Steps dampened by Spirit Body, Marek entered a wide grotto. The ceiling rose tall enough to accommodate a small house, and a tepid pool in one corner reflected the light given off by countless glowing plants. The shadowy figures of twisted beasts were everywhere. And in their midst, he encountered an unholy sight. An enormous Druskin pinned one of its fellows to the ground.

  The wolf kin writhed against its captor but lacked the strength to do more. "Please," it rasped. "Why are you doing this, Hirtane? I know you! You are a friend! Please, don't—"

  The Druskin's words ended with a scream. A Haikini Graysoul with a heavy bone sword was carving into the Druskin's body. Marek didn't know its purpose, but he'd seen more than enough. Attack anything that is tainted! he commanded Allon. Do not waste time on feeding. Harass, and injure as many as you can! You can feed after.

  Five Graysouls stood in a row, all facing the debauchery.

  Marek triggered Wraith Step. His being bled through theirs, and though the teleportation took less than a second, he felt their souls individually as he passed. A tainted Druskin, two Haikini, a stag, and a bear all felt his presence. Each grunted as they staggered, momentarily stunned. Their souls, not their bodies, were damaged in the process. While this effect was minor, Marek imagined it could quickly add up.

  He appeared near the Haikini hacking at the only untainted soul in the cave. Marek flung his spear, trusting his aim with such a short throw, then tapped into his ether reserves twice more. In a zigzagging pattern, he blurred through the gathered Graysouls. When he'd finished, nearly ten had been stunned and wounded, and one Haikini twitched on the ground with a spear jutting sideways through its ribs.

  Marek had never used Wraith Step so rapidly. Doing so had consequences, apparently, for not only did a sizable portion of his reserves burn away, but his sense of direction was momentarily skewed.

  The point of a spear flashed out from the crowd. Marek blocked it with his left forearm, and the plate of ethereal armor protecting him shattered. Thankfully, Marek wasn’t alone.

  Allon tore through the monsters and, sensing his master’s danger, scattered the Graysouls surrounding Marek. Small claws emerged from his snake-like body to rake fur and flesh and leather hide alike. Allon's jaws went to work when he targeted a buck wielding an imposing set of antlers. As dangerous as its horns may have been, the creature had no way to defend its long neck.

  Marek’s sense of balance finally returned, and he cut down two stunned Graysouls in rapid succession. His mind sank deeper into that stifling blanket of indifference and resolve. He carved the beasts around him into more manageable pieces. In less than a minute, half the Graysouls had fallen.

  Master! Allon shouted, his voice piercing the clamor in the cave. Thisss one is strong!

  Near the edge of the pool, Marek spotted a hulking Druskin swatting at the air and narrowly missing a frantic daemon. There was something odd about the monster. Unlike the other Graysouls, this one’s body glowed. Fell energy surrounded it like an aura. Allon had indeed found a strong opponent, and Marek didn’t hesitate to charge.

  He hacked off the leg of a Haikini rushing at him to clear the way, then dashed across the cavern. The creature must have heard or otherwise sensed him coming, for it turned to face him. Its eyes! They’re terrifying! Shining like beacons, the Druskin’s gaze was palpable. Marek ignored his racing heart and drew back his sword.

  The Druskin bared its fangs in what might have been a grin. Then it lifted one foot and stomped the ground. A ripple of power surged from the being, breaking up the very rock of the cavern floor. Marek, who’d come within ten feet of the creature, was tossed in the air. He landed on his back, teeth clacking together. He tasted blood, and his vision swam with shadows. He urged himself to move, but his body responded slower than needed.

  Marek managed only to roll to his side before heavy footfalls approached. The Druskin swung a thick-bladed sword crafted of bone directly at Marek’s skull.

  Unable to do otherwise, the mage flickered out of existence, reappearing at the Graysoul’s back. The monster spun with uncanny speed and lashed out. Marek knew he couldn’t waste time or ether. Both, he feared, were running out. Rather than evade or teleport, he caught the sword on his own, using all of his strength to do so. Fragments of bone flew in all directions as the Druskin’s weapon exploded. Marek flung himself forward and drove his shoulder into the monster’s chest. At the moment of contact, he activated Distort Soul. A spear of his inner being drove through the Druskin’s heart.

  Allon, still in a panic, screamed in Marek’s mind, Behind you! Kaiteras, another comes to feast!

  Marek pivoted, ready to slash at anything he might encounter. An ear-splitting roar crashed through him, and somehow, his body locked in place. Limbs rigid, head spinning, Marek found himself completely vulnerable. Damn! Some of these things can use Abilities! I’m stunned!

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  A deep rending across his shoulders silenced his thoughts. Sharp claws shattered the back plate of his Spirit Body and sank into the muscle and sinew of his back. Marek gasped, then, finding the stun effect gone, blinked away with Wraith Step.

  An eight-foot bear stood on its hind legs, crimson dripping from the claws of one paw. Its eyes burned with the same intensity the Druskin’s had. The monster crashed to all fours and charged.

  True and desperate battle followed.

  For the first time, Marek knew with certainty that he courted death. Not since he'd ambushed the bandits had he been in such danger, and even then, fighting under the open sky with trackable and knowable opponents couldn't compare to this. His black sword and the dark beast beside him were his only weapons.

