"What the hell," Damien muttered, watching the line before them be avoided so easily.

'What are they doing?!'

He couldn't understand what he was seeing. Sure, Hellials are terrifying, and he'd understand one or two of the Combatants balking in the face of them, but allowing almost all to just pass through? Except for the two enemies that hadn't seemed to get the memo, each of the others that had made it to the defenders were practically unimpeded. And if it wasn't strange enough that Hellials had avoided a fistfight, these eleven appeared... different. Driven. Even if he wasn't being paranoid, it seemed as if they all were staring in his direction.

In that moment, he resolved to use every ounce of strength he'd gathered through the years without reserve. A ladder of crackling energy built itself into the sky above him, but the clouds refused to respond. They weren't ready yet, not mature enough. A light drizzle was upon them, but the cell was still too far. He turned his attention to the ring on his finger and it began to burn with fury, the insides begging to melt within seconds as he flash cooled them over and over again, demanding it stay producing for even a moment longer. He felt the skin on his finger begin to sizzle as it glowed a faint red with ripples of heatwaves forming all around his hand.

"Alexa, wall us off quickly," Damien said urgently, receiving a grunt from the Celestial beside him who he could already feel pulling at the river beside them, her eyes glowing a dark blue.

It looked like she'd begun before the Hellials had even touched the line of Combatants. He'd gotten a strange feeling as they'd charged, and perhaps his nervousness had tipped her off through the pact or the feeling originated from her skepticism in the first place. Either way, they were coming, and the Mages weren't ready for a melee. Not one that involved so many that were built for a melee.

Within moments of the Hellial's trampling past the Combatant's, Mages all around Damien began throwing spells of the Elements towards the approaching enemies. [Fireball], [Ice Wall], [Stone Spear], [Ray of Decay], and all other manners of close-ranged spells were shouted out all around, flying or manifesting themselves before the attackers before the salvo slammed into the encroaching wall of death. A tinge of relief spread through his body to see them hit, but unease regained control of his mind as he felt them all move beyond the attacks, barely slowed. The feeling settled in his mind even further when they emerged from the smoke for a second with bodies that looked almost unscathed. It had slowed their sprint to a jog and caused a few that were already in the air to swerve, but no damage was apparent on any. One had actually charged right through into a [Scorching Ray] and a cheer had gone up from those around the Mage that had shot it, yet despair bit into them as the Hellial barely slowed, arm raised as it grinned evilly while intentionally running through the beam of pain.

"They're Enchanted!" a voice from Damien's right called out.

"How!? They have no-" another voice called from his right.

"The Nivari! [Ice Vortex]!" the first man interrupted the distressed question, before throwing a spiraling ball of ice forwards that shredded the ground beneath it like a hurricane that had been turned on its side.

The spell crashed into the closest Hellial to them and Damien was certain that if that had hit any other manner of living creature, it would have been ripped to pieces, unrecognizable. Yet, the spiraling shards of ice sheered off or outright shattered against the Hellials skin and he came on.

"Put up a wall like Garon said!"

"No!" Toren shouted to whoever had suggested that. "They'll fly over you fool, and it blocks our vision! Concentrate your fire and hold your ground!" he demanded, throwing as many pillars of stone through the air as he sent up from the ground.

"Alexa," Damien whispered, impatient and more than a bit nervous as he watched a few Mages on the edges of their group starting to turn to run.

She was still focused, and he saw water rising, but it was taking too long for his tastes. They'd be cutting it close.

Immediately, all the spells being thrown at random began targetting the closest three Hellials. Damien turned the topsoil to mud, causing the Hellials to take flight and glare as if they resented him for even attempting to slow them in that manner. However much easier it was to aim at them while they were in the air though, it was exceedingly more difficult to hit them due to the speed and surety with which they dodged using their wings. A spike of ice had actually embedded itself into one of the friendly Combatants that laid beyond, having been dodged by its target. None of the Mages ceased firing because of that, however, and the Combatants had already turned to pursue the Hellials they'd let slip past without a care for the rogue missiles that sped towards them.

