Romuald Garonian stood at the highest window of his estate, sipping from a cup of tea. He had to be sober for tonight.

  Outside, in the dark of the Goddess’s rest, Ki-elico lived on: Subdued, but not still, its lantern-lit streets like golden veins beneath the gathering dark.

  Beyond the mountainous walls, the monsters were surely gathering to begin their attack.

  He kept carefully watching his blue ring. One of two connected artifacts.

  He almost began to worry, when finally, the ring turned red.

  His creations were letting him know: They took the bait.

  Romuald sighed, a smile on his face, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

  “It’s all as I predicted, Edden.” he said loudly.

  He turned toward his elderly assistant. “Issue the order. I want every soldier out in the streets, questioning households.”

  Edden sighed. “Is that wise, my lord?”

  “It is the right move. I want a list of every citizen not inside the walls. Jail anyone even remotely suspicious. Their families too, while you’re at it.” Romuald’s shoulders tensed a bit as he spoke.

  “We risk an uprising.”

  “Just take them by surprise. By morning, it will all be done.”

  Edden bowed low, unable to argue against his lord, and left.

  Romuald rested his forehead against the cold glass of the window. “The city must survive,” He murmured to the empty chamber.

  He took a deep breath and tapped his ring twice, changing its color back to blue.

  A simple order: Proceed.

  Viera was leaning on the wall of a deep tunnel, waiting for Dolen to open the next set of doors.

  Suddenly, they both flinched. Her breath caught as sudden heat surged through her finger like a bolt of lightning. A spell broke.

  “Shit,” she hissed, yanking the ring off just as the heat spiked into searing pain. Skin came with it.

  The artifact went flying.

  Dolen, quick as ever, stopped its fall with a barrier.

  But Viera felt no relief. Her illusion was shattered. The veil that covered the ruins, their people, the entrance—gone.

  She staggered, holding herself up against the wall. That’s never happened before.

  “Dolen!” she snapped, voice sharp with more than command now—fear. “The illusion’s–”

  “I know. I felt the disruption wave.” He brushed his robes as he walked up to her. “We can cast the spell again.”

  “Then we drop everything. We’re pulling everyone out. Now.” There was no time for his usual antics.

  She started jogging back through the tunnel, until she was stopped in her tracks.

  By screams of their comrades.

  They came from everywhere and nowhere. Echoing through stone, bending around curves and halls.

  Viera felt something twist inside her. She had feared a trap, and here it was.

  Dolen swore under his breath, and grabbed her arm, pulling her along. “Go!”

  She shook her head and focused.

  They had little time.

  Their footsteps rang loud as they ran, mixing with the echoing screams.

  David ran after Hiveo and Janni, his boots skidding across damp stone as the sounds of steel and stone clashed just ahead.

  The corridor pulsed with the flicker of torchlight, shadows dancing like the forest before a wildfire.

  They rounded the bend.

  A golem stood at the center of the chaos.

  Tall, inhumanly elegant—its frame carved from alabaster, armor etched directly into the marble surface. Its face was a woman’s, smooth and serene, half-cracked now with glowing veins of light. Blood clung to the edge of the massive claymore it held in two hands.

  The remnants of the rear scouting team stood among many corpses. The wounded cried out for help, but there were no hands to administer it.

  The golem spun as if dancing, drawing massive circles with the deadly blade. Anyone who attempted to get closer lost their limbs. At best.

  David flinched—but Janni and Hiveo stepped in.

  Her sword met the descending claymore with a deafening clang, holding the blow just long enough for Hiveo to step past and swing his cane low.

  A piece of marble broke off. Not enough. The golem didn’t even stagger.

  The thing spun, blade carving a wide arc. Janni ducked and retaliated with a brutal counter, chipping the golem’s flank.

  They were fighting it. Winning, maybe.

  David stood a few paces back. They didn’t know he could fight, so no one expected him to. But his fingers itched from the tension. A silent voice in his head nagged him.

