I stalked after my Souls as they battered Felstrife from one end of the ballroom to the other, the crunch of glass against my boots a counterpoint to the scrape and screech of battle. It would not be a quick process, this beating of an entirely new deck from my foe, but Atrea and the rest would never tire, their steel, claws, and talons as sharp as they day their Souls were smithed. Felstrife let out a keening wail as she was repeatedly struck, Dodging where she could but unable to do much more than hand block with the two cards she was drawing a turn from her fresh Mind Home.

The glittering remnants I watched spill from her were all of Death and Water, cards I easily recognized after spending so long amongst her memories. The Spells and Souls were generally lower Rarity versions of what she used in her primary deck, but that only made them marginally less deadly.

With a hiss of utter rage, Felstrife used one to create a reddish brown spear from her vital fluid – bone marrow was my guess since she had no blood – that shot through the air, plunging into my Pantherkin's furred chest, Destroying her.

Without letting myself be distracted by the fracturing Soul, I watched Felstrife keenly. The Death Spell should have hurt her in return, but not a single fresh shard floated off of her.

Resist, too, then. You truly have been at this forever. The information wasn't terribly valuable, as I had no Spells that dealt summoner damage, but I wasn't about to let the barest scrap of information go unnoticed, not when my enemy could turn things around with a single strong play or an unexpected ability.

My Souls punished Felstrife for the loss of their comrade, slashing another gout of cards from her hand and body. Able to attack each turn, it wasn't long before the winged trio rushed back in, but this time Felstrife cast a defensive Spell that enshrouded her skeletal frame in ice and by extension Atrea, as soon as the knight's blade made contact with the protective shell.

And yet, Atrea's Aura never faltered. Even trapped in a block of ice, the effect pulsed out of her, empowering my two Nightguard with eyes that trailed blue light and let them continue to ignore Felstrife's Armor, whittling her down, bit by bit.

While I could feel my victory inching ever closer, among the newest burst of shards I spotted something of concern: a weapon that would pose trouble when combined with Felstrife's many combat focused abilities. It was the very same Ice Blade I had stared at in my mother's grimoire, year after year, tucked away in our cozy library.

In Felstrife's hands it could spell my doom, though. Not as outright as the Reaper of Helix, but unlike that Mythic Relic, she could have multiple copies of Ice Blade in her deck, as well as other weapons too.

When next my Souls struck, they unearthed some From The Grave cards for Felstrife, the shards spinning into the form of bony warriors that gradually pieced themselves together.

However, this far into the second half of our duel, I already had my last Soul summoned and Transformed, generating Webs at twice the normal rate thanks to Air Source Power from my lone remaining Air Source.

Even if Felstrife had a full set of three Wights, none of them would be attacking me anytime soon and not a one could block my Flying attackers.

When Atrea was free to move again, she led a whip quick dive on the lich, the Ravens' wingtips touching hers as they struck in formation, tearing a fresh spray of cards from Felstrife that the lich keened even louder about. Of interest to me was the one card my opponent kept locked in her bony fingers. She had no shortage of Source, so it was unlikely to be a defensive Spell or one she could fastcast to destroy an attacker. I was considering the remaining possibilities, but then she floated upward, acting like a queen on high, all of her Water Source quivering and some of her Death, too.

"She doesn't know," I whispered to myself, only half in disbelief. My mind flicked back over the many duels of hers I had seen, confirming that none of them had taken place in a room this size – even when she had battled underground there had been a taller ceiling.

The Master Shieldbearer who had remained staunchly at my side this entire time shifted. "What doesn't she know?"

"The importance of terrain," I answered him, quoting Edaine.

With a clench of her fist, Felstrife devoted most of her Source, summoning a card of such power I felt the birth of its existence into this plane like a splash of salty air across my face. The card spun upward in a dense swirl of shards that divided into three, each reaching a towering height that strained against the domed ceiling above. Chandeliers were crushed or fell to the ground in explosions of glass and bent wire, plaster cracked sending dust downward, and the wood beneath us groaned and splintered under the weight that was trying to manifest.

I saw dark, green-tinged flesh through the cloud of card confetti, revealing a form that was so large it was hard for my mind to fathom it, with great limbs like the largest of tree-trunks, and huge, round oily eyes staring down at me, so hypnotizing in their obscene size that I stopped noticing the room collapsing around us.

My heart stopped as I imagined the enormous beast and its gargantuan limbs crashing down, but then, with a high-pitched cry that I swore echoed only in my mind, the Kraken and its appendages broke apart, the glimpses of its form returning to the glimmer of cards. My Souls and I were all sucked forward a step as a byproduct of the massive creature failing to corporealize – an even more extreme reaction than when my Sea Titan had unsummoned against Ticosi – glittering motes rained down on us, thick as snowfall.

"You've lived this long but haven't learned the right lessons," I called to Felstrife. "That lack will be your end, I promise it."

She hacked a curse at me and then lifted the ring she used in our sessions, the amber stone socketed into the metal flashing brightly. My world changed in that moment, replaced by a scene I had viewed before: Felstrife in the stands of the newly constructed Colosseum.