  Marek poured more and more ether into Spirit Body. The defense kept him alive, but the twisted monsters in the cave left him bloody and ragged nonetheless. The bear fell, and then other common Graysouls took their turn gnashing and clawing at the dark mage among them. Time passed. Marek's lungs burned, and his body grew cold from blood loss and an increasing lack of ether. Not once did he pause to rest, for the enemy wouldn’t allow it.

  Spilling the bowels of a Druskin Graysoul, Marek spun in a full circle and didn’t find anything left to kill. Allon fed nearby, and the cave had gone quiet. A hopeful thought came to him, and he searched among the carnage. Too slow, he thought sadly. I was too slow. The Druskin that had begged for his life lay dead alongside his tainted brother.

  Dozens of Graysouls rose all around. Warped and haggard corpses bled out in the eerie glow of the cavern. Allon fed from three of the tainted spirits before the rest escaped. Too many, Marek feared—far too many—would find another host soul and seek out prey once more.

  A roar at the back of the cavern, nearly as loud as the bear’s had been, interrupted his meandering thoughts. “You’ve got to be joking,” he muttered. The battle, it seemed, was not yet over. Emerging from the depths, a fiend stomped toward Marek. Each step sent a ripple across the pool. Marek could feel it vibrate through his boots, and then it entered the light of the glowing plants. Marek’s blood froze in his veins.

  As he watched the abomination approach, his sluggish mind put together the pieces of the strange ritual he'd stumbled across. Like a chimera from legend, its body was composed of several beasts. Its lower extremities had been carved from a Haikini, the powerful rabbit legs larger than they should have been, muscle swelling so greatly the soft fur had split in many places. Its chest and belly were stolen from a bear, as was one of its enormous arms. The opposing limb was Druskin, and its size too was exaggerated. And atop the horror's neck was a great antlered head.

  Marek's courage wavered when the Graysoul opened its mouth and spoke. Each word held the echo of overlapping voices. "He only slows our progression. The blade is active, and more of my kin enter this world each day! Too late and far too weak, heir of Kaiteras! You will not defy the legion!" This thing that towered above him was host not to one but to many.

  Allon drifted to Marek's side. His daemon hungered as always, and yet his familiar's fear was palpable. Shall we flee? Allon asked, a question that took Marek completely by surprise. The answer was simple. They could not. And yet Marek's Ether Core had been drained almost completely. His body, too, had taken a great toll. The enchanted armor he'd purchased from Shutterkeep hung in ribbons, and he scarcely had the strength to stand.

  Marek hefted his sword and pointed at the monstrosity. "Attack," he said before tapping into Empath's Gaze. As he'd hoped, a single spirit floated above the dead Druskin. Marek was surprised he could feel a link to the spirit, unlike the kobolds he’d slain. He could command this being—however, that wasn't what he needed.

  Marek drank in the offered soul at the same time that Allon flew into the monster’s face. The mage's body healed rapidly. Only a little ether remained to fill his core. It’ll have to be enough.

  The daemon sank black fangs into the neck of the beast, who didn't seem bothered in the slightest. One great Druskin hand wrapped around Allon's neck while the clawed bear paw raked down his slithering length. Allon screeched in pain. His connection to Marek sang of torment and agony. And in a wave of darkness, the daemon was destroyed.

  Marek sensed the being return to the depths of his mind, shaken and terrified. Thank you for your sacrifice, he told his familiar. That was exactly what I needed.

  The monster lunged, crackling gray energy filling the palm of its bear paw, and the hair on Marek's neck stood on end. This Graysoul, ascended like the other two he’d fought, could command its fell energy. These were no mindless beasts. They had access to the Skills of their hosts.

  One of those sacrificed to create this abomination must have been a mage, for the mana gathered in its paw formed into a sphere and shot through the air toward Marek.

  Wraith Step thrust the mage straight through the monster's foul heart. The four demonic souls within howled at his passage. Far too little damage was done to the greater Graysoul, yet its senses were baffled for an instant. Marek slashed the back of the Haikini legs. Thick, corded hamstrings parted, and the monster crashed onto its knees. He cut once more at the beast's lower back, though the bear's spine refused to give.

  Heat washed over Marek’s face, so intense that cracks raced across his visor. The monster’s entire body then burst into flames. Green and black and gray, the fire’s heat shattered the entirety of Marek’s Spirit Body.

  The Remnant Mage vanished, avoiding a painful death. When he reappeared, his body hung above the monster. He extended his soul through his foot to form a shield to absorb some of the flame’s wrath. In an overhead strike, Marek brought his sword down. His shield moved up his body to remain between him and the Graysoul’s fire as he delivered his punishment.

  The black blade swept through the stag's neck, and those terrible gray eyes winked out. The flames guttered out as well, and just in time, for Marek’s face and body were covered in blisters.

  Four souls raged. Four writhing gray entities, demons within the husks of borrowed spirits, spun around Marek in a circle. They could no longer speak, yet Marek could easily sense their malevolence. In a rush of chill wind, they departed, racing up the incline and out of sight in the blink of an eye.

  They would be back, he knew. And soon.