"This is a nightmare." Piercey held his head in his hands and groaned low. "It's taken most of Gael's manpower to defend the Valley while you were gone. The attacks are happening at the same rate as when you had to leave. They've waged all out war. How are we supposed to fight another war on top of this? With more advanced warriors?"

Nash spoke up. "We have news about that. There's hope. Max, I'll update you as soon as we're done talking about this."

I nodded and refused to allow myself to give in to despair or panic, even if my stomach churned and my heart raced. I kept it distant from my mind.

Jax leaned his weight against his knees with his hands clasped. "Attacks?"

"Until recently, we didn't have many warriors to help defend the Valley. There's only power for one out of every one hundred people here, and on top of that, the man we killed–the Prophet of the Valley–hunted demons the entire time he was in power. He killed off and drove out a lot of people with power. Someone is having people randomly attack all over the valley and we've been so busy surviving, we haven't made progress with finding the root issue."

Ashton glowered at Elias. "You got her involved in our guild when she was dealing with this?"

"I thought I would be helping her. I gave power to three of her best warriors and planned to help train them. When this was all over, I was going to share technology and information."

"All because you didn't want me to get involved. Because you can't trust me to win the battle. You think I'll get myself killed." Real hurt broke through the anger in her voice. "You think she can win a war I can't?"

"No," Elias said. "We both needed help and I thought we could help each other without having to hurt anyone else. I didn't want you to know what Lote did. I didn't want you to have to fight again."

Nash eased closer to whisper to me. "You're the one who told her, didn't you?"

"Obviously," I said. "He was being a stubborn idiot." My gaze turned to Piercey then, and I interrupted Elias and Ash's bickering. "Did you know that he hid this from her? You two connected."

He shook his head. "I didn't realize. Looking back, I don't have a memory of him telling her, but I had no memory of him concealing it. I just didn't think about it. There were too many things on my mind. I'm a fool for not realizing."

"You're all too trusting is what you are." Leif had said little since we came into the apartment. "I say this all the time."

Piercey and I both groaned at the same time. Leif was right about this for once and he'd never let us live it down.

"Okay, we can all fight later," I said.

"Now you want to change topics." Leif flashed a smug grin. "I'll take that as you saying I told you so."

I made a face at him and then waved him off. "We have a giant mess to clean up. All of us."

"We have to finish the job," Jax said. "We kill Lote and whoever is helping plan to break into this world. Your world will be safe and we can take the next step toward peace for our guilds."

Jax's three comrades stood in a group together on the other side of the room, all of them nodding together.

"I agree with Jax on this," Elias said.

"Killing Lote won't be easy. He's expecting us now. They'll be monitoring for your return, Elias. You told me before they can catch your power readings. We'll be walking into a trap no matter how we do it."

"What if you force him here?" Nash asked. "Take away the advantage of him being at home."

"It could work. Then again, we'll be opening our world to danger." Anxiety twisted my insides. "Right now he can't hurt anyone here because he's trapped in his world."

"Until he figures out how to travel," Elias said. "Our greatest advantage, though, is that he's keeping this a close secret. We won't be fighting against the entire guild."

"The secrets are the problem." Ashton stared at the ground, sounding as numb as I was starting to feel. "All these secrets are killing us. We should tell the truth."

"What does that even mean?" Elias asked. "You want to advertise this world to everyone?"

"Not happening," I said.

"I didn't say we should tell everyone," Ashton said. "Only that we should tell the truth. Some could see this as a coup against our kingdom's leadership. The guilds are meant to have a similar standing. Lote secretly amassing so much technology, power, and resources is a threat to the order of the kingdom. How are we supposed to know he simply wants our guild to be on top? Maybe he wants to overthrow the kingdom."

Piercey had slowly straightened while she spoke. "You want to tell your king. Can he be trusted?"

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"I think so," Ashton said. "He doesn't have as much power as a king in your world might because the guilds are so powerful. But he does have the final authority, especially in regard to the wrongdoing of guild leadership. It's a balancing act of power and why we're so stonewalled."

"Lote may kill the king if it comes to it." Worry shadowed Elias's tight frown. "The king is supposed to have final authority, yes. He doesn't. Telling him might mean he tells the leadership of all the guilds what's happening because he relies upon their power to manage the kingdom."

"What's the point of a powerless king?" Leif asked.

"Central leadership, even a weaker one, has its merits." Elias sighed. "From diplomacy, to negotiations, to our judicial system. He might have to share power with the guilds and he rules under their shadow, but he does bring order to our kingdom."

Order. I rubbed my arm, thinking about the order that our valley had once had before I destroyed it. It was an awful order, but we certainly had one. The feeling that had been gnawing at me for months turned painful as I thought about the future of our valley and the threats that we faced from all sides.

"The power of a king is that he is one voice that will always be heard above many. If he calls Lote a traitor, the guilds will be quick to listen. He doesn't need to tell them about our world. There's plenty of other evidence."

