Raul surveyed the other heroes. Their faces were worn, with thick lines creasing their skin and bags under their eyes. They had been flying for eight hours straight (very dangerous when someone was hundreds of feet in the air without anything belting them in place). “Let’s set up camp,” he said.

“We can’t,” Tara said. “Their army’s already there.”

“And we won’t ever get there if we don’t rest,” he said. “We’ll land, eat, get a few hours of sleep; then, we can ride through the night. Agreed?”

They all nodded. Yeah, that sounds fine, they said in their own ways, and then they flew down into the forest below.

2

Sara closed her eyes as she flew over Escaran territory. If I lose you again…. Edico’s face flashed into her mind. She swallowed. I don’t know. Emma. Edico. Elizabeth. Emily. Everyone with an E in their name died in her last life, and all but one was in Lemora without Raul and the mage corps there. Still—

You can’t coddle them, Sara reminded herself. You can only improve their situation…. Emma could handle herself, Elizabeth could escape, and if anyone could hold off fifty thousand troops with twenty, it was Edico. Still… fuck!

“You good?” Andy asked.

Sara turned to him and then down at her hands. She forced herself to calm down, stilling her shaking hands until they could perform surgery. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Darius turned to her. “When we get there, can we fuck ‘em up?”

“That anger won’t lead anywhere good,” Sara warned. But then she sucked her teeth and exhaled slowly. “But yeah. Raul’s green. The mages—green. It might come down to us. So if there was any time you had to drop your humanity—it’ll be now.”

“Say no more,” Darius said.

Helen looked down and nodded solemnly. Andy looked at his partner, then at the clouds, and finally back to Sara. “It’s not humans after this, right?” he asked.

Sara shook her head. “Not if we do it right.” The meaning of 'right' was implicit.

Andy nodded, and Darius joined in. Helen looked at them and nodded, too. It was a solid pact.

3

“Press it!” Edico yelled as massive spells caused large cracks in the barrier. The ward repaired itself as soon as there was a respite—but Quell and Markon’s forces weren’t letting up. Their attacks weren’t as large as the heroes, but a dozen were releasing four-layer spells that were damn close. If Lady Reece hadn’t taught advanced spells to the heroes, they’d be equal in terms of raw power. Each one cracked like thunder except for the blizzard of ice spears that crashed like lethal rain, slamming in a heavy war rhythm. Just watching it behind his personal barrier gave Edico anxiety.

“They’re draining too fast!” a mage working on the ward’s crystal piles. “If we press ‘em, they’ll shatter!”

“Then let ‘em shatter!” Edico yelled. “We’ll deal with that once we survive!” If the ward broke, then they would counter when all the rankers were out of mana—but that didn’t matter if the ward broke and the city burst into flames. “Go!”

4

Tim rolled over, rubbing his eyes. “Just… leave. Please. I can’t….”

“Lord Richten,” Ren said. “We just need you to charge some crystals.”

“Then have someone else do it.”

“Marie and Jacob… can’t.”

“So you gave up on them, but you won’t leave me alone?” he yelled, sitting up in a fury and then losing energy and crashing back down on his bed.

“No. I mean that only you can do it.”

Tim laughed. “I can do it? Are you out of your goddamn mind? I play a fucking jenta. I-I get sick at the sight of blood.”

The room fell silent for another minute before Ren made a confession. “I have a kid. She’s about your age…. Wants to be a musician.” She chuckled bitterly. “I can’t even afford a jenta, let alone have the connections to get her an apprenticeship. So that’s not happening. But I’m trying.”

Tim’s eyes trembled. “Apprenticeship?” he whispered. “Is that the only way?” He couldn’t believe his ears. He had been living in the castle the whole time as a noble, so he never thought about other people.

“If you want to make money doing it,” Ren said. “I guess anyone can play, but… that’s not her dream. So… I’m trying to make it happen, you know? But if I succeed… then what? They’d take ‘er away. I wouldn’t see her for… what? Four years? Then she’d come back married, wearing noble clothing, ashamed to introduce me to her husband….” Ren swallowed, audible even from the other side of the door. “Emanasa… why?” She chuckled, but it was strained with pain. “Then you show up. Same age, same dream. But… your family’s gone. Your mom’s never gonna see you again. Your life’s gone.”

