A massive troll took Sadie in a shoulder charge that, despite her abilities, sent her skidding backward into a thick-trunked tree. It shook with the impact, sending a cascade of moisture raining down upon her head. She barely felt it. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she was completely dry. Not since before she’d entered the forsaken swamp that had been her home for most of the past year.

  It hadn’t been so bad in the fortress, though that had come with plenty of issues that didn’t include the pervasive moisture. In a contest between that ever-present damp and the constant battle, she wasn’t certain which would win. All she truly knew was that she was very much ready to leave the Primal Realm behind.

  Hopefully, the Red Marsh wouldn’t be her tomb.

  It was a dim hope, considering that it had been almost a month since they’d enacted the last-ditch plan to end the Primal Realm early. She had no idea if Miguel, Helen, and Solomon had reached their destination. More likely, they were dead, like so many others who’d already given their lives for the cause.

  Not for the first time, she wished she hadn’t been so arrogant as to send Elijah away. With his help, their chances of victory would have increased exponentially. She certainly wasn’t blind to that fact, and she couldn’t help but reprimand her past self for what had turned out to be an incredibly bad decision. Despite the justification she’d given voice, it was a choice based not on what was best for her people and her mission, but on her own personal hangups.

  Sure, she’d couched her reasoning in real concerns for her soldiers’ ability to progress. With Elijah there, they would never gain as much experience – both in the system and more mundane sense. Yet, now, she was forced to confront the reality that a few extra levels didn’t matter much to a dead men and women.

  And there were plenty of those.

  By the time they’d decided to retreat from the fortress, they’d already lost thousands. That number was mostly populated by the dregs of the army. People who’d never truly committed to their training, to their own progression. It was easy to look at it as separating the wheat from the chaff, and the army as a whole hadn’t lost much with their deaths.

  Yet, they were still people.

  And what’s more, they were Sadie’s responsibility. She mourned them all, with their deaths weighing more heavily on her shoulders with every waking moment. At times, she could only think about the people they’d left behind. Friends. Family. Settlements that depended on them for protection.

  Now, they were gone, their bodies either rotting in the swamp or consumed by the wildlife. They deserved better.

  But for now, Sadie couldn’t consider their fate. Nor could she spare any thought for the hundred other groups that had scattered across the Red Marsh. Instead, she could only concern herself with the current battle.

  She welcomed that clarity of focus.

  Resummoning Aegis of Faith, she braced for the troll’s next attack. The creature was much larger than her – taller by more than a foot and double her weight – but when it hit the ethereal shield, its progress was stymied. She pushed back with a front kick that sent it sprawling into the shin-deep water. It hit with a splash, only to find itself on the wrong end of a hastily summoned Righteous Storm.

  Blood, hair, and bits of flesh went flying as a half-dozen blades erupted from the stagnant water to rip into the creature. Sadie knew it wouldn’t be enough to kill the thing. With enough time, it would regrow every piece she’d just separated from its body. But for now, it was out of the fight, which allowed her to turn her attention to the rest of the battle.

  All around her, men and women fought. Bogged down by mud and stagnant water, they attempted to maintain their formation. Most were members of the Ironshore Legion, so they managed it well enough. However, the attacking trolls were far too powerful for their foes to keep orderly lines.

  Gaps had already begun to appear among the Legion’s front ranks, and the trolls were more than eager to take advantage. They rushed in, only to be met by the second line of defense. Most of these people were Rangers or less defensive Warriors, and it showed. They couldn’t stand before the troll force’s charge.

  Sadie rushed forward, already embracing Blessed Bulwark to plug one of the gaps. Trolls hit the free-standing ethereal shield with all the fury they could muster, but it held. They rebounded, only to find themselves subjected to vicious counterattack from a squad of ranged attackers.

  Spells – mostly fire-based – fell upon the trolls, setting them alight. Arrows pierced their most vulnerable bits, destroying eyes and embedding themselves in the trolls’ brains. Anywhere else, and the attacks would be useless. And finally, the Legion’s beam-based attacks scorched the attackers, filling the air with the smell of singed hair.

  It wasn’t enough to ensure victory.

  Not by a long shot.

  But it did give Sadie a chance to reach the front lines, where she used Divine Momentum and Faith’s Reckoning. Neither spell was meant to harm the trolls. Rather, their purpose was to enhance Sadie. Wings of light spread from her back as she felt a surge of immense power envelope her.

  She attacked.

  Her glowing blade whistled as she plunged into the mass of trolls. With every passing second, she swung her sword a dozen times. Each arc of her blade severed limbs, searing into the trolls with righteous fury. Every felled enemy infused her with more power, and her damage skyrocketed.