Forty feet, thirty... Damien's heartbeat screamed in his chest as his body charged with a lethal amount of electricity, keeping himself from impatiently firing and gathering most in his left hand, outstretched towards the Hellials. For the first time in years, he actually began to lose control of it. The volatility was pushing his limits in control as it arced between his fingers and from his arms to his body, causing him to close his hand into a fist. But, like a lightning rod, any of it that jumped to his chest or sides surged right back up, constantly drawn through his core and to his hand. In his mind, it felt like he'd created a black hole specifically targetting lightning, even more than the planet that constantly beckoned the uncontrollable Element.

Unfortunately, it hurt. Every single bolt that got away left a red or black mark on Damien's skin, leaving holes in his clothing. The electricity wasn't his when it lept away from his control and he quickly found he needed to counter it or allow his muscles to spasm, risking losing control of all of it, which couldn't be allowed to happen. He and everyone around him needed this to work.

Finally, a large stone hand emerged from the ground directly beneath the closest Hellial, grasping its legs and yanking it halfway into the ground following which a huge spike shot upward, meeting the falling figure's stomach. As if someone had dropped a window from a rooftop, something around the Hellial shattered loudly as the spike tore through it, three spells following to rip the rest of its body apart in a bloody mess. The second fell almost simultaneously to a [Fireball] blasting off a portion of its head, while yet another finally succumbed to multiple rays of flame, ice, and decay all drilling through it at once. They had gotten within twenty feet of the group, more than half the distance from the Combatants. All of their firepower to take down three, and yet eight remained.

'Five feet to switch targets, twenty to bring another three down...' Damien gritted his teeth while thinking, though he knew it wouldn't go that smooth.

'I can't target their minds,''' Kastra sent to their minds as her barriers around them condensed further.

This wasn't a fight she could do much in, being much more adept at handling Mages than Combatants, but Damien was thankful she was focusing her energy on their protection rather than offense. Someone had to.

Felling the first few Hellials had bought the Mages a precious ten feet, but those three had been apart from the pack. Easily identifiable targets. The other eight were all within five feet of one another and Damien knew they would only get another one at best. There were too many targets and everyone would elect to shoot those that would hit where they were in the line, not concentrate their fire. If they kept on their path, it would be a slaughter.

If they kept it.

Damien almost sighed in relief as the tidal wave of water crashed in from the right. Thousands of gallons traveled through the air and across the ground at a pace many times faster than the enemy came, heeding Alexa's call. Those charging slowed for a moment as the sheer weight of all the water could sweep them away, if not do much damage, halting their advance, but continued once they saw what the Mage controlling it chose to do. Rather than target them, the water cutting them off formed a crude dome in front and above their group, less than a foot thick and cutting off the opposing forces, still visible through a blurry layer of water. A few spells tore through it still but each blunted or outright broke apart upon hitting the water, causing more than a few outraged shouts to sound out around them.

"Fool! That won't stop them!"

"Make it thicker!"

"Why didn't you hit them with it!"

Damien felt Toren looked to his side with worry and outrage, but subside when he saw the determination written on his and Alexa's faces. Other angry voices called from all directions at Alexa though, who floated upward slightly as some of the water came over to carry her, but they both ignored them as he moved his left hand upward, reaching for a tendril of water that had slithered through the air towards him.

"Make sure it isn't touching the ground," he cautioned, a bit of nervousness running through his voice as the first three Hellials closed in again, a moment away from crashing through the wall.

"Done," Alexa replied, voice a bit deeper and... older as the enemy hit the wall, slowing immensely and almost emerging out the other side already.

It was one of the few times he'd ever heard her speak while communed, and each time it had sounded as if she wasn't herself. Others when communed sounded almost normal most of the time, but the truly strong ones always had a tone change compared to their usual voice. Never this stark of a contrast from what he'd heard, though.

Damien shook his head to clear his thoughts. The tendril from the floating half-dome was a scarce inch from his left hand, a millisecond away from touching as the first Hellial's hand emerged out the other side of the wall. Damien nearly prayed none of them would notice the danger, or if they did, they'd ignore it. Though nothing they could do would help them now, he refused to celebrate until it worked.

It was a simple plan, one they'd come up with while fighting in the academy, but most of the time simple was best. Damien had seen Layla dodge his bolts to his extreme surprise, and knew here that even if he took one or two down, the following Hellials would begin to avoid his strikes. They were strong. Too strong, and too nimble. Some of their movements had been so subtle and quick that it was obvious they were an elite force. Rather than gamble on a chance that he could strike them, he and Alexa had both come to a decision of certainty without even speaking. Something they knew would work.

