The next morning, Mariel woke to find herself resting in Casindire’s lap. A little confused, she sat herself up.

“Good morning Mariel, you looked really uncomfortable, so I hope you don’t mind.”

“Ah, no… But how are you doing? Aren’t you tired?” She studied her closely, but found no signs of fatigue on her. In some strange way, she seemed wide awake and aware.

Casindire shook her head and smiled. “Not at all, I’m wide awake and ready to get going.”

“Good morning you two…” Tizare yawned and sat himself up. “So what did I miss? Anything that snuck up on us during the night?”

“Nothing… Which is a little strange… I haven’t heard any noise apart from rustling grass… Like every animal has disappeared.” Tizare’s expression turned serious. He stood abruptly and began looking around.

“Hey, Saya wake up.” He nudged Saya with his foot, and immediately, her eyes flew open and she scrambled to her feet.

“What’s going on?”

“We should get going… Something in this area appear to have scared off the animals.”

Mariel shook Siravin awake. He appeared drowsy and at first tried to go back to sleep. She shook him one more time and he woke up properly. They quickly gathered up their items and backpacks and formed up, with Saya and Tizare taking the lead, while Siravin brought up the rear. Mariel remained with Casindire in the middle.

“Are we in danger? I figured it wouldn’t be all that unusual for animals to sleep too at night… But not one appear to have woken up or moved… And it’s late in the morning already.” Casindire kept looking around, listening for any sound.

They soon walked onto a small cliff giving them a good view of their surroundings. The valley sides descended sharply, down to the valley below. A series of rocky stripes into the forest below ended in a large river, splitting the valley along the middle. Along the banks were the broken remains of river barges, run aground, their cargo of barrels and crates either flowed along, or remained stuck on the riverbed. A large gathering of crows flew above.

“Seems the hunters have been busy… They couldn’t accomplish this all on their own.” Tizare mumbled, while leading the group along the outcrop’s edge. As they arrived on the top of a small slope they spotted a tower in the distance, made of stone bricks and surrounded by makeshift stockades.

A pair of individuals, apparently, soldiers, soon approached them.

“Greetings travellers, you are rather far from the main roads… What brings you here?” One of the soldiers asked, his hand resting on the pommel of his sheathed sword.

“We’re travelling eastwards to the coast, and heard in Adriested that the roads are dangerous these days, so we made our own path.” Mariel took charge of the answers, to which she felt her companions sharing approving nods.

“And the others? Who are they.” The other guard interjected.

“The two wearing masks are my loyal retainers, our kinsman is my dear friend and the human is my servant.”

“I see… You must be tired then, why don’t you join us at the watchtower, and tell us about these dangers? We’ve been expecting messengers, but they are running very late.”

“I’d be grateful.” The two guards nodded to Mariel and led them towards the watchtower. As they approached, another half-dozen soldiers emerged from the tower and set up a cooking fire. The soldiers wore metal armour and kept their weapons close by, but a sense of complacency hung over the outpost.

“Welcome to our humble watchtower! I’m Rigari and I command this scurvy bunch of soldiers, I hope my boys weren’t being discourteous towards you!” The leader, a strongly-built, grizzled veteran greeted them as they approached.

“They were very helpful sir; we’d like to rest here for a while and then be on our way.” Mariel shook his hand. His grip was firm but not of the crushing nature she had begun to expect from soldiers by now.

“Sir, they claim to have news about what’s going on around here.”

“Oh? Well, have a seat around our fire and tell us about it.”

They sat down with the other soldiers. Immediately they shared introductions and the discussions had soon trailed off into a myriad of different topics. Casindire faced the most immediate attention, as it became clear that many of the soldiers had never had the opportunity to meet a human. Under the unrelenting pressure, she clamped up and retreated next to Mariel.

“We already know about the sky opening and dispensing people, we’ve seen the sky behave like you describe. To the south, at the edge of the horizon, we saw the sky churn and open not long ago.” Rigari pointed towards the south. The sky remained calm and as normal for a good day.

Just then, another pair of soldiers returned to camp, with ragged breaths they wobbled up to Rigari and saluted.

“S-sir! I report that, there’s been a massacre in the valley! All the barges and travellers...”

“What!?” Rigari roared and stood up abruptly. “Explain yourself!”

“There’s been an attack… We don’t know by who. They seized all the supplies and merchandise and took roughly half of the crews and travellers away!”

From down the hill, appeared two individuals, bloody and limping. Upon being spotted, two of the guards rushed out to receive them, not paying attention to the strange rings around their neck.

“Wait! Get away from them!” Siravin shouted, but before he could finish his sentence, the two guards found their bellies punctured by sharp swords. With three quick stabs, the guards fell over in a growing pool of innards and blood.

“Immediately, the whole watchtower, the guards drew their swords and picked up their shields, just in time to block a half-dozen arrows flying through the air. An arrow narrowly flew past Mariel and landed on the ground by Casindire’s feet. Siravin rushed in front and using his wards, deflected another arrow that would have struck home.

“Mariel, get her inside the tower, now!” Siravin shouted. Just then over the crest of the slope appeared thirty-five warriors, charging and screaming. Behind them appeared four regally-clad humans, carrying staves.

