They fought their own monsters, firing magic and steel with all their might, but the creatures kept advancing. More than once, Mark had to catch a razored arm from hitting a defenseless Jay. He didn’t know what the Ritualist was casting, but he hoped it was worth it in the long run. He watched Lily as she switched up her elements and noticed that the creatures didn’t like the lightning. That gave him an idea.

Mark pulled his metal body armor out in full force, calling for Lily. She braced herself and fired off a huge electrical spell at him, causing the metal of his body to act as a conduit. He switched his sword into an axe, hacking into the side of one of the creatures, the lightning frying the insides of it before it finally dissolved into inky black ooze.

He hacked into the second as Lily kept up the spell, the five creatures she was fighting held off by a large shield of earth from her other hand. Once Mark’s second creature was bubbling on the ground, she dropped the lightning. She was panting hard, and Mark knew she was almost at the end of her rope.

The walls were still spinning around them, the lights above now shifting colors as the tall and short Artists argued over the color palate of the creatures. The third man was growing angry, his supply of blood dwindling by the second. Mark and Lily kept cutting through the creatures even with Lily growing exhausted. A wave of energy hit Mark and he realized that Jay had been keeping their stamina up as much as he could.

As the last creature stood alone, Mark was starting to feel the exhaustion himself. He looked back to Lily and could feel the little bit of magic she had left starting to fizzle out. He looked to Jay who would have collapsed if not for his staff holding him up. Just one more of these monsters. He looked to the third man, a reality-bender rather than an illusionist, remembering his coin being destroyed. He caught the razor-like arms of the creature and spun around, throwing it into the spinning walls.

It bounced off the wall and hit the ground. Mark followed it and gave it a swift metal kick to the face, sending it toward an opened dock door. It tried to grab on to the metal lift gate, but that was the wrong move. With the floor stationary and the walls spinning, it was cut in two, soon finding itself nothing more than a pile of ooze.

The tall and short man stopped their bickering at this, looks of worry on their face. The third man turned on his heel to face them and they started shouting over each other in an attempt to blame the other. The third man relaxed his face before using the rest of the blood at his disposal to change the ground beneath the tall man. A concrete spike came up, impaling him, new fresher blood pouring out. It opened up, shredding the man. The third man summoned the blood toward him, and it disappeared as it touched his skin.

The short man went to make a run for it, but the floor turned into a wave, knocking him and all three Traitors to the ground. The short man was grabbed by something invisible, before flying back toward the third man. He caught him with little effort, quickly separating the short man’s body from his head. The blood began pouring out normally before jutting from the ground toward the only remaining Artist.

Mark pulled himself off the floor, feeling the surge of magic coming off the third man. It felt like wave after wave of energy hitting him and cutting into his body. He tried to find his second wind but looked over to Jay and Lily. Jay was out completely, and Lily was trying to use the rest of her magic to heal him. This was going to have to be one-on-one.

Fucking hell, he thought, Traitor brought me back just to die again.

The third man brought another spike out of the ground, but Mark was faster, pushing Jay and Lily out of the way and taking the point to his shielded ribs. He could feel the puncture, knowing it would have gone clean through him if he was any more tired. Lily and Jay managed to time it perfectly, sliding off the dock into the outside world where the walls weren’t spinning, and they would be okay.

He rolled through before propping himself up to one knee. The third man was finally focusing on him and him alone, his eyes narrowed in anger.

“Don’t you know it’s rude to destroy someone else’s creation?” the third man growled.

“Sorry, buddy,” Mark joked, “It’s just that this piece seems a bit contrived.” The third man lashed out with more spiked, but the anger from him caused him to aim sloppily. Mark easily avoided it, working his way around the warehouse until he had enough space between him and his opponent.

“Why won’t you just stay still? Artist blood is nice and all, but a Traitor? Talk about some serious magic. I’ll have the whole city made into exactly what it is I want.”

Mark thought about Rylie, who would know exactly what the Artist would want to hear. He thought he could swing it without the use of the power, “Oh, yeah? And how would you want it?”

The Artist’s eyes lit up, excited to talk about his passion project, “I would see the people of this city on their knees, begging for salvation. I would see the streets turned into lava, the building torn into shreds and rebuilt as weapons. I would see the collectives pleading with me to let them live, and I would force them to sacrifice someone every month to feed my supply. I would spread it throughout the world until this planet served Artist himself, as I stand by as his right-hand man.”

“And these two? They were just here to die for you. Won’t your patron be upset that you killed two of his own?”