The tendril as thick as Damien's arm finally latched onto his raised hand, touching his middle finger first and then wrapping around his wrist. Like a small water balloon holding tons upon tons of water inside of it, stretching past its limits, it became impossible to stop the flood of energy from leaving Damien's grasp as it begged to flow upwards and away.

So, instead of fighting, Damien let go.

To their credit, he felt the Hellials all cover themselves in the lightning element. They may not know that electricity flowed like that, but their battle sense must have notified them of the danger. It only made things worse for them, however, as they became beacons of unbalanced charges for the energy that flowed through the water.

Several shatters rang out all at once as Damien focused his attention on the energy beneath the water, trying to scavenge whatever he could as thick beams of electricity a foot long shot from the bottom of the protective dome into the ground. The first Hellial's fervent grin remained plastered on his face, even after his momentum carried his charred and smoking corpse through the barrier, his feathers scorched in their entirety as he fell to a twitching heap in the mud. One more followed his companion and collapsed in the same manner, while the third managed to live, writhing in agony as he spasmed and screamed across the ground.

Unfortunately, they were the only three to fall. The following five all blasted through without much pain, not having been touching the wall when he'd released the lethal amounts into it. Damien pulled as hard as he could, trying force whatever of his mana that he could into creating lightning, on top of funneling the escaping energy into the dome, but it wasn't enough to outright stop the monsters before him. Still, Damien grinned in relief for a brief moment as more shattering rang out around each that passed through, each defensive enchantment exploding to the energy that struck it. Not because Damien was stronger than anyone around him, and not even because he'd caught them by surprise; simply because enchantments in this world of late were never meant to counter the very raw and very deadly strikes of lightning.

Most Enchanters or Augmenters that cast defensive wards specialized towards fire, ice, death magics, or poison, while many more were simple variations of general magic, but every Enchanter agreed that wasting energy guarding against lightning magic was folly, even those that were paranoid and added in buffers against wind magic. It was something each individual in the world could do without much thought, creating a defensive veil of lightning around themselves, so generalized ones that guarded against everything to lesser degrees than more specialized magics didn't truly dampen or block everything. If a Combatant got close enough to a Mage that was trying to shock him, his blade would easily cleave through the man's skull in the amount of time it took for him to touch the Combatant. And if somehow he avoided the blow and actually shocked the Combatant, it was simple enough to create his own veil of energy to counter the Mage's and then rip him to pieces. What fool would add something so easily countered into their protections?

The remaining five paused for a moment as they broke through, surprise across all of their faces. They were steaming, burnt in places, angry, and twitching against their will, but they were each very much alive, and glaring bloody murder right at Damien. Ten feet away they stood and for a fraction of a second, no one moved.

Chaos descended as the Hellials all dove forward in formation, taking almost no time to devise a plan in the deadly situation. One body thick at the front, wings spread out, while the other four hunkered behind and shoved forward immediately. A cry of pain rang out from the furthest back Hellial on the left as a massive spike of ice erupted out of his chest then spread out in three different directions like a grapple, ripping him off his feet into the dome of water. The other Mages reacted a half-second slower than Alexa but managed to send a wave of death into the approaching Hellial, but his body managed to absorb most of the hastily crafted spells as it was torn apart. It was as if he'd been sacrificed and knew it.

The man went down with a grin, reaching forward as Damien leaned back away from the claws that glimmered with a searing red flame ready to disembowel him, though it looked as if the strike was a bit off target. For however mad they were, demanding revenge, Damien almost wanted to pity them for choosing him to kill. Lightning arc'd across his body, promising death should they touch him, yet the way their own bodies held a protective layer must have made them feel safe. All it would do was invite his mana inside of them.

Damien tried to be confident, hoping he wouldn't die in the few milliseconds they'd have to claw into him, and hoping still that the clear barrier Kastra had put up before him would slow them down, but the way the first was aiming at his left side seemed to indicate it wasn't going to be a lethal blow. Even if it broke through the barrier, it wouldn't kill him.

The strike came, extended claws of flame evaporating into the barrier like an illusion as the mana was redirected, exploding backward the moment it was consumed, but the man's claws came through all the same. Fae magic wasn't meant to guard against a physical strike as powerful as the one that came, even from a dead man. It didn't help that the Hellial seemed to be aiming for the barrier either. Damien tensed, ready to blast himself backward with air magic in a moment when the remaining three came on, but it never happened. The mana he'd condensed in front of him, the plan that he'd be able to put at least himself and one more of them out of the fight at once, never came to fruition.

