Corinne had watched Yeijiro argue with the legionnaires until the Serpent who had made him so nervous re-emerged and escort him inside. Once again, Corinne wondered who had been shooting at him and what information was so urgently required by the Lord Marshal.

She started making her way back out to her squad, taking the same indirect path she’d led Yeijiro through. Which gave her the privacy to click her earpiece to a direct line between her and Captain Cécile. “Be alert,” she murmured. “There’s something going down.”

“What do you know?” Cécile responded barely above a whisper. “Hold on. I need to—” A crackle, and then Cécile’s voice in full authority. “Squad leaders, reply.”

“Nita Corinne, check,” she responded automatically. Heard the voices of her fellow officers. “Asher Rishi, check.” “Nita Sun-ho, check.” “Seong Valére, check.”

“Report to assigned launch points. Readiness drill. Full arms and armor. Full squads.”

Three groans, quickly muted. Corinne didn’t join in. A moment later, Cécile was back on the private channel. “The drill order just came through. Someone wants us in the air.”

Corinne tapped the buttons at her chest and felt the sparkling, chattery energy of the nima waking back up. Her suit extended and surrounded her in prickly warmth, and as she stepped back into the courtyard, she gave the mental command to her jets and flew up towards the point on the wall that was her squad’s muster point.

Corinne was last to arrive. Her squad was already lined up, and as she landed, they all fell silent, waiting for her order.

“Sorry,” Corinne said. “I know we thought we were done for the day.” She scanned her team of a dozen, making sure everyone and everything looked properly assembled. Full arms and armor, like Captain Cécile had said.

“Last drill for the court. Let’s be sharp.” Corinne toggled the switch at her palm that let her speak to the captain and other squad leaders. “Gold squad assembled. Taking the east.” Which was, uncoincidentally, the direction Yeijiro had come from.

Corinne took off into the air, and her squad followed. They climbed high, spreading into the wing formation in which they travelled, as the other three squad leaders chose their own quadrants and launched.

It felt so good to fly, to feel the wind and the cold while the nima played games around her. The Phoenix Guard flight suits were a cutting edge mix of magic and engineering that no one outside the Dragon Clan could re-create. Technology and nima working together so that in the hands of a trained akashic, they were a wonder. The suit responded to Corinne’s thoughts and movements like an extension of her own body.

To function at their peak, the suits demanded both someone in exceptional physical shape and a person with a strong akashic adaptation. You couldn’t lie to the nima, couldn’t give any less than your best. That was part of what Corinne loved—the constant challenge of always pushing herself to be better. That, and the utter freedom of being up in the air, dancing on the wind.

Below, nestled in a wide valley between sheer mountain peaks, spread the Dragon Fortress: Corinne’s home, the center of this Shadow Court, and the heart of the Dragon clan. Within its high stone walls resided the Upper House of Parliament, the Akashic Academy, the Phoenix Guard, and the thousands of administrative and support staff required for keeping all these things running.

To the south, the mountains ended abruptly, with a great cliff over which several rivers became waterfalls reaching down to the wide plains below. At the base of that cliff, the Dragon capital city, Tapti, reached out past the horizon. The largest city on Pax, and still it managed to be a wasteland of culture and entertainments for any but the most reserved tastes. Until this Eclipse, Corinne hadn’t known what she was missing.

The squad was chattering as they flew, with the fortress growing smaller behind them. Corinne listened with half an ear. There was no mention of Yeijiro. From the squad’s perspective, they’d just helped a damaged ship land. Nothing unusual.

But Corinne was thinking of Yeijiro’s damaged ship. Which was why she turned their patrol out, towards the pass Yeijiro had come through, away from the fortress.

“Corinne, where are you going?”

The fact Cécile had asked over the private, rather than open channel made it so Corinne felt comfortable saying, “Following a hunch.”

“What are we even up here for?” That from Jun, over the squad channel.

“The Emperor must be bored. I heard she was ducking invitations from your mother, Corinne.”

“Can’t blame her for that, Veej,” Corinne answered lightly.

Privately, from Cécile. “Legionnaires just came into Command—Major Kosuri and two others.”

“What are they doing?”

“Just watching. But I don’t like this.”

“Corinne?” This from Serena, who flew at Corinne’s immediate right in the formation. “Something feels wrong.”