Crafty hag! As the people in the memory below clashed with cards, I strained as best I knew how to return my consciousness to the real duel I was embroiled in.

"Atrea!" I tried to shout, but I couldn't move my head let alone my mouth. The eyes though, those I sharpened my will to be able to shift. It was a struggle, but I managed to force them closed. In darkness, I focused my thoughts inward, like I was burying them within myself. Atrea, get this helmet off of me! With her Precision, she should be able to remove the artifact without harming me, but that was only if she heard my plea. Atrea, the helmet. Strike it free. Atrea!

I was knocked sideways and my head felt suddenly light, so light I thought it might float off my shoulders. But, when I opened my eyes, I was back in the ballroom and that cursed helmet I had been forced to wear night and day was split in twain at my feet.

"Oh Basil," Atrea said, hovering over me. She didn't say it like Esmi would, worry twined with loving warmth, but with the cadence of a city watchman, taking stock of their comrade and concerned by what they saw.

"I'll be fine," I told her, ignoring how my hair stuck to the side of my face and how cold and clammy my scalp was already feeling. "What has happ –"

Felstrife with a sword in hand caught my eye, as did my lone Nightguard, the story of what had transpired in my brief absence all too clear: being Rares, the Ravens must have decided to keep attacking while Atrea stayed back to heed my command, and Felstrife had capitalized on the opportunity, cutting one down.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

But the bad news was paired with good, for sitting in my hand was an answer to the predicament I faced.

I had been Healing and drawing every turn after summoning the Spiderkin – a combination of Life and Order Source Power that had served me well at the end of my match against Gale – but my previous pulls had been an Equality and Master Shieldbearer, the first cards I had lost, which held little utility now. This Scalemail though…

Wasting no time, I summoned the Relic.

"Put this on," I said, shoving it into Atrea's hands.

Like a keening banshee, Felstrife came at us with her frosty sword raised. If she didn't have Hunt, I could simply block with my Bodyguard or Dodge her attack. Spitting in the face of my wishes, she veered to the side, toward my Raven, confirming that she could indeed target my Souls in combat if she wished.

"You're more leech than lich!" I spat at her, but the words made no difference.

The Raven screeched as it broke apart, not even getting a retaliatory strike, which meant Felstrife had Fast Attack on top of all the rest. As I watched, card shards flickered around the lich before being absorbed into her skull, the benefits of Lifesap, which was precisely the situation I had wanted to avoid. I didn't give her the chance to enjoy it, sending Atrea after her.

A single Soul attacking a summoner with Dodge would have been a fool's errand, but in order to use her combat abilities, Felstrife had needed to focus when attacking, so she couldn't focus a second time to avoid Atrea. Yet again Felstrife refused to relinquish cards from hand – two this time – and my Soul's sword buried deep, more card shards sloughing away.

Her Mind Home must be empty by now, it must be. I trusted my competency at card counting, but I had been out of the duel a minimum of two turns for Felstrife to have had enough time to regain her Water Source and summon the Ice Blade.

Taking a sharp breath, I pulled Felstrife's mind to me, using my Scrying Eye. If she had any cards left, I'd get to see one.

Nothing came back.

My breathing quickened. This was indeed it. One more exchange in combat could be enough to see her dead, or at least seriously maimed.

With a crackle of malice, Felstrife cast Whirlpool, the exact Spell I had been worried about her first deck containing.

Water crashed all around, destroying Atrea despite her extra Armor, along with the Spiderkin and Wights who had been at a perpetual standoff due to the Webs. Even my Bodyguard was swept away by the flash flood because, while I had Fluid Grace in Hand again courtesy of my Healing Life Source, I didn't have enough Life Source left to summon it.

Without any Souls, Felstrife came straight at me. I Dodged her initial swing, my body reacting like I had trained it for a lifetime to be so limber. No sooner had the first cut past me by than I discovered that Felstrife also had Flurry, monster that she was, forcing me to block the second swing with my recovered Equality lest I be infected with her Venom. With her second Mind Home empty, it seemed she was past the point of worrying that she might kill me.

The explosion of Equality was enough to push Felstrife back and give me the chance to draw again. Lo and behold it was my Soulforged Helmet – being destroyed at the vampire's jubilee had turned to my benefit, as it had given the card sufficient time to naturally refresh in my Mind Home. I summoned the Relic without delay and slipped it over my head, the weight and fit of it like an old friend.

I also wanted to summon my Master Shieldbearer, but if I fed Felstrife's Lifesap, she'd claw her way back from the brink, and I'd be a fool to ignore the single card she had left in hand. There were many possibilities as to what it could be, but one in particular I knew of would let her overcome my Bodyguard's Armor.

Unwilling to risk it, I kept the Soul as a blocker in hand, waiting for my next draw before committing to his use.

No sooner was my decision made, than the lich was on me again, frigid blade leading the way. I used the Helmet to stop the first of her flurried attacks and Dodged the second, taking no damage.

