If Pyry had loomed large and ominous from a distance, up close it was a titanic monstrosity. The city as he remembered it had always been nestled amongst thick woodland, with several arterial roads leading out from its enormous black iron gates to the other large settlements in Pyria. Now, though, with much of the surrounding farmland overgrown, the trees had encroached ever further toward the walls, giving Casek a relatively good cover with which to scope out the city’s entrances.

  Almost nothing of the city he remembered was still visible. His mind called forth towering black stone walls reaching as far as the eye could see in either direction, with reaching towers beyond climbing above, constructed with brick the colours of twilight; blacks, blues and purple melding together across the city in majestic imitation of the clear night sky Haunting and beautiful in equal measure, the tapestry of colour bloomed out around the city’s centre-most building, the majestic Moon Tower.

  If one didn’t believe the legend of Dagan, the sheer beauty of the city built in his name, and the breathless wonder just gazing upon an’Daire and Sindar Banir could induce was enough to convince even the deepest of skeptics that at least some of the legend must have been true.

  Casek had to consciously close his mouth as a strange, detached sensation of loss swept over him. He remembered what this place had once looked like, knew he’d once laid eyes upon its walls untouched by the Shadow. What he did not have, was a personal connection to the place to match his grief upon seeing its ruin. He remembered no visit with family or friends, nor anything he had done within its walls; but he knew those memories must exist, if only by the tears prickling at the corners of his eyes.

  Makavi’s still emptiness had been haunting, but at least it was still recognisable as Makavi.

  Once grand towers were now smothered in tainted, crystal violets and pinks. Had this been a natural occurrence, it would have been beautiful. Instead, Casek’s stomach swam as his eyes swept across what had once been the crowning achievement of his people, now utterly defiled by the creatures that had conquered them.

  The Shadowspawn had left not a single brick untouched by their taint, no trace of the human ingenuity and brilliance had been allowed to escape it’s defilement. Worse still, Casek could feel how the city heaved with the bastards. An endless, teeming horde of unnatural beings, writhing and feeding upon the poor souls trapped within. The feeling had spurred his bound Bel’gor into new life, and it now howled nearly constantly within his mind.

  Still, there was nothing before him he hadn’t anticipated seeing when he’d set himself on this course. He’d known Pyry would be a veritable fortress for the Shadow, and he’d known his own resilience to his captive would be tested further than ever before. Feeling so personally aggrieved at the Shadow had done to the city was something he hadn’t expected, but he hardly needed another reason to fight.

  Taking one last glance around to make sure the coast was clear, he squared his shoulders and let out a calming breathe. A moment of silence passed as Casek forced himself to siphon any distracting thoughts from his mind to focus on the job at hand. Then, he was gone. He dashed, crouching low, out from the treeline, heading straight for the closest stretch of crystal covered city wall.

  He arrived at the wall at pace, throwing his back tight against the uneven surface, letting only the barest of hisses past his lips as its jagged edges jabbed at his back. Another check, first with his eyes, then with his senses and he frowned. There were Shadowspawn close, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where they were. Casek glanced up the face of the crystal wall and narrowed his eyes at a pair of buzzards circling lazily in the sky above. Too small and too close to be what he sensed by his reckoning, which left only something on the other side of the walls or in one of the nearby guard towers spaced evenly throughout their length.

  Neither he could do anything about besides hope they did not accost him during what came next.

  Casek drew in a deep breath through his nostrils to steady his racing heart, and placed a hand against the glassy, pale lilac surface of the crystal. He’d thought for a while on how he would gain access to the city. Any gaps would surely be watched closely, and climbing the smooth surfaces of the walls would be impossible.

  Well, impossible for anybody but him.

  He sent out tendrils of power toward the crystal, this time far smaller, far more precise. The crystal around his hand receded, and he focused intently on the shape he wanted to carve out of the wall, a small nook, with a raised edge for his fingers. The perfect handhold for climbing.

  It took time, a few minutes at least. Casek had only ever sought to banish the stasis crystal entirely before, and this level of control was entirely new to him. His first effort was incredibly clumsy, but would serve its purpose well enough. Next he raised a booted foot, and pressed the toe against the crystal, using his own power to carve out a foothold for him to slide his foot inside.

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  Clumsy again, but it worked. He grinned despite the sheen of sweat forming on his brow from the concentration and effort. The game was on. One limb at a time, he hauled himself up the face of the city walls, magically carving out his foot and handholds. It did not take long for him to be high enough that looking down became out of the question, and each time he caught sight of solid ground beneath him his stomach lurched violently, forcing him to snap his attention back upwards to the peak before him.

