An ocean of demons marched in cadence, howling madly in what looked like their own lunatic versions of marching songs. Other than the small path leading towards Ark City’s entrance, the ravines that occupied the artificially-made low lands around the city was flooded with demons making their way up north.

“Blighted Night...” Senator Harlinder muttered. Her eyes were fixated on the huge crowd of demons that were steadfastly ignoring Ark City. Gemini focused his eyes on a random primal demon, and found that their eyes were solely fixated onto the horizon, where the black halo that had once held the influence of the four elemental gods at bay had vanished.

No, it hadn’t vanished. It had just pushed deeper into the Five Lands — the Constellation had the feeling that the people there would be seeing a black halo encroaching into their skies for a long, long time.

“Get our defenders to stand down,” Senator Harlinder snapped. “No one is to hold their weapons.”

“Yes, ma’am!” A few soldiers at her side saluted and ran off. The tension, already at knife’s edge, weakened as her orders passed through the city walls. No one believed that Ark City could hold off what looked like at least five hundred thousand enemies, even with all their advantages, and this was just their ground troops alone.

“No Exemplars spotted, for some reason,” Guo Ming muttered. “Sages and below, however, are represented in this tide.”

“Maybe it’s the fact that Exemplars have their own Dominion?” Harlinder muttered, turning towards Gemini for an explanation.

“Don’t ask me,” said the Constellation. “I’m a cheat that got propelled to this level by the Human God. Without my special skills, I’m probably history’s twelfth worst Paragon.”

“Twelfth?” Senator Guo Ming asked.

“The other Constellations never trained much in the way of fighting skills,” Gemini answered. “I could probably beat them down if our special skills aren’t used.”

“Confident, aren’t you?” Senator Guo Ming chortled, an action that made the other defenders nearby relax. Gemini wasn’t sure whether the man was a natural leader, or whether he made his laughter audible on purpose, but either way, it had a calming effect on the others.

“First amongst equals.” Gemini shrugged. “Anyway, this sea of demons…they look like they’re going towards the edge of the Wildlands. It does seem that the Demon God intends to attack the Five Lands.”

“We’ll be safe for now, but watching this procession of demons…” Senator Harlinder shook her head. “It’s like we’re watching the end of the Five Lands walking past us. I wonder what my ancestor would think if she saw me doing nothing. She’s a Paragon, you know, and she’ll probably hit my head twice…”

“Well, at least you feel somewhat guilty for not doing anyway,” said Gemini, “but let’s be realistic. None of us can take this tide of demons on.”

“I wonder what the history books would say if they knew about this,” said Senator Guo Ming.

The three of them stood at the city walls, lapsing into a period of contemplative silence as the never-ending tide of primal demons continued to march northwards. The mad singing continued to echo throughout the wilderness, but the defenders at the walls were no longer afraid. Hours passed, but the tide showed no sign of receding, and before long, the defenders who had manned the walls returned to their barracks for dinner, leaving a few people behind to keep an eye out.

Dinner was a solemn affair.

The usual, exaggerated joy one had while eating dinner was somewhat muted. Normally, the people of Ark City ate boisterously, in what looked like a celebration for making it through the day, but no one was in the mood for fetes tonight, even the soldiers.

After all, news about what the Five Lands was about to face had spread through the city. With the fall of a great god, and the Demon God showing his attitude by battering at the Great Divide, anyone with a functioning brain knew that a new era was about to begin.

And they were watching the start of it all.

Gemini, who had returned home, was eating dinner together with Lila. Both of them were in no mood to go out and wander the streets for new edibles.

“Even during the fall of Ars, there weren’t that many demons,” Gemini said, his spoon stuck halfway into a nice bowl of mashed potato. The food’s taste was particularly pronounced; he could taste the tangy seasonings that had been liberally applied to it, the savoury saltiness of the soup he drank.

Lila looked at Gemini. “Are you going to go back?”

“No,” the Constellation replied. “My world is here. With you, and with Ark City. And I don’t have the qualifications to participate in a battle of such scale either. The enemies of the Five Lands are mighty and immortal. It would not do for me to throw myself towards certain death for little gain and make you cry.”

“But if you ever want to go…bring me with you,” said Lila. Her eyes were bright.

“Okay.” Gemini forced out a smile, and then returned to his food. For all their words, Gemini and the others in Ark City still bore worry in their hearts. It had nothing to do with family or friends — the worry he felt was something anyone would feel if they saw a natural disaster brewing.

It was compassion, sympathy.

The Constellation shovelled more food into his mouth.

“Four years, huh.” Lila’s words made him look up.

“Four years?”

“The Demon God just said so,” Lila replied. “He spoke to every one of my kind just now. The Great Divide, though strengthened for some reason, will fall in four years of constant effort.”

A shiver ran down Gemini’s spine. “Thank you for telling me.”

It was probably harder than it looked for Lila to tell him about the Demon God’s message. It could cast doubts upon her allegiance, and in the wrong ears, could be spun into a weapon to injure her social standing. Her telling him this was nothing short of just how much trust Lila had in Gemini.

The Constellation got up from his seat. Lila followed behind him, and the two headed for the garden outside his house. Lila’s own residence in Erudition Street had been returned — the two had started living together after Gemini’s little confession of love.

Silently, he hugged Lila and took to the skies, flying towards the highest point of Ark City. Alighting on the battlements of one of the city’s oldest towers, the two sat down and watched the demons trudge on northwards, where a screen of blue light was now visible.

Four years…Gemini repeated the words in his heart, and watched as the frenzied tide continued to flow northwards, Lila by his side the whole time.

[End of Book 6: The Frenzied Tide]