"Fight, boy!" The old mage screamed as a fresh wave of energy erupted from his fingertips and entered the seal. "We can't hold the others off much longer!" His energy had snaked into the crack in the seal, but it didn't seem like he had enough power to reseal it.

Greta's lips moved, but nothing but a groan emerged from them. Sweat poured from every inch of her skin, and she was growing dangerously pale as she channeled her energy into the seal.

"But it's been so long, my old friends!" The hooded woman's words were sickly sweet. "Why would you want to cut our reunion short after all these years?"

"Silence your poisoned tongue, devil." Kasimir's blue eyes burned with barely contained hate.

"Scary!" The woman laughed a pure, pleasant laugh. "You've gotten stern in your old age."

"Boy! Fight or run!"

I shifted onto my front foot... tried to take a step... but I couldn't. "I..." I wanted to move. Wanted to attack. Wanted to do literally anything. But... I just... I couldn't.

My blade's flames sputtered and went out.

Even with Kasimir's buff making me stronger than I'd ever been, the amount of power rippling off the woman in the center of the seal was... I thought she'd been strong in the alleyway... But here, in the flesh... the senses granted to me by the Dark Lord revealed an ocean of black surrounding her...

We were all going to die.

"Girls. Run." I nodded to the chamber's far wall, where there was a small tunnel extending into the Depths. "Run, and don't look back."

"No," Tristan whispered behind me. "I told you before, Alex. I'm never leaving you again. I'm staying by your side. In life, and in death."

"Yeah! What she said!" Vral snapped. "I'm not about to leave you, either. Enough with the death talk, though. If either of you dies, I'll kill you."

"Please. Both of you. You have to—"

"It's entertaining that any of you think you had the choice to leave," The hooded woman grinned, and with a lazy flick of her wrist, the tunnel shuddered, cracked, and collapsed in on itself.

"Shit!" That was their only chance.

"I rule this place. And I would never have allowed those lovers of yours to escape. I have plans for them." She tapped her chin with her index finger. "Them, you, Kasimir..." The woman scanned the room and stopped when she saw Greta. "And poor little Greta." She licked her plump lips. "It seems like just yesterday that we last spoke, little one. I remember how eager you were to prove yourself back when you were a girl. Do you still resent being stuck so firmly in Faye's shadow? "

"Eat... all.. the dicks... Avara..." Greta panted.

The monster, Avara, laughed a pure, bell-like laugh and said, "From all the damage you've inflicted on your soul, it seems you've spent your long years doing just that in my stead. Poor girl. You were always so desperate for love. I thought my gift would have given you the time to grow beyond your need for attention, but it seems I was wrong." She smiled. "Still, it's lovely to see you again."

"I can't... say... the same... Avara..." Greta's star-filled eyes sparkled as she looked up at Avara. "You look... awful... as always..."

The woman threw her head back and cackled. "Do you hear that, Kas?" She turned to face Kasimir. Studying him for a long moment, she finally said, "She thinks I look awful." Avara pretended to pout. "But, look at you. My, you've aged. I came back to life after all these years, expecting to find that same young, virile archmage I once knew, but all I've found is a ruin."

"Time stops for no one, Avara."

"Are you so sure?" She grinned. "If only the little witch here could see what you've done to yourself, what method you used to live so long, she might not judge me so harshly. Would she, my aged archmage acquaintance?"

The old mage didn't respond.

Greta's head snapped around, and her eyes bored into Kasimir's. "What... is she talking... about... Kasimir?"

"You know how she works, woman!" Spit flew from his lips. "Her words are poison. Don't listen to them!"

"Ah, yes, I've forgotten how you mortals love to hide the hidden parts of yourselves from those closest to you." She turned back to Greta. "Anyway, how have you been enjoying my little gift? Has immortality been kind to you, my dear?"

"Fuck... yourself... You repugnant... whore..."

"You know? Once I'm free of this seal, I might just do that." Avara chuckled.

"What do you want?" My voice shook, but I was starting to get more comfortable with the pressure she was exuding. Still... I knew I couldn't beat her, but I might be able to hold her off... at least until Faye arrived. If she did. I hoped she would.

"The chosen is finally finding his voice, eh?" She shook her head. "I'm glad." Holding a hand out to me, she added, "I've returned to this world to continue my work, and you're an important piece of that work."

"What work is that?" I finally managed to take a step forward.

"All of you mortals are my work. I'm here to shape you. To guide you. It's what the Dark Father created me to do. " The woman stalked toward me, her hips swaying with every step under her thin black robes.

"Why?"

"Why? Because you mortals captivate me! You're so wonderfully weak. So beautifully breakable. You are nothing. Temporary. Ephemeral. Flickering candles in the eternal hurricane of existence. Yet... you all burn so brightly!" She stopped at the very edge of the seal and toed the crack. When the air shimmered and sparked at her touch, she frowned and continued, "It's fascinating how hard you fight to survive. How desperately you cling to your short, pathetic little lives." She lifted her hand as if she were wiping tears away. "It truly brings tears to my eyes. And yet, despite how much your struggles pain me..." Her hood tilted back, revealing for the first time pure white, unseeing orbs. "I can't look away."

