When Elijah wanted to move, he could really move. He’d known that for a long time. What he truly found interesting was that the dogs could keep up. Maybe that shouldn’t have been surprising, given that dogs had always been faster than humans, but still – it was.

A good thing, too, because the giants didn’t give up their pursuit. Nor did the various wildlife living in the Crystal Fields. On the way to the now-defunct Elemental Maelstrom, Elijah and the pack had fought a fair few times. However, now, it was like every creature that lived in the Primal Realm was out to get them.

Fortunately, the dogs were more than up to the task of fighting them off. Meanwhile, Elijah was fully occupied carrying Oscar and keeping the dogs going via his various heals. After a day, Oscar’s recovery progressed enough that he could run on his own. The second day, he was back to normal. That gave Elijah the opportunity to join the pack in fending off the various threats.

Which had come to include plenty of giants.

They were moving at a good pace, but the giants were better suited to the terrain. Moreover, they seemed almost crazed in their pursuit, practically frothing at the mouth as they chased Elijah and the pack down. That, combined with the delays caused by the wildlife meant that the fastest among them – the air giants – caught them sometime on the second day.

From then on, Elijah and his companions were forced to fight a running battle.

However, along the way, he couldn’t help but wonder if they were on the right track. They’d defeated the Primal Realm’s obstacles, but did that mean they only needed to leave so that they could get their rewards? Was it even possible, or was there another challenge awaiting them back in Stillstone?

Elijah had no idea.

The notification he’d received upon gathering the crystal spearhead had suggested as much, but it was vague enough that he couldn’t be sure:

The problem was that it said nothing of the obstacles in their way. The giants continued to harry them as they tore across the Crystal Fields, but now that Oscar had recovered, they posed very little real threat. Certainly, if the pack made mistakes, that would change. And there was always the danger of wearing themselves out, but even a week later, they were in good shape.

Elijah had just begun to hope for the best when he saw a line of giants planted in their path. There were only four of them, but as they drew closer, Elijah recognized one of them.

“That’s Werk,” he said.

The leader of the Cinderpeak Clan was flanked by giants representing the other races, and each one looked like the perfect representative of their respective elements. Water. Air. Earth. And fire for Werk. It didn’t take a genius to recognize that they were the leaders – or at least champions – of their clans.

And they didn’t look happy.

If their expressions weren’t enough, then the fact that they attacked as soon as Elijah and the pack came into range was a pretty good hint that they weren’t pleased with how things had turned out. No pretty speeches. No grand monologues. No accusations. Just a whirl of ethera that announced the casting of spells.

Fortunately, everyone was so tightly wound that they reacted immediately. Jackson and Sophie summoned shields to protect everyone, while Elijah renewed Blessing of the Grove and Wild Resurgence. Oscar, having recovered from ethereal exhaustion, activated abilities to empower the dogs as well.

So, when the giants’ spells hit, they were ready.

Or at least they thought they were.

That was because none of them expected the sheer violence of the spells. The entire landscape exploded with elemental energies after only an instant. Geysers of water and fire erupted from the ground all around them while a tornado swept in. Molten rock sprayed into the air while an avalanche of earth tore across the flat ground and threatened to envelope them.

Elijah embraced the full breadth of his healing spells, but after only a moment, he knew it wouldn’t help. The dogs’ shields broke, and despite Oscar’s surging ethera, the onslaught was too much for them to endure. So, Elijah took it upon himself to shield his companions.

Not via planes of ethera, but rather, with his own body.

He leaped in front of the dogs, yelling, “Stay behind me!”

Then, he shifted into the Shape of the Sea, and just in time to meet the wave of earth with his shell. It hit like the avalanche it was, but in his chelinoid form, he weighed hundreds of tons. Even then, it was only just enough for him to endure the wave of earth, much less the tornado that came next.

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With the dogs sheltering behind him, Elijah embraced his mantle of authority. It was just in time, too, because the branches of his soul barely solidified before a volcanic eruption exploded beneath them. The force died before it ever had a chance to build, but even then, it bathed the dogs in lava.

The defenders’ shields kept them from being too badly burned, though.

In the meantime, Oscar pumped loads of ethera into his abilities so he could keep them going. That, combined with Elijah’s ongoing instances of Wild Resurgence, kept the dogs alive – though not without consequence.

It was at that point that the first wave of the pursuing giant army caught up.

The dogs defended themselves well, but there were thousands of enormous humanoids, all wielding elemental powers, attacking. Meanwhile, now that the avalanche’s momentum was spent, Elijah shifted back into his human form.

He only had just enough time to see the mountainous pile of rock that had found its match against his shell before he was forced to dive aside. He dodged a wind blade, then came up swinging his scythe. The air giant that was his target screamed as Elijah lopped off his leg, then dove into a roll that put him in perfect position to block a trident meant to impale Escobar.

Even as Elijah cast Storm’s Fury, then Lightning Domain, the little chihuahua completed his spell, summoning a rain of enormous fireballs that fell upon the army. Jackson and Sophie furiously summoned shields, mostly to protect Freddy and Digby, who darted in and out of the fray, leaving bloody carnage in their wake. Oscar wasn’t to be outdone, and in addition to the abilities he maintained to augment the fighting prowess of the pack, he fought with his own hatchets.

