Sophia struggled against the Custodes as the Massive armors formed a protective wall around her. Once their towering shields connected, a spark of familiar red energy arced above them and her senses were cut off completely from the surrounding ballroom.

She saw the flash of light, and heard the distant voices over the arcing energy, and could feel something terribly wrong. The surrounding custodes wore looks of utter despair, but as she reached out, she could sense no reason for it in their minds.

Then she felt a gentle tug on her recent connection to Aleks as a sense of sad regret and iron determination brought a precious few words to her, their simplicity making them almost imperceptible.

Take them. Find her. Be safe.

She had no words to describe what followed; she wasn’t even sure there were words to convey the intensity of those emotions, but once they faded, her vision was blurry with tears.

She wiped them away and looked around her; the Custodes were gone, so was the ballroom. She felt the grass beneath her and looked up to see the stars above, and all around her stood an army, a wolf the size of a semi, stepped forward and nuzzled her with its nose.

She wiped her eyes again and stood up, determined as she climbed onto Fenris’ back, the massive wolf pulling back like a spring before firing off at a sprint, the scenery around her changing faster than she could react to as she held on for dear life.

When the hurricane like winds ceased, the sounds of heavy gunfire replaced it, truck mounted machine guns lighting up the forest around them as streaks of red light assaulted the armored vehicles blocking their way.

Sophia looked ahead to see a pair of jaws adorned with four flaming eyes bite a truck in half, an explosion of fire lighting up the clearing, revealing a sea of disembodied shadows continuing their advance.

Fenris moved through the carnage, every shadow careful to keep her shielded from stray fire, the road ahead littered with fortified roadblocks and in the distance a single vehicle sped ahead through them unhindered.

“Sasha.” Sophia thought.

They’d never catch up like this. The shadows were resilient and any soldier who fell soon rose once more. Their victory was all but assured, but time was not on their side.

A sound unlike anything she’d ever heard before erupted behind her, unnatural and incomprehensible, and as she glanced at the skies, she caught a glimpse of a colossal scaled snake-like form moving through the clouds, looking at it brought her a head-splitting migraine as she instinctually winced her eyes shut.

Screams followed by the sound of a mountain falling and the earth quaking ceased her heart and stilled it, then a different, far more unknowable sensation washed over her, ripping the all-encompassing existence from reality with the sound of a wet finger dragged across a pane of glass followed by a snap of air.

When Sophia hesitantly looked up once more, there was nothing but a semicircular trench dug for miles, no fortified roadblocks remained... Nothing remained, trees and soil, even the road... everything was gone.

The army of shadows moved forward and soon caught up with the vehicle which had swerved and crashed, as she arrived on the scene, men were being dragged from the crash screaming, missing limbs and wrapped in barbed chains, Arkos moving gently forward, a bundle of cloth carried in his arms.

He knelt down and uncovered Sasha’s sleeping face. Sophia reached out and felt her pulse and checked for injuries. After finding none, she checked her pupils.

“She’s been drugged, but she’s uninjured.” Sophia stated to the waiting orbs of red behind Arkos’ helm.

The armored knight nodded and rose.

***

Katya watched as Mavis’s triumphant expression turned to one of confusion.

“Don’t tell me you’d rather die and allow the child to die than be a slave. Such pathetic pride.” Mavis mocked with a cruel laugh.

Worry took hold of Katya’s heart for a second, but then she noticed Aleks’ arm. The mark was no longer glowing, instead returning to its dormant state.

She didn’t get much further in her theory as a murderous bloodlust flooded the ballroom, choking even herself.

The heat dissipated cooling to a cruel chill, Katya’s breath coming out foggy.

She looked ahead and saw Aleks rise to his feet, runes burning through his clothing and covering his body, his hand whipping out, grabbing hold of Mavis’ throat, lifting her off the floor.

His expression was devoid of emotion as he examined her like some foreign unknown object, his movements inhuman and bizarre, reminding Katya of a puppet on strings.

Mavis struck down on his arm to free herself from his grasp, but her attempts were not just unsuccessful but completely useless as her immense strength did not even shake his hold of her.

Instead, he simply ignored her attempts as he cast a glance over those who had yet to flee, his gaze like the uncaring void of nothingness. A presence fell over the room as if some indescribable being had turned its attention on them.

When his gaze finally landed on Katya, a sliver of emotion broke through as the words. “She is safe.” Escaped his lips in barely a whisper.

He dropped Mavis to the ground, and she collapsed, coughing.

He walked towards the crumpled witch and placed a hand on her face, the smell of burned skin wafting up and a blood red mark left behind as he pulled away his hand.

Natasha yelped, drawing attention to herself as the witch she still held subdued started to smoke, the same mark appearing on her face.

Aleks turned towards Katya and raised his forearm, marked by their oath.

“Those who seek to harm you shall know only terror before the dark consumes them.” His voice echoing as if coming from everywhere at once, yet his mouth did not move.

Katya lifted her arm, similarly revealing her mark.

“A sanctuary, until the Eve is no more.” Her own voice chiming as she felt the power flow through the connection between them.

Emotion returned to his face as he smiled a gentle thankful smile, before his body wavered and he collapsed.

***

“Any news from Agent Winters?” Commander Denvers questioned for what felt like the tenth time in as many minutes.

