ADARA

Adara stood beside Yuven and Fenrer as they looked over the knolls. Crimson air permeated the horizon, a smog of death about to rain down on the Summit grounds. All the wardstones shone bright, but tendrils of red slicked through the colors. Yuven shook his head, ignoring the three sovereigns behind him as a couple Storm Wardens stood by awaiting orders. Adara copied his motion. "Why here?" she whispered as embers tickled underneath her skin, dancing in her own blood as the world's spread in front of her. Golden stalks wilted away with the growing taint, cracking into ash and soaking the land. Things twisted and molded with the growing shadows.

"Warden Traye?" Reyn asked behind her. "You wanted to say something? Do you have a plan?"

Adara glanced at the tall wardstone closest to them, which rippled with power as the barrier pulsated outwards. Violet thoughtfulness turned to her, then the wardstone before twisting on his heel. "Maybe, but I need to see something."

She gasped when Yuven headed for the barrier, stopping at the edge as it rippled with ice. He tipped his head, as if listening to something. Her heart hammered against her ribcage as he withdrew his crescent blade, and stepped past the safety of the barrier. Jelly filled her legs in the terrible silence. What is he thinking?

A horrid screech filled the air, and all she saw was the monster bathed in the blood moon. Yuven pivoted to the side when a mass of shadow leaped from one of the stalks, teeth outstretched to take his head off. He twirled his crescent blade, slashing the creature down its middle. Crimson viscera splattered the barrier, and she bit down on a scream as the obscura bells tolled in the distance. Back to the barrier, Yuven returned to them with a huff. "No, that won't do..."

Fenrer glanced at him. "Yuven?"

"Too many," Yuven replied. "They're hiding, but they're draining the wards from underneath us." He sighed, then turned to the kings. "I don't really care about what attracted this horde, all I care about is that it's here."

Adara lowered her head to the fields. Gold to blood red. A stale wind attacked her senses and weaved the shadows through the stalks. Bile rose up to her throat at the smell of decay. Yuven snarled, but the thoughtful expression returned in a millisecond. "I'll send for reinforcements that we left at the gorge."

Fenrer said softly, "Yuv, they'll never make it in time."

"We'll just have to give them time," Yuven mumbled and shook his head before turning to the sovereigns. "Here's the plan, and I'm not going to give you room to complain. It is either my plan or we all die." Fists clenched, he stood toe to toe with Reyn. Adara spotted Laucan hiding in the shadows, staring at the blood-smeared barrier. "If we're to give them time we need to throw ourselves at the Derelicts. Everyone that can fight. I'm ordering you to find those that can and are willing to among your contingents and ask for their help." Yuven's nostrils flared. "I won't make them fight, but I'm making you ask if you value your lives, and the lives of those around you. With the size of this horde, our current battalion of Storm Wardens will be hard pressed to hold them back to give the reinforcements enough time to reach us."

Wait... Adara puzzled together his words as he turned to another Storm Warden.

"Get your fastest runner and grab a train car if needed," Yuven bit. "We'll distract them."

Laucan frowned. "What of those who don't want to fight?"

Yuven froze up, and a twinge of second-hand unease filled her heart as he turned to Laucan. "You can tell them they don't have to. Either way, people are going to die here." He scoffed at the Naveeran king. "What would you know, though? You've got one thing going for you in that frozen hell of yours. Derelicts don't like it either." He came closer to Laucan. "Unless you want to show that the Naveerans are in this fight with us, tell your people to stay out of the way."

Adara snapped her head up at his words, understanding the weight behind his orders. "Yuven, you can't!" she exclaimed. "You're sending those people as fodder! You don't actually believe they stand a chance against these things." Adara waved her hand at the wardstone, where silver flames hushed between the cracks and the stale wind stiffened in response.

"It's the only way, if I do not, if we do not, we are sealed in our fates," Yuven snapped back at her. "You don't get to make that decision. Just remember that your magick is a beacon in more ways than one."

"I didn't ask for this to happen!" Tears rose up to her eyes. "You can't ask those people to throw their lives away for something that's not even a guarantee! They're not Storm Wardens!"

"When you're born into this world, there's always that risk, Storm Warden or not. We live with these creatures day in and day out, and you don't think most people understand the risks of surviving against them?" Yuven bit back before turning on his heel to face another Storm Warden. "Get the bunkers ready and tell the outposts to gather along the wall where the horde is at its strongest. I don't care if rotting corpses have to pile up in the clouds. I don't care if you have to throw stinking viscera at their faces. Stop their advance."

Adara stepped in front of him when he headed for the path back to the Summit. "You're going to murder all those people."

Yuven glared down at her, his pupils thinning.

"The panic will frenzy the Derelicts," Fenrer spoke. "The wardstone won't hold underneath that strain."

Yuven stepped from her. "Think you can hide a good bulk of those that cannot fight, Fenrer?"

