The air in the Plaza of Offerings was no longer just oxygen, but a thick soup of ozone, sulfur ash, and rot, as if several coffins had been pried open without ceremony. The Black Goat, after extinguishing the first wave of white fire from the Red Priests, let out a bray that was not heard with the ears, but vibrated directly within the bodies of everyone present.
"Do not fall back!" Valka shouted, using her Netherite whip to strike with precision at one of the things that had crawled out of the crater. "Maintain the circle!"
From the darkness of the pit where the Black Goat had emerged, more of those things began to pour out. They were deformed versions, the size of dogs, with human faces screaming in agony and limbs that ended in sharp, bony protrusions. They launched themselves from the crater with frenetic speed, trying to reach the witches who were forming a ring around the abomination.
At that moment, the Endermen ceased their stillness. Like shadows from beyond the grave, they lunged with a crash toward whatever the Black Goat had unleashed. Their movements formed a deadly dance of claws and severed limbs. One of them intercepted three parasites in a matter of seconds; teleporting near each of them before impaling them with its long arms, which looked like dry branches.
But the Black Goat would not remain still either. It slammed its two fists against the ground, creating a shockwave that caused the witches' formation to falter in several spots. That was all it was waiting for. In that instant of weakness, the Black Goat lashed out a tendril of liquid shadow from its mouth, catching two witches by the waist.
The tendril moved like a frog's tongue, as if it were catching flies hovering near it. Before either of the two witches could react, the Black Goat pulled them toward itself. Straight into its mouth, which expanded in an unnatural way, the two witches were dragged toward the rows of saw-like teeth where the Black Goat awaited them. The sound of snapping bones and the final screams of the two women were drowned out by the being's triumphant bray as it tore their bodies apart.
"Enough!" Caspian roared. He drew his sword and rushed toward the Black Goat, reaching the front of the being in seconds. His sword, imbued with the effects of several enchantments, glowed with a light that momentarily pushed back the Black Goat's shadows.
Caspian unleashed a downward slash, which the Black Goat blocked with one of its horns, confident in its own power. But great was its surprise when the sword sliced right through the horn. Golden ichor sprayed out, searing the ground and Caspian's armor, but even so, the Netherite armor, imbued with enchantments, did not yield, protecting him from the foamy liquid.
They exchanged a few more blows. The Black Goat learned from its mistake; instead of stopping the strikes with parts of its body, it used tendrils of shadow that, while they couldn't withstand a single hit from the sword, managed to keep it safe. But Caspian's intent was not to kill it himself; he knew he lacked the martial skills to duel whatever this being was. Instead, he had left that task to someone else.
And it was time for her to intervene.
"Now!" Valka shouted from the rear. Ten witches led by her leaped forward. Their enchanted whips unfurled like serpents, crossing the space between them and the Black Goat, reaching him and wrapping around his neck, limbs, and remaining horn.
Immediately, the witches dug their heels into the cracked ground, pulling with superhuman strength bolstered by Strength Potions. The Black Goat struggled, its cloven hooves shattering what remained of the plaza's stone as it tried to resist being dragged back into the crater from which it had come.
"Āeksios Ōño, aōhos ōñoso ilōn jehikās!"
In the midst of the chaos, the sorcerers returned to praying to their god, and another torrent of fire struck the Black Goat's body full-on from all directions. The creature brayed with a desperation that caused the surrounding buildings to finally collapse, the result of another earthquake. But little by little, meter by meter, it was forced back toward the black hole it had crawled out of. The Red Priests, seeing the opportunity, concentrated all their fire on the deity's legs to weaken its grip.
When half of the Black Goat's body was already hanging over the void of the crater, Caspian signaled to Endaxia that it was time.
The dragon did not need a second order. She opened her maw, and a sphere of violet energy, concentrated until it turned white at its core, formed in her throat. The air around her began to vibrate with unbearable intensity while her body glowed a copper-gold color.
The bolt descended. It was not fire, but a spear of plasma that pierced the air with a roar that silenced the entire city. The beam struck the Black Goat directly in the face just as it fell into the crater. The resulting explosion did not generate flames, but a vacuum shockwave that disintegrated the being's matter into tiny particles. A blinding purple flash enveloped the plaza, forcing everyone to shield their eyes from the glare.
For three seconds, time seemed to stand still. And when the light dissipated, the Black Goat had vanished. In its place, only a crater of fused glass remained—smooth and black like onyx—while the parasites that had been fighting the Endermen vanished like the ashes of burning paper.
The midday sun illuminated a Qohor that would hardly be recognized by its former masters. The earthquakes caused by the god's death throes had toppled nearly forty percent of the city's structures. The Smiths' Quarter was an amalgam of fallen stones and molten metal; the great palaces of the former masters showed cracks that ran through their marble facades from top to bottom.
Caspian walked through the Main Plaza, his boots crunching over the glass remains formed when Endaxia's plasma beam struck the ground. Valka walked beside him, her armor dented at the chest and her face covered in soot.
"The evacuation was a success, my Khal," she said, her voice raspy. "The Unsullied have the civilians safe on the road to Vaes Yeraan. But they won't be able to return soon. The city is unstable, and the stench of that thing... it will take time to fade."
Caspian observed the ruins; it would take days, perhaps weeks, to repair it all. "They will stay in Vaes Yeraan for as long as necessary. Qohor will be rebuilt; it will take time, but I will do it before traveling to Volantis."
"We lost six of our sisters," Valka stated, accounting for the dead. Her voice, heavy with contained grief, made it obvious that the loss pained her. "They will be treated as we are accustomed; the others will take care of their rites."
Caspian felt a sting of coldness. He had accepted the carnage of the faithful with indifference—after all, they were people who rejoiced in following a being that fed on daily sacrifices, a rot that sounded inconceivable to him. But the loss of his own forces, of those who served him with absolute loyalty, was a failure he was not willing to repeat.
He turned toward her, his eyes shining with a new resolution. "This will not happen again," Caspian declared. "I have seen that the power of this world has limits, and your mortality is the greatest of them. Valka," Caspian said, as he pulled from his inventory small golden idols with emerald wings that emitted a faint glow. "Totems of Undying. From this day forward, every one of my witches will carry one. If they fall in battle, the totem will sacrifice itself in their place, restoring their breath and closing their wounds. We cannot allow death to reach our people when we have the means to stop it."
Valka looked at him in awe. The idea of carrying a Totem of Undying—something supremely valuable and powerful—sounded almost unreal. But Caspian did not usually make promises he didn't keep, so she nodded, accepting the Totem he passed to her.
"The reconstruction starts tomorrow," Caspian continued, looking toward the horizon where fires and collapses decorated the view. "I will take charge of it. Qohor has fallen, its god is dead, and undoubtedly the news of this will reach all of Essos and beyond. It is imperative that I do this quickly and travel to Volantis. Having the backing of another city—one as important as Volantis—will make it harder for anyone to deal with us."
They knew the news of the Black Goat's death would reach Volantis in a matter of days. He was no longer a simple Khal; now he was a man who rode a dragon and kept another dragon rider behind his walls. And news like that, he thought, would bring with it dangerous enemies conspiring in the shadows.