Dusk

The zombies were still alive.

In the space of less than a second, a number of thoughts ran through Dawn's mind. The first of them was that the zombies couldn't be "still alive," because they were bloody zombies – they weren't alive by definition. The second thought was that saying "the zombies were still undead" wasn't as good a description – zombies remained undead until they were hacked to pieces, blasted to pieces, or, if you were a great shot, impaled through the head (not the heart, despite what that weirdo who smelt of garlic said). The third thought was something like that's a lot of zombies. The fourth was damn, they're getting closer.

Thus, the dusk mage resolved to do something about that. Channelling her light magic, she unleashed a barrage of lightning bolts into the shambling horde. They stumbled. They fell. Sometimes, they stayed down, waiting for their diseased carcasses to be taken by Mother Earth, and be returned to the world which birthed them. But most of them kept shambling towards her. Under the light of the moon and stars, the damned sought their prey.

Thus, she unleashed the powers of the dark itself. A single black orb drifted into the undead monsters. None of them spared it a glance, their dead eyes remaining focused on the one living denizen out here. Of course, even if they had given the singularity a second thought (let alone any thought at all), they wouldn't have been able to escape its detonation in time. Because mere moments after the spell was cast, the singularity became a lot less singular. The magic, concentrated in as dense a form as the laws of magic would allow, detonated, taking every one of the zombies with it. Body parts and brains were scattered along the grass, coagulated blood watering the land. All that remained was the whistle of the wind, and the slow, steady breathing of the only living person out here.

"Very nice."

"Gah!" Dawn jumped to her feet and spun round to face the newcomer. Obviously she wasn't the only one out here, and-

"Syl."

…and obviously she had to compose herself, which she did as best she could. There were a few people in this dying world that she felt obliged to give her dues towards. Lady Syl, one of the Heroes of Torchlight, Master Sage, and leader of the last bastions of mankind, was one of them.

"Grass is on fire," Syl said.

Dawn cursed under her breath, stamping out the glowing embers before they set the plains alight. She must have let some of her magic go when Syl had surprised her, she reasoned. Unfortunately, the fire wasn't going out, no matter how hard she tried, and Syl was watching her, and the wind was blowing, and damn, was it getting warm right now?

"Here," Syl said. "Let me."

A small stream of ice extended from the sorceress's hand, extinguishing the fire. Dawn raised an eyebrow – not so much as to Syl's ability, but rather that this was the first time that she'd seen the sorceress smile, however briefly.

"There," Syl said. "All done."

Not that many people smiled these days, Dawn reflected. Oh sure, there were those who relished the opportunities that this world brought its people – the ability to kill, loot, pillage, return to a bastion, and repeat the process again – but they were the few, out of the many. The "many" were people who remained behind the walls that protected what was left of mankind. Fortresses that stood above the steady encroachment of ember, and the twisted monstrosities the substance wrought. People like Syl didn't smile, because they knew how dark the times were.

Dawn smiled sometimes. But this wasn't one of them. Embarrassment and humiliation weren't reasons to be happy.

"I watched you, you know," Syl said. She glanced at the remains of the zombies. "Your powers are impressive."

Dawn lowered her head in respect. "Nothing compared to yours, my lady."

"No, you're right," Syl said. "But I've relied on the efforts of champions before. Every monster you slay out here is one less to besiege our walls." She cast a hand at one of the zombie heads, its tongue sticking out and already attracting flies. "Right now, more, rather than less."

"I do what I can."

"I know." Syl put a hand on Dawn's shoulder, causing the dusk mage to shiver. "That's what I like about you Dawn. You're in this for the greater good, rather than the gold or glory."

Dawn wished that Syl would remove her hand, but didn't do nor say anything to make that happen. Instead, she murmured, "funny how gold still has value."

"Indeed." Syl removed her hand, much to Dawn's relief. She wasn't one for intimate contact, much less that of the kind that had just casted a frost spell. "Well, maybe I shouldn't be surprised. There are those that cling to the ways of the old world." She sighed, casting her guest to the east. To where a sun would soon rise, casting its light over a world growing ever darker.

Eastward also lay Torchlight though, Dawn reflected. The tomb of Ordrak. The birth of the Alchemist. And the beginning of the end.

"Anyway," said Dawn. "I think we…I mean I…should get back to the fort."

"No, I'd say we," Syl said. "Come. The more the merrier."

Dawn nodded dumbly. Walking alongside Syl wasn't her idea of merriment. It would be an honour under some circumstances, but she felt unworthy of being in the sorceress's presence. Nonetheless, all she could do was follow her superior northward. There were no markers to guide the path, and the roads had long since fallen into disuse, but they both knew the way. They'd walked this path many times.

"If I may," Syl said suddenly, turning to look at Dawn. "Why dusk mage?"

"Pardon?" Dawn blurted out.

"Why dusk mage?" Syl repeated. "No magic user has ever taken such a title before."

"I'm not looking to start my own order."

"You're not? A shame," Syl said, causing Dawn to blush and look aside. "But I'm still curious – why dusk? Is it because of your ability to wield both light and dark magic?"

Dawn shrugged. "Sort of…maybe."

"Maybe. Not entirely."

"No." She shook her head, trying to collect her thoughts. "I guess I bear the name of dusk mage because…well, that's where we are, aren't we? The dusk of mankind. Its twilight."

"No," Syl said, hastening her pace, drawing ahead of the younger of the two woman. "We're not."

"But we are," Dawn protested, matching the pace of her idol. "Ember spreads across the land. As the ember spreads, so do monsters. As the monsters spread, mankind falls."

"Falls, only to rise again."

"But that's not happening, is it? People fight for themselves, not for the greater good. We're like crows, no, maggots, picking away at the corpse of the world and-"

"That's enough Dawn."

"…and all we've got to ask now is when the dusk will end and night will-"

"I said that's enough!" Syl yelled, stamping her staff on the ground. Fire spread from its butt, but this time, the grass didn't catch alight. Staring at the sorceress, Dawn could only suppose that Syl's magic, her anger, went beyond such petty concerns. There was a purity to it. A power within anger.

One that terrified her…if only for the moment that Syl looked ready to do more. To say more. To do anything that one of her might could achieve.

"We shall speak no more of this," Syl said. "Come. The night is young, while the day was long."

"Days are growing shorter though," Dawn murmured.

Syl didn't answer. She just kept heading north. The way to neither rising nor setting sun, but that place that existed in twilight. That place that they both called home, as long as they could. It was tempting to just stay in place. To let the night roll over her, to take her unto oblivion. Syl hadn't given up when struck down by the Alchemist, but then, she wasn't Syl. She was Dawn. Named by those who wanted some light left in a dying world.

But she began to walk as well. In the footsteps of one mightier and older than her. And above all, wiser.

Or so she hoped.

A/N

So, some points:

-Yes, I'm almost certainly reading way too much into the "dusk mage" class in Frontiers, but that's the idea that entered my head.

-I haven't played Torchlight II, so I was actually surprised when I checked the wiki and it claimed that Syl actually died in the intro to the game (I just thought she was knocked out). That said, the person in the Torchlight Frontiers does look like an older Syl to me, and going just by the cinematic, maybe she survived? If not, well, it's a oneshot. I'm willing to play a bit faster and looser with canon with them than multi-chapters.