Adara stared at the spinning green galaxies. "Maybe, if we gathered them in one place. Though that runs the risk of trapping them. We need points along the barrier." Fenrer pointed at the other wardstones. "You might have to sacrifice anchor points to create more strength on one side. I'd find an escape route, probably nearest where we're expecting the reinforcements."

Adara screamed when a Derelict launched itself at the barrier. Its teeth dug into it, where its lolling tongue licked at the magick. Reyn frowned, then stepped up to Yuven. "I'll help. I'll fight along with the Storm Wardens, and I'll ask any of my people if they're willing to do the same. My magick should be able to weaponize the barrier. Though they may get past, they will get shocked for their efforts. It will stall them." Adara frowned when he eyed Laucan, who stepped back. "We'll cover the wardstones the Storm Warden's can't reach and go from there. Is that satisfactory?"

"Good enough. Hirishi, with your magick, you go with Fenrer and assist the defensive efforts. Create what you are able and make sure everyone is armed whether they're going to fight or not," Yuven said before heading back to her. "As for you, Anima. If you want to help, you're going to have to stay as far away from the horde so they don't sense your magick."

"I didn't—"

"Ask for this. No one did," Yuven growled. "I'll place you somewhere outside the horde's reach, but get ready, Adara. If you thought Prunal's attack was bad, this is going to be worse." He pushed past her to glance around. "Question is... if Fenrer is too busy with covering a whole mass of agitated magickae where are you going to hide and how?"

"I can go with Fenrer," Adara said, slowly stepping for him.

"No," Yuven growled. "Not unless you want to torture him."

"If that—"

"Fenrer, as your Captain, I won't allow it," Yuven said. "You need to focus your energy, and with her magick it's not going to be possible. Surely you must understand that. You have impressive limits, Fenrer, but you still have them. Don't test them here of all places."

"Maybe I can be of some assistance?" a smooth voice asked. Adara turned to see Keeper Blackwall. "I couldn't help but overhear. I was just examining the other wardstones as the Storm Wardens requested and was told to come see you here and give my account."

"And?" Yuven folded his arms. "If you have something to say, say it."

"As an Aurus of no ill ability, I might be able to hide the Anima for a time," Blackwall commented before turning to the bleeding barrier, where another Derelict joined in on the feast. "If you want to thin the horde, I can also funnel her magick beacon into a wardstone of your choosing. Farther away from the innocents to give breathing room, so to say." He stopped, and tipped his head at her. "Though the loss of life is inevitable, do you wish to help, Miss Adara?"

"Of course." Adara grabbed her crimson shawl.

Blackwall smiled at her. "Who wouldn't, when faced with such an opponent? It is admirable that though you have seen the horrors of this world, you are still willing to save everyone."

"Naivety," Yuven growled. "Don't fill her head with that. We can't save everyone."

"As it always starts, I did not say that we could, Warden Traye. We have learned that lesson over and over again," Blackwall said with a glance at Yuven, then at Laucan. "You're the King of Naveera, correct?"

"Y-Yes?" Laucan asked, almost hiding in Reyn's shadow.

"You have time magick — you would be better served at the defense as well," Blackwall said with a smile. "Someone who can stop the Derelicts in time."

Laucan rubbed his arm. "... not long."

"Long enough," Blackwall said. "At least, from what I've studied of the Naveeran bloodline magick."

"Could I help?" she asked.

Yuven pushed her shoulder. "If you use your magick here, you have no idea what would happen. Any other time I'd say fly to the wind, but not here." He snarled at her. "You are going to stay out of it and wait for it to end. Understand?"

"You're not the boss of me, Yuven."

Yuven leaned closer to her. "Do you want to survive this night, Adara?"

"I want everyone to survive."

"Then be prepared for your own self-made despair as you watch the Infernal Hells descend on us. Pray to whatever damned Gods you believe in. I don't think they're going to be watching." Yuven headed up to Fenrer, Reyn and Hirishi. "You know what you should do." He stomped up to Blackwall. "Your plan has merit, but don't try anything without warning. Understood?"

"I wouldn't dream of making the Storm Warden's jobs harder than they already are," Blackwall mumbled with a deep bow. "I understand loud and clear, Yuven Traye. I shall take Adara, and the time wielding king to the prospective wardstone." He eyed Laucan, who stepped closer. "Is that satisfactory to both? I don't mean to presume."

Everyone looked at Laucan, Yuven downright glared daggers at him. Adara tipped her head when Laucan clasped his hands together with a shy nod. Adara headed up to Fenrer. "Fenrer, are you... are you going to let him do this?" She frowned when he avoided her gaze. "Are you going to be okay?"

He smiled at that. "I believe."

He... believes? Adara watched as he headed up to Yuven.

"I'll see you, Yuven," he said. "I'll hide them near the centre and try to search for a break in the horde if things don't look to be going the way you want it to."

