They moved through the halls and another empty guard post. Finally they arrived at the quarantine section of the prison. “Another empty post. This has to be a trap right?”

  “It seems likely.” Lord Valrith replied with a frown.

  “What should we do?” Jesse asked.

  “Well at this point if it is a trap, we’ve already sprung it. It makes no difference whether their forces trap us in there or in here aside from here they could attack from both sides here, if some hide within that cell block.” The lord said after a moment of thought.

  Jesse felt his heart race. He opened the large door and began to walk down the corridor. He took off running when he saw the cells. Inside there was… nothing. The cells were all empty.

  “No!” He said moving from one cell to another. “All empty!” He slammed his metal fist against the stone wall with a loud clang. The stone actually cracked slightly from the force of the blow. “Damn it!” Tormund walked up and put his hand on his shoulder.

  “We need to go. If she isn’t here then we will find her but we aren’t safe here.” He said in a soft voice.

  “You’re right, of course.” Jesse said. “Let’s go.” He turned back towards the door only to see it swing open and two dozen soldiers pour through. It looked like it was a trap after all.

  Jesse raised his shield, as did the resistance soldiers with him. Behind Tormund drew his sword and readied a hand for casting. Aegis growled low and menacing. In front of the Archons men was Kaelan. Seeing him, Jesse was filled with an intense rage. His knuckles turned white as he gripped his club and his heart thundered in his ears. This man killed Nira and had done nothing but hunt them nonstop. Well it would end today.

  “Surrender now and you will be spared.” Kaelan said in a booming voice. “You will be moved to a labor camp but perhaps in some time you will earn your freedom. Except you of course.” He said, referring to Jesse. “The Archon has a personal interest in you.”

  As he finished speaking a lightning bolt shot from behind the group. Jesse turned to see Tormund’s hand glowing brightly. He was not interested in a discussion it seemed. He shook with rage and had his eyes focused on Kaelan. The bolt struck Kaelan's sword and Jesse could see the electricity run down the length but instead of into Kaelan's arm it ran through the armor and down to the ground. Jesse’s eyes opened in realization as he saw. Kaelan had a grounding mechanism built into his armor. The man gave a smirk.

  “Alright then. Attack!” Karlan ordered. The resistance soldiers, Cleb and Dan included, charged the oncoming men. Lord Valrith charged Kaelan lightning fast. The two clashed, their swords meeting and making a sound louder than the rest of the battle combined. Jesse watched it all unfold in slow motion, as Golem increased his perception of time.

  The soldiers, outnumbering the resistance by a great many, pushed forward and around the rebel line towards Tormund and Jesse. Aegis leapt forward and let out a bark that sent one flying and staggered another. Jesse turned to the opposite side as her and clashed with an oncoming man. He struck Jesse’s shield and the rebound sent him flying. Jesse’s modification of the shield allowed it to not only rebound attacks, but amplify the force of those rebounds greatly. It seemed it was quite effective as the soldier crashed into another, bones from both men crunching from the impact. Tormund appeared to be working on a large working of essence as his face scrunched in concentration.

  He quickly struck out at another guard. His electrified, and now spiked, club slammed into his torso. The teeth of the club stabbed through the chains of the man’s armor and he screamed as electricity coursed through his body. He collapsed in a heap, blood leaking out of several places. Jesse took a deep breath and steeled his nerves.

  Jesse glanced back and started as he thought he saw a Necrescent. After a second though he realized it was the half transformed woman they had saved. She huddled in the corner of the room trembling and watching the battle with wide eyes.

  Jesse was a true force multiplier in the battle, as more soldiers approached attempting to flank the battle line of rebels, Jesse and Aegis would quickly engage and dispatch them. Jesse’s reflexes in his artificial arm, aided by Golem, were unparalleled. His blocks would send soldiers flying with deadly force into walls or allies. His electrified club, now turned up from stun into something more lethal, crackled with power as he sank its spikes into one soldier after another. His form was lacking but he made up for it in ferocity. Even still, Jesse began accumulating a number of nonlethal cuts along his limbs. Aegis accumulated even more, draining Jesse’s limited essence pool.

