KRAAAAATH

  The world seemed to freeze as the Veilstriders collectively held their breath. All chatter disappeared as they stared at the puddles in the ground, watching the water's surface subtly shake as the army and their massive thanum-spewing machines marched forward. Climbing up one of the ladders to peek over the wall, Harvey watched Marcus descend, the enormous wings of the bone dragon stirring up gusts in the tree crowns below. When he was finally close enough to make out his features, Harvey finally saw the aftermath of his traps.

  Once pristine, white hair had been stained ashen grey, the shoulder-length strands burned to a tattered mess. His chalky skin had splotches of black that had failed to heal over the day and a half since he’d endured the mix of fire, lightning, and wild essence. Harvey didn’t know what had caused the lasting wounds, but he was proud to see the Prophet hadn’t escaped Veils End unscathed.

  Ossari appeared between the trees, most having the robes hiding their weapons and containing their thanum also burned to tatters. Sickly teal mist leaked from the holes in the cloth, rotting the trees around them fast enough to be seen with the naked eye. A few had scorch marks on their bones, but he didn’t see any cracks leaking essence from the marrow beneath.

  He could hear the veilstriders all gasping around them, many turning to run down the ladder only to be replaced by another. Harvey tried counting the Ossari, but gave up when he realized too many were still hidden behind the trees.

  I hope I killed enough, he thought.

  “People of Earth! Today need not be the day you die,” Marcus began, as the dragon crashed to the ground.

  “God, not this again,” Hannah groaned.

  “I, the Undying Prophet, shall let you become my servants, keep your sanity, and return home to your planet where your families may join our cause.” Nobody spoke, with everyone too transfixed by the long, curved horns of the bone dragon to focus on anything else. “All it will cost you is the lives of three who rejected my salvation, murdered hundreds of my children, and ran like the sniveling cowards they are!”

  His voice rose in intensity with every word, true rage breaking through the mask of dignity on his face. Harvey saw his eyes snap towards him, and he dove to duck behind the wall.

  “Bring me Julian,” stomp. “Hannah,” stomp. “And Harvey.”

  A scrape of bone against steel right above his head sent Harvey stumbling back, missing a rung and falling down the ladder. Elena and the others backed away, letting him fall to the ground, where he stared up at a massive skull.

  “Hello again,” Marcus sneered, walking up the dragon’s neck to peer over the wall.

  Murmurs spread through the crowd as everyone stared at Harvey, only Hannah moving to help him back to his feet.

  “Do this, and you may live,” Marcus called, using his preacher voice once again. “Now, I’m sure you’re doubting my offer, and whether I’d really let you all live, so I’ll tell you a story and show you some proof. You see, I, too, was once a Veilstrider. A man who just so happened to die on the only day the System was handing out free resurrection coupons to my entire planet. I stood in an Outpost like this one, and like you all, I was terrified. That is, until I learned I didn’t have to follow the plan the System laid out for me. I didn’t have to bleed. I only had to serve. Shed my mortal coil and become a revenant. To me, the choice was obvious, but many of my brethren refused to let go of their humanity. Now, they have become the army behind me.”

  He held his hands out wide, gesturing to the Ossari with a dismissive tone.

  “Serve willingly, and you will become powerful. Keep your mind, body, and legacy. Resist? We will rip the bones from your body and turn them into our new brothers and sisters,” he hissed, the bone dragon bellowing alongside him.

  “Now, I promised you proof to go along with my story, and here it is. Tell me, do any of you recognize this man?”

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  Harvey climbed back up the ladder to watch a massive frame wearing glimmering steel emerge from the trees, striding toward the dragon’s side. Unlike the Ossari, the armor wasn’t just covering bone, but looked to contain a grizzly bear. Intricate patterns covered the metal, webbing between three large essence crystals embedded just under the shoulder and in the center of the chestplate. When he reached Marcus’ side, the armored man knelt on one knee.

  “Take the helmet off, you moron!” Marcus groaned.

  Flinching, the man struggled to remove the armor with one arm. Harvey saw it get caught in a bushy beard, forcing him to worm it off by pushing it back and forth.

  Why is he only using one arm? And why can I feel the helmet with my aura?

