Kendrick’s time in the Ecumene had shown him wonders and horrors in equal measure. The magic of aura, the beauty of the realm’s vibrant green forests and diverse races of beings, the quaint charm of the rustic towns and villages populated by honest people living simple lives... It was all balanced out by the devastating effects of the war that had been raging here for years and showed no signs of ebbing. The destruction in this village was no different in nature, only in severity.

“This place is a nightmare,” Bellara muttered in a sickened voice.

Not a single building that they passed, be it a communal one in the small village square or an individual home, remained intact. Each edifice was either reduced to rubble, actively burning, a pile of ash, caved in, or some combination. Shattered glass and splintered wood lay everywhere. There were no villagers to be seen, neither alive nor dead, but he had to imagine there may not have been anything left of them anyway.

“Shouldn’t we try to put out these fires?” Kendrick asked. “Isn’t there a spell or something?”

“Can’t,” Bell answered simply. “Need to conserve aura in case we’re not alone here. Once we secure the village, we can help any survivors second and deal with the damage third.” She kept the aurimeter steady in one hand while helping Sahni hobble along; Kendrick had the Psysword at the ready. “I’m getting over {100} down this alley.” They ducked between two demolished buildings, trying to keep a low profile.

Out of a barrel sprang two imps fighting over the carcass of a small bird. Kendrick’s active lens tagged them both.

IMP {29}

IMP {99}

“That must be the one!” Kendrick exclaimed. He activated his blade and leveled it at the hideous creatures fighting each other. One of them was clearly scrawnier, disadvantaged by its empty, wrinkled gut, while the other one’s abdomen was distended with aura. The smaller one was hungrier and more desperate but the fuller one had the advantage of being well-fed. Ultimately, the latter won out, throwing its counterpart to the ground like a ragdoll while sipping wisps of escaping aura from the dead bird.

The Psysword cut through the air with a whir and cleaved the fat imp in half. It was so engrossed in its feeding that it didn’t even notice its own impending demise.

But when its two halves evaporated, only dark aura remained.

“Dammit,” Kendrick sighed. “That wasn’t the one.” He slew the second imp without much effort.

“Could I... rest somewhere... please?” Sahni mumbled. Kendrick’s stomach twisted up in worried knots, seeing her half-lit gaze and the bags forming under her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Sahni, but we need to keep you moving,” Bell answered. “We’re going to get your aura back and you’ll be back to normal soon. Just hold on a little longer.”

They combed the wreckage in search of the remaining invaders from the Underworld—the prospect of finding survivors grew slimmer with each passing moment. The magical energy readings pulled them this way and that through the village until, at one point, it had them walking in a circle around a half-collapsed barn.

“Could it be inside?” Kendrick suggested.

Climbing through the broken doors dangling on their hinges, they entered the barn, wherein several domestic animals lay dead on the floor. An imp crouched in the corner feeding on its freshest kill.

IMP {76}

Bellara sighed. “Not as much as I would have hoped, but it’ll at least bring Sahni back from the brink. Would you do the honors?”

Kendrick stepped forward and stabbed the imp through the midsection with the aural blade. The next moment, his victim was no more, sublimating into a cloud of... dark aura. The contrast was stark between his bright white blade and the black energy now floating toward the ceiling. “Not it, either,” he said.

“Aldiel damn this. We’re running out of readings! How far could that thing have gotten?”

They scoured the village until the sun was at its highest point in the sky and the shadows hid behind their casters. From those shadows came shades, all of which Kendrick handled as easily as swatting flies. Scanning the Psysword with his lens, he saw he was still at {97} aura, a respectable level for all the slaying he’d done that day.

But this tiny victory did nothing to alleviate Sahni’s predicament. Their window of opportunity was little more than a pinprick now, and shrinking every moment.

They finally accepted the futility of their efforts a short while after midday.

“There’s no way her aura hasn’t been converted by now.” Bellara kicked at a loose brick in a damaged building and it crumbled to the ground. “Damned filthy pests.”

