A raging inferno swept across the settlement, engulfing the temple and burning a hundred trolls to ashes. Elijah never stopped moving. He couldn’t, because he was far from finished.

Even as the fire from Incinerate petered out, he dove to his right, hit the ground in a roll, and came to his feet just in time to separate a troll from its lower legs. The creature fell with a wet plop, but by that point, Elijah was already gone. With each step, he transformed, taking on the Shape of Thorn.

Jagged iron swords swept in, slamming against his scales. But the form was far too durable to give way to those clumsy attacks. The trolls similarly ignored the reflected damage, though that wasn’t unexpected. They didn’t possess incredible constitutions, but they were hardy enough to endure those comparatively weak thorns.

Elijah backhanded one troll, sending the creature skipping across the ground, breaking bones with every bounce. Then, he pounced on another. The thing was already infected with Elijah’s many afflictions, so when he started ripping it to pieces, its liquifying flesh came away easily. But he knew that wouldn’t be enough. If he wanted to put it down for good, he needed fire.

Or the tried and true method of tearing it to pieces.

Having already used Incinerate to roast half the settlement – and the temple – Elijah opted for the second one.

What followed was a brutal display of pure, animal ferocity. Body parts, infected flesh, and congealing blood flew in every direction as he moved from one troll to the next. He didn’t bother using Domain of Vines. He didn’t need Unchecked Growth. His raw attributes and bestial savagery were more than enough to get the job done.

It just took a while, even when he used Heart of the Tempest, flooding it with ethera to further boost his attributes and reaction speed. The influx of power was even more effective than he’d expected, especially because it filled a gap in Shape of Thorn’s might. It had always lacked dexterity, but with Heart of the Tempest giving him so many attributes, the shape became a true terror.

The trolls, for all their deficiencies when it came to pure strength, were incredibly difficult to put down. So, it wasn’t until hours later that Elijah looked up to see that none of them remained in one piece. Already, some of his first kills had begun to rot, and the few blood beasts that had survived Eternal Plague were feeding on the remains.

With a growl, Elijah meticulously finished them off as well. Most died when he stomped them, sending blood spurting in every direction. But a few were higher leveled, and they managed to survive long enough for Elijah to rip their shells off and burst them like blood-filled balloons.

It was a gruesome task, but one Elijah completed without complaint. He’d seen what those blood beasts could do, and he had no intention of letting them roam unchecked.

But as he looked out over the ruined settlement, one thing became abundantly certain – dealing with the trolls was a much more onerous task job than he’d first expected. It would have been different if he could have simply killed them via Eternal Plague, but the fact was that, for all his power, their regeneration was simply too strong for that tactic.

It was an odd dilemma.

Once Elijah was certain that everything was dead – including the mosquitoes – he trudged through the now-rotting blood and guts to the settlement. During the battle, many of the structures had collapsed, and most of the others had been torched by Incinerate. The temple was among the latter, but it had fared better than any other building. A couple of the walls remained upright, though they’d been reduced to blackened stone.

Elijah was more interested in the interior, though.

The portal was ringed in bone, which in turn had been engraved with densely inscribed runes. The portal itself was inactive, but Elijah could sense the thick atmospheric ethera surrounding it. A couple of charred skeletons stood to either side of the portal, suggesting that they had been infusing it with power when they’d died. Their size and a few scraps of red fabric confirmed that they were both Blood Priests.

So, he didn’t need to kill all of the trolls. Not really. He just needed to destroy the Blood Priests. Or disable the portal itself.

Elijah wasn’t certain how durable it would be while active, but it only took a slight expression of his strength to rip it apart. And even in his human form, he could crush the bones in his bare hands.

Which he did.

And then, it was done. Elijah looked around, half expecting more trolls to appear. Or maybe some of the illythiri. Without the spawn point, surely the pressure on the fortress had lessened. But there was nothing. Just rapidly decaying corpses and a blood-splattered grassland.

With a sigh, Elijah acknowledged that he’d at least gained a level, putting him at two-twenty-one, which was more than he could have expected. However, most of the experience had been front-loaded, meaning that he’d already begun to hit the mark of diminishing returns.