  Before long, the act of creating the path for climbing grew more natural, his control of his own power and how it interacted with the crystal becoming more precise, and even more intuitive. By the halfway point, the handhold he was creating fit his hands perfectly, moulded into whatever shape was easiest for his hands to grip the most securely.

  It was a good thing, too. Halfway was also the milestone where the burning in his leg muscles and the way his forearms and fingers ached had become impossible to ignore, the pain swallowing up more and more of his attention. The rest was consumed by the restless baling of the Bel’gor in his mind, the creature acutely aware of its captor’s vulnerability.

  It was little wonder he was surprised by the piercing shriek of the Shadowspawn, when it came, with his attention so caught up in trying not to fall to his death. And, with the Bel’gor howling within, it was equally understandable that he would react so late to the diving, taloned lunge of the airborne Drau.

  Casek bit off a curse as he turned to see the man-sized creature’s outstretched claws careening towards him with little time to react but to pull himself as close to the wall as possible and cling on for dear life as the dagger-like appendages tore at his flesh, trying to force him from the wall. Casek cried out in pain, as damp warmth spread out from the burning wound in his back, only for a second creature to launch into a dive behind the first.

  Belatedly, he realised the buzzards he’d seen earlier had not been close at all, only far larger than he’d assumed when he’d looked at them.

  Ignoring the urge to vomit as he let go of his handhold, his foci blazed to life, and he lashed out with the still forming blade at the approaching creature. It hissed in rage, before ducking out of the way of a mortal strike, the point of his weapon only nicking its wing. He grinned in grim satisfaction as it half-flew, half-fell a distance in a mad panic, before righting itself and turning away.

  His satisfaction was short-lived. The first Drau had turned quickly and launched itself at him whilst he dealt with the first. This time, its attack was calculated, viciously curved talons tearing away at his left arm—his only hand hold. There was no time to think. There was simply the moment before, where he was still securely attached to his hold. Then it was after, and he was already falling back from the wall, hands unable to reach his hold.

  Panic surged through him like ice-cold river water, and all he could see was flashes of ground and wall and air as rushed past his face and he fell. Hands stretched and reached, but touched nothing but sky. He’d fallen back from the wall, he knew that. Too far to reach with his arms, but he also knew the wall couldn’t be much further beyond his fingertips, so he reached and reached, with everything he had. If he could just touch the wall, perhaps he could arrest his fall.

  Then, he felt it. Not with fingertips, but something else. By instinct, he’d reached out with his magic, too, and that reached much further than his hands ever could. He felt the pulsing magic of the crystal through his own. Close. Tantalisingly close. A single second stretched into eternity, and his thoughts seemed to crawl towards an answer right in front of him. Instead of banishing the crystal, he reached for the material below and pulled.

  He hit something hard back first, and all breath left him in a painful instant. He clutched at his stomach, mouth gasping at air in vain, until he could gasp in a single blessed breath, which he promptly choked on. Casek lay curled up in the foetal position, vision spotty and spluttering and choking, but alive. Blessedly alive.

  Drau shrieks knocked him from his haze and he hauled himself upright, ribs screaming in protest. Beneath him, a small platform of crystal torn from the city walls supported his shaking legs, and he forced them into a ready stance and called upon his blade once again. The first Drau stood no chance. He cleaved it apart with consummate ease, taking no small satisfaction at the sensation its power joining his own, reinvigorating himself.

  Wisely, the second pulled out of its attack, recognising that it was dealing with vulnerable prey no longer. It returned to the thermal currents above, to circle in search of future weakness.

  Casek let out a shuddering breath and tried to focus in on what he had actually done. He’d assumed he’d pulled on the existing crystal and manipulated it into a platform beneath him. Upon closer inspection, however, that was not completely true. He’d made a platform, but the surrounding crystal hadn’t been affected or reduced. Instead, it appeared he’d made more to create his platform.

  Hesitantly, he reached out with his magic again, and repeated the process. A second platform oozed forth from the wall, a step above the first. Casek sagged slightly. Without the threat of imminent death, he noticed the drain creating more of the crystal had on his strength.

  Casek swallowed. He could make more of the stasis crystal. That fact alone created a thousand uncomfortable questions about who, or what, he was. Questions that this was neither the time nor place to answer. Instead, he turned his attention back to the wall, and the beginnings of a makeshift staircase he’d created and drew forth a third step.

  If nothing else, the first obstacle of this task had at least become considerably easier.