In the night, I hear screams. I run toward the left alley, feeling the oppressive heat of buildings burning around me. I run, trying to outrun death himself. In my mind, I recall that black-clothed incarnation of death with those haunting purple eyes—but the eyes are not the most terrifying part. What truly scares me is his look; it is the look of a man who isn’t just coming to kill you, but one who might devour your very soul.

  You can feel the tentacles of darkness radiating from him. You cannot see them, but they feel so real—or perhaps it is just my imagination. There is one more detail: the eyes. It feels as if that dark purple mass is not his true form, but a veil hiding something else. If you look hard enough, you can see it: a raging fire trapped behind the iris.

  I shake the image from my mind and continue running through the city, putting as much distance as possible between myself and him. As I run, I see the carnage of the resistance; soldiers and mages stand together against the horde. The enemies are a nightmare—orcs and dark casters, and they are terrifyingly effective. I even see a few dark elves. If it were just them, I think we could have beaten them. It isn’t that they are weak; there are simply too few of them.

  But their leader... he is something else entirely.

  I reach the castle, pushing toward the main power chamber to deliver the orb. If we can activate the portal and call for reinforcements, we might just survive this massacre. Just as the thought forms, screams erupt behind me. I glance back and see him. He is biting into a soldier with fangs, his other hand leveled toward one of our stronger wizards. The wizard begins to choke, his skin blackening before he even hits the ground.

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  I don't stop. I reach the castle gates and scream at the guards, "Lock the fucking gate, idiots! He is coming! And get some reinforcements, because two of you are as much protection here as rats are dungeon cell guards!"

  The gate finally groans shut. I sprint toward the main chamber, commanding my disciples to summon every archmage as fast as they possibly can. Outside, the sound of explosions rattles the stone walls. Thank goodness they haven't reached the gate yet; they are likely toying with the guards outside first.

  Inside the chamber, I find the other archmages. I show them the orb and slam it into its designated slot on the wall. "What do we do? We can use this portal to ask Deran for reinforcements, but he will demand a heavy payment."

  "Why would we?" one archmage asks arrogantly. "There are eight of us. Each of us could evaporate a small city. What can one man do to us?"

  "What the fuck do you think is going to happen?" another objects. "This man has almost destroyed our city, killed five arch-lords, and decimated our army. He choked our disciples to death. Do you think he will be killed so easily? Even if we manage to stop him, he will take a few of us with him—and I don't like dying. The empire's price is lower than our lives."

  As the words hang in the air, a massive explosion rocks the gate, followed by a chorus of screams. Everyone begins frantically chanting to open the portal. It should have sparked to life instantly, but instead of a shimmering gateway, we see thick, black veins crawling across the wall where the portal should have been.

  In that moment, all of us knew: we were on our own.