  Hiveo and Janni kept fighting in tandem, but the golem quickly noticed the skill disparity between the leaders and the other soldiers. It kept methodically eradicating rebels, keeping its distance from the dame knight.

  David’s hands shook. His mind wasn’t on the fight. He was still trying to come to terms with his own thoughts.

  Of Hiveo. Of what the man represented. Of what he had done.

  I see how it is now.

  Did he have Sophie arrested?

  What else had he done, that David simply had no way to know about?

  Would such a man let him go after all that? What if he finds out Aura also knows ancient?

  Hiveo struck again, this time the blow cracked a part of the golem’s jaw.

  Maybe they could leave the city? Or… David clenched his fists. Maybe the golem would kill him?

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  The golem slayed the last of the rebel soldiers, then quickly pivoted to Hiveo. David’s heart stopped, watching as the claymore curved toward the man.

  But Janni stepped in. Her sword caught the blow, but it led her too close.

  The golem let go of the claymore and punched Janni straight in the stomach. The strike resounded with a deafening crash. She slammed into the wall and dropped, unmoving.

  Before the golem could pick up its weapon, Hiveo lunged forward. His cane lit with runes and struck the golem across the face with a crack like thunder.

  The cane’s head snapped off and the marble face shattered—all flying loose as the body crumpled.

  It was done.

  Hiveo stood hunched over, panting, body steaming from exertion.

  And David stared at his back.

  The source of all the problems. The last person between him and the academy. Between his family and peace.

  His eyes darted across the corpses in the tunnel.

  Alone. Off-guard. No witnesses.

  His heart tore as he thought about the unthinkable.

  If it could have saved Marie. Saved us… Would I have done it?

  Without doubt.

  Isn’t this just the same?

  A strange calmness filled his mind.

  A horrifying certainty.

  The claws burst out of his hands.

  No turning back.

  Hiveo turned, hearing the weird sounds—

  Too late.

  David slashed across his neck. His body adjusted the movement on its own.

  Hiveo’s head came clean off, lifted by the force of the blow and landing with a wet crack against the floor.

  Silence followed.

  David stood, breathing hard, hands trembling. The claws retracted slowly, blood dripping from their tips.

  Hiveo’s body slumped forward, collapsing next to the shattered golem.

  The head rolled once. Twice. Then stopped, its lifeless eyes staring straight at him, forever locked in surprise.

  David stumbled backward and fell.

  The certainty that was just within him, vanishing without trace.

  He hadn’t meant to do it like that.

  He hadn’t meant to—

  He knelt, shaking, suppressing the urge to vomit.

  I had to do it. He was a threat.

  He kept repeating it like a mantra.

  Ethereal hum broke his stupor. A glow pulsed from the corpse. Golden. Familiar.

  A thread.

  His memories…

  David’s hand inched towards the golden strand, then stopped.

  He wanted it. He feared it.

  A second passed, then five. The strand began to fade, dissipating into the void. The hum quieted.

  After what felt like eternity, his shaken heart, desperate for answers, won the struggle. His arm shot forward.

  The moment his fingers brushed against the magical light, the world shifted. Hiveo’s life unfolded in jagged flashes.

  The older images were sharp and fleeting.

  A wife. A daughter.

  A false charge. Whispers of corruption.

  One day. the family disappeared.

  Traces of his daughter in servitude.

  A new name, twisting his way through the ranks.

  Slowly, his life had been warped by visions of revenge.

  A perfect plan, but one that sacrificed many.

  An artifact hidden in a cane.

  The man’s memories were filled with desperation and excitement as he arranged for mercenaries and sellswords.

  Until Cero forced him to go outside.

  He feared death, but he would gladly die for his daughter to be free.

  Hiveo stood in front of the secret passage, whispering the command and tracing a symbol to open it.

  Then fear. Tension. Hope.

  A boy with the eyes of a monster.

  And death.

  What is this?

  David gasped as the thread dissolved, leaving only the echo of another man’s fury and fear. His mouth was dry.

  This whole operation, the ruins, the trap… All the death… Was just a diversion?

