When my eyes fluttered open, I was seeing stars.

  No, literally. I was seeing stars. Above me. In the night sky.

  My head ached like I’d been knocked out in a boxing ring. I was sprawled on the floor like I was still on the canvas. My head felt clouded and as I tried to turn it, a sharp pain shot through my skull, causing me to wince and try to wind my neck in like a turtle. A soft, gentle hand grabbed both sides of my face and held it steady and then the stars in the sky were blocked out by Carmen’s gorgeous face – her smooth, porcelain skin and hazelnut eyes coming into view. She looked upside down, kneeling near my head.

  “You’re awake,” she smiled at me. “Gave us quite a scare.”

  “I think I gave myself a bigger one. Is everyone alright?”

  “Of course we’re alright,” Kian’s familiar voice shouted over, though I couldn’t see him. “We got you on our side, innit?”

  He’d come closer and I could see his vague outline standing over me, with someone else beside him who knelt down. It was Charlotte, who placed her hand on my forehead.

  “How’re you feeling?”

  “Alright, except for this fog in my brain,” I grimaced.

  I felt a warmth through my head and I looked at Charlotte, a small smile on her lips. She was healing me, I could tell, as comfortable with her abilities as I was becoming with mine. All of us, really. I had to admit, I was most impressed with Carmen, who had taken to her class like a duck to water. For now. The real test would come when we would need to hunt the Champions down.

  The warmth spread through my skull like my brain was being wrapped in a warm blanket – cuddling me, comforting me. It felt like I was taking a warm bath after a hard day’s work, the heat working its way through my system, opening up my pores, except this was within my head. With every nerve the warmth seemed to touch, my eyes became more open, my senses more keen, my muscles more relaxed.

  When Charlotte removed her hand, the cloudiness was gone. Carmen let go of my head, and I turned it this way and that, like I’d just gone to a chiropractor and got the feeling back in my neck. No sharp pain in my head. No fuzziness.

  “Thanks,” I said to Charlotte as I sat up.

  “No probs.”

  “How long was I out?”

  “It’s almost midnight,” Carmen said, still kneeling behind me.

  “Midnight?” I spluttered, turning to face her. “I’ve been out for all that time?”

  “Uh-huh. You really stretched yourself.”

  I remembered what had happened. How I created the mana construct, slowed the animals so my team could take them out. But I also remember how my hips hurt and my knees and how my legs had buckled. It felt very much like when I had used the resets.

  “Don’t worry,” Carmen said, seeing the look of concern on my face. “You’re fine. You look like you.” She smiled and stood up. Kian put out a hand and helped me to my feet.

  We were still on top of the hill, but it wasn’t just us. The whole place was alive with activity. Several trucks with floodlights on them were nearby, all pointing light at the crumpled mass of animal remains that stretched halfway down the hill, with several of the animals having almost made it to where we stood. It was a close thing, but those cows and sheep that had made it this far had had their throats slit cleanly. Kaelyn.

  I glanced around but couldn’t see her.

  Further to either side, beyond the trucks were bonfires and there were soldiers moving among the pile of corpses, grabbing a cow here or a sheep there and then dragging them over to the bonfires. One or two of each species was being taken to other trucks waiting nearby and loaded on the back. Over by those trucks, I could see Professor Dawn coordinating efforts.

  “Captain Davies called them in,” Kian said. “After you collapsed, there weren’t many left. Carmen absolutely smashed it with the kills. Not gonna lie – she was incredible. Only Kaelyn did better.”

  I glanced at Carmen with a smile, but she looked abashed at the praise.

  “Everyone was incredible,” Carmen said. “What about Charlotte running behind you.” She turned to me. “He got tossed into the air and he hit the ground in the most awful way. I thought he was done for, but she healed him and he just jumped up and got on with it.”

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  “Well, he might have been done for if you hadn’t quickly taken out the two cows that were close to stomping on him,” Charlotte added, putting an arm around Carmen’s shoulder and giving her a squeeze. I couldn’t help but smile to myself.

  “So, where’re Davies and Kaelyn now?”

  “About a mile ahead,” Kian replied.

  “What’s there?”

  “It’s not pretty,” Kian replied. “Davies sent a message a while ago. If you’re up for it, they’re waiting for you over there.”

  I cricked my neck, rolled my shoulders, kicked my legs out a bit, testing my range of motion. I felt good to be honest. Better than I had earlier. I looked at him. “Let’s go.”

