The midnight sun cast twilight over the small village at the western edge of the valley, where the darkness of winter had ruled its streets the first time I had visited almost six months ago.

Summer had come and with it brought the anniversary of the day when I had forever changed the valley by killing the Prophet.

Now I stood in the dim space between two houses in the village I'd teleported to. Before I had even registered my surroundings, the wailing had hit me like a fist to the gut. Wailing and shrieks. I'd received the alert of a demon attacking here only a few minutes before. Though I'd arrived quickly, I knew I was too late by the guttural sobs I heard.

The demon had already taken life. I did not need to see the dead to know it. The cries of those left behind testified to yet another loss I could not prevent.

We needed to find a way for the people to warn us more quickly of attacks. Piercey had upgraded our neural connection so that we could now receive alerts from the computer in the White Room and we'd installed an alarm system in all of the villages we protected. But to call for us, someone had to physically hit the large button attached to a pole at the center of the village since power was required to sync with our neural network. As imperfect as the system was, it did allow for me to quickly help when the alert came. This had worried Piercey. He told me no one could battle without rest and wanted me to shut down the alerts at times to have peace. How could I?

A demon was attacking a village I'd sworn to protect.

I could never risk missing a threat like this, even though they happened infrequently now. Over the last year, those with power had learned the hard way what happened to anyone who attacked the people I called my own. With chaos descending over the valley after I killed the Prophet, it was my responsibility to ensure innocent families could live peacefully. Hundreds of villages and remote farmers had happily taken my offer to look out for them, and I'd made good on my promises. So what fool of a demon had dared to cross me? Everyone in Skia Hellig knew I guarded these people.

I closed my eyes and searched for the feel of the demon's power. He must have hidden himself when he felt me arrive. It was the downside of my teleportation powers. The energy that released when I appeared was like a small explosion. There was no hiding it.

Still, I would find him. Not only had he crossed into territory under my protection, but he had interrupted an important battle. Most days had been like this since I killed the Prophet. Eskel the Ruthless had lorded over his piece of Skia Hellig and brought terror to those who dared to defy him. There had been order in his cruelty, however. His death had brought with it the swift dissolution of that unjust but absolute authority.

For every person who wept with joy for their freedom, there was another whose sudden loss of security heaped on my shoulders like I alone carried the weight of the valley's fight for survival. We remained at war and peace felt as impossible to grasp as the sea, but we had managed to put a stop to some of the worst consequences of killing the Prophet.

Demons who had spent the last decade avoiding the valley or hiding from the Prophet who had sworn to kill them had flooded the villages. In the first few months of this war, I'd spent day after day teleporting from one village to the next to crush the surge of demon attacks. Piercey and his graduates had helped, but much of it had fallen to me since only I had mastered the manipulation of space-time.

Demons and disciples alike who craved power had come to fear my name very quickly. Prophets who eyed this land saw the lengths we would go to in order to protect our people.

We had warred for every semblance of security the valley now had. I only wished that we had accomplished more.

While countless people with power had entered the valley over the past year looking to take the Prophet's place, the greatest threats came from the organized and powerful armies of Prophets who already held power in the surrounding regions. It had been a tireless effort to keep those Prophets at bay while also defending from the countless attacks by rogue demons. Recently, the Flatlander Prophet and his disciples had taken new ground and we were in the middle of trying to push them back. Even though Piercey had told me that he would watch over Nash and that our allies could manage without me, I absolutely hated leaving them. But I was the only one who could make it to this village in time to stop the demon. I had to trust my comrades to fight without me.

"Where is he?" I shouted, storming through the gap between two small houses to enter a larger dirt road.

"Eclipse!" A woman I had never seen shrieked my name. "She came! We're saved."

"This way!" A man pointed to the east. "Hurry."

I followed the directions of the villagers until I felt a flicker of power, no more noticeable than the warmth of burning embers. Twisting, I faced the door of a home and raised my palm just as it slammed open.

The man who jumped out now swelled with power, enough that I was surprised I didn't recognize him. Many demons had shown their faces in this past year. I thought I'd come to know all those worth remembering.

Had he traveled from faraway lands?

A powerful strike of wind erupted against me. I'd raised a shield, but it still shoved me back toward the house behind me.

The demon had sprang forward while I was still sliding across the dirt. He raised a sword above his head with both hands while wind swirled about the blade in a dark twist of dirt, like a small tornado.

I might have enjoyed his tricks if he hadn't interrupted my battle and hurt the people of this village. As it was, he didn't deserve for me to feel impressed, and I didn't have time to waste fighting him. This needed to end fast.

As easily as drawing my bow from my back, I gathered my power into one that materialized in my hands now, a glowing and at times translucent green bow made of my power. With a careful aim, I pulled back like I held a real bow string and shot an arrow of energy through the air. It pierced the cyclone surrounding his blade right as the tip of the sword struck my shield. The arrow skidded across his blade and ripped open the meaty flesh of his palm. The shot scattered his power, killing the wind. He screamed as he pulled his hurt hand from the hilt of his sword, holding it now with only his left one.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Over the past year, I'd trained so much with my power bow that it functioned exactly the same as my favorite physical one. Channeling my energy into such a familiar method of fighting enhanced my attacks. I could now fight on instinct with it. And these arrows were far more effective than that of wood and iron.