“Saya, take them down!” On Tizare’s command, Saya loosed three arrows in rapid succession. The humans raised their wards and the arrows missed. Tizare then loosed two arrows of his own, slaying two of the charging soldiers. On his flanks, the guards had formed up in a shield wall and stood ready to receive the charge. Tizare, Saya and Siravin retreated behind the wall just in time as the warriors slammed into the wall. A brutal slaughter ensued as heads were cut clean, guts were torn from bodies, and the screams of pain mixed with screams of rage.

“Hold them back!” Rigari shouted to his troops. He swung his sword upwards, and threw off the helmet of one of the warriors. Under the helmet appeared the face of a kinsman, his skin warm and lively, save his cloudy eyes, and an empty socket in his forehead.

“Garmaren…” He sighed, and smoothly separated the familiar head from the body.

“Stand fast! They are no longer your kin! No quarter will be shown us, so give none in return!”

The guards roared out in pain and shock, and with another mighty cry, pushed the attackers back, stabbing the front row, making a heap of death and blood in front of their line.

The rank advanced, hewing their way forward. Over the ridge appeared another twenty warriors, half of which had bows.

“Continue straight on, the door is very close!” Mariel had picked up a discarded shield and used it to cover herself and Casindire as they retreated towards the tower.

The enemy archers drew, and loosed a volley. The arrows whistled through the air, straight towards the two. The first few arrows struck the shield.

Casindire screamed, and Mariel barely had time to glimpse the arrow embedded in her friend’s shin, before she too felt the sharp edges of arrows in her flesh. With a shout of pain, she lost her footing and fell on the ground. One arrow had embedded itself in her left shoulder, between the blade and her collarbone, the second stood firmly lodged in her left thigh.

“Mariel?! Mariel! Where are you? Are you alive?” Casindire shouted to her.

“Oh gods...” She groaned in reply, her clothes reddening with her blood.

“Casindire!” Siravin shouted from the middle of the battle. “Get yourselves inside, now!”

Casindire’s sight was in a haze. Her body refused to respond to her wishes, and her arm felt strangely heavy. She felt a hand touch her own, and slowly, she was dragged along the ground. She looked up to see Casindire with great pain on her face, pull her along, while fumbling for the door.

Suddenly, she lost hold of Casindire’s hand. Rigari stood over her and soon she felt herself being hung over his shoulders. Another soldier picked up Casindire and with haste, they were carried inside the tower and put down on the cold stone floor.

“Arelis, why isn’t the signal fire lit yet!?” Rigari shouted, while deftly snapping the arrows near the base.

“Yes sir! I will light it immediately!”

The soldier rushed up the stairs, while Rigari tended to Mariel and Casindire.

Outside, the battle had turned into a standstill, the attackers kept throwing themselves on the shield wall, occasionally falling as the ground was slick with blood and innards. The lines remained firmly locked in place.

Siravin caught a glimpse over the shields. The humans were standing perfectly still, focusing intently on a torch placed before them.

“Loosen up the formation!” He shouted, and Tizare immediately spread the word down the line.

Lances of fire emerged from the torch, in five straight lines, it breached the line. Eight of the guards, whom had not moved out in time, instantly caught fire. In excruciating pain, they desperately tried to put out the flames, but were soon nothing but immolated husks on the ground. The attackers were not spared the wrath of the flames either, but appeared unfazed by the flames eating into their flesh.

The nightmarish sight of kin desperately trying to defend against a walking torch, showing no emotion and attacking with unrelenting brutality drove Saya, over the edge. With a shriek of terror and confusion, she felled five of the flaming attackers before drawing her blades. She charged into the fray, swinging wildly. She hewed her way to Tizare and Siravin, whom stood back to back, their defenses crumbling under the sheer pressure of arms levelled against them.

Inside the tower, Mariel and Casindire were alone, the fire had been lit, and Rigari and his adjutant had rushed back outside to continue the fight. Despite having been bandaged, the blood would not stop flowing from her thigh.

“Mariel? Wake up!”

“… What happened?” She breathed weakly, her body felt heavy and stiff.

“… Huh? Didn’t you hear what I said?” Mariel felt a warm, wet hand on her cheek.

“Sure I did… Keep your hand there… I like how warm you are…”

“Mariel…” Siah’s voice sounded inside her mind. “Don’t worry… If they come through the door, I will protect you.”

“Thanks, keep them out…” She sighed.

“Mariel? Who are you… Talking to?” Casindire’s voice was filled with concern.

“A friend.”

The sounds of battle began to die down outside.

The door flew open, and through it rushed the bloody assailants, victorious. In a flash of light, one of the soldiers turned on his heels and began to cut down his allies, until he was pierced by several swords and put down.

Strong, bloody hands separated Casindire from Mariel, and in her weakened haze, Mariel blinked out of consciousness. The next time she woke, she saw an unfamiliar face looking at her, and voices echoing around her.

“This one’s useless to us… The crystal isn’t active… Dispose of her. We’ll make do with the male, and the remaining guards.”

“What about the humans?”

“They fought with the demons… Make them suffer, slowly.”

Mariel’s consciousness began to slip from her grasp, and she fell into the abyss.