The four began to chant in unison.

“Supplix libellus!”

Magic spread out across the ground, lines of green, pink, purple, and blue trickling out beneath their feet and connecting to form a sigil. A pattern that resembled the Earth and the stars.

“Auctorita interuptura! Occido cor m—”

“NO!!!”

Bellroc snarled and bellowed, their and Skrael’s faces twisted with rage. A devastating burst of flames and ice erupted from the pair, tearing the magic binds and snapping the branches constricting them. The force of the magic discharge sent Nari, Douxie, Zoe, and Claire flying back into the arms of their friends. Flames and frost from the blast raced up the rest of the branches before consuming the two trees entirely.

“No!” Nari cried.

When the smoke and mist cleared, there Bellroc and Skrael stood surrounded by small fires and shards of razor ice, the menacing glow of their eyes piercing through the haze.

The Guardians of Arcadia rushed forward with shouts. Steve attempted a few swings of Toothache against Bellroc. He managed to roll away from the first blast of fire before Bellroc’s staff hit its mark, sending Steve sprawling into the dirt.

“Steve!” Krel cried, going to his side. “N-no!” Bellroc poised to strike Krel down but was intercepted by Jim countering with his serrator. Claire launched blasts of her magic, all of which Bellroc easily deflected.

“Insignificant worms!” Bellroc spat. Jim swung his weapon, his blade crashing repeatedly against Bellroc’s staff as they dueled. Claire kept up her magic blasts, still trying to trip Bellroc up with shadow portals in between. Blinky chucked dwarkstones, explosions warring with Bellroc’s fire.

Toby and Aaarrrggh rushed Skrael, Toby ready to rain Warhammer hellfire down. The Wingmen managed to smash through several blasts of ice before Skrael decided he’d had enough. A wide, precise sweep of Skrael’s staff had Toby and Aaarrrggh frozen solid. Skrael’s sneering was short-lived as Zoe went for him, crackling volts of magic pink lightning streaming behind her. Zoe pointed two fingers on each hand, crossed, and released, electricity whipping out and catching Skrael in the stomach. Douxie didn’t miss a beat.

“Tenebris exilium!” A powerful blast of magic erupted from Douxie’s staff, nailing Skrael in his middle again, sending him flying back several feet. Skrael shook it off with a snarl, summoning a mass of razor-like icicles before raining them down. The bulk of them crashed into Douxie’s quickly conjured shield while some veered off to the sides and overhead. Archie dodged and incinerated them with dragonfire. Zoe had thrown up her own shield a hair too late.

“Aagh!” She sucked in a sharp breath and hissed as one icicle grazed her temple and another caught her in the leg, forcing her down onto one knee. Nari was at her side in seconds.

“Zoe!!” Douxie cried. The blood trickling down Zoe’s face and bleeding through her leggings had Douxie seeing red. His eyes lit up like wildfires as he flung himself at Skrael, bent on breaking through Skrael’s staff as they clashed, a shock wave ripping through the air in tandem with Bellroc’s staff and Jim’s serrator scraping against each other.

Claire and Blinky attacked at the same time, another blast of magic and exploding dwarkstone distracting Bellroc long enough for Jim to land a blow to their arm. Bellroc gasped as their lava blood trickled from the wound. They grit their teeth, face warped with fury.

“ENOUGH OF THIS!” they roared, savagely knocking Jim away onto the ground. A dense cloud of flames erupted from Bellroc’s person, the force of it so overwhelming it broke Toby and Aaarrrgh free from the ice only to render them unconscious. Nari had bunkered herself and Zoe in tree roots. Skrael, Douxie, and Archie were knocked out of the air. Krel, still holding Steve, was sent sprawling across the ground. Claire and Blinky were blown back, the two of them left weak and groaning in the dirt with everyone else.

Jim had activated the serrator’s shield but still wound up on his back, his head pounding. He turned his head and saw the serrator lying in the yellow grass six feet away, new flames raging all around him. He rolled onto his stomach, wincing and grunting in pain, and willed himself to start crawling.

“Gah!!” A hand suddenly fisted his hair, pulling hard and forcing Jim back onto his back. Bellroc then gripped Jim’s throat, painfully picking him up. Jim grasped Bellroc’s arm, digging his nails in as he kicked and struggled and gasped for air. Bellroc brought Jim’s face close, those horrid eyes on their shoulders watching him writhe. Bellroc grinned, a laugh rumbling out of them.

“You should have stayed an obedient beast once-Trollhunter,” they said. “Now, without your Amulet, you are nothing but a frightened! Little! Boy!” The hand on Jim’s throat tightened with each word. “And that is how you will die.” Heat began to radiate off Bellroc’s grip. Jim thrashed harder. It was starting to burn, a cry of agony ripping from Jim’s throat. Before Bellroc could sear his skin, there was a brilliant flash of blue, and Bellroc dropped Jim to the ground in a quivering, heaving mess. Douxie tackled Bellroc with his staff.

“Stay away from him!” Douxie snapped, eyes flaring.

“Merlin’s dog!” Bellroc spat.

“Successor, you twit!” 

The two shot up into the air, exchanging vicious blows of magic.

Down below, Zoe limped about to try and attend to everyone. Nari willed more roots out of the ground to swing at Skrael but they were frozen by blasts of ice and shattering. Douxie encased himself in a ball of protective magic that was sent crashing back down into the earth as Bellroc unleashed a stream of flames. He and Nari stood back to back, glowering up as the Arcane Order circled around them.

“Give up this tired game, Nari!” Bellroc said.

“Yes, it’s really not fun anymore,” Skrael said.

“No!” Nari said. “I will not stop fighting! I will never stop fighting you!”

“Is that so?” Bellroc shared a look with Skrael before they both raised their staffs. Douxie braced himself. Then felt his gut plummet when they took aim overhead, spells already discharged.

“No!!” Douxie yelled, watching as a condemning ring of angry flames on one side and jagged ice on the other surrounded his friends. Panic flashed in Jim’s eyes and he staggered to his feet, backing up. The fire and ice began to inch closer to them, the circle growing smaller, tighter. Zoe locked eyes with Douxie before pushing out a wall of electricity to combat it.

“Douxie!” Nari cried. Bellroc had secured a rope of magic around Nari in the lapse in attention and was now dragging her towards them. Douxie whirled around and caught Nari’s arm, gripping and tugging as hard as he could.

“You’re not taking her!” he yelled.

“Then you will watch your precious friends die!” Bellroc sneered. Douxie looked back, more dread and panic filling his lungs as the ring of fire and ice continued to grow smaller despite Zoe’s efforts. Zoe fell to one knee, her arms starting to shake from the strain.

“Don’t do it, Douxie!!” Zoe screamed.

Douxie turned back to Nari, meeting her eyes. His pulse pounded in his head along with Zoe and Jim’s muffled, echoing cries. Douxie looked at Nari, at her face tight and her eyes swimming with confliction and despair. The only one who stood between the Order and the end of the world.

His dear friend.

“Save them,” Douxie whispered. Before Nari could respond, Douxie focused on his bracelet, the glowing runes beginning to turn. He kept his voice soft but harsh. “Anima verto!”

Nari’s eyes widened in horror. “D-Douxie no—”

Zoe knew she couldn’t keep this up much longer. Her body and aura screamed. Her magic was weakening, the flames and sawtoothed icicles mere inches away. Zoe watched, helpless and angry, as Douxie fell to his hands and knees. Bellroc and Skrael, Nari now in their clutches, vanished in a whirlwind of magic. Douxie looked back and staggered to his feet. He stumbled towards them, hurried but awkward, nearly tripping over himself as if he’d forgotten how to walk. He finally stood before the ring and held out his palms, not blue but green magic flowing from him.

Zoe backed away as massive roots sprang up in front of her and all around the circle, halting the ring’s progression. The green magic tracing the roots worked to smother the flames and ice. With every bit of strength she had left, Zoe gave her magic one final push, yelling until her throat was sore. Her electric magic combined with Douxie’s and the flames finally began to die and the ice to crumble. When the ring of death was finally destroyed, Jim rushed to catch Zoe and ease her down as she collapsed, every ounce of feeling in her body gone. Around them, their friends began to stir, all groaning, aching, and disoriented.

“It’s okay, Douxie,” Jim rasped, his heart flooding with relief and gratitude. Dread wasn’t far behind though. “We’ll…We’ll get Nari back. We’ll find her, we can—”

“I am still here.”

Jim snapped his gaze back to Douxie. If Zoe could move, she would’ve done the same. Instead she remained still, heart anguished and mind distraught. A new wave of relief and dread crashed over them.

“I am still here,” Nari’s trembling voice said again, her tears clouding Douxie’s eyes before rolling down his cheeks.

Chapter Text

“Tea or hot cocoa anyone?” Barbara stepped out of the kitchen holding a tray full of steaming mugs. She passed out drinks to Zoe, Steve, and Krel, the only takers, and left the rest on the coffee table.

“Thanks, Barbara,” Zoe said, absently tapping the rim of her cup.

“Of course.” Barbara and Walter made their rounds checking on everyone. Steve and Krel slumped on the couch holding ice packs to their heads. Toby plopped on the floor, nursing a sore neck and shoulder while Aaarrrgghh hunched close to his side. Blinky, lost in solemn thought, sat at the kitchen table, leaning on all four elbows and all twenty fingers linked together. Jim and Claire had gone upstairs.

Evidence of a runin with fire and ice marred each of them in the form of singed hair, blackened skin, and everyone trying to get feeling back into their limbs pierced with cold. Cuts, bruises, and aching everythings in between. A gauze pad was sealed over the wound on Zoe’s temple and her right thigh was all wrapped up, a dull throbbing persisting even after Nari’s healing spells.

Speaking of which… Zoe thought as she glanced around. No humanoid bundle of black to be seen in the living room. No sign of her in the kitchen either. Zoe peered out the windows at the front and backyards but saw no one.

“You need something, Zoe?” Barbara asked when Zoe approached the stairs.

“Just looking for Nari,” Zoe said. “Thanks though.”

A small nod from Barbara and Zoe began her slow ascent up the stairs, gripping the rail for purchase as she limped over each step. When she finally reached the top, Zoe made note of three doors along the hallway. She forewent the door where she could hear Jim and Claire’s muffled, hushed voices.

“Nari?” Zoe said, trying the next one. Bathroom and nothing. The last door, she now noticed, was a hair ajar. As Zoe limped closer, muted sobbing came through. Zoe slowly pushed the door open with her fingers, light from the hallway cutting through the darkness, and there she was. Huddled in the farthest corner, hooded head buried in Douxie’s knees that Nari hugged to his chest. Archie sat by her side.

Zoe flicked on the light as she quietly stepped inside, leaving a small crack in the door like before. She rounded the bed, catching Archie’s eye, and maneuvered herself onto the floor, wincing at the dull pang in her leg.

“Nari…,” Zoe said, tone hushed. She reached out to hold her arm and Nari looked up, Douxie’s face soaked with her tears flowing down his cheeks. Before Zoe could say anything else, Nari burst into fresh tears with a pained whimper.

“I am so sorry!” she wailed, hugging Douxie’s knees tighter. “I am s-so sorry… This is all my fault and now Douxie is with them and…I understand if you h-hate me, Zoe, I…I—”

“Hey, hey,” Zoe said, sliding Douxie’s hood off Nari’s head and leaning forward so Nari could look at her. “Nari, I don’t hate you at all. And this wasn’t your fault, alright?”

“H-how can you say such things?” Nari asked. She finally looked Zoe in the face and Zoe’s heart clenched. Even though she knew it was Nari in there bawling her eyes out, it was Douxie’s face that was so sunken with despair. It was a face Zoe had seen plenty of times but it always had the same effect of breaking her heart.

“Because it’s true,” Zoe said. She gave Nari a smile before positioning herself to lean back against the wall. Archie crawled onto her lap, careful not to step on her wound. “You probably know by now that Douxie’s pretty…”

“Selfless,” Nari said. She wiped a few tears away. “Very selfless.”

“Well I was gonna say dumb,” Zoe said. “But yeah, selfless works, too.” She and Archie shared a knowing look before Zoe started staring at the floor, mind turning as she stroked Archie’s back.

Selfless was a criminal understatement. Memories of Douxie across centuries sticking his neck out, risking life and death, constantly going back, flashed through Zoe’s mind. From friends to people he barely knew to complete strangers, Douxie never left anyone behind regardless of the cost and all of Zoe’s pleas for him to have even a hint of self-preservation. To not look so ridiculously joyful after every reckless, successful stunt that oftentimes left him bruised and battered. It was just how Douxie was. How he’d always been as long as Zoe had known him.

Even so.

You absolute idiot… Zoe thought, Douxie’s brave, smiling face flickering across her mind and making her aching heart skip a beat. She’d finally seen him again after he’d taken off and gone completely off the grid for a whole year. Finally felt his arms around her again and heard his voice saying her name with that smile of his that always made her melt. So of course Douxie had to go be himself and get captured by primordial wizards who hated him and wanted to destroy the world. She was so pissed. But nonetheless…She only loved him more for it.

“Douxie cares about you a lot, Nari,” Zoe said. “And I know for a fact that he’d do what he did again if it meant keeping you safe just a little bit longer.” She smiled softly, taking Nari by the hand. “We all care about you. So…” Zoe wiped Nari’s tears away with a finger. “Don’t blame yourself, okay?”

Archie wiggled his way into Nari’s arms, butting his head against her chin and purring. Nari held Archie close with a sob as Zoe scooted closer, bringing Nari to her side. Now comically larger, Nari had to shimmy Douxie’s long back down the wall so she could curl into Zoe’s side as she wept. Eventually the three of them made their way back out into the hallway, Nari still cradling Archie and loosely holding Zoe’s hand as they went down the steps. Jim and Claire had joined everyone back downstairs.

“How you feeling Jimbo?” Toby asked. Jim stood in the middle of the living room, holding himself while Claire stood beside him, rubbing his back.

“I’m…I’m alright,” Jim said. “I’ll be okay. I’ll be…” No one looked convinced with Jim’s quivering voice, his fidgeting with his twitching fingers, or his eyes red and dim. But no one pushed it either. “N-nevermind me. Douxie’s in trouble.”

Nari crouched to the floor, eyes clouding with more tears.

“I-I am sorry…,” she whimpered. Archie headbutted her knee.

“Don’t be, Nari,” Claire said, going over to kneel next to her and hold her shoulders. “This isn’t your fault.” Claire looked up at everyone, expression heavy with urgency. “But we have to get Douxie back.”

“We will,” Jim said with one balled fist. “Whatever it takes.” Resolute looks and nods of agreement rippled around the room.

“Let’s go. Right now.” Claire stood, shutting her eyes and holding out her hands. “I’ll lock onto Bellroc and Skrael—”

“Whoa, hold on a minute,” Zoe said, grabbing Claire’s arm to lower it.

“What do you mean hold on?” Steve asked as he wobbled to his feet off the couch, still clutching the ice pack to his head. “Those Arcane dudes almost killed Douxie last time!”

“Correction, they did kill Douxie,” Zoe said. “And they almost killed all of us. If you haven’t noticed, they’re strong. Really, really strong. We’re talking about wizards who’ve been around since the universe began.” She took in everyone’s anxious faces and sighed. “We can’t just…charge in, guys. We need a plan.”

“I agree,” Jim said. He rubbed the back of his head and looked around. “So…does anyone have ideas?”

“Uh, yeah,” Steve said. “Go in and creepslay! Cause um, Toasty and Frosty? Total creeps.”

“Not really a plan, Steve,” Claire said, rolling her eyes.

“It’s not our only option either,” Krel said. He had everyone’s attention as he rose up from the couch and crossed to the center of the room, shifting into his Akiridion form with a flash of blue. “Why don’t we try a different approach? We can do more than just warhammers and magic explosions and, er…creepslay.” Krel glanced around and tapped the tip of one of his four index fingers to his temple. “This wizard Order may be stronger. But…”

“Can they be smarter!” Blinky finished. “An interesting prospect. I believe the saying is ‘food for thought.’”

“So what, you’re saying we should…play a trick on them or something?” Claire asked.

“Oooh if we’re talking about tricks…” Toby grinned and whipped out a red ball that was somehow hovering between his palms. “Duke Domzalski’s gotcha covered.”

“What do you think, Nari?” Zoe asked. “Are Bellroc and Skrael…” She shrugged. “…easily fooled?”

Nari thought for a moment, sharing a glance with Archie before answering, “Bellroc…did not enjoy games or tricks as Skrael and I did. He was never good at them.” There was a brief hint of fondness and sadness in Nari’s gaze. She hugged herself, hands kneading the fabric of Douxie’s hoodie around her. “Douxie would say…” Nari looked up, expression determined. “It is worth a try.”

◇

There was rain and he was running, the heat of smoldering flames burning the back of his neck. Yet the chill of the rain and the fear battering his heart made his teeth chatter violently. He couldn’t see, it was so dark. Thunder rumbled and boomed above. Lightning splintered the cheerless night. The wind howled angrily in his ears. He slipped on the wet glass and into the mire. He wished he could run faster. He wished he could stay there.

Then there was nothing. Nothing but endless darkness. He was alone and afraid. Then he was found, head pillowed and tears falling. A kiss. An embrace. Closeness. Laughter. Happiness. Comfort. Love. Family.

Home.

He fell to his knees and clawed at his chest. A silent scream ripped its way out of him.

Out of both of them.

Come back.

Come back.

Come back.

Please…

◆

Come back.

Douxie groaned, the fog of unconsciousness slowly receding and the smell of earth and moisture flooding his senses. He felt his arms stretched out on either side of him, restraints around his wrists holding him up as his body slumped forward. His legs dangled and were bound at the ankles. The sound of falling droplets echoed about. He shivered at the cold air blanketing his skin. Douxie opened his eyes and, at the sight of Nari’s face below him, was seized with panic.

“Nari!” Douxie exclaimed, the sharp acceleration of his heartbeat almost painful. He tried to go to her but whatever was holding him wouldn’t budge. “Nari, no…No!! What are you…doing…” It was then he realized Nari, a still reflection in a puddle of water, was copying his every move.

Oh…That’s right I… Douxie glanced up and back at his arms, now Nari’s little arms with their green hue and vine-like markings, detained by fiery red and icy blue rings, ancient incantations and runes turning slowly. A powerful seal.

Where am I? Douxie thought. The dark stony walls of a cave surrounded him, though above a few chunks of rock had fallen through, thin and faint shafts of light pouring in. Stalactites hung above and stalagmites protruded below, drops of water dripping and rolling down their jagged crystal-white forms. It was like being in the mouth of a beast.

Douxie took a deep breath, the relief that Nari was actually safe overwhelming him. But anxiety wasn’t far behind. Douxie hoped and prayed that his friends were alright.

There was the splash of something hitting water, the sound bouncing off the cavern walls. Douxie sucked in a breath, hanging his head and going completely still as the footsteps and a foreboding presence drew closer.

“Nari…” Skrael’s shrill voice echoed, scraping against Douxie’s ears. “Are you awake?”

Douxie jumped, holding in his voice, as a column of fire ignited a mere inch away from his face, the heat unbearable. Bellroc slammed their staff into the ground and leaned forward, a twisted grin on their face.

“She is now,” they said, low and taunting. “The Seals, Skrael. No more waiting.” Skrael hovered closer, the Genesis Seals floating in front of him. Douxie shuddered, flinching away as Bellroc ran a callous hand down his cheek, their nails dragging against his skin. “Resist all you like. It’s meaningless. You will obey us whether you want to…”

“Or not,” Skrael finished, lifting a hand to Douxie’s temple. Bellroc mirrored him on the other side of Douxie’s head. In unison they flexed their fingers, the glow of magic coating their hands, and Douxie screwed his eyes shut, gnashing his teeth so he wouldn’t scream. The hellish heat and bitter cold of Bellroc and Skrael’s magic auras invaded him, choking his own aura and raging into his mind. The dark edges of their consciences began to breech Douxie’s own will, threatening to take over. Douxie threw his head back, gasping from the strain of resisting. At that, Skrael’s aura eased up but Bellroc continued to push.

No!!! Douxie’s mind screamed, and immediately they both tore back, leaving a brutal ache pounding in Douxie’s head. He went slack again, dangling in his magic restraints.

“What?!” Bellroc said.

“I knew something wasn’t right,” Skrael snarled. With a swing of Skrael’s scythe-like staff, Douxie was slammed onto his back, wrists and ankles now pinned to the cold and wet cave floor. Before Douxie could recover, Skrael manifested a stake of razor-sharpened ice and stabbed it into Douxie’s bicep.

“GAAAAAAHHH!!” Douxie’s scream filled the cave as he writhed in agony on the ground, violent tremors seizing his body unable to escape.

“It’s the boy wizard!” Skrael said, twisting the stake deeper. Douxie’s head thrashed side to side with a choked whimper, arm throbbing with frigid pain. Bellroc stepped closer, teeth gnashing and nostrils flared as they seethed with rage. A distorted screech ripped out of them, flames erupting dangerously close to where Douxie was pinned. Douxie gasped and groaned in pain as Bellroc dropped down to dig a hand into his hair and brutally yank his head back.

“This time we will make sure you stay dead!” Bellroc spat. “And that nothing will be left of you!!”

“Wait!” Skrael said, ripping the icicle from Douxie’s arm. Douxie cried out and shakily turned to look at his wound. It wasn’t bleeding the light green of chlorophyll that filled Nari’s body, but enchanted frost had crept all across her arm, the cold still excruciating. “The spell. If we kill him, we will also kill Nari.”

Bellroc didn’t move, simmering at Douxie and their grip in his hair growing tighter and tighter. Then they threw Douxie’s head back down, reeling up and away to bellow furious at the cavern walls, angry flames leaping from their body. They took aim with their staff and unleashed a stream of boiling fire, stones melting like glaciers. While Skrael was unimpressed, Douxie’s heart thrashed in his chest, his body trembling. He was completely at the Order’s mercy.

After fuming at the walls for several minutes, Bellroc slowly turned back around. Douxie glared up, defiant as they drew closer.

“Very well. We won’t kill you, boy,” they said, voice low and menacing. “But Nari will come back to us.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Douxie rasped. “I’ll never stop protecting her from you. Never!”

Skrael cackled. “What an imbecile! Did you forget that the soul exchange spell will last no longer than a day?” A sneer warped his face. “You’ve delivered Nari to us, fool. We owe you our thanks!”

Douxie’s blood ran cold, his throat tightening, eyes starting to burn as Skrael’s horrible laughter scraped against his ears. No, he hadn’t forgotten. He knew what he’d done. But they were flashing through his mind, memories of Nari singing to her plants. Nari trying ice cream for the first time. Nari picking out a dress. Marvelling at the city lights at night. Drinking mango smoothies. Running boundless through the park. Cuddling with Archie. Her small arms hugging Douxie as he carried her on his back through the crowded city streets. Nari laughing. Nari crying. The memories flooded Douxie’s mind now as they did when he’d made the choice to take Nari’s place.

Nari, his friend.

Nari, who’d become his family.

“When the spell wears off, I’ll be right back here,” Douxie said, his gaze burning with unwavering resolve. “Me and my friends. We’ll be here and we’ll bring Nari home!”

Bellroc tilted their head, those horrific eyes on their shoulders rolling down as if studying a writhing insect.

“Very well then,” they said. “In the meantime until Nari returns to us…” The fire-red gemstone head of their staff blazed, wisps of fire whipping the air. Douxie swallowed thickly, already starting to squirm.

“You will beg for the arms of Death.”

◇

“Alright, are we clear on the plan?” Zoe asked. Claire and Archie shared a glance before nodding.

“Are you sure it should just be the three of you?” Jim asked as Claire slipped into her armor. He took her hands. “What if something happens? What if—”

“Then I’ll get us out of there,” Claire said, cupping Jim’s cheek. “We’ve got this, Jim. Trust us.” She brushed her thumb under his eye and smiled softly. “Trust me.”

“In this case, less is more,” Krel said, placing a hand on Jim’s shoulder. “And if you three have your playing cards correct, we will have Douxie back with us before we know it.”

“You mean if they play their cards right?” Toby said.

Krel frowned. “That’s what I said, no?”

There was a sharp intake of breath. Everyone looked to see Nari holding her head, face creased with deep discomfort. A distressed groan pushed through her clenched teeth.

“What is it, Nari?” Zoe asked, hurrying to kneel by her side.

“B-Bellroc and Skrael they…!” Nari gritted out. “T-they are t-trying to control D-Douxie’s mind…!”

“They can do that?!” Steve said.

Yet as soon as it began, it was over. Nari gasped when the strain suddenly vanished, her palms dropping to the floor. But not a second later, before anyone could say anything, Nari’s left arm jerked back as if tugged by an unseen force and a piercing scream tore out of her.

“Nari!!” Archie exclaimed.

Barbara rushed in as Nari dropped onto her side, clutching her arm and wailing in agony. Walter was there in a flash, helping to roll Nari onto her back, Barbara cradling the back of her head. Everyone gathered around, faces dark with worry and distress. Nari’s left arm flung out to the side and went rigid, shaking uncontrollably, before going limp, fingers twitching. Barbara ran her hand over Nari’s forehead, through Douxie’s hair, and repeated the motion in an attempt to soothe Nari as her head lolled in Barbara’s lap, eyes dull and teeth chattering. Archie huddled close to Douxie’s body and threw a paw over his chest, nuzzling Nari’s cheek.

“What’s happening?” Claire asked on the verge of tears.

“T-t-they…kn..ow…” The words staggered from Nari’s lips, weak and broken. Her heavy tears spilled down Douxie’s face. “T-they are…h-h-hurting him…! I—” Her words became another scream, this one even more agonized than the last. This time both of Nari’s arms went stiff, seized with violent tremors, and her back arched off the floor at the awful pain splitting through her.

It was a horrible stabbing twist in Zoe’s stomach, her entire body now trembling, disquiet and enraged, her eyes starting to burn with tears at Douxie writhing in agony and Nari’s tortured screams. Archie yowled, hugging Douxie’s body and Nari tighter. Her cries of pain weren’t letting up.

“We’re going,” Zoe said, dark and frantic. “Right now.” Archie growled, shifting into his dragon form and coiling around Zoe’s shoulders. Claire wiped her face with the back of her hand and stood ready, eyes shut and palms out. A shadow portal opened in a matter of seconds.

“Got yours?” Zoe asked, to which Claire nodded, gripping the artifact they’d chosen to deceive the Order. Zoe clutched hers, enduring another pained sob from Nari. Jim and Claire shared a kiss, touching their foreheads before parting. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Wait!” Krel approached Zoe, gesturing for her arm. He secured some kind of bracelet around her wrist, a thin screen stretching over the curve and alight with the electric blue glow of Akiridion tech.

Zoe looked at him. “What is…”

“There’s a 99.978% chance that you will end up fighting the Order wizards,” Krel said. “If that happens, I will need data about what you call magic and the energy it uses. And with five wizards, there will be a great concentration of it. This,” Krel tapped the bracelet, “will help me. Now go.” Krel took a step back, Jim and the others behind him, faces pleading. “Bring our friend home.”

◇

Stabbed repeatedly on one side. Burned alive on the other. Endless agony. There was nothing else. Pain and only pain. Two demons looking down at him, relishing in his suffering, baring their teeth as scream after scream after scream tore from him and rendered his throat raw. His eyes were sore, face weathered, from tears he could no longer cry.

“P-please…,” Douxie rasped as Bellroc pulled back their staff. Flames circled the gemstone tip. “P-p-please n-no! No no no n—NAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!”

Bellroc rammed the flames into Douxie’s shoulder just as Skrael pierced his arm with another row of icicles. Douxie banged his head back against the ground and kicked his legs wildly, fully hyperventilating.

“Behold the Master Wizard!” Skrael bellowed, screwing the shards deeper. “The great successor to Merlin!!” Skrael drove the icicles further into Douxie’s arm with every word, laughing maniacally.

“You call yourself Nari’s protector,” Bellroc said, kneeling over him. “But look at what you’re making us do.” Their palm glowed an angry red before closing around Douxie’s throat and squeezing. Douxie gasped, the burn excruciating as he struggled for air. “How does it feel? Knowing Nari is somewhere writhing like a worm?”

The thought hurt more than anything Bellroc and Skrael could do to him. Enough to draw whatever tears left in him to spill over.

“M-m-mon…sters…!” Douxie wheezed. He sobbed as Skrael ripped the icicles from his arm. Enchanted frost coated the left side of Douxie’s body like cobwebs, bitter cold biting into him even as Skrael withdrew entirely.

“I’m rather bored,” Skrael said, glancing off to the side. Bellroc curled their lips.

“Already?” they said. They angled the tip of their staff so that it was mere inches from Douxie’s eyeball. Rabid panic seized Douxie’s mind as it inched closer, the heat alone setting his skin ablaze, but his attempts to turn away were futile with Bellroc’s hand still gripping his throat. “I’ve only just begun…”

It was then that, right above them, a dot of darkness blossomed into a shadow portal. Bellroc looked up and stood.

“What—”

Douxie whimpered, the relief flooding his heart overwhelming. But it was immediately cut short as he watched, not his friends, but himself descend from the portal and land in a crouch on the cavern floor.

“Nari?” Skrael said, hovering closer. Nari said nothing. She eyed Douxie pinned to the ground, her face flashing with subdued anger, before glowering up at the Order.

“No…No, Nari, what are you doing?!” Douxie thrashed against his magic bindings in despair. “You need to get out of here! Please—” Bellroc lashed Douxie’s side with a whip of flames and he shut up, groaning in agony. Douxie glimpsed Nari clutching her side and falling onto her knees, face twisted in pain, and more tears sprang forth. “Stop it..Stop it, please, stop hurting her I’m begging you…!”

“Do you hear that Nari?” Bellroc said. “Your pitiful friend begs for you. Ease his suffering…,” they extended a hand, “and come back to us. It will all be over soon.”

Don’t do it. Douxie shook his head frantically, sobbing as Nari recovered from her pain and inched forward. Don’t it, Nari, please…Please…

So this was what utter hopelessness felt like.

Nari kept her eyes evenly on Bellroc’s face as she reached out her hand, fingertips brushing against theirs.

And then.

“Fumo scutum!” An explosion of pink smoke erupted into the air, swallowing up Bellroc and Skrael within seconds. Douxie shut his eyes and opened them again to a rosy opaque smokescreen.

That wasn’t Nari’s voice but…mine? Douxie caught the sound of another shadow portal opening and then more footfalls and the sound of flapping wings.

“What is this?!” Bellroc roared. “Gah!!” Someone had collided with them. Skrael shrieked as someone else attacked him through the thick haze.

Douxie glanced side to side, feeling his wrists pinned to the ground, mind spinning before winding down to focus. He closed his eyes to channel his magic aura. Despite the splitting pain throughout his body and the further strain within his soul, Douxie managed to send his magic coursing through his arms, honing in on the magic binds. The seals were heavily layered and complicated, sweat dampening Douxie’s brow as he worked his magic around every twist and turn until the seals began to come undone. Then he suddenly felt the presence of someone kneeling at his feet and the bindings around his ankles loosening. When all of his restraints finally cracked, Douxie struggled to sit up, hands searching for whoever helped him. He gasped when a pair of familiar hands cupped his cheeks.

“Douxie, it’s me,” Zoe said, her voice small and trembling. The pink smoke was beginning to thin and Douxie could vaguely make out her face. “It’s me.”

Douxie wanted to cry all over again, but then Zoe was grabbing his hands and hauling him up. Now that he was a mere four feet tall, Zoe could easily scoop him up into her arms (being careful of the antlers) and make a run for it, clearing the smoke in her path as she went.

“W-wait what about…!” Douxie said, listening to Bellroc and Skrael still blindly brawling with two more of his friends. Then he could hear said friends falling in step behind Zoe, remaining locked in combat. There was the faint glow of what seemed to be a ball of fire and the vague outline of a purplish-black burst.

Archie? Claire? Douxie thought.

Both Bellroc and Skrael cried out and recoiled before Skrael screeched angrily. Just as Douxie heard the beginnings of another shadow portal, a tremendous gust of icy wind beat against the smokescreen, forcing the cavern back into visibility.

“Crap!” Zoe dove behind a giant rock just as the smoke was blown away completely, keeping Douxie close. They both peered over the rock and Douxie blanked.

