“Explain to me why we’re outside the Tower of Delphi again?”

I’d managed to get in an hour of sleep before hurriedly packing up a small bag and leaving the mansion behind. Scarlett and I walked down the quiet, early morning street through the suburb and caught the train to the centre of town. We didn’t speak much on the way, I guess she was probably as tired as I was, but she did mention a few things along the way.

She was a Lunar Knight, sent from the Lunar Colonies to Earth to fight the Chaos. Apparently, there was a large Chaos Portal on the surface, nearby to the ground just below Olympus-3. She explained that these portals opened at what seemed to be random locations and for varying amounts of time.

“We’re here because this is where the Olympus Faction mages should be maintaining the barrier around the city from. But clearly that isn’t happening since those Chaos Gargoyles managed to get in last night.”

I could still vaguely remember my grandparents talking about a time before the Sky Cities. When the Mage’s Society first revealed itself to the world at large. Back then you didn’t get taken from your home on dangerous quests by gorgeous, armoured women.

Her yellow locks rolled down from her head to her shoulders like a cascade of sunlight - a halo surrounding the blue of her eyes that stood out like the summer sky. She turned to me with a questioning look. I realised I must have been staring. I quickly averted my gaze.

She turned back to the entrance before us. “There’s no one here,” the Lunar Knight said, looking left and right through the iron bars of the gate outside the Mage’s Guild.

The wind was blowing strong, barrelling across the inner courtyard and between the metal bars into the outside street. I put out an ear. Nothing. It did seem that the place was empty. The street behind us was also empty.

“Well if no one’s here, that would explain the problem with the barrier, wouldn’t it?” I asked.

She frowned. “Sure, but I’m more interested in ‘why’.”

“So now wha –”

The words caught in my throat as she grabbed me hard around the waist and leapt into the air. My stomach swirled as we shot through the air, dizzyingly high. She landed perfectly on the opposite side of the high, outer wall. My eyes met hers. I must have had a strange expression because she reddened and immediately let go, leaving me to fall dizzily to the tarmac.

“Let’s not waste time here,” Scarlett said, completely ignoring my disoriented state. “I have a bad feeling about this all.”

The Tower of Delphi was an impressive-looking, old-style building. Grecian columns adorned its exterior. The building stood several stories high. The off-white paint showed its age, but it didn’t detract greatly from its appearance. Above it all was the tower itself, a massive structure whose pinnacle was obscured by the white of the clouds.

I walked after Scarlett, passing the various statues sculpted in the likenesses of past mages that lined the courtyard. She didn’t look back at me as we approached the front entrance.

As the shadow of the building fell upon us, something wet splashed against my forehead. Mist in the air wasn’t unusual for a Sky City. Some four kilometres above the ground, Olympus-3 was no stranger to clouds rolling across the metropolis. But the splash I’d felt was not cold like the rain.

“Huh?” I said, putting a hand to my forehead. Blood. I was sure of it before I’d even brought my hand down. My eyes widened and I looked first up into the clouds, where the tower rose over me, and then turned to Scarlett. She returned my look with concern.

“We’d better hurry.”

We found the front entrance unlocked. We rushed in and made for the spiral staircase that stood in the centre of the room. As we reached it, I could smell something in the air.

“Wait,” Scarlett said. She stopped, a green glow forming around her as her battle armour materialised. “Take this,” she said, handing me a sword. “I hope you know how to use it.”

I could feel the intimidating weight of the weapon as I took it from her. I couldn’t help but feel in awe despite its ordinary appearance. After all, she’d pulled it out of thin air.

“How many of those do you –”

“This isn’t the time for talk,” she replied, ascending the stairs without waiting a second for me to catch up.

I hurried after her. As we passed the second floor, I could feel my years of inactivity catching up with me. Panting, I arrived on the fifth floor. I wasn’t sure how long Scarlett had been waiting on the landing but when I got there, she had her blade drawn and was glancing about the hallway frantically.

“I still can’t hear anything in this place,” she said.

I listened. She was right. The whole building was dead quiet.

“The blood,” I said. It must have come from somewhere around here, but on which level I’m not sure.”

Scarlett kicked open the nearest door and investigated the room. “Nothing here, maybe further up.”

I nodded, ascending the steps ahead of her. We checked each floor. Sixth. Seventh. Eighth. It was when we arrived on the ninth floor that I heard something. Somewhere between a howl and a scream it echoed down the stairwell.

“Chaos Gargoyles. It’s as I feared.”

My thoughts went back to when we’d faced the massive flock of gargoyles the previous evening. I shuddered and ran after Scarlett who’d rushed towards the sound. It grew louder and louder as we ascended, until at last, the Lunar Knight halted. I’d lost count of how many floors we’d rushed by, and my sweaty hair clung to my forehead. I wasn’t cut out for this, and we hadn’t even fought anything yet.

Scarlett put her hand to her mouth. I could hear a choking sound from her. As I came up behind the girl and looked over her shoulder I realised why. Red coated the walls. I couldn’t tell how many bodies there were because their dismembered heads and limbs were scattered all across the landing. An arm was impaled on the chandelier. A leg was jammed in the stair railing. Several other corpses, more recognisable as human bodies, were laying slumped against the opposite wall.

Splintered wood lay in amongst the scene – bits of doors and furniture that had been torn apart. Claw marks ran along the walls. At the centre of it all, hunched over and noisily devouring the chest of a man whose eyes still moved about in terror, was a gargoyle. Its fur was clammy with blood. It seemed oblivious to our arrival and a moment passed before it stopped eating. Dropping the man to the floor, it sniffed at the air.

Scarlett tensed. It faced us and the yellow of its eyes glimmered in the light of the chandelier – tinted red by the crimson splattering across its bulb.

My mouth had gone dry. I saw spots in my vision as the room spun. My heart pounded against the walls of my chest, desperate to escape. The smell of death had filled my lungs and the sight of the massacre had been replaced with the hazy image of Emilia. The sounds of the creature before us faded as a piercing buzz filled my ears.

“Sander?” I heard distantly.

I could no longer feel the ground beneath me. I was floating. Falling. The air rushed past me as I collapsed to the marble floor.