“Quiet!” Leo hissed, waving a hand at Aleida. “I’m trying to listen.”

“You’re scaring them.” Aleida hissed back, gesturing at the children. The trio huddled beside the games table, Hamo, the eldest, standing in front of the young twins, Marla and Vorlo, trying to exude an aura of confidence. An aura slightly hampered by his violently shaking legs, but it was the thought that counted.

“W-w-what’s going on out there.” Hamo stammered, looking at Leo with tearful eyes, one of which was still blackened from a fight they’d had days ago.

“Silence.” He hissed again.

Hamo clamped his mouth shut, for once not trying to argue. In the eight years Leo had been here with the Seeker’s, he’d seen so many children pass through the place. Some obeyed him, some ignored him, some actively fought him. But they all left, one after the other.

Cursed mages, every one of them.

Of course, Leo could use magic too. All of them could, even Aleida. But he, unlike the others, did not want to use it. In fact, he actively avoided it, disgusted with the cursed ability. Maybe that’s why he and Aleida had been spared the relentless prodding, testing, and eventual vanishing the others had?

The building shook as something crashed into it. Something massive, its impact reverberating through the walls. The twins screamed out, clinging to one another, pressing themselves back under a table, Hamo joining them, his bluster forgotten. Even Aleida dove beneath some furniture, her red hair dishevelled from her panic.

Leo, however, did not hide. He had to be the strong one, to show the rest what a true man looked like. Anyway, he knew the Seekers would never let him, or any of them, come to true harm. They were too valuable, the Lord Seeker had always said. Besides, if there was anything truly dangerous, he had friends amongst the soldiers. Povan certainly would tell him if there was anything to be concerned about.

The next impact was accompanied by the sound of tearing stone. A cascade of dust showered down from the sleeping quarters, on the other side of their little enclosure. Another blow, and Leo could see great cracks rip open along the ceiling. Another strike widened them further, sending chunks of stone tumbling to the ground.

Something was breaking in.

A shout from Aleida drew his attention. “Hamo, what are you…!”

Turning, he followed her gaze to the boy, now stood beside the table once more, ready to reprimand him again. Hamo and he had butted heads constantly over the couple of years since he’d arrived. The boy was eager to prove himself, hotheaded and reckless, and he resented Leo’s leadership fiercely. The words died on Leo’s lips, however, when he saw just what Hamo was doing.

Above Hamo’s hand span an orb of… something. It was transparent, but everything seen through it was warped, shimmering like a heat haze. Hamo looked up, his face ecstatic, his eyes blazing with purple light. “I can feel it, I can call it. The mana, it’s back!”

Shock blew away Leo’s thoughts. That wasn’t possible, not in here. There was no mana in here, that’s the way it had been for the half a decade he’d been in this room. It must be some trick, some deception for the boy to show off once again. There was no way-

The mana rushed into Leo, flooding him with a sickening feeling of power. It sent shivers tingling down his spine, whispering to him, calling to him. As intoxicating and heady as the spirits he’d sneakily drunk during the midsummer celebrations in his village a decade ago. It wanted to be used.

But it had ruined his life, and Leo wasn’t going to listen to such temptations ever again.

“Hamo, enough!” Leo shouted. “Get back, back to the wall!”

“No, I’m going to get free. I’m not weak like you!” Hamo shouted back, an unseen breeze billowing from him, blowing his tussled hair from his face.

“Don’t be stupid!” Leo snapped back, waving his arms, glancing around. Aleida, at least, had listened to his order, ushering the twins away from whatever was happening to the far side of the building. Now he just had to get Hamo to-

“Hamo, move it!” Leo shouted, spotting the boy. He was striding in the other direction, towards the cracks, the strange orb held out before him.

“Shut up, Leo, I’m not going to hide. I said I’d get us out!” The boy shouted in return.

“Hamo, listen to Leo.” Aleida called. “Come over here.”

Hamo shook his head, his face determined. “No! I’m not going to cower. I’m-”

The ceiling caved in, collapsing in a shower of stone to reveal a monstrosity of flesh and bone. Hamo let out a scream, and the orb blasted out from his palm, forming itself into a spinning bolt. It roared across the room to tear through the creature, sending chunks of gore splattering all around. The thing recoiled, retreating from the opening.

Hamo’s eyes flared again, and the air in the room rushed towards him, forming another of the spinning bolts. With a yell, he flung it out through the opening again, towards the vast form shuddering against the backdrop of the night.

Just as he began to form another, a pale figure peeked around the edge of the hole, hands raised. “Would you please stop doing that!” He shouted.

Hamo let out a yell and sent another of the strange bolts roaring towards the man’s head. The man ducked out of sight and the bolt flew out to vanish into the darkness.

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“I’m not here to hurt you!” He shouted again from just out of sight. “I’ve come to rescue you. I assume there's a Marla and Vorlo with you? Their mother, Cecily, sent me.”

“Mummy?” Marla squeaked from where she clung to Aleida’s leg.

“Mummy’s here? Where is she?” Vorlo asked, his voice filled with relief.

“She isn’t here with me now, she’s living somewhere safe, far from the Seekers. But I can take you to her. In fact, you’re all welcome. It’s a place you can be safe, be free to practise magic and live without fear of being captured ever again.”