"This ends, now," Felstrife grated, grabbing me while I was off balance. She gripped the front of the soiled shirt I had worn longer than her memory device, yanking me close. And then her ribcage began to open.

Could she steal my abilities while I still had cards in hand? I didn't know, and I didn't plan to find out.

My Master Assassin appeared from the shadows, striking her from the side. I had felt him arrive two turns back, but had kept him on the outskirts of the room to avoid area effects like Whirlpool; a critical decision that had turned out to be the right one.

Without missing a beat, Felstrife turned, using her final card to shatter him – like me, leaving nothing to chance at this stage of our duel.

"Did you forget I could perceive their kind?" she rasped at me, sounding triumphant.

"I was counting on it," I replied. "He's no distraction, otherwise." I didn't bother unstoppering the vial that the Assassin had surreptitiously tossed to me with the same unerring accuracy he used when throwing daggers. Instead, I pushed every drop of Life Source I had into it and then smashed the glass container into Felstrife's exposed spine, right where pieces of her broken Soul did indeed live – emerald-edged and fused in bits along the bone like barnacles on a ship. As I hoped, the vial shattered and from it splashed an unnaturally bright liquid that burned my nose hairs with the slightest whiff. It smelled of acid and bile, and Felstrife shrieked in absolute agony as it coated her spine.

I tried to pull away from her grasp, but for all the pain she was in, she kept hold of me, wheezing, hissing, sputtering. Even when her spine had melted entirely through, the top half of her body hung on, and I got to watch the otherworldly light in her eye sockets dim and die as she stared up at me.

Tears were rolling down my cheeks, not out of any sort of regret for what I had done but the sheer stench of the mixture that had been used to destroy her. With calm fingers, I snapped the bones of her fingers off, until her upper half fell free of me.

Finally unburdened, I stood there alone, in a room that was suddenly much too quiet. Without fully thinking it through, I turned my left wrist upright so I could reach the fabricator there and ripped the dual-Source crystal from where it sat. A jolt shot through my chest, but my attention was on the warm crystal I fished from my pocket, fixing it in place. With a bit more Healing from my remaining Life Source, I removed a Bearkin from my Mind Home, out behind my ear, and inserted Esmi, drawing her moments later. Then, with the ball of Fire Source that had joined my others, I called her forth.

No sooner was she summoned, than I wrapped her in a hug, burying my head in her mane of curly hair.

"Bas –" she started but stopped when my arms encircled her.

She didn't smell like Esmi – she didn't smell like anything at all – but she felt like her, and when she squeezed me back, the fingers of one hand trailing through my hair, I was home again.

I might have stayed that way forever, but then a scream ripped from deep within me, as unexpected as a kind word from my parents. My body arched painfully and began bucking in Esmi's grasp while she fought to hold on. I tried to look down at her, to reassure us both, but I had even less control now than when I was passenger to Felstrife's memories.

What is happening? the small part of me that wasn't screaming and shaking tried to discern. This had come on too quickly, without any warning. What is happeniiiiiing??

All the mirrors in the room that hadn't already been shattered exploded at once and even Esmi was knocked off of her feet from the shockwave of energy that burst from my chest, like every breath I had ever taken had been expelled at once.

Now on the ground, I scrabbled to stand, my arms and legs feeling weak as a newborn's lamb, and as it came to me what had just transpired, perhaps I was.

It was Esmi who got me upright, her sure hands guiding me into a sitting position, and she didn't hesitate to join me on the ruined floor.

"Basil," she said, in that voice I could never forget, in that voice I had been dying to hear again. How could I have felt otherwise when I first saw her with the vampires? "Basil, your eyes."

A change in my Rare soul wouldn't have affected my irises, which could only mean…

"I must get Justine and Bessamun's Soul cards," I told her – my words were whisper thin but grew stronger as I soldiered on. "Then we need to reach Hull to see you raised. He has the vault key, my love."

"To see me…" she trailed off, shaking her head in that small way she had of making a note she planned to come back to. "You must be wanting to take hers as well," she said, indicating the many cards that were leaking out from the remains of the lich's body, the growing pool a shimmering mix of ruby, emerald, and diamond.

"Most certainly," I agreed. "If you would be so kind as to collect them." I managed to stand a few moments later, only needing a small measure of Esmi's assistance.

I went to leave, but she caught me by the hand. "You must fill me in on all I've missed and all you have planned."

"Of course," I said, squeezing her hand; I didn't know if she could feel the gesture, but I hoped she could. "As soon as we leave."

We parted ways then, me taking shaky steps toward the back of the room where Bessamun lay. In my current state, Esmi would have been better suited for the task, but they were my fellows in captivity, not hers.

I reached the poor boy and knelt down beside him, putting a hand on his still chest in greeting. Looking at his sunken, waxy features, the wave of yet another of my failures washed over me. Only after it had passed and I had succeeded in prying his Soul card from his stiffened jaws, sweat beading my brow from the exertion, did I finally allow myself to peer inward and see what I had become.

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