Surprise, regret, recalculating... multiple tangents of thought raced through his mind as left his hand shot forward on reflex and redirected his compressed explosion right before the closest Hellial's ribs, slightly to his left instead of his front. The monster's face contorted in agony before the air was even unleashed, missing its attempt to dodge out of surprise from the pain invading its mind, Kastra having sent out an unrefined pulse of mind magic centered on him. The other two flinched for a moment as well, but it seemed the brunt of the attack had been forced on the one who's fate was already sealed. The pocket of air exploded and the Hellial's body flew back toward his allies, but they had been ready for it. The wings of the front man, already crouched low, angled downward like a ramp, sending the body tumbling over their heads as they continued on. Despite the small win, cutting their remaining members down by one, despair tore through Damien's mind as he watched the remaining two. A similar target swap as the man he'd just killed had done at the last moment. The leader of the last two was carrying a sword in a rare occurrence while the one slightly further back held nothing, both now less than two feet from Alexa.

They'd been targetting her, not him. She was glowing, floating, and shredding apart the man she'd captured despite his attempts to escape where he was drowning behind them, and had trusted Damien to keep himself alive, thinking him the target as well. Spikes of ice had shot up and outward from her feet to disrupt them on their path towards him, but when they'd turned, the attacks missed their target by a small margin, scraping against their shins instead of impaling them. For whatever reason he was not as big a threat as she was, and they were going to deal with her.

The world seemed to slow as two ripples in the space below Damien and Alexa caught his peripheral vision. For a brief moment, he allowed himself to hope as Adrenna lunged for the first Hellial's legs with her sword and Emily drove her dagger for his upper half, but the man effortlessly dove between the two, wings wrapping around his body as if he'd known they were there all along. He spun to the right in a corkscrew as he flew between their high and low pincer, his right hand burrowing into Adrenna's back and left hand impaling Emily on his sword with so much force, the hilt burrowed into her body as well. The man's head struck Alexa in the stomach as a spike of ice shot upwards from the vortex of water beneath her again, embedding itself in his stomach as she folded backward like a chair from the weight of the impact.

Using the momentum of his spin as he finished, he threw Emily off to his right, letting go of his sword. Damien crumpled backward as his mom landed into his side, sword driving into his stomach as well as he followed Adrenna's limp body being ejected from the man's other hand and into more Mages across from him. As Damien fell back, he could only continue to watch on as the Hellial landed in a flourish low to the ground, his wings extending and slowing him to a stop as Alexa flew backward a few feet, toppling those behind her as her communed state dropped and her mouth opened involuntarily, blood and air spitting out toward the Hellial.

"Grab her!"

The leader remained low while a bit of the ground stirred beneath him, reaching upwards as if a liquid, searching for his wounded stomach. The other Hellial planted his left hand on the crouched one to vault over while Damien's body, still flying backward from the momentum of his mother, felt his back crash into a man behind him. The encroaching spike broke apart as Toren lost control of it, the second Hellial finished his leap and striking downwards fast. Damien felt fear flow through from Alexa until it stopped abruptly, her consciousness winking out of the pact.

Damien felt a few more thuds resound through his back as the group he'd slammed into finally stopped falling backward, the people behind them creating a wall that finally supported the weight of his ejected mother. The Hellial that had knocked out Alexa stood and spun, opening his wings and slamming them into all those around, launching the Mages and civilians further into those around them with so much strength that Damien could hear bones shattering inside them from the impact. Before anyone could react, he reached down and grabbed Alexa by the throat before opening his black wings and leaping into the sky, aiming for the mountains. The one that had crouched darted to his right after his companion that was in the sky, spearing his hand through Garrett's shoulder and another that had unluckily been in his path and lept up into the sky as well.

"No!" Damien choked out bloodily, chest screaming in pain as he lifted his arm upward and created a ladder of energy toward the back of the man holding Alexa.