He leaped upon the back of a fire giant, repeatedly hacking at the creature’s neck and sending boiling blood spraying in every direction. It was like watching a blender in human form – or a particularly vindictive badger, perhaps – and it wasn’t long before the giant fell.

Oscar didn’t stop to appreciate the kill, either, and he quickly darted in to hamstring another giant.

On and on it went. Elijah helped where he could, activating his mantle of authority when one of the truly powerful giants targeted them. That also played havoc with the dogs abilities, but in the end, it was necessary.

Over everything loomed the effects summoned by the four leaders. Elijah could feel the dense flows of ethera surrounding them as they attacked. He countered when he could, but more often than not, he and the pack were forced to take the attacks head-on, healing through them as best they could.

It wasn’t long before Elijah was compelled to acknowledge the obvious.

What they were doing wasn’t working.

They needed to change strategies, and he knew precisely what that meant. So, he shouted, “Protect me!”

Oscar gave a silent command to the dogs, who retreated to form a circle around Elijah. For his part, he barely noticed them – instead, he embraced False Grove, Dragon’s Echo, and Nature’s Flame, all in quick succession. His body and weapon erupted into green fire as he closed his eyes, focusing on Eternal Plague.

It was a powerful spell.

Elijah knew that. The only problem was that to get the most out of it required two major components. The first was easy – lots of ethera. Elijah had that, but if he wanted to tap into the spell’s true potential, it would also necessitate the use of Grove Conduit. So, he activated that as well.

Nerthus would just have to understand.

The second was the more troubling of the two issues, though. Chiefly, it required significant focus. It wasn’t just a cast-and-forget spell. Rather, it needed to be maintained. And as the swarm grew, force of will and focus was necessary to keep it going.

In his previous uses of the spell, that hadn’t been such a problem. Against the Chimeric Forge, he’d sequestered himself in a closet before casting it, and with the harpies on Chimera Island, he’d nestled himself in an out-of-the-way crevice. In neither scenario had he been in any danger of being attacked.

But neither the giants nor the terrain was so accommodating. Even as the first glittering flies manifested, the enemies attacked with renewed fury. Elijah felt them via Soul of the Wild, casting spells and rushing the dogs.

To their credit, the pack stepped up to the task, meeting the giants’ every attack with characteristic teamwork and ferocity. Elijah was safe – for now. He just needed to make the most of it so their efforts wouldn’t go to waste.

The first wave of flies were swept away or destroyed by elemental forces. Tornadoes and hurricane winds scoured the entire landscape, so it wasn’t surprising that the flies would have trouble completing their task. However, Elijah had a solution for that particular problem.

And if nothing else, it perfectly fit his personality.

If a few flies weren’t enough, then he would overcome the issue by conjuring more. Many, many more. He pushed against the spell, flooding it with more ethera than ever before. In seconds, he’d exhausted the entirety of the pool associated with the False Grove, but he had plenty more in his own core. Moreover, the atmosphere was dense with energy, which he dragged into his channels via the apertures of his mind.

Elijah continued to push, and with every passing second, the number of flies increased exponentially. After only a few minutes, there were millions. Ten, and that number had climbed into the billions.

The entire time, the pack performed their job admirably. Mostly, they defended, but when the opportunity presented itself, they darted forward to take the fight to the giants. The real heroes were Ray and Maymay, though. If Elijah had summoned an ocean of ethera to his bidding, then those two dogs used a small sea. Less volume, but still more than enough to change the scope of the battle.

In their case, that meant throwing out dozens of restrictive spells – some of which were quite widespread – meant to impede everything from movement ability to casting speed. Without their efforts, the pack would have been overwhelmed.

Elijah noted that, but he could only devote one facet of his mind to the battle around him. Instead, he leveraged almost every other facet to the task at hand. Summoning more and more flies.

At first, they had been swept away, but when they numbered in the billions, they became a force to counter the powerful winds. They descended upon the army of enraged giants, delivering their powerful payload of afflictions. Still, it was nearly half an hour before the first giants began to fall.

But after that, they toppled like dominoes, one after another.

Dozens. Then hundreds. And thousands.

The carnage wasn’t limited to the giants, either. The flies attacked anyone or anything Elijah considered an enemy, which included the wildlife. Everything died, and Elijah felt a deluge of experience as his reward.

After an hour, his task was finished, and at last, he opened his eyes.

That was when he saw the giant leaders in the distance. Maybe three or four hundred yards away. They had surrounded themselves in a corona of fire that burned every single conjured fly in their general vicinity to ash.

At last, Elijah let the spell fall away.

His ethera had bottomed out, and he wasn’t the only one. He could feel the dogs flagging from their efforts. But the job wasn’t done. There were still four giants left, and it was clear that there would be no escaping until they were dead.

As one, Elijah and the pack stepped forward toward what they hoped would be the final hurdle before they could put the Primal Realm to rest.