Seraphis Thunderwrath moved like a storm made flesh, silent and swift, a force that swallowed the world before it even noticed.

Cassius watched, eyes fixed on his friend’s short twin blades, forged of cloud. He compared them to Seraphis’ hammer, the only weapon always accompanied by lightning, and he wondered whether there was a reason for that difference. The blades carved through the air gracefully, leaving trails of shimmering vapor in their wake. Cassius grudgingly admitted the truth: every step Seraphis took was measured, every strike a whisper. He was a warrior with finesse and power like no other. The ground barely felt his presence, his footfalls leaving no trace.

As Seraphis trained in the forest clearing, a gust of wind stirred the canopy, sending leaves raining down. He pivoted, his blade flashing upward, and seconds later, the ground was scattered with leaves split cleanly in half. 

Watching Seraphis, this being who was both deeply human and eerily otherworldly, Cassius couldn’t help but recall the past, memories creeping in more often than he liked, especially since Seraphis had reappeared in his life.

“Phew, that was close,” young Seraphis had said, the first words he had spoken to Cassius after catching the stone. He turned to face the haggard-looking boy with a grin so wide that Cassius wondered if smiling that much hurt.

“Go away,” young Cassius had grumbled, turning aside. He swayed slightly, bracing against the wall, but refused to fall. Not in front of Seraphis, who observed him.

“Well, if you want to turn down a free meal, I can go away.”

At the mention of food, Cassius had stopped. He fought the urge to drop to his knees and beg.

“Don’t think I’m giving it to you because I feel sorry. I’m just not hungry. If I go back with leftovers, my mum will be upset.”

Cassius hadn’t believed a word, but he didn’t argue. It was Seraphis’ way of sparing his pride.

A few minutes later, they sat under a tree. Cassius devoured the food without even looking at it, while Seraphis spoke about himself, who he was, and why he had come. He had snuck away from the Thunderbornes, claiming boredom and a desire to observe humans up close.

“Well, truth be told, that’s not the only reason I’m here. I heard something from my father, something he’d been talking about with mum. I eavesdropped, and here I am.” Cassius licked the crumbs from his fingers and stood up, unsure of what to make of it. 

“Are you going to keep watching me practice, or dare to fight me?” Seraphis called, pulling Cassius back from the memory. It appeared Seraphis had known all along where he had been: lounging on a thick branch, back against the trunk, legs stretched out, and ankles crossed, and watching him.

The words struck something in Cassius. His jaw tightened as he looked away.

Seraphis chuckled without mockery. He hadn’t changed, not after all these years, not even after what had been done to his kind. He was still too good for this world. And someone like Cassius didn’t deserve his friendship.

“Come on,” Seraphis said again, this time with quiet sincerity. “Fight with me.”

“You’ll lose.”

“We have yet to see that,” Seraphis replied with a grin.

Cassius drew a deep breath and exhaled sharply. With barely a sway, he rose to his feet on the branch, unfazed by the height or the wind. He leapt, somersaulting through the air, and landed in a crouch, twin daggers drawn. The leaves barely stirred. In a blur, he lunged for Seraphis’ throat.

But it was a Thunderborne who stood before him. One of Seraphis’ swords flashed up, blocking the strike with a whisper of steel. For a heartbeat, time seemed to pause.

“Maybe you should stick to one sword instead of two.” Cassius’ smirked, just before Seraphis’ second blade spun through the air. It landed tip-first in the ground, inches from where Aliss sat, eyes closed and head resting against the tree. She sat up straight, raising an eyebrow at the vanishing blade, barely fazed.

Art above by Nelson Oga

"Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, alright?" Seraphis retorted. In an instant, his second blade extended, transforming into a longsword. The change threw off Cassius’ balance and forced him back. Then, as quickly as lightning, the sword shifted again, morphing into a hammer as Seraphis spun and brought it down, aiming to strike before Cassius could recover.

But Seraphis was facing a spellblade. Cassius was already on the move, ducking low. The hilts of his daggers tapped Seraphis’ knees before he slipped behind him, a blade poised at his neck.

Before Seraphis could react, Aliss stood up.

“Oh, come on,” she snapped. “This isn’t the time to show off, especially not against each other.”

“Relax, seer,” Seraphis replied, winking at Cassius as he stepped aside, hands raised in surrender. “We need to keep our wits about us if we want to stand against Zenior. Best not let him get under our skin, something I reckon he’s aiming for now that he knows we’re after him.”

“He’s expecting us now, in Sovervale,” Cassius said with a nod. “The best we can do is something he isn’t expecting.”

