I didn’t join the rest of the city as all those willing to fight gathered into their own army at the edge of Edrona’s western border. Shouts of “They’re coming!” and “Get ready to fight!” and other war cries resounded all around me as the Edronans were able to see the approaching Nagari. Chaos was all that prevailed in the city as fighters from all ages, even UnMarked children, ran to defend their home. Most children were caught and sent back to remain in hiding, but a handful slipped through the ranks.

But I sat within a bubble of the only peace in existence as I hid in the shadows of a building adjacent to The Temple of Euridice. I sat and watched… and waited…. I waited to see if Priest Kane would leave and join the fight.

Not a single person was left in the center of town. All had left to join the fight or hid in their houses, all save the Priests hiding in the temple.

A few more seconds ticked by before the tall temple doors suddenly heaved open. I straightened my back against the wall of the building that I hid underneath. A line of red-robed Priests and their apprentices revealed themselves from behind the doors and began a trek away from the temple. Priest Kane, nor Sarina, were with them.

I narrowed my eyes and watched as the Priests left the temple and began a march to the east, away from the battle.

“Cowards,” I growled under my breath.

But Sarina and Priest Kane must still be inside the temple.

A part of me did want to join the battle. Somewhere within me, I knew that’s what Drayek would want me to do. But I was able to convince myself otherwise. The revenge in my heart grew with every step I took toward the temple. I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth as I walked past Lady Euridice’s statue without looking at her stone face.

Kill him, I thought. I have to kill him.

But as I drew near the doors, I felt a painful darkness enter my mind, making my limbs feel heavy.

“Master! Don’t go in there! She will kill you!”

“Codex, Leave me alone!”

But as I lifted a hand to push open the entrance doors, my vision went black for a moment, and I had to rush away. The pain subsided, and my steps grew lighter once I found myself about five feet away.

I spat on the ground and screamed. I whirled around to face the back of the goddess’s statue.

“Curse you, Euridice!”

Nothing happened.

“Codex, if Euridice is as powerful as you say she is, why doesn’t she just kill me now?”

There was a long pause.

“I’m sorry, Master. I cannot find the answer to that question.”

I turned back to the temple and continued shouting. “Mauris Kane! Why are you hiding in there?”

No response.

“I know what you did!” I was yelling at the top of my lungs and knew he could hear me. “Come out and face me, you coward!”

As I stood before the doors with no answer, I could hear the clash of weapons and the screams of the injured and fallen resounding from the distance.

“You’ve killed them, Mauris Kane! Do you hear that? That is your doing!”

The heat in my face as my anger boiled within me grew uncomfortable. I almost walked back up to the doors to force myself inside, no matter what evil was trying to get at me, but the doors creaked open from the inside before I could move a step.

I first saw Priest Kane's bald head shining underneath the waning moons. The sleeves of his fiery robes hung underneath his arms like the wings of a red bird. He stepped through the open doors and offered me a snake-like smile.

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“Hello, Rayden Grim,” he crooned. “I heard about Drayek. You must be devastated.”

I bared my teeth. “Don’t you dare say his name!”

The Priest raised his hands in mock surrender. “Oh, dear. What did I ever do to deserve that sort of treatment?”

I rapidly pulled my spear out from behind my back and dropped into a fighting stance. I aimed the tip of the spear and my eyeline directly toward his face.

“I’m going to kill you.”

“Oh?” Priest Kane raised an eyebrow and bit his lip to keep from laughing.

“What, are you afraid?” I spat.

The Priest didn’t stop himself from laughing this time. “Oh, dear boy, no. I will crush you. Sarina! My staff!”

Within a few seconds, Sarina emerged from within the temple with two staffs in hand. Heat flushed through my body, and my pulse sped at the sight of her. I gritted my teeth to keep myself from cursing angrily at both Sarina and the Priest.

Sarina handed the taller black staff to her mentor without a single glance in my direction.

Priest Kane pointed me to step back and far away from the temple and toward the wide space of the town square. Sarina followed close behind but kept her distance from both of us.

