“Well, that just happened.” I exclaimed casually to my draconic allies as the remaining kobolds scurried back to whence they came.

  “That certainly was a thing, and it happened right in front of us,” Bylo’selhi confirmed as he approached me. “Kobolds are weak individually, but with their combined efforts, they are capable of extraordinary feats. I’m glad they are on our side.”

  “Your Kings performed admirably,” I continued as I assessed the battlefield. On every front, we were winning, but not without casualties. “But, I expect that they will need to support the two of us as we lead from the front this time. The next wave is bound to seriously test our mettle.”

  “And here I thought the first wave was a tad overbearing. Seriously, we would have been in trouble if we had not gone all out to obliterate them all together. Their ability to resurrect seemingly endlessly was beyond tenable. And to think, those were the ‘dregs’ of their elites to soften us up and feel out our strengths.”

  I nodded in agreement, my assessment of the situation aligning with his own. We repositioned, with the Kings to the rear and me taking point, in part because Bylo’selhi is bigger than I am and can see and attack over me, and also because he seems to prefer not fighting in melee. Meanwhile, an objectively terrifying Skull, still an Avatar of Fear, returned to my side and readied herself for what would come next.

  “Grim. Defeat seemingly inevitable. Hold out until salvation arrives, and victory will be yours.”

  A cryptic message from Nabonidus confirmed that something nasty was on the way, and I quickly shared the message with those beside me. Daunted, but determined, the Kings remained at the distant rear while Bylo’Selhi and I advanced as far forward as we dare, to the point where our scales burned with the effects of the aura of decay coming from the portal. Our draconic regeneration was enough to stabilize us, but to advance any further would be foolhardy.

  I could feel that a nice nest egg of Experience Points had been earned from that last engagement. However, now was not a safe time or place to invest in new Abilities. It did provide me with a sense of scale of how powerful of an encounter I had vanquished, and I hadn’t even dealt the killing blow or participated in a meaningful way in the second phase of the attack. What, then, would be coming through the portal that would be so horrible.

  The answer came posthaste. Not nearly as tall of a foe, but still vaguely humanoid by generous standards, a giant of sorts waddled out of the portal. Well, more like a giant dark green crystal with the arms, legs, and head of a giant, along with many more arms that each sported a lantern. The lanterns gave off an eerie green light, and immediately, I could feel my scales burning away, the sensation entirely unpleasant but not quite beyond my means to regenerate.

  A light within the crystal core of the giant pulsated rhythmically, the speed slow, but the effect evident, as each pulse burned at my body, only for it to lessen momentarily before the next pulse. Intelligence reports from my crixtali allies had been exhaustive on details about many kinds of foes, not that I had seen many of the variants of Devourers covered in such documents. However, the foe before me was a Harbinger of Decay, and by all accounts, there would be four total that would escort an Apostle of Decay, which is pretty much the same thing but bigger and nastier. This would not be so much a fight as an endurance match, as they would walk towards us and let their aura of decay do its work. All they had to do was stay alive and keep walking with no need for other forms of offense.

  Ostensibly, Skull would be protected from the decay while she continued to serve as an Avatar of Fear, but her mortal form can only handle such divine attention for so long before Gulthar either returns her to me or decides to go all in and sacrifice her for the greater good. Additionally, actually stopping our foes would be troubling, as they can just regrow limbs as quick as you please and keep waddling forwards unabated. Only overwhelming destruction could take them out, and I doubted we packed a punch strong enough to deliver such a blow. However, Nabonidus had told us to hold out, so we would focus on stalling.

  Sure enough, three more Harbingers of Decay followed the first before an Apostle of Decay followed them. None of the chaff of their ilk followed, for, while all variants of Devourers are resistant to the aura of decay, even they have their limits in the face of such pure embodiments of the concept. Ergo, while it was a reprieve to not have to deal with such pests, we would lose completely and utterly if any of those made it to my high road. Very few mortal defenders could even hope to assist, as only those with long-range attacks could safely engage such foes.

  Then, without ceremony or monologuing, they advanced. And whereso did they walk, so too did decay advance. What scraps of flesh that remained around me from fallen allies and foes alike were obliterated as an invisible circle moved towards us. Bylo’Selhi and I employed every Ability in our arsenal to shield ourselves from the aura, and together, we launched our assault.

  Hydras from the rear, the 9-headers, unleashed salvos of powerful elemental attacks that smashed into the crystal bodies of our foes. Although such attacks caused damage, each step of our foes decayed more flesh, and, through such tithes of biomass, found the tainted sacraments needed to regenerate their own mass. My own traps detonated one after another, each one going for a leg to hobble them as much as possible. Bylo’Selhi unleashed a tremendous breath attack of silver coins, and where it struck, so too did the body of our foes turn to such a precious metal. Fire rained down from above as the Phoenix lent aid. A veritable hoard of various overgrown spiders ascended from trapdoor pocket dimensions around the battlefield to grab biomass and pull it back into the safety of their hidey-holes. Lightning crashed down from above as Polemarch Kirov unleashed the vengeance of a civilization lost.