“What in Merlin’s beard…” Instead of squaring off with two of his friends, the Arcane Order stood facing…the Arcane Order. Douxie looked at Zoe and finally noticed the glamour mask attached to her hip. His shoulders dropped. “Oh…fuzzbuckets…”

“What?!” one of the Bellrocs said.

“What?!” said the other. The pair of eyes on both their shoulders locked on each other.

“Another trick?!” one Skrael spat, gripping his staff in both hands.

“We don’t have time for this foolishness!” the other Skrael said, brandishing his own staff at his doppleganger.

“Wait,” one Bellroc said, eyes rolling to one the Skraels. “I must first know if you are the real Skrael!”

“I am!” both Skraels said before glaring at each other.

“You speak as though you’re the true Keeper of The Flame,” the other Bellroc growled.

“Indeed, it’s true,” the other snarled, getting in their lookalike’s face.

“Quite the trick you’ve done …,” Douxie said. He took a deep shaking breath, scraping Nari’s claws against the stone. There was a pang in his heart. “It’s not going to last long.”

“I know!” Zoe said with an apologetic look. “I know, just…” She worried her lip as the Arcane arguing continued. Claire and Archie were convincing enough but the ruse was nothing short of flimsy at best. One of the Skrael’s made a subtle strained face before hurrying to glare daggers at the other. One of the Bellrocs stumbled a bit over their words but thank gods Claire was decent at improv. Zoe glanced down at the device Krel had secured around her wrist, heart pounding.

“What is that?” Douxie asked. When she remained silent and fixated on the device, Douxie reached for her hand. “Zoe?”

“Gosh, this is insane,” Zoe said with a shaky breath. “Okay…Okay, okay…” Zoe opened her palm and conjured the tiniest ball of lightning before sending it bouncing over the rock. She and Douxie held their breaths as the lightning ball burst into little but bright sparks. After ten seconds, they peered over the rock to see that one of the Bellrocs had positioned their back directly in front of Douxie and Zoe’s hiding spot.

“Enough of this!” the Bellroc said, slamming their staff against the ground. At the same time, their other hand snuck down to their side, fingers carefully angled out behind them. A small dot of darkness began to form. “There…There is an ancient secret that only myself, the real Bellroc, and the real Skrael know!”

“A secret?” one Skrael said.

“There are no secrets!” the other Bellroc said.

Reeeally running out of ideas Claire thought, hoping her panicking wasn’t obvious. Just…a little more… She gave her magic a push through her fingers, feeling the shadow portal behind her grow a little bigger. Come on, come on!

“Okay, let’s go…” Zoe took Douxie’s hand as they painstakingly crept out from behind the rock, inching towards the portal. Claire sent more magic through her fingertips, urging the portal to grow just big enough for two.

“This secret you speak of…,” Skrael said. “The secret of the Crystal Wood?”

“What?” Bellroc said.

Claire looked at Skrael, the pressure of the situation mounting.

“You’re the real Skrael!” she said before glowering at Bellroc. “Which makes you the imposter! You will deeply regret th—” Claire startled as Skrael suddenly hovered into her space. “W-what are you—”

Skrael’s face stretched into a bone chilling smile, eyes black and glinting.

“That is a secret,” he said as icicles began to coat his fingers, “only I and Nari knew.”

Before Claire’s stomach could fully plummet, Skrael struck out with his claws, frost fashioned into blades manifesting and knocking her backwards.

“No!!” Zoe shouted, heart sinking as the shadow portal disappeared.

“Claire!!” Archie said. Realization immediately sank in and he whirled around to see Bellroc swinging their staff, ropes of fire destroying Archie’s guise. He crashed to the ground, back in his dragon form, as Claire struggled to get up, her glamour mask thrown off.

Bellroc spun into the air with an angry roar, zeroing in on Zoe and Douxie as they unleashed a stream of flames. Zoe jumped in front of Douxie, Bellroc’s fire barreling into a wall of electricity. Douxie stood, ready to go on the offense. He readied to cast a spell but then jerked to a stop, his entire being seized with pain.

“Agh!” Douxie fell to his knees, holding himself. Archie sped to his side, supporting the feather weight of Nari’s body.

“Claire!” Zoe shouted, turning her wall of lightning into a powerful blast to knock Bellroc’s flames away.“Claire, get Douxie out of here!!”

“Got it!” Claire, back on her feet, made a run for it towards her friends.

“Kill that annoying shadowmancer!” Bellroc roared, raining a barrage of fire balls down on Claire. Skrael swung his staff, conjuring a wall of jagged ice to block Claire’s path. She skid to a stop, grit her teeth, and with a shout willed a shadow portal to swallow up a deadly blast of frost.

“Claire!!” Zoe turned to Archie who was keeping Douxie steady. “Keep him safe, Arch!” Zoe rushed into the fray, her magic sparking between her fingers. The small screen of Krel’s device began to glow a soft orange. Zoe noted it for half a second before sending bolts of pink lightning crashing into fire and ice. Douxie shoved himself off of Archie.

“Douxie!” Archie rose and kept to Douxie’s side, already seeing him swaying.

“I have to help them!” Douxie said, but then collapsed back onto his knees, soul and aura damaged and weak. Claire knocked back another round of flames and icicles before whirling around to Douxie, palms out.

“Douxie, go!!” A shadow portal started to form but was interfered when Bellroc swooped down to brutally swing their flaming staff right into Claire’s stomach, sending her sprawling on the ground.

“No!!” Douxie cried.

Zoe rushed in front of Claire just in time to shield her from Bellroc and Skrael’s attacks. Zoe dug her heels into the ground, a war cry rising from her as she channeled every ounce of her magic to counter them.

I…I can’t…! Zoe’s mind despaired as her arms and legs began to quiver, her aura starting to burn. Even as Archie landed at her feet and unleashed dragonfire to boost her electric shield. Bellroc and Skrael were still beating them back.

“Pathetic!” Skrael sneered.

Douxie watched helplessly, the pure and utter anguish suffocating, the scene in front of him blurred by his tears. He clawed at the ground, dragging himself closer, his heart and mind screaming.

Come on, Hisirdoux, come on!!

Pleading.

Please…Please, no, I can’t lose them.

Praying.

Someone…Anyone, please—

Douxie.

Douxie gasped. It was the faintest whisper but he heard it.

“Nari?” Douxie uttered. There was something akin to the beating of a heart deep within Douxie’s magic aura. The undeniable soft and gentle feeling of Nari’s magic rose to meet Douxie’s soul within her body, soothing the aches and patching up the damages. Douxie closed his eyes, rising to his feet as his magic was not only rejuvenated but bolstered by Nari’s.

I am here for you, Douxie! Nari’s voice echoed in his mind. I lend you my strength!

“I can’t do it anymore, Archie!” Zoe said, her shield mere seconds away from shattering. Archie had reached his own limit, his stream of dragonfire growing thinner and thinner. Pain shot through Zoe’s leg as her knees hit the ground. Tears welled in her eyes.

I’m sorry…I’m sorry, Douxie, I—

“GAAAAHHHHH!!!”

Bellroc and Skrael’s onslaught abruptly ceased, their screams filling the cave. Zoe immediately dropped the shield, falling onto her hands and taking huge gulps of air. She and Archie both looked up to see the pointed ends of what looked to be vines protruding from Bellroc and Skrael’s chests. Down behind them was Douxie bathed in the glow of sky blue magic veined with spring green, the vines coiling out from Nari’s arms. Douxie drove the vines deeper into the Order’s chests before reeling them back. Bellroc and Skrael both slammed into the ground, their staffs clattering next to them.

“Ugh…h-how..?!” Skrael said, grasping his chest. Veins of green were creeping up his face.

“Nngh, we must go, Skrael!” Bellroc snarled. They snatched their staff off the ground and crawled towards Skrael, gripping his arm. With an infuriated shout, Bellroc vanished with Skrael in a whirlwind of flames. As soon as they were gone, Douxie scrambled towards his friends, sliding onto his knees just as Zoe flopped onto her side.

“Zoe…!” he said, voice shaking worse than a leaf. He pressed the back of his fingers against her cheek while his other hand cradled her head. “Zoe, are you alright?”

“I uh…can’t move,” Zoe said. She tried for a smile but it turned into a wince. Her entire being was on fire.

“I’m so sorry,” Douxie said, leaning his forehead against hers.

“Oh stop it,” Zoe said. Then her eyes started to burn. It was Nari’s face. But it was Douxie through and through. Safe. Still with her. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Thanks to you,” Douxie said. “All of you. Arch and Claire…Claire!” Douxie looked over just as Claire began to stir, Archie nuzzling her side as she slowly sat up.

“Ugh what…happened?” Claire slurred. She fully came to with a panicked gasp, whipping her head to the side. When Claire saw the Order gone and everyone still in one piece, relief crashed over her. She scooted towards Douxie and threw her arms around him, tears rolling down her face. “Douxie! Teach, you’re alright!”

Douxie squeezed her back. “And you? Nothing broken?”

“Don’t think so…Oh no, Zoe!” Claire crawled over to wear Zoe lay. “Zoe, are you…Zoe?” Douxie and Archie gathered around, their hearts struck alarm and dread to see Zoe pale and unconscious. And it was in that moment all the rejuvenated energy in Douxie’s body cleared away like morning fog before rushing out entirely, the force of it making him sway. Back with a vengeance was the burning ache in his magic aura, so bad this time that Douxie’s head was spinning.

“Douxie?” Archie said. 

“Teach!” Claire cried as Douxie’s world tilted.

The coolness of the cavern floor struck him, everything going dark to the sound of Archie and Claire calling his name.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Douxie didn’t know what possessed him to think he could cook a decent breakfast. Having guests over for the first time in decades didn’t suppress his ability to burn water. So after a very sad number of attempts yielding black hotcakes, charcoal bacon, and liquified eggs, he opted for quick morning delivery. Thanks to Krel showing him the ropes, with the press of two buttons Camelot took on the guise of a humble cabin perched on the Bluff before the driver showed up.

Chapter Text

Golden light made its nest on hilltops in the distance, casting shadows over the grounds below tender after their revival. Patches of barren land had yet to flourish once again, and pitted beds of stones remained empty of water. But there was no need to fear. The returned life of the Heartstones would soon reach every ravaged place.

Chapter Text

Trees had broken his fall. Nothing else was broken, he didn’t think. Though his head was hurting something awful and the pummeling rain wasn’t helping but he couldn’t move. 

Chapter Text

They were met with ruin when the darkness cleared. 

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

“Walt?”

Barbara stood in the doorway. Walter had gone to a servant room with a single bed. He was sitting on the side closest to the window, faced away from her with his head in his hands. Without the mounted torches in the hallway, Barbara wouldn’t have been able to see him. Nightfall had turned the already overcast world pitch black, brightened only by flashes of lightning and the luminous form of the Forest Titan outside.

For the last two hours, Walter hadn’t moved. At the sound of Barbara’s light footsteps and the bed dipping as she sat beside him, he didn’t stir. But the moment her arms folded around him, his body was seized with trembling. He doubled in on himself, hands becoming fists in his gray hair. The paralysis of shock melted away and his shoulders began to rise and fall with ragged breaths. Barbara pressed her lips to his temple and held on. There were no words. Only more tears.

“I’m sorry, Walter. I’m so, so sorry.”

Walter managed his first words since they’d returned, voice clogged with grief. “I couldn’t protect her. I couldn’t save her.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“She’s gone. And we failed.”

“You did everything you could.”

Walter’s hand found Barbara’s on his shoulder. He shook his head, his tears finally spilling forth. “My friend…She was my oldest friend.”

The fragments of Barbara’s shattered heart dug deeper. “I know.”

“It should’ve been me.”

“It shouldn’t have been either of you.”

Walter fell apart. “Nomura…!” 

Melancholy hung in the air. Unbreathable as smog. Heavy as the rainfall.

Claire had lost her ability to stand and couldn’t stop her tears. Jim hugged her close, his eyes raw from crying and staring at nothing. Toby was laying down with an arm over his face. Next to him was Aaarrrgghh, sitting against the wall and sniffling. Blinky tearfully approached each of them and offered embraces of comfort.

“I just can’t believe she’s gone,” Claire said. 

Toby sat up and furiously wiped his face. “Skrael’s gonna pay for this!” Aaarrrgghh scooted closer and Toby wept into his fur.

Nomura’s scimitars had been set down on a bedside table. Jim’s eyes found and he went to them, skimming his fingers over their sunset blades. He noticed the webs and slashes of enchanted frost staining the edges.

“She went down fighting,” Jim croaked. 

“Undoubtedly,” Blinky said.

Douxie, Zoe, Archie, and Nari joined them. Douxie brought Claire into a hug and Zoe did the same with Jim. Archie settled between Toby and Aaarrrgghh, bunting them both and purring in solace.

Douxie pulled back and rubbed Claire’s shoulders. He wiped her tears with his thumb. “I’m so sorry. Truly I am.”

“She was a very strong and courageous soul.” Nari took Jim’s hand. She looked up at him, an ache in her spirit. “She will never be forgotten.”

“No, she won’t.” Jim held her hand back. “Glad you’re with us again, Nari. Having you back is the silver lining in all this.”

Nari couldn’t fathom why. Her gaze went downcast. “I am so sorry. I have been an instrument in all of this pain. In your great loss…”

“That’s not true.”

“It is.” When Nari looked up again, it was right into Jim’s eyes. “Jim, you could not control yourself. But this whole time, before all of this, I could.” Everyone was listening now. “When the Great Eternity…When my father left this world, I felt so alone. So afraid. Bellroc and Skrael became so cruel, but I wanted us to stay together. No matter the cost.” Nari shut her eyes. “How high a cost it was. And I do not believe I have paid for it.”

Douxie knelt before her, taking her hands. “Maybe you won’t have to.”

“What makes you say that?” Nari asked.

“I saw your memories. I saw the Great Eternity. Surely if he was so merciful to everyone, he’ll be just so with you, Nari. You’re his daughter after all. And you’re nothing like Bellroc or Skrael. I believe your father has always known that. I think…” Douxie breathed. “I think he’d be so proud of you.”

Nari inhaled. Her heart caved and her eyes flooded with tears. “Proud…? How can that…No, that cannot be…”

Nari nuzzled Douxie’s jacket when he brought her in. Douxie recalled those glimpses into Nari’s past, the snippets of the Great Eternity. Pictures of his wrath, the magnitude of his power, though momentary sent trembles of fear through Douxie’s body. Yet when he had seen the Great Eternity spare the world and felt his fatherly presence through Nari’s mind, Douxie couldn’t deny the compassion that radiated off of him, that incandesced within those indescribable eyes of his.

But at the end of it, Douxie didn’t know for sure what would happen. He could only hope, as he always did. 

“You’re here with us now,” Douxie said, hugging Nari closer. “That’s all that matters.”

Nari clutched him back. Her tears slipped into the fabric of his hood. “I am so afraid. But I promise I will protect this world, all of you, until the end of days.”

“And we’ll return the favor,” Archie said, landing on Douxie’s shoulder to touch her forehead with his nose.

Across the room, Varvatos had been at least stabilized. A prism of Nari’s magic hovered over his chest, glowing strands of green ingrained into his wound, coupled with the shard of heartstone right beside him. Krel had brought whatever helpful contraptions he could think of from the study, creating a makeshift sort of cylindrical radiator device.

“It should emit restorative energy waves like the ones in stasis chambers,” Krel had said. But despite that, Nari’s magic, and a heartstone piece, Varvatos still hadn’t so much as twitched. Aja sat fetal on the floor with her back against his bed. Krel eventually moved next to her and held her two right hands. Luug licked at her toes, whimpering when she didn’t respond.

Others went over to check on Steve and Eli. The Creepslayerz were talking quietly, Eli sitting up in his bed and Steve’s hand on his back. Nari had done wonders on Eli’s burn, clearing blisters and reversing the damage done to skin and tissue, so that all his arm needed now were bandages, ointment, and maybe one more treatment spell. Steve’s broken arm had been pieced back together but he was told to keep movement to a minimum for at least an hour, lest he disrupt the magic’s healing work. 

“You guys good?” Jim asked. 

“I’m alright. It just feels like a really, really bad sunburn now,” Eli said. “And I’ve had a lot of those.”

Douxie glanced at Aja, then looked at Steve. “Is she…?”

Steve just shook his head, face gloomed and worried.

Krel turned to fully face his sister. He kneaded her hands. Images of two Akiridion ships full of human civilians flashed painfully in his mind for the hundredth time. The ships had been damaged so severely by the Fire Titan that the kinetic shields had malfunctioned. Two full impact crashes from hundreds of feet. There had been so much screaming. Terrified, helpless screaming. A dreadful chorus still echoing in Krel’s head.

“Aja…,” Krel said weakly. “Aja?”

She didn’t move. She kept her face buried in one of her left arms while the other hugged her knees. She could see all their faces in the darkness. Faces that had gone still under the wreckage. Faces of survivors, what few of them they’d salvaged. The shellshock eyes, the flat voices, the broken bleeding bodies branded into Aja’s mind. Both Akiridion pilots had been lost, along with several others who’d traveled from Akiridion-5 to assist. And now Varvatos…

Krel pulled Aja into his arms with a sob. Finally Aja reached up to clutch his arms and couldn’t hold it back anymore. She wheezed into Krel’s shoulder, hot tears starting to pour. Steve sat down in front of them. Eli, Jim, and Douxie stood close behind. Claire and the others quietly gathered around but remained at a distance.

“What happened?” Jim asked softly.

When Steve told them, Zoe covered her mouth with her hands and turned away. Claire shook her head at the ceiling, eyes flooding with more tears. Toby looked like he wanted to scream. Jim had to take a second to breathe, clenching and unclenching his hands. Douxie dropped to his knees. He looked at Nari, who stood silent with her face sunken with grief. Of course she’d known. 

“What happened to the survivors?” Claire asked.

Eli spoke this time. “We had to send for another ship.” He sniveled, swiping his arm under his nose. “We only found like sixty people. One man knew some English and he…” Eli shuddered. “He was asking where his ‘little boy’ was and we h-hadn’t found any k-kids…” 

Eli cried into his hands. Everyone was too overwhelmed to say anything, the gravity of what Bellroc had done crushing, suffocating. Sorrow wrung their hearts and more tears came. Hundreds of casualties, human and troll, a number of Akiridions. Nomura dead. Varvatos unmoving and in critical condition. One Heartstone left. 

Candles had been lit all around the room, drops of flame flickering mild in the inclement dusk. Yet the world seemed darker than ever before and none of them knew how much more they could take. 

Jim, Claire, and Toby embraced, Blinky and Aaarrrgghh soon joining them. Aja and Krel hugged each other tight while Steve linked an arm around Eli’s shoulders, Eli reciprocating with a firm hand on Steve’s back. Ricky and Lucy held one another, the pair of them solemn with Luug whining at their feet. Douxie clutched Zoe’s hand, Nari leaning on his side and Archie pressing close on his other. 

Outside the storm raged and Arcadia’s fiery Heartstone glinted like a warning. The Forest Titan turned its head to the town in response. 

They all knew there was only more to come. 

◇

Krel took his place at the wall. “Ready?”

Zoe went up in front of the stained glass windows. “Yeah. Go for it.”

Krel locked on through the scope of the net gun he’d made. He sucked in a breath and fired, an electric blue capsule the size of a baseball blasting out of the barrel and across the room with the speed of a bullet. A second before impact the capsule spun open like a flowerbud, thin petals of electricity fanning out and weaving together. Zoe stumbled back into the windows as the arcane net flung tight around her.

“Are you alright?” Krel asked, jogging over.

“I-I’m good!” Zoe gasped. She watched sparks of energy flit off the net’s webbing. A twinge of panic pricked her. She breathed deep. Her magic wasn’t gone. It was compressed, no longer at her fingertips or buzzing beneath her skin, but she could still feel it in her aura. Her efforts to summon it were successfully nullified by the arcane net. It was a scary feeling but she had to get excited. “Krel…Krel, I think we did it—”

Yet as soon as she said it, the net turned dark blue and loosened, falling off in a heap around her ankles. Zoe and Krel locked eyes, shock soon turning to dejection. This had been the sixth attempt, with hours of adjustments in between.

Krel sank to the floor, burying his face in two of his hands. Zoe settled cross-legged beside him and placed a hand on his back.

“Hey…,” she said.

“I don’t understand why it’s not working,” Krel said, on the verge of tears. “Kleb! We’ve tried everything! If this doesn’t work…more lives will be lost…No, it will be the end…”

Zoe bit her lip, slowly breathing through her nose. He wasn’t totally wrong or right. There was a chance they could still pull a victory out of all this. The Trollhunters had done it before. The aliens and the Creepslayerz had done it before. Douxie had done it before, against the Order no less. But that had cost him his life, and the fact that he hadn’t stayed dead was a literal miracle. And what they were dealing with now was the Arcane Order on the cusp of their full power, unstoppable ancient terrors.

Zoe’s eyes wandered to the failed net. Removing the Order’s magic factor was their best bet for a guaranteed win and, maybe, a smaller death count. But that would still be too many. She tried to imagine what Aja and Krel had seen only hours earlier. She thought about Nomura and Varvatos, how she’d just started to get to know them. Zoe was no stranger to death. But for some reason, this was already taking its toll.

“We have to keep trying,” Zoe said. She got up and made her way to a holographic panel that displayed the arcane net’s charts, studying them closely. “The net definitely worked that time, so we’ve got that down.”

“But it won’t stay on,” Krel sighed. “For some reason the net’s power just won’t last. Electron stabilizers, trifurcate chargers, radiation adapters, static converters, current dividers, your own technological magic, nothing’s working!” Pain swam in his eyes. “What else can I do…? I have to make this work or…”

“Krel, this isn’t all on you,” Zoe said softly. “I’m here to help, remember?”

“I know…I know, I just…What else can I do?” He squeezed his eyes shut and choked. Zoe went back to his side and knelt.

“You need a break. Why don’t you go back downstairs for a bit?”

“No, I can’t! I need to—”

“You need to ease up on yourself.” Zoe pulled at Krel’s arm until he got up then started nudging him toward the door, ignoring his protests. “Just take ten minutes. All the minutes. I’ll keep working up here so don’t worry.” She finally got him outside the study. Zoe stood in the doorway and met Krel’s gaze. The fear and sorrow in his eyes provoked a tenderness that she hadn’t felt in ages. Not since her little siblings moved on. “It’s gonna be alright. We’ll get through this.” 

Zoe really, really hoped so.

Krel was mum while returning Zoe’s stare. He let out a shaking breath after a moment and nodded, holding one of his arms as if wounded. Zoe didn’t miss the glimmer of gratitude in Krel’s eyes before he descended the escalator. She pushed the door closed and pressed her back to the wood, letting her head tip back. When she righted herself again her eyes caught the lime green gemstone set into Excalibur, the sword still lodged within a chunk of earth, waiting to be unsheathed. It made her think of Jim, which led to her pondering his armor recreated by Krel. A perfect, functional blend of Akiridion tech and magic. 

“...to achieve the same power…”

Zoe collected the net off the floor, using her magic to spin it back into its electric blue capsule. She placed it back next to its twin in a transparent case all hooked and wired up to more Akiridion machines. She faced the monitor that showed the nets’ power levels, insanely high from all the tweaks but still not enough, and started thinking maybe it had little to nothing to do with the batteries. In fact, Zoe had found that was rarely the case when it came to technomancy. It was all about the parts. If one had all the parts, if all the pieces were in place, the required magic would do its work and the cogs would turn without a problem. If they had plenty of magic, which Zoe did, then there was simply an element missing.

Zoe leaned her elbows on the panel, head in her hands.

“The same power…,” she whispered. “The same…” Her eyes flew open. She snapped her gaze back to Excalibur, chastising herself because did she not realize sooner?

That’s what they needed.

◇

“James Lake.”

Jim gasped awake and sat straight up in darkness. He was sitting at a desk. There were desks around him and a whiteboard ahead. Silver light poured into the classroom. His classroom.

“What…What’s happening? H-How did I…” Jim looked down at his hands and immediately wanted to vomit. Blue skin. Only four fingers on one hand. Jim scraped his hands over his scalp, eyes burning with tears at the hardness of horns. “No…No, no, no, NO!!!” Jim knocked his desk and chair over as he stood, eschewing more desks as he stumbled for the door. His insides were being stabbed by iron hot needles. His brain was bloated with internal screaming and bad thoughts but it just wouldn’t explode. He dropped to his knees in the haunting school hallway and heaved violently. He dragged his nails over his skin. Banged his forehead against the ground to wake himself up. “No…No, I don’t want to be a monster…Please, please, please I don’t—”

“James Lake.”

The voice somehow cut right through the whirlwind in Jim’s mind. He brought his face up to see an iridescent glow at the very end of the hall. Wisps of light beckoned in the dark.

“Jim!” It was Claire’s voice.

“Claire?” Jim crawled forward, hand reaching out.

“Jimbo!”

“Master Jim.”

“This way, Young Atlas.”

“Come on, sweetie.”

“Tobes? Blink?” He staggered to his feet and started after the light. “M-Mom! Walter, wait! Please…!”

The light made a turn, taking the voices of Jim’s loved ones with it. Jim broke into a run, his tears flowing sideways. Shards of glass manifested all along the walls, and Jim could see the monster in his peripherals. Sprinting next to him, flashing its fangs in a sickening grin. Jim blinked. The hall was a bloodbath. He blinked again. The floors were clean. 

Jim finally rounded the corner to see the cluster of light exiting the school through double doors. The voices kept calling.

“I love you, Jim.”

“We’re not leaving you.”

“You’re not alone, Jimbo.”

“No cheeks about it, Lake!”

“You’re not a monster.”

“I never blamed you for Merlin’s death. Not once.”

“You do not have to hide anymore.”

Jim’s foot made it outside and suddenly he was in the canal, in front of a pile of rocks. The light disappeared through the cracks and Jim fell to his knees, digging desperately through the rubble. Then the earth beneath him gave way and he was falling through pitch blackness. Voices continued to echo around him, but mixed in now were horrified yells and the deep raspy breathing of a beast above it all. Jim smushed his hands over his ears. In the darkness he just made out a pair of wooden bloodshot eyes ringed with fire, then a giant gray hand emerged. Jim screamed his throat sore and curled in on himself.

Jim struck the ground hard, bones rattling. Suddenly there was blinding light and he covered his face with his arms. Spots of blistering pain seared his body. He couldn’t escape. He was burning alive. Then he couldn’t move at all but it still hurt. It was still burning. Jim wanted it all to stop. He just wanted this to end. He never wanted this. 

I can’t do this anymore. Claire. Mom. Blinky. Someone, anyone…I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m…

“James Lake.”

The white sunlight was wiped away to reveal a moonless night sky. Jim’s whole body relaxed into the grass, no longer petrified. He stared up at the billions of stars. Listened to the trilling of crickets. Traced with his eyes the silhouettes of leaves pinned to branches. Then, like a peaceful wraith, the cluster of iridescent light passed over him. 

“Wait…!” Jim sat up and turned to not lose sight of it. But he wasn’t looking at a ball of light.

There was a man sitting on a rock. He was dressed in a simple wine colored tunic and brown pants torn at the calves, revealing black claws on each of his toes. His nose wasn’t quite human, still bridged but more flat and heart-shaped like that of a sheep. Horns curled out of a wild, tousled golden mane. A magnificent pair of silver feathered wings tucked against his back. Most perplexing of all were the man’s eyes, two big pools of every color one could imagine, and many more that Jim couldn’t name. The man seemed to be made of light itself, his whole being glowing softly under the night, turning his hair to fire, his silver wings into folded blades, and his eyes into galaxies.

“Who…,” was all Jim could say. Was he still dreaming?

“Hello, James,” the man said with a smile. “Jim, rather.”

Something about the man’s voice made Jim feel safe. It was deep but soft, strong yet mild. Jim twisted onto his knees then slowly stood, unable to look away.

“Who are you?” he asked.

The man raised a clawed finger. “Think for a moment. You have indeed seen me before. Albeit briefly.”

So Jim thought, trying to match the shape of this man to his memories. His eyes roamed over the horns and wings and claws again. A single bright green firefly drifted into his vision, and then it clicked.

“T-The Great Eternity!” Jim exclaimed. He jumped back and fell on his rear. The Great Eternity stood and started approaching. Jim didn’t know why but he was suddenly terrified. “O-Okay…Okay, whoa, this is…um…”

“Peace,” the Great Eternity said. “And yes, this is still a dream.”

“What? H-How did you—”

“I know everything. But there’s nothing to fear. Rise.”

Jim didn’t move. In this moment, this strange fabricated moment in his head, Jim knew without a doubt that the Great Eternity scared him more than every terror he’d ever faced. More than Gunmar. More than Bellroc. More than the Titans. It pulsed in his heart, in the depths of his soul. Power flowed from the Great Eternity like the light encompassing him, raw unimaginable power that could create entire worlds and snuff them out in a blink. The Great Eternity’s intimidating splendor had Jim flinching down. And then he saw his grotesque hands and remembered. He was a monster again. He was a filthy beast. He could only hurt, kill, destroy. Panic banged inside his skull, then the Great Eternity spoke.

“Jim. It’s alright. Lift your head and rise.”

His voice sliced right through the chaos, and Jim looked up. He timidly searched the Great Eternity’s face, the tension in his body easing when there was no trace of scorn or disgust to be found. Jim slowly stood and hugged himself. The Great Eternity towered over him and he didn’t know what to say.

“Um…well…Great Eternity, sir—”

“A bit impersonal, isn’t it?” the Great Eternity said. “You may call me by my name. Elyolam.”

“Ell-yoo-lamb?” 

“Close enough.” Elyolam smiled.

Jim felt the corners of his mouth twitch. He cleared his throat. “So…what’s this about? Why are you here?”

“Why, I’m here for you, of course.”

Jim shifted. “What do you mean?”

Elyolam gazed at him. “Come with me.” He turned and started walking, his light illuminating a path through the darkness. Jim hesitated, but then quickly followed, a host of fireflies floating into the space left behind. They strolled into a forest, dark and ordinary. That is until Elyolam stepped through the entrance. Luminous flower buds miraculously ballooned and flourished along the path wherever he passed, residual light speckling leaves and fluttering away as moths. It reminded Jim of the Forest Titan’s flower beds. Soft white light tinted blue.

Hope these won’t try to kill me… Jim thought. Although I’m dreaming so I guess it’s fine?

Elyolam snickered.

The trees eventually fanned out and formed a circle around a clearing. A small pond glimmered in the center of blooming candescent dandelions and hibiscuses. Elyolam reached the water’s edge and turned to Jim, waiting. Jim came closer but froze inches away from the pond, anxiety pushing up his throat at the thought of glancing into it.

“There’s nothing to fear, Jim.”

“No…No, there is.”

“And what would that be?”

Jim shook his head. “I don’t want to look at myself.”

“What harm will that do?”

“You ask a lot of questions for someone who knows everything.” It came out ruder than Jim meant it. “I-I’m sorry. I just can’t.”

Elyolam glanced at the pond, then back at Jim. “A mirror never lies. It only displays the truth. So come and see the truth for yourself.” 

“This is just a dream. This is all in my head,” Jim said, meeting Elyolam’s enigmatic eyes. “How do I know any of this is true? I mean you’re,” Jim gestured at him, “probably not the real Great Eternity and I don’t know why my brain’s brought you here.”

“Mm. You feel so, yet you’re terrified of me.”

“I know you can do some scary things.”

“I’m not doing anything now, am I? Why are you so afraid?”

Jim swallowed. “I don’t know. Dreams do that. They always make sense in the moment, right? I’m going to wake up and see how crazy this all was.”

“Crazy, is it?” Elyolam chuckled. “James Lake Jr.. First and only human Trollhunter, chosen by the Amulet of Daylight itself. Defender of troll and humankind, of Magic and Man. Slayer of Bular the Butcher and his father Gunmar the Black. You’ve traversed through shadows and fought with wizards. When the Eternal Night fell, you were the sun. Goodness, aliens are real and you’re a time traveler!” He shook his head, expression fond. “And the world had known nothing. Pretty crazy, don’t you think?” 

