When Miroel ceased to be, all remnants of warmth vanished with it. In its place swooped the month of Felian, with harsher winds that hissed and howled. Edin nearly cursed the sky for such weather, but thought he ought not to anger it further—it could retaliate with a blizzard that might render him unable to walk, much less fight. There was a year when the snow came much earlier than anticipated. At least the current flurries melted before they could blanket Irien in a layer of white.

As a result, Edin had dug out the heavier-duty winter clothes from his wardrobe. No matter how many layers he put on, the cold would bite his skin as soon as he set foot outside. Gone were the morning treks to work and in came the daily commute by car, and every time he would reach the post, Beth would be waiting in a summer uniform, ready to chaff him for his poor cold tolerance. He had grown accustomed to the teasing by then. Besides, even Stefan found the weather too frosty for his liking; that was all the validation he needed.

Days floated by, and before they knew it, it was the twentieth of Felian. The afternoon was crawling in and Edin could not wait to head home and cozy himself near a fireplace. Edin roamed around the room while Stefan reclined in a roller chair. Clomp, clomp, clomp, clomp. An occasional roll of small wheels would interrupt the steady sound of footsteps.

Stefan spun around in his chair. "Bored?"

Edin shrugged. "I guess."

"Fair." Stefan leaned further back in his seat and yawned. "On the bright side, we don't have to go out at all. There's been no beasts around here for weeks now."

The control panel beeped.

"Way to jinx it," Edin muttered.

He marched to the control panel. The cadets grabbed hold of the controls and adjusted the cameras. A few monsters were coming in from the northern hills; even from afar, they could spot their backward knees.

"Glæsselings in this weather?" Stefan raised an eyebrow. "Thought they only show up in the summer."

"Apparently not. Will your shield traps be enough?"

"Yeah, I think. Should be."

Fwshh. The glæsselings stumbled and slammed into a translucent barrier, which surrounded them before they could raise themselves. Stefan clenched a fist—the shield trap shrunk in an instant.

The monsters snarled and clawed at the walls. The trap contracted further. Soon there was not much room for them to even move their paws.

Stefan strained his arm. "Weird," he said, "these beasts are way tougher. Like, literally."

"Thick skin, maybe?"

"I guess? But it's really hard, like I don't know if I can crush them." Fingernails dug into the folds of his palm. "Like I'm squeezing rocks."

"Should we get out there?"

"I don't know."

One of the creatures struggled to open its snout. Once it did, its tongue shot out.

Shhk. It nearly pierced through the shield.

Stefan swore, then made an outward grasping motion with his right arm. The shield was mended.

Thud, thud, thud, thud...

Their screens displayed more footage from the northern border. A dark spot formed on the mountaintop as a dozen monsters pounded the ground downhill.

Stefan dropped his jaw. "Holy..."

"We should get out."

"One of us. The other has to stay here, just in case. I'll stay."

"But—never mind." No time for disputes.

Edin darted to the storage room to fetch a thick combat jacket, then zipped through the door.

The cold stung him at once.

He gritted his teeth. Fire blasted from his feet and propelled him across the half-frozen ground. His right hand prepared his sword as he neared the fields. It better be quick—the chilled air was hard on his lungs.

Up ahead he sighted the translucent sphere Stefan created, the first few beasts still trapped inside. Edin raised a fist—hold, hold—then splayed his fingers.

The shield disappeared. Six creatures scampered toward him.

He leaped and wielded his sword. Crack! Lightning struck through the beasts, cracking their skin—

Cracking? Glæsseling skin was supposed to burn, not crack...

The sound of paws still thumping toward him snapped him back to reality. Six beasts galloped with bloodless gaps in their flesh.

Edin aimed the tip of his blade at one. Leftmost. Thrust. Crack!

And the beast shattered, its remains gray and jagged.

A dramatic hum shook the air as the emergency shield rose from the ground surrounding Irien.

Edin charged at the stone glæsselings, current enwreathing his weapon. He brandished his blade. Crack! Lightning wove through the horde of rock. Crack! Crack! They shattered from shock or sword. The fields were gray with fragments, yet more monsters stormed in from the north. Crack! Crack! Crack! They split into shards. More took their place. In they rolled from the mountain slopes.

"Edin!"

Stefan's voice came from behind. He was surfing to the scene on a shield, translucent disks in his hands.

"Stefan!" Edin yelled back. "Call backup!"

"Already! I called as soon as I saw they're stone be—LOOK OUT!"

