I looked at the yard beyond the gate. It was covered in gray evening light. When had it gotten dark?

  How was it evening already? Just a few hours ago we had been on the road to the cradle.

  And now it was almost dark.

  “Ilya, is it evening?” I asked my sister.

  Yes. We’re losing time. If the Ascaris have already reached Shazed Voss... we need to move.” Ilya’s voice was sharp with impatience.

  “They haven’t reached that far,” I responded.

  Ilya looked at me and asked, “How can you be so sure?”

  I nodded at the gate and the spirits lingering in the distance. “If they had reached anywhere close to the crystal, the remnant spirit would have called on all these lingering spirits to fight with him.”

  “I see. That doesn’t mean that we don’t need to hurry.”

  “Wait. You need to understand what we are running into.”

  “What do you mean?” Ilya asked impatiently. “Hurry up and explain Voss.”

  “Stop rushing, Ilya.”

  Ilya huffed and looked at me. “Very well brother. What do you want to tell us?”

  I looked at the darkening sky and then turned to look at everyone. “The dark waters are agitated here, people. And turbulent waters don’t just throw out spirits. In the darkness, they also release specters.”

  Grek frowned. “Your Highness, aren’t they the same thing?”

  I shook my head. “No. Spirits are souls that can be called out of the waters to do their summoner’s bidding. Specters are malevolent souls that linger in a spot to breach through the waters to kill and feed on the essence of the living.”

  “Great! So we have to look out for one more type of enemy. Is that it?” Ilya asked with annoyance lacing her words.

  I looked at Ilya.

  “Why are you frowning like that?” Ilya asked me.

  I shook my head. “Let me take the lead.”

  “No.” Ilya shook her head and added, “We will go together.”

  Before I could protest, Ilya nodded at the punishers. “Grek, open the gate.”

  Grek saluted and walked to the gate with notable hesitance in his steps. He reached it and took out the key ring from his pocket.

  When he was about to slot it in, a spirit appeared in front of him. One moment it was ten feet away and then it was flying towards him and slashing out with an ax.

  The gate shone with a golden light and repulsed the spirit. The spirit flew backwards into the lawn. It dissipated into wisps with a frustrated cry.

  “Was that a specter?” Ilya asked calmly.

  “No, that was a spirit.” I shook my head. “Specters hold corporeal forms. They are not smoky and wispy. They are also larger.”

  “Huh. I haven’t seen a specter,” Ilya announced and nodded at Grek to continue.

  Grek inched towards the gate and slotted a key in the hole. With a sharp breath, he turned the key and opened the gate.

  When nothing happened, he released his breath and began to take a step into the yard.

  Another spirit suddenly flew at him. It was so fast that it appeared in front of the punisher before he could react. It raised a hand to strike the punisher. Nails reached down to rake at Grek.

  I threw a spike of ice at the spirit. Before my blow could land, the spirit turned incorporeal.

  My spike went through it without hurting the ghost. In an instant, it took back its corporeal form and followed the retreating punisher and slashed down.

  The next moment Ilya was there. She intercepted the strike on a blade of wind.

  The two strikes screeched when they met each other. The spirit pushed down and to everyone’s surprise, Ilya’s knees bent downwards.

  I raised my hand. Black deathly mana smoked out of my mana veins. It collected over my downturned palm. A thin ten-inch shaft formed with a pointed head. More mana flew out and created three thick fletchings.

  I pointed my finger at the spirit.

  My arm recoiled. With a thwack, a black crossbow bolt sprouted out of the spirit’s chest.

  The spirit howled in anger and tried to turn incorporeal again. As the spirit’s body turned into smoke, the death magic in the bolt dispersed death into the sharp-nailed spirit.

  The spirit shrieked in pain. It reformed away from Ilya and the others.

  A chunk of its chest had been eaten away with my magic. It turned to look at me with anger.

  I looked at my raised finger in surprise. My initial reaction to the death magic spell hadn’t been fair. I hadn’t been impressed by the size of the bolt, but this death bolt was more useful than it looked.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Now only if it could...