Jim opened his mouth but didn’t find words.

“Is it so outlandish, then,” Elyolam said, “that I, the Great Eternity, can appear in your dreams with the power you know I possess?” 

Not at all. But Jim really didn’t want to look into that pond.

“You really saw everything, huh?” Jim said quietly.

“There is nothing I haven’t seen,” Elyolam said. “That includes what goes unseen.” He stepped in front of Jim.

Warmth folded over Jim’s shoulders, and with it came the feeling of his insides melting. Jim looked up, eyes watering and body trembling at the kindness on Elyolam’s face. It washed over him, filled his lungs, flowed through his veins, trickled over his skin.

“You’ve suffered greatly, my boy,” Elyolam said, giving Jim’s shoulders a squeeze. “But to suffer for what is good, what is right, for the ones you hold dear, I assure you there’s nothing greater.”

Jim turned his head down, blinking rapidly. He heaved a sigh. “Well it hasn’t felt all that great, if I’m being honest.”

“I know. How odd it would be if it did. But those who endure hardship for what is good have truly lost nothing. In fact, there is only gain, and what you have gained will never be taken from you.”

“I’ve lost nothing?” Jim shrugged Elyolam’s hands off and backed up, his own hands balling into fists. “Are you kidding me right now? What about my Amulet? What about being the Trollhunter?” He was getting louder, voice quavering. “What about my high school graduation? My ability to feel sunlight or eat regular food or sleep?” Jim took several ragged breaths. “What about Draal? What about Nomura? What about…” He shut his eyes. The phantom of monstrous rage emerged from the blackness. Douxie and Archie crushed beneath his weight. Merlin sent to his death through a window. Claire gasping for breath. Jim’s eyes tore open, loosing his tears. “You think you know everything? Just look at me!” He took two strides and thrust his face over the pond. “Just look—”

It was Jim’s human face staring back at him in the crystal water. Jim’s human self breathing harshly with tears streaming. He touched his cheek, felt his absent fangs. Sure enough, his troll hand appeared human. He turned his face side to side. Felt his head with both hands, confirming his unkempt hair and horns. Yet every move he made, human Jim copied.

“What? How…T-This isn’t right. I’m not—”

“What’s not right about it?” Elyolam asked.

“This isn’t me!”

“Who is it then?”

“It’s…It’s not…”

 Elyolam leaned forward and hovered his own face over the pond. He looked just as he was. “Hm. That’s me alright. And we’re both looking in the same mirror.”

“How is this— I don’t…” Jim’s human reflection reached out as he dipped his fingers into the water. He choked back more tears. Jim hadn’t seen this face, his human face, for so long. Now it was right in front of him, moving with him, looking back at him, and the world wasn’t spinning or distorting or collapsing yet. “I don’t get it.”

“It’s as I said. Mirrors never lie.” Elyolam crouched beside Jim and brought a hand to the back of his head. He coaxed Jim to look his way. “My meaning was not that you hadn’t suffered the pain of loss. It was as I said : You have truly lost nothing. Not your fallen friends, and not yourself.” Jim sucked a breath. Elyolam’s tone grew impossibly softer. 

“Who you are, Jim. Your strong, caring, selfless, and courageous heart and soul. The reasons why you were chosen for such a destiny,” Elyolam turned back to the pond and Jim followed his gaze, “it’s still there, you see?” He looked back at Jim’s troll form. “You bear many scars. Far too many. But you have remained true, my boy. You remain, and so you can become.”

Jim blinked and suddenly his troll self was rippling in the water. 

“What?!” he gasped. And when he reached out to skim the reflection, it was with human hands. Jim held his human palms up to his eyes before patting down his scrawny human body. Jim dug his fingers into the damp earth and craned over the water, the troll mirroring him.  

“It could have destroyed you. Then, it was made to destroy,” Elyolam said. “Still you have remained. Remain, Jim. Remain, and become. Become, and take hold. Take hold, and become.”

“What do you mean? I don’t understand.”

“When you awake, you will.” 

“Wait…” White mist was creeping into Jim’s vision. His next words were slurred. “W-Wait, Great Eternity! Elyo…Elyolam!”

“Become.” Elyolam was gone but his words resounded. 

“Hang on…!” The mist thickened and rendered the clearing translucent. Jim could just make out a ball of iridescent light. He glimpsed his reflection one last time. His face was human on one side, troll on the other. Puffs of white shrouded the water.

“Become.” 

“Elyolam…!”

“Become.”

“How…will…I…” Jim tipped backwards. 

“Jim. In darkness, in daylight, do what you were meant to do.”

◆

Become.

“Huh?!” Jim sprang up. Drowsiness fogged his brain and he swayed where he sat. He blinked several times, trying to make sense of everything in the dimly lit space he was in, and finally registered rows of wooden beds. Soft, even breaths reached his ears and looked beside him, the sight of Claire sleeping soundly melting his heart. Jim caressed her cheek while he scanned the rest of the room. Toby was dead asleep on the neighboring bed. Blinky, Aaarrrgghh, and Archie conversed quietly in a corner. On the opposite end, Douxie sat on the floor and strummed his guitar, Nari leaning against him with her eyes closed. Varvatos was still in a fragile, motionless state. Aja stood at the foot of his bed with her arms crossed, her eyes clouded and distant. The door creaked open and Krel wandered in, noticeably crestfallen. Lucy was going around offering refreshments on a tray. 

Jim’s eyes rested back on Claire. He pressed his lips to her cheek. Her eyes fluttered open.

“Jim?” she murmured.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said. When she smiled at him, he kissed her on the lips. He pulled away and she gave him a kiss back. One more kiss and then she sat up with him, their fingers intertwined. Jim gazed into her beautiful brown eyes. “I love you, Claire.”

Claire gaped. Her cheeks turned pink. Her heart did a cartwheel. “I love you, too.” She tilted her head, noticing that Jim’s eyes were a little clearer. “How’d you sleep?”

“Fine, I think,” Jim said. 

“You seem different.”

“Yeah. I…I feel different somehow. I’m not sure why, though.” Jim rubbed his forehead with his knuckles. “I think I had a dream. But I can’t really remember.”

Claire considered this. “They say dreams you can’t remember are usually good ones.”

“Then this would be the first since…forever and ever.” His smile was a weary one. “It’d be nice to remember it.”

“Maybe it’ll come back to you,” Claire said.

“Yeah.”

Toby stirred beside them, stretching his arms and yawning loud. “Jimbo? Claire?”

“Rise and shine, Tobes,” Jim said. 

“Man, how long were we out?” Toby asked as Aaarrrgghh and Blinky came over.

“Two hours,” Aaarrrgghh said.

“Two hours?!” Claire said in a panic.

“Thankfully there’s been no sign of the Order yet,” Blinky said. His eyes lingered on each of their faces. “You all certainly needed the rest. How do you feel, Master Jim?”

“I’m alright, Blink. I…” Jim trailed off. Sitting here with Claire, Toby, Blinky, and Aaarrrgghh sent a wave of odd nostalgia through him. Maybe it was because they were facing yet another global catastrophe together. But there was something else. Each of their voices whispered in his mind.

I love you. We all love you, Jim.

You’ll always be Jimbo to me.

Jim friend.

I can think of no one more becoming than you, Master Jim. 

He listened to the rain outside, the sound of dripping water. A faint memory. Was it the dream?

“Jim? You still with us?” Claire leaned into his line of sight.

Jim gazed at her, then at each of them in turn. Claire, the love of his life. Toby, his best friend. Aaarrrgghh, their big lovable rock. Blinky, his fatherly mentor. Jim’s heart swelled to bursting with fondness and gratitude as it always did whenever he thought about everything they’d been through together. Whenever he thought of their unwavering love and support. Their willingness to carry Jim through. Their understanding. Their forgiveness. But in this moment, the words of comfort and encouragement they’d been speaking over him all this time were a little clearer, made a little more sense to him. 

Jim shook away the strangeness and breathed a laugh. “Yeah. I’m still here.” He bunched the bedsheet in his hand. “I’m really sorry if I haven’t said this enough. Just…thank you. I love you guys.”

Claire squeezed his hand. “We love you, Jim.”

“Uno reverse, as they say!” Blinky said, all six eyes shimmering. He came around to fold his left arms around Jim. “The honor and pride as I look upon you now…there are truly no words.” Blinky looked Jim in the eyes. “I have no doubt, Master Jim, that of Destiny’s gifts, our paths crossing, the everlasting friendships we’ve forged,” Blinky gestured to all of them, “has been the greatest of all.”

Toby and Aaarrrgghh looked at each other.

“Agree,” Aaarrrgghh said with a tender smile. “Made many friends. Have Wingman.”

“Copy that, Big Guy,” Toby said, trying not to cry and meeting Aaarrrgghh in a fist bump. 

Jim got off the bed to give Blinky a proper hug. “I think so, too.” He hugged Aaarrrgghh next, then it was Toby’s turn. “C’mere, Tobes.”

Toby sniffled hard and rushed into Jim’s arms. Claire joined in, and Blinky and Aaarrrgghh hugged the three of them.

“Here’s to more adventures,” Jim said. If we make it past this one.

A fleeting smile had made it onto Aja’s face at the sight. She directed her attention to Krel, sitting on the ground with his back against another bed’s footboard. He’d settled close to Douxie, his eyes tired and absent as he listened to the dulcet melodies being played. Aja went over and sat next to him. He looked at her. Aja brought him into her arms and he held her back. Neither said anything, sharing their weariness and despondency in silence. Luug snuggled up to them and whined. 

After a while, Aja eased back from her brother and looked him in the eyes. She then wiped her tears and shakily stood, going back to Varvatos while tapping on a palm-sized communicating device.

“What’re you doing?” Krel asked.

“We can’t sit around anymore,” Aja said, hoarse and thick. “I need to contact Zadra. I have to get our troops ready. All of them.”

Douxie stopped playing, and with that this fragile reprieve they’d all been clinging to evaporated. They’d given themselves time to rest, to think, to mourn, all the while being on edge and ready at the drop of a hat to suit up and go to war. Two hours wasn’t nearly enough. But two uneasy hours later, that time was up. Bellroc and Skrael were on their way. At any moment now, it would all be over. 

“I’ll go fetch the others,” Archie said to Douxie, somber. When he returned, Steve and Eli followed along with Ricky, who was yammering on about tailored suits. Zoe trailed in behind them. 

“Your mother is with Walter,” Archie said to Jim. His ears drooped. “She said he didn’t want to be disturbed. I left them be.”

It was another stab in everyone’s hearts. 

“That makes sense,” Jim said softly. “Thanks, Arch.”

Steve went to Aja, taking her second pair of hands that weren’t occupied. His eyes flicked to Varvatos. 

“How’s he doing?” he asked.

“The same,” Aja said, not looking up. Her fingers tapped rapidly on her device but she kept messing up. She started shaking. “I can’t tell if he’s getting better or worse. But I know he wouldn’t want me to keep moping around. I need to— Ugh, why can’t I type this stupid transmission code!?” 

“Aja, hey…Come on, just take it easy.”

“I can’t take it easy, Steve!” She ripped her hands out of his, backing away. Luug yelped and scurried away to Nari. Guilt stung Aja’s core when she saw the hurt on Steve’s face but her frustration bowled over it. “Didn’t you see what happened? I made a promise as Queen to protect this planet and I failed! All of those people…Even the Akiridions on the ships were…A-And now Varvatos is like this. I couldn’t…” Aja shut her eyes and wheezed. “We have to act now! Bellroc has to be stopped or the universe will be destroyed!”  

Aja’s wording took everyone aback.

“What do you mean the universe?” Zoe asked. 

“Bellroc said they wouldn’t stop with this planet,” Aja said. Her tears began to fall. “He wants to destroy other worlds and remake them the way he wants. The Arcane Order isn’t going to stop. I can’t let that happen. I won’t let them take more lives. I won’t fail again…!”

“Aja—” Krel reached out to her but she was already out the door, worried gazes following her. Him and Steve were about to go after her, but Eli moved in front of them. 

“I think she needs some space,” Eli said.

“I’d sock you in the face for that lame pun but I’m too bummed,” Steve blubbered.

Krel stared at the doorway, his core aching. He hung his head, briefly catching Zoe's gaze before going back to Varvatos’ side to check on the radiator, and to pray that it was actually working. Eli inspected with him.

“Might need more help,” Aaarrrgghh said. “Titans can summon monsters. A lot.”

“Aaarrrgghh’s right. The Ice Titan’s frosty ghost minions just kept coming no matter how many we took out,” Toby said.

“Can your Titan do the same, Nari?” Douxie asked.

Nari scratched Luug’s belly. “Our Titans are capable of spawning creatures to serve us, yes. But I must focus all of my power on Bellroc and Skrael. My carnifloras will not be as plentiful.” 

“So we’ll need more backup then,” Jim said. 

“Just as well. The trolls of Harmonia have offered their aid,” Blinky said. Jim and Claire’s eyes lit.

“That’s Luma for you,” Claire said. “But will that be enough?” 

“Luma send Stalkings to tell other trolls,” Aaarrrgghh said.

Blinky thought. “Other troll clans won’t know what’s transpired since then. Perhaps we must depart on our own excursion, my friend. It must be known that the primordial Heartstones have fallen, aside from one. Here, in Arcadia, where our last battle must be fought.”

His words hung in the air. Arcadia. Somehow it always came down to Arcadia Oaks.

Aaarrrgghh held Blinky’s gaze for a moment, then nodded with a resolute grunt. 

“We’re coming with you,” Toby said.

“I’ll shadow us wherever we need to go,” Claire said.

Blinky shook his head, resting a hand on her shoulder. “Preserve your strength, Fair Claire. The gyres will make do.” Aaarrrgghh sulked despite himself.

“How about we take a portal to Harmonia first? We can take the gyres from there,” Jim said.

“Very well, Master Jim,” Blinky said.

Jim looked over at Douxie and Zoe. “What’re you guys going to do?”

“Zoe and I have some associates of our own,” Douxie said.

“I personally know entire communities of underground wizards, and not just the guys at Hex Tech,” Zoe said. “They might be willing to lend a hand. Or a wand, I guess.” 

“I personally have many…uh, previous mates I may or may not have ticked off,” Douxie said. “B-But the end of the world should be enough to mend burned bridges, right?” Archie rolled his eyes.

“Well that’s something,” Jim said with a small smile. He turned back to Claire and the others. “We should go right away.”

“Stay safe,” Douxie said. He stepped closer and gripped Jim’s shoulder. He took a long look at each of their faces. “Please.” They all returned Douxie’s sentiment, eyes glistening, hoping for each other’s well being. The group nodded in earnest, then vanished. As soon as they were gone, Douxie swayed on his feet, pins and needles pricking his fingertips.

“Doux…!” Zoe quickly supported him. “Hey, you good?”

Douxie sniveled. “I just…I don’t want to lose anyone else.”

“Me neither,” Zoe whispered. She’d been the newest to all of this and she wasn’t one to open up so easily. But Zoe knew that these were friends  she wanted to keep for a while. “It’s gonna be alright. We’ll get through this. Together.” 

Douxie looked down at her and his heart clenched. If there was ever a time, it was now. 

“Zoe,” he said.

She looked up. “Yeah?”

“There’s…” Oh no. “Um…T-There’s something I’ve been wanting to say to you. No…I need to say to you.” Douxie’s mind flailed and he already wanted to backpedal. 

Her electric blue eyes widened. Her cheeks dusted pink and she berated herself because there was no way he was going to say what she wanted him to say.

“...Yeah?”

“Yes.” Yes? Douxie’s stomach flipped. Blasted buckets of fuzz, it’s all gone off the rails and I’m still at the bloody station! “Yes, I…You see, for a very, very, very long time now…I’ve…”

Zoe’s heart thrashed. Calm yourself, woman!! “You’ve?”

Just spit it out, Hisirdoux! He locked eyes with her so intensely she jumped. “The truth is, Zoe, I…I-I lo–”

A mighty roar boomed through the castle. Douxie conjured his staff, bracelet coming alight and fear burning in his throat. Sparks zipped around Zoe’s fingertips. 

“W-What was that?!” Krel cried, reaching for his serrator.

Another roar reverberated, this time closer. Steve and Eli rushed out the room, weapons in hand. Douxie, Zoe, Nari, and Krel hurried after them. A third roar resounded as they all ran down the hall. It was coming from the foyer. They crossed the threshold out of the servants’ quarters and beelined toward the towering archway, weapons poised and magic churning.

“Tenebris—” Douxie skid to a halt, as did the others and they all nearly barreled into each other. Aja was already here, serrator configured into a cannon but lowered. All of Douxie’s anxiety melted away as he watched Archie nuzzle against the familiar furry face of a leonine dragon. “Charlie!”

Charlemagne the Devourer turned to Douxie and guffawed. “Hisirdoux, my boy! I’ve been roaring to see you! Bwahaha!”

“Father, please…,” Archie mumbled, but didn’t lose his smile.

Douxie ran to hug Charlemagne’s chest. “Charlie! It’s good to see you, mate!”

“Have you gotten smaller?” Charlemagne held Douxie in his paws. He took note of Douxie’s sunken face and the bags under his eyes darker than ever. “You’re thin as a wurm’s whiskers.”

“Seems I’ve lost my appetite a smidge,” Douxie sighed. “End of the world and all.”

“A blood berry pie is in order! Where’s your kitchen?” Charlemagne noticed Aja and Krel staring up at him. The two jumped when he bent close to study them. “Hmmm…Or would these ones prefer blueberry?”

“I-I’d prefer blue berries over bloody ones,” Krel said.

Aja tentatively touched one of Charlie’s horns. For a moment, the weight in her eyes lifted and a small smile found its way onto her face.

“You’re one lively creature, Charlie,” she said.

“Lively? Ohohohoho, I like that one!” Charlemagne said. “What’s your name?”

“Aja Tarron, Queen of Akiridion-5. This is my little brother, Krel. He’s the King In Waiting.”

“Akiridions, you say? Mmhm! You must be the visitors from other worlds I’ve heard so much about.”

“You’ve heard about us?” Krel asked.

“Of course! I don’t live under a rock, you know.” 

“You live in a den. Underground,” Archie said.

“Hoho, I live under several rocks, you could say!” Charlemagne sniggered. “But yes, ancient tomes have written about beings such as yourselves. You’re closely connected to our world, according to myriads of texts. Or should I say, Akiriding to them! Wahahahahaaa!” 

Archie groaned. “Father— Alright, alright that’s enough! Look, this here is Steve and Eli!” 

“Nice to meet ya, Dragon Dad,” Steve said. 

“Hello, Sir Dragon, sir,” Eli said.

Archie flew to Zoe next. “A very dear friend of mine here. Zoe Ashildr. She’s accompanied Douxie and myself on countless adventures.”

“Oho! I’m,” Charlemagne pointed at Zoe’s hair, “tickled pink to meet you!”

Zoe made a face. “Aha…Yeah. Hey there, Archie’s dad who…I didn’t think I’d be meeting. Like ever.”

“Archie’s never told you stories about old Charlemagne?” Charlemagne asked.

Archie pressed a paw to his snout. “Please don’t—”

“Wait, Charlemagne?” Zoe’s head snapped to Archie. “As in that Charlemagne?” She gaped for a second, then bit her bottom lip and snorted. “Archie…Seriously? No…This? This is the big bad draconic terror you’ve been telling me about for the past millennium? And he’s your dad?”

“Archibald’s always been quite the storyteller! Or, or rather I should say,” Charlie wiggled his rump, “Story tail er? Bwahahahaha!”

Nari giggled. “You are so funny.”

Charlemagne’s hearty laughter fizzled. The humor on his face gradually transitioned into grave focus the longer he looked at her. He stalked forward and, like with the others, inched his nose close to examine her.

“Funny…Very funny indeed,” he said lowly. Wariness sparked in his eyes, pupils turning to slits. His lip pulled back to flash the tip of a fang. “And what are you about, Arcane one?”

“Father…,” Archie said, flying next to him. “There’s no need for that. Nari’s a friend.”

Nari stared back. “I promise, I do not want to harm anyone. I am no longer of the Order. I am here to fight against them. To protect this world.”

“It’s true, Charlie,” Douxie said, stepping beside her. 

Charlemagne’s eyes flickered to Douxie, then back to Nari. He reared away then took a seat, his gaze softening just a tad. 

“Very well then,” he said. 

Archie settled utop his head. “Thanks, Dad.”

“And thank you for coming,” Douxie said. “You’re here to help us…right?”

“This dragon never sits on his claws,” Charlemagne said.

“Yeah, I heard,” Zoe said, teasing Archie with a smirk before taking her phone out. “Speaking of help, we should start making calls, Doux.”

“Right,” Douxie said. 

They got to work sending text messages and leaving voicemails. Krel went back to the servants’ quarters while Aja, Steve, and Eli chatted with Charlemagne and Archie.

“Oho, that’s right, I have a berry pie to make!” Charlemagne exclaimed.

Nari slipped away to the halls, checking each window until she could see her Forest Titan. It’d been facing the Heartstone hovering over Arcadia, but now turned to, having sensed her acknowledgement. Nari climbed out the window and scaled the wet stone walls, lifting herself over parapets and onto a walkway. Remorse coursed through her when she skimmed the ruined portion of the castle, its shattered stone walls marred by char and frost. She hopped and padded on all fours up a watchtower, unbothered by the slickness brought about by the rain. It had also rained endlessly back then, when the Titans had first been unleashed. As much as Nari relished the coolness dripping over her skin, trickling through her hair, she missed the moon, the stars, the sun. She missed them even more now. Her Titan’s natural green glow. The fiery brilliance of the Heartstone in the distance. The soft blue Heart of Camelot keeping the castle aloft. It seemed those were the only lights left in the whole world. When she reached the top of the tower, Nari called her Titan closer.  

“I am sorry,” she whispered when it came to stand below her. “This was never supposed to happen.”

Whether it was the end or not, Nari feared she’d never see the light again. 

◇

Jim held Claire against him as she wept. They were sitting across Luma in her den, a warm nest of lustrous gems where they’d found much solace and had been given much counsel. To come back to this safe place in these circumstances, to just hear how many of their Harmonia friends they’d lost to the Ice Titan, was beyond devastating. 

“They all fought with such valor, my dears,” Luma said quietly as she looked upon them. She held Claire’s hand across her crystal table, her grief equally palpable. “I know they would have done so again.”

“I can’t do this,” Claire sobbed. “I can’t take this anymore. I can’t….!”

All Jim could do was hold her tighter in silence, tears running down his face. He shut his eyes, his hand on his knee balling and shaking. It had been one sorrow after another the past several hours. But in this moment, boiling through his veins, a furious current in a haunted ocean, was rage like he’d never felt before.

“Bellroc and Skrael are gonna get what’s coming to them,” Jim spat. “If it’s the last thing I do I’ll— I’m gonna—”

“Jim. I understand your pain and anger,” Luma said. “But hatred must not be what drives you.”

“Well I do hate them!” Jim rose off his seat and glared into Luma’s eyes. “I hate them because all this is their fault! All they’ve ever done is destroy and hurt people! Because of them there was an Eternal Night. Because of them now hundreds of people and so many of our friends here are dead! Nomura…!” He faced the wall and took a huge breath before locking back on Luma. “What Skrael did to her…What Bellroc did to those ships…! What both of them did to me—”   

Jim gasped. The following silence was filled with his ragged breathing. Luma calmly stared back at him.

“Jim…,” Claire said, reaching for him.

“I hurt you.” Jim looked at her. “I hurt Douxie. I hurt all of my friends because of them.” He turned back to Luma. “So yeah I hate them. I hate them so much.”

Luma folded her hands on the table, gaze lowering in thought. Claire got up and touched Jim’s arm. It was the first time he’d actually said it, that the Arcane Order was to blame. 

“Your hatred is not misplaced,” Luma said. “Of course, we must hate the evil that has caused all of this. But your hatred must not consume you. Is that not how the Arcane Order has done its business? With their ruthless hatred?”

Jim said nothing, but his eyes softened. 

“Do not misunderstand me.” Luma stood and maneuvered around her table. Her gaze glowed with affection as she placed one hand on Jim’s shoulder and the other on Claire’s. But then her expression darkened, a dangerous glint in her eyes, and her tone became low and hushed with sincerity. “I’m very, very angry, my dears. And so I will wage war with these harbingers of darkness and destruction. But not with more bitterness. But with love for what is right.” Luma looked at Jim and Claire’s faces. “For what is good.”

“‘For the good of all.’” Jim met her gaze. “That’s what you always say.”

Luma smiled. “And for all that is good.”

“Our friends won’t have died for nothing,” Claire said, wiping her cheek.

Luma caressed her head. “No, my dear.” 

They left the den just as Toby, Aaarrrgghh, and Blinky returned from their separate trips. The Wingmen had taken one gyre while Blinky had taken another. Jim and Claire had returned before them, having revisited Moonglow Hollow and one other troll clan.

“How’d it go for you guys?” Jim asked.

“Quagawumps did not hesitate,” Aaarrrgghh reported with a smile.

“Good ol’ Queen W basically sent her whole crew to spread the word,” Toby said. “But the Kruberas said they’d have to think about it. They want to know for sure we’re serious about the whole going to war thing.”

“We still couldn’t get through to Alabast,” Claire sighed. “But I mean, I get it. He’s scared. Who wouldn’t be?”

“He did point us to some other trolls, the…Geowarts?” Jim said. “Anyway, they didn’t seem too keen on joining us, either. But at the very least they said they’d help get the message around. What about you, Blink?”

“The trolls of Gobble’s Grotto and Diamarket displayed similar reservations,” Blinky said. “Uncertain but willing to inform others.”

“Our Stalkings are also carrying the news,” Luma said. “We’ve created quite the ripple effect.” 

“Let’s just hope they answer the call,” Jim said. 

“Should they not,” Luma touched his shoulder, “we must hope still.”

They all gazed at her and nodded.

◇

“I sincerely apologize for setting your shop on fire, really! Why don’t we bury the hatchet?” Douxie jerked his phone away from his ear when the sorcerer on the line started screaming some choice words. “No, not in my skull please…C-Come on, mate! The world’s ending for real this time and we could really use your—Hello? Hello? Fuzzbuckets…”

Zoe shook her head, still on the phone. “Thanks, Regina. Tell everyone I said hey. Alright. Bye.” She hung up and sighed at Douxie. “What was that, the fifth one?”

“Fourth one, thank you very much,” Douxie grumbled. “You know, half of these offenses were Archie’s idea!”

“And you went along with all of them,” Zoe said. 

Douxie crossed his arms. “Well you’re not entirely innocent. Don’t act like you never participated in some of our tomfoolery. And how many warlocks and fortune tellers have you stolen from for your,” he waved his fingers, “hedge witchy shenanigans, hm?”

Zoe met his playful tone with a smirk. “First of all, my missions with you guys never ended in the accidental destruction of property or someone yelling, ‘You’re gonna pay for this, Casperan!.’ And second, I’m not buddies with people I’ve stolen from.”

“Including me?” Douxie said, feigning hurt. “Because you’ve definitely stolen from me.”

“What? I have not!”

“I think you have.”

“When?”

Douxie grinned and started counting on his fingers. “Oh I don’t know, my little knife when we first met, my boots so I would stop following you around, my bracelet that one time…” My heart. “Just to name a few things.”

Zoe rolled her eyes. “Okay, I didn’t keep any of it so technically I didn’t steal anything.”

“Not true.” It came out quiet, and as soon as he said it, Douxie’s cheeks warmed. But he gave a little more. “There’s…something of mine you stole a long time ago. And I’m certain I’ll ever get it back from you.”

Their eyes met and the teasing was over.

“What are you talking about?” Zoe asked, but for some reason her heart started racing. When Douxie didn’t answer, just kept taking her in with his golden eyes, she took a breath. “By the way, what were you going to say earl—”

A shadow portal manifested and out came the Trollhunters. Douxie hurried over to throw his arms around Jim. Zoe squeezed Claire in a hug. 

“Glad you all made it back,” Douxie said. He ruffled Jim’s hair.

“How’d it go?” Zoe asked.

“Lot of heebie jeebies but news of the impending doom is getting around so there’s that?” Toby said. 

“I suppose that’s not the worst report,” Douxie sighed. “All we can do now is hope.”

They followed Douxie to the foyer to make Charlemagne’s acquaintance.

“Welcome back guys!” Eli said while his serrator scraped against Steve’s axe.

“Still no sign the of the Arcane Buttsnacks,” Steve added. “Get ready for the Palchuk Swing, Pepperjack!” He pushed Eli off and spun into another strike. The Creepslayerz continued their sparing while the others reconvened with Aja, who was engrossed in another one of Charlemagne’s stories.

“Dragons are infamous for collecting treasures. But Troll Dragons are unusually bewitched by whatever sparkles,” Charlemagne said. “Which is why the late Troll Dragon King, Zong Shi, met his demise. It was his insatiable greed. Didn’t even care for his own flock!”

“He let them all die to save his own scales,” Archie huffed.

“He sounds like an awful king,” Aja said. “All he cared about was himself.” 

Charlemagne smiled softly and poked Aja’s cheek. “And what do you care about, Your Majesty?”

“Not just myself,” Aja said quickly, in earnest. “I care about my friends. I care about my planet and this planet and everything in it.” She stared at her hands in her lap, core aching. “I’d do anything, everything I could, to protect them.”

“Now that’s the heart of a Queen!” Charlemagne laughed. “Oho, my apologies. Core, is it? That is the core-rect term!”

At this point, Archie had stopped trying. But Aja couldn’t help but be tickled every time. She chuckled into her hands while her friends rolled their eyes and tried not to laugh. 

“And I thought my jokes were bad,” Toby said.

“Mmm they still are,” Jim said.

Toby snapped his finger guns. “And you still love me!”

Aja quieted. She had a sense of why Charlemagne had told her about a lousy king, a ruler who chose selfish ambition over caring for his citizens. Charlemagne said she had the heart of a Queen. Her core glowed with gratitude, yet continued to burn with shame. The memory was still there, a deep cut that was still fresh.

“I couldn’t save those people,” Aja said quietly. 

“You’re right. You could not,” Charlemagne said.

Archie glared. “Father!”

“Let me finish, Archibald. You couldn’t save them, but you made an effort! And while your efforts failed, you,” Charlemagne pointed over Aja’s core, “have not. Why, in this old dragon’s eyes is no failure, but what a Queen ought to be!”

Claire settled next to Aja and touched her arm. “I gotta say I agree.”

“Same here,” Jim said.

“I’ve met some pretty heinous nitwits of rulers in my day,” Douxie said. “You’re not even close, darling.”

“And you’re not alone.” Aja looked up to see Steve coming closer. He knelt and took two of her hands, looked into her eyes. “Not to quote some lame musical or whatever, but we’re in this together. We’re here for you, Aja.” He cradled her cheek. “I’m here for you.”

Tears swamped her eyes in seconds and she threw her arms around him. “I’m so sorry I snapped at you.”

“It’s cool, Aj,” Steve said, folding her into his embrace. “You’re still my Akiridion Ninja Queen Honey Muffin.”

Aja giggled and pulled back, brushing tears away. “My adorable blond oaf.” Steve chuckled and booped her nose. She peppered kisses all over his face before landing on his lips. 

Steve inhaled, enraptured by his bubbly bright blue angel, Aja Tarron. “I’m like the most biggest, highest percent sure that I’m in love with you.”

Aja gasped, then melted into breathy laughter. “I love you, too, Steve!” They smooched again, both smiling ear to ear, the sound of someone coughing going right over their heads.

“Awww!” Eli said.

“That’s sweet,” Douxie said. 

“Yeah,” Zoe whispered. Her eyes flickered to Douxie, and he just missed it.

Steve and Aja broke apart, foreheads touching.

“Thank you.” Aja looked around at her friends, affection and gratefulness flowering in her chest. “Thank you.”

“Aja!!” Everyone turned to see Krel running into the foyer. He slowed to catch his breath.

Aja hurried to him. “Krel? What is it? What’s the matter?” 

When Krel looked up, his eyes were shimmering. “It’s Varvatos! He’s awake!”

They all booked it to the servants’ quarters. Varvatos was sitting upright, Nari, the Blanks, and Luug with him. Aja sprinted to throw all four arms around him. The others gathered around the bed, relieved smiles on their faces.

