Aiden watched Mira and Sina face off on the river bed with his heart jackhammering in his chest. Female lurvines were smaller but far faster when they weren’t injured or suppressed, and Sina was the pack’s matriarch. Kline could handle her, sure. He didn’t know how, but his speed and invisibility crushed the whole pack before—

—but Mira?

Mira… come to think of it, he had never seen Mira fight. She just disappeared once and then survived a stampede of 400-pound glarhans and turned up alive and well later that night as if nothing had happened.

“Well?” Mira asked.

Aiden snapped out of his daze, looking between Mira and Sina, fifty feet away from each other on the sandy beach, waiting to fight.

His heartbeat escalated, and his hands became clammy. But he took a breath and did the countdown.

“Three… two… one…” His world slowed down. “Go.”

Sina rocketed forward like a bullet, making it to Mira in two bounds. Aiden thought she was done for, but Mira disappeared. The next moment, Sina jumped backward just as Mira swung the blunt side of her machete at Sina’s neck from the side. It was like she teleported.

The two jumped back, and Sina’s demeanor shifted to apprehension. Not just her. The entire atmosphere from all parties turned tense and suffocating as if they had just witnessed something grave. It suddenly didn’t feel like it was about a fight anymore. It was like they were witnessing something that disturbed the natural order—

—and Aiden didn’t even see it.

“Elle,” he whispered. “Can you give me advice on whether I should watch this?”

Elle appeared and sat on his shoulder, watching Mira and Sina stare off again with a serious expression. “I can’t say anything.”

“Even advice?” he asked.

“Even advice,” she said.

Aiden tried to look away, but his anxiety and fear were too high, so he remained frozen as they stared at each other—and began.

Sina swiped her paw. Lunged. Snapped. Spun her tail. Released fire. Aiden couldn’t see Mira. She kept dodging in places he couldn’t see her, as if she was aware of his wariness. The battle went on at a dizzying speed. A sandstorm kicked up around them as Sina used her intense speed to keep pressure, swiping, biting, pouncing, clawing—breathing fire.

It probably would’ve been even, but Sina covered her body in blue flames, making it impossible for Mira to get near her. It was devastating. Aiden could feel the flames from eighty feet away, and when Sina walked, it turned the sand to molten glass.

This can’t go on… Aiden thought with a pounding heart. He looked at Kline, who was watching carefully—tense—waiting to jump in.

The battle went on.

Suddenly, Sina roared and slammed the ground, and Mira’s apparent invisibility ended. Mira jumped out of a dust cloud, hitting the ground in a state of disorientation. Kline jumped to his feet as Sina pounced on Mira—but held back.

Aiden could finally see why. Mira rolled to the side with blurring speed, dodging the strike by an inch. The rebound force threw her upward, and from only three feet up, her body scrunched into a tiny ball with perfect balance, and she landed with the reflexes of a cat, ducking just in time to avoid Sina’s follow-up swipe. It all happened in a camera’s flash.

Then Mira swiped her machete against Sina’s paw.

Sina jumped back on three legs.

Both took deep breaths, fumbling to obtain balance. A few seconds later, Mira looked at Sina’s foot. “You're not gonna use that?”

Sina turned to Aiden, and he translated. “She says it would be gone in a real battle.”

Mira nodded. “Yeah. It’d be toast.”

“That’s why she’s not using it.”

“Cool.” Mira said with a red face.

Sina’s mouth broke into a jagged grin, and she looked at Aiden.

Aiden’s heart started racing. “She says… Great spells have great costs.”

“Sure do…” Mira said. “That’s why you need to stop translating, shut your eyes, and turn around. ‘Less you blind tomorrow.”

A sharp blade of fear cut through Aiden’s chest, and he turned to the other lurvines and screamed, Shut your eyes! Then he turned around and shielded his face. After nearly losing his sight the day before, he didn’t give a fuck about some spar. He didn’t want to know what the spell was anyway, so he shut his eyes and prayed it would be enough.

