Remus grabbed Norvin and sprinted toward the balcony. He rammed his shoulder into the heavy wooden windows, blasting them open with a burst of frost.
They plummeted.
The wind roared in their ears. They fell two stories.
"Sneachta... Colchon"
Remus cast the spell mid-air. A cushion of snow exploded from the ground below them. They landed with a soft whump, rolling into the mud of the courtyard.
Norvin scrambled up instantly, gripping the giant sword. He turned back toward the tower. "I'm going back in."
"You are an idiot!" Remus grabbed his arm, his fingers cold as death. "Look at you! You're bleeding from everywhere. You can barely hold that sword. We are going to the forest, and we are disappearing. Now!"
Norvin looked at Remus. He saw the genuine fear in the older man's eyes. Not fear for himself, but fear for Norvin.
Norvin gritted his teeth. "Fine. But we come back."
They turned toward the treeline of the Marsh Forest, just a few hundred meters away. If they could make it into the dense vegetation, they could lose the pursuers.
They ran. Norvin's legs burned, the Numen fading, leaving behind exhaustion. Remus kept pace, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
They reached the edge of the forest. But the forest didn't welcome them.
A man stepped out from behind a large, twisted oak tree.
He had bright yellow hair that looked like spun gold, contrasting sharply with the gloom of the swamp. He wore the light armour of a Bronze Falchion Officer, and his hand rested casually on the hilt of a rapier.
"Going somewhere?" the man asked. His voice was smooth, melodic, and terrifyingly calm.
Remus and Norvin skidded to a halt.
"Dion," Remus whispered, recognizing the face. The man smiled. It was a polite smile that didn't reach his eyes. "So, you know me. Good. That saves time. You think one mere cipher can run away from the grasp of the bronze falchion? with a prisoner altogether? And you think we will just let you do so?"
Dion drew his sword. It was a thin, elegant blade that hummed with a green aura. "You killed Zephyr," Dion said. It wasn't a question. "My younger brother."
Remus tightened his grip on his ice sword.
"He was mad. I know."
Dion shrugged, stepping forward. "Zephyr was a rabid dog. He was ruthless, violent, and frankly, a liability. We all knew he would die first. Riven, me... we expected it."
Dion's eyes narrowed.
"But he was my brother nonetheless. He was my blood. And you..." Dion pointed his rapier at Remus. "...you are just a Broken Vessel."
Norvin looked at Remus. "Broken Vessel?"
Remus didn't answer, but his face paled.
"He hasn't told you?" Dion chuckled. "Look at his awen, boy. Look closely."
Norvin looked closely. The blue aura around Remus was flickering, and crucially, it wasn't regenerating. Usually, Ciphers pulled Awen from the atmosphere—absorbing it from their surroundings to refill their reserves after a spell. But Remus was different. His power felt finite, dwindling with every breath. It was like watching water drain from a cracked jar, with no way to ever fill it back up.
"A Broken Vessel cannot regain his strength," Dion explained, enjoying the look on Norvin's face. "He has a single, lifetime supply of Awen stored in his soul. Every spell he casts... every ice wall... every freeze... brings him one step closer to zero."
Dion grinned cruelly. "And when he hits zero... he dies."
Norvin stared at Remus in horror. "Is that true? You used your strength to save me... knowing it kills you?"
"Focus, Norvin," Remus snapped, though he didn't deny it. "He's trying to distract us."
"I don't need to distract you to kill you," Dion said. "I have the home-field advantage."
Dion placed two fingers to his lips and whistled. It was a sharp, trilling sound.
The Marsh Forest shrieked.
The ground erupted. Roots, thick as thighs, burst from the mud. The branches of the nearby trees elongated, twisting into jagged spears.
"I don't know why," Dion mused, watching the vegetation writhe around him like obedient pets. "I don't know where this power comes from. But ever since we stationed here, the Forest listens to me. It likes my tune."
He whistled again. A deeper, more aggressive note.
WHOOSH.
Three massive roots lashed out at Remus. "Move!" Remus shoved Norvin aside. "Hielo Ionramhail"
He erected an ice wall, but he winced as he cast it. The wall shattered under the heavy impact of the roots. Norvin roared, stepping in. Numen flared in his gut again. He swung the giant Greatsword.
CRACK.
He severed a root mid-air, green sap spraying over him. The forest swarmed them.
It was a nightmare. Remus was forced to cast spell after spell, "Hielo Sleanna" , "Hielo Fabhcuin" , each one chipping away at his life force. Norvin swung the heavy blade until his arms felt like lead, hacking away at an endless tide of wood and vine.
"Give up!" Dion laughed, standing untouched behind a wall of thorns. "You are fighting nature itself! You cannot win!"
Remus fell to one knee, panting. His ice sword shattered. His aura was dim, barely a flicker.
"Remus!" Norvin shouted, standing over him, swinging the Greatsword wildly to keep the roots at bay. "Get up!"
"I... I can't..." Remus wheezed. "I'm running on fumes..."
Dion walked forward, the thorns parting for him. He raised his rapier, aiming for Remus's heart.
"Say hello to Zephyr for me."
Dion lunged.
BOOM.
A shockwave of pure, condensed pressure slammed into the clearing from the side.
Dion was blasted sideways, tumbling into the mud. The roots that were attacking Norvin and Remus were instantly flattened, crushed into paste by an assault of huge iron spears.
Dion scrambled up, coughing, his face pale. "Who dares challenge me?!"
From the depths of the forest, from the direction of the earlier battlefield, a figure emerged.
He was tall, wearing the tattered, silver-threaded robes of a Wanderer. He floated inches off the ground, his presence so heavy that the mud beneath him depressed without him touching it. It was Cahir. The Titan.
He looked down at the three of them—Dion, Norvin, and Remus—with eyes that held no human warmth.
