And then they were on top of them. They swarmed towards Faven at speed, screeching and roaring as they followed orders from their master, their hands flailing and clawing at those they perceived a threat to their home.

Faven, naturally, just lit them up with the twin flamethrowers. "This should stop them in their tracks!"

Moments later, Alphabittle leaned out of the cab and drew the revolver he kept handy for emergencies. He aimed, lining up the shot on the floating creature apparently called the Wight King, and fired.

The shot passed clean through the eldritch abomination, producing a quiet (and rather disgusting) squelching noise that would have made anybody feel unwell had they heard it. And it did little, other than annoy the target a bit.

"You fight an actual God. You think you mortals can bring us down?"

"We can try!" Faven said, continuing to fire. She stood in front of the tankers, carefully monitoring the fuel drain to ensure the fuel was dropping in the correct locations. "We've dropped about 40% of the required fuel in the area!" she radioed to her compatriots. "Not much longer now!"

Suddenly, more of them appeared from the treeline.

"That's not hugely specific!" Alphabittle added, still firing. "There seems to be no end to these guys, and my weapons aren't exactly effective against those things!"

Misty had been assigned to monitor fuel gauges, but her ability to focus on that was somewhat impaired by the ongoing battle that had erupted around her. Although she had been involved in battles before, never had that involved engaging the undead in battle.

This had certainly been a strange few days.

Suddenly, a screeching noise from the other side of the train caught her attention, and Misty looked out of the cab window to see what was going on. Her jaw dropped in a mixture of horror and confusion. "THE TREES ARE MOVING!"

And they were. They were somehow sliding across the terrain, their limbs flailing back and forth as if trying to strike something in front of them. They also had faces. Were those screeches battle cries? Or the tortured screams of people who had been turned into trees?

For once in her life, Misty didn't want to know the answer.

She lacked easy access to a weapon, and having been drained of her magic lacked any ability to fire back at the threat.

Suddenly, there were a series of loud scrapes, and an uncomfortable hissing noise could be heard from several of the tanker cars.

"What's going on?" Alphabittle radioed.

"Several tanker cars have been damaged!" Faven radioed back. "I'm going to uncouple them. Pull away and get to safety!"

"Understood!" Alphabittle replied.

Misty looked horrified. "What if the tankers blow?"

There was a loud clunk, and the couplings were disengaged. Janet roared forward with several of the other tankers, crushing some of the unfortunate zombies under her wheels as she did so.

Misty looked back, hoping for any sign of Faven. Unfortunately, what she saw next confirmed her worst nightmare.

As they pulled away, there was a spark, which found its way into the damaged tankers. And then they exploded, a massive ball of fire reaching upwards into the sky.

The Firebat had been right next to the fuel vehicles at the time and was thrown across the ground, landing on its back in a heap. Armour plating landed nearby, some of it having been blown off the vehicle itself and also burning.

Misty grabbed the door handle. "We can't leave her there!"

"And get ourselves killed? If we go back, we both die!" Alphabittle shouted. "She knew the risks when she planned the mission!"

Misty threw the door open anyway and jumped out, sprinting across the ground as best she could before skidding to a stop in front of the damaged Firebat. The front of the armour had been blown off entirely, and this gave a good view of the pilot.

It was not a pretty sight. Faven was badly burned and covered in nasty injuries. "Misty..." she gasped, the act of speaking incredibly painful thanks to her injuries. "Run... save yourself..."

"No, there has to be a way!" Misty said, searching for any way to disconnect her mother from the armour. "I can't leave you to die!"

"I'll hold them off..." Faven said. "There's enough... fuel to make... a pretty... big... bang..."

Misty, by this point, was sobbing as she tried to figure out what to do. "This is all my fault," she whispered, tears streaming down her face. "I'm so sorry... please, I don't want to lose you!"

Misty closed her eyes to try and hide her grief, but a blue light suddenly appeared in her vision. So she opened them again to try and figure out where the light was coming from.

