Cathleen slipped around the jagged tip of a kobald’s spear while using her own to finish off the one behind it with a thrust to its throat. Twisting her body and using the bleeding-out kobald’s body as a leverage point with her spear, she hook-kicked the kobald closest to her hard enough to crush its chest and launch it into the one beside it, taking it out of the fight as well.

  With the immediate area around her clear, she ripped her spear out of the now-dead kobald and slammed it into one of the kobald corpses under her feet. With a small hop and a little bit of grace, she used her legs along with a single hand to raise herself up high enough to see over the fighting going on around her, her spear bending slightly to support her weight.

  She could see the fires that had sprung up were still blazing, thoroughly dealing with the kobalds in that entire area of the throne room. However, the explosions had stopped almost as quickly as they had started, almost making her wonder if she’d imagined them. However, the aftermath made it clear that they had. Seeing that the enemy’s formations had been shattered and their bodies broken, she finally had a moment to wonder who’d been responsible.

  She angled her hips to shift her weight so the spear holding her up would begin rotating. Using the the kobald body below her as an anchored leverage point, she spun in place, her eyes scanning the entirety of the chamber as she did so. But, no matter how hard she looked for any other force than the one she’d arrived with, she found nothing.

  Although come to think of it, the answer to the question of who’d done it was obvious. She could only conclude that her little lord was the one who’d saved them. After all, she’d expected, even planned on the fact that he would be the one to close the portal if the kobalds managed to open it. Despite her initial goal being to stop them from doing so. Therefore, it wasn’t unreasonable to assume that he must have used its destruction to wipe out the kobalds. Yet, that didn’t mean she had any idea how he’d done it.

  ‘He must have snuck off to get close enough. The question is, where is he now?’ she thought to herself.

  While the majority of her forces remained embattled with the surviving kobalds, she could see that the tide had turned. Without the added threat of the inter-planar kobalds coming through the gate, her Wackos were more than capable of handling the current amount of enemies in the chamber… eventually.

  Whipping her head around at the sound of explosions coming from the throne room door, she almost fell from her perch atop her spear.

  Grumbling under her breath about how difficult it was to lead warriors without a command channel in place, she wondered to herself, ‘What now?’

  Her fears of another threat were quickly put to rest by the sight of what looked like dwarves shooting through the doors like comets. Flying through the air, they each trailed essence as runes danced across their armored forms, leaving nothing but ruin in their wake.

  Pillars of fire and death shot up from the ground in the middle of the kobalds like geysers. Sharp twenty-person wide arcs of power cut through their groups into the stone floor below erupting into shrapnel that obliterated entire groups. There were only five of them, but they had instantly taken control of the battle.

  Like an unstoppable tide of death, they rolled over the entire chamber. The way they fought was both impressive and simple. She would barely call them spells or abilities, what they did was more like enhanced bludgeoning. Every swing of their axes and hammers shot off bursts of essence that tore apart anything in their way. While most of their movement looked like flying, she couldn’t shake the feeling that they were merely jumping around like toddlers on a mattress.

  They didn’t even look as if they were trying. Never in her life had she seen such overwhelming force so carefully controlled.

  In short order, her own forces were left with nothing to do but watch. The dwarves were strong enough to break the kobalds from their battle haze and send them running for the exits in hopes that they could survive.

  Unfortunately for them, the dwarves didn’t appear to have any intention of letting them leave.

  Floating above the center of the chamber, one dwarf glowed like an essence lamp as runes began spinning around him in a complicated swirl of ever-moving shapes. As she watched closely, trying to understand what he was doing, she was knocked off her spear by the explosion of essence that came without warning. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she painfully retrieved her spear while watching the other Wackos around her do the same. Whatever the dwarf had done, it had knocked them all off their feet and shaken them.

  The utter silence that greeted her when she stood was baffling. The fight was completely over, and every kobald in the chamber was dead. She could feel it in the ether. Whoever that dwarf was, his presence filled the ether like a king staring down from his throne in judgment over his subjects.

  Caught off guard, she brandished her spear at the sound of a voice coming from behind her. Her senses told her nothing, she was sure there hadn’t been anyone there. Yet, there he was, staring at her, and her spear, as if the very notion of her defending herself from him was amusing.

  “Lass, yer the warchief of this lot, ain’t ya? So, ya mind explaining where the portal we sensed opening is?” he asked, his tone making it clear that saying nothing would be a mistake… probably a fatal one.

  Before she had a chance to formulate a response, another voice came out of nowhere.

  “The danger is past. Let this city handle its trial without your interference. You no longer have any reason to be here. What happens next will not affect your people. Leave now and we’ll forget this momentary lapse of judgment,” a gods-be-damned Populator said as their form rippled into existence off to the side.

  Her jaw opened in shock, she couldn’t understand what was happening. First dwarves more powerful than anyone she’d ever heard of appeared out of nowhere and ended the battle, now Populators? The dwarf's armor shone with what looked could only be runes engraved all over it, while the Populator's very recognizable liquid silver armor covered them from head to toe. It was like watching the legends she’d grown up hearing about had come to life right in front of her.