  And yet.

  And yet they continued to advance. With each of their steps, Bylo’Selhi and I were forced to retreat, such was the overwhelming nature of decay that even our best magical shields were melted away within seconds. Step by step, we lost ground, and before long, the high road became closer to us than the portal. Angry and terrified hydras behind us of various sizes unleashed their breath attacks, many of which fell short, such was the range to our foes, but each head of each body remained desperate to not find themselves pinched between the oncoming wall of death and the not-a-wall-but-certainly-acting-like-one high road behind us.

  Skull, I knew, bided her time, waiting for the fear of those behind us to turn into terror, and terror into horror as the inevitable end marched inexorably towards us. She would get one shot, and she would need to make it count.

  In other regions of the battlefield, my draconic allies faced the same issue, some managing better than others, but all faring better than Bylo’Selhi and myself. I know that powerful magics were employed, and some Kings perished, a temporary and yet unaffordable setback given the intensity of the battle. They would eventually resurrect at their clutch of eggs, and they would eventually grow back to their full power, but in the more immediate sense, each loss left a hole in our lines that could not be filled for years or decades to come.

  I gave it everything I had, but admittedly, my kit of Abilities was not well suited to overwhelming destruction. I tried to warp the space in front of me to make the distance longer, but both the physical and metaphysical weight of our opponents quickly quashed such tactics as my mana burned away within seconds of trying to maintain such an effect. My traps did disable legs, but said legs would grow back, or the giants would rip off disabled legs so that new ones could carry them forward. Walls of obsidisteel that I deployed in front of the giants were obliterated as they either casually mossied through them or brute forced them down with the effects of decay, which should be impossible for inorganic material, but clearly not so when magical bullshittery is employed.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  And then it happened. One hydra, too slow to retreat as he was blocked by his allies, got too close. Hydras are second only to dragons when it comes to regeneration, and one of my [Parallel Minds] watched in horror as his flesh decayed instantly and regrew almost as fast. Sadly, “almost” was not enough, and if anything, it only prolonged his suffering. After far too much torment, he perished, and the rest of his body decayed within moments into nothing. This event triggered a veritable stampede of quickly waddling hydras struggling to withdraw as much as they could, the lot of them pressing rather closely to one another as a frenzy of panic and attacks ensued, some of which were aimed at the enemy.

  From above, like a comet hurled by an angry god, a fireball of destruction zoomed towards our foes. Physically, it looked like fire, but to my senses of mana, it shone like a beacon of purity of intent and manifestation of the arcane. And not just mana was involved, but lifeforce as well. Inside the massive fireball, I witnessed two figures, the pair of them holding hands as they screamed in defiance of our foes. Twins they were, elves that I knew and fought beside at Berkerin. In their final act of destruction, they aimed to strike down the Apostle, but, a Harbinger intercepted them.

  The Harbinger was engulfed in pure destructive mana, and whatever spell that Garro and Rarro had prepared as their final sacrifice for the fate of our world detonated. Not a big kaboom like I would have expected, but an implosion that simply consumed all it touched. A vortex of reality-tearing magic pulled the Harbinger into the nothingness of oblivion, and moments later, not a speck of said foe remained.

  That act of bravery inspired those looking on. Terrified souls saw the sliver of hope provided by courage, and that bolstering of spirits, that defiance of death, is what Skull had been waiting for. Shadows poured out of her, each one taking the form of a monstrous wolf, each one black as night with glowing yellow eyes that hungered for destruction. From her own back, large wings of ethereal shadow took form, the pair of them draconic as she called upon her Dual Blessing as my [Dragon Knight]. Her form swelled with power and size, and with a terrifying roar, she surged forth with her pack.

  Another Herald intervened, and though it had been a tough adversary, it too fell to the ravages of an Avatar of Fear. Skull’s blade cut it to ribbons, and the hungry pack devoured all that fell to the ground. Within seconds, it had been destroyed irreparably. However, Skull had taxed her limits, and when she returned to me, the power of her Avatar dispersed along with the pack of wolves, and, almost unconscious, she fell into my shadow and dissolved into me.

  That still left two Harbingers and an Apostle, and though I looked around, no one else had anything to offer to save the day. The twins had been exceptions, so devoted to making big explosions and destroying large targets that they had the power needed to end a Harbinger, albeit at the cost of their lives. Even a Diamond [Mage] of some kind could not wield such destruction that could overcome the innate and active resistances our foes would have to our Abilities, unless said mage was also inclined to destruction. And so, while our hope had been lifted for a moment, it soon came crashing back down as our enemies advanced.

  Soon, there was nowhere to fall back to. The only room to maneuver to fly out of here would take me towards my foes and their auras of decay, and that would be suicide. I could tear a hole in the high wall to flee like a coward, but that would only delay the inevitable and absolutely destroy morale and Skull’s trust in me. I was grasping at straws as I could feel my face dissolving with bare bone exposed to the air, and yet, nothing I did could halt the advance of death.