Stefan hurled a shield at a beast before it could pounce on Edin. It ricocheted off the shoulder—its leg broke off the joint, but the beast still limped on.

Edin charged. Swung. Steel met stone and boom!—the rest of the beast fractured.

The pounding of paws roared louder and louder as the horde rushed in from the hills. They dispersed as they neared the town.

"I got them!" Stefan shouted.

With an outward sway of his arms, two walls flashed into existence and flanked the fields. The brutes rammed into them—they could not escape.

"Thanks!" Edin ran deeper into the battleground, dodging their long tongues and firing lightning from his sword. Anything to keep them further away. "Is this our strategy now?"

"I guess?" Stefan hollered from the back. "I'll keep them from spreading out!"

More stone glæsselings charged southward. The two cadets held them off. Bolts of blue chased them down as magical shields barred them from escape. Force fields ripped through the air and sliced through stone tongues. Beasts butted their heads against barriers flat and round. No matter how quick the two were, the army drew nearer.

Crack! "You sure you called backup?"

"I did!"

"Shouldn't they be here by now?"

The answer appeared as a bright speck in the sky.

A black Radien Stallion emerged from a portal several meters above the ground. Arden's hands held the steering wheel; her eye scanned the land below. A swarm of stone beasts were coming from the northern hills. Only two men fended them off.

"There!" Major Laurel said, pointing at the cadets. "We should help them!"

"Wait." Arden turned her head further right. "I sense more."

A broad silhouette rose from the south. Another army. From afar she could spot hundreds of glæsselings, ætterlings, and briglings, and no guardian to stop them.

"You help them below. I'll go over there."

The car nosedived from the sky till it was just above the soil. The left door opened and Major Laurel leaped out.

Arden sped away as the major ran to the front line. The throng advanced further from the mountains. Though the cadets were staving them off better than she could hope, the two retreated still; they stepped backward with every blow dealt.

She shouted: "Spring to the side!"

The two looked back. "What?"

"Spring to the side!"

And boom! The earth split open. Power tore through the ground from where she stomped, cutting right down the middle. At once, dozens of stone glæsselings plunged to their demise. She arced her arms inward—the soil resealed its wound.

Stefan gaped at her. "Th-thanks!"

"No prob!"

Part of the ground jutted from underneath her, launching Laurel deeper into the field. She landed with a loud STOMP that raised a dozen mounds of earth into the air. She raised one leg—a strong kick flung them at the enemy.

Crack! Edin threaded lightning through another string of monsters. "Where's Arden?"

"Heading south," Laurel yelled, "why?"

"I saw her car just now."

"Yeah, she drove us from HQ. We think Damon's targeting Irien next."

Edin's eyes bulged out of his skull—adrenaline kept the rest of his body fighting and not frozen. "Damon?"

"We didn't see him but he might show up. Don't worry, Senior Arden will take care of him."

Arden alone. He didn't point it out.

On the other side of town, the senior had jumped out of her car and sent it away to safety. In front of her, an army of monsters stretched as far as her eye could see. Probably larger than the small city behind her. It was a good thing her home could hide underground; it would have been long besieged.

Arden called her dual swords into her hands. Dark gray mists swirled down her arms and wrapped her blades. She stepped back. Arms withdrawn. Then a sharp thrust.

FWOOSH. A stream of shadows flowed towards the horde, stripping off their false skins as it passed through.

She ran. The edges of her swords shone brighter the closer she got. Arms left, swing back, slice through—SLASH! The first few hundred beasts faded into ashes. Thousands more still thundered toward her, trampling over the remains of their fallen.

Arden pressed forward. Light beamed from her blades and pierced through the throng. They scattered. Flares shot out the tips of her swords and hunted them down like homing missiles—through twist or turn, leap or burrow, her spells ensnared them no matter the path. Their front lines eroded enough that it was as good as a retreat.

An eerie sensation traced her right temple. More. Her eye shot a glance at the west and caught a large silhouette just emerging over the horizon. The south was still under siege—she could cover both if she had to—

Ice bullets fired from behind her, knocking the front lines back by another row.

She spun around. An ice-wielding sentinel had rushed onto the battlefield, followed closely by four others. Further back, another dozen sprinted forth. Not counting the four cars that had just parked by the border. Or the white Stallion landing nearby.

Arden refocused on the army ahead. She widened her stance, her swords pointing to the sky. Leaned left. Arms left. Light flowed from deep within her core and enwreathed enchanted steel.

One step, and a swift swing to the right and FLASH!

A pale wall of magic arced around the southern border. Now no beast could breach past that point.