The world around him had finally regained a normal pace as panic and urgency pulled him out of his state of shock and the air began to charge. Those around him seemed to wake at his shout, looking upward and raising hands to begin attacking as well. Damien was a second, no, less than that, away from ejecting any residual energy he could when he saw the following Hellial, the one carrying his father and another, turn and eject the two Humans with all the force of a cannon. Whether due to luck or calculation, his father's body traveled directly into the path of charged air Damien had created. Before he could react with any other emotion, helplessness assailed his mind as Garrett's back was suddenly inches away from his eyes.

It had all happened so fast. Seconds, despite the minutes that it felt like. It was not at a speed he was used to fighting at, nor one he could react to. He was used to being able to plan, having his swords, Emra, something else that would slow the aggressors... but not this. It was like those around him were children trying to help him face off against wolves. In the face of overwhelming power, the death they had brought, there was nothing he could do. Others would have called their defense valiant, impressive, beyond effective, even, but to Damien, the price was too great.

The surroundings faded away as his world went dark with pain, his head rocking backward as his father's back slammed into it. The last thought that surfaced seemed to mock him, though he knew she'd never meant them to when she'd asked. Back in Eleram, when he and his loves were sat on a couch, talking about when he'd commune. Back when Kastra had asked him, given him a scenario. A what-if. If a time when he could have saved a loved one had he communed... Then, he wasn't worried. He'd been so confident and scared for Kastra and Alexa. He didn't want to risk potentially killing them both then and leaving Lexi on her own, but as his world faded and Alexa was pulled further away, Kastra's words continued reverberating throughout his mind again and again.

'What matters is that you don't regret your decision should it come to pass.'

When light flooded back into Damien's eyes, he was lying on top of Toren and facing the sky as the sound of rushing water entered his ears. He blearily looked at his surroundings, his eyes refusing to give him a clear picture as his mind tossed and turned. Why was he on the ground? Was he by the river? In the river? He felt soaked. Why is everyone screaming so loudly? Why was his chest so heavy? Was Alexa lying on top of him again? Kastra? Maybe, both were asleep according to the pact. But why did his stomach hurt so bad if that was the case?

Glancing down, his blurry eyes showed him the shape of someone he was quite familiar with. It wasn't his Lexi or Kastra, but he'd never mistake his mom for anyone else. 'But why is she-'

Someone pulled his mom off his stomach and he lurched forward, crying out in pain. His stomach felt like it was on fire now and his cracked ribs crunched from the movement, but like a wave of cleansing, the pain spread across his body woke his mind up until everything began clicking back into place.

His mind refused to accept it.

"Lex?" he warily called out, sitting up a bit while looking at where she should be standing.

There was an absence though. The person that should be there, wasn't. The sound of something dragging across the floor reached his ears from behind him as he looked harder.

"Lexi," his voice trembled as he continued searching.

Something in the back of his mind suggested he look upward and he wanted to refuse. Begged his neck not to, less everything that just happened became real, but his body betrayed him. His eyes and head looked skyward and there were two shapes there, one holding something, flying off into the distant mountain range. A few arrows shot up towards them, but they were avoided or just too far away. Another spell or two shot as well, but those weren't even considered.

"No," Damien mumbled out. "No, no, no NO! ALEXA!" he screamed, surging upwards just in time for a hand to slam him back into the ground.

Damien's head and chest cracked ominously against the ground as a new wave of pain shot across his body, once again sending him into a brief daze.

"Don't do anything stupid," Vanessa ordered, her face coming into view as the panicked shouts around him drowned out for a moment. "Heal yourself now, I'll take care of Em-"

His mind once again snapped into focus as he remembered what else had happened.

"MOM," he screamed, sitting up again and looking to his left.

Vanessa was over his mom's unconscious body that lay right next to him, the sword still impaled through her. Vanessa seemed to be bracing to yank it out when she noticed he'd sat up again and moved to slam him back into the ground, but noticed he wasn't moving to get up and halted herself.

"Nooo, no no," he mumbled, panic threatening to take over again as his eyes began to sting. "Is-"

"Help your father," Vanessa demanded, interrupting him while pointing to his back.

Damien's mind flooded with another problem and somehow, that helped him focus. His father should be dying of bloodloss immediately. He should focus on that. Vanessa was helping Emily. And if anything, she should be able to save-

"No," he said to himself, shaking his head.

He couldn't allow himself to think on it. He had to help his dad.

Turning around, Damien saw Garrett lying unconscious as a dark red stream oozed out of the crater in his right shoulder. Damien moved towards him and almost cried out in pain, gritting his teeth hard as he reached forward, sending his mind into his dad's body.