Serena was the one hikmaic Corinne had in her squad. When Serena said something felt wrong, Corinne listened. “Split up. Serena, take your group up. Rest of you on me. Stay alert, and listen for the nima.”

“Isn’t this just a drill?” Vijay asked as he took Serena’s place at Corinne’s side.

“I’m starting to think not.” Corinne closed her eyes and took a deep breath, centering and focusing. She let her mind slip into the space where the physical world around her dimmed and the spirit world came clear.

They swirled around her—bound in the fire of her suit, dancing in gusts through the air. In the stone, far below her, in the sky high above. Her fellow guard glowed with them, and the suits they wore sparkled.

Everything as it should be. And yet.

“Corinne, there’s—” Cécile’s voice cut off, the channel between them dead.

Just as Serena’s calm voice said, “There’s a ripple in darkspace. Moving towards us.”

Nothing should be coming through darkspace. Nothing should be able to get this close to the planet—and especially not to the fortress—in darkspace.

Corinne stretched her senses to their limit, until her head pounded with the effort. Until she could feel every individual eddy and flow of energy. Until she could see…

A void. A whirling vortex over her head where the air was empty of nima. A pocket of nothingness…and it was growing.

“Everybody scatter,” Corinne commanded, arching her wings and kicking her jets around to shoot her down and away from that point of nothingness.

Everyone in the squad moved with the same hair-trigger reflexes. They burst away from that strange, empty space, just as a yawning maw of crackling nothingness opened and the first enemy ship flew through.

“Stay clear of that rift!” Corinne shouted over the roar of engines and turbulence. More ships came screaming out of darkspace. Tiny, agile fighters and larger haulers, all shooting past faster than Corinne’s squad would be able to catch.

“How is this happening?” Jun yelled over the com. “Planetary defenses—”

“Have been breached,” Corinne said, a wave of calm falling over her as the cool, sharp clarity of battle descended. She opened her communications wide. “Darkspace breach. Multiple ships incoming. Rift remains open at my position. Request assistance to close.”

Serena could feel darkspace, but she was only a lesser hikmaic. She had neither the skill nor the power needed to seal reality back together.

On the open channel, Corinne heard the other Phoenix Guard leaders responding, but nothing from Cécile or anyone else in Command.

Padma spoke over the squad’s private channel. “I’m not hearing anything from fortress defenses.”

What was happening back there?

“Do we give chase?” Serena asked, and eager noises came from the rest of the squad.

“Negative.” Corinne wanted to say yes. Something had gone wrong back at the fortress. But something was also very wrong here. “We can’t leave an open rift undefended. Form up around the breach.”

“Pax is protected,” Padma said in a flat voice. “Even with an open rift, nothing can come through.”

No demon, she meant. It was true. But Corinne didn’t take her eyes off the rift. Because it was still the Eclipse, and a lot of things were happening today that shouldn’t.

The bad news: she was right.

Seven monstrous, insectoid legs pushed through the opening, hooking over the edges like they could somehow grip the open air. Each segment of each leg was taller than Corinne, and they ended in razor-sharp claws the length of her arm. The legs gripped, pulled, and the rest of the demon burst through into the real world.

Demons had no natural shape of their own, which meant every fight with a demon was a different battle. At least, in theory. In actuality, Corinne had never fought a demon. None of her squad had. In her life—in a dozen lifetimes—there hadn’t been a demon anywhere near Pax.

Twenty feet long and at least eight feet high, a bloated, squid-like body stretched back from behind the legs. It floated in the air through no mechanism Corinne could see, a dozen tentacles as long as the rest of it flailing out in all directions. Each tentacle had a snapping mouth and a row of eyes stretching up its length.

“Fuck me.” That was Vijay. Speaking for all of them.

None of them had nima blades. Why would they? Which meant they were going to have to get creative.

“We can’t let it get past us,” Corinne said as the world slowed and her mind settled into the dance of kill-or-be-killed. They were high above the mountain pass, miles away from the fortress, the city, but if the demon got free...

All those people, undefended, unprepared. At best, it would rip through them, a wave of death and destruction. At worst, it would spread its poison and seed a corruption that would take years to cleanse.

They had to stop it. Corinne had no idea how.

Demons had no nima. Demons were the antithesis of the nima. Which meant Corinne’s gifts—the gifts of her squadmates—couldn’t touch it.

