"Damn you! This ends now!" Marc cried out as he charged forward with his sword firmly grasped in his hand.

The Wraith lowered its arms and chucked the two halves of the woman impaled in its claws at him. Marc ducked down, avoiding the shredded remains while his back was showered in blood and gore as they flew above him. In one swift motion, Marc rose back up while unsheathing a dagger from his belt and flung it at the Wraith. The dagger hit the Wraith right in the lower abdomen, digging itself into its unnatural black skin with a faint crunch sound. The Wraith elicited no response and swiped a claw at Marc. He dodged the swipe effortlessly and swung into the Wraith's forearm. Before Marc could get it out, the Wraith threw its arm out, hitting Marc in the chest and sending him flying backward.

Spurts of fog shot out from the Wraith's arms, though this time, it didn't fade away like it usually did. Niklas's eyes focused on the dagger lodged in its abdomen, which it hadn't seemed to notice yet.

"Amira, it can't turn into fog with that dagger in its chest. We must keep the dagger in there if we hope to kill this thing." Niklas said to Amira. She didn't look back at him, but she gave a silent nod of acknowledgment.

With Marc swatted aside, the Wraith threw another swipe at Amira. She threw her head back, her face barely missing the sharp claws. With its other hand, it slashed at her, narrowly missing her again as she ducked down, letting the claws fly over her back.

Niklas took the brief opportunity the Wraith gave him as it focused on Amira and zoned in on its leg. If we can immobilize it, we have a chance at killing it. The Wraith's right arm wound back in preparation for the third strike at Amira, and its head turned to face the elven sellsword. Niklas's sword felt weightless in his hand while he ran forward, the dead leaves under his feet crunching and flinging into the air as he speared his sword directly into the side of the Wraith's knee. The Wraith's arm swung out at Amira but instantly lost its inertia while the Wraith turned its skeletal head to face the immediate threat. Its eyes were empty and expressionless, but Niklas could see the pain and rage within. Niklas gave a hard pull on his sword, which responded with only a small amount of give.

In one quick motion, the Wraith aimed its attack originally meant for Amira at Niklas. He tried to dislodge his sword from the monster's knee with one hard pull, though it refused to budge. The backhand hit him squarely in the chest, forcing him backward and loosening his grip on the hilt of his sword. The shrouded canopy above him speeded by while his body flew through the air. He landed in an open patch of leaves near the Wraith. The impact took the breath out of him, leaving him dazed momentarily. 

A loud thud shook the ground as a large, black hand braced itself for impact. The rumbling earth forced Niklas out of his daze. His first sight when he forced his head up was the rune-marked skull of the Wraith staring at him inches away from his feet. It was holding itself up with its hands, silently screaming in pain. It pushed itself up and turned towards its impaled knee, momentarily paying no heed to the sellsword lying in front of it. Balancing itself on its unharmed leg, the Wraith forced itself up with its right arm. 

From the fog to his right, the rustling of crushing leaves rapidly approached them. Emerging from the fog was Marc, sword pointed at the Wraith. He crashed into the unbalanced Wraith, stabbing it in the center of its torso. The force of him crashing into it sent the monster backward slightly.

"This is for Gauthier and everyone else abomination!!" Marc yelled out, pushing his sword deeper into the monster's chest. 

The Wraith paused, seemingly shocked by what he had done, though Niklas didn't see a look of pain in its empty eyes. It threw itself forward and swiveled its arm at Marc, grabbing him by the chest with its massive hands. The Wraith effortlessly picked up the sellsword and ripped Niklas's sword from its knee. Niklas's sword was tiny in the Wraith's hands, only requiring the monster three fingers to hold onto the hilt. Marc's kicks and squirms did little to dislodge him from the Wraith's grasp. With Niklas's sword in hand, the Wraith jabbed Marc in the same spot he previously stabbed it, mocking him for his futile attempt at killing it. Marc let out a pained wince as the sword dug deeper into him. 

With complete indifference, the Wraith tossed him aside and forced itself to stand back up on its injured leg. Marc's sword was thrown away into the leaf litter. 

Damn it, no, I'm not dying here, Niklas thought while he simultaneously shuffled himself back into he was leaning against the tree trunk. The Wraith looked utterly massive from his perspective on the ground. Even with its noticeable limp, it seemed completely unstoppable as it seemed to shrug off everything they threw at it. 

