Arden gripped the steering wheel tighter as she raced through the portal. Another backup call, this time from Druth, the desert occupying Southern Asdur. It was not even noon and she had a fifth call to answer.

Her eye scanned the report once more. Post DD-9, Druth Expressway, eighteen brighunds and counting, no injuries or casualties. The report made her raise an eyebrow—the comrades there had trouble slaying brighunds? They were puny beings. She could see how they could be caught off-guard if a throng of them charged at once, but even then, the sensors would warn them before they posed a much bigger threat.

Light around her faded as the car sped out of the portal and into the desert. Beneath her, a growing horde swarmed from the south. Only a thinning shield sustained by one guardian kept the beasts from the highways.

Sand sprayed from wheels as her car ground to a halt. Arden got out, sword in hand. This would be easy.

Arden ran across the sand into the army. She raised her right arm, then cut through.

Slice! Light slashed through the throng. The brighunds stumbled as some of them disintegrated. A few snarled back, rubble falling from their skin—

Rubble. Stone.

Her heart pounded in her temples. Arden thrust forward an open palm.

Whoosh. A wave of shadows rolled across the sand. It swept through the swarm, stripping the beasts of their false hides and exposing their bodies of stone.

Arden charged at them. With one arm, she wielded light.

SLICE!

And in an instant, stone turned to dust.

Her eye surveyed the surrounding area. No more beasts were coming in from the south, nor the east, west, or north. Good. Arden genuflected and placed one hand in the sand. There was nothing coming from below either.

Wait...

Her magic sensed a long, large mass wading through the ground. It appeared to be a nærefiend—except, nærefiends never dug that deep in the ground, nor were they often found in warmer areas. She knew they preferred to slither in colder places, a few meters below the soil at most. Unless...

Dark gray mists flowed from her wrist and seeped through the sand. Her spell enveloped the næretor and dissolved its disguise, revealing the rock underneath.

Its head cocked upward to face her.

A comrade walked up to her from behind. "Senior Arden...?"

"GET BACK!"

Arden grabbed the comrade by the shirt and sprang to the side.

A sinkhole opened up where they stood. A massive stone serpent slithered out of it, fangs bared.

Arden summoned her other sword into her hand.

"You, shield."

The comrade obeyed, restoring the barrier by the highway in one swooping motion.

"Stand back and guard," she ordered. "I'll deal with this."

And he scuttled away.

Arden focused her gaze on the stone nærefiend. It hissed at her, slithering closer. It raised itself to tower over her.

She sprinted towards it and leaped.

It lunged—

SLASH! A swing of her sword smashed the serpent into the sand.

Arden landed on the ground with a soft thud. The creature reared its head. She rushed at it and brandished her blades. Crack! Metal struck stone.

It snarled and dove at her—

CRACK!

The tip of her sword pierced through the roof of its mouth. Its stony body shattered into fragments, then faded into dust.

Arden put her weapons away and scrutinized the land once more. There were no creatures crawling toward them as far as she could see. She kneeled, placing one hand near the ground. Nothing. They were safe for now.

The guardians who called for backup were removing the shield that was summoned earlier. Aside from the sinkhole, there were hardly any traces of the fray that had been fought; the wind had wiped away most of the paw prints in the sand.

One of the comrades walked up to her. "Senior Arden?"

"Yes? Is everything alright?"

"It is," he replied, "and th-th-thank you again for saving us."

"No need to thank me." Arden paused to catch her breath. "I have a task for one of you: go back to your post and file a report. The Guild needs to know that stone beasts have been sighted."

"Yes, Senior Arden."

The comrade jogged away.

Arden took a few steps towards the hole, her stare lingering at its emptiness. Had she not intervened, what would have happened? The comrades would not have been able to detect the beast coming from below, let alone fend it off. And if they died, the people on the highway...

A cold shudder ran down her spine.

Arden outstretched her arms. Silent spells flowed from her fingertips and mended the ground. As she restored part of the desert, an uneasy thought bore into her mind.

It was only a matter of time before Damon would return.

***

HQ was a bubble of peace, untouched by the war festering everywhere else. Its lawns and gardens remained pristine, its halls stood unwavering, and its walls and shields saw not a scratch, much less a breach. One might wonder how a fortress so sizable and significant not be a target of a raid. It was by design: when the old headquarters was besieged decades before, a new one was to be constructed in a location not publicly disclosed or easily accessed, and its vicinity was to be concealed and protected by magic. The public has tried its best to determine where HQ was, but till now, only the Guild and those who worked with it knew its address—and all who knew were sworn to secrecy.