  Hiveo had used them as sacrificial pawns to strike at Romuald. He simply didn’t expect to find himself on the wrong side of the walls.

  I was right to kill him, I knew it.

  And yet, his body would not stop shaking.

  Why am I so weak? If they find me here like this, it will all be over.

  He quickly checked over his body, but to his surprise, he found no changes. He was almost… disappointed to learn that not every golden strand brought a physical change.

  His eyes dropped to the broken cane beside the corpse. The wood was splintered and the head was missing.

  As he searched the ground for it, he heard a faint breathing.

  He immediately went on guard. It was Janni. She was alive. Did she witness what had happened?

  No. She was unconscious.

  David found and picked up the cane’s head, still glimmering with mana. He wrapped it in cloth and slipped it into his satchel, before rushing over to the woman in armor.

  Images of Hiveo’s life were still floating through his mind.

  He shook his head, trying to bring back the certainty.

  He was a threat. Evil. I did what I had to do to protect us.

  Janni’s chest rose slowly, her lips pale from the impact.

  No blood from the mouth or ears. That’s good.

  He stood, wiped the vomit from his mouth with the back of his sleeve, and spent the next few minutes applying a mix of healing and regenerative substances he had on hand.

  Then, he crouched low and hooked his arms beneath Janni’s shoulders.

  “Okay. Up you go.”

  She was heavier than she looked. The armor didn’t help.

  He grunted, locked her arm over his shoulder in a half-carry–half-drag and started walking.

  The tunnel ahead was dim, coated in dust and smoke. He almost preferred the earlier screams to the unsettling silence that remained in their wake.

  David followed the trail of torches down the tunnel.

  Toward the entrance.

  Toward the safety.

  Toward people he could never look in the eyes again.

  The tavern was full to bursting with people cheering and laughing.

  Dalia crouched behind the counter, scrubbing at a sticky patch on the floor with a worn rag. Her fingers were wrinkled and sore, but she didn’t mind.

  People liked when it was clean–and she liked when people were happy.

  The doors opened with a crash, nothing unusual.

  But this time, the laughter stopped.

  She peeked up from the counter. Four soldiers stood at the entrance, armor gleaming in the low lantern light.

  The kind of armor that gave her the tingles.

  “Census under lord’s orders. Everyone outside.”

  Dad stepped forward, spreading his arms. “My good sir, maybe stop for a drink–” He stopped mid-word as the soldier placed his hand over the sword.

  “Do not tarry.”

  Dalia called her sister from the kitchen and joined the slowly forming line.

  Dad had always told her to stay inside on the scary night.

  They stepped outside, it was very dark. And scary!

  Dad was right! If only uncle Dolen was here.

  Nothing was scary when he was around.

  All around them, other families gathered. Dozens of guards and soldiers wove between them, calling names, scribbling lists on paper.

  A soldier approached with a ledger, eyeing the three of them.

  “Name?”

  “Ron,” her father said.

  “Children?”

  “Talia. Dalia.”

  “Anyone missing?”

  “Wife, Viera, she went out to order more kegs of beer. Should be back soon.”

  The soldier wrote it down. “We’ll wait,” he said, and moved on.

  Dalia tilted her head.

  Hmm? But mom said she’d be gone all night. In the forest. Did dad forget?

  She opened her mouth—then shut it.

  She knew better than to say suspicious things like that. Mom always said she was a smart girl.

  More families were led out. Some were let go.

  Minutes passed. Dad kept glancing at the guards. He looked stressed.

  Then—

  Boom.

  A deep explosion echoed across the city, rattling the windows.

  Dalia jumped in fear and tried to hug her sister, but stumbled, sending both of them crashing to the ground. Talia yelped, kicking her off.

  By the time Dalia scrambled up, half the guards were already running toward the noble district. Swords drawn. Orders flying.

  She looked to Dad who was staring straight ahead.

  She didn’t understand all of it. But if Dad looked that worried, then there really was trouble.

  Please, Mom. Hurry back.