Tim burst into fresh tears.

“I hate it,” Ren said. “I hate it so much….”

“Why are you telling me this?” Tim asked, choking.

“To remind you that you’re not alone.”

Tim chuckled, rolling onto his back. “Really convenient timing.”

“Edico sent someone who understands.”

Tim paused for a minute. “What’ll happen if I don’t?”

“They’ll break the ward, and well, meteors will launch over the walls and—“

“I can’t!” Tim yelled impulsively, body shaking as the memory of his silver glider breaking its neck on a barrier flashed across his eyes. That vertigo from plunging to the earth as fire spells shot in the sky toward him. The hell he saw when Helen took matters into her hands with him wrapped around her waist.

Ren groaned on the other side of the door, realizing how badly she fucked up. He knew it, she knew it, and that’s just how it went. “Please…” Ren whispered. “Bess… she’s in the outer area. If the ward breaks….”

Tim felt like there was a golf ball in his throat as he swallowed, feeling pins stabbing into his heart.

5

Edico lit up an amplification circle. “If the ward breaks, we’re charging!” he yelled. Other commanders along the wall repeated his words like an echo, sending his words to the southside wall as well. “If they’re gonna sacrifice their rankers, we’re going to show them ours!” Part of his words were a warning, hoping that Quell and Markon’s forces would stop their assault out of fear of a vicious counter strike. The other half was a serious order. If the ward broke, he was going to release an apocalyptic attack on their forces while they were still dealing with the marshy battlefield and unstable land. Still, that would be a destructive option. The Escaran kingdom didn’t have serious rankers—which was the reason that they summoned the heroes. By contrast, the top twenty rankers were split between the Quell and Lemings kingdoms, and if Lady Reece hadn’t halted a whole army by herself, they would face instant annihilation.

Suddenly, there was a bright light from the center of the city, and the ward lit up with blue light.

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“Ten minutes….” Edico whispered. He couldn’t believe that there were only ten minutes before the ward broke. It was supposed to last ten days or longer, even if it was strained. It was unbelievable. Edico imagined that this was how Quell must’ve felt when their calamity spell crashed into Will’s reinforced walls and bounced off.

6

Will rushed over to the mana crystals charging the ward. They looked radioactive, and a lot of them were shattered or dark from being empty. Only half of them were still whole, and most of them were cracked and looked like they could break at any moment. “What do you need?” Will asked a female mage.

“We need you to charge them,” she said. “Just channel mana into them… carefully.”

“That’s it?” Will furrowed his brow. “Then why didn’t you get me earlier?” He was doing weapon maintenance for the sycounts, but compared to charging crystals, that seemed inconsequential.

“We dunno,” she said. “Edico wanted someone named Lord Richten to do it.”

“But he’s not going to do it,” Will said, laughing at the gesture.

The mage shook her head. “I’m not sure why, but the crystals need charged now. Can you do it?”

Will opened up his mouth but closed it, swallowing hard. “How?”

“Just put your hand on it.” The mage put her hand on a purple crystal the size of a fence post and channeled mana into it. It lit up a little bit brighter, and then she pulled her hand away, shaking it.

Will ignored the implicit danger, put his hand on the crystal, and released mana. In an instant, the crystal turned neon, getting brighter and brighter and brighter. It heated up, and the mana felt chaotic, like a can in a campfire, bloating and straining. Will’s primal instincts warned him of danger, and he yanked his hand back—

—but it was too late. The crystal lit up with blinding light and exploded, sending Will and the mages flying.

7

Tim sobbed on his bed, trying to ignore Ren weeping on the other side of the door. He determined that he wasn’t going. Yeah, he was a suicidal coward—but the simple fact was that most people he was friends with would’ve died if they had to ask out a girl in high school, and that was normal. It was the same thing. There was a massive blockage in his mind that didn’t allow it. That’s just how it was, but life had a way of presenting life-changing moments.

