One thing about Lokapele’s ability is that she never had to maintain control over a piece of magma once she flung it as a projectile.

This let her hail an unending shower of magma onto the Nikan soldiers that had been roused to defend their camp.

A nearly full moon lit the night up, glowing from Lokapele’s magma and Seang’s blasts of sunlight. The two were with Kameko’s group of raiders. Vai and Shakti remained in the city, and Najeem and Shahla had gone into the shadows with their small group.

Lokapele threw up a wall of lava that absorbed about five crossbow bolts before skirting around it and launching a spike of molten rock at each perpetrator. But they only gave way to another dozen soldiers.

Seang bumped into her from the back. “I’ve got a Bane Knight. Wanna swap?”

Lokapele twisted both herself and Seang around in one fluid motion. She wrapped a band of molten lava around the heavily armored man’s right hand. He screamed in pain, dropping his mace. Meanwhile, Seang unleashed a blinding flash of light to the dismay of several enemy soldiers.

Lokapele caught sight of Kameko holding off a Bane Knight with control over fire just with her glaive. The Nikan woman ran the blade through her opponent’s throat on a single decisive thrust.

A wave of allied crossbow fire opened a path for them.

“Up the hill!” Kameko shouted, “Get to their food stores!”

Lokapele took a glob of rock from the ground, melted it and tossed it into the sky towards the part of the camp they ran from. It came down like a rain of fire, setting a decent chunk of tents aflame.

She would have sent another rain, were it not for a sudden and powerful gust of wind accompanied by the scream of an enslaved Shedim.

A Bane Knight, clad in black armor and wielding a quarterstaff, appeared out of the darkness and slammed the iron rod into her gut. Lokapele’s breath evacuated her lungs as she collapsed to the ground, coughing up spittle.

She struggled as the Bane Knight pressed his staff to her throat. Panic surging through her, Lokapele grabbed her jade paddle from the waistband of her skirt and jammed the edge into the Knight’s windpipe, sending him coughing and sputtering away from her.

Lokapele staggered to her feet and picked up a sphere of lava. She launched it at the recovering Knight, but he knocked it away and thrusted his staff forward, unleashing a blast of wind that threatened Lokapele’s balance.

She held her ground as a crossbow bolt nearly pierced the Bane Knight’s back of the knee. With his attention diverted, Lokapele heated, then cooled the earth under his foot, trapping his ankle in burning igneous rock.

The Knight roared in pain as the heat reached him. Lokapele quickly tore off his helmet, smacked him in the side of the head with the blade of her paddle, then dumped magma onto his head as he hit the ground, not giving him time to scream.

Out of breath, Lokapele took a few steps back.

This siege was her first time involved in actual war. She was accustomed to violence, what with the warring tribes among Aotearoa. But never on this scale.

She never would have made someone suffer a death by drowning in lava. But in her desperation to keep up with her surroundings, her methods had gotten crueler.

This was no honorable duel between the champions of two tribes or a free for all where the goal was to simply defeat or rout your opponent through skill.

Out here, men either killed or got killed. Mercy and virtue in war were foreign concepts to these mainlanders.

Kameko’s raiders ran down the grassy hills like rambunctious children, except they were setting fire to everything they saw. All the meanwhile, most of their comrades lied dead behind them, staining the grass with crimson.

Lokapele sighed and composed herself. Her path was one of passion. She would keep going. But she would not conform to apathy that other soldiers drugged themselves with to do so.

Or at least, she hoped she didn’t. It was becoming harder and harder to catch herself from settling into depressing thoughts.

She feared the one day she wouldn’t catch herself at all.

_____________________________________________________________________

Najeem hopped from shadow to shadow, his feet never leaving the ground at the same time. The moon light and fires were making shadows a bit more scarce than usual.

Kameko had provided Najeem with about half a dozen scouts. Shahla had accompanied him as well. But their low numbers weren’t a problem. All they had to do was light some fires. Command had afforded them several jars of oil to help start them, and carrying these is mainly what Najeem had planned to use the scouts for.