“No, sir.” An officer sitting at a console replied crisply.

“Damn it Naomi, it’s now or never.” Denvers muttered.

The nearby researchers had done everything from threatening resignation to going over his head. He couldn’t keep this from happening any longer without solid intel expressly stating this was gonna go to shit.

“Do it.” Denvers relented, and the Researchers sped off.

They were gonna fake a power outage covering four states in an experiment that had taken months to set up and a truly incredible amount of taxpayer money.

“This had better work.” Denvers growled.

“It will Commander, tonight we’ll take a technological leap that will bring forth a golden age.” Miles, the head of research, said behind him as if someone was recording him... Hell Denvers wouldn’t put it past the slimy bastard to have a recorder in his pocket to document the discovery.

“Zones one through twelve are all green Sir, we’ll flip the switch at your order.” An officer announced.

“Go ahead.” Miles commanded, causing the officer to turn around and look questioningly at the Commander, but Denvers could only nod for them to go ahead.

Denvers looked through the large viewing port ahead of them, the massive domed test chamber housing a glass cylinder 7 feet across and twenty feet tall.

Inside the cylinder floated what Denvers could only describe as a rip, like pushing the flat side of a knifepoint through a piece of paper, except instead of the other side of the chamber the hole revealed a swirling mass of light and radiation like an aurora.

And they were going to feed the damned thing four states worth of generated electricity for fifteen minutes...

“God help us.” Denvers muttered.

“Now, now, Commander, it is no time to be so pessimistic. Today we make history!” Miles said, a fanatic tint to his eyes that Denvers had only seen in religious extremists.

“Three percent power.” The officer informed them, continuing in five percent increments, until they reached a hundred percent of their estimated power draw.

“Uhm, Sir?” the officer asked nervously.

“What is it?” Denvers questioned, walking over and leaning down to see the display.

“We’re at a hundred and five percent power draw... and still climbing.” The officer said, before his screen flickered and went dark.... Then the lights and everything else slowly went out.

Denvers stood up and looked towards the only light source present, the violet tear, at the center of which the aurora like waves had formed a tight swirl like water flowing down a drain.

And it was expanding... beyond the tear.

People rose from their chairs and silently gathered before the view glass. The silence was like a weight, everyone holding their breath as if knowing something was about to happen.

Finally, when nothing else of the chamber could be seen from the swirling mass, something reached through.

And a wave of light and destruction followed.

***

I woke up groggy and to the sounds of machines beeping and whirring.

I had barely gained consciousness when my throat convulsed around a plastic tube reaching into my stomach.

Choking and weak, I clawed at the foreign object until I finally gained a grip and ripped it from my mouth. The seemingly endless piece of plastic continued for almost the length of my arm, my eyes watering as I continued pulling.

“Mak’Dar Fell’Os” I swore before trying to climb my way out of the hospital bed I laid in, wires and tubes leading to IV’s like roots burrowing under my skin and in my delirious state, panic seized my heart.

“TA’OOT DRY’AD!” I snarled, still weak as I tore the needles and sensors from my skin, blood trickling down my arms.

My mind screaming for me to move as images of my friends... My brothers laying with roots burrowing through their veins appeared in front of me, their faces stricken with agony and terror.

I stumbled to the floor, trying desperately to get away, but soon collapsed to my hands and knees before expelling the contents of my stomach onto the white tile floor.

The poison in my blood making me dizzy, dulling my senses and mind.

I growled and slammed my fist against the floor, cracking it as I channeled energy through my veins, burning the toxic shit out of my system, the additional strain wreaking havoc on my body like opening a barely scabbed wound.

As I looked up, I saw hospital staff gathered at the entrance of my room, their expressions a mix of worry and panic.

“What... The f-fuck.” was all I managed to get out before passing out in my own vomit.

***

“He just woke up and tore it out?” Katya asked the doctor.

“Yes Ma’am, we held off on reinserting the feeding tube for now, and the IV’s are simple fluids to recoup what he lost.” The doctor explained.

“What was his mental state like?” Katya asked, looking down at Aleks, his face pained even as he slept.

The doctor hesitated for a moment until Katya looked up at him sternly, pushing him to talk.

“Do we know if he suffers from PTSD?” the doctor asked.

“We suspect it. Why?” Katya replied, narrowing her eyes.

“Because you guys stuck me full of fucking tubes that looked like roots.” A hoarse voice groaned.

Aleks slowly opening his eyes only to wince them shut once more.

“Cut the fucking lights, would ya?” He said, covering his eyes with his arm, noticing the new drop attached to it and ripping it out as the doctor protested.

“No more of this shit.” Aleks said firmly, waving the tube and bloody needle in front of the doctor.

A nurse shut off the lights and closed the blinds and Aleks fell back onto the bed with a weary sigh.

“Damn fool.” Aleks muttered sadly before opening one eye to look at the thoroughly chastised doctor. “Not you. You actually did pretty well, all things considered.”

“How long was I out? Any injuries or deaths?” Aleks asked, turning to Katya.

“A little less than a day and we lost six of ours, the team assigned to Sasha. Their bodies were found at the ritual site.” Katya replied somberly.

“I’d like to see the bodies, if that’s allowed by your customs.” Aleks said before struggling to sit up.