“You’re taking this far too lightly,” Aliss whispered, her eyes wide as she watched Seraphis head toward the stream. “Zenior isn’t playing games. After what we saw in Essenwall, I can’t believe we’re still not moving. Time is of the essence, or have we forgotten that?”

“You’re always complaining about our pace. Are you sure you’re a seer?” Seraphis teased.

Aliss opened her mouth to retort, but Dreu emerged from the cave they had sheltered in overnight. The storm had passed, and the sun now blazed overhead, thickening the air with heat and humidity. Birds chirped in the trees, oblivious to the terror unraveling across the land.

“She’s right to be concerned,” Dreu said quietly.

From the pale, drawn look on the monk’s face, Cassius could tell that Dreu’s glimpse into the Otherside had not gone well. “Zenior is moving fast. I believe he knows that together, we are capable of stopping him and ruining his plans.”

“Or he is preparing something grand for us,” Seraphis added.

“What do you mean?” Cassius asked, frowning.

The storm had only just passed when Cassius had suggested they move out. But Dreu had insisted they wait, wanting to peer into the Otherside to make sense of what they had witnessed in Essenwall. He believed it was something darker than what they had fought, some evil allied with Lard and the cloaked figure in Aliss’ vision that seemed to point in that direction. Cassius had argued it had simply been the reanimated corpses they had already cut down, merged into a grotesque form. Something Zenior was capable of as a wizard.

Aliss had remained silent, her visions offering nothing to support either theory. Seraphis, however, had refused to return to the Thunderbornes without a clearer understanding of what they were facing. According to him, the Thunderbornes always knew what was happening in Adaria, and if they hadn’t sent aid, it meant they believed he was capable of handling it himself.

Everyone had a point, Cassius later admitted. And part of him knew that as long as they kept second-guessing every move, they would never find the answers they needed.

“That thing you saw in Essenwall was not a monster from the Otherside but something Zenior created, just as Cassius pointed out,” Dreu said at last. “The evil grows restless in the wake of Zenior and Lard’s power. The veil is weakening. If Zenior keeps this up, the corruption here will grow stronger. Strong enough to tear through the veil and let the horrors on the other side cross into ours.”

“Every minute, we learn something new about Zenior,” Aliss whispered, lowering herself onto a boulder. Her shoulders sagged, and the fire that once burned in her dimmed. “Where does it end?”

“You know,” Seraphis said, rising from the stream, water dripping from his chin and vanishing into the swirling wisps of cloud that made up his armor, “we Thunderbornes have stories. Beliefs, if you will, about the future of Adaria.”

“This isn’t the time for your stories, Seraphis,” Cassius muttered.

Seraphis’s voice deepened, his tone solemn. “We’ve always believed that Adaria will fall, consumed by the darkness that runs parallel to our world. And when that darkness devours everything, from its depths a single flame will rise to cleanse the world in light once more.”

He looked at them one by one. “The veil, the spreading corruption, the magical imbalance; it was only a matter of time before someone like Lard emerged. Through his twisted actions, he is unraveling the threads that hold the veil intact. And now everything is spinning out of control. I fear we are already too late.”

“You’re crazy,” Aliss whispered. “Why say all that nonsense now?”

“Because I was hoping this wasn’t the end I grew up hearing about,” Seraphis said quietly. “But ever since we escaped Essenwall after cutting down the undead, I haven’t been able to shake the feeling that this is it.”

“Listen to me,” Aliss said, her voice sharp and fierce as she met each of their gazes. “End of Adaria or not, I will face Zenior. I’ll fight him and I’ll make him pay for what he did to my father.”

“As shall I,” Cassius said without hesitation. “I began this journey to prove myself. It has asked more of me than I expected, but I won’t stop. I’m a hunter, and once I choose my target, I don’t rest until I’ve hunted it down.”

“Well, who am I to pass up the chance to prove myself to the other Thunderbornes?” Seraphis said with a casual shrug. But Cassius saw through him. There was more at stake for Seraphis than he let on, something personal, something deeper.

Dreu stood quietly, watching them, his expression unreadable.

“And I won’t be left behind,” he said at last.

“Then let’s stop hesitating and second-guessing ourselves,” Aliss said, fire returning to her voice. “No more stopping until we’re outside Sovervale.”

“Or straight into a trap,” Seraphis added, less helpfully. But Cassius couldn’t ignore the truth in his words. As a hunter, he knew all too well when he was being toyed with, just before the one hunting him closed in for the kill.

Stay tuned for Chapter 20 on 10/10/25