  Elena seemed to connect the dots before he did, audibly gasping when she saw the face underneath. Her body trembled as the man made eye contact with her, and Harvey’s jaw dropped.

  “You stay away from my daughter, Scoutmaster!” Gary screamed, spit flying from his mouth as he pointed a gauntleted hand their direction. “Honey, we can still be together. The Graveweavers, they can…”

  “Did I tell you to speak!” Marcus shouted.

  Harvey expected Gary to rage against the Prophet, but instead, he dropped back to his knees and lowered his head with his lips sealed shut. Seeing that was almost more surprising than the fact that he was still alive.

  “Gary!” Hannah hissed, sliding off Buttercup’s back to run up the ladder beside him.

  Similar murmurs spread through the crowd, the other survivors of Veils End explaining to the others that he indeed had once been a Veilstrider.

  “So you do know him,” Marcus smiled. “Now you have living proof that my offer is more than words. Serve me, and live to fight another day.”

  “I wouldn’t exactly call that living!” Julian responded, Burning Resolve letting him grow tall enough to see over the wall. “Gary would never kneel, especially not for a brat like you, which means whatever you’ve done to turn him into this only left a broken shell.”

  “Broken? I swear to God, Julian, I’ll…” Gary raved, foaming at the mouth.

  “Shut up!” Marcus screamed. “He’s still adjusting to his new power, but as you can see by his utter hatred of you three, the man you knew remains.”

  “Good! That way he’ll feel it when I take his foot and shove it down his throat!” Master Seung-Ho screamed.

  “He was already a monster,” Julian shouted. “Becoming like him so you can treat us like dogs doesn’t sound like life to me.”

  The army of Veilstriders cheered, and Harvey was relieved to feel the eyes staring at him like he was a lifeboat at sea turn back to the dragon. He’d worried a civil war would break out before a single Ossari fell, but it appeared the others were just as repulsed by the idea of giving up their humanity as he had been when Marcus made him the same offer.

  “For the last time, your options are to live as servants or die as fools,” Marcus spat.

  “I choose life,” Julian shouted, swinging his massive blade at the dragon's head. A rain of arrows, rocks, and skills followed soon after, sending the dragon staggering back. Hundreds of attacks rained down at once as the dragon released a mighty bellow that shook the ground beneath their feet. Most bounced off ineffectually, but a few managed to chip the bone. Julian’s sword cut a gash deep enough to expose teal marrow underneath that constantly leaked deathly essence into the air around them.

  A clear, glass orb appeared in Harvey’s hand as he filled the sigil of Inkbound Ordnance, a bottle of bright blue ink appearing in the other. Instead of the normal glass bottles, he’d put it in a plastic squeeze bottle like the ones football players used on the field, letting him squeeze a few drops into the orb without fumbling around with a cap. The orb greedily absorbed three drops of ink, the essence inside extracting the lightning within to create a chaotic swirl of power.

  Perfect, he thought before hurling the orb towards the gash left by Julian. The orb was nearly weightless, but he could feel the power barely contained within. Only a few drops of ink were enough to create a burst of lightning that consumed the entire head, and the pained wail proved his newest Class skill wasn’t just for show.

  Creating another orb took less essence than his G Grade Fireballs, so one after another appeared in his hand before his superhuman strength sent them rocketing towards the dragon. The combined pressure of all the attacks made it rear up on its hind legs, sending Marcus tumbling to the mud. Leaving its rider behind, the dragon struggled to flap into the air, barely getting out of all but the archers' reach as wide cracks covered the bones.

  Cheers erupted from the wall, only to be cut off by the whistle of arrows soaring back at them. Harvey nearly dropped a lightning orb at his feet when something slammed into his helmet, the steel ringing as an arrow fell to the ground. A Veilstrider beside him wasn’t so lucky, the arrow finding the slit for his eyes and impaling his skull.

  His body collapsed, tumbling down the ladder to land in a heap on the ground. He screamed, not dead thanks to his improved Vitality, but clearly in worse pain than he’d ever been in before. Moments later, a burst of ghostfire erupted from the arrow, engulfing two more who’d knelt to help him in the life-siphoning flames the Ossari liked to use.

  The injured man’s screaming stopped as two more began, both flailing back as their flesh lost some of its color. The flames did nothing to the wooden walls or watch towers, only burning the life from their flesh.