“We don't want to cause any damage to the goddess’s temple, do we?” Priest Kane said, explaining why he’d moved us to the square.

“Fine,” I growled.

But as the temple grew more distant, the heavy weight in my mind from the unknown entity faded into a dull ache. So, even though I didn’t care what happened to that blasted building, at least the lack of the heavy, dark presence the temple placed on me wouldn’t be a distraction.

The Priest crouched into his own ready stance and aimed his staff at me, similarly to how I aimed my spear at him.

“Before we start, you still didn’t answer my question, and I’m curious…. Why all the sudden hostility?” His white teeth sparkled along with the stars above as he continued to smile. “By the goddess, what did I do to make you hate me so much?”

His mocking tone made my blood boil. All of the anger engulfing my entire being came out in one guttural scream as I lunged for him. I barely noticed the color leaving Sarina’s face as she watched me throw myself at a Tier 3. I understood her terror–she thought me as still a Tier 1, but I had to ignore her and everything else around me. For my life’s sake, I could only focus on this battle.

I jabbed my spear toward the Priest’s face, but he merely stepped out of my way quicker than I could comprehend. I stumbled forward but caught myself with a roll before I fell to the ground.

I threw myself back into position with my spear pressed against my side and my hands firmly planted on the shaft, but Priest Kane wasn’t where I’d left him.

I turned on myself to try and catch his approach, but I wasn’t quick enough. The Priest slammed the end of his staff into my left ribs and sent me flying. I landed two feet away from his feet and dropped my spear. I couldn’t catch the weapon as it rolled away; my body was too busy trying to catch some air–any air. I clutched my left side and groaned in pain.

Priest Kane sidled up to me and stared into my face over his nose. He set a boot into my bruised ribs and teased me with a light press.

“You are nothing, boy,” he snarled. “You thought you could fight me? I am the goddess’s chosen! I am a Tier 3, and you are a measly Tier 1.”

He pressed his foot into me harder, and I could feel his brute strength cracking through my new set of armor. I scanned the air for streams of essence to direct into the armor to protect it and help speed its process of repairing itself, but no people were around to increase the presence of the streams. The few I saw scattered about would do nothing.

The cackles spilling from the Priest’s cracked lips were nauseating. I tried wriggling out from underneath his foot, but he was much stronger than I. But suddenly, his cackling stopped as the end of a wooden staff smacked the side of his head.

He released his foot from my ribs and whirled around. I coughed from the rush of air that entered my lungs.

“Sarina? How dare–”

Sarina whacked the Priest’s face again before he could finish his sentence. I couldn’t see the look on Priest Kane’s face, but I imagined the look of raw fury reddening his face and bulging out his already large eyes.

“Drayek meant everything to me!” Sarina screamed. “And we killed him–you made me kill him!”

Priest Kane’s fist tightened around his staff so hard I could see the skin on his knuckles begin to crack open.

Once my breath finally calmed, I started scrambling for my spear. As I did, Priest Kane stalked toward Sarina. She stumbled back as he approached and quickly lifted a hand above her head to summon a wave of water, just as she had in her fight against me. But as soon as the wave crested over Sarina and headed toward the Priest, he flicked his own hand across his face and transformed the wave in the blink of an eye.

The clear blue water transformed into a large sword. The sword rippled from its water material as it hovered over the Priest’s head, then flew toward Sarina. She yelped and tried to jump out of the way of Priest Kane’s water sword but wasn’t quite fast enough. Though made entirely of water, the blade tore through her sleeve and broke a few layers of skin and tissue on her right tricep. Sarina cried out and grabbed her arm.

The sword of water flew back to Priest Kane’s side, awaiting another command. This was my chance….

A large cluster of essence floated around Priest Kane, all from when he had used his Water Manipulation Skill, a Tier 3 spell he had made very famous in Edrona.

As quickly as I could, I called in the essence and studied the warm sensation tingling through my body as each stream entered my system. And then, almost instantaneously, I knew how to do it. I knew how to use Priest Kane’s Skill.