Mordred was standing shoulder to shoulder with both Amelia and Aidan. Not a place he had expected to be, if he was being honest. The reason they were standing so close to each other was because Amelia and Aidan had a greater network of guilds, smaller groups, and friends, and he controlled the Rebellion network, to some degree. Between the three of them they were attempting to coordinate. It was not a great success, but it was at least a start.

“Lost the Wind of Fate,” Aidan said tersely.

“Ominous group just called in, they’re retreating,” Amelia said with a disbelieving voice.

“The people I’m talking to are not faring well either,” Mordred confirmed.

Mordred turn to look at Vienne out of the corner of his eye. He opened his mouth to ask a question, and then closed it. He turned so he was facing south once more. “I’ll start diverting other forces to block the streets on the Southeast.”

He tried not to pay any attention to the desperate airship fight that was being waged above them. There were several times now when he’d been watching that the dangerous shadow arms had almost caught the nimble vessel. There was now the slight feeling that if he was watching, the vessel would surely be caught.

“This is Mordred?” Raven appeared in front of him, making him jerk backward at the unexpected invasion of private space. “This is the guy that gave you so much trouble, Aidan?”

“This isn’t a great time,” Aidan muttered, scratching the back of his nose with a thumb.

Raven’s expression looked more incredulous. “Wow! Aidan doesn’t want to talk about it, you must be pretty okay!”

Mordred felt good for a moment, and then his ego plummeted. “Well, I lost. When we get this sorted out, rematch time.”

Raven sighed and looked at Aidan. “Look at him. He has anxiety now. Look what you did.”

“Raven,” Aidan warned calmly. There was the slightest smile working it’s way onto his face.

“Ominous group 1 is dead,” Amelia said. She sighed. “Requesting volunteers.”

Raven’s eyes were wide now as she looked at Amelia. She looked over at Aidan. Aidan just looked away. Raven looked at Mordred. “Hey man, give it to me straight, are things okay?”

Mordred was about to lie and say things were fine, but at that particular moment the group Brooks had been leading met the unique monsters that were moving up the boulevard. They were strong, no doubt about it. Brooks hadn’t brought enough people, having chosen to do a party of four to test out the invaders. Brooks had sent him the result. They had been swarmed after killing a few, and died.

“Oh,” Raven muttered.

Mordred looked back at her, realizing she had been watching his face fall from watching the footage.

“That sucks,” Raven said. She stared south. “Think I’ll go for a walk…”

“No,” Amelia and Aidan growled at about the same time.

“We’ll need you here,” Amelia began. “We’ve got to protect Vienne!”

“The fight will come, Raven,” Aidan said, supporting Amelia.

Raven smiled and then shrugged. “I get what you’re saying. But, at the same time, I’m gonna go for a look anyway.” Raven waved for a moment to someone behind them, and then War came over. “Want to go for a walk?”

War smiled and offered their arm. “It’s a lovely day.”

Mordred looked up at the sky. It was getting on dark now, the sun having almost given up. Clouds of magic and smoke and evil hands stretched in every direction. He looked at War with a puzzled face. “A lovely day?”

The giant in the armor with half their face covered smiled. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”