“The creature is returned. You must kill him now.” The voice echoed like an avalanche through Elum’s mind, and he winced as the deep ringing tone continued to speak “Its blood is tainted with impurity, it cannot be allowed to exist once I reclaim my body. And I will reclaim it one day Elum, with or without your help, though you would be foolish to continue denying my deal”

Elum took a deep breath and concentrated on his surroundings. The voice grew quiet usually when he was focused on other things. Yes… it was a cloudy day today, perhaps it would rain and help cool his ever-warm flesh. Being an Ifrit, his bright red skin always felt feverish to the touch, it wasn’t uncomfortable for him of course… though the rain had always felt pleasant.

People just didn’t understand why he chose to go shirtless all the time. Did they not realize that an Ifrit would cook in those thick clothes humans normally wore? Elum could scarcely imagine wearing the plate armor that Twindil and Alistair both sported, such armor would roast him like a turkey for sure… how could the other races handle be so cold that they could get away with wearing such garments? Elum could feel the voice beginning to brush his mind again, and he grit his teeth, turning his thoughts instead towards Hoplite. Elum needed to keep himself distracted long enough for the voice to recede… and Hoplite’s presence was certainly distracting enough, just the fact that he was an Outworlder was more than enough to draw Elum’s thoughts away from the voice scratching at the backdoor of his mind.

The golem-man stood before the mayor of the Fiendwall and a crew of defenders, looming like the Ilum tree over Gali and his soldiers. Elum and Twindil, as well as the rest of their party, stood just ahead of a crowd of Fiendwallers who had gathered to stare in awe at the Outworlder. That tall elf girl, Lance, and the human Hoplite had taken from that fallen star stood just behind the towering metal man. The human, Elum could not remember his name, looked a bit uncomfortable being there. Was his name Mimchel? Mickal? It was one of those for sure.

Elum didn’t blame Mickal, if it had been him on the end of those murderous glares the Fiendwallers cast his way, Elum would be nervous too.

The two were conversing not far from where Elum stood at the base of the now much smaller hill of rubble filling the breach in the Fiendwall. The Fiendwallers had made much progress in clearing out the rubble… though Elum didn’t quite know how they intended to rebuild the destroyed section. The Fiendwall had been just a single piece of stone raised from the bones of Ahkoolis by Oros himself, not constructed in segments. It would be a patchwork of a job for sure.

The voice began scratching again, and Elum scrunched up his brow as he stared at the wall. He had to keep himself distracted… just a little bit longer, and then the voice would recede. Elum’s eyes found the cross sections of rooms, now empty of their contents to function as makeshift battlements. Archers kept their eyes toward the Fiendwood, most looking terribly bored by their now less eventful shifts. There were barely any fiends bothering the workers now, the Tongues had made sure of that after Hoplite had left.

Scratch

The Fiendwall had been originally just a slab of solid stone, Elum had learned. It had only been tunneled into by Grayshane’s criminal populace. Apparently, the king of Grayshane had believed there to be vast wealth in gems and gold within the wall, and had bored into it with an army of criminals under the supervision of a warden and his defenders.

Scratch

Once all the wealth had been extracted from the wall, the king had decided that the Fiendwall would make a great extension to his kingdom. The elves of the Faewood hadn’t approved of Grayshane’s mining operations on the wall, but as they were busy fending off the Akan-Dari at the time, they couldn’t afford to send a strike force to bat away the Grayshaner’s greedy hands.

Thus, Grayshane was able to completely get away with hollowing out the wall.

That was what Gali had told him anyway. Now the Fiendwall was a penal colony with semi-independence from Grayshane, it was seen as a punishment to be sent to live here. Knowing that the fiends would always be scratching at the wall, seeking to spread their curse made sleeping a burden most days. That was what he could gather from some of the locals anyhow, some of them had been born in the wall, but even more were sent to live here-

“Stay focused on what I command you. Slay the creature standing before you now, unleash the Silver Flame, and immolate the Outworlder in death.” The voice managed to get out “Embrace the power I offer, and all here will be unable to harm you Elum.”

“Do not speak to me.” Elum whispered under his breath “I deny you.”

“Through me is the path to your salvation. To deny me, is to deny life. Without my gifts, you will go mad.”

“I deny you!” Elum hissed, gritting his teeth and clutching his graying arm with enough force to force the bright red flesh of his knuckles to go white.

Nails were driven into his temples and he strained to keep himself from clutching at his skull from the pounding agony he felt. Elum struggled to keep from falling to the ground face-first, something he certainly didn’t want Twindil or any of the others to see. If Elum fell, he would begin screaming at the voice in his head, he just knew it. That would be a sight for everyone…If the party even suspected that he was beginning to go mad… But they wouldn’t do that to him… would they? His friends could not… no they would not…

The gray flesh on his right arm seemed to undulate, as if it were amused by Elum’s defiance.

