“You’re alright.” William said; his eyes fixated up front for a moment before coming to me, and then to Dylan, wrapped in the banner. “Why do you have that with you? Wasn’t it made clear that we’re not going to take any of them up with us?”

“She’s a kid, William.” I whisper harshly, “Did you want me to just leave her there?”

I clutch the child’s head close.

“You should have. Do you not care about mom and dad?”

A pang shot through my heart at his words, and I set Dylan down. I take a deep breath. The horde of ratmen wasn’t slowing down. Thousands now crowd the ramps; baying for our blood. If these creatures were to get loose into Arville, thousands of humans will die.

“William, could you get me a couple of healing pots, some Mana Unwinds, a strength elixir, an endurance elixir, and a couple of explosives?”

Strength elixirs were made by grinding up dogman teeth and a bunch of plants that William found around the town. It was bitter, but it would boost my strength stat by ten until I sweat it out. Endurance elixirs were the same; accept they were made with the dogman’s blood. Healing draughts were made from the heart of some of the strange animals that we’ve come across in Efran forests and meadows. The most powerful ones that William could make at the moment are made from the hearts of those deer that have a lion’s head on them.

“Why?” He asks.

I take another deep breath. There hadn’t been any large bodies of water from what we’ve seen, so if Oak were to do this, he wouldn’t be able to recover as well as I could.

“I’m going to put an end to this.”

He sets his bag down and digs through it for a moment. He hands me the swirling orange liquid of the endurance elixir. I untwist the top of the glass jar and down it. Placing both it and the jar in my bag. He then hands me the milky white liquid of the strength elixir. I wince as it washes over my tongue and down my throat; leaving the taste of old calcium as it settles in my stomach. He then hands me four healing potions, and four Unwinds; named as such because the feeling it leaves when the threads of tangled mana locking up your brain begins to unravel quickly. He hands me four pipe bombs.

“Are you sure, Monica?”

I nod.

“Just make sure she makes it out of here, and make sure you tell the Corps that there’s an army down here if I don’t make it, okay?”

I slide them in my bag. It was specially made to be a strong shock absorber by Wilhelm back at the compound. None of the blows that these monsters can do will break the glass within. I take a deep breath, and bite my quivering lip. There was a chance that I was going to die, but if I did, it would be worth it. They’d be able to escape, and the Corps will be warned that they were amassing an army here, and probably elsewhere around the valley. I know they’d be able to escape because of the fact that human life had been lost here. That was discovered in Australia to be the catalyst to anchoring the connection from Efra to Earth.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

I lift the glaive to my shoulder, and take another breath before rushing toward the front lines. Three arcs of lightning cut through the horde, but it does nothing against their numbers. Oak’s Devastation roars to life, yet still, the numbers grow. Countless thousands of Ratmen rush toward us in mad frenzy.

Oak caught a blow from a mace to his chest and he staggered backward, stabbing forward with a dark dagger as his spear laid in the chest of a ratman that had fallen off the side, and his quiver was empty.

“Oh daughters of the wind, howl for me.”

I utter as I swing horizontally through the front ranks. A blast of wind knocks them back a step, and those at the edge of the crowded ramp slip and fall off. For the first time since we began fighting together, I see panic painting Shawn’s face.

“We have to get out of here.” He mutters, “Tell the military to put a watch on this place.”

Janet remained quiet; occasionally casting a spell into the crowd and killing or wounding a few.

“How many more doors like this are there in Arville? In the valley?”

The front rank returned, and I swing again; knocking them back. He’d be no use right now, so I step forward to fill this gap.

“Get everyone else out of here, Oak.” I say. “I’ll hold them off and then join you, okay?”

“Yeah...yeah, I’ll do that. Let’s go, Janet.”

He took a step backward, dropped his dagger before making a mad dash up the ramp; quickly surpassing William and Dylan. Janet didn’t even say a word, she just gave a wry smirk as she did the same. I kneel down and pick up the dagger. It would be useful if I lose the glaive.

“Are you sure about this?” Mark asked; still holding his ground. His quiver was also empty at this point, so he had been out of the fight for a bit until they could recover.

“I’m sure. You have a wife back at home, right? Go to her and get her the hell out of the valley. Nothing good will come of staying here.”

He eyes me for a second and nods.

“You get out too.” He says. “Once you can.”

I nod in return. I swing again, and blast the front rank backward again.

A story came to mind in this moment. One that I had heard in passing years back, about the Spaniard’s war with the Aztecs. To inspire his 800 conquistadors, and to drive the fear out of their hearts, Cortes ordered that the ships that they had sailed to the new world, burned and sunk so that there was no possibility of retreat until they did what had to be done.

I retreat upward to the narrowest part of the ramp once the others were long gone; keeping most of the creatures at bay with blasts of gale-force winds. I was quicker than them, by far, as they chased after me baying for blood. If I’m overwhelmed, then it’s too late both for the people currently fleeing, and for Arville. If this horde managed to break through the doors before the military set up a defensive line, thousands of people will die.

My head was already beginning to ache by the time I reached that narrow pass. I was ahead of them by a good amount, so I reached into my bag, and used the point of the glaive to make four holes in the soft loam, and quickly stuck the pipe bombs that William had given me into them. After that I cut the fuses short with the blade of the dark dagger, sheathe it into the sheathe of my parrying dagger, and spring forward.

“An arrow, oh djinn.”

I aim my glaive at the center most fuse; sticking up out of the ground like the head of a carrot. The flaming arrow struck the fuse, and burned through it quickly. Before the ratmen reach me again, the cavern rocks as the four bombs explode. Chunks of earth and stone fall away down into the glowing void. Now, even if I fall, there’ll still be some time before the horde could pour into Arville. Now, there was only forward. I pull out my first Unwind and down it, stuffing the jar back into my satchel. As the mana threads unwound themselves around my brain, I take another deep breath. Victory or death. There is no retreat. I try to force a trembling smile as I steel myself.