“Who are you?” Ren suddenly said to someone in the hallway, capturing his attention. He listened and heard someone crying.

“M-M-My name’s L-Liz. I-I… is Tim here?”

Ren took a sharp breath. “Uh… yeah. He’s not talking to anyone though….”

“I see….”

“What are you doing here?”

“I… I’m scared. And I… I was hoping that Tim would play me a song. It-It’s the o-only thing that helps most days.”

Tim felt like a serial killer plunged a hunting knife into his breast and then twisted.

“I-I’m so scared,” Elizabeth said. “I-I j-just need his help.”

“I… don’t….” Ren said hesitantly. “You can try. He’s not answering.”

Tim shut his eyes tight, and then, perhaps only because he was a complete pushover for women his age, he stood and walked to the door. He unlocked it and pulled it open, revealing a brunette woman in her forties and a cute blonde, both staring at him with puffy, bloodshot eyes. “Come on,” he said.

They walked in as Tim sat on a chair and pulled out his Jenta, tuning the four strings. “I can do this much….” he said. “After this… just ask me then.”

He picked up the comb and looked at Elizabeth, who was hugging her knees, tears spilling down her cheeks. Then he delicately channeled mana into his fingertips and used her deep sorrow as inspiration as he rolled the comb down three strings, moving his fingers up the neck, playing multiple notes per second, starting a melancholy song. Through it all, Tim used mana techniques to control the strings for different effects—a remarkable addition to music that musicians on Earth would envy.

8

Scala limped back to camp, aggressively perplexed that she froze up on the battlefield. She was just too shocked. Her sword had never failed to cut through anything—let alone being unable to create more than a shallow gash. She wasn’t even certain that she could cut through the wall if she used her full power, and she was certain that if she succeeded—she wouldn’t be able to break through the next one. It was perplexing.

“Are you insane, woman?” Grent asked.

“Don’t you dare call me woman,” Scala said.

“I will call you what you hate.”

“Idiot,” Eline added.

Scala scoffed, looked at her burnt leg, and then at the siblings. “Do you want a piercer or not?”

“We don’t need you,” Grent said. “It’s cracking.”

“Then give me a target,” Scala said.

Grent looked at Eline and nodded.

“Make it count, ‘wo~man,’” Eline said, lipping the word.

“Fine,” Scala sneered.

Eline put her hands over the wound and used healing magic, making Scala moan as she let herself drop to the ground. It disgusted Eline and Grent, but they endured. When it was over, Eline stood up. “Now prepare a pincer,” Eline said. “The barrier’s almost broken. Attack before it breaks.” If the ward were up before the arrow pierced the ward, the target wouldn’t prepare.

Scala nodded with sharp eyes. “Who do you want?”

“Who do you think?” Grent asked, looking at the wall.

When Scala followed his eyes, she laughed once. “Fine.”

9

Tim finished combing the final notes of the song. It was a short song, but it put him into a trance and reminded him that his body still worked. “You… whatever your name is,” he said to Ren. “Tell me what to do.”

10

Edico rushed across the embattlements, looking into the wall maze, where twenty thousand soldiers awaited. “Three minutes! Pray to Emanasa; give tribute to Delina. Today, we die with pride!”

Mages put their hands on arrays on the inside of the rock walls that—when activated—would crumble the unbreakable structures, releasing the soldiers for battle. The soldiers inside lifted their swords, closing their eyes, making peace with their gods.

11

Tim and Elizabeth ran through the city at high speed, moving to the center where the mana crystals were. When they got there, Will was pacing around, arguing with the others. “What the fuck happened?” he yelled. “Are you trying to kill me?”

“You just…” a mage said. “Have too much mana. You have to control it better.”

“Oh, right! You give the job to a newbie and expect an expert. Great! Just fucking great! When everyone dies, this is on me.” Will laughed and turned in circles. “Fuck!”