“Varvatos Vex is still recovering, Your Majesty,” Varvatos rasped, but he hugged her back tight.

“Thank Seklos!” Aja cried into his shoulder. “I-I thought you were gone! I thought we’d lost you!” 

Krel joined the embrace, weeping softly. “We’re so happy you came back, Varvatos.”

“Varvatos Vex will always come back for his royals,” Varvatos said. “However…he does fear his core is permanently damaged.” 

“What?” Aja looked at Krel, then at Nari. “What does he mean?”

“My magic and your brother’s technology were able to restore your friend’s soul,” Nari said. “But it has been deeply scarred by Bellroc.” Her gaze went to Varvatos. “It has left his life core weakened and fragile.”

“If his core gets hit again,” Krel’s voice broke, “he’s not going to make it.” He wiped his eyes with his arm. “But I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Aja gazed at Varvatos, her guardian and mentor. One more slip up, one more lapse in focus, one wrong move and he’d be gone. Another lost. She gripped Varvatos’ hand and cried, the very thought crushing her to the point of breaking.

Varvatos kneaded her hands. “There is no need to shed tears. Varvatos Vex will be just fine.” 

“I’m so sorry,” Aja sobbed. “I let this happen.”

“M-Me, too,” Krel said. “I couldn’t help you.”

“You need not blame yourselves,” Varvatos said, gruff but gentle. “It is simply the nature of fearsome, glorious battle. And Varvatos Vex doesn’t feel his royals have failed him.” He tucked away a strand of Aja’s hair, eyes going tender on her and Krel. “What a glorious Queen and King In Waiting you’ve become. There is no greater honor for Varvatos Vex…for me than to fight by your sides. Words cannot formulate how proud I am. How proud your parents would be.”

Aja and Krel’s eyes flooded with more tears and they rushed back into Varvatos’ arms. Luug wiggled into the embrace, barking and slobbering all over their faces. Aja laughed, scooping the little purple alien up. Steve kissed the top of her head. Krel and Eli hooked arms around each other’s shoulders with a fist bump. Ricky and Lucy, being the Blanks, squeezed the daylights out of all of them.

“I’m just glad Varvatos is with us again. Thanks to my amazing little brother and,” Aja looked over at a certain forest child, “Nari.” She went over to hold Nari close. “Thank you so much.”

Nari hugged her back with a giggle. “It is my joy.”

“You are a joy,” Aja said.

“That she is!” Douxie hoisted Nari onto his back.

“You are all my joy!” Nari said. Douxie spun her around and she squealed in delight.

Smiles and laughter all around. Thunder boomed outside. Rain continued to lash against the castle. The darkness was ever present, drawing ever closer. But what had been rekindled in their hearts in this moment, the smallest flame of peace, filled the space with unmatched radiance. 

Jim pondered that fateful day at the canal, as he’d done countless times. Aja and Krel thought on the siege of Akiridion-5, their crash landing on this speck in the universe called Earth. Centuries of hiding in shadows and keeping others at arm’s length came to Douxie’s mind. Everything that brought them all here. All the trials, all the loss, all the pain to follow. None of them would wish it upon anyone. But as they gazed around the room, their hearts were warm and thankful.

Jim fell into conversation with Zoe, which was soon interrupted by the Blanks advertising toasters. Aja greeted Blinky and Aaarrrgghh, ever enthralled. Charlemagne dipped his head and she stroked his snout. Krel and Claire rescued Archie from a happy Luug’s mandibles. Nari sat with Eli and asked him about being so close to the stars. Douxie relaxed next to Steve and Toby as they listened to yet another Varvatos speech about pulverizing one’s enemies.

Friendships they wouldn’t give up for the world.

◇

Trollmarket’s Heartstone glinted with every crash of lightning. The storm had gotten so turbulent at one point that they’d shuttered all the nearby windows. Douxie leaned on the windowsill, mind wandering as he looked out into the squalling night. Six hours since they’d all returned from facing the Titans, and the Order was still yet to be seen. Dawn was surely approaching, hidden behind the thick wall of black clouds. Douxie had been through his fair share of near apocalypses. But this time he truly wondered if the sun would ever come out again. Douxie frowned. No. They had Nari. They had one another, so anything was possible. They had hope. Despite the doubt, despite the fear of what was to come, there was always hope.

“Great Eternity,” Douxie whispered. “I don’t know where you are or if you can hear me. But we could really use your help, mate.”

“Talking to yourself?” Zoe had found him in the hallway. She smiled then joined him at the window. “Keep it together, Casperan.” Douxie rolled his eyes with a chuckle. They both gazed at the Heartstone for a silent moment. “Not that I’m complaining but…what’s taking the Order so long? Part of me wishes they’d just show up already.”

“I’ve been wondering, too. Last time they took a while, it was because they were injured,” Douxie said. “Maybe Skrael had a number done on him.”

Zoe saddened. “Wouldn’t rule that out, knowing Nomura.” She rested her head against Douxie’s shoulder when he brought her close. “Do you think we can win this one?”

“Some say faith, hope, and love are the three things that never go away,” Douxie said. “I think I believe that. And I think that’ll be enough.”

“You’re such a sap.”

“You’re not disagreeing so I can’t be the only one.”

Zoe’s eyes narrowed at the Heartstone. She softly asked, “How many times have we faced the end of the world, Douxie?”

Douxie followed her gaze. “I’ve lost count. We’ve…” Him and her. From plagues to world wars, evil magicks to supernatural catastrophes, asteroids to right now, Zoe had always been right by his side. He looked at her next to him, at her cute nose and pretty lashes and soft lips. With this current apocalypse having the most dreadful prospects to date, Douxie feared it would be their last. No more distractions then. “Zoe.”

“Yeah?” She turned to him, and her heart skipped. The way Douxie was looking at her, as if she was the only person in the whole world, made her flush. It wasn’t fair, when he looked at her like that. Her reasoning, her excuses, her satisfaction with remaining his closest friend forever, all of it came crumbling down. When Douxie looked at her like that, it made her think he felt the same way. It made her want to hear what he was going to say before.

“What I was trying to say earlier, if you recall…” Douxie’s cheeks warmed and his insides caught the jiggles. He took Zoe’s hands, latching on firm before he got cold feet. He heard her gasp and he thought it was utterly ridiculous how, even now as he was doing this, he was denying that her red face and eager eyes meant anything. “Zoe, you’ve been my closest friend for centuries. You’re…” Douxie swallowed. “You’re the most brilliant and brave and big hearted person I’ve ever met. I’ve always wanted to tell you that I don’t know where I would be if…if you hadn’t been a part of my life. If you hadn’t put up with me. Zoe, you’ve given me so much courage. You’ve always inspired me as a person and—and a musician and of course as a wizard and I—”

“I like you.”

Douxie stared at her, mouth open, words lost. Zoe stared back, breathing deep. A second passes, then ten. After fifteen, all Douxie could manage was a feeble, “...What?”

Zoe gulped. She was shaking. “I like you. When I first met you I thought you were, like, really annoying cause you wouldn’t leave me alone. But I liked that you did that. You…You were my first real friend. You didn’t give up on me. I like how you never give up on people. And how you stick up for them and take care of them. I like how you’re always so kind, even when you don’t have to be. I actually really like how reckless and dumb you can be. I like how you always do things your way, no matter what anyone thinks. You’re always unapologetically you. And I…I like everything about you. A lot.” Zoe squeezed Douxie’s hands. His big, warm, gentle hands. “I like you, Hisirdoux Casperan.”

Her words were an enchantment, leaving Douxie speechless still. When the spell finally settled upon his heart, all he could do was breathe a laugh. When it took full effect, Douxie’s legs nearly failed him. He tilted forward, his forehead coming to rest on Zoe’s shoulder. His heart danced and his aura sang in his spirit. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this happy.

“I love you,” Douxie said, voice thick with emotion. He gazed fully into her dazzling blue eyes. “I’m in love with you, Zoe Ashildr. I’ve always been in love with you.”

Then her arms were around his neck and his hands were cradling the small of her back.

“Is this for real?” Zoe whispered.

Douxie hugged her against him. A perfect fit. His lips brushed hers, the lightest touch that sent electricity rippling through his body. 

“Does that answer your question?” Douxie breathed.

Zoe laughed, breathless with a single tear falling. “I love you, too.”

Douxie pressed his lips against hers, sliding one hand up to cup her cheek. Zoe unwound her arms from his neck, clung to his jacket and kissed him back. They’d both convinced themselves this moment would never happen, sharing a kiss that was real. No sneaking into balls or playing pretend for a mission. Just the two of them finding their harbored feelings reciprocated. It was everything they’d imagined and more. Zoe loved Douxie’s lips, chapped and warm. She loved how he always smelled like soap, burnt cloves, and motorcycle oil. Douxie wanted to keep Zoe in his arms forever. She was soft and sweet and always had the faint perfume of bubblegum. They pressed closer, lost in each other. Nothing else mattered. But when their lips broke apart, regret flooded in.

“I’m sorry I waited until now to tell you,” Douxie said. He touched his forehead to hers. “I was too afraid that I would lose your friendship. That I would lose you.”

Zoe’s fingers stroked his cheek. “Same. I mean even though you were attempting to hit on me when we first met, I didn’t think you actually…you know. And when we kissed in the past to dupe people, I thought that was all it was. I just always thought you were being you. Mister Chivalry and all.”

“I felt terrible whenever we had to do that,” Douxie said. “I was convinced you hated it.”

Zoe gazed into his beautiful golden eyes. She took his face in her hands and stood on her toes to kiss him. She pulled away only for Douxie to chase her lips into another one. 

“Mordrax’s miracles, it’s about bloody time!”

They gasped out of their kiss and looked to see Archie and Nari peeking around the corridor entrance. Heat burgeoned in both their faces, but Douxie’s arm remained around Zoe’s waist as the pair approached. Nari bounded up to them, positively beaming.

“Oh this is so wonderful!” she said. “Douxie, you have finally done it! You have shared your love!”

“After nine hundred insufferable years,” Archie said as he hopped onto Douxie’s shoulder. “You both were driving me mad.”

“You always knew, didn’t you,” Douxie said.

“Merlin’s beard, everyone knew. Except the pair of you, evidently.”

Zoe turned redder, thinking back on her talk with Claire. “That’s…a little embarrassing.” 

“No, it is beautiful.” Nari held hands with them. “Your romance is a gift. Are you going to get married now?”

A string of coughs seized Douxie while Zoe’s face went an even brighter scarlet. 

“T-That’s a bit…Well I mean, that would be nice,” Douxie sputtered. He couldn’t look Zoe in the face. “I-I mean would that…be nice? It would be nice if you thought so, Zo, but you don’t have to think that would be nice if you don’t—”

“It,” Zoe’s eyes flickered to his, “would be…nice. I mean we agreed a long time ago we’d be in each other’s lives forever.” She lifted her face to look at him properly. A soft smile. “I guess in that way we’re already an old married couple.”

“Heavens knows you both act like one,” Archie sighed. He leapt off Douxie’s shoulder and rejoined Nari on the ground. “Might as well be official.” For all his snark, Archie’s eyes were nothing short of fond elation as he watched his Familiar and the love of his life.

Douxie held Zoe’s coy gaze. The implications of her words brushed his heart and he couldn’t help smiling back, a breathless laugh leaving him. Yet he knew it wasn’t the time to fixate on it. The thought of that time never coming brooded in the back of his mind along with the regret of having waited a millennium. So Douxie just cradled Zoe’s cheek and kissed her forehead, his lips lingering long. She smiled and leaned into him, holding his arm around her waist.

“Have you ever been in love, Nari?” Douxie asked. “Just wondering.”

“Oh yes. I love you and all of my friends very much,” Nari said.

He chuckled. “No, I meant romantically.”

Nari cocked her head. “Mm, no. My father did not create us with such feelings.”

“Righto. All the lads in the world are safe then,” Douxie muttered. Zoe elbowed him.

“We love you, too, by the way,” she said, stroking Nari’s hair.

Nari’s eyes glimmered. She was about to respond when footsteps echoed down the corridor. Jim and Claire turned the corner.

“There you guys are,” Jim said. 

“I was wondering where you disappeared to, Teach,” Claire said. “I had some questions about my magic…” She spotted Douxie’s arm around Zoe’s waist. Realization sparked in her eyes and a smile formed. “Wait…Are you guys…?”

Zoe simpered with a slight nod.

“Oh my gosh!” Claire squealed, hands on her cheeks. “I freaking knew it! I’m so happy for you guys! I’m so telling Aja and the others.”

“Looks like we were all right,” Jim said.

“Was it really that obvious?” Douxie asked, baffled.

Jim smirked and crossed his arms. “Oh yeah.”

Douxie and Zoe shared a look before sighing through smiles of defeat. His arm slipped from around her waist so he could take her hand, their fingers linking.

“So what was your magical question, Claire?” Douxie asked.

“Something feels…off. In my aura,” Claire said. She looked at her palms. “It’s like something’s pressing in on me and I’m pretty sure it’s not good.”

Douxie examined himself and found he had no such inklings. As he pondered it, unease permeated his lungs. 

“You’re naturally gifted with shadow magic,” Douxie said, “which makes you more sensitive to the presence of darkness. Which means…”

“The Order. They must be getting closer,” Zoe said, squeezing Douxie’s hand.

“We need to tell the others and get ready,” Jim said. In the corner of his eye, Nari moved to the window. “Nari?”

Her palm touched the glass as she stared intently at the Heartstone. Then she bent her fingers, claws scratching the sinister night. 

“It is time,” Nari uttered. She focused on her faint reflection. “This time, I will do what is right.” She turned back to her friends, eyes mournful and determined. “I did not fight against Bellroc and Skrael before. But now, I will make sure they do not win. I will use my Titan, all of my strength, against them. So that what was meant to destroy will instead be a weapon for goodness.”

“Now that’s what I call a pep talk!” Douxie said. He noticed Jim go wide-eyed. “Uh, Jim? You alright?”

Actually, Jim was having an epiphany. Nari’s words struck the back of his mind and similar words bursted forth.

“It could have destroyed you. Then, it was made to destroy. Still you have remained.”

Fragments of memories flashed, as though a gate had been flung wide open in his brain. His troll form. The school. The ball of light. The stars. His reflection in the pond. The voices.

“I remember,” Jim gasped. He looked at Claire. “I remember my dream!”

“Your dream?” Archie said.

Something compelled Jim to walk right up to the window. For the first time in a year, he looked right at his reflection and took it in. The shape of his face. The color of his eyes.  The scar on his brow. He waited for the crippling anxiety to come, for the shame to wring his neck, for the monster to warp his features. His heart hammered and his breathing was rapid, but this time it was different. Now that Jim remembered it, the realness of the dream flooded through him. That moment of looking into the pond as a troll and seeing his human face shone clear in his mind.

“Jim…!” Claire watched him, nervous and shocked. “A-Are you…okay?”

“Yeah.” Jim looked at his friends. “Yeah…I think I am. Parts of it are still fuzzy but…In my dream, I was troll again. It started off as another nightmare. But then I heard your voices. And then there was this pond and all of you guys, all of my friends were there. Then things were okay. I looked into the pond and…” Jim touched his face. “I saw myself. My human self. And then this crazy thing happened where I was human again and my reflection turned into my troll self. It was…It felt so real.”

The dreamy scene of every one of Jim’s friends and loved ones surrounding him around the pond overwhelmed him. Claire, Toby, his mom, Blinky, Aja, Steve, Douxie, Nari. Nomura. All of their voices, full of nothing but love and encouragement for him, soothed Jim’s mind like a melody.

“I love you, Jim. We all do.” Claire.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of, mate.” Douxie.

“We’re all here for you no matter what.” Eli.

“Best friends forever and ever.” Toby.

“Nothing is lost.” Luma.

“Not Jim’s fault.” Aaarrrgghh.

“You’re the same to me.” Krel.

“I see no beast within you.” Nari.

“I’ve seen enough monsters in my day. You’re nowhere close.” Nomura.

“Take a look, Young Atlas. It’s alright.” Walter.

“You’ll always be my boy.” Mom.

“A champion. A friend. A son. A magnificent son. I see it still.” Blinky.

Jim’s friends had been telling him these things over and over, constant reassurance. Not once did they ever relent in their support, even though he couldn’t believe it. But for some reason now, their words were clicking into place. He could hear them a little better, a little louder. Maybe the dream had felt so real because, Jim was beginning to consider, it was real. Perhaps that’s the reason he’d chased that ball of iridescent light like a lifeline. It’d been the truth all along.

“Guys, I…” Jim blinked, expelling tears he hadn’t noticed gathering. He looked back at himself in the window. His gaze sharpened. “There’s something I have to do.”

They found everyone in the foyer, Varvatos having regained the strength to stand. A modified breastplate was secured to his chest, electric blue lines of Akiridion influence making Vs down the steel. He was having a quick spar with Aja, putting the sturdiness of its protection to the test. 

Walter and Barbara finally rejoined the group, Walter speaking quietly with Blinky while Barbara checked on everyone else. Aja took notice of Douxie and Zoe’s intertwined hands and let out a giddy cheer. Eli clapped his hands while Steve hooted and hollered. The Blanks belted a very flat and pitchy version of “The Wedding March.” Once everyone was done teasing and gushing over the new relationship, they had to break the news.

“The Order’s on their way. Claire’s feeling their presence,” Douxie said. 

“About time,” Walter said, low and quiet. The look in his eyes could melt steel.

In the midst of all the nerves, Jim murmured a request to Krel. Surprise lit on Krel’s face, but at Jim’s certain gaze, he nodded and asked for Aaarrrgghh’s assistance. Minutes later the pair returned, and in Aaarrrgghh’s grasp was the slab of earth that sheathed Excalibur.

Realization dawned on the group, and they all fixed their eyes on Jim with bated breath as he slowly approached the sword.

“Master Jim, are you certain?” Blinky asked.

Jim nodded, determined to keep his eyes forward. He dared to meet Excalibur’s green gem, braved stepping closer to the sword’s ethereal shine. But then it came. Whispers of doubt and fear. A burning sensation on his skin. It was too bright, searing right through him. But Jim didn’t stop. He climbed onto the rock and took hold of the sword’s hilt. 

“You good, Lake?” Steve asked, noticing how hard Jim was breathing.

“I-I’m fine. I can do this. I can…” He was trembling. His teeth chattered and he swallowed hard, closing his eyes, trying to concentrate. When Jim looked again, the brightness was painful. His knees wobbled. The green gems were starting to glare. “N-No…No, I—”

A hand touched the rock, then several more, circling Jim’s feet and Excalibur’s hidden blade. Jim looked around to see all of his friends smiling back at him.

“We’ve got you,” Aja said.

“Together, mate!” Douxie said.

“We believe you can pull it off!” Charlemagne laughed.

The dream and all its empowerment beamed through Jim’s mind, filled his heart. So he clung to it as he refastened his grip on the sword and started pulling.

Take hold.

Jim furrowed his brows at a voice he didn’t quite recognize, yet it was giving him strength all the same. Excalibur wiggled.

Remain and become. Become and talk hold. Take hold and become.

Jim caught a hint of his reflection in the shining handle, and he recalled the pond, the troll in the water. Gasps and laughter sounded around as the mighty blade slid free inch by inch. Heat radiated in Jim’s torso, deep in his gut and chest. Excalibur’s surface flashed bright and everyone shielded their eyes as a beam of light shot towards the ceiling. A clap of thunder boomed, so boisterous the entire castle seemed to shudder. 

Become.

Jim unsheathed Excalibur with a shout, raising its blade to the heavens. He was shrouded in blinding light and his body overflowed with blazing energy. It was power unlike any he’d ever felt. 

Become.

Zipping down the halls of Camelot, rocketing into the foyer, came Jim’s reforged Amulet of Daylight. Toby ducked his head as it found its place over Jim’s heart, its gears spinning wildly as his brilliant armor clicked into place.

In darkness. In daylight. Become!

One more blast of light, and then the brightness finally dimmed. Everyone gradually lowered their arms away from their faces.

“Oh my gosh,” Claire gasped, her eyes blown wide.

“No way…,” Toby breathed.

“Master Jim!” Blinky uttered. “You’re…!”

Wild hair. Blue skin. Horns and fangs. Taller. Standing upon the rock, wielding Excalibur, was an armor-clad Jim in his troll form. Jim stared back at them, trying to catch his breath. He held Excalibur in front of his troll face, inhaling sharply at his transformed mirror image.

“How?” Douxie whispered.

Claire shook her head, her worry rising. “No…Jim—”

“It’s okay.” Jim gazed at her, then back into the sword. He watched the troll blink as he did, breathe as he did. There was a twinge of horror pricking him. The fear was still there, brushing the back of his mind. But as Jim looked at his friends, their faces weren’t twisted in disgust. No one was running for the hills in terror. He looked at his mom, her undeniable love for him still intact. Despite the anxiety, Jim felt it. He knew. “I’m still me.”

His body tingled. In a golden puff of light, he was human again, his armor shrinking with him.

Toby nearly fell backwards. “W-Whoa!”

“Great Gaylon!” Krel said. “How did you do that?”

Jim went for it again. He closed his eyes, focusing on this new energy teeming in his veins. Another puff, and he was a troll again.

“Impossible…,” Walter said. “Young Atlas, you’re…a changeling!”

Jim stepped off the rock and reverted back to a human. He positioned Excalibur over his back, the sword fitting itself against his armor like a magnet. 

“I-I…I guess so.” He looked at Douxie. “Could I always do that?”

“I’m afraid I’m just as perplexed,” Douxie said. He breathed a laugh. “Magic never ceases to amaze me.”

Charlemagne gave Jim a sniff. “Very curious. Even this old dragon’s never seen anything like this.”

“I have not either,” Nari said. “Changelings have only been Morgana’s work.” She came closer, searching Jim’s eyes. “How do you feel?”

Jim contemplated, wondered how in the world he’d even begin to comprehend this. But as his eyes roamed over each of his friends’ faces, it made more and more sense.

“Obviously some kind of magic is at play here,” he said. “But…I think I can do this because of you guys. I felt so useless and I couldn’t stop hating myself. I felt like a monster. I felt so…broken.” Jim’s heart welled. “Claire. Tobes. Blink, Aaarrrgghh, Walter, M-Mom. You guys didn’t give up on me. You took care of me. And all of you guys. Doux, Aja, Krel…I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you.” His voice quivered. “Whatever magic this is, I think it’s because of you guys. It’s because I have such awesome friends. I love you guys.” The tears started spilling down Jim’s cheeks. “I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused. Thanks for being here for me.”

He was wrapped in hugs from all sides.

“Oh sweetie,” was all Barbara could say through her sobs. She kissed Jim’s forehead. “You haven’t been any trouble.”

“I love you, Mom.” Jim sniffled into her shirt.

“I love you so much, honey. I’m so proud of you. I’ve never not been proud of you.”

“We’ll always be here for you, Jimbo,” Toby blubbered.

“We love you,” Claire said.

They all stepped back as Blinky came to grab Jim’s shoulders, all six of his eyes glowing. 

“How you’ve become, Master Jim,” Blinky said. “Just as you have time and time again.” Jim rushed into his four arms. “Excalibur’s worthiest master.” 

“Ugh…!” Claire clutched her chest and dropped to her knees. Jim and Douxie rushed to her side. “T-The feeling…! I-It’s getting worse…!”

Jim looked at Douxie. “They’re close.”

“Seems that way.” Douxie grabbed Claire’s arm. “You’re alright, lass. Deep breath, that’s it.” He closed his eyes, his bracelet lighting as he murmured a chant. Nari set her hands on Claire’s back and joined him. After a minute, the tension in Claire’s body loosened. “Better?”

“A little bit. Thanks guys,” Claire said as Jim helped her up.

“The hour is upon us,” Charlemagne said. “We best get to formulating.”

“Right. Let’s all meet at the Round Table,” Douxie said. While everyone processed to the Hall, Douxie spotted Zoe and Krel heading elsewhere. “Where are you going?”

Zoe and Krel looked at each other.

“We need to grab something from the study to show everyone,” Zoe said. She took his hand. “It’s pretty important.”

Douxie raised a brow, but didn’t question it. He gave her hand a squeeze. “Alright, love. See you in a bit.”

Zoe blushed. “Right back at you…love.”

Douxie smiled and kissed her knuckles, ignoring Krel’s deepset grimace.

“Ai yi yi….”

Aja was addressing the group when Douxie joined them. “All of my troops will be here in less than one horvath. We will have an entire planet of soldiers. Izita and Eli will command our aerial fighters. Varvatos and Zadra will lead our troops on the ground.”

“Harmonia and the Quagawump trolls are with us,” Jim said. “Other than them, we’re not too sure. But it definitely ups our numbers. And these guys can dish it out and take it no problem. Doux?” 

Douxie winced. “Zoe’s got plenty of magic-doers on our side. If I have convinced anyone, most of them might be after my neck as well, haha…Um, Nari! What’s your game plan?”

“I will do my best to keep my siblings away from the Heartstone,” Nari said. “When they arrive, I will behave as though I am still under their spell. It will give me a chance to strike them first.” 

“A surprise attack. Nice,” Jim said. 

“Douxie, when I give my signal I will need you, Zoe, and Claire to join me,” Nari said. “Then we will perform the spell I taught you on them.”

“But…I thought you said we didn’t need the spell to beat them,” Claire said.

“We do not need the spell to kill them. But I do not want to kill them. The spell will only remove their physical forms—” 

“You don’t want to kill them?” Walter snarled, slamming his fist on the table. His pupils were black slits. “After everything they’ve done, everything they’ve taken, you still want to play your little mercy game, nymph?”

“Walter…!” Barbara pleaded.

Nari looked upset. “No, no it is not a game. That is not at all what I—”   

“You said it yourself. So many lives have been lost because you didn’t deal with the Order sooner. And here we thought you’d come to your senses—”

“Hey!” Douxie stood behind Nari and glared Walter down across the room. “I think you’ve said enough, mate.”

“Nomura would’ve said the same thing,” Walter hissed. Grief mingled with the rage in his eyes. He hung and shook his head. “I…I apologize, Nari. But they need to pay for what they’ve done.”

“That doesn’t mean we have to take their lives,” Douxie said.

“So then what? We let them have another chance at fulfilling the apocalypse?”

“We shouldn’t let hate be our motivation, Walt,” Jim said.

“Hatred has nothing to do with wanting to save the world, Young Atlas.”

“Varvatos Vex is leaning more towards the winged green one’s reasoning,” Varvatos said.  

“No surprises there,” Toby muttered.

“Whether or not the Order dies, we’ll need to find an opening first,” Aja said. “These are ancient, powerful, and skilled fighters. We have to make them vulnerable, and that won’t be easy.”

“I think we have a solution for that.” Zoe and Krel stood in the entrance way. In Krel’s hands was an Akiridion coded shotgun with a long, bell-shaped barrel. He placed it carefully on the Table.

“That’s pretty brutal, dudes,” Steve said.

“Not that kind of firearm, Steve,” Krel said. “Zoe and I have been working on something for the past couple of delsons.”

“We didn’t want to say anything and get everyone’s hopes up, in case we couldn’t make it work,” Zoe said. “But I think we’ve done it.”

She nodded at Krel. In his palm was a chip the size of a strip of gum. Krel glided his finger over it, activating the holographic blueprint of what looked to be a net, dots connected across its webbing like constellations. Upon further inspection, Douxie realized the lines and points created magic runes. Powerful ones.

“Now what’s this all about?” Charlemagne asked.

“The arcane nets. We built two of them,” Krel said. “One for Bellroc, one for Skrael. I’ve loaded them both into this net gun.” He held up two fingers. “Two shots. If we can trap them in these nets, their magic will be completely nullified.”

“Come again?” Douxie said, sharing everyone’s bewilderment. “How’s that even possible?”

“Well we were starting to think it wasn’t,” Zoe said. “Even though magic and Akiridion tech are compatible, the nets weren’t working. But…I had a friend of mine send me some of these.” She held up a bundle of cloth, pulling back layers to reveal a colorless transparent stone, smooth as marble with spinning threads of monochrome within. Bits of it had been chipped off.

“What is that?” Eli asked.

“A sealing stone!” Douxie met Zoe’s gaze. “So...you think these arcane nets will work now?”

“They should,” Zoe said.

“Should? Meaning you didn’t test them again?” Jim asked.

“We didn’t want to risk it,” Krel said, glancing at Zoe. “I was able to replicate your original Amulet’s power. Our theory is that incorporating these stone fragments into the arcane nets will yield similar results. If that’s the case…Zoe would lose her magic abilities for one horvath. Maybe longer, depending on how the technology and magic have configurated. Which would not be good.” 

Douxie sighed. “No arguments there.” 

“I really do think we have something here,” Zoe said. “But regardless, we have to try. Removing the Order’s magic is our best shot.”

“Literally,” Toby said.

“Then let’s go for it,” Jim said. 

Krel nodded. “Leave it to me.”

“We’ll turn those Arcane Butt-klebs into magicless burritos!” Aja declared, punching her two left palms.

Steve hooked her waist with his arm. “Right on, Queen babe!”

“When that happens,” Walter glowered at Nari, “what will you do?”

She met his gaze, pain and conflict within her own. “I am sorry. For all of this. I promise I will do everything in my power to stop them. But I will say again. I do not want to kill my siblings.” 

More anger darkened Walter’s face. 

“The Order won’t win, Walt,” Barbara said. She moved in front of him and touched his arm. “Isn’t that all that matters?”

“No,” he said softly. “It isn’t.”

“I know what it’s like to lose the ones I love,” Krel said. He shared a sad glance with Aja. “It’s unbearable. I was so angry. I almost did something I would regret.” He looked at a repentant Varvatos. “I miss my parents every delson. But vengeance isn’t the answer.”

“I miss Nomura like crazy. We all do,” Claire said, blinking back tears. “But Nari still cares about them. And…I care about what she wants.” She smiled in Nari’s direction. “No matter what, she’ll do the right thing.”

“We can still do right by Nomura, by everyone, without letting our anger control us,” Jim said.

Uneasy silence fell over the Hall as Walter continued to pin Nari down with his stare. Several long seconds passed before he folded his arm and looked off to the side, having nothing else to say.  

Douxie cleared his throat. “Right. That’s our plan then. Nari will handle the Fire and Ice Titans. Aja and Krel will focus on securing the arcane nets around Bellroc and Skrael. The rest of us will deal with whatever monstrosities emerge and wait for Nari’s signal. But take blows at the Titans whenever you can. We have to keep them away from the Heartstone or it’s game over.” His eyes swept over all their faces and his chest tightened. “Stay alive.”

The rest was unspoken.

Jim put his hand out. Claire and Toby joined him, then Aja and Krel, then Douxie and Zoe, Steve and Eli. Archie leaned in off Douxie’s shoulder, extending a wing towards the pile. Nari beamed and went up on the balls of her feet to reach. Barbara and Walter stood behind Jim with arms outstretched. The Blanks tried to squeeze in wherever they could, Luug wiggling in Lucy’s hold. Blinky, Aaarrrgghh, Varvatos, and Charlemagne formed a protective outer circle. The Guardians of Arcadia regarded one another. United in their resolve, and moved in their hearts by the friendships they’d made. 

This family they’d become.

◇

Jim looked at himself in the window. His mom had boarded the last evacuation ship with the rest of Arcadia Oaks. But not before showing him a light blue diamond ring on her left hand. 

“That’s awesome, Mom,” Jim had said, hugging her close. “I’m happy for you guys.”

“Thanks, sweetie.” Barbara took her son’s face in her hands and just looked at him. “I want to say ‘Don’t be a hero.’ But I know that nothing can stop you. You’ve always been a hero. My hero. It’s just who you are.”

“You were my hero first, Mom.” Jim sniffled. “I uh…I think NotEnrique would make a perfect flower girl.”

Barbara laughed and hugged him. “All your friends are invited.”

All Jim could do was hold her tight and let his tears fall.

Now as he watched a deep crimson hue bleed across the black sky, Jim’s fears were tamed. He closed his eyes, feeling the fit of his armor and the weight of Excalibur on his back. His body burned, but it didn’t hurt.  

Don’t think. Become.

Jim opened his eyes to his troll self in the glass.