2.

A dull pain from a headache assaulted my mind as I pulled Nymbral from my chest. I underestimated the lurvine… no… Sina. Kline made these creatures seem so pathetic, but I wasn’t Kline, and she was fast. I had to use all my concentration with max Moxle Dilation to survive the lurvine’s relentless onslaught.

It was difficult because with every swipe, every bite, every stomp, the ground shifted and quaked, and I had to jump and find balance. I ducked and moved, but even with my spell cranked, her movements were like a real-speed dog trying to play with me.

It was intense.

But I did manage to start counterstriking and hit Sina’s chest with a shallow slash. I thought I would win, but she inadvertently learned my weakness when she roared right into my face, making my head feel like it was about to split in half as I blindly jumped out of the way.

Now, after barely surviving a pounce where I had to stop time to right my body into a Dying Flamingo yoga stance to land on my feet, my head couldn’t handle much more. I needed to use my trump card.

The lurvines howled when I pulled it out, and Aiden yelled, back still turned.

“They’re asking if you’re turning this into a death match.”

“No,” I said. “I’ll only hit ‘er with the machete. Or I’ll surrender the fight.”

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Aiden communicated that to the lurvines, and Sina looked at me suspiciously.

“Come on,” I said to her as I put my machete in its sheath. “Let’s get this over with.”

Sina took a step forward. Then she lunged. I cranked Moxle Dilation to the max one last time and called Pervasive Breeze, blinding her with sand as I dodged. She landed where I was, and I turned, charging up a shot. My world dimmed to black as the spell took root, and a blinding flash rocketed into the sky like a beacon. It blinded Sina right before she lunged at me, making her howl in pain as she hit the ground. I rushed up with the last energy I had left, dropped Nymbral, unsheathed my machete, and jumped, striking the dull side onto her skull. Then the spell cracked and my brain with it, and I quickly blacked out.

3.

A group of soldiers stationed on Salca Tower, a thousand-foot watchtower outside Galfer’s Gate which acted as the eyes over the gate in the event of an evasion, suddenly paused their game when a bright beam of golden light illuminated the skies above the Areswood Forest. It was fleeting, only for a second like a shooting star, but it was very conspicuous.

One of the soldiers dropped their cards. “Oh shit. I’ll call the captain.”

“No!” One pressed the scrying mirror onto the table.

“What the fuck.” The first soldier looked between the forest and his fellow soldier twice, seeing a disturbed look in the man’s eye. “What?” He looked around and the other two soldiers were giving him the same expression. “What? What the fuck’s wrong with all you.”

“Listen, and listen carefully, Tal. There’s an order to things ‘round here. We start by tellin’ a contact and not tellin’ the cappin’. If someone sees it, they contact the cappin’, and the cappin’ gives us trouble. We tell the cappin’ the contract and give ‘em a cut. The contact gives the cappin’ a cut. And that’s how it works. Now take your cut.”

One of the soldiers threw a bag onto the table. It hit the wood with a thud and a series of clanks.

The soldier opened the bag carefully and saw hawks inside, freezing and looking at his fellow soldiers. “Wait… you serious right now?”

“It’s either this… or you’re goin’ off that tower.”

The soldier trembled and searched for words and found none. He took the bribe.

4.

Brexton spoke to a soldier on Salca Tower on a scrying mirror that allowed them to share their faces as they talked. He smiled and acted surprised, but inside, it was bittersweet. Contacts on Acropoint, Hydrahill, and all the other high points in the first domain saw it, and many in the Third Ring saw an ambient glow over the gate. So it wasn’t exactly a secret.

That said, a new guard needed indoctrinating so payment goes where payment’s due.

Besides, he got a tidbit of information. It was a sharp beam of light that went up instead of down. That confirmation was enough to be worth the money.

I wonder how he’ll explain that one, Brexton grinned. That’ll be a blast.

