By Kayla Matt

The roses suddenly fire their thorns at Timoran’s feet, forcing the barbarian to leap to the side. His shadow is stuck to the ground and it bubbles like hot tar. Willow is about to cast a spell at the shadow when it erupts in an explosion of black fire. The flames race around the courtyard, destroying the gardens that Willow spent years cultivating. She summons her glowing staff and slams it into the ground, creating a barrier around the base of the tower and the survivors of her gardens. The fire licks at her magic shields as it coalesces into a single form standing a few feet away from the legendary caster.

“I always wanted to test myself against you,” Trinity admits once her body is solid and whole. With a stomp of her foot, a wave of magic ripples toward Willow and splinters the ground around her. Another stomp launches the chunk of earth and Willow backwards, both of them smashes through the base of Rainbow Tower. “That wasn’t very impressive, old woman. I guess I know why you retired from adventuring.”

Timoran yells as he charges at Trinity, easily ducking under a blast of lightning. Now that he is out in the open and there are no hostages to keep him at bay, Timoran is able to battle with all of his primal strength. Trinity is hard-pressed to stay out of his axe’s reach, the chaos elf gracefully leaping and dancing away. She flings several attack spells that are batted out of the way by Timoran.

“Thanks for letting me in,” she taunts. The only response is a growl from the enraged barbarian. “If only you got me through the front door.”

Trinity backs into the wall and Timoran immediately rushes her with his great axe held high. She dissipates before the weapon can cleave her in two, her mist-like form slowly drifting away. Battling against the wind, she rises to the top of the wall where she returns to her solid form. Timoran is already climbing the wall, holding the handle of his axe within his off-white teeth. Jamming her hands into the wall, Trinity has bricks repeatedly jut out to push the barbarian to the ground. Instead, he grabs one of the large bricks and violently yanks it out of the wall. The stone is hurled into the top of the wall, knocking Trinity into the air. Her arms are frozen from the shock of being forcefully removed from the stone.

Trinity’s descent abruptly stops a few inches from the ground, her eyes glowing with a furious light. “I’m done playing with you, wild man.”

The section of wall in front of the chaos elf shakes as she sees Timoran reach the top and prepare to jump at her. With a high-pitched shriek, Trinity blows up the section of wall. Timoran is sent flying back and rolling until he strikes the remains of a small tree. Trinity walks through the wreckage and covers her body in raw, pulsing magic.

“Attack the barbarian!” General Vile orders as he hurries through the hole in the wall. A group of ten chaos elves rush by him and charge Timoran.

At the same time as the chaos elves and Timoran crash into each other, a bolt of crimson lightning lances out of the hole in Rainbow Tower. The force of the spell shoves Trinity back, leaving gouges in the ground, but her magical barrier protects her from the actual damage. Before she is pushed into the wall, she spins and sends the spell into the upper level of Rainbow Tower. The explosion shakes the entire building and rains powdered stones upon the decimated garden. The charred remains of a toy griffin lands at Trinity’s feet and she kicks it out of her way. With a lick of her lips, she watches as Cyril floats out of the hole and aims his black staff at her.

“I hope you’re stronger than your wife,” she says, raw power flowing around her arms and legs. She hurls a blast of magic at Cyril, who is pushed against the tower by the force of the blast. “You can take a hit at least.”

“You won’t reach my daughter,” he declares.

“It’s not your decision, old man.”

“Even Nyx has yet to defeat me.”

Trinity rolls her eyes and yawns. “That’s because she holds back.”

Reaching out with both hands, Trinity closes her eyes and focuses on Cyril’s magical barrier. Her fingers turn into black talons and she moves them like she is slamming them into something solid. She opens her eyes when she hears Cyril’s startled yell and watches him push against his own barriers. Slowly pushing her hands together, she starts to crush him with his own aura. Trinity can feel him about die when the hurled corpse of a chaos elf crashes into her and breaks her concentration. Cyril collapses to the ground in an unconscious heap.

“Get into that tower,” Vile demands as he charges at Timoran.

Trinity can see that only one of the chaos elves is left standing, the others nothing more than meat at the barbarian’s face. With a burst of wind behind her, she races into Rainbow Tower and disappears up a flight of stairs.