“Suffer then… but I will always be here. I know that you will take my offer one day Elum, and that day fast approaches, your will is quickly decaying along with your sanity, and soon, you will no longer be able to hold on to who you are. When you finally burn in the sea of your anguish, when your soul is nothing more than a pile of ash, I will be there to scrape up what remains.”

And just like that… the voice receded. Elum took a deep shuddering breath, placing a hand to his brow right as Twindil put a hand on his shoulder. He dearly hoped that she and the others hadn’t heard his words… How could Elum explain that his own arm was trying to bargain with him for his sanity? Already they knew that the growth was causing him intense pain in random bursts, but Elum hadn’t told them that it was also beginning to talk to him now.

“Elum…?” Twindil asked slowly “Are you well? I can channel to numb the pain, if you need.”

Elum turned his head and flashed his best smile “I’m fine. It has already subsided.”

Twindil’s brows knit together in a rictus of concern, a look that wasn’t rare on the woman. Elum feared that the stress was going to get to Twindil eventually… She had always been so concerned for the well-being of others, especially those of her party. Really, she could really pass for a doting mother, had her face born any wrinkles or her hair any strands silver.

Being half-elf meant that age would not touch her for a long time… not that any of them would live to reach old age of course. Twindil insisted that there had to be a way to save themselves from what was coming… but Elum could not see it. He turned his head away from Twindil, feeling his false smile beginning to slip. Elum did not want his friends to see that he wasn’t doing well. After all, he was supposed to be the overconfident mischievous devil of the group… if he dragged himself about like Nolvi did, that would bring down everyone’s mood.

Elum needed to be confident that there was another option for their survival. Otherwise, he may have to seek… other methods, to keep himself sane. He clutched his graying arm as a small temptation began to fill him. He didn’t have to go mad or kill anyone. There was a way for him to survive-

No, he would not do that. He could not cave to the canker melded to his arm… if Elum did that… if he did that, there would be no coming back. Twindil’s hand finally released his shoulder, and Elum was thankful that she did… for while her hand had been there…

Elum could feel the canker almost… stretching itself across his flesh, almost as if it were reaching for Twindil. He pondered just cutting his arm off completely, it wasn’t the first time he had considered it… but if Elum did that, then the creature's bargain too would be cut off. It was a hard thing to admit, but knowing that there was an option there to save himself from the madness… It was almost like a comfort.

“I think they’re done talking.” Kid’Ka said from behind him “I’m not waiting any longer, Kazon must be put down.”

And just like that, the man moved past everyone, Kid’ka’s crimson cape flowing in a sudden gust of wind that had emerged from the gap in the wall. For a moment, it seemed as if the wind were grieving… or screaming. Elum had a feeling that there would be plenty of both once they were through the wall. As Kid’ka went, so did all the rest, with Twindil marching right behind Kid’ka, urging patience.

Elum took a deep breath to steady himself as the rest of the party passed by him. Alistair was fixing Hoplite with an intense gaze, one Elum couldn’t quite get a read on. Was he going to ask Hoplite something or was he going to demand the Outworlder’s boots? Elum couldn’t quite tell. Nolvi trailed along just behind him, her eyes ever glued to the ground. Elum wished that he could just live in Nolvi’s world for five minutes, surely that could be enough time to understand why she behaved that way. It was a miracle that the girl didn’t just slam into every obstacle on her path.

Theopalu, the only member of the party that was… unafflicted with their condition, chomped down on an entire loaf of bread as he passed, the wind blowing some crumbs from the elf’s maw. That old piece of knife-eared jerky was the best chance they had to get through the Fiendwood to reach Kazon, he had to be kept alive above anyone else… even his friends, for without Theopalu, there was no way they could make it through the Fiendwood unscathed.

He just had to hold onto himself, at least until he could get his vengeance on Kazon. Who knew? Maybe the gods would look favorably upon whoever slayed the Lord of Hatred… If they were to offer them a reward, Elum knew what he would ask for. He put on his confident smirk as he stepped forward to meet Hoplite along with the others…

Maybe there was a different way, perhaps the Outworlders possessed something that would be able to stave off what was to come. Wishful thinking, true, but Elum needed to keep his hopes high in the coming days. There would be more than enough time to ask Hoplite when they were all properly away from the Fiendwallers. He’d need to word the questions carefully to conceal the truth behind them… After all…

If Hoplite found out that Elum and his friends were all Pillar-Born, who knew what he would do?