“Many of you fought alongside my mother and father,” Aja said. She was broadcasted on every screen of the Akiridion fleets headed for Earth, her people listening intently. “Thank you for fighting by my side now, for this little mudball planet your King In Waiting and I have come to love. But this isn’t just a battle for Earth. This is a war for the universe itself. House Tarron and Akiridion-5 will always fight for what’s right!” 

In the Hall of The Round Table, Krel ran his fingers over the net gun. He’d never been much of a warrior. At least, that’s what he’d come to believe. Maybe he couldn’t lead an army, or skillfully wield a serrator with three hands behind his back like his father could. Instead his greatest declarations, his statements in the face of adversity, had always been what he built with his mind and hands. It was how he protected what mattered most.

Krel strapped the net gun to his back. 

Maybe the core of who he was was enough.

[It’s okay to be afraid. I’m quite terrified myself, if I’m being honest. I may be a Master Wizard now, but I’m the furthest thing from invincible.] 

Douxie stilled his thumbs on his phone, thinking. He took a breath and kept typing.

[Merlin used to tell me a wizard never makes mistakes. So I want to relay that to you, fellow magicians. And it doesn’t matter if we’re on top of the world or at the darkest, lowest points within ourselves. Unexpected possibilities await us. Isn’t it astounding, what a little bit of magic can do?]

[I have my doubts. But it won’t stop me from trying. It won’t stop me from fighting for what’s right. I hope any fears you have won’t stop you either. Take heart. Be courageous. Stay true. Then nothing will be impossible. Not even today.]

He sent it to the massive text group he’d compiled. 

“That’s a good little speech,” Zoe said, peeking at the screen to skim.

“Encouragement goes a long way,” Douxie said, pocketing his phone. “The current situation is a wee bit stressful.” 

“Just another doomsday.” Zoe faced him as he took her hands. Douxie kissed her and warmth fluttered through her.

“I can’t believe I can do that whenever I want to now,” Douxie said, grinning against her lips. “You’re adorable when you blush.”

Zoe narrowed her eyes. “I think you’re really hot.”

She had no idea a person’s face could go that red that fast. Douxie was rendered a flushed, sputtering statue of a man. Zoe snickered into her fist.

“Do you…you really think…so?” Douxie murmured, barely above a whisper. The answer was yes but Zoe just kept laughing.

Nari had mounted her Titan and moved deeper into the forest until Camelot was in the far distance. She watched the red stained darkness, scanning way beyond the town’s borders for further sign of her siblings. It came in the form of a screeching roar piercing through the thunder, and a thin layer of frost draping across the woodland. The Forest Titan reared its head towards the sound, lifted its front legs away from the cold. Nari faced the clouds as the Fire Titan descended from their depths, streams of red fire turning sheets of rain to mist. The landscape ruptured as giant icicles exploded from the horizon and rapidly overtook the forest. The Ice Titan smashed through an icy wall, stomping its way closer.

The Forest Titan inched forward to meet its siblings. Nari steeled herself, hid her emotions away as Bellroc circled above before landing beside her, the earth trembling under the Fire Titan’s mass. Her eyes fell upon Skrael, and she had to grind her teeth to halt any outward reaction. His left arm had been severed. In its place was a new appendage of black ice, markings of fiery red and frosty blue wrapping the limb like tattered bandages. It remained stiff and unmoving at his side. Skrael’s eyes glinted with cold, lethal hatred. Nari had never seen him so angered.

“How sentimental of you to wait for us, Nari.” Bellroc’s low reverberating voice grated Nari’s ears. “Would you look at what your disgusting ‘friends’ did to our brother. They deserve the agony we’re about to inflict, don’t you agree?”

“Enough waiting!” Skrael spat. “I’ll kill them all. I want to watch them all writhe like worms and suffer! Nari!”

Nari swallowed. She willed her Titan to stand by Skrael’s side. A sickening grin stretched across Bellroc’s face. The three Titans advanced towards the Heartstone’s light, ice and lava trailing behind. As they entered the town and neared the Heartstone, they were met with the Guardians of Arcadia already there, standing guard upon surrounding rooftops. 

Douxie magicked up a megaphone. “You can stop right there, you elemental goliaths!”

“So you survived,” Bellroc hissed, “only to prolong your death.”

“We won’t let you do this,” Douxie said. His gaze flicked to Nari. “You’ve taken far too much, not only from us, but from the world you convinced yourselves you were protecting. When in reality, you’re nothing but heartless killers. You may have taken our friends. You may have taken Nari. But your campaign of terror ends today!”

Jim drew Excalibur. Claire’s palms filled with shadows. Toby twirled his hammer, Aaarrrgghh slamming tiles with his fists. Blinky was manning one of the mech suits, having loaded its cannons with dwarkstones. Walter leapt into the air and drew two knives.

The Creepslayerz struck their poses, Steve brandishing Toothache and Eli locking on with his serrator gun. Aja and Krel each had their own hoverboards now. Aja configured her serrator into a laser and took aim, Varvatos following suit. The Blanks smiled wide and flashed their cannons and torches. Luug growled with all four mandibles curled. 

Charlemagne soared above and roared a battle cry. Pink electricity whipped between Zoe’s fingers. Smoke billowed from Archie’s jaws. Douxie poofed away the megaphone to replace it with his staff.

“Nari was never yours,” Skrael snarled. With a swing of his staff, the Ice Titan summoned an enormous shroud of cold mist. From the haze came a countless host of frospecters.

“You have our thanks for the entertainment,” Bellroc said. The Fire Titan belched a river of lava. Salamanders the size of crocodiles with igneous scales and feral six eyed hellhounds emerged from the infernal current by the thousands. 

The Forest Titan bashed the ground with its front legs, hoards of carnifloras spewing forth from the earth. Gigantic venus flytraps, some with more than one head. Trees with multiple mouths crammed with razor teeth. Plants of every variety, sharp and pointy and drooling. A bloodthirsty jungle.

“You really think you can stand against us?” Bellroc shouted with a crazed smile, their firestorm eyes flaring. 

Aja brought her hoverboard higher and yelled, “Actually, we do!”

On command, the entirety of the Akiridion fleets parted the black clouds, filling and illuminating the sky electric blue. Three hundred foot combat robots dropped from hatches, crushing buildings as they struck their landings. Hundreds of battle pods zipped alongside ships. One pod dove low. Izita opened the hatch for Zadra to leap out. She freefalled then flipped to land next to Varvatos, her double sided scythe drawn, not a single sweat broken. At that moment, Stuart’s taco truck came weaving down the road with its horn blaring.

“Hello there, your Majesties!” the putrid green alien hollered out his window. “Lovely weather for a brawl!”

Bellroc and Skrael glowered as more reinforcements came pouring into Arcadia Oaks from all sides. 

Clans of trolls came rolling in. Quagawumps, flocks of Stalkings, the Geowarts with their gemstone blemishes, Gobble’s Grotto trolls, the diamond horned Diamarket trolls. Trolls with tiger stripes and polka dots, mohawks and walrus tusks, long necks and long limbs, blind trolls, deaf trolls. Trolls from far and wide. The Krubera came marching, wielding swords and spears. Gnome Chompsky rode in on NotEnrique’s back, hoards of gnomes flanking them.

“Just in time for the party!” NotEnrique said. He waved at Claire. “Good ta see ya, sis!” 

Chompsky cackled his gibberish, raising a tiny knife. Excited garble rose from his fellow gnomes.

Luma strode forward with all of Harmonia. And, to everyone’s surprise, the Moonglow Hollow tribe had joined them.

“Eeeek!” Alabaster squealed, his spear shaking in his hands. His trolls mirrored his fright. “B-B-Big scary— I want t-to go home, I want to go hooome!”

“And you shall,” Luma said, drawing her dagger. 

Last to arrive were armies of spell-casters hailing from all across the globe. Village healers and street performers. Shamans and psychics, alchemists and summoners, warrior mages and potioneers. The technomancers of Hex Tech. Vigilante warlocks and enchantresses. Even a few other shadowmancers. Wizards and witches who’d answered the call poofed, manifested, teleported, levitated into place alongside the heroes, magic at the ready. 

Douxie jumped when an old stone-faced sorcerer glared his way. “C-Clancy Pendragon! Glad you could make it, old pal! Your turnips doing well?”

“I’m not your pal, Casperan” he grumbled.

“Hope that’s a yes…,” Douxie murmured.

The Arcane Order seethed and summoned even more monstrosities. Volcanic behemoths and skeletal frostbitten wolves the size of horses.

Cords of lightning lacerated the slate heavens. Thunder vibrated the atmosphere. The rainfall was cool and humid, relentless as both armies held in charged anticipation.

Bellroc sneered. “How shameful. Our fellow creatures of magic, you’ve all condemned yourselves with the mortal vermin.” They raised their staff. “Come, my siblings. Let us slaughter them all and torture their spirits as we reclaim this world!” Their eyes fixated on the Heartstone. “Yes, this wretched world and the stars beyond…Mine…It shall all be m—”

The Forest Titan rammed its sharpened antlers into the Fire Titan’s side, while its hind legs brutally smashed into the Ice Titan. Below, every single carniflora suddenly turned on the beasts of flame and frost, strangling and swallowing whole.

Warrior shouts erupted, rivaling the thunderclaps.

“For glory and Eternity!” Luma cried.

“For Nomura!” Walter snarled. 

“For the good of all!” Jim roared. His friends echoed him.

The Guardians of Arcadia and their allies surged forward.

Chapter Text

Jim leapt with ease across the rooftops with the strength and agility of his troll form. Aja and Krel flew past him on their hoverboards. Douxie and Zoe rode beside on a big Archie’s back. Their shouting allies streamed behind them, claws, weapons, and spells drawn. Sounds of warfare erupted all around them. The ping of lasers, the woosh of  magic, the crunching of bones, grunts and hisses from impacts. 

A Krubera troll rammed a salamander with his spear before punching it in the jaw. An Akiridion soldier slid on her knees and dragged the blade of her serrator through the underside of a wolf. A wizard called down mystical meteors to pummel a pack of hellhounds, obliterating frospecters caught in their path. Tree carnifloras collided with volcanic behemoths, throwing showers of razor sharp leaves and giant embers.

The Fire Titan crashed onto its side from the stab of Forest Titan’s antlers and the Ice Titan went down on its knee from that devastating kick. Vines coiled around Nari’s middle as she channeled her aura through her Titan, the two becoming one. She maneuvered so that Bellroc was on her left and Skrael was on her right.

“Tenebris exilium!” Nari bellowed, holding her arms out straight towards her siblings. Her Titan copied, enormous rings of magic circling its fingers as heavy blasts of shamrock light barreled into the downed Titans. The Fire Titan was sent rolling and the Ice Titan staggered down on an elbow. 

Nari was already charging at Bellroc, winding up another spell. At the last second, the Fire Titan dug its claws into the ground and extended its neck to spit out a wall of scorching flames. Nari quickly altered her magic to create a shield before she ran right into the fire.

“How!?” Bellroc snarled. They, too, merged with their Titan, a crown resembling the symbol over its single eye socket forming around Bellroc’s head. 

Skrael growled and did the same. “How were you released from our control!?”

“My friends freed me,” Nari answered. “So now, I can stop you!”

Strings of green magic wove between the Forest Titan’s fingers, stitching a halberd of enchanted tree bark with an axehead trimmed with whetted brilliant green gemstones. Thorns sprouted all throughout its hair, the tips of the vines honed to slice and puncture.

Skrael got back on his feet and started running. Bellroc dove, angry flames spewing from their mouth. Nari whirled as Skrael swung the Ice Titan’s thick arm, ice scraping against the shaft of her halberd, while simultaneously entangling Bellroc with vines in the air. 

Jim set his sights on one of the volcanic behemoths, the monster standing at two hundred feet. He somersaulted and spun, swinging Excalibur right into one of its legs, red lava spilling when he slashed through its rocky obsidian skin. The creature roared and Jim leapt out of the way of massive flaming fists raining down, taking every chance he could to slice its beastly hands. He climbed onto its knuckles and swung his way up its long arm, stabbing Excalibur right in. The behemoth shrieked and shook Jim off, the force dislodging him and sending him tumbling. Before the behemoth could crush him, shots rang out above.

Aja mowed down the back of the monster’s head with her serrator cannon with the ferocity of a machine gun. Krel fired away with his own serrator, taking aim at the beast’s large dark pits of eyes. The behemoth swung its head wildly, the tips of its crimson horns just missing the bottom of their hoverboards. While Krel took over the range attacks, Aja reverted her serrator back to a blade and dove onto the behemoth’s back, slicing along its skin as she sprinted before digging the blade into the back of its neck. The behemoth rose up and swatted at the source of injury. Aja dodged the first couple of swipes, but lost her balance when the creatures forcefully tipped back onto its hands. 

Douxie swooped in with Archie just in time to catched her out of the air. 

“Apologies for the unceremonious lift, Your Majesty!” Douxie said.

“Only room for two up here,” Zoe said, grinning at Aja dangling from Archie’s paw.

“Lively!” Aja exclaimed. She laughed and dropped onto her hoverboard as it sped by. “Thank you, Douxie!”

“She finally got it right!” Douxie said. “Arch!” Archie skimmed the behemoth’s back and Douxie jumped off near its pointed ears, his staff taking on its guitar shape. “How ‘bout a lullaby?” Douxie strummed an elaborate riff, magic powering and amplifying the screech of the metal strings. The behemoth cringed and covered its ears, the deafening sound bringing it to its elbows. “Alligesnarae!” Glowing sky blue shackles trapped the behemoth against the ground.

As Jim dashed forward, the behemoth vomited a molten pool.

“Jim!” Douxie shouted. He conjured a trail of platforms at the last second, and Jim vaulted right over the lava without missing a step. 

Aja and Krel continued to fire away at the beast’s face. Douxie doubled down on his chains, making them so taut the behemoth started to wheeze. Jim sprung off the final platform and drove Excalibur into its skull. 

The behemoth let out one final roar before going still, the lava flowing beneath its skin graying.

“Klebtastic!” Krel cheered. “And Douxie, you need to teach me how to do that with my beats!”

“I think Zoe could help you more in that department. I’m not much of a technomancer, I’m afraid,” Douxie said. “But a jam session is definitely in order.”

Krel raised a brow. “What about jam?”

“Jim, are you alright?” Aja asked.

“I’m great. Thanks, I was about to get flattened back there,” Jim said, yanking Excalibur out of the dead behemoth’s forehead.

Aja gazed at him. “You know, somehow I feel like we’ve done this before.”

“Done what?”

“Fight together.”

“Huh. Now that you say that, I kind of do, too,” Jim said. “Which is weird cause up until a couple days ago, I only knew you through video calls.” He frowned in thought. “...Right?”

Something sparked in the back of Aja’s mind, small and faint. But she lost it as Akiridion battle pods zoomed overhead, opening fire on another volcanic behemoth that was going toe to toe with one of the giant combat robots.

“A-Anyway, I’m glad you’re alright. Keep it that way,” Aja said. “Krel, we need to get going.” They hopped back on their hoverboards and raced off towards their Arcane targets.

“Huh…So they forgot all about it, that’s why…,” Douxie said, just loud enough that Jim heard.

“Forgot what?”

Douxie spotted Zoe and Archie coming back for him. He grabbed onto Archie’s paw as they swept low and yelled at Jim as he flew away, “I’ll tell you later! Be careful!”

Jim’s face scrunched in confusion.

“Watch out, Jimbo!”

One of those skeletal frostbitten wolves was charging right at him. Jim swung Excalibur  in front of him and he was thrown onto his back beneath the beast. Its icicle fangs grinded against Excalibur as it tried to chew through the sword to get to Jim’s face, snarling ice cold breaths and drooling frigid saliva. In a flash of orange, the wolf was knocked right off him.

Toby waved his hammer. “Down, zombie ice Rover! Bad dog!”

Displeased with the nicknames, the wolf came plowing back. Aaarrrgghh hurdled over Toby to introduce its cold snout with his stone fist. The blow sent the wolf staggering into a shadow portal that quickly swirled close.

“Expertly done!” Blinky said from his partial mech suit.

“One down, ten million to go,” Claire said, glowering at the pack of ice wolves headed their way. Now with skeletal frostbitten bears joining their ranks, three of them.

“Egad!” Toby yelped. “More like frozen Yogi Bear, amirite?”

“If you want to be,” Jim said. He ran and sliced a wolf’s jaw, then used his troll strength to grab it by the muzzle and slam it on its side before piercing its emaciated ribs. 

Blinky fired dwarkstones from his mech suit’s cannons, shocking the wolves long enough for Claire to open more portals under their paws. Aaarrrgghh clashed with one of the skeletal bears, his hands locked with its icy claws. They pushed against each other, snarling and growling. Aaarrrgghh caught it with a headbutt, then Toby’s warhammer cracked the back of its skull.

Another ice bear was keeping the Creepslayerz busy. Steve chopped into the monster’s side, backflipping out of the way when it retaliated with cold snapping jaws. Eli rushed in, twirling his serrator in his hand then goring the bear in its lifeless gray eyes. It shook its head and roared, frost shooting from its wounds. 

“Palchuk Charge!” Steve yelled.

“I’m gonna Pepperjack you up!” Eli shouted.

They both struck the ice bear with their weapons, Steve’s Akiridion-enhanced axe cleaving one of its ribs while Eli’s serrator carved right through its hard waxy skin. One more angry roar, and the bear went down.

“Let’s freaking go!” Steve laughed. He held up his hand, fingers making a C. “Now that’s what I call Creep!”

“Slaying!” Eli was about to complete the insignia when he spotted something falling out of the sky in his peripherals. An Akiridion battle pod crashed to the ground, frozen solid. Up above, dozens of battle pods were being overrun by frospecters, icicles spearing windows and frost debilitating functions. Eli touched the earpiece Izita got him. “Izita? Come in, Izita!”

“They’re too fast!” came Izita’s reply. “Everyone fall back! Try to keep your distance!”

The battle pods veered away, the frospecters in pursuit. 

“Make a circle everyone! Get them all in the middle!” Eli said, shifting his serrator into its rifle. The battle pods did as he instructed, whirling around each other until most of the frospecters were corralled. “Now get’em!” Eli looked into his scope and started shooting, picking off handfuls of frospecters in a matter of seconds. The surrounding pods opened fire, the cluster of enemies soon reduced to a cloud of cold dust. But as warned, more frospecters swarmed to take their places.

“Eli!” Izita pulled up beside them and opened her hatch. “I’m sorry there wasn’t another pod for you. But you can use this.” She reached behind her seat and produced a hoverboard. Its design differed from Aja and Krel’s boards in that it was engraved with one big electric blue X on its surface instead of four circles. “Queen Aja had this made for me, in case of emergencies.”

“Dude, we get our own Slayermobile?” Steve said, hopping on with Eli.

“Thanks a lot, Izita. I’ll try to get it back to you in one piece,” Eli said.

Frospecters turned on the Creepslayerz as they zipped into the air. Any that strayed close were minced to powder by Toothache, while Eli dispatched oncoming ones with his serrator rifle, his accuracy deadly and keen.

“You really are the assassin from Future Warrior 2!” Steve said.

“Skeltegs make good target pract—WAAAAHH!” Eli swerved the hoverboard as a ball of fire blazed past. Salamanders up on their hind legs were launching flames at the sky. He yelped into his earpiece, “Look out everyone!”

Steve shook off the dizziness. “Literally not cool, lizard dudes!”

The salamanders filled their cheeks with more flames, only to be cut in half by Varvatos Vex. Zadra was at his side, a blur of athleticism as she swung and twirled her double sided scythe, butchering salamanders to smoking ribbons.

“Glorious!” Varvatos shouted. He turned and found himself facing another salamander and two hellhounds. The hounds circled him, growls and flames trickling from their maws slobbering lava. One pounced on Varvatos’ back while the other tried to sink its teeth into arm. The salamander lunged and bared down on his breastplate, trying to burn through it with its iron hot claws. “GLORIOUS!!”

He flipped and slammed the salamander on its back, whaling it in the face then slashing its neck. He changed his serrator and blew back the hellhounds with a round of laser beams.

“Glorious death will have to wait,” Varvatos said.

“Glad you have patience, Vex,” Zadra sighed, ripping her blade out of a salamander’s head.

A group of one troll, two Akiridions, and three witches were facing off against a hoard of skeletal ice bears and wolves. Archie swooped down seconds before they were overwhelmed, flames erupting from his mouth. Douxie and Zoe hopped off and went to town.

“Caeru ignium pompas!” Douxie lifted his staff high, the runes on his bracelet spinning and flashing. Balls of azure flames shot into the air before exploding like fireworks, streaks of heat raining down. The wolves snarled and tried to escape the shooting fire searing their frigid hides. Archie enhanced the spell with his own flames and soon all of the wolves dissolved to steaming, oily puddles.

Zoe pointed two fingers at the sky, her aura soaking up the energy in the atmosphere and pulling her magic tight around her. She took a deep breath, concentrating. Just as the bears were closing in, Zoe’s aura went taut. At her shout, dense bolts of hot pink lightning crashed out of the clouds and conducted at her fingertips. Zoe whipped her arm down and the cords of lightning followed, flogging four massive bears and leaving them paralyzed on the electrified terrain. Charlemagne finished the job with jets of dragonfire.

Douxie smiled and sighed, fireballs and lightning exploding all around him. 

“She’s bloody amazing…Can you believe it, Arch? That’s my girlfriend!”

“Yes, yes, jolly good for you,” Archie groused, shaking frost off his wings.

“S-Sorry. Is everyone alright?” Douxie asked the fighters they’d saved. The two Akiridions helped the troll to his feet. They all nodded, grateful.

“T-Thank you, Master Douxie!” one of the witches said, tucking some hair behind her ear.

“Omg,omg,omg a Master Wizard just saved us and he’s super freaking cute!!” another witch squealed to her friend. 

“More like super hot tamales,” the last witch swooned while batting her lashes. “My hero! Can I have your num—eek!”

One look at Zoe’s glaring face was enough to halt the fangirling.

Douxie blushed. “It wasn’t just me. But y-yes, right, you’re very welcome, ladies. O-Off you go then. Be careful!”

The three witches zoomed away on magitech broomsticks, one of them wailing about wanting Douxie’s autograph.

“You really are the worst,” Zoe grumbled.

Douxie couldn’t help his grin. “A bit jealous there, love?”

She zapped him in the side and he yelped.

Archie landed heavily beside them and downsized, huffing and puffing as he went onto Douxie’s shoulder.

“Are you alright, Arch?” Douxie asked, cradling his Familiar’s cheek.

“Need a break from being my dad’s size,” Archie wheezed.

Charlemagne chortled, holding up his paws. “Indeed, these are big claws to fill!”

A quake pulled their attention to the center of the chaos. In the middle of giant robots and behemoths, laserbeams and whizzing frospecters, magic spells blasting and trolls walloping, were the Titans fiercely locked in battle. 

Fighters below scrambled out of the way as the Forest Titan was tipped onto its back. Its deer legs thrashed as the Fire Titan pinned it down. Lava poured from the Fire Titan’s plumage onto the Forest’s belly and hot claws dug into its sides. Nari screamed in pain, her Titan writhing in distress, all while keeping the Fire Titan’s snapping jaws off its face with its halberd.

“Nari…!” Douxie cried.

The Ice Titan came up with an arm reared to strike. Gigantic roots sprang from under its feet at the last second, flinging the Ice Titan forward so that it ended up cracking the Fire Titan’s skull instead. It toppled hissing and spitting off Nari, sprays of lava splashing.

“Skrael, you imbecile!” Bellroc seethed.

The Forest Titan rolled back onto its hooves, staggering from its injuries. Burns scrawled with fiery markings marred its underside. Nari clutched her stomach, breath stuttering. She clenched her teeth and stood straight as she could, glowered at Skrael going in for another attack. The Forest Titan held its halberd out at its side and charged.

A hellhound yelped and snarled as it blindly ran in circles. Luug’s mandibles were suctioned around its face while NotEnrique and Chompsky chewed on its legs, hordes of more gnomes swarming other members of its hellish pack. Alabast bawled in terror, aimlessly stabbing the air with his heartstone spear. The other trolls of Moonglow Hollow weren’t faring any better, swinging once with their weapons before turning tail, but at least managed to lead enemies to more capable soldiers.

“F-For the Moonstone, for the Moonstone, for the Moonst—AAAHHHH!!!” Alabast came face to face with an ice bear and made a bumbling run for it. It chased him right into the line of fire of wizards and was incinerated by rampaging spells. 

Ricky, Lucy, and Queen Wumpa hitched a ride on Stuart’s taco truck as he tore across the battlefield, a laser cannon firing away from the roof. The Blanks torched frospecters flying overhead. 

“Boom, boom, shake the room!” Queen Wumpa exclaimed while jamming her spear into a leaping hellhound’s stomach.

“Say what now?” Stuart said out the window. He squeaked when Ricky’s chipper upside down face appeared.

“Hit the brakes, champ!” Ricky said. “Unless you have stellar insurance.”

“Wha—YIKES!” Stuart swerved before his truck was crushed against the bulk of an ice bear. He did one huge u-turn, avoiding wizards but running right over salamanders, then slammed on the brakes, all passengers jerking forward. Stuart wiped his brow. “That was close. I do have pretty lousy coverage. Maybe cause I only pay with free guacamole ....”

The ice bear roared and barreled towards them. Everyone took aim, but before the frostbitten beast could reach them, thorny vines ensnared it. 

One of the huge flytrap carnifloras pulled the bear right into its grotesque mouth with a sickening crunch. Dozens more carnifloras sprang forth to consume the mobs of enemies. Bushes of pansies and primroses tore into the flesh of ice wolves. Spruce tree carnifloras tackled the bigger hulking ice bears, rows upon rows of sharp teeth hidden within their needled branches. Ravenous tangles of fireweeds dug into squirming hellhounds. Tall silversword flowers skewered salamanders with hundreds of bladelike hairs. Duos of colossal tree carnifloras and combat robots tussled with the volcanic behemoths.

“Crunchy veggies are the best!” Lucy exclaimed.

Luma danced through the warfare with her heartstone dagger, single-handedly dispatching one foe after another. 

Walter sliced through frospecters in the air. There was a blast close by. He turned a second too late and was caught off guard by an explosion of flames, his knives flying out of his hands as he slammed to the ground. The salamander hissed and crawled closer. It pounced as Walter reached to his belt…and ended up butchered in half.

Another monster lunged from behind and Walter whipped around. Nomura’s scimitars clove through the ice bear’s torso. When it fell onto its side, Walter finished it off with a hooked sunset blade to the chest. But he didn’t stop. Long after the bear went still, Walter kept hacking into it, his grunts getting angrier. A hand pulled on his shoulder.

“Stricklander!” Luma looked at the bear, chopped to cold pieces, then back. Her eyes were soft. “Enough. It’s done, my friend.”

Walter held her gaze while catching his breath, then looked down. Luma lingered a moment longer before patting his shoulder and moving away.

As his stare went from the broken remains of the bear to Nomura’s frost stained scimitars, Walter simmered. He glared daggers at the Ice Titan.

“No. It isn’t.”

The Forest Titan bashed its halberd into the Ice Titan’s scrawny waist, following up with kicks to its chest. It tried to impale Nari with its sharp right elbow as Skrael struggled to command it with his one working hand. Bellroc dug the Fire Titan’s talons into the Forest’s flank. Nari gasped in pain, willing her Titan’s hair to ensnare the attacker. The vines’ whetted ends littered the Fire Titan with cuts, black feathers swept away in the storm. Bellroc screamed and loosed a fiery wave, which Nari swiftly blocked with a magic shield. The Fire Titan’s ignited claws scraped against it, fern and scarlet sparks flying. Skrael charged up behind with deadly icicles protruding from the Ice’s arm. Nari flipped the halberd in her Titan’s other hand and swung, wood and ice grating. All three Titans backed off, shockwaves of their power rippling the air.

“Your foolishness knows no bounds,” Bellroc hissed. “Here we are, so close to doing away with this loathsome world. So close to making it anew! Yet you’ve chosen to delay it because of your idiotic affection.”

“Why, Nari?” Skrael seethed. “Why do you care about the vermin more than us?”

“Why can you not see that you are making a grave mistake?” Nari said. She gripped the halberd with both hands as the Titans circled each other. “Your bitterness has made both of you blind. I see now that all we have ever done is cause pain. But my friends, these souls you call vermin, still love me.” Her eyes went to Bellroc then Skrael. “I have never stopped caring about you. It is why I am standing against you now. Please…It is not too late to change and do the right thing.” Nari extended her Titan’s hand. “Stop this. Then we can be together again, as Father would want.”

To Nari’s surprise, Bellroc and Skrael stilled. A hint of nourishment for the bud of hope in her heart.

Aja and Krel raced closer and closer to the Titans, Aja covering her brother from frospecters and attacks hurtling from below.

“What’s going on? The Titans stopped moving!” Krel said.

“That works for us!” Aja said, shooting another frospecter its hideous face. “Let’s hurr—KLEB!”

Metal screeching resounded as a combat robot stumbled in their path. They veered out of the way, watching as it collapsed under the assault of a volcanic behemoth.

“NO!” Aja shouted when the behemoth broke through the cockpit. She looked up to see more bots going down, battered by flaming claws and melted by lava. Plenty of behemoths had been slain, but new ones continued to emerge. Even the tree carnifloras were starting to be overrun. “Seklos and Gaylen…!”

“Come on, Aja,” Krel said, voice quavering with grief. “We have to keep going!”

Nari offered her hand with bated breath, searching her siblings for any sign of yielding. The Fire Titan cocked its head, copying Bellroc’s musing. The Ice Titan shifted.

“Enough of all this pain and destruction,” Nari pleaded. “I will show what I have found. My friends can be your friends. Then we will be together in peace.”

Another pregnant pause. Then Bellroc inched closer until the Fire Titan’s muzzle was just within reach of the Forest’s palm. Skrael seemed perplexed, but followed suit, bringing his Titan forward.

“Your love for us has never waned,” Bellroc said.

Nari shook her head. “No. Never.”

Bellroc smiled.

The Fire Titan snapped down on the Forest Titan’s wrist.

“AHHHH!” Nari shrieked as hot knives shredded through her. 

“Skrael!” Bellroc bellowed.

Skrael strained to raise both of the Ice Titan’s arms to seize the Forest’s shoulders, serrated glaciers piercing in. Nari was pulled back and thrown to the ground, the pain excruciating as her Titan’s wrist was ripped from the Fire Titan’s jagged teeth. 

Bellroc took flight with their Titan’s mouth wide open as they shot towards the Heartstone.

“No!” Nari shouted. She kicked Skrael off and stood. All of her Titan’s vines whipped out in pursuit of the Fire Titan in the air. Several snagged its feathery tail while the rest constricted its talons. The vines went taut and the Fire Titan released a furious roar as it was dragged out of the sky and slammed to the earth. The Forest Titan ran and leapt onto the downed Titan, front knees pinning its wings. Nari pointed the tip of her halberd at the Titan’s long throat.

“Go on then, Nari,” Bellroc snarled. “Do it!”

Lifeless bodies littered the battleground, friends and foes alike. Only the foes were still coming, materializing from pools of magma and clouds of frigid mist. Carniflora numbers were dropping. Statues of trolls kept appearing. Spell-casters and Akiridions were losing steam.

Jim rammed Excalibur into an ice bear’s stomach, a one-hit kill. He rushed to a Krubera troll that had been speared by an icicle.

“You’re gonna be okay,” he breathed. How many times had he said this now? “It’s okay…Come on, stay with…” The Krubera turned to stone in his arms.

Zadra gripped the hands of a dying Akiridion soldier whose core had been blackened. 

“Commander Zadra…tell our Queen I’m sorry…,” the soldier uttered as they started to fade.

“Don’t be sorry!” Zadra said, voice laced with sorrow and rage. “You fought well. By Seklos, House Tarron and all of Akiridion-5 will remember you. I promise…!”

Douxie was at Clancy Pendragon’s side. Half of the wizard’s body was burned beyond salvation. 