“It’s okay,” Sahni assured them. Her voice carried a modicum more strength than before, and now she merely looked sick or spacy rather than on the brink of a coma. “It’s okay. I’ll regenerate it... in time. Sorry again for passing out—”

“Please stop apologizing,” Bellara interrupted her. It sounded at once encouraging and annoyed; the stress of their night-turned-day must have been getting to her, Kendrick surmised.

“If it were me,” he chimed in, “I probably would have conked out and lost the Psysword and the aurimeter. Maybe my lens, too. So, don’t feel too bad.” He saw her lips curl up into a half-smile that made him smile back.

“This is why we’ll be sleeping one at a time from now on. At least two of us will be awake at all times to keep watch at night.” She pointed the aura-reading device at Sahni, who leaned uneasily against one of the ruined buildings. “Hmm... {19} now. You’re healing. That’s all we can ask for now, I suppose. Come on. Let’s go find a place to take a rest and have some breakfast.”

They wandered through the rest of the village and most of the fires were already dying. Kendrick consoled himself with the thought that at least some of the villagers had to have made it out alive. There’s no way they were all killed, he told himself. Some of them are still out there. Somewhere. They might not have a home to return to, but they’ll regroup someday.

He had no evidence to justify this optimism. In the moment, he chose to believe it anyway.

“Where did the imp go?” he asked. “Off into the woods, you think?”

“Or back to its master,” Bellara answered. “It must be far away if the aurimeter couldn’t pick it up.”

“You mean a demon?” The scarlet-haired witch nodded. “Let’s hope not.”

“Something had to have razed this village. Imps can wreak some havoc, but I have a feeling something bigger caused this. A handful of jinn, perhaps, or perhaps worse...” She unpacked a loaf of hard bread and portions of salted meat. “I certainly wish we didn’t have to encounter any of these monsters, but that’s a luxury we won’t have for much longer. Besides...” She spaced out for a second, her brow furrowing in a glare. “...they need to pay for what they’ve done. And if Aldiel won’t do it, I will.”

***

The night that followed was anything but restful. Bellara decided it was safest for them to remain among the smoldering embers of a village that had already been destroyed—the last place Underworld invaders would think to look for new victims. It made sense to the others, and so they stayed put while Sahni’s aura recharged a bit more overnight.

Sticking to the plan, they slept one at a time, with Sahni getting the lion’s share of the time allotted for sleep. Kendrick tapped his lens toward the end of her sleep cycle.

SAHNI

{26}

HUMAN WITCH

Sleep well, he thought.

He, on the other hand, barely slept a wink when it was his turn to nap last at dawn, even though he’d scarcely gotten half a night’s rest the evening prior. His persistent fear of a demon attack kept him largely wide awake, except for a few minutes of fitful rest when instinct superseded intellect. By then, the morning sun had begun its ascent and they packed up their things once again.

On the way out of the village—Wallbyrde was its name, judging by a charred board that had broken off its post—they spotted a peculiar building that had somehow gone unnoticed in the mayhem that destroyed the village. The building was still perfectly intact. Admittedly, it was nestled behind a cluster of trees atop a small hill, so Kendrick reasoned that the demonic horde rampaging through must have overlooked it.

“What’s that building?” said Kendrick. “A church?”

Upon closer inspection, the building’s gabled roof terminated at the front in a spire, at the top of which was a large silver ornament shaped like a circle with eight rounded spikes jutting out from the side at equidistant intervals. The doors of the building were wide open, but there was no sign of anyone inside or out, aural or otherwise.

“A temple of some sort,” said Bellara. “Nothing on the aurimeter. It’s worth taking a look on our way out.”

They climbed the short hill, navigated through the dense trees that surrounded it—Sahni was finally able to walk on her own now—and investigated the deserted temple. Kendrick got a sense of foreboding upon crossing the threshold. If it weren’t for Bellara seeming so keen on checking it out, he would have suggested leaving immediately.