"So," Cahir said, his voice vibrating in their chests. "This is where the little mice ran to."
Dion froze. He knew this man.
"Cahir..." Dion whispered, terror replacing his arrogance.
Cahir ignored Dion. His gaze locked onto Remus. He looked at the flickering, dying blue aura of the old man.
"Another Broken Vessel," Cahir mused, a cruel smile touching his lips. "My luck is really great."
Remus and Norvin stood back-to-back. They had held off Dion.
But now, a Titan had arrived. Things had just gone from bad to impossible.
'I won't let him die, I owe him everything.'
But the battlefield did not care for debts.
Dion placed two fingers to his lips. A high, piercing whistle cut through the humid air. The swamp exploded. "Kill the Titan!" Dion ordered.
Hundreds of sharpened branches launched from the treeline like javelins, aiming straight for Cahir.
Cahir didn't even look at them. His eyes were locked on Remus. "Iarann... Puas."
Liquid metal seeped from Cahir's pores, instantly hardening into a porcupine-shell of jagged black iron spikes. The wooden spears shattered against his armour, splintering into harmless mulch.
Cahir stepped forward, the ground trembling. He raised a hand toward Remus.
"Ferrum... Obliterate"
The iron shackles still hanging from Norvin's wrists, the buckles on Remus's boots, and the scattered weapons of the dead guards all magnetized instantly. They shot toward Remus, forming a swirling tornado of scrap metal meant to blend him into paste.
Remus shoved Norvin behind him. His hands were shaking, blue frost creeping up his neck.
"Hielo Fabhcuin"
Remus clapped his hands. The moisture in the air froze instantly, sculpting itself into a dozen birds of prey made of diamond-hard ice. The falcons dove into the metal tornado.
CRASH. SHATTER. CLANG.
Ice met iron. The collision sent shrapnel flying in every direction. A shard of ice sliced Norvin's cheek; a rusted bolt embedded itself in his shoulder. Norvin didn't flinch. He roared, channeling his Numen, and swung the Greatsword at the one thing he could reach—Dion.
Dion laughed, dancing back. He whistled a low, trilling note.
A massive root tripped Norvin, sending him face-first into the mud. Before he could rise, the root wrapped around his ankle and swung him like a ragdoll, smashing him into a tree trunk.
Crack. Norvin felt a rib give way.
"Stay down, brat," Dion sneered, flicking his rapier. He lunged for Cahir's exposed back.
Cahir didn't turn. His body seemed to shimmer.
"Iarann Macasamhail" Cahir split. One moment there was one Titan; the next, there were eight.
The first Cahir caught Dion's rapier with a bare, iron-coated hand. The second Cahir stomped the ground, sending a shockwave that shattered the roots holding Norvin. The third appeared directly in front of Remus.
"You can die now old man," Cahir whispered.
Remus's eyes went wide. He raised his arms."Hielo Sleanna" Three jagged spears of ice erupted from Remus's chest, aiming for Cahir's throat.
Cahir simply backhanded them. His arm was a blur of silver metal. He shattered the ice spears and followed through with a punch to Remus's gut.
THUD.
The sound was sickening. It was the sound of wet meat hitting stone. Remus folded. He flew backward, skidding through the mud, coughing up blood that froze before it hit the ground.
"REMUS!" Norvin screamed.
Norvin ignored the pain in his ribs. He ignored Dion, who was currently engaging the Iron Clone in a blur of green wind and steel. Norvin dragged his Greatsword up.
He charged at the real Cahir.
"Get away from him!" Norvin howled. He brought the blade down with every ounce of Numen he possessed.
He caught the sharp edge of the Greatsword between his two fingers.
Cahir looked at Norvin with mild annoyance. "An insect holding a needle."
SNAP.
Cahir twisted his wrist. The Greatsword—the massive blade that had killed an elite guard—snapped like a twig. Cahir kicked Norvin in the chest.
He was launched airborne, crashing next to Remus.
Norvin gasped, trying to suck air into his crushed lungs. He looked over at Remus. The old man was in bad shape. But it wasn't the punch that was killing him.
Norvin saw it. Remus's left arm had turned completely into transparent ice. Not a coating—his flesh, his bone, his blood had become ice.
"Your Awen is nearly gone," Cahir observed, walking slowly toward them, stepping over the corpses of the ice falcons. "You are burning your soul now. Another spell, and you will simply... shatter."
Dion, grappling with the Iron Clones nearby, whistled frantically. Vines wrapped around Cahir's legs, trying to pull him down.
Cahir didn't stop. He dragged the vines with him, ripping the trees out by their roots. He was unstoppable. A juggernaut of iron.
"Norvin," Remus wheezed. His voice sounded like cracking glass.
"No," Norvin sobbed, trying to stand up, but his legs wouldn't work. "No, don't use it. Don't use any more."
Remus looked at Norvin. Half of his face was starting to frost over. The blue light in his eyes was dim, flickering like a dying candle.
"I promised," Remus whispered, a sad smile touching his freezing lips. "Didn't I?"
"Remus, stop!" Norvin screamed.
Cahir raised a hand. A massive spear of iron, ten feet long, formed above his head. "Iarann... Huitzli."
He hurled it.
Remus didn't dodge. He stood up. He stepped in front of Norvin. He didn't cast a shield. He didn't summon a weapon.
Remus grabbed his own chest. He pushed his Awen past zero. He dipped into his life force.
"Geimhreadh... Eterno"
Remus's entire body flashed with a blinding white light.
The mud froze. The trees froze. The air froze. Cahir's iron spear hit Remus... and stopped. It didn't pierce him. It froze upon contact, turning brittle, and crumbled into dust.
Cahir stopped, his eyes widening. "What?"
Remus was no longer human.