“You’ll make it, old pal,” Douxie said, trying for a healing spell anyway. Tears leaked from his eyes. “I’m really, really sorry about your turnips. I’ve got you. I’ll fix this, let me just—”

Pendragon wheezed a chuckle. “You’re…somethin’ else…C-Cas…p…rn…”

He was gone. Soot swept between Douxie’s fingers and he screamed. Archie was instantly with him, nuzzling Douxie’s face. Zoe pressed close to him. 

“No…No, I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…,” Douxie sobbed. “It wasn’t enough. I wasn’t enough!”

“Douxie…,” Zoe breathed, head shaking.

“You did what you could,” Archie said. 

A salamander approached. Archie positioned himself between it and Douxie, growling and going up to a lion’s size. Douxie glared. He got to his feet, supporting himself with his staff before turning it on the beast.

Before the salamander could so much as hiss, it was obliterated by a violent gush of water.

They looked up to see an aquatic serpentine dragon with fin-like wings soaring over them. What came next was an echoing chorus of monstrous roars and their sources filling the air. Hundreds, maybe thousands of dragons descended from the storm. Wyverns, amphipteres, oriental dragons, dragons with fur, dragons with feathers, dragons with multiple heads, more winged sea serpents. Fire enemies were hosed down by powerful spouts of water. An outpouring of dragonfire incinerated herds of ice bears and wolves.

“Holy cats…,” Zoe gasped.

“Well it’s about time you all showed up!” Charlemagne said.

“Aye there, Charlie! Long time no see!” said one of the heads of a dragon. “Thanks for the invite!”

“You get a mane cut?” the other head said.

“Wahaha, just a trim!”

“Looks good!” a feathery dragon said.

“When we gonna play cards again, Charlie?” an oriental dragon asked.

Archie gaped at the flocks of dragons still appearing. He looked at Charlemagne. “Dad, you really…? I didn’t even know so many dragons still existed!”

“Well you should know, Archie, that a round of Draconic Cards makes quite a scene!” Charlemagne laughed.

“That must be your shapeshifting boy!” a wyvern said. “Hehe, and his stinky little human!”

“S-Stinky!?” Douxie sputtered. “Wha—I’ll have you know—” 

The wyvern flew away. “Stinkyyyy!”

Ignoring that and Zoe’s muffled snickering, Douxie’s grumbling turned to awe as he stood before the rest of their majestic reinforcements. All of his friends and their allies watched the skies, the relief breathtaking.

“Well this is insanely awesome,” Zoe said. 

“You’re brilliant, Charlie,” Douxie said.

Nari and the Order looked up at all the commotion. Infuriated by the additional opposition, Bellroc commanded their Titan to spew blistering flames onto the Forest Titan’s torso in Nari’s lapse in attention. She cried out in agony and backed off. The Fire Titan straightened its long neck, biting Nari’s Titan around its waist. An animalistic rasp tore from Nari and she thrust her halberd’s tip into one of the Fire Titan’s wings, lava bleeding over feathers when it pierced through. Bellroc and their Titan unleashed deafening screeches in tandem.

Krel and Aja finally made it within range of the Titans. With Bellroc and Nari having it out, Krel decided to take aim at Skrael first. He peered into the scope, trying to lock on in such unsteady conditions.

“Get the shot, little brother. Hurry!” Aja said while blasting away frospecters.

Bellroc observed the dragons overtaking their infernal monstrosities and snarled, “It. Is. FUTILE!” 

The Fire Titan retched another river of molten fire while the Ice Titan smashed its bulky arm to the ground, walls of jagged ice bursting up. Enchanted magma and ice converged, the lava trickling into the magic patterns carved into the glaciers. Puffs of steam rolled off the ice until the walls shattered. Nightmarish yowls like dying demons scraped the air. When the haze thinned, new atrocities emerged. 

Deformed and discolored rooster heads with blazing eyes. Ghostly pale, snaking bodies hanging from exposed ribcages. They were zombified with icicle spines and icicle claws on both talons, yet red flames streamed from their sawtooth beaks and the span of their rubbery wings ridden with tears. Legions of these fiery ice abominations tore out of the fog and collided with the dragons like starved beasts.

“Kleb!” Krel swerved his hoverboard as one came right at him.

“Little brother!” Aja shot madly at the thing. Whatever it was was way bigger than a frospecter, so instead of poofing to dust it snapped around to crunch down on her hoverboard. It splintered in the creature’s mouth and Aja plummeted.

“AJA!!” Krel cried, speeding after her. He managed to snatch her with two hands before she landed in the jaws of a behemoth.

Nearly every dragon was wrestling with one of the horrific fire-ice monsters, biting, scratching, breathing the elements. A huge one landed in front of Douxie and Zoe, its gross rooster head twitching and its notched beak dribbling flames. Archie and Charlemagne leapt to their defense.

“Dirty basilisks, always on the side of trouble!” Charlemagne snarled.

Icy blue flames blasted from the basilisk’s beak. Charlemagne countered with dragonfire, both energies clashing with rivaling power. Once the beams dissipated, the basilisk and Charlemagne rushed forward, exchanging blows with claws and teeth before shooting into the air. The basilisk was twice Charlemagne’s size but he didn’t relent in the slightest.

“I have to help him!” Archie said.

Douxie raised his staff at more enemies incoming. “Go!”

Zoe called down more lightning bolts while Douxie summoned a tornado of cerulean flames, magic flaring in his eyes. Hellhounds were electrocuted to nothing. Ice wolves and frospecters melted away. But in their place came another basilisk wailing its spine-chilling song.

“Come and get some!” Zoe shouted with fists sparking. She caught Douxie looking at her. “I’m fine.” But the fatigue on her face and her sagging posture betrayed her. 

Douxie was feeling it, too, the tiring of his magic reserves. The Titans were still going at it with no indication of lost magic from either Bellroc or Skrael.

“Come on, Krel,” Douxie pleaded under his breath. 

The basilisk lashed its tail, flinging dozens of its icicle spines. Zoe threw up a shield then accelerated with magic at her feet, aiming punches at its head.

“Tonitru vi forte! ” she shouted, her knuckles colliding with the basilisk’s mug with the force of a car crash. It came with three thousand volts ripping through its skeletal body, and the basilisk skid across the ground shrieking and convulsing. But by the time Zoe caught up to deal the finishing blow, it was twisting its neck and breathing frigid fire. Zoe faltered, taken aback. Freezing cold consumed her. “AUGH!”

“ZOE!” Douxie watched her slump to the ground, squeezing herself and shivering. Magic cloaked his body and he plowed towards the basilisk with a rageful yell, eyes glaring. “ADOLEBI TO CINNIHIL!”

Sigils drew themselves all around the basilisk, trapping it in a furious bright blue vortex. The sigils’ patterns flashed and their rings doused the beast with an onslaught of magic flames. The basilisk flailed with blood-curdling screeches until an explosion ruptured the spell. Only crystal ashes remained where the basilisk once stood.

Douxie rushed to Zoe’s side while coming down from such a feat. His heart dropped when he gathered her in his arms. She was shuddering like mad, freezing cold to touch and her complexion turned deathly pale. Her right bicep was maimed with frostbite. 

“I’ve got you, love, I’ve got you!” Douxie clutched her close, aura burning. “Calefacto, calefacto, calefacto…” He didn’t stop saying it for a solid minute. Gradually, warmth returned to Zoe’s body and she went limp. Douxie cradled her face. “Zoe? Zoe, are you alright?”

She curled against him with one big shiver. “And this is why I h-hate wintert-time…”

Up in the air, the duel between Charlemagne and the bigger basilisk raged on. Charlemagne dipped in the air for a second but kept flapping his wings, righting himself. Scars and burns riddled his body.

“Dad!” Archie soared close, flames building.

“Stay back, Archibald!” Charlemagne rasped. “This old dragon’s still got his fangs!” He roared as the basilisk lunged, dodging its beak and latching onto its back with his claws. Charlemagne sank his teeth into its leathery nape, shaking hard to rip its skin, then torched the wound. The basilisk yowled and lashed its long tail, icicle spines erected, catching Charlemagne in the side and knocking him out of the sky.

Archie blasted the basilisk’s face with red-hot flames before diving after his father. Charlemagne crashed, pained groans wheezing out of him.

“Father, are you alright?” Archie asked, pawing his wound-ridden chest. 

Charlemagne dragged himself up. “Spry as a hatchling…! Charlie’s not down yet.”

“I’m staying with you. Ah—No, no. Not a debate!” Archie crouched low as the basilisk found them. “Come on then, you cockatrice prat!”

Archie pounced, fangs blazing, but he was tossed aside like a sock puppet. Charlemagne jumped back in the air and breathed his fire, swooping out of the way when the basilisk swung its tail. It started to give chase only to be blindsided by a fireball from Archie. They were all back in the sky, Charlemagne and Archie circling and bombarding the basilisk with flames. It whirled in place, the force of its wings slicing the air pushing back the onslaught, then set its sights on Archie, the smaller target. A stabbing hailstorm blew off the basilisk’s tail. Archie morphed into a hummingbird, zigzagging out of the way, then jumped back into his lion-sized dragon form as he rushed forward, slashing his claws down the basilisk’s chest.

“Ohoho, that’s my boy!” Charlemagne said.

But the large basilisk, bruised white and bleeding lava, wasn’t slowing down. It snapped its head down, serrated beak snagging the scruff of Archie’s neck. At Archie’s sharp gasp and shaken strength, the basilisk doubled down, rending fur and skin as it shook Archie like a ragdoll before flinging him down. A cloud of icy flames struck him in the free fall, worsening the impact when it came. 

“ARCHIBALD!”

“Ugh…” Archie was small again, body pulsing with pain. The back of his neck stung like a slorr. He struggled to push himself up on his forepaws and looked up to see his father over him. Charlemagne turned back to the basilisk with a ferocious snarl and launched himself at the monster.

“You dare harm my son! Back, you demon!” Charlemagne roared.

He gored the basilisk’s ribs with his horns. It shrieked and bit him in the side, kicking its talons. Charlemagne hissed then sucked in hard, filling his chest with all the dragonfire it could hold before unleashing every spark onto the basilisk’s neck and face. The basilisk screamed and writhed as it was pelted with scorching energy, on the brink of finally being overpowered. Its hideous charred face started melting like wax. Its ribcage caved inward while its skin dissolved.

But then the fire stopped.

Charlemagne’s eyes widened. Broken sounds stuttered out of him. His wings went rigid. The world tilted. He looked down, trembling.

Sticking out of his chest was the icicle tip of the basilisk’s tail. With its final breath, it ripped itself out. Charlemagne choked. 

“NO!!!” Archie bellowed, watching devastated as his father and the basilisk fell out of the sky. Charlemagne crashed thirty feet away from him, the smoking husk of the basilisk landing further off and breaking apart. Archie slid towards Charlemagne’s form. “Father…No…No!”

Douxie and Zoe found him.

“Archie!!” Douxie ran to his Familiar’s side, picking him up. “Fuzzbuckets, Arch, are you still with me?”

“You really took a beating,” Zoe said, gut twisting at Archie’s bloodied neck.

“Ngh…! M-My dad, he’s…”

Douxie followed Archie’s gaze. His heart sank. “Oh no.”

He and Zoe hurried to Charlemagne. By the time they reached him, he was barely breathing. Douxie quivered at all the lacerations and burns. When he spotted the gaping wound in Charlemagne’s chest, Douxie’s legs gave out. Archie rolled out of his arms and limped to his father’s side.

“Dad?” Archie uttered, nosing Charlemagne’s face.

Charlemagne blinked, slow and bleary. His voice was only a whisper. “Archie…”

“You’re going to be alright, Dad. Just hold on. Just…”

“It pierced my heart, Archie.”

Archie buried his face and paws into his father’s mane. “No. This can’t be happening. Please…I-I’m sorry. I actually love your puns and your pies. I…I m-meant to visit you more. I’ll make it up to you. I’ll…!” He nuzzled him.

Douxie rested his hand on Charlemagne’s neck, eyes burning with tears. “Charlie…No, mate. Don’t do this to us.”

Charlemagne smiled. “This old dragon never thanked you, Hisirdoux, for taking care of my boy. Would you look after him a while longer?”

“Of course I will. Always,” Douxie sobbed. “But really, Archie’s been the one looking after me. Your son is brilliant. The best Familiar a wizard could ask for.”

“And a mighty dragon,” Charlemagne hummed. He looked into his son’s tearstained eyes. “My Archibald. How you’ve spread your wings and flown.”

“Don’t go,” Archie gasped. “Don’t go…!”

Charlemagne closed his eyes.

“Archie, he’s…,” Zoe managed through ragged breaths

Frost crept out of the hole in his chest and blanketed his body.

“Arch…I’m so sorry, Archie,” Douxie wept. “I’m so sorry.”

“D-Dad? Dad!” No response. Archie wailed. “Father…!”

Charlemagne went still.

Chapter Text

Fear is but the precursor to valor.

◈

Wintertime sprinkled its winds with snowflakes. It ladened the endless fields white, specks of cold glistening like rain upon paved earth. A crisp chill settled in. Not frigid, but biting enough to want a source of warmth. So winters were. Cold and warm. 

Bellroc was odd tonight.

“Are you unwell, Bellroc?” Nari asked. Glowing moths danced between her fingers, enticed by the tall flames waving in the stone firepit. 

“No stories tonight?” Skrael said. He sat furthest from the fire on a snowy ledge behind Nari.

Bellroc’s firestorm eyes narrowed. “My apologies. My thoughts are rather…preoccupied.”

“Something troubles you?” Nari asked, frowning.

“...Yes.” Bellroc sat up straight on the large log and looked at Skrael and Nari. “It is the humans. I grow more and more displeased with them every day. Their behavior is so twisted. I believe it is beginning to affect our creatures of Magic.”

“I cannot say I disagree,” Skrael said. “I, too, find them disturbing. Perhaps Father will set them straight soon.”

“He warns all,” Nari said, “yet they do not listen, Mortal or Magic.” She gazed at the moon. “I hope they will begin to listen.”

Bellroc suddenly stood. “How much longer will Father wait?” Their low, distorted voice had Skrael and Nari looking to them in alarm. “How much longer until this world is ruined by Humanity’s foolishness? Until those born of magic become tainted as well and are subjected to Father’s wrath? That would not be very fair, now would it?”

“Careful with your words, Bellroc,” Skrael said slowly. “You must not imply that Father is a fool. The Great Eternity knows all.”

“Ever the pleaser, aren’t you,” Bellroc scoffed. 

“Skrael is right,” Nari said. “We must not doubt Father. He is kind and good.” She hopped next to Bellroc and touched their arm. “He will always do what is right.”

Bellroc regarded her. After a moment, they took her hand and bent down. “Surely. But I must admit my patience is wearing thin. I simply fear for Magickind. So Father best be swift with his plans.” They ran their hand over Nari’s hair then stood. “I would like to be alone for the night.”

“Are you upset with us?” Skrael asked.

“Never,” Bellroc said. “I only want to sort my thoughts.” They walked past the firepit and disappeared into the powdered woods.

Skrael frowned. “She has been so quiet as of late. Must be the humans’ wickedness in the air.”

“Do not say such things,” Nari said. “Those who can choose will choose. Father did not make us puppets.” At Skrael’s solemn face, she bounced closer and took his hand. “It will be alright, Skrael. We will see Bellroc again tomorrow. Perhaps we can show him our Crystal Wood.” 

Skrael smiled. “Trolls have found their way to our Wood. They enjoy the sunlight there.”

Nari beamed. “Let us find Bellroc at sunrise. Then we will go and enjoy it as well…”

◆

“Together.”

The Forest Titan went down on one knee, leaning on its halberd. The Fire Titan hissed and spat and writhed as molten blood gushed from its crippled wing. Skrael looked between them.

“Skrael what are you doing?!” Bellroc roared. “Take her down!!”

Skrael shook himself from his thoughts. Grinding his teeth, he swung his Titan’s right arm into the Forest Titan’s side. Nari gasped, staggering from the blow. Stinging cold seized her body and she feared her bones were broken. With all the strength she could muster, Nari hauled her Titan back up with her halberd. A screech reached her ears and she looked to the Fire Titan dragging itself towards the Heartstone with one wing. Nari wobbled to stop them but Skrael struck her in the back and she went back down throbbing in pain.

“You need to yield, Nari!” Skrael barked. 

Nari registered a note of pleading in his voice. She got back up, crying out at the stabbing aches in her body, and looked over her shoulder at him. From across hundreds of feet, she knew Skrael was glaring at her. Watching, but not attacking.

“No, Skrael,” Nari breathed. “I need to stop you.” Her Titan whipped out its vines. They coiled around the Fire Titan’s talons just as the Ice Titan’s arm smashed into her side again. She collapsed. The Fire Titan shrieked and fought against its restraints. Bellroc craned its head back and retched flames. It was torture. The bitter cold like knives in her flesh. The blistering heat cooking her alive. All the lives lost and being snuffed out still pricking her spirit. But Nari’s vines didn’t let go. She wasn’t going to let go.

Jim got a boost off the head of a flytrap carniflora and sliced a basilisk’s ribs apart. It fell right into the carniflora’s giant maw, lights out with an awful crunch. Staccato grunts rumbled out of it, like it was laughing and thanking Jim for the snack.

“Eh, no problem,” Jim said. “Thanks for the lift.” He spotted Claire next to an injured Toby and rushed over. “Are you guys okay?”

Toby nursed a burned leg, his armor seared through. “I-Is it a little hot or is that just me?”

“Both,” Aaarrrgghh said, brushing a finger over Toby’s head.

“It doesn’t look too bad,” Claire said. Her face was heavy with exhaustion and bruises as she looked across the field. “I don’t know how much longer we can hold out. What’s taking Krel so long?”

Jim followed her gaze over the ruins of Arcadia Oaks strewn with carnage. Monsters weren’t popping out like crazy anymore but they were still coming. Battles raged on.

“I don’t know,” Jim said, trying to keep his panic at bay. “Maybe he’s—” 

The ground quaked. Everyone looked to see the Forest Titan on its side, trapped between the Ice Titan’s arm crushing it and the Fire Titan’s spouting flames.

“Nari needs help!” Jim gasped.

“Go, Master Jim!” Blinky said.

“But…B-But Tobes—”

“We’ll look after Toby,” Claire said. She got up and embraced him, then leaned away to meet his eyes. “Go.”

Jim kissed her. “Stay safe.”

He sprinted as fast as his troll legs could carry him. A feathery dragon with four wings soared over him and he flagged it down.

“Hey, can I catch a ride?” Jim shouted.

The dragon looked down and cocked its head. “Little troll can’t roll?”

“Only half troll, sorry. Look, I just need you to take me to the Titans. Those really big scary guys that’ve been duking it out this whole time. My friend—the green one—she really needs help—AHHH!!” 

It plucked Jim off the ground and tossed him onto its back murmuring, “I just ask one question. Why does he talk so much?”

“Wow,” Jim gasped. He adjusted where he sat on the dragon’s back, clutching its blue feathers. “This. Is. Awesome. Thank you so muUUUUHHH!!!” Jim held on for his life as the dragon shot off like a bullet train.

“Why does he yell so much?” the dragon grumbled.

Krel slowed his hoverboard to pull Aja up. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Aja said, rubbing her temple. “Kleb…”

“I can get the shot again, don’t worry. We’re going to make this happen.” He flew his hoverboard higher, net gun ready. “This time for sure…Wait. What? What’s happening?”

They both looked down at all the destruction. Enemy monstrosities were abandoning their fights and marching towards the Heartstone. Volcanic behemoths struck it with their fists. Salamanders and hellhounds launched fire at the Heartstone’s base, ice bears and wolves doing the same with blasts of frost. Frospecters launched hailstone missiles. Basilisks crunched and breathed icy flames on the fiery crystal.

Douxie, Zoe, and Archie looked up from Charlemagne’s body.

“No…,” Douxie uttered. “No, no, no…!”

Zoe swore.

Archie stared the brutes down. He turned his head to Nari pinned between the Order, and his veins boiled with fury. A savage growl tore from him as he grew into a large dragon once again, the same size he’d been when they’d fled their apartment that night. A great powerful beast, bigger than even Charlemagne.

“Archie…,” Douxie said.

“Let’s finish this, Hisirdoux,” Archie seethed, locking eyes with his Familiar. 

Douxie took a sharp breath at the storming anger in his eyes. Soon enough, his bones and aura were ignited, too, his heart banging down his chest.

He nodded and mounted Archie’s back. He held out his hand for Zoe, but she shook her head.

“You guys go,” she said. She tilted her head towards the Heartstone. “I’m gonna help stave off the goons.”

“Oh…Right. Right, okay. That’s good.”

Zoe took his hand still. “Hey, the whole maybe possibly one day get married thing?”

Douxie’s brain malfunctioned. “Huh—W-Wha...Um…Y-Yeah?”

“I just want you to know I’m totally down.”

The apocalypse blipped away. For a split second, Zoe was Douxie’s world. Her pink hair an absolute mess and browning a bit at the roots. Her beautiful battle-scarred face. Her bright blue eyes, tired but never losing their charge. The warfare crescendoed back into his awareness but she was still his everything.

“Me, too.” Douxie leaned down to kiss her. She cupped his cheek and pressed closer.

“Die and I’ll kill you,” Zoe whispered against his lips. She stroked Archie’s neck. “Both of you.” She pushed off, electricity whirring around her arms. “See you soon.” She hurried off towards the Heartstone.

Archie looked down at Charlemagne’s lifeless face. Buried his nose into his mane one last time. Whimpered at how cold he was.

“Goodbye, Father.” Archie choked back a sob. “Thank you.”

Douxie rubbed Archie’s neck, crying softly. Archie lingered over his father’s body for another moment. Then he tossed his head to the heavens with a feral growl and thundered into the air.

“Tell all of our troops to protect the Hearty Stone!” Aja commanded Zadra through a holographic screen. “No matter what, we can’t let it be destroyed!”

“Understood, my Queen!” Zadra said before the screen faded.

“Defend the Heartstone!” Luma bellowed to her comrades.

“Come on, let’s go!” Zoe hollered to any and everyone she passed.

Surviving battle pods, trolls, wizards, and dragons flocked to combat the assault. The Heartstone slanted and drifted several feet downward, portions of the crystal already starting to gray.

Straggling frospecters continued to attack the hoverboard. Krel couldn’t so much as lift the net gun before icicles and clouds of frost forced them to veer further.

“Out of the way you popsicle snack butts!!” Aja yelled, mowing down as many as she could with her serrator cannon. 

Nari couldn’t hold on anymore. The cold shredded her insides. The heat was skinning her. Her vines around the Fire Titan’s legs, black and withered, were losing their grip.

It hurts too much. I cannot…I am sorry. I am so sorry—

The frigid pressure on her back and the unceasing fire lifted. Nari and the Forest Titan both pitched sideways. She landed on the earth, her Titan’s connecting vines still wrapped around her waist. Her vision was fuzzy, the Fire and Ice Titans humongous blurs recoiling back.

Jim slashed Bellroc across their back.

Douxie pummeled Skrael with shooting stars.

“GAAAAHH!” Bellroc screamed, lava blood seeping down their spine. They whirled around and cursed. “Trollhunter!”

Jim raised Excalibur. “I’m in the business of hunting wizards these days.”

Bellroc sneered. “How fitting. Becoming a pitiful beast is the only way you can stand against me.” They stalked closer. “Why not be our pet again? Perhaps then you’ll be worth saving.”

Jim looked straight at those grotesque wooden eyes watching him. The voices came, like they always did. Rasping in his ear, whispering in his skull. Jim’s heart quickened. His throat clenched, his eyes tingled, a spasm ripped through his arms and into his fingers. But even as the terror came, even as he glimpsed his reflection in Excalibur’s steel, Jim Lake Jr. planted his feet because now he understood.

“I’m nobody’s pet or plaything,” Jim growled. “My friends helped me see that I’m not a monster. I’m me. Always have been, always will be.” He glared daggers. “Now I’m here to take down the real monster.”

Staff and sword clashed. Bellroc screamed in Jim’s face, “FILTHY MONGREL!!!”

Skrael retaliated with violent freezing gales, which Archie redirected with flaps of his massive wings. Douxie’s staff changed to a guitar and he strummed, the spell building in his bracelet released through blaring sonic waves traced with magic. Skrael’s face contorted with irritation and he tried to cover his ears. Archie swooped in and clawed him in the face, sending him sprawling. He pounced to pin Skrael down, nostrils smoking and red hot dragonfire coating his fangs. Skrael shrieked in agony as Archie chomped deep into his shoulder with a mangling shake. Dragonfire brewed in his throat and he latched on harder.

“Arch!” Douxie cried. He gave Archie’s side a firm push. “That’s enough, Archie! Don’t kill him!”

Nari’s face glowed in Archie’s mind.

He dragged Skrael up, getting in one more shake before tossing him like a fish. Douxie locked eyes with his Familiar, heart tight with sympathy and gratitude.

“Miserable vermin,” Skrael seethed. He ground his knees as he struggled to stand, unbalanced and crooked with no working left arm to comfort his charred and mutilated right shoulder. His one hand loosely held his staff. “Corrupting Nari. Taking her away from us.”

Douxie glared. “The only reason you’re still alive right now is because of Nari. Because she still cares about you.”

“LIES!” Skrael swung his staff, the wind carrying a barrage of sharp ice. The first round was easily swallowed by Archie’s flames. The next shattered against Douxie’s magic defenses. “If Nari cared for us, if she desired for us to be together, she would fight with us, not against us!” Another gust of ice. “She would want to cleanse and rebuild this world with us! To pass judgment on wretched Humanity and seek justice for Magickind!”

“You’re forgetting something!” Douxie shredded a riff that made all the ice shards explode. “Seems Bellroc left out a few details.”

Skrael froze, eyes narrowing.

Douxie met his gaze evenly. “Maybe you’re the one being deceived, Skrael. Because from what I’ve heard, Bellroc may not care as much as you think.”

“What are you blathering on about?” Skrael spat, raising his staff.

“The only thing Bellroc cares about is himself,” Douxie said. “He wants to rebuild the world, yeah, but in his image. And not just this world, but every world there is. Bellroc wants it all for himself and I didn’t hear your name or Nari’s in the equation.”

“Lies,” Skrael whispered through his teeth.

Douxie kept on. “I saw Nari’s life before all of this. You were both close. But then you fell in line with Bellroc’s anger.”

“Enough.”

“You’ve never stopped loving Nari. It’s why you didn’t want to torture me in her body anymore. It’s why you pull your punches, why you’re always hoping she’ll side with you. It’s why you’re listening to me right now!”

“SILENCE!”

“Part of you knows that I’m right, Skrael! You haven’t gone after the Heartstone once! Why is that? Bellroc tell you not to? Because he wanted the last kill?”

Volcanic behemoths crushed ice bears and ice wolves underfoot and swatted frospecters to oblivion. Basilisks were shedding their cold elements, bodies colored black and scarlet. So it went until the only attacks assailing the Heartstone were of fire and magma.

Zoe electrocuted a line of salamanders. “God, now what?”

“Perhaps the puny cold wizard has lost his power,” Varvatos said as he chopped his way through hellhounds. Five battle pods pelted a behemoth with lasers until it fell over dead. “Glorious!”

Skrael held his staff high, a maelstrom of cold spinning at its tip. 

“I’m finished with your nonsense, boy,” Skraels said, his tone quiet and chilling.

Douxie and Archie braced themselves, fingers poised over frets and flames swirling behind teeth. Just as Skrael brought his staff down to unleash the blizzard, a smear of silver and electric blue flew in out of nowhere.

“UGH…!” 

The Ice Titan fell to its knees and slouched with its arms crossed. Skrael dropped out of the air and his staff clattered next to him, the icy blue glow of its arrowhead scythe dimming. He thrashed, kicked, yelled. The arcane net compressed, energy pulsing across its intricate webbing. Monochrome wisps trailed from the flashing woven runes, rotating like tightening screws.

“What…What is this?!” Skrael gasped. “M-My magic! What have you done?!”

Douxie looked up to see an incredulous Krel lowering the net gun and a smile broke across his face.

Jim parried a flurry of flames before he and Bellroc paused.

“What has happened?” Bellroc breathed.

Every frospecter and ice beast vaporized. The basilisks’ icy features melted away entirely. Skyrocketing heat and the ongoing downpour made the atmosphere horrendously muggy, near unbreathable.

“Dude, is it possible to sweat while it’s raining?” Steve groused. 

The Creepslayerz were helping tend to the injured. 

Eli finished cauterizing a wizard’s leg before searching the skies for Aja and Krel.

“Krel, you did it!” Aja exclaimed.

Panic stirred in Skrael’s eyes, cries of distress rising through his anger.

“It’s over, Skrael,” Douxie said. He inched forward, keeping his eyes on the downed Arcane wizard as he bent to pick up the ice staff. Once he had it, Douxie quickly backed away.

“NO!” Skrael gritted out. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?”

Bellroc glowered at the motionless Ice Titan. All four of their eyes scoured the storm, pinpointing the hoverboard. Jim charged. Excalibur’s blade swung right into Bellroc’s staff. They deflected in an abrupt burst of strength, flames leaping from their eyes and mouth, then countered with a blazing explosion that had Jim shielding himself behind his sword. He shrunk down to his human form so as to not burn his face off.

The Fire Titan reared its head and spat a dozen fireballs at the hoverboard.

“Look out!” Aja shouted.

They swerved and looped around the giant flaming projectiles. One met its target, searing the hoverboard’s underside. There was fizzing and crackling and it lost altitude.

“K-KLEB!” Krel cried. Another fireball struck and the net gun was wrenched out of his hands. “NOOO!” 

Then they were falling. Fast.

“Arch!” Douxie said, and Archie dove after them.

“Oh no!” Eli didn’t waste a second. He jumped onto his hoverboard, Steve scrambling on after him, and they were off.

With a mighty stroke of his wings, Archie propelled himself far enough to gather Aja and Krel in his paws before they plunged ten more feet to their deaths. He strained to angle himself parallel to the ground, the task of adjusting his wings to the abrupt shift in momentum resulting in a harsh landing. Archie spun onto his side as the ground flew up. He rolled once then skidded the rest of the way until the ruins of a building stopped them. The Creepslayerz arrived shortly after.

“Aja!” Steve cried, leaping off the hoverboard and running to her as she emerged from Archie’s hold. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Aja grunted. “Just…a little dizzy. Thank you, Archie.”

Eli went to Krel. “You alright, DJ Kle—”

“I-I lost it!” Krel gasped. He staggered to his feet and gripped Eli’s shoulders. “The net! We have to find the net gun…! Only Bellroc…is…left…” Krel grimaced, clutching his side.

“You’re hurt,” Archie said.

Eli gulped, eyes intense. He stood straight and nodded. “Leave it to me.” Steve moved to follow him onto his hoverboard. “You stay here, Steve.”

“You’re gonna be a solo Slayer for this one?” Steve balked.

“I gotta be. For just this one.” Eli shrugged, sheepish. “More weight on the hoverboard means less speed.” He started rising. “And speed is super extra mega key right now. Plus I’ll really need to focus.”

“You think I’m distracting?!”

“N-No! Not…all the time! Uh, here, take this!” Eli tossed Steve his serrator. “For extra defense!”

“Won’t you need it?”

“Nah, I’m fast and furious on this thing.”

“But—”

“I just have to get the net around Bellroc.” Eli struck a pose. “Quick as lightning! A bullseye menace! Like the assassin from Future Warrior 2—”

“Okay! Okay, just…!” Steve locked eyes with him. “Just be careful, Pepperjack.

Eli returned his gaze, then smiled. “No worries, Steve. This is the Year of Eli. I can feel it!”

Steve shouted after him as he rose higher. “Now go find that net and Creep!”

“Slay!” Eli hollered back before zooming away.

Consciousness eased back into Nari’s mind. She lifted her aching head off the ground, spotting the Ice Titan rendered dormant. The Forest Titan mirrored her movements as she struggled to stand back up, afflicted with the agonizing burn of its wounds. The vines carried Nari back to her place upon her Titan’s crown and they picked up the halberd.

“Nari!” Douxie called, waving his arms. “Nari, are you alright?”

“I am fine,” Nari said. Her eyes settled on Skrael. He wiggled in his restraint, glaring back at her. “Watch him, Douxie.” Her attention shifted to the fuming Fire Titan.