The entire building was wooden inside and out. The interior was lined with two rows of wooden pews and an aisle between them leading to an altar with a small pulpit, overturned candles, and a scattering of numerous paper leaflets. As with all the other writing in this universe, Kendrick was able to read it as if he’d known the language all his life.

“‘Sect of the Skyfather,’” he read aloud. Below the heading was the same symbol at the top of the temple’s spire. Then, at the bottom, a cluster of smaller text. “‘Daily worship for all who believe. Dawn. The Hilltop Temple east of Wallbyrde. None survive except through the will of Aldiel Above.’ They all say this?”

Bellara kicked at the pile, scattering them from the altar. “It appears that way. Strange...” She arched an eyebrow and looked at him. “I know certain religious groups have emerged since the opening of the Rift a couple years ago. Guess this is one of them...”

“People need something to believe in at a time like this,” said Sahni. It was her most complete sentence spoken since her imp attack. “Some people need religion. Others take pride in their nations... their military might. The two of us...” She smiled at him. “Our hope rests in you.” His heart began to race; he’d grown accustomed to battling lower-level creatures of the Underworld, but when they put those heroic expectations on him, it made him nervous.

“All right, all right, let’s not get too sappy here,” Bellara chided her. “It’s an odd, abandoned temple on the outskirts of a destroyed town. Have we seen all we need to see?”

“I’m all set,” said Kendrick. “You?” Sahni nodded, and they made their way out of the temple, back down the hill, and rejoined the road out of town.

Sect of the Skyfather. Kendrick wondered about the strange faith those people held before their untimely demise. He supposed it was no stranger than anything else in the Ecumene, but faith was far less effective at combating the threat of the Underworld than magic. It seemed as though the believers prayed to Aldiel for deliverance and did not have their prayers answered. Or maybe the answer was no, he thought glumly.

Birds chirped in the woods that they passed. A squirrel hopped from one branch to another and scampered down a tree trunk. For all the devastation they’d witnessed behind them, all still seemed right with the world on their way out of the valley, at least in this part of Aldiel’s creation. Everything was still working as it ought to be.

Then they came upon an intersecting path that cut diagonally across the road they were walking. Out of curiosity, Kendrick peered down the path and into the woods—and saw a fellow traveler staggering toward them.

“Hello?” the traveler called out in a raspy voice. He looked to be a young man, maybe a year or two Kendrick’s senior. His clothes were disheveled and torn; his skin was adorned with scrapes, bruises, and smudges of soot. Ashes clung to his tunic in little piles on his shoulders and sleeves. “Do you have any water? I’ve been lost for days now, ever since the village burned.”

Sahni, weakened as she was, reached into her bag and offered the stranger her canteen. “Have the rest of it. Do you need healing?”

“Easy now, Sahni,” said Bellara. “You’ve barely recovered a fraction of your aura yourself.” She pointed the aurimeter at him. “Hmm... {32}. You’re not doing so well, either.”

The boy sucked in a breath of air after guzzling the remaining water in the canteen. “Funny. I feel like it’s my lucky day. You three are Overworld sent... I...” He cleared his throat, and the rasp of his voice began to dissipate. “I just kept walking... and walking...” He handed the canteen back to Sahni, and then looked at them expectantly, not unlike a puppy at the feet of its master. “I don’t mean to impose, but could I travel with you three? Just until I make it back to my home village? I would be eternally grateful. It’s dangerous to travel alone in this day and age.”

As Bellara laid some ground rules and expectations for their journey together, Kendrick wondered what compelled Aldiel to spare this young man’s life out of all the villagers in Wallbyrde. None survive except through the will of Aldiel Above... His initial hopes that there would be survivors of the demon attack were now confirmed. Why, then, was he not happier to see him?

There was something about him that he couldn’t quite place. Something felt... off. I don’t trust him, Kendrick thought. But I better play along until I find out what’s really going on...