It was like watching the ceremony that turned Embla into a treekeeper, only much, much faster. The evil mage screamed in agony as he was transformed against his will. Liska remembered what Elowen had told her about the dangers of rushing the bonding magic. Bitterblight clearly didn’t care about that. It spat layers of bark over Noxis, winding them around him like a hungry spider binding a juicy fly. He span in its grip, bones cracking, limbs swelling, becoming half-man, half-darkness. A ruined mirror image of Embla, who was standing before him staring on in horror.

Knowing the magic could finish at any moment, Liska swooped in, trying to get Nammu’s heart close enough to kill the shadow tree.

She dodged the clouds of spores, not wanting them to touch her fur let alone get inside her lungs, and wove amongst the shard-like branches. They moved from one place to another without warning, making her swerve hard left, right, then right again.

They were as sharp as the broken glass they resembled. One of them caught her hind leg, snagging it and slicing through the scales into her skin. Liska yelped, almost dropping the heart from her paws. She veered out, away from the tree, looking for a better gap, a way in. But with the branches shifting and blocking her, it was impossible.

Glancing down, she saw Elowen still trapped by the crushing tendrils, grimacing as she tried to summon more lightning. Fishbone was on her shoulders, trying to free her with his claws.

Meanwhile, Bitterblight had finished building its vile treekeeper. The new Noxis stumbled away from the trunk – a misshapen thing of charred wood and thorns, with limbs of odd sizes and a face frozen in a scream.

Despite everything looking wrong, he still brimmed with power and burning rage. With a terrifying roar, he launched himself at Embla and the two began to battle.

Liska flew around them, coming in for another run at Bitterblight. She watched as they pummelled each other with blows strong enough to smash boulders into dust.

Embla swung with her club fist again and again, cracking the poorly formed skin of Noxis and breaking off jagged chunks of living wooden flesh.

But the evil mage was doing damage of his own. The jagged thorns that lined his arms tore at Embla’s bark. His fingers were also barbed like claws and he raked at her face, tore out clumps of her ivy hair.

They both roared and howled with pain and fury, making the whole crater shake. And mixed in with it all were the screams of Elowen, wailing as Bitterblight squeezed her tighter and tighter.

There wasn’t time to wait for Embla to win. Liska had to get to the tree.