  Was she hallucinating? What in all the hells below was going on?

  The dwarf spun in place to glare at the Populator with a grim look of determination on his face. “Aye, the threat we’d come to deal with is gone. But, I ain’t leaving until I know how they did it. Closing a portal that quickly can’t be done… if there ever was one to begin with. Something here stinks like a drunken dwarf’s armpits after a bender, and I aim to find out what. I’m warnin’ ya now, if ye did something to lure us here, ye’ll be sorry ye did. Ya humans think yer special with yer fancy armor and trinkets, but I’ll bet me beard ye’ll bleed all the same as the lot over there yer healers are fumblin’ about with,” His gruff voice rang out loud enough for his statement, or threat, to be heard by everyone in the chamber.

  Feeling the tension in the air growing, Cathleen knew for a fact if a fight broke out none of her Wackos would survive, let alone herself. She knew it was her responsibility to do something.

  She stepped forward, having no choice but to interject. “Forgive me, but I can assure you there was a portal here,” she said while trying to project her honesty and forthrightness into the ether.

  Another dwarf dropped from the sky, landing loudly enough to shake the ground below him, nearly sending Cathleen back off her feet and onto her ass all over again.

  “The lass tells it true. I can still sense the portal’s ephemera. Somebody closed it from this side. No idea how though. What me senses are tellin’ me don’t make no sense. Whoever did it pulled half the other plane through it before they did whatever it was they did. There is so much materia in the ether that we could probably open a demi-plane here and still have some left over for some smithin’,” he announced jovially.

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  The first dwarf, the one who Cathleen now assumed was their leader, nodded in understanding before turning back to Cathleen and asking, “Alright, so how’d ya do it? How’d ya break the link? Tell me now and we’ll be on our way. Better yet, if ye can show us, ye’ll be earning the gratitude of the entire dwarven nation.”

  The Populator spoke up, their voice calm and somewhat otherworldly, “You’re no longer aligned with the dwarven nation. As per the agreement your king signed with ours, clan Mithrilstrike is now a subsidiary nation under the auspices of Oglivarch. Anything you learn here-”

  Interrupting her with a guffaw, the dwarf replied, “Ah, shut yer overly shiny trap. Dwarven cities are surrounded by as many invading portals as we have invading other planes. We’ve been trying to find a safe and easy way to shut them down for ages, and if ye all know a way to do it and have been keeping it from us, ye can expect one band of Battleborns to be the least of yer problems. It’ll be war, ye can be sure of that!”

  Watching the Populator’s blank silver-clad face stare down at the angry and intimidating dwarf, Cathleen gulped and licked her lips before interjecting, “Sir dwarf, I assure you it is not a technique or technology we have developed and kept from you. Our lord… he has an ability that has earned him the title of unique in our kingdom. You may know of him, he’s a friend to King Mithrilstrike. Lord Walker?”

  Cathleen was more than a little uncomfortable trying to sound submissive. She was a warrior, and politics along with caring about her tone was not something she’d trained for. But, now wasn’t the time for pride. She NEEDED to diffuse the situation before everyone other than these monsters was killed as an afterthought over a misunderstanding.

  The Populator and dwarf both slowly turned their heads to stare at her.

  As the dwarven leader’s expression turned from confusion into a glare, the other one asked, “Ye expect us to believe someone closed a portal that size… manually? Ye take us for gnomes, lass?”

  The Populator spoke up, sounding somewhat hesitant, “She may be telling the truth. Lord Walker has an uncanny ability to both see and interact with essence in a way that defies understanding. Reports exist stating that he’s successfully disrupted a portal being actively maintained by a ritual once before. While unlikely that he was able to do the same with a permanent anchor point, it is at least within the realm of possibility.”

  Looking somewhat skeptical, the dwarf rolled his eyes before asking, “Alright, say I believe ya. Where is this ‘lord’ with impossible abilities? Let me guess, he died in the attempt and is no longer available for questioning. Ye’ll forgive me if I don’t take yer word for it.”

  The Populator turned to Cathleen as if silently commanding her to produce him.

  Having no idea where the little lord was, she was about to plead ignorance before being caught off guard by a presence rushing invisibly toward her through the crowd, one she recognized.

  The surrounding Wackos who’d been quietly watching started muttering to each other in shock as Rose appeared out of nowhere right next to Cathleen. For those who were not trained in sensing, she was nothing more than a ghost when she wanted to be.

  Rose visibly flinched at the sight of both dwarves and the Popultor now staring at her. Cathleen knew the young woman preferred to be unseen and unheard, so whatever she had to say must be both relevant and important.

  “What is it? If you haven’t noticed, I’m a little busy?” Cathleen hissed.

  Rose, her entire body shrinking into itself under all the attention whispered, “I’m sorry, but you need to know. Lord Walker’s body is gone!”

  Raising her eyebrows in surprise and anger, Cathleen replied, “What?!? I told you to watch him. Why didn’t you use the emergency signal for a recovery team?!?”

