But I held, and at last, the surge of power subsided.
Where fire and wood had been, there was something else. Something black and cold that radiated its own sort of power. Yielding yet unchanging, solid and yet soft.
“Such a clever young man,” Nydarth said, her voice full of pride. “I knew you had it in you.”
“What is it?” I whispered.
“That is an ash core.”
I couldn’t fault the logic of the label. After all, what else would you get when fire and wood met if not ash? But it felt right as well. To say that the core felt dead would have been misleading, as any core pulsed with an energy as vital and urgent as a human heart. But there was something deadening about this ash core, a smothering darkness into which other energy could become lost.
“Now, I need to forge a pathway, right?” I asked. “Will the core guide me to do that?”
“The core will help, and so will I.”
There was something different about Nydarth’s voice. After so long hearing it in my head, it took me a moment to realize that it was coming from behind me.
I turned to see her standing there in the flesh, smiling at me. She was every bit as beautiful as in my dreams, with her long purple-black hair and her teasing smile. Unlike in my dreams, she was dressed, but her clothes left little to the imagination. The front of her robe was split down to the belly and held together with cords down the sides, while her skirts were split up to the thigh. The whole ensemble was perfectly designed to draw attention to her silky smooth skin and killer curves.
“How are you here?” I asked.
She smiled. “You returned my spirit back to my place of power when you brought the sword here. Now that I am returning freely, instead of a captive in this place, I have more freedom to use my magic as I see fit.”
“Why didn’t you come sooner? Like maybe to help me against the hounds?”
“I cannot be here for long. Maybe one day, you will increase my power so that I can remain in this plane of existence for as long as I wish. You are the key to my strength, Ethan.” She licked her lips and ran a finger down my chest. “Fun and useful.”
Everything I’d seen of her before had come in the form of hot and heavy dreams. I was reminded of those memories as she stood in front of me, hips tilted to one side as she looked me up and down. But if there was a time for such thoughts, this really wasn’t it.
“Useful how?” I forced myself to pay attention to my surroundings and what had come before.
“This is where your first ash pathway should be,” Nydarth said.
She bunched the fingers of one hand together and pressed them against the center of my chest. Her fingers splayed out as the tips drew slender pathways in a sunburst.
I closed my eyes and felt for that pathway. The ash core stirred within me while the Vigor swirled like a black cloud of cold dust. But it couldn’t find its way out along the channels Nydarth had drawn.
“It’s not working,” I said.
“That’s because you haven’t mastered the power yet,” Nydarth replied. “Did you really think it would be so easy?”
“No, I didn’t assume it would be. But tell me what I should do. How do I make it work?”
I'd hunted fire cores and wood cores, faced all sorts of monsters, and combined powers that threatened to tear me apart. I was prepared for whatever I needed to do now.
“So courageous.” She stroked my cheek and gave me a mocking smile. “And maybe a little stupid.”
I smirked. “Is getting me angry part of your tactic? Because you'll have to do better.”
Nydarth rolled her eyes and continued. “As with other paths, you must master the spirits in combat. I suppose that won't be too difficult for you.”
“I guess I’m going to find out.”
I sat back down, hands curled in my lap, and closed my eyes. I let my focus sink into the ash as its energy swirled up in a cloud to meet me. For a while, all was darkness, swirling shapes in black and deep shades of gray. Then, the cloud fell around my feet in a soft drift, and I found myself standing in another world.
I was in a forest, but not the green, vibrant woodland where I had fought the wood spirit. This forest was on fire, flames roaring from the treetops, trunks blackened and split. The floor was covered with ash, and the sky swirled with smoke. The sun was blotted out, leaving the flames to light the place with a menacing glow.
A pair of figures stepped out of the smoke—a spirit of fire and one of wood. Blazing flames seethed and writhed across the first figure’s body, stark contrast to the motionless ridges of its companion’s bark skin.
“Two against one?” I called out. “Can’t you beat me any other way?”
The two spirits showed no sign of understanding, just walked closer. The wood spirit raised its arms into a combat stance, one foot back for stability. But the fire spirit was ahead of it as it charged me with fists swinging.
I stepped aside a moment before the fire spirit’s wild charge would have hit me. As it passed, I kicked it in the side. The fire spirit staggered, and I leaped in before I hammered it with my fists.
The fire creature stumbled and raised its arms to defend itself. I kicked it in the side, but it grabbed my leg and threw me backward. As I skittered along the ground, a heavy blow crashed