[Flamewreath]

Fire reignited along my blade's edge with a roar. It almost felt like the flames pushed back against the oppressive pressure radiating from her.

The doubt plaguing my mind eased further. I was beginning to feel hope. Like most of these monsters, she was arrogant. If I could only get this monster to talk more...

"What does it mean to shape us, Avara?"

The woman's smile faded. "Enough of that. Don't you want to fight me, chosen?" Rather than taking a fighting stance, Avara held her arms out wide at the edge of the seal. "Come, would-be hero. Strike me down. Become the hero you believe yourself to be."

I knew a trap when I saw one. The second I attacked, she'd kill me. "What are we to you, Avara? Fun? Food? Toys? What motivates you?" Come on, Faye. Find us.

Her empty eyes considered me for a moment. "Why do you wish to know, chosen?"

"I prefer to know who my enemies are." I took a step forward. Then another.

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Her smile grew. "Does it ease your conscience, knowing the ones you cut down are monsters?"

In my head, I saw Dorit's face. She wasn't a monster. She was just another casualty. And she deserved better.

Her face morphed, transforming into Aerell's. I could see it so clearly. Her long, sandy blonde hair. Her chipped tooth, broken when her father beat her as a girl. The bags under her eyes that she got when she learned all of us fighters got slated for execution. The sad looks she'd give when she spoke of her past. The resignation in her voice when she talked about what became of her life.

She had been horrible, sure, and she had to be put down. I was certain if that. But she was still human. Had she had a better dice roll at the start of her life, I was sure she'd have been a fine person. Maybe even good. She also deserved better.

For the first time since I watched her die, I felt pity. Not pity for the woman she became. I felt compassion for the person she could have been, and I regretted that she had to die because she didn't have the chance to become that person.

"No. It doesn't. The killing weighs on me. The pain weighs on me. I still do what I have to do, and I'll always step up and do what's right, but I still am bothered by the senselessness of it all. And I think that's a good thing. I've been telling myself that I don't care, and that it's not my job to make things better. But I do, and it is. That's why I'm here. And I think... I think that it's time I start using my strength to help make that better world."

"Alex..." Tristan whispered behind me. Her slender hand found my arm and squeezed. "I'm proud of you."

"I am too." I really was.

She'd been so worried about my heart. I had been as well, even if I hadn't wanted to admit it. I thought I'd been broken by my time in the Pit. Broken by the Dark Lord's corruption.

But I knew who I was. And I sure as shit wasn't broken.

I liked being compassionate. I liked having empathy. Even for my enemies. Even for the people who others would brush off as unworthy. Those feelings made me the kind of guy that I could respect, and they'd brought me all the love and friendship I'd ever known.

"I'm only here because you took a chance on me." Vral's voice was gentle. "You're a big softie, but that big heart of yours is one of the things I love about you most."

"Thanks, Vral." I reached out and patted her head.

I wasn't some bloodthirsty asshole, and I wasn't about to become so bitter and broken that I couldn't feel for others. What would be the point of fighting for others if I didn't care about them? I could do both. I would do both.

Avara considered me. "Shouldn't a chosen like you stand firm in your knowledge that what you do is right and good? You've been chosen by the Goddess herself, after all. You are justice in the flesh."

Stepping forward until I was roughly four paces away, I was close enough that I could leap forward and strike in a single breath. "I'm not some sage who knows what's right and good for everyone. I'm just a guy." As I spoke, something was crystallizing in my mind. The path that I was walking... the reason I was in this world... I could see the path forward for the first time since I'd arrived in Reial. Not clearly, but I had an idea. "I'm just a guy who's fighting to create a world where everyone can get the best shot at living their best lives."

"Oh, an idealist.'

"Maybe. But I can't believe that all this pain is inevitable. If I have the power to make it better, I will."

"We aren't so different, you know?"

"I don't know anything about you. How so?"

"We're survivors."

"You think so, huh?" Inwardly, I cringed. I wasn't a survivor. I was only alive because my found family ensured that I survived. I was here because of them.

"I know so." Her white eyes considered me. "The weak want power. The strong want recognition. The intelligent crave knowledge, and the wise are desperate for understanding. But survivors? We want peace. For ourselves, and for others. For the world. We want the pain to go away."

There was so much conviction in her voice... Her words burrowed their way into my mind.

"What did you survive, Avara? Tell me before I finish this."

Her smile faded. In its place... I was sure it was pain. "You've suffered so much, chosen." She said the words so softly and with so much compassion, I was taken aback.

I... I had suffered, hadn't I?

Wait.

What was I thinking?

I shook my head. "Don't try to fool me, creature." Despite my challenge, her words resonated with my soul...

"I would never dare fool you..." Her smile fell. "In fact, I have a request of you."

"Which is?" The whispers I'd been hearing since the vampire fell began to fade.

"When we finish talking..." She swallowed. "Will you strike me down? Will you set me free?" Her voice shook. Nodding at Kasimir and Greta, she said, "I asked them to help me long ago, but they said I was evil... tainted... that I wasn't worthy..." Her lips quivered. "They sealed me as punishment. But I'm tired. So tired... I want to rest."