And what she saw stunned her.

Her entire body was glowing blue, much as it had back when she still had magic. Some sort of energy was moving from her to Faven. And what was happening was mind boggling.

Faven's injuries were healing. Bones were reset, burns faded, skin returned to its former colour and texture. Somehow, something was working to bring her mother back from the brink.

"What's happening?" Faven asked, now back up to full strength. She disconnected herself from the armour and jumped out, standing by her child's side.

"A magic user?" the Wight King said, confused. "How can this be? The human form is too weak to handle magic!"

Misty got to her feet, realising what had happened. "My magic is back?" she asked. "And I can heal people?"

She fired off a blast at a group of approaching zombies, knocking them down and clearing a way. "Maybe this is my purpose in the world!"

"THIS ISN'T POSSIBLE!"

Misty looked back. "I might seem a little quiet, but my strength is very real. When my power comes to life, my heart helps me feel!"

"Less power up mantras, more shooting!" Alphabittle suggested. Misty and Faven had jumped onto the cab steps of Janet, and she then moved off.

Faven pushed a button on a remote, and suddenly a massive explosion echoed from the place where the battle had been raging. Massive amounts of fuel was ignited and began to burn the domain of the Wight King.

Luckily, Faven had her rifle to finish off the stragglers, and the set accelerated away into the forest as the fireball followed them.

"We need to outrun the fireball!" Misty shouted.

"What do you think I'm doing?!" Alphabittle asked, as they hammered along the line. The flames continued to roar along behind them, building in intensity as the flames consumed more and more of the treeline and surrounding greenery.

But still, they kept going. The flames could be felt from the back of the engine as she roared along, but at last she reached the uphill climb that marked the edge of the danger zone. They hammered up the line and then cleared the danger zone, emerging into the relative safety of Parkend.

"The fire won't follow us here," Faven said. "The firebreak we built will see to that." She wiped her forehead. "I could do with a drink after that."

The fire that burned devastated a large amount of ground, but had the most important effect of all. The trees that had once spread the devastating Swamp Fever disease were burned to ash, and there was no trace of the Wight King or his undead army, both having seemingly perished in the blaze.

Although the fire had rather required the world to be informed of the mystery disease, it was a source of relief to many that it had been eradicated. People could sleep soundly in their beds once more in the local area.

Misty and Alphabittle returned to their normal lives on the line with new stories to tell, but all good things come to an end. Eventually, Misty had to return to Swanage, and Alphabittle to Falmouth. Faven had been informed of the rather unusual family dynamic, but understood entirely.

She was there to see them off. "Best of luck, you two!" she said.

"You coming with us?" Alphabittle asked.

"I'd best stay and help with the cleanup," Faven said. "But I'll be sure to follow when I can. I know we're not exactly a conventional family unit now, but I'll try to be in your lives as much as I reasonably can."

And so, they were on their way. Misty knew these days would stay with her. Although the horror of these days would not be forgotten soon, knowing her mother was still with them and part of her life was a reassuring experience. Though this did rather raise the question of what she would call Lady Haven from now on, there was no denying this was an important moment for her.

Her magic gently glowed as they rumbled along. Misty was glad to have it back. No doubt this power to heal would come in handy later on. But for now, she had emerged from the nightmare stronger than ever. Strength that would serve her well in the coming days.

Author's Note

Well, that's another story over. I know this was a rather unusual turn in terms of tone, but exploring old English folklore and some vintage horror seemed like a fun thing to do.

Misty's apparent abilities were inspired by a conversation with Thomlight Sparkle 1. The conversation, which centred around Star Wars, revealed he'd worked Misty into his setting as a Force Healer, which is essentially a Jedi who can serve as a battlefield medic. I thought this would be a good fit for my own work, so thank you to Thomlight in advance.

And with the Wight King vanquished, the struggle rumbles on. But remember; it won't be long until we meet these characters again. See you then!