chest the heart rune blazed hot and fierce on his skin, but this pain was welcome.
Styrax didn’t see him at first. He moved with dazzling speed, wielding Kobra with strength and precision, hewing a space in the centre of the platform, even as more Ralebrat rose to ward off the assault of the Menin bodyguard. As he moved, the white-eye lord weaved a skein of magic about him, a net of light spun from his sword to tangle the Ralebrat as they closed in on him. Already a dozen lay on the ground, looking like shattered monuments as the injured elementals struggled to escape the broken forms they had taken.
Then he caught sight of Isak, and Isak felt the look like a blow. It took all his strength not to shy away from Styrax, to lift his eyes and match the gaze of the one to whom his life and death had been bound, long before Isak was even born.
Styrax hesitated too, and the Ralebrat pulled back, keeping just beyond range of the fanged sword. On the other side of the ditch that encircled the earthen mound, the battle was still raging fiercely. Within the defensive boundary, there was a moment of unearthly calm.
‘I killed you,’ Styrax cried. ‘I saw you fall into Ghenna.’
Isak felt the words like a punch in the gut. Above him, as the sky was torn by lightning he cringed from the brightness, raising his left hand to shield his eyes. The thick lines of shadowy scarring on his left arm were vivid against his pale skin.
‘I know,’ Isak said in barely more than a whisper, slowly lowering his arm again. ‘You killed me. And here I stand.’
‘How?’ Styrax asked.
Isak gave him a broken smile, though his damaged lips and missing teeth made it more a grimace. ‘Your arrogance - your rage - they showed me the way. We are all slaves to our birth.’ He brought his right hand from behind his back and in it was Eolis, shining unnaturally bright against the storm-darkened moor.
‘You want to fight me again?’ Styrax laughed coldly.
Isak shook his head, though the damage to his neck and shoulder made it almost impossible for him to turn to the left now. ‘The Gods made you to be peerless in combat,’ he said. ‘I cannot beat you. No single mortal could beat you. And now no God would dare try.’
Styrax was silent a moment, then he removed his helm, and Isak saw his face properly for the first time. In his dreams it had always been covered, and the day Styrax had killed him, pain had blurred his vision. To his surprise, it was an unremarkable face, neither ugly nor handsome. Lord Bahl had looked rough and unfinished, but that was not the case with Kastan Styrax: his face was simply a canvas upon which power and strength had been painted. It was with the set of his jaw and the look in his eye that made Lord Styrax arresting to behold.
‘Then why are you here?’
Isak saw his finger brush the Crystal Skull fused to his sword-hilt, summoning the wyvern. The Menin Lord knew a trap when he saw it, but he was content to talk while his wyvern braved the lightning-lit sky to get to him.
‘To judge you,’ Isak said simply. ‘Look at the Skull in your hand.’
Styrax stared at the shining object for a few moments. ‘This is not the one King Emin took from Scree?’
‘It is Dreams,’ Isak confirmed, and held Eolis awkwardly out before him. The sword bore another Skull. Behind him three figures were slowly approaching. Legana and the witch of Llehden flanked him, one on either side. Their part in this was played. Mihn stood behind, in his master’s shadow. They watched in silence, bearing witness to the consequences of their actions.
‘This one is Ruling, first among the Crystal Skulls,’ Isak said.
He stabbed the sword down into the ground and unleashed the power of the Skull. White cracks appeared in the ground, racing through the trampled grass towards the mage’s platform.
Styrax immediately raised his defences and a cocoon of energy burst into life all around him before the shining cracks could reach him - but the shimmering power raced around the platform, well clear of the Menin lord.
Once again the tortured air roiled under the magical assault. Isak felt the scars on his skin come alive with pain, but still he continued, guiding the force through the Skull and into the sword.