  More soldiers continued to pour in as they desperately fought to hold them back. Out of the corner of his eye Jesse saw one of the resistance fighters go down. The others stepped back and closed ranks like a well trained group but Jesse could see this battle was not going to end in their favor if nothing was done. That was until the ceiling above the enemies began to shake violently. Stones rained down from above them. A soldier was struck in the head with a sickening crunch and he collapsed. Another in the arm, but the stone was large and the man still fell to the ground from the impact. This happened a dozen times across the ranks of the enemies.

  Jesse glanced back to find Tormund in deep concentration as he used essence to control the stone above them. The power of an arcanescent to destabilize the battlefield was now clear to Jesse. He assumed this was why the Archon hated them so much. While raining death on their enemies, Tormund was simultaneously protecting their allies from the falling stones. Any that fell towards a friend would be launched back towards the ranks of the oncoming soldiers.

  Nearby the clash of the two Virescent was still able to be heard. Jesse looked over and through his heightened perception of time could watch the battle between the powerful men unfold in normal speed. It was also clear that Lord Valrith was losing, and not by a small margin. He was covered in small gashes from close calls. Each wound weeped crimson red. He had a deeper gash along one arm and his face was furrowed in pained concentration. Jesse needed to act. He leveled his club at Kaelan and pressed the new button he had Myra install. A bolt of lightning flew and struck the enemy commander in the back. Of course with his armor the electricity was harmlessly redirected into the stones below, but it did distract him long enough for Lord Valrith to get a clean cut in.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Kaelan quickly regained his control though. Once again he pressed his advantage. Jesse could only watch as he struck again and again at Valrith's defense. Finally, exploiting an opening from the slowing man, he stabbed forward and through the elder defender's stomach. Jesse screamed and Tormund, finally able to react due to a lack of heightened perception, fired a bolt of fire. It struck Kaelan in the back and he yelled in pain.

  Kaelan quickly turned and sped for Tormund. The young arcanescent had hardly any time to react but did raise his blade and spray some more fire. The virescent opponent ran through the fire with a yell and struck. The blades clashed and Tormund’s went flying from his hands. Jesse swung his club and he could see Aegis leap for a leg. They both hit air as the man burned essence and dodged with an inhuman grace. Jesse looked up to find Tormund’s eyes wide and a bloody slash across his chest. Jesse couldn’t tell how deep it was but his mind raced in panic. He had to save his friends and they had to get out of here.

  He watched Kaelan circle the room. He sped behind Dan and stabbed him straight through the chest. The resistance soldier immediately went limp. Cleb screamed but continued to fight as the soldiers closed in to surround the few remaining defenders. This wasn’t going to last much longer. He could see Kaelan was making a circle back around to Tormund. Must be he didn’t think his first strike had ended him. He was right because an explosion rocked the room at the door to the chamber where the reinforcements continued to come in. It sent their attackers flying and they screamed as flames marred their skins. Jesse had never seen a true battle like this. It was horrific. The number of lives he himself had taken was monstrous, but he had no time for such thoughts.

  He tracked Kaelan and moved to intercept him. He swung as the man closed in. Kaelan was so focused on Tormund and likely didn’t believe anyone would be able to effectively track his speed that he didn’t see the spiked club until just before it struck. He moved to dodge but was too late, it collided with his arm. Unfortunately it wasn’t the arm that held his sword but it still ripped through his chain armor there and caused a scream of pain. Jesse unleashed the electric shock and this time it did seem to affect him through the spikes embedded in his body, even if he could tell the majority ran through the armor to the floor.

  The man turned towards Jesse with fury in his eyes. He swung his sword but pulled back the last second before it struck Jesse’s shield. Faster than Jesse could move he danced around the shield and into his guard. He tried to bring the club down on him but hit nothing but air. Even with his enhanced perception, the commander had slipped behind him without Jesse being able to effectively track him.

  Suddenly Jesse was on the ground. How did that happen? His vision was blurred. “Jesse, you need to focus.” Golem said in his mind. “You struck your head in the fall. You are severely injured. If you do nothing you will likely die.”

  My head isn’t that bad. He thought back at his companion. It felt a little sore but nothing like what the AI was describing.

  “Not your head Jesse. Your leg.” The AI responded.