In one of the edifices, a pair of guardians was poring over maps and reports. A major and a head scout were seated at the table examining existing reports. The major was in her thirties, her chestnut hair tied in a low bun; the scout was in his late twenties, his black hair trimmed in a buzz cut. On one side, paper documents were sprawled all over the surface, some of them having been scribbled on. In the center was a hologram of a map of Idelhen. The woman dictated the reports while the man added notes and spots on the holographic map.

Two knocks. The door swung open, and their supervisor, a senior, entered the room. "How's progress?"

"No leads so far, Senior Leith," replied the scout.

The senior closed the door behind him. Leith paced back and forth, hands behind his back, as he oversaw their work. He had fair hair tied back in a short, loose ponytail, and though he was in his early forties, his sharp yet gentle face suggested a younger age. His emerald eyes studied the map for any patterns. Nothing so far. Whatever attacks that had been carried out seemed too erratic to correlate with anything.

A young sentinel strode through the doorway with an object in her fist, fresh off her shift at Azaren. Leith turned his head. "Sentinel Sloane."

"I apologize for the delay." She handed him a pen drive. "These are all the findings from the newest batch."

"Any news from them?"

"No, sir."

"Alright." Leith tilted his head as he looked at her. "You look rather tired."

"I didn't have the best sleep last night, sir."

"Understandable. Please rest more tonight if you can."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Thank you."

The sentinel bowed out of the room. Leith returned his attention to the major and scout at the desk, and he passed the pen drive to them. A new series of dots sprouted on the map as it was updated with the most recent reports; not much of a pattern emerged still.

Knock knock knock. The door burst open and Arden rushed into the meeting room.

Leith glanced at her with surprise. "Arden, what brings you—"

"Any news on Damon?" she asked the group.

The major shook her head. She replied, "We've found no leads so far."

"We better find him soon. I just answered backup for a stone beast raid."

The air quieted in an instant; horror flared in Leith's eyes. "Where?"

"Druth."

With a few hand swipes, Arden shifted the holographic map from the desk to the wall to her left. She drew out a stylus from thin air. "Is this all the latest data?"

"All the latest," the major affirmed, "from Sigelend this year till yesterday."

There was a brief pause as Arden analyzed the map. She tapped on Druth. "Add a new point here. Roughly three dozen stone brighunds and one stone nærefiend, 11:53 a.m."

A new mark sprouted in Druth's place.

All eyes were trained on the map. Leith cleared his throat. "Were there other stone beast raids recently aside from Druth?"

"No, as far as I know," Arden answered.

Her fellow senior breathed a sigh of relief. He pressed one finger against his bottom lip. "What if we overlayed the current surge against a previous pattern... Garth, do you still have data from 2139?"

"Yes sir."

"Put that on the map."

Rapid tapping preceded a surge of black spots on the wall. The larger the mark, the more severe the ambush; the lighter, the more recent.

Leith picked up a stylus from the table, then he traced a path on the map. "Three years ago, the first shadow beast sightings were a hundred kilometers west of Duvæn, and they continued southwest till the first major siege in Idilræ." There were two taps, carefully spaced. "That's when things became erratic."

Arden tilted her head. "Garth, highlight all sieges from 2139 after Idilræ."

Charcoal lightened to a glowing gray. The highlighted spots were scattered all over without any clear rhyme or reason.

Leith scrutinized it for a while. "Is it just me, or are the later attacks slightly more concentrated around there?" he said, drawing a circle around the center of Idelhen.

"Only slightly. Unless... let's look at them month-by-month. Start with Aldogan."

The map was dull save for a few spots, the lightest of which were scattered around Northeastern Idelhen.

"He still lurked around Idilræ right after besieging it," Arden observed. "Then he spread out. Next."

More spots were dispersed through the realm. Again, there was no pattern.

"Next."

Even more, and again, there was no pattern.

"Next."

More of them grew. A semblance of structure arose—though more targets spread further out, a few were concentrated near Sorien.

"Is that it?" Leith asked, pointing at the area with his stylus.

"Perhaps. This is from Midæ, isn't it?"

"It is."

"Let's keep an eye on that. Show Mironath next."

The next month's data was shown, and the pattern became clearer. Though many of the attacks were spread far and wide, a noticeable number were concentrated near Sorien.

"Highlight the sieges from Midæ to Sigelend that year."

The lighter gray spots were highlighted with a stronger golden glow. Leith was right; aside from a dozen ambushes scattered far and wide, three months of attacks jumped out at them in a very broken circle somewhere east of Sorien and south of Duvæn and Idilræ. At its focus was Ildor.