The senior returned her gaze to those behind her. "Secure the south!" her voice boomed. "If more backup arrives, tell them to head east—we must not leave any side defenseless."

She took off before they could respond, riding a wave of light across barren land. Sounds of ice, fire, and more clashing with stone faded further out of earshot. Arden was tempted to glimpse behind herself to check. No, no need, they would be fine.

The newest battalion to appear was still a little far out but galloped fast enough to warrant worry. Arden strained her calves—her magic carried her faster westward. Every second they went unopposed was another second for them to close in.

At last, she reached the halfway point between the beasts and the town. Arden leaped into the air, light still streaming from her soles, and pulled off a spinning kick.

FLASH. Whole rows of monsters vaporized in an instant. The troops behind charged through the ashes of their brethren.

Boots met firm ground once more. Arden raised her arms to attack. Just before she unleashed another flare, dark gray smoke surged onto the scene and devoured five score.

Arden cocked her head to the left. "Just in time!"

"As I often am." Riven destroyed another fifty-odd beasts with a nonchalant wave. "I just came from Mittir; they had a stone beast raid earlier."

"Them too?" SLICE! Arden swung one sword, demolishing another hundred. "Druth also had a stone beast raid earlier today."

"Huh"—he tilted his head—"you think Damon's showing up today?"

"Likely."

"Then let's clean up before he gets here."

A mutual nod. The two seniors faced the incoming swarm. Shadows slithered down their arms, and not a droplet of fear coursed through their veins.

For there was no reason to fear darkness when they commanded it too.

***

The barren plains and slopes Irien was nestled in were bristling with battle. From a bird's eye view, the city itself was unchanged. Only the fields beyond its protective dome had transformed—an ashen swarm dominated the lands, warded off only by a thin ring of magic and its wielders. Reinforcements had poured in from other settlements. The invaders had been driven further back. After what seemed to be ages, the guardians perceived an end to the onslaught that had begun at high noon.

At the western border, shadows woven by men pursued and purged beings born from a more sinister darkness. The grounds were ravaged by the brutes' attempts to burrow past barriers, only for them to be trapped in voids that siphoned whatever substituted for a soul. Even the remains of their "dead" were weaponized—magic stitched their stone bodies back and possessed them, forcing them to hunt down whatever was left of the enemy.

Even more astounding was the fact that only two guardians were defending that side. If one questioned why Riven and Arden were given so much deference, the answer would be found in that very moment.

The edge of the fray nearer the horizon grew brighter, not from added light, but from a lack of gray. And this lightness spread along the whole length of the horizon as far as she could see.

Arden exhaled a second longer. Soon it would be over—

An unsettling chill pricked the top of her spine.

Damon.

Arden turned her head to the right, her senses grasping for any trace of that sinister coldness. Northeast of Irien. But the army...

She and Riven locked gazes. He gave a nod. At once, Arden sprinted away.

The fastest way was to cut through the town, but that was risky. Invite a war to civilian soil? There must be a quicker route that would leave Irien untouched. Think, think... her car.

Arden muttered a silent spell. The sedan drove into view the very next moment, doors open. The guardian leaped into the driver's seat and slammed her palm on the controls.

One moment she was speeding into the city—the next moment she had sprung from a portal closer to the northern hillside. Arden jumped out, waved her car off, and resumed her pursuit on foot.

A foreboding chill prickled her right shoulder blade. Northeast still. She was on the right track, even if her eye could not yet perceive it. Fingers grasped the hilts more firmly as she hastened towards the hillside. Come out, come out. Now was no better time for him to crawl out of hiding.

A spectral breeze blew toward the mountains.

The senior held her breath. Fine. If he was so cowardly that he would forever hide in the shade, then she shall drag him out with brute force.

Rays bright enough to rival the sun radiated from her core, lining her slender arms from the curves of her shoulders to the creases in her gloved palms. Sharpened steel transformed into batons of blinding gold. The guardian of Idelhen narrowed her gaze at the hillside whose trees hid her nemesis.

Her right leg shifted three feet behind her, soles digging into the soil, while her arms drew back. Then she struck with all her might!

FLASH!

Magic scorched the mountains on all of its slopes. No crack or shade was spared from her punishing rays. One would think she set the land aflame, but the truth was the trees and the shrubs and all things living were not wounded by her light—only the shadows were banished by her spell.

Except for one.

A black haze flickered near the eastern base of the hills. An outline of a man could hardly be made out within it, but his blood-red eyes pierced through the shroud.

Without a second thought, Arden and Damon charged at one another.