Jim bolted and leapt, dealing two spinning kicks to Bellroc’s raised staff before scraping Excalibur against the Fire Titan’s skull then swinging up, an arch of bright energy slicing Bellroc’s chest. They stumbled back, grunting and snarling, then conjured a sweltering firestorm. Jim turned human again to take cover behind Excalibur, but when the flames dispersed, Bellroc was right on him, cracking their staff into his side and sending him flying. Jim changed back into a troll in midair. His palm touched the ground and he did a one hand flip back onto his feet. Pain flared in his ribs but he fought to keep his stance, heels grounded and sword raised.

Just then the battlefield jostled as the Fire Titan was rammed into. Nari’s Titan brought its head up to gore deeper with its antlers and the Fire Titan tottered sideways.

Bellroc steadied themselves, heaving as their eyes darted between Nari and Jim.

“You’re done, Bellroc,” Jim said. 

“Stop this now,” Nari said. “Skrael’s magic has been bound.”

Bellroc sneered. “What of it? I don’t need him to finish this.” They glanced at the Ice Titan. “I don’t know what strangeness has stripped him of his power, but it matters not. The end of this world is here!”

“Father will punish you, Bellroc!” Nari’s breathing stuttered. “He will punish us for what we have done. You do not know what will happen! You need to stop!”

“You think I’m afraid of that fool?” A crazed smile stretched Bellroc’s face. “It’s the Great Eternity…No, it’s Elyolam who should fear me!”

Nari drew back in horror. “You…How could you say his name like that?”

“Oh Father dearest, do you hear me?” Bellroc yelled to the sky. “With the destruction of this final Heartstone, I will be unstoppable! And I’ll be coming for you, Elyolam! I will destroy you. I will destroy every work of your hands and make it anew. Then it will all be MINE!” They glowered back at Nari. “The time has come for true order and justice for Magic. I shall enact it with my rule, the way I see fit!”

Mobs of fiery monstrosities dropped like flies. Volcanic behemoths were brought down by battle pods and assailants climbing all over them. Zoe zapped hundreds of salamanders to gray puddles. Luma slit a basilisk’s throat with her heartstone dagger. Varvatos and Zadra diced hellhounds to smoking bits. But the damage had been done. The grayness was spreading like an infection, creeping from the outer crystals and making its way to the Heartstone’s center.

Blinky, Aaarrrgghh, and Claire remained at Toby’s side.

Aja, Steve, and Archie watched over Krel.

Eli glided across the warzone, eyes combing over bodies, decimated buildings, pulverized cars.

Tremendous booms of thunder rattled the atmosphere. Dozens of lightning bolts struck all at once, casting eerie silhouettes in the strobing clouds, the only illumination in a world getting darker by the minute with the Heartstone’s fading light.

Douxie looked down at Skrael. As he processed Bellroc’s words, Skrael went rigid and silent, expression disturbed. 

“You have truly lost yourself, Bellroc,” Nari said, heart aching. Her Titan brandished its halberd. “I will not let you do this!”

Bellroc curled their lip. “It’s already done.” 

The Fire Titan snapped its neck out as the Forest Titan brought its halberd down. Its flaming jaws clamped on the helve and the two Titans grappled, Nari trying to yank the halberd free while Bellroc eluded kicks from her two front legs. What remained of the Forest Titan’s vines obstructed swipes of the Fire Titan’s claws.

Jim sprinted with Excalibur poised to strike, when something like an elephant slammed into his back. He tumbled face-first on the Fire Titan’s solid bare skull hard enough to dislodge a fang.

“Ow…!” Jim groaned, the nerves in his face screaming. He got onto his palms and looked up to see two fiery basilisks descending upon him. Jim rolled onto his back, Excalibur taking the brunt of onrush. Then he struck out, cutting the bottom of a basilisk’s foot. Jim jumped to his feet, dodging droplets of lava before throwing Excalibur like a javelin, the blade lodging into the other basilisk’s ribs. As it shrieked and flailed, Jim leapt high and clung to its side, swinging onto its back before taking hold of Excalibur’s hilt to rip it out. The basilisk’s friend shot towards him and he bellowed, “COME ON, YOU BEAST!”

A flash of vivid electric blue caught Eli’s eye. He made a sudden stop and backed up, scanning the rubble furiously until…

“There!” Eli gasped, diving. It had landed on a chunk of wall. Eli grasped the net gun and glanced around, taking a second to mourn the fallen surrounding him. Petrified trolls. Fragments of life cores. Slain dragons. When he happened to look down, his chest tightened. The net gun had been covering the tarnished visage of a distinct purple mole. Yellow claws. Glasses. A little crown. Stained bits of blue letters. 

It was a piece of Arcadia Oaks High. 

The noise of scrapping Titans pulled Eli back to the task at hand. He hopped back on his hoverboard and beelined for the Fire Titan.

“I…I don’t understand,” Skrael breathed. His eyes were wide and trembling, staring across the ground. “Bellroc, she…This can’t be. This can’t be!”

“You heard him yourself, Skrael,” Douxie said softly. “Now you know all of this is more than what you bargained for. Or perhaps…part of you always knew.” 

“SHUT UP!” Skrael snapped. “You stupid pathetic insignifcant boy…You know nothing! You…You won’t sway me as you did Nari…!” He shook his head. “We will welcome a new world. A world fit for Magickind, for us. Yes. Then all will be as it was…”

Douxie looked at him, pity filling his heart. He was about to respond, but there was the sound of flapping wings behind him.

“Arch, are Aja and Krel alri—” Douxie turned around to see Walter descending, Nomura’s scimitars smoldering in his hands. “Walter? What is it? Is something wrong?”

“Very,” Walter said, not looking at him. “But I’m going to fix it.”

Douxie followed his dark piercing leer to Skrael lying helpless and vulnerable. His stomach dropped and he whirled back, hands lifting to pacify.

“Mate, we talked about this,” Douxie said slowly.

“He needs to pay for what he’s done,” Walter growled, stepping closer.

“He will! But not like this. It’s not what Nari wants—Hey!” Douxie blocked Walter’s path, banging his staff and looking him in the eyes. “Don’t, Walter. I won’t let you.”

Cold fury churned in Walter’s glowing amber glare. He finally tore away from Skrael to burn into Douxie’s gaze, grip tightening on the scimitars’ handles.

It happened in a blink.

Douxie shot out his left hand but Walter grabbed his wrist, twisting his arm out while his other hand flew to Douxie’s throat. Before he could choke a spell, Walter’s knee bashed into his stomach, knocking every incantation out of his lungs and aura. A scimitar sliced through Douxie’s jeans and pain exploded in his thigh. He dropped his staff and doubled over, wheezing and squirming in agony.

“I didn’t want to do that,” Walter muttered, kicking Douxie’s staff away. His hateful gaze found Skrael again and he stalked forward. Skrael looked up at him, wriggling in panic. He screamed when Walter dug a scimitar into his shoulder. “Who’s vermin now? This won’t take long so why not savor it a bit?” Walter twisted the blade deeper and seethed, “This is for Nomura.”

“Walter, don’t…!” Douxie heaved. “WALTER!”

Nari glimpsed it. 

Douxie clutching his stomach and unable to stand. Walter seconds away from decapitating Skrael.

“NO!” Nari shouted. The Forest Titan pushed off Bellroc and limped towards Skrael. It sent a vine coiling around Walter’s middle. He thrashed, yelling and gritting out swears, glowering at Skrael, at Nari. She looked down at Skrael. He gazed back, expression softening. The corner of Nari’s mouth twitched.

Then the Forest Titan convulsed, and Nari was seized by a sharp, pained gasp. 

Douxie’s heart stopped.

Shock wrecked Jim’s mind and heart as both basilisks pinned him down.

Walter was freed as the vine went slack. He turned around and was struck with devastation.

Skrael’s eyes widened.

All six of the Fire Titan’s claws protruded from the Forest Titan’s chest.

Blackness bled from the punctures, molten cracks spreading within. Nari looked down at her own chest to see her leaf armor burning away. Her veins were on fire, bright yellow fissures upon her melting skin. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t scream. Everything was getting lighter. Pieces of her were floating away. The Fire Titan wrenched its claws out of her Titan’s chest, and singed flecks of rich green light drifted into the storm by the millions, filling the sky, illuminating raindrops, dusting the clouds. A host of dying stars. Nari watched them and cried.

I am sorry. I will miss you.

“NO!” Douxie screamed, voice ragged with anguish. “NARI!!!”

The Forest Titan disappeared, and Douxie’s aura exploded. His magic went off like a bomb, flaring and bursting from his body in a cataclysmic shockwave that pulsed all across the battlefield, ravaging buildings further. The basilisks holding Jim down were vaporized, as were any enemies caught in the blast as far as the Heartstone. Witches and wizards barricaded allies with magic shields. Blinky and Aaarrrgghh huddled around Claire and Toby. Archie gathered Aja, Krel, and Steve into his wings. Eli veered straight up, barely making it. Skrael, Walter, Jim, and Bellroc were all blown backwards. 

When the initial wave passed, Zoe found Douxie’s sky blue magic raging in the distance. The Forest Titan was gone. Nari was gone.

“No…,” she whispered, the realization crushing her.

“This happened when Merlin died,” Claire uttered. Tears flooded her eyes. “T-That means…N-No. No, no!”

“Nari…!” Aja cried, hands over her mouth.

“Nari, no…!” Archie wailed through his teeth. A splitting, sorrowful roar tore out of him. His claws scraped the ground, mirroring the grief scratching his heart. Specks of green fluttered down. One landed in Archie’s paw. He shrunk and collapsed into loud, agonized sobs. “Dad…Nari…!” 

“I didn’t…” Walter shook his head, the guilt and shame strangling him. “I didn’t mean for…What have I done?”

“N-Nari.” Skrael could only roll onto his back and stare at Nari’s remains floating over him. Heavy breathes wracked his body. His teeth chattered as millenniums of suppressed emotion wrung his insides. “Bellroc…How could she…”

Douxie’s magic beamed from his eyes and lifted him into the air, its ferocity rivaling the winds of the storm. He tore for the Fire Titan and with a swing of his staff, sent magic careening into its jaw like a fist. But he didn’t stop there. Douxie proceeded to brutalize the hellish Titan, strike after strike, blast after blast of raw untamed magic battering the monster without allowing it even a second to recover. Magic plowed into its side, its chest, its back, followed by merciless meteor bullets of energy. Jim could only cling to the base of one of its horns, watching as Bellroc convulsed and writhed with every attack.

“TENEBRIS,” Douxie held his arms out straight as giant sigils manifested around the Titan, “EXCELLIUM!”

Bellroc screeched as huge rays of blinding magic pummeled their Titan on all sides. The spell finished in a nuclear explosion of energy that shook the world, rippling through the air, trembling through the ground, breaking through the clouds. When the haze cleared, the Fire Titan swayed onto its front, its legs giving out. Clumps of feathers had been blown off its body, leaving patches of cooling lava like scabs.

Bellroc dropped to one knee, trying to catch their breath, their body covered in orange and yellow bruises. Before they could so much as twitch, the tip of Excalibur pressed against their throat over their shoulder.

“Don’t move,” Jim said lowly. He looked up as Douxie descended and landed in front of them, magic still whipping angrily around him. Jim swallowed. “Doux?”

Douxie kept his glowing tearstained eyes on Bellroc. They slowly met his gaze.

“Go on then,” they chuckled. “Kill me. It won’t make a difference. My magic will still destroy the Heartstone. I will still bring the end.”

Douxie glowered down, fingers tightening around his staff. Then in an instant, his magic dispersed and his eyes dimmed.

“If I’m honest with you, that’s very tempting,” he whispered, throat raw. Tears leaked down his face. “But I loved Nari more than you ever did. She wanted to spare your life.” Douxie took a ragged breath, gritting out, “Because she still loved you!”

Jim breathed deep, grief swimming in his gaze.

Bellroc’s face fell into contemplation. “If she truly loved me, she would have understood my vision.” They flashed a sick smile. “If something offends you, simply do away with it. Snuff it out. If Elyolam was wise, he would have done just that. But his worthless ‘love’ led to suffering. It made this world unfair. It seems Nari was cursed to make the same mistake…” They trailed off, something drifting into the corner of their eyes.

Eli hovered over them, taking aim at Bellroc.

“That’s enough out of you,” Douxie snapped. “I’m done hearing you prattle on about wanting what’s best for Magickind. You’ve only ever cared about yourself.”

“No wonder you can’t understand what love is,” Jim said. “Because there isn’t any of it in you, Bellroc. Not anymore.” He spotted Eli in the air. “It’s over—”

The Fire Titan’s head snaked off the ground like a snapping viper, a cloud of scorching flames streaming from its maw.

Eli bellowed and pulled the trigger as a tidal wave of fire swept over him.

◆

A pleasant breeze wafted over Nari’s face, coaxing her awake. Her eyes opened, the darkness giving way to a faded blue sky embroidered with curling white wisps. A flock of birds soared over her. Stars winked in scattered clusters. Grass was soft and plush beneath her and the air smelled so clean…

Nari gasped and sat up, heart pounding and hands cupping her face. She patted her chest still intact, no burns to be seen. She shifted onto her hip, bringing her legs under her, and peered over a lushous cliffside at flourishing meadows and grasslands below, lakes and rivers glimmering with soft golden sunlight. Trees blooming with pink flowers and red autumn leaves basked in warm rays shining through the clouds, columns of light drenching the earth.

“How?” Nari whispered as she stood. Tears beaded in the corners of her eyes. It was as though nothing had changed.

“But much has changed.”

So many years, and Nari still knew his voice. Even now as she stood trembling, it warmed her heart and soul.

“Turn to me, Nari.”

So she did. He was as strong and beautiful and radiant as she remembered. His deep colorful eyes gazed upon her, but when she glanced into their depths, she looked down. Tremors racked Nari’s body. Her tears overflowed. She wanted to run but she didn’t want to either, and she knew she couldn’t. His footsteps shuffled the grass and he stood before her, kneeling to brush her cheek with his finger.

“Why are you crying, my dear Nari?” Elyolam asked.

Nari squeezed her eyes shut. His gentle touch, his kind voice, his warm presence. She always wondered when she would feel these things again, if her father would be so loving to her after all she’d done. Now he was here, right in front of her being so tender, and Nari couldn’t look at him.

“Father,” Nari whimpered, face streaked with dense tears. “I am so sorry. I am sorry. I-I have done such horrible things.” Her whines became heavy sobs. “I have caused so much pain and I am so sorry.”

“Will you look at me, Nari?” Elyolam said, gently tilting her head up. “Do you remember what I said to you all those ages ago, upon this very cliffside?”

Nari sniffled, struggling to meet his gaze. “Y-You told me…you told us to never open the Seals again but I…” She hiccuped. “I could not…”

“But did I not also say to you,” Elyolam tucked her hair, “that love is the greatest thing?” Nari finally gazed into his eyes and he smiled. “You lost your way. But I always knew you would find it again, that you would do what was right. That you would always choose the great love within you. Nari, my Life.” He brought her into his arms. “Well done.”

Well done. Nari’s lip quivered at those words. The longer Elyolam held her, the more she came undone until, at last, Nari fell apart and wailed into her father’s embrace that she had yearned for for so long. His wings folded around her and he hugged her tighter, fingers combing through her hair. Nari wished she could remain in this moment a while longer. But her grief was as great as her joy.

“Father, can anything be done now?” she asked, looking at his face. 

Elyolam hummed. “Whether you remain with me or return to your friends, Bellroc won’t prevail this day."

“What do you mean?”

Elyolam stood and took Nari’s hand, leading her to the edge of the cliff to admire the golden sun-soaked landscape.

“You can come with me to the Light Realm and leave Bellroc and Skrael’s fates to your friends. Or,” he looked at her, “return to the Earth to finish what you intended.”

Nari met his gaze, the prospect of being with Elyolam again sweeter than honeycombs in her heart. She longed to walk beside him again, to rest in his arms, to fly through the skies on his shoulders, to adventure with him to discover his hidden treasures and wonders throughout the world. There was nothing she desired more. 

Or so she thought.

Her friends’ faces shined in her mind. Their smiles and laughter, tears and broken hearts, faults and mistakes, courage and kindness. She saw Douxie and Archie in their city apartment. Jim and Claire sharing a kiss. Aja’s childlike fascination. Krel and Zoe’s blossoming friendship. Claire, Aja, and Zoe enjoying sweets and talking around her. Douxie and Zoe’s love, shared at long last. Toby, Steve, Eli, Aaarrrgghh, Blinky, Varvatos, Barbara, Nomura, Walter. Remarkable humans. Precious souls. Hearts that had welcomed her, loved her. Fondness filled Nari’s spirit to bursting, but alongside it was an ache. A longing for Bellroc and Skrael to experience it, too, what Nari had found. For them to be together again.

“I want to go back, Father,” Nari said.

“Hm. Are you certain, Nari?” Elyolam asked, studying the light bouncing off the land.

She turned to face him, heart full of sweetness and yearning. “Yes, Father. I am sure.”

He stared ahead for a long time. Wind rushed over the cliff, tousling his mane and feathers. The silvery stars that freckled the pastel sky shimmered and the sun brightened, a candescent golden orb skimming the mountaintops, giving its gentle light in a soothing cadence upon rustling trees and undulating waters. Somewhere in the distance, chimes dinged a lilting tune.

When Elyolam finally looked at Nari, it was with a tender smile.

“Very well then,” he chuckled. “I’ll see you in a moment.”

The sunlight grew brighter and brighter, until Elyolam was but an outline. Nari closed her eyes. Pins and needles buzzed through her body, then she was weightless.

◆

Mere seconds away from completely consuming the Heartstone, the graying of the crystals ceased.

Zoe gaped at the blackened Heartstone with its small surviving fiery center, then turned her gaze to the Titans, her comrades doing the same.

“They did it,” she breathed. “They did it…!”

The Fire Titan tucked its wings and settled down, resting its long neck and head on the ground as if to go to sleep.

Bellroc tossed and turned, screaming their head off. The arcane net tightened, fully securing itself around them. All four of Bellroc’s crazed eyes darted around and their nostrils flared.

“Release me, RELEASE ME!” they roared, voice warping so terribly they sounded like multiple wounded animals. “YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME! WORTHLESS SOULS–I’LL RIP YOU ALL TO PIECES, NOTHING WILL BE LEFT!!!”

Douxie and Jim watched as Bellroc continued to thrash and bellow curses. After a while, Jim grabbed them by their plume to drag them off the Fire Titan’s head, ignoring their furious shouting.

“This can’t hold me,” Bellroc snarled. “It’s futile. When this contraption fails, my magic will destr—”

“Shut up!” Jim growled, tossing them over the Fire Titan’s snout before sliding down himself. Bellroc struck the ground with a bone-breaking thud while Jim and Douxie landed easily over them. “I’m getting really sick of you.”

Soon after, Walter flew from the Ice Titan to join them, lugging Skrael with him. He shoved him to the ground next to Bellroc.

“You killed her,” Skrael seethed. “You killed Nari. How could you do that, Bellroc?” When they didn’t acknowledge him, he spat, “Answer me, you dimwitted fool!”

“She interfered. Need I explain myself further?” Bellroc sneered.

Douxie fought the urge to crack Bellroc’s skull with his staff.

“It’s my fault.” Walter approached him, face sunken with remorse. “It’s because I…Nari protected him.” He looked at Skrael. “She protected him from me.”

Skrael said nothing, but his eyes glinted and brows furrowed.

“I’m…I’m so sorry, Douxie,” Walter uttered. “I’m sorry for hurting you. I’m so sorry that I…”

Douxie didn’t look at him. His leg was killing him, but the agony in his heart made him want to disappear.

“I appreciate the apology,” was all he could say.

Their friends and allies made their way across the ruins to meet them, all cut up and bruised and bloodied. Clans, communities, loved ones searched for one another in the rubble. Some found alive for tearful reunions. Others found cold and still, wails of despair sounding from the remnants of what once was a small town. The gravely injured were laid out and attended to by healers and medics. Herds of dragons returned to the skies and hidden existences, roars of mourning and victory echoing in the heavens. But many stayed behind to offer their scales, feathers, hairs, and tears for healing potions and salves.

Jim returned to his human form, he and Claire embracing before going to hug Aja and Krel. The Tarrons then ran straight to Varvatos, Zadra, and the smoking, sparking, but still standing Blanks. Aaarrrgghh carried Toby in his arms and Steve jogged over to check on him. Luma, Blinky, and Walter convened. Zoe threw her arms around Douxie’s neck and he held her close, sobbing into her shoulder. Archie batted Douxie’s leg and he scooped and squeezed him to his chest. The three of them huddled together weeping. Then Zoe caught Krel by the arm and brought him in.

“You okay?” Zoe asked when Krel winced.

“My everything hurts,” he croaked. “But I’ll live.”

“You did it,” she said.

“We did it,” Krel replied. “And if it wasn’t for Eli…” He frowned and pulled back. “Wait, where’s Eli?”

“Pepperjack!” Steve shouted, eyes searching the crowd. “Has anyone seen Pepperjack?” He paused when he spotted Izita carrying Eli in her arms. She set him down gently and Steve dashed over. “Pepperjack!!”

Izita’s face was somber as he ran up. “Steve…”

“Pepperj—” Steve took one look at him and blanched. 

Krel and Aja appeared at his side, both immediately speechless and distraught. 

Eli was almost unrecognizable, glasses nowhere to be found and his small body blackened and disfigured by the worst burns imaginable. Only the right side of his face retained even a hint of color and mobility, his one eye shuddering and the corner of mouth twitched. Every breath was labored and hoarse, a fight Eli was barely winning.

“No…,” Krel uttered.

“Pepperjack,” Steve whispered, throat catching as he kneeled over him. “Hey buddy. Can you hear me? You’re gonna be okay.”

A faint throaty groan was Eli’s response.

Steve took a deep breath and swallowed hard. “You did it, man. Future Warrior 2 s tyle. A total pro. Bellroc didn’t stand a chance. But uh…some bad stuff happened. Little Veggie Lady’s gone.” A tear landed on Eli’s face. “Help…Someone, p-please help!”

“Medic! We need a medic!” Aja cried.

“We’re on it, Your Majesty,” Izita said. 

Medical kits were salvaged from battle pods and passed around. Izita called for and got a hold of one, opening the compact rectangle and activating its body restoration program. Four handles like mini serrators ejected from a compartment. Aja and Izita grabbed two each and arranged them arches up on either side of Eli, beams of energy bridging between them. They let go of the handles as they locked in place, encasing Eli in an electric blue dome. A robotic voice spoke.

[Body Restoration initiated. Evaluating…]

“You’re going to be fine, Eli,” Aja said. “You’re to make it, do you hear me?”

[Severity Levels: Extreme. Begin preliminary treatment. Evaluating…Evaluating…]

Steve balled his hands, nails cutting into his palms. He turned and glowered at the Order, pointed and questioned, “What’re we gonna do with these freaks?” He sniveled, voice shaking. “My best friend and Nari didn’t deserve that, bro.”

“Send them to the Shadow Realm!” someone shouted.

“No, just kill them already!” another yelled.

“Let’s rough them up a bit first!”

“I want to shatter their bones with my teeth!”

“We’re not going to kill them,” Douxie said. “It’s not…” He took a shaking breath. “It’s not what Nari wanted. But we can’t perform the spell without her.” His eyes found Claire. “The Shadow Realm is our only option.”

An uproar started among the survivors.

“They destroyed my town!” a witch cried.

“The universe will be safe if they’re executed!” an Akiridion said.

“Our Heartstones and friends are dead,” a troll grunted. “Everything they’ve done and you still wanna spare them? Give me a break!”

The outrage carried on until Douxie finally shouted, “All of you, please!” When he had their attention back, his eyes swept over their faces.

“I know you’re angry and hurt,” Douxie said. “Bloody hexes, I’m angry. Nari was our friend. In fact, she became like a sister to me. The sister I never had.” Tears spilled down his face. “Bellroc took her from us. And as much as I want to hurt him, I love Nari more.” He looked down at the Order, bound and powerless. “Killing them won’t bring back what we’ve lost. Right now, I only want to honor Nari’s wishes. That’s all.”

Everyone went quiet. Understanding softened some faces, while others remained dissatisfied, and others expressed both. 

“Claire. If you would,” Douxie said.

Claire wiped her face and nodded. She held out her palms, straining to form one more portal with what little strength she had left. Aja hauled Skrael onto his feet, Jim doing the same with Bellroc, and they shoved them towards the darkness.

“You think this will stop me?” Bellroc rasped. “The Shadow Realm can’t hold me forever, nor can these binds. I will return to condemn this world!”

“We’ll be ready,” Douxie said. The Order brushed against the black whirring vortex. But then…

“Stop!”

Heads turned, then the crowd parted. 

Douxie’s heart welled and he prayed desperately that this wasn’t some trick.

Her body shone like a new spring day, her green tinted skin a nightlight in the dullness. Glittering specks traced her vine markings and dusted her antlers. There wasn’t a scratch on her, no sign of burns or punctures. Her eyes shimmered like golden raindrops. Wisps of her spring green magic circled her like slow-moving clouds, pink petals twinkling and dancing through their currents.

Nari held Douxie’s gaze as she came closer. He fell to his knees and reached out, fingertips brushing her cheek.

“Nari?” Douxie whispered, shaking. “Is it really you?”

She held his hand and tearfully smiled. “Yes, Douxie. I am here.”

Sobs of joy broke out among Douxie’s friends as he wrapped her in his arms. He bawled into Nari’s hair, rocking side to side, holding her tighter. Archie leapt onto his shoulder to lick and nuzzle Nari’s face, his tears streaking her skin.

“Oh Nari,” Douxie wept. “I thought I lost you.”

Nari snuggled into him. “I feared the same.”

“I’m…I-I’m so sorry, Nari,” Walter said. “I let my anger control me. I’m glad you’re alright, that you’re here with us again.” He clutched his chest, eyes shut as he lowered and shook his head. “Please forgive me.”

Nari smiled softly at him. “It is alright, Walter.”

“How is this…We saw Bellroc kill you,” Jim said, kneeling to lay his hand on Nari’s back.

She pulled away to look at the Order.

“Nari…,” Skrael breathed, confusion and relief mingling in his eyes. 

“Impossible!” Bellroc snarled. “How can this be?!”

Nari went to stand before them, her gaze calm. “Father brought me back. You will see him again soon.”

The eyes on Bellroc’s shoulders quivered. Every ounce of contempt, pride, and hatred dissolved from their face. It made sense, yet Nari couldn’t quite believe it.

Bellroc was afraid.

“Douxie, Zoe, Claire,” she said without looking away. “It is time.”

“No,” Bellroc pleaded as they formed a circle around them. They kicked and squirmed but the arcane net held fast. A fly trapped in a web. “NOOO!!”

Skrael was mum, blankly staring at the ground.

Nari looked upon her siblings, sorrow coursing through her. But not without hope.

She locked eyes with Douxie, Zoe, and Claire before lifting her gaze and palms to the heavens, her friends doing the same.

In unison they chanted:

“Supplix libellus!”

A huge sigil drew itself beneath them, iridescent lines connecting to depict the Earth and cosmos. Bellroc struggled and roared in absolute hysterics, lava trickling from their ember eyes.

“Auctorita interuptera!”

The sigil flashed, showers of brilliant rainbow light beaming onto everyone’s faces. It strobed again, this time releasing a hurricane of energy. Onlookers stepped back and shielded themselves. Bellroc and Skrael screamed as if burning.

Douxie, Zoe, and Claire tightened their focus, heat igniting their bones as they yelled the final words of the spell with Nari.

“Occido cor meum!”

A deafening crash of thunder quaked the earth. Violent winds tumbled over them as the world washed white in an explosion of light. Several seconds passed before it was safe to look again, and when everyone did, they were awestruck.

“Seklos and Gaylen,” Aja breathed.

“It’s…,” Jim uttered.

Suspended high above in a prismatic pillar, with his great silver wings at full length, exuding and bathed in gold brilliance, was…

“The Great Eternity,” Douxie said.

Nari and her father smiled at one another.

“F-Father…!” Bellroc said, shrinking back.

At that, the crowd managed to tear their eyes away from the Great Eternity. Murmurs rumbled among them.

“Did she just call him ‘Father’?”

“The Arcane Order’s father?”

“So there’s such a person!”

“I-Is he here to hurt us, too?”

“No,” Luma said. She fixated up, face glowing with admiration. “The Great Eternity is no threat to us.”

The Great Eternity lowered until only a clawed toe touched the ground. Luma was the first to kneel, her trolls following suit. Douxie was compelled next, then Archie and Zoe. Dragons craned their necks down. Soon everyone took a knee while the Akiridions formally brought their arms in and bowed at the waist.

A spark went off in Jim’s brain and he looked up. “Elyolam.” The Great Eternity’s gaze rested on him, and Jim felt the most intense rush of deja vu. “Your name is…Elyolam.”

The Great Eternity grinned. “Indeed, Jim Lake Jr..” His voice resonated deep within hearts and souls. He studied each person and creature. “Thank you all. It is customary to show one’s respects to a Master Wizard. As the Trollhunter has said, I am Elyolam, the Great Eternity. Greetings.” Elyolam’s gaze fell upon Bellroc and Skrael, terror darkening their faces. “The ancient Spell of Hosts has been rightfully invoked. It is my duty, then, to rid this world of my servants who have fallen into darkness. But first…” Elyolam turned his attention to the sleeping Fire and Ice Titans. “Away with you. Your purpose is done.”

With a wave of his hand, the colossal beasts disintegrated to ash and powder. 

Then he looked towards the Heartstone. “We’ll go ahead and fix that, too.”

Elyolam crossed and parted his hands as if opening a curtain. In an instant, Trollmarket’s Heartstone lit up like a Christmas tree, its crystals once again flushed with that blazing reddish orange and yellow hue. It then crashed to the earth in one piece, completely revitalized. Across the globe, the other six primordial Heartstones revived, piecing themselves back together and reclaiming their lustrous colors. They stayed planted upon the Earth, beacons of life restored and shining brighter than ever. The rainfall ceased at long last and the clouds began to slowly part.

Cheers rose from the Guardians of Arcadia and their allies.

“You’re ever the fool, Elyolam!” Bellroc seethed. Elyolam looked at them. “All we ever did was toil to right your ultimate wrong. Because of you, magic is tainted! Because of you, Humanity will continue to make Magickind suffer! Have you no shame?”

Bellroc sat there and bristled while Elyolam regarded them. Nari shook her head.

“Even now you mask your evil with a false cause,” Elyolam said. “Who do you think I am?” His scathing glare evoked shudders and several steps back. “Magickind has suffered the most at your hands. All your efforts, and both of you only have torment and despair to show for it.”

“N-No, Father!” Skrael cried. “I never really wanted to. It was all Bellroc! All of it was Bellroc!”

“You didn’t want to, but you never stopped,” Elyolam said, eyes softening a tad. He opened his palms, shining white swirling in his right and blackness pulsing in his left. His eyes went to Bellroc, then back to Skrael. “Worry not. Your struggle ends now.”

“ELYOLAM!!” Bellroc spat.

“Nari…Nari, tell him!” Skrael looked to her, his smile pitiful and his breathing ragged. “Tell Father it was all because of Bellroc! All of it was her fault! She made me do what she wanted, like she made you! You know this!”

Nari stared at him, fighting her tears. “Skrael…”

Elyolam clasped his hands, marrying the light and shadows before directing the magic at the Order. The Earth-and-cosmos sigil gleamed and the light around him brightened as he lifted them with white and black cords.

“Bellroc, my Flame. Skrael, my Wind.” Elyolam’s voice resounded. “Servants of Eternity turned herald and slave of darkness, I revoke your power!” Bellroc burned red while Skrael shone icy blue, their screams diminishing to faint echoes. “Walk no more. Speak no more, but listen. Until the stars fall and your eyes can see. Until the earth shatters and you can hear. Until the oceans swallow the skies and your heart can understand. Return to slumber, I command you!”