"It won't go the way I want it to." The barrier cracked, and one mangled tooth dropped to the ground. Taint splurted out of the dirt, and Adara jumped back when a tendril snaked through the world, and Yuven gave a noise of disgust. "We're out of time. Go. Now." He waved his hands at them as a couple of Storm Wardens fought off the tendril as it attached to the other side of the barrier to release the horde. Adara tried to ignore the sounds of magick as Blackwall led her and Laucan through the rest of the Summit. Every step, the screams began. Every rush, the flames of hope died.

'I believe.'

What did he mean?

Blackwall pointed up a knoll. "This should give us a view of the battlefield."

Adara went to follow him, but stopped when Laucan hesitated, glancing back at the standards as blood dripped from the clouds in cruel rain. Confusion and terror filled his face, and it was Jisa in front of her, hands clutching bloodied smocks. "Um..." Adara headed up to him. "King Laucan, was it?"

"Yes?" He turned to her.

"Have you ever experienced this before?"

Laucan dropped his gaze to his feet with a shake of his head. "I'm afraid Traye had the right of it... Derelicts freeze as much as we do. It is a slow stall though. I know that they are relentless." He twisted around her to Blackwall. "Keeper, I can do what I am able to defend this area, but..."

"Don't panic. Pyren also had the right of that," Blackwall said as he trudged up the hill. Adara stepped up to the wardstone when they reached the top, but the fields of light turned into the fields of crimson muck. She jumped when a howl pierced the air behind her, but she couldn't see the torment below. Flames lit up patches of the wave of darkness. On her knees, she viewed the suffering, unable to pretend that it was a nightmare. Come to life, she remembered Fenrer's words.

I believe.

In what?

Locked in a moment where the clouds bled and spears of gold slashed through the crimson while the screams rang the bells of the end. Is this truly your world, Mother? Is this the world you believed in? Are we resigned to this fate? Adara hugged her crimson shawl, unable to find extra tears to cry. Beads of red shifted within every shadow, crushing down the light left to the world, leaving nothing but their hopelessness incarnate.

Blackwall set his back against the wardstone as his own black spirals spun. "Adara? I need you within my sphere of influence to cover your magick in its entirety."

Adara turned to him and came closer to the muffling field while Laucan stayed at the edge of the end. "Are we just supposed to watch?" she whispered to the tainted air.

"Our beautiful world was destroyed by a rip in the flow," Blackwall said, tilting his face to the blood-red clouds as his snake eye pendant shone. "This is what our world turned into. Sacrifice after sacrifice, and yet we believed."

I believe.

"In what?" she asked.

"It depends on who you ask." Blackwall's footsteps sounded beside her as Laucan turned to a moving shadow as it crawled up the hill with lumbering steps, swaying movements, and claws to turn bones into ribbons. "Adara. You are a beacon of magick. I cannot fault you for wanting to use that power to help others."

The Derelict crawling up the hill screamed, and Laucan raised his hand. An icy clock wound around its body.

"They are fragmented in the flow," Blackwall said. "For the connection was lost with their arrival as they hungered for our magick, our flesh." He frowned, and a crease wrinkled his brow.

Jisa cried in her head, but released the bird stuck in a cage at the expense of her own key. Adara bit down on her lips as the Derelict split into two more. Laucan stumbled back as it cracked the icy clock. They snarled and rushed him. Adara rushed through the pulsing sphere to push him to the side, and face the fate of their reality. The Derelict stretched its second maw forward and she stared into the abyss, and knew no answer to their belief.

Fire and torment drove a wedge into her heart as she screamed along with the Derelict. Pain sliced through her skin as she stumbled to her knees as the silver aurora pierced the sky. Unable to gasp for her life as the Derelict turned into nothing but sludge around her. Laucan rolled back to Blackwall, who simply stood by the wardstone as more cracks crawled up its surface.

"This is your world," he said, with none of the pain Fenrer had as he stepped into her inferno. "Though it is the fate of a fragmented flow, and though people accept or refuse it. They don't run from it."

Adara breathed out her flames as the wardstone shattered. Silver flames ate at the barrier, sending a spiral in a blink of an instant to the other distant wardstones. Silver burned into her eyelids, taking all the colour of the world away as the aurora breathed with her pain. The flow cracked, and she stood among the bloodied streets of Prunal. Every step was heavy as people died around her. Eaten to nothing but their bones. Rosa, nothing more than pieces of meat when the Derelict feasted on her being.

Closer to the pounding heart as she faced down the darkness with its wicked grin.

Closer to the end as her strength left her bit by bit. Farther away from Jisa's shape, reaching out. Reaching out to save one life. Reaching out to save the many as blood slicked down her arms from the slicing power of the Derelicts as the sound of stone cracked along points within her view as the embers descended with her heartbeat.

In pain, she continued.

In torment, she refused to fall to her knees.