The muffled noises of battle in the material world signaled to him that if they had a chance of breaching whatever precautions the Nikan had set up, now was the time to take it.

One flaw with the Nikan army was that all of their weapons and armor were state sponsored. Since no one actually owned their arms, they were all kept in communal storage tents. Najeem didn’t know this for sure, but based on what he had heard of how the Empire operates and the patterns he’d witnessed, that was more than likely the case.

Najeem peered into a shadow and found the first tent full of crossbows.

“Gimme some oil and a torch.” Najeem hissed.

A scout handed him one of the clay jars and a lit torch. Najeem half-way emerged from the shadows and threw the jar against the racks of crossbows, soaking them in oil. He then threw the torch and sank back into the darkness. He backed into another shadow as fire consumed the tent, eliminating any safe areas near it.

“Let’s move before the fire spreads.”

Najeem and his scouts set fire to the five tents of crossbows methodically and quickly, leaving only the wooden barriers Nikan soldiers would hide under. Like the other mobile siege engines, they were all stationed in a yard.

Upon finding it, Najeem got a rough estimate of the yard’s size. He turned to his scouts, “Help me spread the oil.”

“What about me?” Shahla asked.

“You’re our trump card if someone intervenes. Stay here. If we need you, we’ll yell.” Najeem said as he helped the scouts through the shadows into the material world.

The yard was just a large patch of land that housed what remained of Nikan’s siege engines. Quite a few of them had singe marks and burns from Najeem’s fire the night before.

There was evidence of a guard post set up, though they’d all fled to fight off Kameko’s raid on their food stores.

He heard their fighting from a distance. Najeem hefted his jug of oil under his arm and uncorked it, spilling the flammable substance as widely as he could.

These fires needed to spread quickly before they could be extinguished.

Just as he finished dumping his oil, the Asasiyun glanced up. He smelled...iron?

No, it was blood. Najeem whirled around to look for his scouts, only to find himself at chest-level with a monster of a man as a giant hand dropped a scout whose neck it twisted in a full circle.

A fist was the last thing he saw before his vision went black.

_______________________________________________________________________

Shahla’s bones were frigid. Her breath escaped her throat like tar and her muscles convulsed in their tensity.

Her eyes were glued to the monstrous shadow that loomed over Najeem’s unconscious form while she had collapsed to her knees in his shadow world.

“Sir! We discovered four other separatist soldiers. They were pouring oil on the barricades.” a Nikan soldier saluted to the shadow.

“And?” the man’s voice shook even this alternate realm she watched from.

“We took care of them.”

The man sniffed the air. “I smell Shedim.”

Shahla gasped. How? How could he see her?

The monster held Najeem up by the collar of his vest and took a whiff of the Asasiyun. “It’s him. Tie him to my tent post. I want to interrogate him tomorrow morning. I’m going hunting.”

“Yes, your highness!” the soldiers shouted in unison, catching Najeem’s body as the man dropped him.

Shahla let out a breath she’d been holding so long she had to cough it out.

“What are you doing?”

Shahla yelped, nearly falling out of the shadow she was hiding in as a figure made from black ink appeared next to her.

“Go help him! Send them to sleep!” the inky man yelled.

“Wh-wh-who are you?” Shahla stammered.

“His Shedim, damnit! Now get off your ass!”

Shahla seemed to have lost any ability to process information. Her mind was blank as she sat on the ground of the Shadow World.

“Gods fucking damnit.” the Shedim spat, “Get up.”

Shahla slowly stumbled to her feet.

“Oh good, so you aren’t deaf.” the Shedim muttered. “Well, if you won’t do anything, go tell the others.”

“Wh...why can’t you?” Shahla dared to ask.

“I’m not here. I can talk to you in the Shadow World, but once you’re out, without my master, you’re not going back in.” the Shedim said, “And if you wanna warn your friend about that giant, get a move on. Remember. Stay within shadows. Never let both feet leave the ground just to be safe.”

Shahla nodded silently, her mind still a whirlwind. The Shedim’s words were barely piercing her thoughts, only coming in as muffled murmurs.