  Wincing, Rose replied, “The kobalds didn’t take it! When I said gone, I meant GONE. Vanished. Disappeared. After he snuck off to close the gate and massacre the kobalds, he just passed out. He was still alive, so I just covered him with some kobald bodies and watched. I was holding the flare, waiting to see if his condition changed. But, with all the fighting going on, I thought it best to wait. Then, out of nowhere, his body just disappeared. I think it was a teleport… kind of. The essence signature of whatever happened looked similar at least. With the command channel down, I figured you’d want to know immediately.”

  Despite how quiet Rose was trying to be, both the dwarves and Populator had no trouble hearing her.

  “Show us where this happened?” the Populator demanded, their tone no longer remaining as calm as it had been before.

  Rose awkwardly looked over at Cathleen, before receiving a nod of permission.

  Seeing how poorly she was handling so many people watching her, Cathleen made a mental note to have a talk with the young woman. While Rose had a natural inclination to one day master the shadow technique, spending so much time outside of people’s perception might be causing her some mental issues. It would be best to address them before they began affecting her path.

  Knowing that now wasn’t the time for that, Cathleen held a hand on Rose’s shoulder to offer her some support as the young women led them all off to where Lord Walker’s body had disappeared. Behind them, every able-bodied Wacko who’d been watching followed along to watch.

  When they approached the area that was still somehow on fire, the dwarf walking along next to the dwarven leader waved his gauntleted fist to cast some rune spell. A series of runic shapes appeared briefly before fading away into the ether, taking along with them all the fires and leaving nothing but charred kobald bodies behind.

  The Populator didn’t even bother breaking stride as a large essence ball appeared 20 units over their head, banishing the darkness and filling the entire area with its light.

  Feeling Rose shiver slightly at the demonstrations of power, Cathleen patted her shoulder while urging her forward.

  When they arrived at a massive pile of kobald corpses, Rose’s voice came out in a strained whisper that tried and failed to sound confident. “This is where he was. After he caused all the fires and explosions, he just passed out. I swear, he was alive. But, then, something… I don’t know… He just disappeared!”

  Cathleen suddenly had a thought, and she began looking around for the other dwarves she had seen. Where were they now? Had the dwarves taken Lord Walker for some reason?

  The Populator’s voice pulled her from her musings. “There is a spell echo here. A teleport signature. I believe it was a life-saving measure to recover his body in the event of his death. It was well done. Very precise.”

  Suddenly making the mental leap to understanding, Cathleen was about to accuse the archmage whom she knew had a weird fascination with her lord before one of the dwarfs shouted out in alarm, “Something’s coming!”

  Stepping back in shock, Cathleen pulled Rose along with her as more dwarves and Populators appeared out of nowhere. They were lined up in an arc facing toward where Lord Walker’s body had been, all drawing their weapons and preparing themselves.

  The amount of danger their presence emitted through the ether had the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. It felt like they were readying for war.

  The dwarf who’d alerted them said, “I’m not sure what it is, but it feels like a summoning.”

  A Populator who was less androgynous and more visibly female asked, “Another portal? Has the anchor reestablished itself somehow?”

  One of the taller Populators who was carrying a tall and impressive staff replied, “No. This isn’t a portal. The Battleborn is right, it’s a summoning. Class three at least.”

  A dwarf grumbled loudly, “How is it finding enough ephemera to manifest? This place is weaker than that swill ya humans think is beer.”

  The Populator with the staff replied, “I have no idea. This shouldn’t be happening. It’s not possible… Unless someone is powering it with a ritual from somewhere else.”

  One of the dwarf’s snorted in exasperation before replying, “Not likely. We’d sense the node link. This is extra-planar, I’d bet me axe on it.”

  While Cathleen couldn’t sense exactly what they were talking about, she could feel that something was happening in the ether. It felt like the essence in the area was being pulled in and warped. It reminded her of an essence disturbance.

  When it happened, she along with the rest of the people around her gasped in shock. From out of the very ether, essence began to manifest itself into reality. As if she were watching a monster dematerialize in reverse, a skeleton began forming. It happened quickly, faster than she’d expected even though she’d never seen anything like it. Muscle and tendons along with organs appeared before finally wrapping themselves in skin.

  Her little lord appeared with his arms and legs outstretched like he’d been strung up. His eyes were closed and his expression was as blank as she’d ever seen it. The ether boiled around her as his body floated in place above the pile of kobalds. His silver hair grew out as it whipped around his head like he was in a windstorm. Then, as fast as it had started, it was over.

  His body dropped to the pile of kobalds like a puppet having its strings cut. It had been high enough off the ground that it flipped more than once before landing. The undignified position it finally ended up in had the little lord baring his ass to everyone that was watching.

  Everyone held their breath, waiting to see what would happen.

  Slowly, the little lord forced himself up, before falling right back down again. His eyes were clear, and the sense of mischief she’d come to expect from him was dancing in his eyes like always. Then, unfortunately, he opened his mouth and she knew for sure that it was him and that he was alright.