Silas stared nervously as three more shadows stepped forward into the moonlight, their movements jerky and stiff. Dressed in dirty and ripped clothes, they were unmistakably undead, confirming the overwhelming feeling Silas had when they arrived to the mostly deserted town. "Silas, you seeing this?" asked Jesse as he cocked his pistol and raised it at the closest zombie shambling down the street. Silas nodded silently as he took quick stock of the situation. At least ten zombies formed a rough line down either side of the street, and more were spilling out of the dark alleys. To his left a zombie drew close, but Joanna raised her hands, fingers twisting in a contorted formation, and the bones in the zombie's legs audibly cracked. It fell to the dirt, but still proceed to claw its way forward, just much slower. Behind him, Finnian's glass jars and bottles tinkled as he growled in frustration. "Silas, I have nothing here that would benefit us. I spent it all at Grimme's compound." "So what do we do?" Jesse barked as his pistol popped loudly and the chest of a zombie exploded in dry powder and dirt, staggering it's progress for a moment before it began walking closer, its blazing eyes full of hate. "I'm almost out of rounds!" Silas closed his eyes, stilled his thoughts and reached out, but all he felt was the dark necrotic energy fueling the undead. Like at Reverend Grimme's compound, it covered the area like a suffocating blanket. There was nothing for him to use, not a drop of the natural energy that normally could be found in the land. It was as dry and desiccated as the corpses surrounding them. He needed raw energy, something he could use on itself to feed and amplify... Turning, he grabbed the lantern from Jesse's belt and flung it to the ground. It immediately roared to life in a fire before him, illuminating even more grotesque faces closing in. He closed his eyes and focused on the heat, imagining it growing hotter and more intense, he fed it back into itself, repeating the process as the roar grew louder and the flames leapt higher. He felt Joanna's skirts brushing his legs as she was pushed back, felt the warmth and confidence of Jesse's frame as his pistol clicked empty and he backed up against Silas. He heard Finnian's growl as a fist connected to dried skin. "Silas, whatever you are gonna do, do it now, dammit!" Jesse muttered in his ear. He opened his eyes and the flames of the shattered lantern had grown over seven feet high, twisting into an ever-growing, twisting vortex of heat. He crossed his arms and willed the energy to him. Flames followed the writhing tendrils of power as Silas focused on collecting them. It hurt, horribly so. He could control the flames but the heat they produced was untamable, and so it nearly scorched his skin as he gathered the power in front of him, sweat instantly drenching his clothes, and he knew he'd be lucky if he had eyebrows left after this, if they survived... As the last flame vined upwards off the ground and swirled before him, he didn't wait a moment as he poured forth the fire. It quickly washed out and away like a tidal wave, flowing over the zombies that were now less than ten feet away that had stumbled down Fremont Street. The roar had grown deafening as the zombies were ignited instantly, their movements halting as they went up like kindling, turning to ash amidst the inferno. Silas focused on not letting the flames touch any of the buildings, as he had no idea where the living townspeople were, if there were any left, but the last thing he wanted was to set the entire town ablaze. Still, manipulating the fire and focusing on replenishing it with his own will and energy was the most challenging thing he had ever done. He noticed the zombies to the left and right, and no telling how many behind him, were still shambling forward, so close the stench of their breath nauseating. Ready to fall to his knees from the exhaustion threatening to overtake him, he flung his hands out to either side, and twin gouts of flames spewed down 4th street. He risked a glance over his shoulder and saw Jesse and Finnian going hand to hand with two zombies, while Joanna had another suspended in the air while she twisted its body like a macabre cat's cradle. Jesse plunged his big Bowie knife into the top of a zombie's head and it immediately collapsed while Finnian plunged an empty glass vial through the eye of another and into its brain. Seeing the team had managed to take care of the threat behind them, Silas tried to close off the flow of his energy to the flames... and couldn't. They would not be denied, hungry for even more, they continued to spew out, pulsing with waves of energy in larger and larger flames. He focused on gathering enough will, enough control to deny them, trying not to imagine his old master saying "I told you so" as he did. Morcant had said repeatedly no student of his would ever learn fire magic at his instruction, that it was too dangerous, too out of control, too wild to ever be willed. Exhaustion pushed blackness into the outer peripheral of his vision. Morcant had never shown fear of anything Silas had watched him face, nothing could have broken Morcant's will and determination, his quiet control had been firm and ever-present, except when Silas had once tried to use a fire spell. Morcant had been livid, and after days of silnce, threatened that if Silas ever tried it again he would stop teaching him. It had killed his student, Edric, Silas' predecessor. Now, as the blackness closed in on him and he collapsed Silas thought, it will kill me. Hi guys, so I am actually getting back into the swing of things now that I'm not working for a company that is trying to kill me with mandatory overtime. However 2023 was a rough year for me healthwise so to help pay off some credit card debt I am going to start posting mostly over on my new Patreon account. I refuse to open a GoFundMe because things aren't that dire... yet. So at least this way it feels a bit more transactional. I'll be uploading comic panels that I have been working on, story postings, discussion topics of media focusing on fantasy or horror, and maybe even videos too. Head on over and check it out, Patreon.com/ACastingOfShadows