Mourn later. That was the lesson her parents had taught her after her first big sandstorm out in the Al-Kubra. There was no time to mourn for the dead or regret for the captured while the living and free still needed saving. Still, it didn’t feel right.

The giant already had a head start on her. But he was walking.

Though cautious, Shahla leapt from shadow to shadow as fast as she could.

“Did you not hear me say ‘don’t let both feet leave the ground’?” Najeem’s Shedim asked with irritation.

Shahla ignored it and ran for Kameko’s squad. She could bypass pretty much every physical barrier in the material world, allowing her to gain a lead on the giant.

She leapt out through the shadow of a tree near the other squadron.

“Seang!” she cried.

The warrior nun swiveled around. “Shahla?”

“Najeem...captured. Giant monster...coming this way.” She heaved, out of breath.

“Giant monster?” Lokapele frowned.

“The fifth prince.” Kameko said, “We need to retreat! Fallback to the city! Now!”

“Wh-what about Najeem?” Shahla asked.

“Maybe we’ll try to rescue him later. But right now, we need to be behind those walls.” Kameko said, “Just trust me.”

Seang nodded, “Let’s move.”

“But-”

“As far as we’re concerned, Najeem is dead! Don’t jeopardize the living for the sake of those who are already gone!” Seang snapped, a little harsher than she’d probably intended. The nun grabbed a stunned Shahla by the wrist and dragged her back to the city.

_________________________________________________________________________

Bjorn and his allies had been travelling through Koinelia for half a week now, since the border guards let them through as thanks for defeating the Bane Knights. As though they weren’t the ones who brought them there.

The landscape of Koinelia itself made you forget there was even a war going on outside the empire. They’d sidestepped the Custes mountain range to the north and arrived in the rolling green hills of Koinelia’s homeland that made the land perfect for vineyards and farms.

Bjorn had been hammering and repairing the riveting on his chain mail for the past four hours when a pair of fair-skinned legs dangled from his shoulders, barefoot and muscular.

“What the-”

Taya grabbed his head and tilted it up towards her.

“Uh...hi.” Bjorn muttered.

“Wow, you look extra dead inside today.” Taya chuckled.

“My despair is caused by the abysmal scent of your feet, which, may I remind you, have been through an entire forest in the past month.” Bjorn said.

“Nonsense. My feet are plenty clean. And they smell great. See?” Taya lifted her right leg to be at eye level with Bjorn.

Bjorn slapped her leg away, but then caught her ankle and looked at her soles. They weren’t even calloused. He’d been wearing some high-quality boots all this time, and they always covered his feet in blisters, anyway.

“How the hell…”

“I give them a good cleaning every day and moisturize with tree oil.” Taya said, “That way they remain presentable.”

“Presentable?”

“Some men are attracted to that sort of thing, you know.”

“That’s...odd.”

“Just odd?”

Bjorn shrugged. “People can do whatever they want. Couples in my nation tie each other up during sex sometimes.”

“Ooh, tell me more.” Taya exclaimed, slipping off the log and taking a seat next to him.

“Can’t. I’ve never invaded someone’s privacy like that.”

“You’ve never...done it yourself? With Ka-”

“Don’t say her name if you want this already perilous conversation to continue.” Bjorn cut her off.

“Fine, fine.”

“Why are you bothering me, anyway?” Bjorn frowned. “I have to fix this up. If we get ambushed again and I don’t have my armor, I won’t be able to take any hits.”

“Oh, just give it to Ruhak. He’ll fix it up for you.” Taya whined, “I’m lonely.”

“A warrior never lets himself go out of practice.”

“You’re so diligent.” Taya chuckled, “Come on, it’s just one time.”

“But Yahui always bugs me with…” Bjorn sighed, “Fine.”

He set his mail aside.

“So you’ve really never had sex before?”

“Okay, now you’re just making me feel insecure.” Bjorn muttered.

“It’s just that...I thought Ascommani were more frivolous than us Sklavenis. And many nations consider us to be degenerates.”

“They are with absolute certainty more scandalous than you guys.” Bjorn said, “I’ve just never...you know, had the chance. I’ve never been great with women. I get more scared of talking with women than I do killing men.”