Others might be able to use the trolls as fodder for grinding, but that probably wouldn’t be very effective for him. It wasn’t difficult to imagine a situation where he ended up like he had in the Chimeric Forge, where gaining a single level would take a month of slaughtering monsters.

He suspected it was due to his high level. If he was killing creatures that could rival his power, he wouldn’t have to worry as much about diminishing returns. But fighting much lower-level monsters meant that he needed variety if he wanted to make any sort of progress. And eventually, even that wouldn’t be enough.

Those thoughts accompanied Elijah as he started back toward the fortress. The tunnel was much as he remembered, though because he traversed it in his human form, it looked a little different. In any case, he reached the end after only half an hour, then shifted into the Shape of the Sky and headed toward the still-besieged fortress.

And he was surprised to see that the flow of trolls had barely abated.

Only when he investigated and saw that there were more trolls streaming from various other entrances did he realize how little good he’d accomplished. Nearly half a day of work, and he’d barely stemmed the flow.

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That was when Elijah truly grasped the scale of the problem.

The reality was that the elves, for all their organization and power, had allowed the problem to grow out of hand. The message was clear – the only way to save them was to defeat the Primal Realm and reset the whole process. Cleaning up would take a while. It would be the work of years to achieve anything close to equilibrium, even if the Primal Realm was conquered. But it was possible, which was more hope than they currently enjoyed.

Elijah landed on the battlements, surprising a few of the elves. Though they relaxed a little once he transformed and asked after Sadie. She was defending the wall on the other side of the fortress, so Elijah soon found himself trotting across the wall walk in that direction. He reached her after only a few moments.

And he was once again awestruck by the sight.

There was just something about seeing her in full battle-mode. Sure, there were detached limbs and blood flying all around, but Sadie looked like nothing so much as an avenging angel.

She even had wings.

Elijah joined her. The only acknowledgement of his arrival she offered was a quick nod before they fell into an easy rhythm. They’d worked together so often during the Trial of Primacy that they quickly returned to old habits. Sure, they’d both gained power, but that didn’t seem to matter that much.

Soon, the elves recognized that they were unneeded, so their commanders redirected them to other areas. That gave the defenders a distinct edge, which they used to their advantage, sending the stream of trolls back where they’d originated.

“They’ll regroup,” Sadie panted, staring at their retreating backs. Her gaze held a hard glint, like she knew just how little good they’d really accomplished. “Maybe two or three hours. Half a day at most.”

“I found one of the spawn points,” Elijah said.

“And?”

“Destroyed it,” he answered. “I didn’t know there were so many, though. This is going to be a slog.”

“It’s an impossible task, Elijah,” she stated. “We can’t win like this.”

He nodded, though he didn’t respond verbally. Instead, they descended from the wall in silence that neither of them broke until they’d had a chance to clean up inside the keep. Once that was done, Elijah gave a report to the fortress’ commander, then once again forced himself to endure the teleportation back to the Eldrathûn.

It wasn’t until he’d recovered from the twisting nausea that he realized just how much thicker the ethera was on the front lines. Certainly, it was tainted by its blood attunement, but it was still much denser than in Eldrathûn. That did beg the question of just how thick it was close to the Primal Realm.

Once Elijah and Sadie were back in Eldrathûn, they wasted no time in heading to the palace, where they’d both been given rooms. Elijah hadn’t even looked at his own assigned quarters, instead preferring to spend his time with Sadie. The two days between his initial arrival and setting off for the frontier was spent entirely in her company, with very little interference.

But now, it was time to get down to business.

To that end, he finally requested a meeting with Empress Siala. So far, she’d ignored him, which was a little annoying. Though he wasn’t certain if it was a power play, an outright dismissal, or her giving him time to be with Sadie, so he didn’t jump to any conclusions.

While they waited on a response, Elijah settled down to discuss the future with Sadie. Specifically, he wanted to know what she had planned for him.

“Nothing,” she admitted.

“What do you mean?” he asked, more than a little confused. “I thought…I don’t know what I thought.”

“Look, Elijah,” she said, leaning forward and grasping his hands in hers. “I know you want to just go out there and solve the problem.”