“No!” Leo blurted out. “That’s blasphemy! Magic is evil, using it is evil! Only by resisting it can we-”

His words were cut off by a cry of exultation from Hamo. He burst into a run, scrambling up the debris to freedom.

Only to stumble back a moment later, a shaking hand gesturing at something outside.

“Th-there’s… What is…” He stammered, his face twisted in fear.

The pale man reappeared, squatting on the edge of the hole. “My name is Reud, and that’s one of my minions. It helped me break you out. I couldn’t find the key for the door, so I had to make my own.”

He stood and offered a hand to Hamo, helping the boy to his feet. “You don’t have to be scared, it won’t harm you. Come, all of you, we should get out of this place.”

Leo turned to share a look with Aleida. The two had become like siblings during their time locked in this place, the constant coming and goings of the others pushing them as close together as family. For the first time since they’d arrived here, her purple eyes were filled with hope, excitement, and eagerness. Not the empty longing that had clouded them for so long.

Steeling himself, Leo stepped forward. He had to be as strong as he always was, to show them that the leader of the group wasn’t afraid. If they were going to do this, it had to be because they were following him, not running off without his approval.

After all, if he wasn’t the leader of this little family, then what was left for him?

“That’s the spirit.” Reud said.

Leo walked out of the room he’d spent the majority of the past half a decade in, willing his nerves to stay under control. He was committed now, and the only option was to keep moving forward. The abomination stood to the side of the broken wall, quivering slightly but otherwise motionless. It seemed to be a horrific amalgamation of bodies all fused together into a massive hunk of muscle and bone. And it was dead, as far as Leo could tell. He’d always had a sixth sense for that sort of thing. Quickly, Leo averted his eyes, breathing heavily to quell his queasiness.

And then he saw what had happened to the enclave.

The air was thick with the stench of death and blood. The complex of buildings to the far side of the compound, where he remembered the canteen being, had collapsed into rubble. There were things scattered across the ground, just barely visible in the night, shapes that looked like weapons, and bolts, and… body parts.

Ahead of them, in the open gates of the enclave, stood a pair of wooden carriages, nothing more than huge boxes with wheels. As he watched, the closest of the two trundled over to the research labs, with no horse or driver or other means of moving in sight.

A thread of hope awakened in Leo. He’d heard mention over the years of Lightire’s horseless carriages, tales from home that some soldiers told. From how they’d been described, he’d through them to be made from metal and glass, with intricate detailing and sleek curves, not this wooden boxy shape before him. But, nonetheless, it had to be Lightire technology, right? So, did that mean they were returning to the Seekers after all?

Reud gestured, and the other carriage wheeled towards them. “Go on, hop inside. The sooner we get mounted up, the sooner we can be away, and the sooner we can get you back to your mother.” The last part he directed at the twins, sending them running for the open door of the carriage.

Aleida ran after them with a shout, Hamo following close behind. None of them seemed concerned about any of this. Why was only Leo the one who could see the dangers it represented?

Shaking his head, Leo followed them and climbed into the carriage's interior, settling himself down on one of the hard wood benches.

A figure moved in the darkness beneath the nearest building.

Leo jerked back, opening his mouth to shout a warning, only for a break in the cloud cover to illuminate it for a moment. The hunched stance, the shaved head. It was Povan! Happiness swelled within him at the sight. So, Povan had been aiding this Reud, finally helping them escape as he always said he would. He’d always been a friend, bringing them extra food and medicine, and intervening on their behalf when the other soldiers got too rough.

But there was something wrong. He didn’t feel alive, not properly, not like how Leo remembered him feeling. Slowly, Leo’s happiness turned to horror. It was Povan, but something was wrong. His neck was bent at a sickening angle, bones sticking out through ruined flesh. His once brilliant armour was stained with dark red streaks, all radiating from that ruined throat.

Leo recoiled from the window, trying to look anywhere but at the ruined figure of one of the only people he’d ever called a friend. But everywhere his eyes settled, more figures moved with the same jerkiness, horrific wounds just barely visible on each, each one a dead void to his senses.

Reud seemed to be the centre of the activity, the things moving in tune to small twitches of his hands. The figures moved with a purpose, entering various buildings around the compound and leaving with armfuls of parchment, boxes, and chalkboards, before bringing them over to be stuffed into the other carriage. Whatever they were doing, they were doing it efficiently, the shambling horrors quickly emerging with fewer and fewer items, until finally they emerged with none.

Reud turned and walked towards the carriage, the figures collapsing to the ground behind him, still as the corpses they always should have been.

Leo shrank back into the corner of the carriage as Reud climbed in, the pale man smiling widely at them all. The man felt just as lifeless as the corpses that now littered the ground, devoid of the inexplicable energy that filled the twins, Hamo, Aleida, and every person he’d ever met before. It felt wrong, unnatural, evoking in Leo a deep urge to flee in the opposite direction as fast as his legs could carry him.

Before he could twitch, Reud shut the carriage door with a bang, breaking Leo from his horrified stupor.

“Finally, let’s get moving.” Reud said.

With that, the carriages jerkily shuddered into motion, rolling out of the compound gate. Leo stared out the window at the passing trees, trying to put the sight of Povan’s ruined body out of his mind. What had he got himself into? Where were they going? What did this man want with them?

Had he finally escaped the frying pan, only to fall straight into the fire?