  He looked down to find a large pool of blood. What he didn’t find there was his right leg. That lay on the ground a few feet away. Jesse’s mind failed to process the loss. He stared at the jagged and torn flesh where his leg had been. It had been severed on the thigh and it was pouring blood at an extremely alarming rate. His club was also buried in his own side, he must have fallen on it. His shield lay a few feet away. He assessed the situation with a clinical and cold mind. He was probably going to die. He knew it. The blood loss was too great.

  He looked around the battlefield. Aegis and Cleb still fought, though most of the rest of their men were dead. Lord Varlith was still on the ground but he had reclaimed his weapon and crawled to near Aegis and Cleb and fought with them. He turned his head to see Tormund was standing nearby staring wide eyed at the carnage. Kaelan stood over Jesse, looking down at him with fury in his bloodshot eyes.

  “I was supposed to take you alive, you know. It looks like you will have been accidentally killed though. Such a shame. The Archon will be disappointed.” He raised his sword to strike down at Jesse. On instinct, Jesse raised his left hand. The sword struck it and Jesse’s hand closed around it, catching the weapon. He hadn’t told the hand to do that? The clang of steel on steel rang out. Jesse looked at his own hand in surprise, he had again forgotten he had lost it.

  Kaelan pulled hard on the sword to pull it free but the steel hand, connected to the exoskeleton running to Jesse’s shoulder, was relentless. All he managed to do was pull Jesse upwards with his enhanced strength. Jesse’s vision slowed once more thanks to his AI. He watched as a bolt of fire struck Kaelan in the back. The man screamed and released the sword, spinning to face Tormund. Jesse saw him preparing to dash forward to kill his friend. Jesse’s trajectory was still upwards but now he had the sword. With his other hand he grabbed the hilt. He started falling once more. A metal hand grabbed the now turned back of the commander and used it as leverage to bring the sword down onto Kaelan as the he took a few steps towards Tormund. It buried itself directly into where his back connected to his neck.

  Kaelan and Jesse fell to the ground together. The sword was stuck in the man’s upper back and blood poured from around it. Once they hit the ground the virescent didn’t move, but Jesse could see he was still breathing. He released the sword and crawled away from him. He pulled a wire from his bag and quickly tied it around his bleeding stump of a leg. The blood loss slowed but didn’t stop. Jesse was rapidly becoming dizzy and struggled to maintain consciousness.

  He looked up to survey the battle again. Seeing Kaelan fall, Tormund had turned his attention to the soldiers once more. He rained destruction in the form of fire and shifting stone on them. Essence rose from countless bodies in a red mist and flowed towards Tormund, Cleb, and Aegis. Some rose and dissipated, the one who would claim it having already fallen. The soldiers began thinning out, no longer coming through the door.

  Jesse turned his attention back to Kaelan. The man had flipped himself over. Blood flowed from his mouth and he looked over to Jesse with a scowl. “I surrender.” He said in a pained voice.

  “You surrender?” Jesse asked.

  Kaelan smiled at him smugly. “Yeah I do. I won’t betray the Archon but I won’t pursue you any longer. Assuming I’m not killed for my failure.”

  “You have nothing to fear from the Archon.” Jesse said. He wrenched his club free from his own side and in one swift motion brought it down squarely on Kaelan's head. A loud crunch and a muffled scream of surprise rang through the room as Kaelan's body went limp. Jesse fell backwards panting. His vision was closing in, blackness encroaching on all sides.

  With a start Jesse sat up as a huge amount of essence exploded from Kaelan and flowed into him. He felt himself rapidly heal at the absorption. His thoughts immediately became clear. He looked down at his leg and found that it was healed into a smooth stump mid thigh. He sighed, the horror of losing another limb only starting to sink into him.

  Jesse looked over to Kaelan's body. He felt… nothing. The man needed to die, no he deserved to die, after what he had done to Nira. These soldiers served the Archon, who was so clearly corrupt that Jesse couldn’t fathom why they would do it. They weren’t just following orders, they had a choice just like Cleb had. They just made the wrong one. Or maybe he was just trying to convince himself that they deserved it. Either way it was time to get out of here before more reinforcements came.