Tim had never seen Will so angry or nervous. Then again, he understood. Like Tim, they had tasked Will with everyone’s lives, and while Tim had rejected it, Will had shown up, only to find he wasn’t suitable for the job. That was far worse.

“What needs done?” Elizabeth asked.

“We just need someone that can channel mana into these crystals.” One of the mages put their hand on a crystal and slowly channeled mana into it, making it grow slightly brighter.

“So what’s the problem?” Tim asked.

“Too much mana….” Will pulled his hands together and then released them, moving them outward. “Boom.”

Tim swallowed. “So can we do it?”

“You can,” Will said. “Probably. You gotta use mana on those fingers, right?”

Tim swallowed hard. “Will it explode if I fail?”

Will looked at him with bloodshot eyes and presented his palms before shaking his head.

Tim nodded and took a deep breath.

12

Scala pulled a stringless bow out of her spatial ring. It was black with white arrays tattooed on it. She pointed it to the top of the embattlements. “Where is he?” she asked.

Grent closed his eyes and released a massive divination pulse that spread for half a mile. Then he took deep breaths as he searched with his eyes closed. When he opened his eyes, he pointed toward the eastern section of the wall. “Sullsburg’s over there. Embattlement ten. Obtain visual. There’s only one chance.”

Eline established a massive golden barrier around them.

“Don’t insult me,” Scala said. She closed her eyes, and a purple line of mana connected the top and bottom of the bow, and a massive, eight-foot bolt of golden aura developed on the string. It blended with the conspicuous, golden barrier.

Scala closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she opened her eyes and waited, burning mana as she patiently watched like a hunter, waiting. Then he came into view. She took a deep breath.

13

Tim put his hand onto one of the waist-high crystals and felt the mana cycling within it. It was erratic like it was boiling water, out of control. “Jesus.”

“Is it all cool?” Will asked.

“Would I say ‘Jesus’ if it was going to be easy?” Tim snapped.

Elizabeth folded her arms nervously and gripped herself, looking down. “Oh…” she whispered.

Tim panicked. “I-It’ll be fine.” He bit his lip, looked at the crystal, and felt the power within it. Then he used mana to stabilize the mana and slowly injected some into it, gently at first, and then started pouring it in.

“Wow….” Elizabeth muttered. Tim didn’t know what she was looking at, but she wasn’t looking at the crystal. He opened his eyes and saw the ward above them tinting blue in the places it was cracked. It was like putting dye on a window and the breaks becoming darker as the dye filled them. But then the cracks slowly healed and disappeared. “You’re doing it, Tim!” she said ecstatically.

Tim blushed. “I-I’m not done.” He swallowed and smiled a little.

14

Edico took a deep breath when he saw the ward stabilizing. It was just in time, too. Quell and Markon were about to release one final attack, and everyone would start charging. This would give them another day as the rankers recovered from mana deprivation. It wasn’t much, and reinforcements would join Quell. But their reinforcements would be there, too.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Suddenly, he felt a monstrous pressure coming from across the battlefield. He turned in time to see a golden explosion of light to his right.

15

“Lady Cole!”

Emma had her hands full, healing a dozen people who needed magical surgery, when a group of sycounts crashed into her tent, bringing in a body. “Can it wai….” Her jaw fell open when she saw who was in their arms. “Edico!” She rushed up and saw that he was hemorrhaging blood in his left arm, which had suffered an amputation up to the shoulder. There was a disruption of the brachial artery and nerve damage. It was bad. If she didn’t act, he was at risk of compartment syndrome from pressure in his muscles, assuming he didn’t die of blood loss or shock. Fuck! fuck-fuck-fuck-Fuck-FUCK!

“Calm down,” a sycount touched her arm. “He’s… just another patient. Don’t lose your shit.… Please don’t lose your shit.”

Emma nodded. “Put him on the table. We’ll start by stopping the bleeding. Everyone else, go find his arm. Any of it. I doubt you’ll find it, but… fuck. Just go do it!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Emma bit her lip and looked at Edico, tears pouring from her eyes. “Hold in there,” she whispered. “Please.”