As for a power blade, that effort had not been as successful. I still was learning to create and wield swords made from energy. But that didn't mean I couldn't slay an enemy with one. I just was not yet satisfied with the performance.

There was no need for a blade with this man, though. I ripped him closer by my power so his face slammed against my shield and his body trembled with exertion as he tried to escape.

"Who are you?" I shoved him back and rammed him against the shield again. The energy sparked from the impact. "What do you want with this village?"

When he didn't answer I raised my energy bow up once again and aimed an arrow directly at his throat. He struggled for breath as he stared at me, free of my hold on him now. Blood trickled from his nose.

"I don't answer to you," he said.

"You do when I hold my life in your hands."

"You alone decide my fate? How are you any better than the Prophet then?"

The energy coursing through my bow and arrow pulsed at the anger tightening my chest.

His nostrils twitched. "This village was safe before you came along, you know."

My eyes narrowed. "No. It was safe until you showed up and killed an innocent man. Don't blame me for your sins."

"You know it wouldn't have happened if Eskel still reigned. You know that to keep the demons out, you'll have to become him. Silencing me with your bow will not change the truth."

I shifted my aim and shot the energy through the base of his ribs on the left side. Swiftly, I drew another arrow with my power and fired on his thigh. He collapsed on the ground as the green arrows sizzled with fiery energy. When I released the arrows and they disappeared, blood gushed from the wounds. His scream echoed through the night.

"You think it's your silence I want?" I loomed over him now and placed the heel of my boot to his throat. "Let the people hear your screams. Let the valley hear what happens to those who take innocent life."

"You're… no… better…"

"I don't care what I am. You're banished from this valley. Return and we will know."

I covered his eyes with my hand as the code Piercey had created rolled through my mind. It would tag this demon's neural implant so we could track him and I could take action immediately if he returned. Part of me believed it was better to just kill him, but I already had so much power. I did not want the power to unilaterally sentence anyone to death. If I had to kill to protect the valley, I had no qualms. But I'd stopped this man while his heart still beat.

Perhaps, Piecey had gotten too deep into my mind when we connected. Even though a simple part of me said that those who killed should be killed, I was relieved to have an alternative.

"What are you doing?" His voice shook with fear.

Without answering, I transported both of us to the coast, far away from the closest village to a small shack with enough supplies for him to journey somewhere else.

"This is the only mercy I will ever show you." I held his eyes. "Stay away from my people or you will die. If you even take one step into the valley, I will immediately travel to you and crush you."

He trembled now, pale from blood loss and fear. "It's really true. You must have stolen the power of the sun during the last eclipse."

"I'm going to check on you. There is nowhere far enough away from me for you to run. If you continue to hurt the innocent, I'll kill you."

By his wide eyes, I knew he believed me.

"Bandage your wounds before you die." I glared into his eyes one final time before returning to the village.

The family of the slain man crowded around his corpse as they wept. I stood beside the village chief now as I watched. Their cries would echo in my heart forever.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I was too late."

"It was me. I didn't raise the alarm in time."

"This should never happen."

He turned to me, the low-hanging sun reflecting as red in his eyes. "You are not a god." Despite the grief in his stare, there was also conviction. "You cannot expect to save us all."

I couldn't talk about this. With a stiff dip of my head, I said, "Please give my condolences to the family. I'm needed in battle."

"Goodbye, Eclipse."

That name had once been uttered only as a curse or whispered in terror. It had once been rumors of the demon who slayed an entire village. For the first time, some spoke it for a different reason. Plenty still cursed the name, but it was reverence I heard in this man's voice.

I wanted to ask him to call me by my name. I was Max the Sharpshooter, not the demon Eclipse. Only a sharpshooter could not make the people of this village feel safe again. They needed Eclipse, no matter how I felt about the name.

It was for this valley and this world that I'd given all I had to fight against God's and Prophets alike. If they needed me to be Eclipse, so be it.

Let Eclipse be the last word uttered by those who threatened my people.

My heart remained with the grieving family, torn with them, as I returned to the battlefield where my comrades had been warring without me.

I landed right beside Nash, drawn to him, as always. Sweat slinked down the side of his face as his eyes met mine.

It was already time to continue battling. I'd transported to the middle of an offensive attack against five demons who charged for us. There was no chance to tell Nash what happened. Even if there had been, it wasn't necessary. He would know with one look at the grief in my eyes that I'd been too late to save everyone. Just as I knew from the glimpse at him that he'd want to tell me it only mattered that we helped those we could. But there was no time and no need for such things.

The moment my feet had hit the ground, I'd launched into a sprint for the demons, no longer needing a few seconds to adjust to my surroundings. War pulsed in my heart now. This had become second nature to me.

I would take back this valley for the innocent just as I'd taken back this world from the gods.

I aimed my energy bow at a demon when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a familiar form. HIs image came like a flash and then vanished, but I could have sworn I saw Piercey watching me from the right. Except I knew my friend actually stood directly behind us as he always did when he guarded Nash so that they could battle as one. Still, I had to check, and just as I expected, I found him behind us with his palms raised toward Nash. Definitely not at the edge of the battlefield.

My mind must have been playing tricks on me.

It unsettled me as I released my first energy arrow and focused on the enemies who rushed at us.