My eyes got wet when I turned to Diaval. She lay still with only the faint rise and fall of her chest to indicate she was still alive. Her wound had grown infected again, and I prayed Tanya would be able to do something when I saw the small streaks of red on her skin, emerging from her wound.

She didn’t struggle or cry out when I grabbed her and dragged her outside as best I could without bothering her leg, but that didn’t make me feel any better. It meant she was too far gone to even feel the pain in her own body.

With Soren’s help, we gently laid her beside the others. He stood in front of the four bodies and murmured something to them, but I was too far away to hear. It was showtime.

“Come on, we need to get ready.”

“Where are the weapons?” Soren inquired.

“Worthless and we’re not using them.” I must’ve sounded completely out of my wits, but I continued on anyway. “You know how you had a feeling? Well, I’ve been dealing with my own, and it finally fixed itself when the cut off of the contact between the stag and the Erlking happened.” I swept my foot across the icy ground and stared at the colored lines leading every which direction on the ice. “I can see it now. I think I understood after the first fight. There are only two people combined who can stop the end of the world, and those two are us. That thing”—I pointed to Fjalar’s cave—“won’t fall to weapons. It’ll fall to us. If we can combine our power and unite, we can do it.”

His brows furrowed in confusion. “I’m not sure what you mean, but I trust you on this.”

“Good,” I said, looking over my shoulder at the reddening sky. It was almost time. I checked everyone once again. Everyone was inside the circle, the chalk marks hadn’t been scratched or wiped away, and in a few seconds, we would have to fight.

Now, I stood in front of the entrance with Soren a few paces behind me, took a deep breath, and let out a scream.

The winds blew from the force of the sound, and the clouds of dust and ice and snow made the once-clear air nearly impossible to see through. Soren jolted in surprise next to me but did nothing as the unhuman scream came out of my mouth. I dropped to my knees, feeling my vocal cords strain as I stretched out my arms.

The ground shook with the arrival of Fjalar, but he was invisible in the mist; though from behind me, Soren swore under his breath at the sight of the liminal monster.