  Kian grabbed his assault rifle. “Leave the packs,” he said, as he began walking along the crest of the hill, past the trucks and the bonfires. Charlotte grabbed her rifle and walked alongside him as he led us around the area of carnage we had made and started walking towards the east. Carmen and I followed a few metres behind. Carmen lopped her left hand through my arm, her rifle slung on her right shoulder, hanging by her side. I decided to leave mine behind. I was glad my actions hadn’t had any permanent effects, but I also felt like I needed to trust the magic even more. The more I used it, the more comfortable I became with it.

  “Charlotte healed you while you slept,” Carmen said as we walked, “but she didn’t feel like there was anything wrong with you. Do you remember how Kaelyn was back at our place? When we just couldn’t wake her. You were like that. But she healed you every hour anyway.”

  I nodded understandingly.

  “It’s good to know that it’s not like the resets. I guess if you use too much mana, it knocks you out?”

  “Probably something like that. But you should still be careful. We don’t know what happens if you push it even further.” She looked up at me with pursed lips. “You pushed it too far already.”

  I smiled back at her. “I’ll be careful.”

  It took around ten minutes to reach our destination a couple of hills over. Kian and Charlotte had widened the gap between us as we’d walked and were waiting on the crest of the hill, between several other trucks similar to the ones we’d left behind. Some had floodlights, illuminating an area beyond the hill and others with flatbeds being loaded with specimens, with Professor Harris coordinating efforts.

  As Carmen and I joined Kian and Charlotte, my eyes widened at the scene ahead. I thought it had been carnage before but what I saw before me was worse. Whatever had happened here wasn’t about survival. It was a massacre.

  I couldn’t even make out whether they were bulls or stags or sheep or what. These animals had been carved apart, limbs here, torsos there, heads scattered all over the place, but much of the flesh seemed like it had been melted from the bones. It hung from joints, sinew and muscle and tendons drooping to the ground. In other places, the flesh looked like a muddy pool with bones floating within. Horns and antlers had been crushed to nothing more than chunks. And it was hard to tell just how many animals had been killed here.

  There were scientists walking with soldiers amongst the gloopy remains of the beasts, poking and prodding, as if they were trying to figure out what they were looking at. They looked just as baffled as I was. It was like the artwork of a three-year old who’d been left unattended with the paint. No rhyme or reason. No discernible structures or patterns. It was just a mess of flesh and bones smashed together.

  “What the fuck am I looking at here?”

  “I told you it wasn’t pretty,” Kian said.

  I scanned over the fields, doing my best not to look at the scene, searching for Davies or Kaelyn, but my eyes followed the light from the floodlights on the trucks. Although most were illuminating the mess in front of us, a couple were pointed at a spot beyond the bottom of the valley. There was a black gaping hole carved into the base of the next hill, like it was leading inside. I could vaguely make out several figures outside, one pacing, whilst the others sat.

  Charlotte and Carmen’s eyes were no less wide than mine and they both looked like they were holding in the contents of whatever dinner they had had. I had been hungry myself as we’d walked, but not anymore.

  “Come,” Kian said, and he didn’t need to ask twice. We took another wide berth, none of us looking at the scene to our right as we made our way to that gaping hole in the hill.

  A few minutes later, we had reunited with Davies’ team. It was Davies who had been pacing, whilst the other four sat cross legged, backpacks and rifles by their sides as they played a game of cards. Gosh, those were nonchalance goals I needed to aim for. Davies looked up as we approached, the grizzled veteran’s eyes showing concern and worry, though it was gone as soon as he saw me. I had a feeling the concern wasn’t for me though.

  “River,” he nodded at me. “Good to see you’re up.”

  The other four also greeted me, packing their cards away without a thought.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. “What’s that?” I indicated the hole behind them.

  “We’ll get to that. Are you alright?”

  “I’m good. No issues.”

  “Good. Good. Have you eaten? Get your strength up.”

  “After seeing that mess, I’m not really in the mood.”

  Sergeant Hill grabbed some ready-made meals from his pack and came over and handed them to the four of us. “You’ve been out for a while. You need to eat. Force yourself.”

  I took the offered meal but just held onto it. “Why do you guys seem a little on edge?”

  “Eat,” Davies said. “The rest of you too.”

  We did as he asked, taking a seat cross legged on the ground.

  “Remind me to give you one back,” I said to Hill.

  As we started tucking in, Davies spoke. “Once we were sure you were safe, we came over here and found that.” He pointed at the artwork that I deliberately kept at my back. “And of course, saw the cave. Once we got the scientists and soldiers out here and the clean up begun, we sent a team into the cave about three hours ago. Your friend went with them. We lost contact with them. About thirty minutes ago. We were waiting for you to get here before we did anything.”

  I stopped eating. “What’s the plan?” I said, without hesitation.

  Davies, even through his worry, smiled at me. “I had a feeling you’d say that. The plan is – you finish eating. You shit or piss if you need to. Then we’re going inside.”