The last thing I wanted to do was get closer to those sickening lights. Everything in my body was screaming to get as far away from them as possible.

I pushed down that urge and stumbled over to the wall of the cave.

My heart kicked like a horse running wild and tears poured down my face, but I persisted. A small, illogical part of me claimed that if I could just take a proper look at the glowing lines, I’d feel better. That I would understand the desperate desire to run and hide.

“Hayden?”

Ignoring the voice, I collapsed to my knees. I wanted to reach out, to touch the line that cast soft light over my face.

It’s there. It’s definitely there.

But the light kept flickering in and out of existence, making it harder to distinguish what was real and what was not. I squeezed my eyes shut, fought down another wave of nausea, then opened them.

No, it’s not a line. It’s… a crack.

That’s why the light kept flickering. It was leaking from the cracks the way vapor might rise off a hot spring or a hidden geyser. Pressure was fighting against the light from the other side, trying to force it out through the cracks, and the light was losing.

How do I know that?

“Hayden!”

I jerked towards the voice and found Mia’s face inches away from my own. She was bent over me, worry and consternation painted over her features.

“Mia? Why…”

Why was she near me when we didn’t know what the future held in store for us? When we could end up trying to kill each other for some stupid reason?

I didn’t ask her. In that moment, I simply wanted someone I could trust. “Can you see them? The cracks?”

I probably looked half-crazed as I gripped her left arm, remembering at the last second to soften the amount of force I was using. I still had enough wits about me not to hurt someone who was trying to help me.

“You mean these lines on the wall?” she hissed. “Yeah, sure. I see them. Is that why you’re freaking out? They’re not even leaking that much mana. Barely noticeable.” She gave my shoulder a rough shake. “You need to get it together. Some of the others are eying us already.”

Her voice was harsh, but I couldn’t blame her. Showing weakness in front of the other recruits was a bad idea on the best of days.

I understood what she was saying, but the logic refused to click into place. That rising sense of panic hadn’t abated at all. In fact, it was getting worse.

And are those cracks growing brighter?

I fought through the discomfort, staring at the cracks through narrowed eyes. The teleportation matrix flashed again behind us, and the cracks briefly flared up in response. When they settled, they were definitely brighter than before.

I whipped my head around. The cavern was full of mortals, milling about and preparing to enter the city. The only demons I saw were the other two aides who had passed through first to secure the room. The rest must have departed while I was freaking out.

I jumped to my feet, ignoring Mia’s frustrated grumbles as I headed for the aides. Another flash, and another group of mortals appeared in the teleportation matrix. They quickly vacated the circle to leave room for the next group. Another few rounds, and it would be time for the sergeants themselves to join us.

The two demons ignored me at first, but a wild-eyed human rushing at them required some response. Visibly tense, they turned partly to face me.

“What is happening, mortal? Stop now, or —”

Normally, I’d be too terrified even to raise my voice against a demon of the legion, especially since I recognized the aide as Glaustro’s. Now, I had to stop myself from grabbing and shaking him.

“The lines, the cracks, can you see them?” I demanded, gesturing all around us.

“What is this? What cracks?” The demon’s voice was so genuinely confused I couldn’t bring myself to doubt him. “Has the pressure driven you mad, mortal? There are no cracks here. If you are just pulling some kind of stunt, I’ll have you flayed for it!”

The demon’s reply was loud and angry enough for the other mortals to hear. Immediately, confused murmuring filled the room as the mortals looked around. The glowing cracks were plainly visible to their eyes. So why couldn’t the demons see them? What was happening?

The other aide, the one that belonged to Graighast, looked just as confused as his peer. But I could see worry in their eyes as they glanced around, sensing the disquiet in the ranks. Maybe they could disregard my rantings as the words of a madman, but they certainly couldn’t ignore the emotions of that many mortals.

It was then that the teleportation matrix flashed for the last time. The sergeant brothers and their other two aides appeared and strode immediately out of the circle.

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I didn’t let myself hesitate.

“My lord!” I threw myself on my knees in front of Glaustro, using the highest title of honor allowed by demon etiquette. “My lord, there is something wrong. The cracks, they are growing in power, and I don’t know what’s happening, but they look like the barrier did, and the panic —”

Another wave of nausea washed over me, cutting off my speech, and I groaned. The light pouring from the cracks was still sickeningly insubstantial and yet undeniably strong. I felt like I was about to have a seizure.

I almost collapsed, and would have if someone hadn’t grabbed me, holding me up. I just managed to lift my head in time to see the look of confusion on my commander’s face change swiftly into horror.

“To me! Now!” Glaustro screamed as mana billowed out of him in overwhelming waves.

Half of my mind recoiled and whimpered, urging me to claw my way out of his hold if I had to. The other half of me suddenly settled down, filled with a startling certainty that I’d be just fine.

I was so caught up in the duality of my feelings that I barely noticed everyone else’s reactions.

Mia was relatively close by. She must have followed me even when I charged at the demons. The aides, too, obeyed their commander instantly.

Some of the humans were far more hesitant to comply.

The demon’s roar and the wave of his mana were alarming enough on their own, even without their underlying abyssal quality which struck instinctive fear into every mortal soul. Only a third of the mortals managed to push through that fear and approach Glaustro quickly enough.