  She used it to carve a path through the trolls and to her true target.

  Three blood priests had accompanied the force, enhancing and healing the more common footsoldiers. Sadie hit them with everything she had, casting multiple instances of Righteous Storm along the way. Her increased power lent those blades even more strength, and in moments, there were dozens of massive blades sheering through troll bodies.

  At the same time, she used Bell of Faith, stunning every creature within a hundred yards and ensuring the blood priests couldn’t counter her attack. And finally, she used her latest spell, called Beacon of Judgement.

  A bright white explosion erupted into being, manifesting into ribbon-like swirls that spun around her so rapidly that they seemed to form a solid wall of light. At first, the streams of light remained only a few inches from Sadie’s body, but they spread rapidly until they cut into the trolls.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  A storm of blood and flesh filled the air. The trolls never even had a chance to scream. It was like someone had activated a blender without a top. But the ribbons of divine light didn’t stop at cutting the trolls to pieces. Instead, they kept going, moving ever faster as those bits were sliced into even smaller pieces until only liquid remained.

  Beacon of Judgement only lasted a few seconds, and it came with an extremely long cooldown. But while it was active, nothing could stand before her – especially when she was under the effects of her other abilities.

  When the bloody mist settled, no trolls remained.

  None that were still solid, at least. And even with their massive regeneration, they couldn’t recover from being liquified. Still, Sadie wasn’t taking any chances.

  “Fire mages,” she beckoned, turning to her stunned fighters. Nearly a thousand people stared at her in awe. “Burn it all.”

  Her wings faded, and Divine Momentum went soon after. Along with the dissolution of those buffs came a sense of weakness and futility. That was only exacerbated when she saw the state of her people. Courtesy of Beacon of Judgement, their wounds had been healed. However, it did nothing to reverse the consequence of the past nine months. Or the last few weeks, especially, which had been characterized by constant battle and the hardships that came from trekking through such an unforgiving environment.

  They were all dirty and exhausted, but the real problem was that hope had faded from their eyes. They knew how unlikely victory really was. Even if the others managed to transport the treasure to safety, there was no guarantee that the ordeal would end. For all they knew, they would need to make their way to some other location so they could leave the Primal Realm behind.

  Sadie felt it too, that lack of hope. The undeniable regrets over past choices and the frustration with her own nature that demanded she try to prove herself Elijah’s equal.

  She wasn’t, not in terms of raw power, at least.

  It was easy to rail against that realization, but she knew it was undeniable. A lot of people on Earth were going to need to get used to that fact.

  Including Sadie herself.

  If she ever got the chance. That seemed increasingly unlikely, considering her current situation.

  Even as she pushed those thoughts aside, the fire mages stepped up and set the battleground on fire. The surface of the stagnant water burst into flames as the trolls’ remains burned down to nothing. She watched with equanimity, hoping that their efforts weren’t as useless as they seemed.

  In the end, she knew there was only one course of action. They needed to keep going until they could no longer manage it. That day was coming soon. They’d run out of food a few days before, and some of the soldiers weren’t quite advanced enough to go without and avoid the consequences of starvation.

  Hydration was an even bigger problem.

  Their Alchemist had died during the first week, and they had no way to replace the purification tablets that furnished them with clean water. Even now, Sadie’s lips were cracked from thirst. It wouldn’t be long before attrition began to take its toll in a more expansive way.

  “Treat the wounded. Focus on infection, then the wounds themselves. If you have food, eat it. Drink your water ration. We move in fifteen minutes,” she ordered as she approached the bulk of her soldiers. “Get to it.”

  With that, she lent her own meager healing spells to the effort. Her pool of ethera was much larger than most, but her abilities weren’t nearly as potent. Still, every little bit helped, and once those fifteen minutes had passed, everyone was at least ambulatory. Many could only walk with discomfort, but at least they could move.

  They set out, wading through the stagnant water.

  The next attack – from a huge alligator – came only ten minutes later. Sadie never even had a chance to counter. Instead, those fighters at the rear dealt with the issue with practiced precision, though the effort cost them dearly. Not regarding injuries – they were unscathed. Rather, in simple stamina.

  They trudged forward, and hour by hour, they covered one mile after another. The attacks continued, though most were mere annoyances. Still, each instance left them a little more fatigued, adding to the weight of attrition on their bodies.

  By the time the sun set and darkness settled over the swamp, even Sadie was exhausted. There was nowhere to rest, though. Not until nearly midnight when they reached an island that could accommodate the force. There, they set up a rudimentary camp.

  They didn’t bother with tents. They eschewed a campfire. But they made certain to deploy their defenses.