'Artery not just severed, but obliterated, muscle and ligaments torn or missing altogether...' Damien began healing the internal damage as best he could while mumbling inside his head, a clear substance falling from his eyes and dropping into the shoulder. 'Stop the bleeding, repair the...' he shakily muttered before a whimper broke him out of his thoughts.

Glancing up, Emra had made her way to his side and was looking about with worry. He briefly wondered how she had gotten out of the carriage before realizing he was healing his dad, then looked back down and made another realization. His dad was stable with the patches that had taken him seconds. If he tried to fix everything, he'd be here for at least another few minutes and burn through almost all the mana he had remaining.

Why was that bad though? His dad needed help. He'd probably never be able to use this arm again if Damien didn't fix it right the first time.

Emra kept whining. He almost told her to shut up. He couldn't think! But if he spoke, it would be shaky and broken from the way his chest crackled whenever he breathed and the damn liquid falling from his eyes.

"Am I..." he muttered, wiping his face as his arm came back wet.

Emra whined again and Damien looked over, seeing she was still looking around, looking up at him, whining, shoving her nose into the ground and searching again-

Damien's mind snapped back to the largest problem and he stood up, ignoring his body's protests as he slowly began to address the broken bones and stab wound. That reminded him of something else that happened and once again, he told himself NOT to dwell on his mother's condition. Vanessa knew what she was doing and from the sheer quantity of mana that was being used up behind him, surely she'd-

"Stop," Damien demanded of himself as Vanessa looked back up.

"Hey! Keep healing-"

"He'll be fine, I stopped the bleeding," Damien snapped back, moving out of range of her hands as he turned his body towards the mountain and took a step.

"Find Kastra," Vanessa demanded from his back as Damien froze in place, fear and panic lancing again through his body as he looked back, finally realizing Vanessa had tears streaming down her face.

Turning away from her, he searched the area, wondering where Kastra could have gone. Not finding her outright, he felt for the pact. Like a star, she shown from his dad the ground, confusing Damien. Confusing him until he thought back a bit and realized she'd been on his shoulder when his father had slammed into his head and upper body.

Damien shot back to the ground soaked with almost a full inch of water, lifting his dad up briefly and swiping a hand underneath him, blurry eyes settling on the small Fae he gently cradled. She was unconscious as well, but not breathing. He quickly turned her small body onto its side and squeezed it gently, watching a bit of water leak out of her mouth. When no more came out he laid her on her back and set his mouth over hers and her nose before blowing a quick puff of air into her, pulling his mouth back as she almost immediately began to cough, turning onto her side as more water spilled out of her mouth. She tried to support her body with her right arm and collapsed, crying out in shock and pain as her arm crumpled sideways beneath her weight.

Luckily his hands were in her path and she fell onto them, laying there for a few seconds as he sent mana into her body. He noted the snapped arm and mended it, finding nothing else save for bruises and a few small cuts. Those were closed up as he was assessing them, Kastra apparently having become awake enough to attend to her own body. Damien's chest untightened a bit at that as the tears continued streaming down his face like a torrent. When she looked back up at him, pain was in her eyes alongside relief, followed by guilt and more pain. A lump formed in Damien's throat as he tried to say something, but eventually stopped himself. They could both feel their other half growing further away with each moment and didn't need words to speak, a grim determination settling into the pact with each second that passed.

Remembering the pact brought another troubling thought into Damien's mind. He searched his mana for the strand that should have reached out to yet one more that he was connected to, but didn't feel it. Nervousness flooded him yet again as he began casting his head from side to side, frantically searching...

Until he found her.

Damien walked across the only clean patch of land, the spot where Alexa had initially stood and the place the Hellials had both traveled and thrown carnage to either side. He stopped before a figure that lay there, cold and unmoving, at the front of a group of several other mages that were unconscious, dead, or whimpering. His knees buckled and he fell, kneeling. Staring at the hole where her heart should be. He knew she was gone. He couldn't feel her anymore. Couldn't feel that annoying sense of where she was, whether she was listening or not. He'd never asked her to do this.

Before he could say anything or move, Kastra floated down and landed on the other side of Adrenna, growing slightly and pulling the Brinter's pale figure into her lap, stroking her hair lightly. She looked exactly in death as she had in life, skin just as pale as it had been, eyes still black as night, and no less beautiful.