“These two? These two were posers. One more worried about illusions and jamming magic. The other too obsessed with getting the setting right, but never quite figuring out the details of his story. They would have stood here and argued for millennia. They serve Artist better as a source of my power.”

“The best way to serve Artist is to not make hackneyed versions of the world that offend her eyes. Maybe try a coloring book.”

“You insolent fool.” The third man threw something from his pocket which transformed into a large crimson bird. It flew around before dive-bombing at Mark, who through up his sword. It clawed at him before taking off again, turned around in the air, and came down again. This time, fire poured from its mouth. It attached to his armor, and the heat began making its way to his actual skin. His magic was waning, quickly.

The third man began chanting a ritual, letting the bird attack to keep Mark distracted. He kept dodging the bird, turning his sword into a spear. He threw the spear into the bird, then created a new one to throw again. He kept this up, the bird squawking in anger every time it was hit. He continued moving around the warehouse, but even his regular stamina was fading quickly. He threw his weapon at the third man, who took it in the shoulder, breaking his concentration. The bird quickened the pace, allowing him to start the ritual over, and Mark kept on with his attacks.

He would throw the spear into the bird over and over again until it hung back long enough for him to throw one at the third man. After another one managed to hit him, the bird began hanging closer to its master, focusing on its ranged fire attack rather than attacking Mark directly. The fire was reaching his skin more and more, but he was determined to take the Artist member down with him.

Finding the spare energy inside of him, he charged toward the two, slicing the bird in half with his newly formed sword. He struck into the third man, who disappeared as soon as the hilt touched his chest. The room stopped spinning; the floor flattened back out. The ooze of the creatures and the bird were gone. Mark turned and found the third man standing there, smiling.

“Wow, very well done. You put it all on the line, and almost won. Sadly, you assumed that I was bending reality. But you know, if you make your illusions just right, you can warp reality enough that people won’t know the difference.”

A connection formed into his mind, and Mark sank to his knees, “All of that. All of that for nothing. So what, you made us think we were destroying the creatures? The bird?”

The man smirked, “Oh, absolutely. Even my friends were dead before you snuck in here. Though, I did mean what I said. They were better off serving as my power. Speaking of which, I’m at about three quarters, how about you?”

The burning sensation of the bird’s fire was gone, but so was the reserves of his magic. This Artist member was able to control illusions so fluidly that you could feel it. Like getting punched in the face in your dreams. But he made one drastic mistake.

Mark reached out with the last bit of his magic, grabbing the coin from where the bird had fell and throwing it at the third man. It shifted into a spiked steel rod, aiming straight for the third man’s chest. Then suddenly, it stopped in mid-air.

The man tsked, “Pity, really. A last stand could have been epic, as they say. But I needed you to use up that last bit of magic for me. Your coin really is gone, Traitor. And now, soon, you will be too.

The third man walked up to Mark, pulling a dagger out from behind his back. Mark reached out for his shield or a weapon, but nothing was there. He began to feel faint, to pass out. The room spun, more from his weariness than any illusory magic. He almost missed the black mist swirl into the room from the dock. It was the same black mist that Lucy had used against him and Rylie.

It flowed in from the open dock doors, swiftly moving across the warehouse floor like it was let out from a dry ice machine. The third man stopped advancing, pulling at his legs in a panic. He cried out in confusion, the waves of fear coming off of him gently tickling what senses Mark could manage. He looked around himself, realizing that the mist was avoiding him, an invisible circle around him and it kept sweeping in.

It stopped pouring from the door, but continued building up on the third man, covering his legs in a dark black cloud before working its way up him. It finally consumed him wholly, and as it dissipated, he was no longer there.

Still groggy, he looked around the room, waiting for the next trick, the next deception he would have to deal with. He was ready for the Artist member to finish him off already, so he could go back to his comfy coffin. As he knelt there, ready to pass out, he made out a glowing light approaching him. It was Rylie’s right arm, lit up in all of its brilliance. She turned it off, then reached for him.

“H-how did you find me?”

“Once Lily was out, she called Hanna. Natalie overheard it and reached out to me, saying you were in trouble.”

“But how di-“ he realized his mouth was dry, “How did you do that?”

Rylie smiled, a little bit of worry at the corner of her eyes, “I don’t know. But it’s gone now. There’s no more mist in me. I can’t feel it anymore. But that’s another thing Natalie told me. When they went to put Lucy in a magic-blocking cell.”

“What about it?”

“It was pointless. She no longer had any magic. Her connection to Modify was broken.”