The urgency inside of me grew, as it had been through every day of fighting through chaos. I'd tried to run from it and deny it and seek out another way. I'd been convinced that I didn't have the time to lead the Valley and so I'd taken on the bulk of the war when we needed a kingdom to fight, not just me. It wasn't just that the valley needed someone to lead, but to have the chance to become one people, instead of the disparate and abandoned villages of a horrible Prophet. We needed to unify together as one.

I couldn't sit still so I pushed out of my seat and walked to Piercey, pointing at him. "Assemble the valley leadership immediately. Tell them it's an emergency. Use Gael to bring everyone here to the Sacred School."

He started to stand even as he asked the question. "What are you planning?"

"Nash." I turned so I could see his amber eyes, feel if this was the worst mistake of my life, and if it was something we could survive.

"Don't wait," he said. "Go."

A pang of love so sharp it felt like pain stabbed into my heart. I couldn't assume he knew what I was planning or doing and it didn't matter to him. We'd been through so much together. He recognized this urgency I felt. Trusted me. At one time, I relied on his trust to believe in myself. It now mingled with the faith I felt in myself now. This was the right call.

"Piercey meet me in the conference room with the others. The rest of you, stay here and plan. Leif, take care of them." I looked to each person to check for understanding and looked at Nash again. "Let's go."

He pushed from his chair and I didn't even walk across the room. I ran.

The last thing I heard before the door slammed shut was Leif's loud voice. "What the hell just happened?"

----------------------------------------

"We deal with this captive demons now. What did you learn?" I asked as we ran through the halls of the Sacred School. A student jumped to the side, avoiding us.

"Piercey used the tracker you've been putting in them to help Gael and me to travel to some." Nash shoved a door open for me as we both burst through. "I pretended that I was offering them money to attack again. One took the bait."

I cut a look to him. "They all did this for money?"

"Only some. The demons attacking right now are serious. I think a lot of the random attacks over the past year have been demons who were paid to cause mischief."

I slowed to a stop as soon as we reached the door leading to the holding rooms–classrooms that we'd converted into temporary cells for our captives. It was guarded by some of Piercey's best graduates. "What did you find?"

"It's the Flatlander Prophet. He's working with a cult of demons to weaken us for invasion. He wants land back that the Prophet of the Valley stole from him long ago."

"What cult?"

"I don't know. Those demons won't talk."

"Well, today is their last chance."

The graduates guarding the door stepped aside to allow us entrance.

"What does that mean?" Nash called after me.

"It means we're using manpower to keep a constant check on their power and guard them and we can't afford that."

A graduate opened one of the converted classrooms for me when I stopped in front of the door.

"Eclipse," he said.

I ignored the name, peering into the brightly lit room. One of the demons I had fought recently sat on the far side of the room with his arms and legs pound, his skin flushed red. I could feel his power warring to free itself.

Nash and I both entered the room.

"You have a choice today," I said. "Vow to leave the Valley in peace or die."

The hard set of the demon's frown remained frozen until his mouth opened wide in a loud laugh.

Resignation hardened like lead in my gut. I spoke in a voice devoid of the anguish buried too deep beneath my determination for me to feel. "I'm sorry I did not do this in battle as I should have."

I drew my sword, lunged forward, and buried my sword deep into his heart without hesitation.

"Max…" Nash's eyes didn't leave the dead demon's vacant stare.

"We need every single warrior we can get. There will be no one left to guard them." I slung the blood from my sword and turned my back on the dead man. "You don't have to stay for this."

Nash clasped my wrist and jerked me to him. I caught myself on his chest with the bloodied sword between us. I waited for the sting of his judgment and horror at killing a captive man.

"You're the one who doesn't have to stay for this," Nash said. "Go prepare for the leaders."

A strangled breath caught in my throat. My eyes burned. "Nash–"

"One day this valley will have justice and no one's fate will be decided by a single person. Today is not that day. You're right that this should have been done in battle. So let me do it now. You've carried the burden long enough." Nash pried my fingers from the sword and wiped one side against his leg. The other. He pushed it back into the sheath at my hip. "It's time to step away, Max."

Nash had a way of forcing me to stay in my body and feel everything I wanted to run from. Tears fell down my face as hundreds of days of killing gripped me. His hand worked over my face, his soft lips finding my cheek.

"I know what you're planning to do." His nose brushed mine. "I'll fight by your side every second."

I kissed him, desperate for the life I knew we could lead. "I love you."

"I love you too. Don't take the blame for this. They came here to wage war."

"Killing someone on the battlefield is different than plunging a sword into their heart in a jail cell."

"That's why we're going to make sure the valley is capable of handling prisoners from now on. So go."

I nodded and backed away, realizing my hands were shaking. "If anyone is willing to talk, bring them to the conference. Choose the best one. Those left alive will fight with us or meet the same fate as the others. They stay under guard."

Nash shifted so I could no longer see the man I'd killed and nudged me toward the door.