It started as a soft pressure in his stomach that grew with each passing moment he stared at her. His hand lifted and clutched his chest lightly as the pain spread there. Slowly, he reached forward with his left hand and set it on her face, closing each of her eyes carefully as the regret coursed through his veins and tore at his insides. She'd never given him any reason to doubt her, was becoming one of Alexa's best friends, one of his closest friends, and yet just a few weeks ago he'd...

"Do better next time," Kastra stated, responding to his pain as she stared up at him.

Tears flowed from her eyes, though Damien knew she hadn't been close to the woman. But they'd fought together, training or not didn't matter. They'd been together every day for months. They'd shared meals, drinks, fire, stories...

But not anymore.

Damien nodded in response to Kastra and held her gaze. Neither of them knew which of them was the first to turn the determination, anguish, and regret they held into the pure, searing hatred that overflowed from them, but as they stared at one another, they both knew exactly what was going to happen next.

Kastra pulled her mana around her, weaving it into a beautiful, dark blue cloth that mimicked the color of her favorite dress. She carefully wrapped Adrenna in it, setting her arms across her chest to hide the gaping hole. Once done, she laid the woman back on the ground and began to shrink once more, flying up and over to Damien. Standing, he gave Adrenna one last look before turning his eyes away from the carnage around them. He glanced east, toward their carriage. Emra had stopped whining as Damien's connection to her shifted from one projecting a victim to that of a killer, standing and moving behind him with a low growl as he began moving, frightening those around them not used to the wolf sized, deadly looking creature.

Noticing he'd stood, Vanessa looked up again from where she was still hunched over Emily, but Damien had moved beyond the range of the hand that shot toward him before.

"Adrenna-"

"Is dead," Damien replied, cutting her off coldly and staring into her eyes.

He could see shock travel across her expression as well as how she tried to suppress it. He wanted to be upset at her for not showing more, but couldn't. They'd not gotten too close, and Vanessa was always good at hiding emotions. It made sense she would be here, too.

He told himself what he had to so anger overwhelmed his sadness, so he could justify what came next. He turned his back to her and began moving east.

"You'll get yourself killed!" Vanessa yelled up, voice cracking.

Damien paused for a brief moment before he continued walking again. He could feel her attempt to stand for a moment before remembering Emily and stopping, eyes boring into him and begging him to look back. He ignored that plea, though. He couldn't look again. If he did-

"You can't-"

"I have to do something!" he yelled as people rushed all around them, each having their own emergencies, crying out for help.

He should be helping them. He could be healing-

"You think you're a hero!? You'll die!" Vanessa yelled back.

"Better than watching it happen. Why didn't you stop them!?" Damien screamed, turning around and meeting her eyes as his mind begged him to stop yelling at her.

He couldn't, though. Everything he had was keeping him from glancing down. He had to be angry at her, or he'd have nothing to keep him standing. He had to let himself feel this way, or he'd begin to lose his nerve and break.

"They were HELLIALS. I wouldn't-"

"YOU DIDN'T EVEN TRY! THEY'RE RIGHT TH-"

"I HAD TO SAVE YOUR FAMILY!" Vanessa screamed back with more emotion than he'd ever seen on anyone's face in both his lives, motioning downward as her eyes streamed, begging him in a way her words couldn't.

He refused to look down, holding her gaze for a moment longer before he turned away.

"And what about your family?" he asked, taking another step away.

"THIS IS MY F-FAMILY!" she yelled again, choking on her tears as he strode away. "STOP! DAMIEN, PLEASE!"

Fresh tears sprouted from his eyes as he ignored her pleas and took another step. He felt himself waver. He'd never heard her cry like that, and it was twisting his gut more with each sob. But then he felt Kastra hesitate as well, and that stopped him from turning. Because there was one more person that should be hesitating from this, and she wasn't here for it.

He continued forward.

"You'd leave them with nothing?" Vanessa whispered, the sound somehow so loud it boomed through his mind and so quiet he had to strain to hear. He went over each word again and again until he was sure he knew what she'd said.

And Damien felt something inside him break. And he felt something inside Kastra break as well. Emra began to howl in pain, and Damien sprinted for the coach as he heard Vanessa's sobbing behind him. For some reason, it didn't matter how far away he got from that spot, he couldn't stop hearing her sobbing.