We stood before a portcullis perhaps a head taller than I and thrice so broad. Its pale iron bars glinted softly in the lavender light that filtered from two lanterns clasped in reverent statues' hands, their hooded heads bowed as if in prayer. These, I had seen many times; to open this gate and slay the beast it contained, we must scour the dungeon in search of an immense lever, often guarded by the strongest of the Dark's vassals save of course for the one behind this ancient door.

"Shall we find the lever?" I asked, following Or'do with a curious gaze as he strode past me, working his fingers around the rugged bars.

"We could," he jerked upward, wrenching the gate from its moorings with a shrill squeal of sundering metal, and slammed it into the ceiling with such force that it remained embedded therein, bleeding wisps of dust, weeping shards of crumbling rock. "But I am in a bit of a hurry." He ducked beneath it, and strode merrily into the corridor beyond.

With sibilant hiss and ethereal caress, the gate of fog parted before us, laying bare the vassal entombed within these walls: a humanoid clad in tattered grey robes, its pale skin gleaming like ivory int he sickly light, an alabaster tendril jutting from its neck, sweeping hypnotically like a viper tasting the air in search of elusive quarry.

Mindless, or merely consumed by rage, the monster lunged without pause, the mist still clinging to me as its claws wrapped tight around my arms, its tentacle head descending with slavering maw opened wide. Conflagrance! I wreathed my hand in flame and thrust blazing fingers into its moist skin, forcing it back, loosening its grasp upon me. I ducked beneath a swipe of its ragged claws, feeling the wind's breath cold and foul upon my neck. Without rising, I surged forward, slamming my shoulder into its chest, then snapping my arm out wide, throwing the creature onto its back where it lay like a capsized tortoise. Atop it I crouched, drawing back my arm, vines of flame clinging to the curve and swell of muscle, outlining the bones beneath, then with a blinding flash plunged my hand through its chest and into the stone below, splitting the air with a thunderous crack, glowing rivers surging out from the point of impact, lighting its convulsing frame from below.

It fell slack beneath me, yet did not burst apart as others had. Instead, Dark flared along it, scalding my embedded arm as if it were molten stone not cold flesh that clung to my flaming limb. Twisting my body away, I ripped my arm free, trailing a nebula of scarlet; thin ribbons that danced to a pleasant melody only they could hear as they followed the ashen arc left in my blood laden arm's passing. Somehow, the monster had returned to life, its wounds closing even as I stared on in disbelief. This fight, was one I had begun, yet could never end.