Arden paced towards the map. "If you look here," she said, drawing an ellipse through a series of glowing dots, "you'll see they're not as thoughtless as at first glance. They were mainly encircling the real target: Ildor. He knew there was no way he could penetrate the city with seniors and majors standing guard, so he drew attention elsewhere, away, until we got complacent.

"Then he struck."

Stab. It was a miracle there was no dent on the wall where Ildor was.

Silence lingered in the room like a widow stilled by grief. Arden withdrew the stylus from the wall, her face unmoving. "Anyway, considering how successful he was, he's likely using the same strategy now."

"Then we need to find his next target before he closes in. Garth, highlight this year's sieges."

Red rose more prominently on the map.

"Start with Sigelend," Arden ordered.

The first batch of crimson glowed more brightly. No pattern.

"Miroel."

The second batch. No pattern.

"Actually, I may have noticed that the less severe attacks from three years ago were further from the target," Leith said. "We could mask the ten smallest attacks in each month this year."

"Good idea. Garth."

"On it, Senior Arden."

Clickity clack clack click. In an instant, thirty spots dimmed. There was only a slighter semblance of order, with more marks around Central Idelhen.

"I think three years ago the larger sieges were away from Ildor as well," Arden pointed out. "Mask the five largest sieges from this year."

Some more rapid clicking. With more outliers masked, a more obvious pattern emerged; around a dozen ambushes dotted the borders of Asdur and Sorien.

"Bingo," Arden said. "Now we know where he's headed."

"Isn't Irien in that area?" Leith asked.

"It is, but another city could be his target."

"You said there was a stone beast sighting today?"

"Yes. And... wait. How many stone beast sightings were reported before the massacre at Ildor?"

"Only a couple."

"Highlight them."

At once they were featured. There were two stone beast sightings reported in the year 2139: the first was reported near the southeastern coast of the country of Merre, thousands of kilometers away from Ildor; the second took place at Luthien, a little closer to the target. From the notes attached, both sieges occurred on the day of Ildor's massacre.

"One far away, one close by," Leith muttered. "Wherever he'll strike next will be far from Druth."

"And lightly guarded," Arden added. "I remember Ildor was guarded by majors and sentinels until the Guild swapped them with sentries, then Damon attacked."

Leith's skin turned wan.

"Leith?"

"We used to station majors at Irien until lately."

The room grew cold. "Garth, the reports should contain which guardians were stationed at the time, correct?"

"Yes, madam."

"For year 2139, tell me the ranks of the guardians stationed at Ildor and its five nearest cities."

Click, click clack click, clackity clickity clack. "Ildor had one sentry and one cadet at the time," Garth read out, "and its five nearest neighboring cities had sentinels and majors."

"Now tell me the ranks of the guardians stationed at the five nearest cities to Irien, Asdur."

"Sentinels. One major at Duin."

What little color Leith's face had left faded into pallor. "We only have cadets stationed at Irien."

"Then we should get moving," Arden declared. "Send as many men as you can—don't take active guardians off their posts."

"We can go there now," Major Laurel said, rising from her seat, "Garth and I've no shift after this."

"No, Garth will stay here to send the emergency signals," Leith ordered. "Laurel, go with Arden. I'll secure the area near the Sorien border."

"Yes, Senior Leith."

Three of the four in the room marched out, Arden in the center, Laurel to her right, and Leith to her left. Leith matched his pace to Arden's brisk steps. "What about your home in Irien?"

"I'm not worried about that. I have a system in place to turn it into an underground bunker," Arden said. "I'm more worried about Sorien than myself."

Leith swallowed. "I'm glad Luthien's far from the border."

"Your children are there, aren't they?"

"Yes. Ilsa's graduating next year."

Arden waved a hand. Footsteps replaced conversation as they boarded the elevator to the ground floor. By the time they got to the lobby, two Radien Stallions were already waiting: one black, one silver.

Ch-clack. "Get in the black one."

Laurel followed Arden while Leith hurried to his silver sedan. As soon as they got in, sirens blared from the speakers.

"A backup," Laurel breathed.

Obviously. Arden shut her door. "From where?"

"Irien."

Arden slammed a button, and the car leaped to life. Autopilot took the reins as Arden prepared the portal. "Details."

"Details?"

"Details of backup." What else?

"Post IA-1, Irien Outskirts, Northern Asdur. Lots of stone beasts coming from the mountains. No casualties or injuries."

"And only two cadets." The senior shook her head. "We should've kept majors there."

Magic beamed from the headlights and transformed into a portal. Their next stop: Irien, Asdur.