Darkness descended on the village, as it did on every town not built in a safe zone. All but three of the four members of the Phi team of the Three Winged Guild were indoors. Hiro, Alphonse, and Suzie had spread out, Suzie on one end of the village and Alphonse on another to guard the outskirts while Hiro stood in the center and poured everything he had into a Light Spell.

Hiro stabbed his staff into the hard-packed dirt of the main road through town. He wiggled it a few times to force it into the dirt far enough that it would stand up on its own. He took a step back, breathed in the dusk air, and closed his eyes. He felt for the depths of his pool of mana and then pulled every drop into his hands. Unseen hands grabbed his arms, the encroaching Darkness trying to claw through his leather bracers. He held his breath to keep it out of his body. Then he clapped his hands together, his eyes snapping open with a prayer in his heart, “Dad, Papa, strengthen my Light!”

The top of Hiro’s staff flared with Light with a radius that enveloped Hiro then slowly spread further and further, pushing the Darkness away...

Suzie swung her ax, severing the arm of a creature of Darkness as it tried to reach through the cracks in the door of a house and slink inside. There were fresh graves in the backyard for a reason. With a sigh that sounded more like a grunt, Suzie posted up in front of the door. Using her heel, Suzie ‘knocked’ on the door, “anyone actually in there?”

She got a somewhat incoherent response but it was a human one, so she lowered her stance and kept an eye out for any shadows that passed her by as she fought the Darkness that tried to move past her...

Alphonse sauntered through the streets on the other end of the village, killing any creatures of Darkness that he came across. He glanced over to the center of town where Hiro’s Light was shining and smiled, “getting stronger?” A beast reared up behind him and without tearing his eyes from Hiro’s Light, Alphonse ran it through with his sword...

The Light poured in through the wooden slats on the guest room window. It looked almost like daylight to Kelsi. She hugged her knees to her chest and hid her face, waiting for the natural sunrise to come...

By a quarter past midnight, Hiro’s spell encompassed the whole village and Suzie and Alphonse didn’t have much else to do but wander back to Hiro to watch over him. And that is what they did for the rest of the night until the sun began to break through the trees. Hiro’s spell sputtered out and he collapsed, caught by Alphonse and Suzie on either side of him as he fell.