I felt Glaustro’s mana gust under me. It lifted me an inch off the floor, finishing a barrier that cut us off completely from the world on all sides. The barrier turned opaque as it firmed up, but just before it finished, I managed to catch one more glimpse of the cracks that were wreaking such havoc on my mind.

In that instant, their glow erupted, and the outside world was consumed in a kaleidoscope of colors.

My ears rang and then popped, both from the screams of mortals and from the force of the explosion. My head was spinning viciously. My body felt like a rag, wrung out and left to dry. I couldn’t see. Darkness consumed me, bringing with it a profound fear. Then I realized I had squeezed my eyes shut against the terrible brightness, and forced them open.

The world looked wobbly and oddly smudged, but I could just make out a red figure kneeling on the ground next to me. Color was leaking out of them and staining the floor. Some of it leaked onto my hand, and I winced at the stinging sensation on my skin.

I pulled my hand closer, blinking my eyes rapidly.

Blood.

It was blood that stained my hand, and it was sizzling as it ate through my skin.

I brushed it off on the floor as quickly as I could, but that just made me realize how awkwardly I had fallen. I was lying on my side, one arm crushed beneath my body, my sword digging painfully into my hip. For some reason, I found it funny that the pain started only when I noticed my position. A crazed giggle slipped from my lips.

It cut off quickly because my eyes finally recognized the leaking, humanoid-shaped red blur beside me.

Glaustro.

The demon was bent over, barely keeping himself upright on his knees. Blood, an odd mix of red and black, was seeping thickly out of every orifice on his face.

I heard a voice warble something unintelligible, and Graighast pushed onto the scene. He knelt next to his brother, supporting him with such naked worry that most demons would probably consider his behavior uncouth. That didn’t stop him. He forced a potion down Glaustro’s mouth, keeping up a steady stream of gibberish.

Why can’t I understand him? I wondered idly, feeling oddly numb. All the panic and stress and whatever other torturous emotions I was experiencing had fled, leaving an absolute void in their place. I should be able to understand him.

I wobbled as I pushed myself into a sitting position. More voices rose and fell around me, but none of them were making sense. I could barely even hear them. There was also an uncomfortable sensation on my neck, like something creeping over my skin, and I reached up absentmindedly to brush it away.

My fingers came away red.

I had to stare at them for several seconds before I realized what was happening. Cautiously, still caught in that emotionless void, I traced my fingers up the trail of blood and all the way to my ear.

I finally thought to look around me then. I spotted more than a few mortals sitting or lying on the ground, dazed, with trails of blood leaking out of their ears.

My ears are shot, then.

The realization didn’t inspire terror. Or if it did, the feeling got swallowed up by the emotional void, along with everything else. I just reached mechanically for the spot on my belt where I kept the healing potion. It was still in one piece. At least the alchemist hadn’t lied to me about the toughness of his vials.

I went to chug it all down, then hesitated. If it was really as efficacious as advertised, then maybe I wouldn’t need all of it? I chose to take a single gulp from the small vial. That left about half the potion behind.

I felt the power of the concoction as soon as it hit my tongue. Rather than flowing down my throat, it seeped into my flesh, snaking through my body like lightning. Some of it coursed through the whole of me, fixing bruises and aches I wasn’t even aware of.

But most of the potion’s power focused on my ears. I heard a loud pop. Another wave of dizziness nearly made me pass out. Then the pain faded, and the indistinct sounds around me resolved into cries for help and moans of misery.

My placid expression crumpled, and distress stirred in the emotional void.

Turns out hearing loss can be an advantage.

I didn’t let myself get overwhelmed. Not again. I stumbled to my feet as my body slowly remembered how to function.

It didn’t take me long to find Mia. The cat lady had been following me, determined to help me in spite of our awkward parting. She was curled up on the ground just a few feet away, hands clasped over her ears.

The blood seeping between her claws wasn’t encouraging.

Still, her eyes were shut, and she was trembling gently. At least I knew she was alive. Now I just had to get the rest of my potion into her.

Muttering vague reassurances, I pulled her into a sitting position. Her eyes opened and squinted in my direction. I raised the vial to her lips. She hesitated, but when I tipped the vial, she drank.

Watching the potion work on someone else was fascinating. Her body loosened up almost immediately. A second later, she tentatively pulled her hands away from the fluffy cat ears adorning her head.

“Better?” I whispered. I was rewarded with a small smile and a nod.

Her well-being was a nice temporary distraction, but with that seen to, I had no more excuses to ignore the world around me.

Slowly, I looked up at the barrier stretching over us. It was riddled with cracks and looked like it would collapse into glittering motes of red mana at any second, but it still held. Another barrier had joined it at some point, forming a secondary layer that pressed tightly to the first. Maybe that was the only reason the original barrier had made it.

But the scene beyond the barriers was far more alarming. The floor of the cavern had been reduced to debris. The teleportation matrix was gone. Rough chunks of stone pressed down on the mana dome from every direction, trapping us in.

Most of the mortals who obeyed Glaustro’s order were inside the barrier, in various states of discombobulating. The rest? Well, the smears of blood and flesh on the outermost barrier told the story of their fate.

We were stuck under who knows how much rock and earth and whatever else. With how things happened, I seriously doubted that a rescue was on its way.

But we were the lucky ones.