“Well, you’re talking to one right now. And you talk with another on an almost daily basis.”

“Yeah, but Yahui’s a prisoner. I do it to keep her entertained. And you’re like...a good friend. Not really a candidate for romance.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“No!” Bjorn exclaimed, “Why do you care? Romance just...isn’t my thing. I had this conversation already.”

“Romance is everyone’s thing, Bjorn.” Taya said, “Everyone needs someone to put their absolute faith in. That and you’d probably be a better fighter if you were having sex. It’s just part of being a healthy adult.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.” Bjorn frowned.

“I’m guessing you’ll change your mind, eventually.” Taya said, “But I think I got what I needed.”

“What?” Bjorn raised an eyebrow.

“This entire line of questioning was not so I could figure out whether you’re a virgin. It was to see which Company you fit into.” Taya said.

“Who’s company?”

“Uh...it’ll take a while to explain.”

“Well, Ruhak and Cecile are buying supplies, and Peng is watching Yahui take a nap. I think we have time.”

“Alright, alright. I wasn’t gonna tell anyone about this until we got to Koinelia, but I’ve been thinking about doing something...drastic.”

“More drastic than usual?” Bjorn asked.

“Yep. When I was a child, my father explained something very important to me that very few people know about the history of our world.” Taya explained, “Shedim normally bond with so few people that the existence of Shedim Masters is more or less unknown to the general population. But Shedim Mastery has spread like a plague once before. During Bás Síoraí. The Armageddon Event.”

“So...what, this is like a second coming of the apocalypse?” Bjorn asked.

“No. Humanity was defeated during the first Event according to the Druids. We lost. But the nonhumans spared a third of our original population. I think these Events come because of there being too many humans.” Taya said.

“I can only assume you intend to somehow win this one.”

Taya nodded, “I do. But if humanity wants to even stand a chance, a few traditions need to be dug up. First and foremost: the Companies.”

“You mentioned those. What are they?”

“They’re sort of like...guilds, I guess. Orders of Shedim Masters and warriors that organized to defeat humanity’s enemies.” Taya said, “I want to bring them back, but I can’t do it alone. There are eight and I only fit with one.”

“And you want me to help found a different one?”

“Actually, I want you to help co-found mine. You fit into my Company.”

“What would that be?”

“The Searing Breath.”

Bjorn gasped, “So that’s why you named our guild that.”

“Yep! Each Company embodies uniquely human traits, called the Principles of Man. The Searing Breath is about Conviction. It’s about standing up to others despite fear of judgement and empowering yourself.”

Bjorn’s expression dulled a bit, “I...I don’t know if that one’s for me.”

“I guarantee you, it’s where you belong.” Taya said, offering a smile that made Bjorn believe her completely, “Just trust me.”

“What about the others?” Bjorn asked.

“Hm...well, I haven’t gotten to know everyone as well as I’d like, but I think Ruhak would fit well into the Skyward Eye. He could use some direction and ambition in his life.” Taya said, “And once the Companies exist again, we can organize a genuine effort against the Nikan and the nonhumans. We can defend ourselves. Just think of it, Bjorn. All the nations in the world, maybe even Nikan once the emperor’s out of power, working together to fight for all of humanity.”

“Those are lofty goals.” Bjorn said, “But...it would be really inspiring to see.”

“So, how do you think I should set these Companies up?”

“Woah, what? This is your idea.” Bjorn chuckled.

“You’re the method to my madness, Bjorn. I’m gonna do a lot of crazy shit. I need you to make sure I don’t lose myself in the process.” Taya said.

“Well, I can’t tell you how to organize all of humanity, but if I have advice, I’ll give it to you. How about that?”

Taya nodded. “I can work with that. However, I want to keep this secret until I know I have at least one Shedim Master for each of the eight Companies. Power will be unbalanced if one starts recruiting or analyzing their history before the others. I don’t just want to create eight new political bodies.”

“Very un-Taya of you to keep secrets,” Bjorn said, “But my lips are shut.”