  I didn’t know what more to do. I gave it everything I had, and it was not enough. As I stepped back, more hydras, the weakest amongst them, found themselves on the edge of the aura of decay, and they too were consumed much like the poor soul from earlier. Our defense was falling apart, and a full rout would unfolded if there were anywhere to go. By all accounts, we were doomed.

  At the same moment that I felt a hand press upon the side of my foot, the world turned grayscale as time froze. Physically, I could not move, and quickly I found myself within the world of my soul. All around, buildings were crumbling and falling as natural disasters raged in the distance, each one a force of nature that leveled the civilization around me.

  And beside me stood my doppelganger, the one with the thin beard and the spiraling triangle symbol. We looked at one another, neither of us speaking for a moment, before his lips moved and words followed.

  “I would have liked to have waited before doing this,” he started, his words hardly illuminating what he spoke about. “You are far too young for this to be ideal, but you won’t live to be any older unless we do this now.” A small smirk lighted upon his face as he continued. “That blasted new demigod doesn’t appreciate my meddling in affairs and has manipulated events to force my hand.”

  “I don’t know what that entails,” I slowly drawled out with uncertainty laced in every word I spoke.

  “I know,” he replied as he looked at me with a sad smile. “But you will here directly. Just take my hand, and all will be made clear.”

  He offered me his hand for me to shake, and with my physical body caught between a rock and a hard place, I took the lifeline offered to me. As we shook hands, the man in front of me ceased to be, not instantly, but in the gradual way that makes it more dramatic as he fades away into motes of light that slowly dissolve his form.

  “Things will be different now,” he said with his final words. “Your words and actions will have weight to them, and the World itself will hold you to the course you set. I won’t be there any more to pull strings behind the scenes to bail you out. You have unimaginable power at your fingertips, but you will surely perish if you do not learn to wield it. From here on out, you matter in a way that will draw the attention of powerful mortals and gods alike unlike anything you have experienced before. But, you are not alone, for your companions are with you now as they have been in the lives lived before this one. This is our last chance, our last life, to make it all the way or not, so let’s not fail.”

  As the last of his body faded, I heard his voice and an echo of Mother’s voice impart one final message to me.

  "I love you. Go now into the world and make your way.”

  And with his departure, it hit me all at once. A mountain of knowledge, of memories, poured into me. My dreams of past lives had been murky imitations of the truth, and now I knew everything in full. My doppelganger is and was me, or at least, a part of me that I sent into the next world to prepare for my full arrival. He would carry my memories so that I could live a new life unburdened by the past. In the thousand and some change lives we had lived, this ability to sunder myself to send him in advance had been a development somewhere along a hundred lives into my existence. We- I, was striving for something, some purpose that allowed my soul to continue on to a new world instead of departing for an afterlife. This life would either find that purpose or be my last; I knew such was true as I knew the sun would rise the next day.

  My doppelganger had been at it for centuries, manipulating events and powerful people all to curate the perfect environment for me to exist in. My house, the creation of Mother, the events surrounding the death of Chooka’s mother, how Nanu had been in possession of Count Vladislav, an absurd and, dare I say, egregious amount of interfering with Skull’s life to lead her to serving Gulthar, had all been his doing. And don’t get me started on the [Monk] that had kicked me out of the sky; that was a whole series of schemes in and of itself to finagle that to happen. Indeed, my hands were in no way clean in that whole war being kicked off at the time that it did, as inevitable as it would have been, for my other self had instigated it.

  Emotions roiled within me as realizations washed over me, each epiphany overtaking the last as [Parallel Minds] struggled to follow every strand of this tapestry of lies and truth that my other self had woven over the world. Impressive work, if I do say so myself, if not entirely respectable, for he had absolutely been a dastardly bastard at times when he needed to be to maneuver people the way he wanted.

  While my mind enjoyed the meltdown of realization and knowledge brought on by my period of timeout, one strand of [Parallel Minds] tugged at my consciousness as it tried to point me in a particular direction. That fact that it remained relatively calm with undertones of excitement likened to a child opening presents won it the undivided attention of my main mind for a few moments.

  And there I discovered what it wanted me to see. My Blessing had advanced to [Greater Ancient Dragon Emperor]. My doppelganger had been old, and if you consider all of my past lives combined, I was truly ancient enough to deserve the appellation “Ancient”. “Greater” in this context I knew to mean how accomplished I had been on the path from “Elder” to “Ancient”, in that I didn’t rest on my laurels and had accomplished things of note to earn countless [Deeds] relative to my [Age].

  And with this merger came an ancient dragon’s accumulation of Experience Points. With time being stopped for me right now, I set to work on spending them, as death awaited me once I left this world of my soul. And death, it seems, would find me to be feisty and rather disinclined to perish without a fight.