Bellroc and Skrael’s forms combusted, rendered luminescent blobs of their own magic. In that moment, the sigil flickered and erased itself, turning to sparkling particles floating away. Elyolam flew back down and willed the balls of red and blue to follow him. Once on the ground, the light and shadow magic returned to his hands, Bellroc and Skrael’s magic trailing behind, gradually breaking apart. In their place were two smooth twelve-inch shards like stained glass. One was crimson, cut in the shape of an abstract flame with a thin black feather set within. The other was contoured like a diamond, clear like a piece of ice with a tinge of blue, intricate markings drawn on its surface. Elyolam backed up and allowed the fragments to hover in place. 

“Bellroc. Skrael.” Nari laid her hands on both shards and closed her eyes.

Everyone took a moment to process what they were seeing.

“Uh wait,” Zoe said. “Are…Are those pieces of glass them?”

“The spell removed their physical forms,” Aja recited, then it dawned on her. “So these are like—”

“They’re cores,” Krel finished, eyes glued to the shards in pure fascination.

“It’s similar to that, isn’t it,” Elyolam said with a slight grin. He watched Nari. “Bellroc and Skrael aren’t dead, but in this state they can no longer cause any harm. They’ll be sealed away to a place in the Shadow Realm. A place only I will know the way to.” When Nari sadly looked over her shoulder at him, he said, “You won’t see them again for a long time. But I will make it so that they will still see you, Nari.”

“They will see me from the Shadow Realm?” 

“Yes. So that perhaps one day, they’ll understand what’s truly good. Your life, your love,” Elyolam glanced around, “your friends and family will show them the way.”

Nari’s heart squeezed. “So Bellroc and Skrael will be as they once were?”

Elyolam gazed at her. “That is an answer I must withhold, my dear. But hope always.”

Nari opened her mouth, but decided to keep her words. He held the answers to every question, yet she knew many things were only for the Great Eternity to know. Things of fate and destiny, things seen and unseen, simple and complex, good and evil. The ley lines of the universe and the depths of the arcane realities abounding. Mysteries and secrets were endless. But despite her sadness, Nari trusted her father all the same, because so were hope and love.

She placed a kiss upon both shards then stepped back. Elyolam lifted his chin and a shadow portal burgeoned. Nari watched her siblings sink into the darkness, heart heavy but glorious days ahead in her sights. Douxie took her hand. Archie brushed her other. The shards vanished and the portal spiraled close. 

Nari released the breath she’d been holding, blinking away tears.

“It is done,” Elyolam said. “Now I must return to the Light Realm.”

Nari ran to him and clutched the bottom of his tunic. “Do you have to?”

“Yes, my dear. And you’ve chosen to remain here.”

 Nari looked into his eyes. Safe, warm, loving. She thought about Douxie, Archie, Jim, Aja. All of her friends surrounding her now. There was so much more she wanted to do.

“I want to be with my friends,” Nari said. She took Elyolam’s fingers. “Father, there is no one who shines brighter than you. I-I want to be with you, too. So, so much.”

Elyolam knelt, his eyes glowing with affection. “It’s as I said. I will always be with you, just as your family will always be.” He kissed her forehead. “We’ll be together again one day.”

“Do you promise?” Nari sobbed.

“I promise.” Elyolam spread his wings and rose. Nari held on until his fingers slipped from hers. A pillar of light enveloped him once again as he flew higher and higher. Then he stilled, his eyes sweeping over every face. “You have all fought well. The Arcane Order’s campaign of destruction since the Earth and stars were young has come to an end at long last. Each of you have suffered greatly in your fight against their evil. But I assure you, it hasn’t been for naught.” The first rays of suns began to break through the clouds. “This day will be remembered forever as the beginning of true peace, for Man and Magic.” He smiled. “James Lake Jr.. Claire Nunez. Tobias Domzalski. Blinkous Galadrigal. Aarghaumont of the Krubera. Waltolomew Stricklander. Steven Palchuk. Aja Tarron. Krel Tarron. Varvatos Vex. Hisirdoux Casperan. Zoanna Ashildr. Archibald, son of Charlemagne.” Elyolam looked at his daughter last. “Nari of my Eternal Forest. Trollhunters, friends from another world, Master Wizards, protectors of this realm. I declare that a new order will be established with you. The True Order of courage, hope, and love. Guardians of Arcadia. Champions of Daylight. Will you bear this burden?”

They all looked at one another, minds already made up without having to say a word.

“We will,” Douxie said.

Elyolam chuckled. “I suspected as much. It is, after all, the very reason your paths were crossed.”

A detour through the canal.

A crash landing on strange, muddy planet Earth.

A millennium of waiting and safeguarding from the shadows.

None of them would’ve guessed it would lead them to this moment, triumphant over doubts, fears, anguish, and old godlike terrors. Standing together as friends. As a family.

Elyolam and Nari gazed at each other one more time. A perfect circle of golden light opened in the clouds like a heavenly doorway. Elyolam flapped his silver wings and soared upward, glittering specks trailing behind him. The moment he passed through the threshold into the Light Realm, the gate shrunk to a droplet and vanished. Shafts of light shone across the earth until the gray clouds fully receded to uncloak the radiant sun fixed against an azure sky.

“O-Oh no, oh no!!” Alabast cried. 

Sunlight struck the trolls, sending them into a panic as they scrambled to take shelter beneath anything they could find, shields, rocks, dragon wings. Wizards and witches jumped to protect them with sunblock spells, but then Jim noticed…

“Wait,” he said. “Blink! Aaarrrgghh!” Jim raced in front of them before they dove under a dragon’s belly.

“M-Master Jim, do you want us to perish after our victory?” Blinky yelped.

“Blink, you’re not—”

“Sun feel warm!” Aaarrrgghh cried. But then he blinked in shock, having realized. “Sun feel…warm?”

“You’re not burning!” Jim grabbed Blinky’s hand and sure enough, the sunlight did nothing to his stone skin. Like Aaarrrgghh said, it was just warm. A wonderful feeling after such a relentless storm.

“What…” Blinky stared at his hand, then down at his body, bathed in sunlight but unharmed. “How can this be?”

Jim turned into a troll. Instead of dealing excruciating burns, the sun’s warmth continued to caress his cheeks. He opened his arms, taking it in with a breathless laugh. Blinky and Aaarrrgghh kept staring at themselves, baffled that they weren’t turning to statues. Soon trolls were sticking their quivering arms out from their hiding places, then slowly stepping into the sunlight with bated breaths. Astonished squeals and gasps soon turned into laughter and shouts of joy. Not a single troll sizzled beneath the sunshine. Instead they jumped and rolled and embraced one another, basking in its soothing heat for the very first time.

“Mordrax’s miracles!” Douxie said.

Nari sprung onto Aaarrrgghh’s back, standing on his shoulders with her face and arms held high. She let out a song of jubilant high-pitched laughter, her spring green skin positively luminescent. Nari closed her eyes to soak up the warmth she’d so terribly missed, crying happy tears. Archie curled around her shoulders and purred loud.

“Eternity be praised!” Luma exclaimed, opening her arms and twirling.

Claire jumped to throw her arms around Jim, kissing his smooth warm lips. He turned back into a human and they fell over laughing.

“I can finally take you to the beach, Wingman!” Toby said.

Aaarrrgghh smiled big. “Get tan.”

Aja, Krel, and Varvatos gazed up in awe, feeling the sunbeams in their palms.

“Lively!”

“Klebtastic!”

“Glorious!”

Douxie intertwined his fingers with Zoe’s. They looked at each other, eyes heavy with exhaustion and adoration, and huffed some laughter. Just another end of the world.

Celebration filled the air. Crying, claps, cheers, even some dancing. Trolls frolicking in the sunlight without fear. Wizards and witches overcome at the Arcane Order’s defeat, having endured their tyranny for centuries. Trollmarket’s Heartstone restored, standing tall and radiant. Talk of bringing Humanity home to a saved Earth. It was finally over. The battle was won, healing and peace and renewal promised for the days to come.

But so came the aftermath of a war waged.

Loud beeps grated against Steve’s ears. He turned back to Eli, a stab in his gut when the body restoration dome began to flicker like a dying lamp. Izita frantically punched buttons and adjusted holographic dials on the medical kit’s interface, but to no avail.

[Evaluation complete. Damaged life core detected. Bodily form beyond repair. Seek advanced treatment immediately.]

“What? No…No, no, come on!!” Steve cried, falling to his knees at Eli’s side. The dome petered out entirely. Steve lifted Eli in his arm. “Pepperjack, hang on. Just hang on, okay? Just…” When Eli didn’t so much as twitch in response, Steve scoured around desperately. “Nari…N-Nari! Help! Please!” She was there in a flash, face falling in distress at Eli’s horrendous condition. “You can make him better, right?”

“I can try. I will try!” Nari cloaked her hands with magic and held them over Eli’s body. Their friends gathered around, all hoping for a miracle. Nari closed her eyes, jaw squared in concentration, magic beating in her hands. But after several minutes, she lowered her arms and looked at Steve, eyes pooling with sorrow. “I cannot. He is too…I am so, so sorry.”

Claire sucked in a harsh breath, covering her mouth.

“Eli?” Toby whimpered.

Aja and Krel knelt beside Steve, their life cores throbbing in anguish.

“Eli…,” Krel breathed, large tears pouring over his cheeks. “No…No…!”

“You’re joking,” Steve said, still looking at Nari. “You’re kidding, right? There’s no way. You can’t be serious.”

She averted her woeful gaze down and said nothing.

“Steve…,” Douxie choked.

“No! There’s gotta be something we can do!” Steve cried, the world blurring with his tears. He held Eli against his aching chest. “This can’t be happening, dude. Pepperjack…Pepperjack, come on—”

“S…t..ve.”

It just barely reached Steve’s ears. Eli’s one eye struggled to stay open while what was left of his lips spasmed.

“Pepperjack…!” Steve gasped.

“D’we…wi..n?” Eli wheezed.

The weak dismal sound was a knife in Steve’s heart. “Yeah. Yeah, we won, dude. Thanks to you. Those Arcane Buttsnacks won’t be back for a while.” Steve heaved a sob. “And it finally stopped raining. You did it, man. I knew you would.”

“You saved us all,” Aja sniveled, gently touching Eli’s head. “You’re a hero.”

Krel folded his hand over Eli’s and wept.

Varvatos, Zadra, Izita, and all of the Akiridion soldiers stood around them. Some hanging their heads, others solemnly looking ahead, many holding their hands over their cores.

Eli tried to smile. His crippled gaze wandered up. Through the fuzziness of poor vision and gathering tears, he could just make out a colorful ribbon of light streaking through the parting clouds. When he couldn’t keep his eye open anymore, he drifted off in the presence of his friends and to the sound of their voices with a sigh.

Nari clutched her heart and sobbed.

“Pepperjack?” Steve uttered. He gave him a small shake. “Pepperjack…Pepperjack!” Steve couldn’t breathe. He curled forward, drenching Eli’s face and neck with his tears. “No, please. Eli…!”

A crisp gale swept over them. The Champions of Daylight looked up, the howling winds drying their faces. Rainbows emblazoned the misty skies.

Then they were gone.

Chapter Text

Two Years Later

Saturdays were usually easygoing. Online classes Monday through Friday, and Sundays brought the dismay of doing it all over again. But Jim was moving quicker this morning while fixing brunches. Their monthly tradition happened to fall on the same day as the ceremony so he had to hustle. 

The television murmured in the background.

“Eepa is the first troll youngling to be enrolled in an elementary school,” the news anchor said. “Some members of the staff have voiced their concerns, but the kids are nothing but thrilled.”

“Towns and cities all across the globe are finally being restored to their former glory, with many thanks to neighboring troll communities for their donations and reconstruction contributions.”

“Last week an unauthorized man was caught trying to chip off a piece of Harmonia’s Heartstone but was promptly arrested, and rescued, by human law enforcement.”

“Later this evening, we’ll be joined by Commander Zadra of Akiridion-5 as we further discuss the prospect of a new Earth ambassador and the future of galactic relations.”

“A tragic update for the ladies as Master Wizard Douxie Casperan, one of the leaders of the True Order, was recently seen with a ring and new pink tattoos on his left hand.”

“According to members of the True Order, Nari of the Eternal Forest still has yet to return.”

“The Great Eternity, father of the ancient wizards who called themselves the Arcane Order. Interesting enough, it seems the vast majority of Magickind had no idea who he was or that he even existed.”

“Wet socks and moldy bread. What do they really taste like on the troll palate? Food scientists and enthusiasts reveal their recent culinary crimes in their quest to understand. Some theorize it’s just a weird mythical-magic thing. After all, eyeballs and raw livers are a common snack among magic practitioners…….”

Jim glanced at the clock. Three hours.

“Okay, we’re good, we’re good,” Jim mumbled as he stepped out of the kitchen and rounded the corner to his parents’ bedroom. They always kept their door slightly ajar, Walter’s snore humming in the short hallway. Jim gently bumped the door wider with his hip and slipped two plastic wrapped plates of bacon and spinach omelets on the nightstand. He stepped back, taking a moment to gaze at Walter and Barbara sleeping in each other’s embrace, and smiled softly. “See you guys in a bit.”

He grabbed his phone, keys, and garment bag on the way out, hitting a button on the wall to open the garage door. Bits of morning light glinted off the silver sheen of his vespa. Jim hopped on, carefully folding the bag behind him, turned the key, then rolled out onto the driveway before cruising down the road towards town, admiring the sunrise.

Neighbors waved and smiled as he passed by, including the troll couple who’d recently moved into the chiseled stone abode four blocks down. The mail truck made its rounds while a Stalking followed above, digging rolled up magazines out of a pouch and tossing them onto doormats.

“Morning, Champion!” it squawked.

 “Hey, Hookwing!” Jim said, then nodded at the mailman. “Good to see you, Hank!”

Arcadia Oaks Square bustled with townsfolk heading to work and opening up shop. Benoit’s had finally reopened a month ago, the line up for coffee, breakfast sandwiches, and pastries already wrapped around the building. A troll strolled out while gobbling down five lattes, cupholders and all. Kids played kickball and jumped rope in lots between structures, left empty for whatever reason after being cleared of debris, though some were blocked off and displayed signs promising department stores and new restaurants. Others were turned into quaint flowerbeds with wooden benches, birdbaths, and the occasional arrangement of glowing gemstones. 

Jim rode past the dewy park where people jogged and walked their dogs, sidestepping bunches of gnomes haphazardly trimming the grass with scissors. Up ahead was Trollmarket Street, evident by the Heartstone getting bigger and closer. Jim went straight for another five minutes then made three turns, the last carrying him through the threshold onto Brilliant Avenue, the roads lined with multicolored crystal clusters, and the town opened up into a different world.

Brickwork and townhouses became cobblestone dens and smooth rock towers all studded with glittering jewels and rainbow sediments. Trolls went about their morning, pushing barrels of geodes, selling and buying wares, crafting totems and charms at their posts. Jim was greeted with waves and laughter as he made his way to the base of the Heartstone, where his friends were all waiting.

“There he is,” Douxie said.

“Good morning, Master Jim,” Blinky said.

“Sorry I’m late,” Jim said, parking his vespa at a big geode fountain then jogging over. 

“You’re fine. We all just got here, too,” Claire said. She took his hand. “Come on.”

They gathered around and faced the base of the Heartstone where a great golden statue had been erected, showcased on a wide pedestal of faceted glass and intricate granite marble. It depicted four beings standing tall and proud. A troll in the center, an Akiridion on its left and a wizard with a staff on its right. In the troll’s hands was a sculpture of Earth. The Akiridion cradled stars between their fingers. The wizard balanced the sun and moon in his palm. Risen behind them was a dragon, roaring at the sky with its wings fully spread in a protective stance. Inscribed upon the pedestal were hundreds of thousands of names. The names of every person and creature who’d died that day.

Every month for the past year and a half, the Champions of Daylight met here to be still and silent. As always, they lingered on the names that stood out to them.

Nomura. 

Every now and again, Jim and Barbara would find Walter listening to classical music and zoning out. Pieces by Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Debussy, Edvard Grieg. Nomura’s favorites. Sometimes he would start crying, then they would settle down and weep with him.

Charlemagne the Devourer.

They all missed his stories and bloodberry pies and awful puns. Douxie and Archie had gotten to the point where it didn’t hurt as much. They could even joke about it at times, their “father issues.” But now it wasn’t just Douxie periodically waking up with tearstained eyes and an aching heart. Those nights, he held Archie close with all the love and comfort he’d been given.

Elijah Pepperjack.

Steve knocked his fist against the lettering and bent forward. He always tried to keep it together, always thought the next time would be a little easier, give him a little more peace. Instead his heart would hurt that much more, and the void left in his life would hollow out his bones. Aja hugged his shuddering back. Krel touched his shoulder, sobbing, too.

A few passerbys stopped to pay their respects as well. The crying and sniffling gradually quieted. Douxie and some kept their eyes closed, while Zoe and others fixed their pensive eyes on the statues. Jim skimmed over each name. Aja folded her hands over her chest as if praying. Toby leaned into Aaarrrgghh’s side, weeping softly.

After a long while, Jim checked his phone.

“Crud, we better get going guys,” he said, wiping his face.

Everyone cleared their throats and shook themselves back to the present. Tears were dried and tight embraces were exchanged among them, tender smiles breaking out.

“It’s time, little brother!” Aja giggled. They’d both gone with their human forms today.

“Best go and get ready then,” Blinky said to Jim and Toby.

“Big day,” Zoe said, patting Claire’s cheek.

“Yup. Actually can’t believe it’s happening.” Claire conjured a shadow portal before joining Jim on his vespa.

“Make us proud,” Douxie chuckled. He mounted his shiny black motorcycle, streaks of blue flashing as he revved the engine. Archie settled around his shoulders and Zoe climbed on after them. “See you in a bit!” They tore out of Trollmarket Street, tails of magic streaming behind them.

Jim rolled his eyes. “Show off.” 

Toby, Steve, and Krel hopped through the portal first before Jim accelerated into the darkness. They warped to the parking lot of the school’s sports field then booked it to the outdoor restrooms to change. Soon students were showing up in droves, some fixing their hair and makeup and others bumbling with garment bags to also get ready on sight. 

“Chop, chop, lemme see some hustle!” Coach Lawrence shouted.

“Ten more minutes, children!” Ms. Janeth said, counting heads with her pen. “Oh you all look stunning!”

The students filed into the lines they’d rehearsed, fidgeting in their gowns and fixated on the crowded bleachers and the rows of empty chairs set up in front of a constructed stage. Principal Uhl took his place at the podium. At his cue, whoever was the mascot today started thumping out chords on a keyboard and the procession began. They marched across the field to the hundreds of folding chairs and fumbled to their assigned seats. Jim glimpsed the left stack of bleachers. Barbara watched eagerly from the middle section with Blinky and Aaarrrgghh. The Blanks were a row down, armed with cameras and a cardboard cutout of Krel’s human face. Varvatos and Nancy Domzalski sat beside them, smiling sweet and holding hands. Douxie, Zoe, Archie found seats right above Barbara. Aja hurried to sit with them, playfully bumping against Zoe’s arm. When the mascot’s performance became too much, Principal Uhl coughed into the microphone.

“Uh…Wonderful. Yes, thank you,” Uhl said. Everyone clapped, either halfhearted or with questionable overenthusiam. The mascot stood and skipped to stand at attention behind Uhl with Coach Lawrence, Ms. Janeth, and Walter, nearly running into the table stacked high with diplomas. Uhl shook his head then adjusted the mic. He smiled. “Good afternoon everyone.  Thank you all for joining us on this momentous day. We’ve seen our fair share of global catastrophes. Our town is still recovering, but we’ve pushed through. And now, I’m proud to present this graduating class at last.” Uhl glanced at Jim, Claire, Toby, Steve, and Krel. “Well done to you all. You’ve truly earned it. The first row of students may rise and come up. Excellent. When I call your name, please come forward...”

Students claimed their diplomas and snapped photos with Uhl in alphabetical order, whoops and hollers buzzing on the packed bleachers. Seamus Johnson puffed his chest and grinned awkwardly at the camera. Shannon Longhannon squealed and did a jig off the stage. Darci Scott and Mary Wang took selfies with their teachers. 

“Tobias Domzalski!”

“Wingman!” Aaarrrgghh cheered. 

“That’s my Toby Pie!” Nancy said.

Toby snapped his finger guns and attempted to moonwalk down the stage ramp.

“James Lake Jr.!”

Barbara and Blinky jumped to their feet, clapping and shouting. Jim waved at them, then looked back at his stepdad and smiled. Walter nodded back, arms crossed and eyes soft with pride.

“Claire Nunez!”

“That’s my baby!” her dad yelled. Her mom hurrayed while bouncing a giggling Enrique on her hip.

“Way ta go, sis!” NotEnrique laughed.

“Steven Palchuk!”

Aja bounced on her heels and screamed in delight. Coach Lawrence clapped Steve on the back before squeezing him to his side. Red as his face was, Steve couldn’t help but grin.

“Krel Tarron!”

Lucy went ham on the camera, the flash strobing like crazy as she took hundreds of pictures in a matter of seconds. Ricky waved Krel’s cardboard face high.

“That’s my little brother!” Aja shouted.

“Glorious!” Varvatos bellowed. “The King In Waiting has received his paper certificate of great knowledge!”

Krel received the diploma, smiling big and bright. Uhl hugged him to his side.

When all the students returned to their seats, a quiet fell over them. Uhl stepped back to the mic, breathing deep as his eyes went glossy.

One more name.

“Elijah Pepperjack.”

A beat of stillness. Then heads turned as Eli’s parents approached the stage, Mr. Pepperjack rubbing his crying wife’s shoulders. Ms. Janeth sobbed and honked into a tissue. The moment Eli’s diploma passed into his parents’ hands, Steve rose from his seat, his fellow graduates and everyone on the bleachers following, and the entire field erupted in heartbroken applause. The Pepperjacks made small smiles and bowed their heads in gratitude before tearfully returning to their reserved seats.

“Your son was one of our brightest students,” Uhl said, voice cracking. “He was such a kind boy. And we know now that he was also very, very brave. He lost his life protecting this world. Arcadia Oaks will never forget him. And I’m sure he knows how proud all of us are to have known him.”

Steve buried his face in his hands. He couldn’t have agreed more.

After tassels turned and caps were thrown, the ceremony came to a close. The table, podium, and keyboard were replaced with a drum set, two big amps, and a much better keyboard. Three long white tables were set up and loaded with trays of catered food. Students stripped off their gowns before skipping and hurrying back to the field with their loved ones, all dressed for a party.

Feedback screeched through an amp. Cheers and squeals burst forth as Douxie and Zoe took the stage, testing levels and tuning their instruments. Archie squatted at the drums and Claire plunked out chords on the keyboard.

“Congratulations to all you lovely graduates!” Douxie said into the mic, getting a cacophony of excited, praising shouts in response. He grinned wide and leaned on the mic stand with both hands. “We’re Ash Dispersal Pattern. Most of you have seen me and my beautiful soulmate’s face before.” He gestured to Zoe, heart full to bursting when he glimpsed her left hand, the ring on her finger and sky blue soulbond mark swirling over her knuckles. Zoe did a lighthearted eye roll. “But I’m thrilled to announce our guest performer. C Bomb herself, our very own Claire Nunez on keys!”

Claire waved sheepishly at their claps and cheers. 

Archie hit four counts on with his drumsticks and the stage amps boomed the melodic screech of Douxie’s guitar. The crowd roared and jumped to the wild, energetic tempo. Douxie belted lyrics into the mic before shredding his expert fingers all along the frets, throwing his head back in rapture. Zoe headbanged next to him, then she popped off her bass and sang the next verse, Jim and the others awestruck at her amazing, passionate tone they’d heard so much about. Douxie played along with her voice, his gaze gravitating right to her. Zoe caught him staring and smiled. The two stepped back and rocked out at each other, eyes locked, hearts and improvised riffs synchronized. Their harmony crescendoed with Claire’s accompaniment and Archie wailing on on the toms and cymbals. He beat out a spirited final lick and the audience went wild with applause. Not even a second later they were chanting for an encore.

“Thank you, thank you everyone!” Douxie breathed a laugh. “Don’t you worry, we’re nowhere near done yet. If I could have your attention for just a moment…” Everyone settled down. As he looked out at all their faces, his heart thrummed with care. “We were facing some pretty dark times two years ago. None of us were sure if we’d make it to tomorrow, let alone to a high school graduation.” His eyes found each of his friends, all of them sharing his sadness. “We lost so much. Too much. At one point, we didn’t know if we could keep going.”

Douxie thought about Nari, just as he had every day since they’d parted ways.

“The Earth is calling for me. I must go away now to bring my healing, and to show Bellroc and Skrael the beauty of life. But I will come back to you again, I promise.”

“But the thing about darkness is that all it takes is a single spark, just a glimmer, and the room is lit,” Douxie said. “That’s the power of hope and love and… believing. When we were scared and angry and hurt and confused…there was still hope. It’s what got us through. It’s what brought us back to,” he gestured around, “this!”

“I don’t know what many of you are facing right now, the pain and darkness you’re dealing with. Maybe you feel like the world is on your shoulders. But just as the sun never stops shining, even in the worst of storms, hope is never truly lost. And if you can’t find the light now, that’s alright. I believe one day you will, cause it’s not going anywhere. Have faith. Hold on to hope. Keep love in your hearts and always let it win. Rise to the occasion, just as you are. Take care of each other.” Douxie took a breath. Another look at his friends brought tears to his eyes. “Yeah. Take care of each other. Then I think we’ll be alright.”

There was hardly a dry eye left in the crowd when Douxie finished. A few found the strength to clap while the rest blew their noses and dabbed their faces. Douxie took a moment to rub his own tears away. Zoe swiped his cheek with her thumb.

“Right then,” Douxie said, going back to the mic. “We have more tunes for you today. But we do have one more surprise.” Zoe and Claire moved a table on stage, complete with a multicolored soundboard, two more amps, a laptop, and twin electric blue turntables. Smoke machines shrouded the stage in a rolling mist. “Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the one, the only, the nuclear and lively, DJ Kleb!”

Krel burst through the haze with the blare synths, layering his set up with holographic bright blue discs of buttons, volume sliders, and fluctuating sound waves. Headphones on and body grooving, Krel spun out slapping beats in time with Douxie banging out new chords, hyping the crowd right back up. The field reverberated with delighted, raucous shouts as a medley of synthetic rock electrified their eardrums, fans bouncing high on the balls of their feet to the infectious rhythm. The performers all looked at each other, beaming and laughing at the awesomeness, the music fueling their souls like the air they breathed.

They played like they could go for hours on end.

Danced like they’d never have to stop.

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Pink and orange flushed the sky as the sun drifted behind Camelot’s towers. Beneath the shadow of the castle, the Champions of Daylight spread out on the soft grass of the Bluff, finishing up hamburgers and potato salads, chatting and laughing while reclined on picnic blankets.

Walter turned off the grill while Barbara and Jim went around picking up plates. Claire, Aja, and Zoe went for more tacos from Stuart’s truck. Steve and Toby chilled on Aaarrrgghh’s back, debating about the worst actors in sci-fi movies. Darci brought over the last helpings of Nougat Nummie pie, to which Toby slid off his Wingman’s back to smooch her on the cheek. Varvatos and Nancy snuggled and made eyes at each other under a tree before being disrupted by Ricky and Lucy rattling off recommendations for honeymoons. Jim, Krel, and NotEnrique tossed a frisbee, which ended up flying right into Luug’s mandibles and being horked down. While Jim fetched the spare, Luug flopped after Archie in endless circles until Douxie rescued him. Chompsky looked between Zoe and his Sally Go-Back wife, sputtering at the resemblance. She glanced perplexed at Blinky, who just shook his head and shrugged.

An early moon made its appearance, a full spherical ghost hanging low and shepherding the first smattering stars through the falling evening.

Another hour or two past, Douxie and Zoe singing softly while he strummed a gentle melody. Lovers held one another close, enjoying the sweet music. Walter and Barbara did a tiny waltz. Jim hugged Claire to his side and kissed her hair. Steve rested back against Aja’s embrace, her four arms wrapped snug around him. Toby held and kissed Darci’s knuckles. Varvatos pressed his lips to Nancy’s forehead. Chompsky fell asleep in his plastic wife’s lap and the Blanks swing danced to an entirely different tune.

When the sun began to dip below the treeline, Aja and Steve stood with their hands linked.

“I think it’s time,” Aja said. On cue, an Akiridion vessel crested the cliff, a ramp extending into the grass from its bottom hatch. “Little brother?”

Krel nodded, sniveling. Everyone took turns hugging him close.

“You sure you can’t stay?” Douxie said as he pulled away.

“It’s time for me to become King,” Krel said, gazing at each of his friends with a sad smile.

“What a glorious King you will be,” Varvatos declared.

“I second that,” Douxie said.

Zoe and Claire bundled Aja into their arms.

“We’ll miss you, girl,” Zoe said.

“And we’ll miss you,” Jim said, clasping Steve’s hand to pull him into a hug. “What’re we gonna do without our Creepslayer?”

“Beats me,” Steve said. “You nerds will just have to hold the fort while I’m busy being an ambassador. Just don’t do anything cool while I’m gone.”

“You got it.”

“Oh my sweet little Toby Woby…” Nancy cupped her grandson’s cheeks. “Remember to check that note I left, it has everything including ointment for your rashes and the soap I use for your underw—”

“Thanks, Nana!” Toby blurted, cheeks going scarlet. But within seconds he was smiling and hugging her close. “Thanks, Nana. I love you.”

“Oh I love you, too, so much Toby Pie.”

Varvatos and Nancy boarded the ship hand in hand. Aja collected Luug in her arms before facing her friends with Krel and Steve.

“Don’t be strangers, you here?” Barbara said.

Krel smiled. “This is our home. We could never be strangers.”

“If you ever need us, just send the word. We’ll be there,” Aja said. 

And with that, they turned and embarked up the ramp. The Blanks looked on with fondness shining in their artificial eyes, all while comforting a crying and snotting Stuart. Their friends waved and shouted final messages.

“Love you guys!” Toby said.

“See you later!” Claire called.

“Safe travels!” Douxie shouted.

“I’ll save a spot for you at Hex Tech for when you come back, Krel!” Zoe hollered.

The ship rose into the air, its passengers waving and calling back before the ramp retracted and the hatch slid closed.

Douxie hooked his arms around Jim and Claire’s shoulders. Ricky ruffled Toby’s hair and Lucy gave his cheek a light pinch. Zoe crossed her arms and leaned against Aaarrrgghh, Archie settling around her shoulders. Blinky came up behind Walter and Barbara to place his hands on their backs. 

They watched with tears and smiles on their faces as the Akiridion ship rotated and rocketed towards the clouds, looping through the darkening skies before vanishing in a blip of cyan light.

“What’s next for you guys?” Douxie asked Jim.

Jim smiled, tired but content. “College.”

“A job,” Claire added. Archie flew into her arms and bunted her chin.

“And most likely saving the world again at some point,” Toby finished.

“Sounds about right,” Zoe chuckled.

“We’ll be with you when it happens,” Douxie said.

They all wrapped each other up in a group hug.

That night, Douxie and Zoe stood on their bedroom balcony, resting against the cool stone parapet beneath glittering specks of starlight. The Heart of Camelot whirred softly below the castle, its brilliant blue glow dusting the surrounding stretch of midnight woodland. From here, they took in their restored little town of Arcadia Oaks in the distance, bathed in the full moon’s silver and Trollmarket’s luminous prismatic hues. The vivid Heartstone rose high above the rooftops, its warm fiery crystals blooming in the night, a towering bonfire chasing away the darkness. 

Zoe turned in Douxie’s arms, smoothing her hands over his chest. She went on her toes to kiss him.

“I think I’ll turn in for the night,” she said.

“Sound,” Douxie said, running his hands down her sides. “Be there in a minute.”

A gentle breeze fluttered over the castle as he marveled at the intersecting light sources for another serene moment. Douxie closed his eyes and breathed in the night one more time before turning to head to bed. Just as he did so…

Glowing spring green flecks drifted into his vision, first a pinch, then lambent clusters. They coalesced into dazzling flowers, shades of forest, jade, emerald, chartreuse, and mint falling all around him. 

Tears flooded his eyes as a petal kissed his palm, and her sweet voice reached him.

“Douxie.”

Breathless, he turned around…and smiled.

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