  “Voss, watch out!” Ilya screamed.

  I looked up. Just in time to see the smoky white spirit flying at me. In response, I rushed it.

  I wasn’t stupid. I ducked its strike. My hand, bathed in death, grabbed the shocked spirit. And with a grunt, I slammed it down. Right into the cold death of the dark waters. I breathed in noisily.

  The essence anchoring the spirit flew into my mouth and I consumed it.

  In less than a second, it was nothing but a soul drifting in the choppy dark waters. The soul looked at me in the dark waters. It pulsed in fright and flittered away from me.

  I chuckled and blinked my eyes at the world. Everyone was looking at me with slack jaws.

  “Did His Highness eat the spirit?” The female punisher asked Grek.

  I frowned. “I am not a damned. I don’t eat spirits.” I burped. “I just ate the essence keeping it here.”

  Ilya opened her mouth and closed it. She finally said, “Well, from our point of view it looked like you ate the spirit.”

  “Did it?”

  “Your Highness. There are more coming towards us.”

  I smiled. “Good. I am hungry.”

  The punishers took a quick step away from me.

  Ilya rolled her eyes. “Will you stop scaring everyone?”

  I looked thoughtfully at the open gate with a “Hmm…”

  Ilya scowled. “I am beginning to hate your hmms.”

  Her annoyance was somehow amusing. I don’t know why, but I wanted to annoy her some more.

  I moved towards the gate with a grin. Ilya tried to block my path. I swayed to the right and ran past her.

  “Don’t you go off alone… Again.” Ilya tried to stop me, but I ran past her into the yard.

  “I hate you!” Ilya shouted behind me.

  I chuckled and looked at the spirits rushing towards me. This time there were two of them.

  I used the second variation of the death bolt spell. It wasn’t very different from the first one. On release, a bit more of mana shot out of my body spinning the bolt.

  It landed and dug into the floating spirit’s thigh. The spirit fell face first on the grassy lawn.

  I stepped on it and pushed it into the dark waters. A breath and its essence was mine.

  And I was face to face with the next one. This one had a knife. It jabbed out towards my chest.

  I smacked its wrist with a hand covered in death. The spirit recoiled.

  I didn’t give it a chance to regroup. I grabbed its shoulder and breathed in. A moment later it was in the dark waters, bobbing around like the other souls.

  “Voss!” Ilya shouted. “This is not fair.”

  I chuckled. I couldn’t help it.

  Ilya’s shout attracted other spirits and they began to rush towards us. I laughed and ran towards them.

  This was… fun? I liked… fun? Yes, I liked fun. I decided to have more of it.

  I reached a spirit and slapped it. Straight into the dark waters it went.

  The next one I grabbed by the hair and slammed it down. The third one I suplexed.

  The fourth began to retreat. That made me frown. How dare it try to ruin my fun.

  I shot it in the leg and threw it into the waters.

  “Will you stop?” Ilya asked me with her hands on her waist.

  “No,” I said, offended.

  “We need to do this together.” Ilya tried to shoot a spirit retreating.

  “Why?”

  It dodged a female spirit’s sword strike and punched her. Another breath and it was gone.

  “Stop eating them. It’s disgusting!”

  I gave Ilya a look. “I am not eating them.”

  “Voss. We had an understanding,” Ilya said with her hands on her hips.

  I stopped and looked at my sister.

  “You were going to help me get essence.” Ilya scowled.

  “Eh…” I said.

  “Eh?” Ilya turned to Grek and asked, “What does that eh, mean?”

  Grek, who was guarding the punishers while they locked the door behind us, gave me an apologetic look. “Your Grace, His Highness forgot.”

  Ilya gave me an accusing look. “You forgot?”

  “Uh…”

  Ilya crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.

  I scratched my head and looked at the spirits gathering in the distance. I pointed at them and announced, “We have more.”

  Ilya’s eyes widened. “Blight and curses. There are so many.”