  As it turned out, it was a good thing they did, because another wave of trolls attacked during the night. This battle was even more brutal than the last, largely because Sadie didn’t have Beacon of Judgement to finish them off. Its cooldown varied based on available faith, but even at best, it wouldn’t be available for a few more days.

  Because of that, they had no choice but to hack through the trolls the old-fashioned way. Fortunately, the attackers weren’t particularly high level, and they only had a few blood priests with them. Otherwise, Sadie’s force would have suffered many more casualties. Even with the trolls’ relative weakness, more than a dozen people died.

  The survivors stripped the bodies of anything useful, and when the sun rose, they continued on their way. They didn’t have a particular destination in mind. Instead, their only goal was to avoid being pinned down and force the trolls to chase them through the swamp. That way, they couldn’t focus on protecting the pass and preventing Miguel, Solomon, and Helen from accomplishing their mission.

  All the other groups had the same task.

  Sadie could only hope that they had survived. But as she’d noted the previous day, any hope in her heart had long since rotted away. Now, she was driven by sheer stubbornness and a refusal to give in.

  The next two days saw three more attacks, and the attrition continued to take its toll. When the first among them collapsed, it became clear that they could not keep going.

  “The soldiers are dead on their feet,” said her second-in-command, a man named Reginald. He sported a handful of wounds across his body, and he’d lost more than twenty pounds in the past few weeks. But he remained stoic. “They can’t keep going like this.”

  Sadie knew the truth of that statement. They needed to find somewhere to make a stand. Somewhere defensible. Doing so would extend their remaining energy for a few more days, largely because they wouldn’t need to expend stamina trudging through the unforgiving swamp.

  “We’ll keep an eye out,” she agreed.

  It took another day – during which more than twenty people died, most to a school of predatory fish that were a nightmare to pin down – but they found a slightly elevated island that was probably the best they could hope for.

  That was when they all got to work, building an earthen wall bristling with sharpened stakes. It wasn’t enough to stop the trolls or the local wildlife, but it would hopefully slow them down enough to aid in the camp’s defense.

  And it quickly became obvious that such a defense would be necessary.

  Sadie stood atop that earthen berm, looking out across the swamp. In the dim light of evening, she could still see the army of more than a thousand trolls amassing. Dozens of blood priests accompanied them.

  “I just want you to know that it was an honor fighting alongside you,” said Reginald.

  “I feel the same,” she admitted as the trolls charged. She readied her abilities and hefted her sword, bracing for the battle to come. But she could read the writing on the wall. Even if the army as a whole survived the trolls’ charge, they wouldn’t make it through the next one. Or the next after that. The moment they’d admitted they couldn’t keep moving, their fate was sealed.

  Sadie’s only motivation had shifted from survival to reprisal. She would take as many of her enemy with her.

  “What is that?” a nearby soldier breathed as she gazed off into the distance.

  At first, Sadie didn’t see anything, but then, she noticed it. A flicker of orange light in the sky. It quickly grew until it resolved itself into a massive flame.

  “Are those wings?” asked the same soldier. She must’ve been a Ranger with some sort of vision enhancing ability.

  Sadie squinted, and a moment later, she saw the truth of it. It wasn’t just a fire. It was a bird, though one with wings of flame. And it was massive, those wings spanning at least thirty feet.

  It also wasn’t alone, as a hundred other flickers soon manifested.

  The trolls noticed them as well, and they reacted with abject terror. Their lines broke, and they scattered, their charge forgotten. The blood priests tried to wrangle them, but to no avail.

  Finally, the birds reached them, and the world turned to fire.

  In seconds, the trolls had been burned to a crisp. Some managed to disappear into the swamp, but the birds – which the Ranger identified as phoenixes – were thorough in their destruction.

  And then, they just flew away.

  “What just happened?” breathed Reginald.

  Sadie had no real answer, but fortunately, she didn’t need to provide one. The system took that burden via a notification:

  She sighed in relief, though she knew that their mission wasn’t complete. The return wouldn’t be easy, but she suspected that the phoenixes had cleared the way of trolls. That alone was enough to return a glimmer of optimism to her thoughts.

  But that was quickly squashed by the memory of the Primal Realm’s casualties. Selfishly, though, she could only hope that her friends and companions had survived.

  If you'd like to read more of Path of Dragons, we're almost two full books ahead (book 14 just started) on Patreon. That's 170+ extra chapters, so a ton of extra content for those of you who can't wait to see what Elijah will get up to. Anyway - check it out .

  For anyone interested in discussing the story, you can join my Discord .

  Thanks for all your support, comments, ratings, and reviews!