Breathing heavily, she raised her head just enough to look down the alley at the group of warriors.  “Apologies for the bad first impression.”  She said, “We’re here to send these things back to the Abyss where they belong.”

“Just.  Stay away.”  One of the men said, leveling his sword at her.  “We don’t want trouble.”

“Hey, we just saved your asses you ingrates!”  Reed shouted, “Show a little respect.”

“Respect is earned Reed.”  Callindra said, frowning at him.  “We may have killed these few Taken, but I very nearly…”  She shook her head, “We’re going to take these things apart.  I don’t need their adulation or respect to do it.  I’m doing it because it’s the right thing to do.”

A roar shook the buildings and Callindra didn’t hesitate.  Flourishing her jet-black blade and making his chain flash in concert with the whistle of his twin tips she ran towards the danger, rage still boiling in her veins.  When they rounded the corner the crackle and smell of burning buildings washed over them.  A humanoid perhaps eight feet tall had cornered a group of unarmed townsfolk, but it wasn’t the size that was intimidating.  It was wreathed in green and black flames that twisted about its entire body like a living thing.

“We have to take it down before it gets to them.”  Callindra panted, the head of the flames and her exertion making her breath come in short gasps.  “I’ll distract it and dodge out before it can hit me.  Holt, you hit it with arrows.  Cronos, if you have any water or ice to throw do it.  Kain, just be ready to heal me if it all goes to hell.  Vilhylm, if you can distract it or deflect it from turning directly on us do it.”

“I have something that could be helpful.”  Kain said, frowning in concentration.  “It will take me some time to prepare the working however.  If you can manage to keep it off them?”

Callindra ran forward, coaxing a spell from her blade and firing a single streak of bright blue lightning that lanced into the monster’s back.  She was afraid to use wind in case it fanned the flames hot enough to make approaching the creature at all impossible.

Arrows flashed over her shoulder only to burst into flame before touching the creature, the steel of their heads hitting with a splat of melting steel instead of punching through its hide.  A lance of ice came down from above, sublimating to steam without touching the monster.  They had its attention though, it turned and walked toward Callindra as though on a casual stroll.  The cobblestones beneath its feet began to bubble and melt as the heat around it grew more intense.

“Down!”  Vilhylm shouted and she leaped flat even though she had been running full speed forward.  A cobblestone sailed over her head, swiftly followed by another larger one.  The first missed the creature, but the second hit it squarely in the face.  The stone immediately began to melt and the thing stopped to scrape the molten rock out of its eyes before continuing to move towards Callindra.

She rolled backward to her feet, frantically trying to think of anything she could do to stop its advance.  The heat was so intense that she could feel her skin begin to blister.  Instinctively, she tapped the slightest bit of Weave and sent a blast of wind to blow the heat back.  The effect was immediate and devastating, the monster burst into white hot flame that immediately set the very stones beneath its feet on fire.

Callindra tried to scream, but the air was being torn from her lungs.  Behind the monster, the buildings exploded into ash and beyond them the flames spread.  The creature perished in its own flames and the city became a firestorm.

Kain stood from his meditation and held his palms to the sky.  The heat of the flames all around him seemed not to touch him.  Out of the cloudless sky rain began to fall in a relatively small area, only covering the small courtyard they were in, but it instantly snuffed the flames and cooled the burns on their skin.  Even the still smoldering remains of the Taken monster went out without so much as sputtering.

When the rain stopped after a few moments Kain looked drained and wan, but his ugly tusked face shone with beatific happiness.  “My Mistress shines with rightness and goodness.  Her light banishes the darkness.”

“Thank you.”  Callindra said, looking at the charred square with awe.  She swept a finger through the ashes and smudged some under each eye and pointed at the raging inferno that was burning through the town. “I am responsible for that.  My impulsive mistake is going to destroy hundreds of lives unless we help these folk escape.  Thanks to your goddess’s grace I have a chance to save some of them.”