  I looked back and nodded. “Yes.”

  Ilya drew her sword. “Voss, I count over thirty.”

  I shook my head. “More.”

  “Forty?”

  “Fifty.”

  Ilya’s scimitar sword began to hum with wind magic. She took a fighting stance and in a whisper she muttered, “There are fifty spirits and there are only five of us.”

  My sister looked at me and frowned. “And you are… grinning? Why are you grinning?”

  “Fun.”

  Ilya groaned. “This is not a game, Voss.”

  I laughed.

  I looked at Grek. “Mouth, keep your people back. I will get you all essence.”

  “Not alone you are no…” Ilya started to say, but I was already running at the horde of spirits.

  Ilya cursed, “You imbecile. If I die, I am going to kill you,” and ran after me.

  The spirits noticed us charging at them. They released hollow roars and rushed at us.

  I let my mana flow out of me. Blue and black wisps flew out of my body. Ilya’s mana responded and sky blue mana connected with mine.

  Without a word spoken, Ilya knew what I was going to do. And I knew how she was going to respond.

  Ilya slashed her sword sideways. A large blade of wind rushed out from her sword.

  The spirits charging at us turned incorporeal to dodge the blow. Just before the wind blade hit them, the wind blade detonated, tossing the spirits backward.

  Their charge faltered and they began to rise from the ground.

  Ilya skidded to a stop behind me and I ran ahead. I bull-rushed through the reforming spirits, and into the throng of the crowd of the stalled ones.

  The spirits reached out their hands and weapons to strike me down. I dodged and weaved the first few blows and jumped deeper into the crowd. Until I couldn’t go any further.

  “Now!” I screamed and pulsed out my mana.

  A wave of death flew out of me. The spirits shrieked and howled. Another wave followed the first one. It covered everything in the deep darkness of death. The spirits tried to retreat.

  A wave of wind picked them up and into the cloud of death. Ilya used her wind to run around in circles all around me, tossing the escaping spirits back into the dark cloud.

  Meanwhile, I did what I did best. I punched, kicked and grabbed. Breathing in essence and sending the spirits back into the dark waters, where they floated like peaceful little souls.

  The dark cloud of death started dispersing, and the spirits began to flee. Ilya rushed after them. Slashing, thrusting, and kicking. I wasn’t far behind.

  I noted that the spirits were annoying little losers. They all acted tough. They screeched and howled to intimidate the living. But they ran like scared little dogs when I went after them.

  And I was not having any of that. I began shooting bolts of death, stalling the spirits' retreat. I grabbed them and began throwing them down to the grass and into the dark waters they went.

  When only three of them were left, I rushed to Ilya’s side and chopped down with my hand, felling an injured spirit.

  Ilya glared at me. “Now you are stealing my kills?”

  “Don’t be silly. They are already dead,” I corrected Ilya.

  Ilya’s expression hardened. Before she could launch into a tirade, I touched her back and breathed out some essence into her soul in the dark waters.

  Ilya grunted and staggered.

  I grabbed the last two spirits with both of my hands and slammed their heads into each other. A breath and they were gone.

  “What did you do?” Ilya asked while hacking out a foul-smelling mana and with a bit of bile.

  “Essence,” I answered and looked around.

  Noting the lack of enemies, I relaxed and looked at Ilya. She had fallen to her knees, vomiting out the impurities in her body.

  She glared up at me. “You could have told me…” She spat out sick from her mouth and continued, “That this was going to happen.”

  I shrugged. “I didn’t know.”

  Ilya wiped her mouth and swayed while getting back to her feet. “I am going to…”

  “Waa…” A loud cry stopped her words mid-sentence.

  The ground bubbled and from a pool of ethereal blue a dark figure in torn rags erupted out of the lawn a dozen feet in front of us.

  It floated up out of the molten ground. Its empty sockets sputtered with blue flames.

  Its bony jaw clacked open and blue fire licked up its skinless face.

  “What is that?” Ilya asked in a whisper.

  I let out a long breath. “A specter.”