Will-o-Wisp

Varsis parried the blow of a great sword and felt the shock run up his arm as he returned a lightning riposte that gutted his opponent with one deft stroke. He could hear his blood brother, Varro, fighting behind him still, back to back, keeping one another safe as they felled the legions of Chaos together, the battle raging around them.

A red-bearded warrior swung a massive axe at his head. Varsis ducked. The axe swept over him, and he plunged his sword into the man's gut. The warrior screamed, and the axe slipped from his grasp and landed with a thump in the wet mud. He grabbed Varsis's blade and tried to tug it free, and his hands ran red with blood. With a grunt, Varsis drove the blade in deeper. The warrior sagged to his knees and collapsed into the mud.

Then, suddenly, Varro was gone.

Varsis stumbled back, expecting to bump into his comrade, but he was no longer there. He batted away another sword swipe and took the full force of a mace against his pauldron. Pain blossomed in his shoulder. He spun and fell, landing on his back. A snarling brute leapt on him, seething and spitting in his face. Varsis dropped his sword, drew a dagger, and stabbed it into his enemy's neck. Blood spurted from the wound.

Varsis shoved the dying man off him. The mud squelched as he rolled onto his side, the pain radiating in his shoulder. “Varro, where are you?”

Varro was slowly plodding toward a bright wisp of energy, heedless of the fighting around him. His arms hung limply by his sides, and the long sword he favored was dragged along through the mud.

“Varro!” Varsis struggled to his knees, wincing in pain, but the only reply he heard was a muffled chuckle that sounded more like a deranged chicken, followed by the words that still haunt him to this day.

“Look at the pretty light, Varsis. We should follow the light.” A will-o-wisp is a type of death elemental that appears as a hazy ball of light, often mistaken for a flaming torch or lantern. In fact, its purple, flaming body is a transparent ball of mana. A will-o-wisp floats where it pleases, drifting through sprawling cities and picturesque countryside alike. When it rains, you might hear the faint hiss and splutter of energy as the water breaks across it, unable to punctuate its phantasmal shell.

Although they have no vocal organs, the energy within will-o-wisps vibrates and emits a ghostly call. The combination of their pulsing, colorful appearance and haunting sounds has been known to cause a number of debilitating affects while mesmerizing their victims, and the will-o-wisp will lead them into inhospitable environments and, ultimately, to their death.