The skull, we have to destroy the skull. That's the only way we can kill this thing, Niklas concluded.

Niklas shot his head to his right; even with everything obscured in fog, the blade of Marc's sword reached out from the leaflitter as if it was calling out to Niklas. He rolled over to his side and quickly crawled along the ground toward it. He could hear Amira behind him, yelling something he couldn't make out. Two heavy steps rang out from where the Wraith stood as it turned to face her. Niklas didn't pay attention to it; he couldn't pay attention to it or risk getting a claw to the chest. His hands plowed through the dead leaves piling on top of Marc's sword and gripped the hilt. 

An ear-grating sound of scratching and tearing metal echoed behind him. Niklas threw himself up and spun around to see what had happened. He could see the Wraith, standing tall with a slight limp with its left arm digging into something. 

"Amira hold on, I'm coming," Niklas yelled while running toward her and the Wraith. The monster threw its arm out, flinging a punctured metal shield into the air. He could briefly see Amira dropping to the ground and regaining her balance from behind the Wraith. 

All Niklas had to alert him to the Wraith's next move was two small steps by the creature, far too little for him to notice. The Wraith spun around with its claws out and swung right at Niklas. He could feel his abdomen being ripped and torn immediately, stopping him in his tracks. He didn't feel pain at first, but rather emptiness, that something had been taken and was now missing. He locked eyes with the Wraith, its satisfaction and pleasure burning into his skull as the pain began to ring out from his chest. The empty eye sockets spoke to him, pompously projecting the words I've won into his brain. 

His eye contact finally broke as a tan hand gripped the Wraith's shoulder. Amira's face and sword rose up from behind it, poking out from behind the bull horns. The Wraith only had a moment to react before the sword was plunged into its skull, breaking through the bone with a satisfying crack. 

A cacophony of dying screams spilled out from the Wraith, as it now felt the reach of death for the first time in its wretched existence. The amalgamation of death cries singed Niklas's ears, though he was too weak to block it out. His legs were growing weak, forcing him to balance on his sword like it was a cane.

"NOOO! NO! NOO!" The Wraith screamed out in the voices of its victims.

Its black skin began to crack and erode into dust. The Wraith fell to its knees, putting its face just above eye level with Niklas. How does it feel now? He thought.

The Wraith twitched and writhed as its skin eroded into dust, drifting away into the shrouded forest it once called home. With one last horrid scream, the last of the Wraith faded away, only leaving its rune-marked skull behind. The pierced skull fell to the floor with a thump with Amira's sword still in it.

"We killed it. It's over now." Amira said while looking down at the skull, followed by a sigh of relief.

"Are you...?" Amira began to ask, though she got her answer when she looked up. 

Niklas's legs shook one last time before all their strength gave out, sending him tumbling into Amira's arms. Her grip was firm She set him on the ground quickly and gently.

"Hold still. I might be able to stop the bleeding." Amira said to him with panicky breaths. Her eyes were wide and darting side to side, filled with worry and nervousness that he had yet to see from her.

Niklas could feel the blood pooling out from his chest. The pain was unbearable, but his mind was no longer on himself. Above him, the fog began to dissipate, revealing the vast woodland surrounding him.

As the fog began to fade, Niklas's thoughts drifted to a place he hadn't been to in years. The peaceful river gently flowing behind to the cottage he grew up in stirred in his mind. He spent many hours back there, waiting for the sun to set behind the far-off hills overlooking the farmland. The beautiful orange and red glow reminded him of the vast world that awaited him, of the many sights he was missing. Once he got the coin from Rastofer, he would go back and relive those memories, reigniting that spark for adventure he so desperately craved. 

He had never realized how much hope could dull the pain. Warm light in our minds pushes us to a brighter tomorrow, no matter how much reality contrasts it. The truth was, it was more than likely the inverse. A delusion to put his mind at ease before the cold claimed him. It didn't matter anymore as his mind snapped back to reality. His skin was pale and devoid of life, and his eyes were too weak to stay open.

"Hey, stay with me! We came in here together, and we are leaving here together." Amira tried to tell him, though it only fell upon deaf ears. With one last faint breath, Niklas drifted into the endless dark.