Not that they didn’t try. Serena led a diamond pattern attack, jetting past and spraying flame across its body. The demon reached after them with its tentacles, but the fire did it no visible harm. Meanwhile, Jun and two others dove into it, blades extended. They sliced through its legs, dodging nimbly aside as it tried to catch them. But the legs immediately regrew.

Corinne took advantage of the distraction her squad was offering to reach out to the nima all around her. Unbonded nima were nearly impossible to command, but if they could be convinced of a game, they could be powerful, agile allies. Corinne filled her mind with images of whipping winds and swirling gusts. She thought of the demon, spinning helpless in the air. Framed a challenge in her thoughts—were the nima even strong enough?

The wind rose. The demon twisted and battered at unseen attackers, and, through her gift, Corinne could hear the laughter of a hundred dancing voices.

Now Corinne had the demon’s attention. It reared up and hissed and tentacles lashed in her direction as it spun, uncontrolled, in the air. From its mouths, darkness flowed out, a thick choking cloud that moved against the wind to surround her. Corinne called on the air again, but the nima wanted nothing to do with this foulness. Corinne tried to lift out of it, but two legs sliced down on her, breaking through the field of her suit as though it were nothing, and, as she caught the edge of waving tentacles, two sets of teeth sank into her shoulders.

Pain shot through her, the demon’s venom burning as it touched the nima in her blood. The crushing agony of her shoulders grew as the demon pulled her in.

“Corinne!” A roar as two of her squadmates flew through the cloud, slicing through the demon’s limbs. Free of the demon’s pull, Corinne fell, tumbling.

Corinne flared her power, re-igniting her suit and burning the demon poison out of her body. Some of its teeth were still stuck in one shoulder. Corinne righted herself and plucked them free as the squad danced with the demon overhead.

With a moment to look around, Corinne realized they’d all lost altitude. Slowly, the demon was pushing them towards the ground. Could it burrow? Could it merge with the rocks? The trees? Corinne didn’t know enough. She’d never had to learn.

What could they do? They could chop at the demon all day, but without nima blades, they couldn’t do it any real damage. Their other weapons—flame and wind and the nima's fury couldn’t touch it.

Wouldn’t touch it. The demon was the anti-nima. Empty space, a void. If she could convince the nima to fill that space…

Wild nima never would. Or at least, it would take a much stronger akashic than anyone in Corinne’s squad to make that happen. But bonded nima—nima Corinne had already forged to her will…

“Everyone get back,” Corinne ordered. “And be ready for…” Corinne didn’t even know. “Be ready.”

Corinne arced up into the sky, climbing high over the demon. It screeched, watching her, reaching for her, as the rest of the squad pulled back. The moment they were clear, Corinne folded her wings and dove.

Corinne’s suit was fire and steel, and the nima within loved to burn. Corinne touched them as she fell, loosened their bindings. She had a new task.

No. The demon was foul. They didn’t want to touch it.

Yes. Corinne insisted. They had no choice.

No no no. Better to fade away than to touch that cold emptiness.

Corinne struck the demon, the momentum of her dive driving her into its body, surrounding her in toxic, acidic darkness. Teeth sunk into Corinne’s calf. Something squeezed around her neck, cutting off her air.

Yes, she insisted to the nima. This creature doesn’t belong here. This is your world. Our world. Help me make it clean again.

Her will verses theirs, but Corinne was strong. She didn’t let up. Yes. Yes.Yes.

Until the nima relented, their nos fading and their excitement building. Her suit flared bright. Yes!

With a focused jolt of will, Corinne smashed the bonds that held the nima in the suit. Yes! They screamed in wild joy as they exploded into the center of the demon.

Now it was the demon’s turn to scream. It loosed its grip on Corinne and she gasped a breath of foul air. But she was still surrounded by darkness. Her power—the nima's power—it wasn’t enough.

The light around her strengthened, flared. More nima from outside, joining her own. Corinne had created a core, and the squad was pulling more from the outside, feeding the fire she’d started.

The demon began to burn. Not from the fire. The fire was meaningless to it. But from the nima purifying it with their energy, bringing substance to its void.

One last push and the nima exploded in blinding radiance. The demon crumbled to burning embers. Then to nothing.

Corinne fell.