Her voice was so genuine... so sad...

The sound softened my heart. "Why do you sound so sad?"

Wiping a tear from her cheek, she whispered, "Your words reminded me of my past. I'd nearly forgotten..."

"What?"

"I had a son, once." She looked away, as if she were speaking to a ghost. "I loved that boy with everything that I was."

Kasimir shouted something from the edge of the seal, but I couldn't make out his words.

"What happened to him?" I needed to know more. I had to understand her. No one was just a monster. There had to be a reason why she was the way she was.

"My boy... Rien... he was everything to me..." Her voice cracked. "But he was sick. He'd contracted a horrible, incurable illness that, eventually, made every breath he took a struggle. The rattling... The blood... Every day, I watched him suffer."

I could picture it so clearly. "Couldn't he be cured?"

"We were poor. I did what I could to make money, but there was never enough. When he got sicker, I reached out to friends, family, but none would help us. Finally, when his sickness got so bad that he hardly could walk, I went to the lord for help, but he cast me aside."

Fucking nobles. "What did you do after?"

She smiled a soft, gentle smile and said, "When he was a boy, he loved to hunt for stones. He'd go out every single day and find his favorites. Then, he'd bring them home, polish them, and put them in a jar by our hearth." When she looked back at me, I saw more tears welling in her sightless eyes. "When his coughs grew bloody, and he was too weak to leave his bed, I went out and found the prettiest stone I could." She opened her palm. There, sitting in her palm, was a beautiful, perfectly smooth, perfectly spherical blue river stone. "I thought that, if I could find something pretty enough to look at, he might feel better."

The stone in her hand was beautiful. Truly. It was the most beautiful stone I'd ever seen.

"However, when I returned to our little cottage by the river, he was gone. He'd died when I was out. Alone."

My breath hitched. If she really were a monster, how could she express so much pain?

"I held him. I held him until he grew cold. Then, I sat there until morning, staring at the stone I'd found him, the stone I had been so proud of, that I had believed would cure him. I couldn't have been more wrong. But, because I was stupid, and I was weak, I spent the entire day searching for a useless rock instead of being there for my son." She held the stone up to her ear, her face a mask of grief.

"It sounds like you loved him." My heart shattered as my sister's face filled my mind's eye. Back on Earth, I'd screened her calls. I wasn't there when Stella needed me the most. That was why she died.

Avara and I were the same.

"I've never once forgotten his face... his breathing... his laugh..."

"I... I'm so sorry, Avara." I stepped toward her. "No one should ever have to—"

Tristan grabbed my arm and shook me.

"Get off of me!" I shrugged her off. "Didn't you hear what she's been through?"

"Don't listen to her!" Tristan screamed beside me.

"Idiot!" Vral screamed at me. "Wake up!"

I felt something hit my helmet.

Then again.

And again.

Vral. She was slapping my helmet.

"Haven't you two been listening to her! We're the same! We—"

[Purification]

Wings sprouted from Tristan's shoulders as a wave of pure white light washed over me.

In an instant, the feelings I'd been feeling grew muddled.

As her spell faded and the wings disappeared, she whispered, "Don't... listen..." Tristan teetered, stumbled to one knee, then fell onto her stomach.

"This is what she does!" Kasimir roared. "She learns what she can about you and twists your mind until you can't tell truth from lies!" Kasimir's words were laced with equal parts exhaustion and fury.

"You have to push her whispers out of your head!" Greta screamed.

"They are trying to poison you against me." Avara sobbed. "Please... I just want one person to see me for me..."

Listen to me.

Don't look away.

Be by my side.

Take my hand.

Submit.

I hadn't been able to make the sounds out well enough before to understand them. But now I could hear them clearly.

With as much focus as I could muster, I visualized the whispers as enemies and began fighting them in my mind. One by one, they fell. With every whisper I defeated, the rest grew weaker, the sounds grew fainter, until I was alone with my thoughts.

Only then did I look at Avara once again.

As I did, the emotions that she'd been displaying melted away, replaced with a cool, calculating calm. It was like watching a play to the end and seeing an actress take a bow and drop the character.

The stone in her palm vanished.

The grief in her face vanished.

The sorrow in her voice vanished.

"Avara..."

She smirked. "Yes?"

"Was any of it true?"

"In a sense."

"What sense?"

With a laugh, she said, "I told you the truths you wanted to hear. And, like all mortals, you were so easy to break. A simple story of loss, and you were putty in my hands. How utterly pathetic."

It was all a lie.

Every single word.

"You lied to me." My voice came out hollow. Empty. I knew she was a monster, but her words felt so real... So raw... I'd never experienced manipulation at that level before. She wasn't just a monster. She was a fucking devil.

The woman let out a long, slow, drawn-out sigh. "That was entertaining." She looked at her fingernails. "I almost felt something for a second. It's been so long since I've had a good audience."

"You're a monster."

A cruel, twisted smile curled her lips. "From your point of view, I suppose I am."

"And what about from your point of view?"

Her next words were spoken as if they were perfectly self-evident. "I'm a goddess."

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