“Of course I do.”

“But that isn’t possible here. You can’t do this alone. Nobody can,” she stated, echoing his own thoughts. “So, here’s what I want to do.”

Then, she laid out a plan that included her and her army pushing forward toward the Primal Realm. As they did, they intended to destroy as many spawn points as possible. “Some of them closer the Primal Realm have been up for years by this point,” she explained. “They will be much better defended.”

“And that’s where I come in?” Elijah asked.

She shrugged. Without her armor, her shoulders looked so narrow. “I don’t think so,” she answered. “I think…I think this is something we need to do without you. The only way you come in is if we just can’t do it.”

“Oh. Then why did you ask me to come down here? All of this could have been in a message,” he pointed out.

“I thought it would be easier. Like the Endless War. When I sent that message, I was frustrated and sitting in Eldrathun, and I thought…I guess I thought it could be like back in the Trial of Primacy. Only with an army behind us. We would sweep through the Hollow Depths and destroy the Primal Realm. But in the months since I sent that message, it’s become clear to me that running a few towers won’t prepare my army for what’s coming. Maybe nothing will,” she admitted. “Our best chance is for the army not to use us as a crutch. I probably should’ve never asked you to come, but…but I was weak and impatient. I think I’ve come to my senses now.”

She obviously read his disappointment, especially when he leaned back. Their hands broke apart. For someone like Sadie to admit that she’d made such an error was surprising. Perhaps she’d worked to overcome her own issues, just as Elijah had done so with his. Still, he wasn’t particularly happy about what amounted to a wasted trip.

The only solace was that he’d gained a foothold in the Hollow Depths, righted the corruption of the rift cluster, and saved the spiders – as well as their tree – from destruction at the hands of the blood beasts.

“Elijah…you know I want you there, don’t you?” she asked. Before he could answer, she continued, “We just can’t do what needs to be done if you’re with us.”

“Yeah. No. I don’t know. It makes sense, I guess,” he admitted, running his hand through his hair. Then, he let out another sigh. “Your people need levels if they’re going to challenge the Primal Realm, right? They can’t get those if I’m hogging all the kills.” He shook his head. “Ugh. I hate talking about it like that. Those things are monsters, but they’re living things. Killing them should mean more than just a pile of experience, shouldn’t it?”

“They’re not real.”

“They feel real,” Elijah pointed out. “They breathe. They have blood and flesh. They clearly have a survival instinct, too. And they’re sapient. I could see that much. So if they don’t qualify, what does real even mean?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “To me, they feel hollow, though. All the pieces are there, but…there’s no spirit. Or maybe there’s a spirit, but it’s somehow detached. They’re not even like tower creatures.” She shook her head. “I don’t know, Elijah. I wish I had all the answers, but I don’t. Everything is so complicated, and we don’t have enough information.”

Then, she went on to describe the rest of her plan, which wasn’t terribly complicated. She didn’t intend to fight to defend the illythiri. Instead, she only cared about punching through their lines any way they could.

“So, you’ll avoid pitched battle if you can?” he asked, knowing the answer. Sadie could no more ignore the plight of the elves than she could simply choose to no longer breathe. It just wasn’t in her character, and it was very easy to predict that she’d soon become bogged down in defending people she had no chance of saving.

But he kept that to himself.

“I don’t think that will be possible, but I have no intention of defending fortresses that are destined to fall regardless of my help,” she answered. “Our goal isn’t to stop the trolls’ advance. We can’t do that. Our goal is to carve a path through the Hollow Depths, enter the Primal Realm, and cut them off while hitting spawn points and killing as many trolls as we can.”

“Without me.”

“Without you,” she confirmed. In truth, it made a lot of sense. While it would doubtless be much easier to reach the Primal Realm with his support, their lack of progression would hamstring them once they were inside. And that would get people killed.

“What should I do in the meantime?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I’m sure you have some ideas, though,” she said. “I –”

Before she could finish that statement, there was a knock at the door. When Elijah crossed the room and opened it, he saw one of the Empress’ attendants, who said, “Empress Siala, may her reign be eternal, will see you now.”