5.

I woke up in the late afternoon feeling like my skin was peeling off. There was a bump every few seconds, and when I looked up, I saw the trees moving around me. I looked to my side and saw white fur, and when I turned more, I saw Aiden riding the largest lurvine, which I would soon know was named Kael, with the most miserable expression I think a human could make.

“Uh…” I rolled over onto my back and looked down. I was tied on a lurvine with a rope. Then I looked back and studied Aiden’s miserable expression.

“Oh… you’re awake,” he said.

“Uh… yeah. Where are we?”

“I dunno. Following Kline…” He winced and turned away.

“What’s wrong?” I asked weakly. “You look constipated.”

“I prefer the term bowel challenged.”

I smiled and chuckled under my breath. “Pick what you’re positive about.”

He chuckled wryly and then looked up. “You ever ride an animal bareback?”

“No. I’ve never even ridden an animal.”

Aiden laughed maniacally. “Oh you just wait.”

An icy splash washed down my spine when I realized the context. The lurvine I was riding suddenly slowed down.

Aiden looked at me. “She wants to know if you wanna ride.”

A dull ache in my forehead told me not to overdo it, but the part of my brain that told me not to trust foxes that grew to the size of elk was stronger.

“I’ll ride.”

The lurvines stopped, and Sina, the one I fought, laid down, allowing Aiden to untie me. He pulled the rope and looped it between his palm and elbow repeatedly, skillfully tying it off at the end and attaching it to the backpack he wore when he flew into the forest.

I stumbled to the side and tried to get situated on Sina’s back, and she chuffed in annoyance. I could feel her resentment and anger.

I felt nervous.

Unlike what Aiden made it out to be, riding on Sina wasn’t painful. In fact, her body wasn’t exactly real. Like Kline, she was small when she slept, but her soul force and mana created an ethereal body that felt real, but it was adaptive. It was also emotion-rich. Whatever it was made of, mana or soul force, it felt like I could feel her emotions through it—and she was pissed.

“Are her eyes okay?” I asked.

Aiden nodded. “They’re fine. They were in rough shape after the fight. They thought you maimed her.”

“The water was right there,” I protested.

“That’s what I said. But… they can’t just grab the water like we can. Two-step process.”

“oh.”

“But… they honored their word. Protected you and everything.”

Sina turned to Aiden and snarled.

“What?” he said dryly. “I’m just sayin’ what happened.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“Well… whatever you did attracted a lot of attention. It was like last night all over again. These guys…” He looked down at his lurvine and then at the rest. “They’re not on contract to protect us. They’re just rides; our lives aren’t their problems.”

One of the lurvines turned to Aiden and bore its teeth.

Aiden rolled his eyes at the lurvine and answered it. “Yeah, that’s what I just said.”

“What’d he say?” I asked.

“He said that they won’t do it again. Meaning that they did once, like I said. They fought with Kline earlier to protect you.” Aiden turned to the lurvine and said, “On~ce,” with raw sass that made me giggle.

“Why?” I asked. “Why’d they help?”

“Who knows with this lot,” Aiden laughed, pinching some of Kael’s fur and shaking it. “But probably honor… duty or all that.”

Kael snorted and communicated something strange because it drained the blood from Aiden’s face.

“What’d he say?” I asked.

His lips curved into an awkward smile. “No…”

“No, what?”

“I don’t know.”

“About what?”

“Ugh…”

“Tell me.” I looked at Kael and then at him. “It’s not like you said it.”

Aiden rubbed his face. “He said that you need to protect female warriors the fiercest… because…”

“Because what?”

He looked away. “Uh… Hey. It’s really hot, and no one’s eaten lunch. Are you hungry?”

“Are you going to tell me?”

“No,” Aiden declared. “Moving on. You? Eat? Hungry?”

I looked at my stomach and frowned when I realized that I was. “How long have I been out?”

“Most the day. But we spent most our time cleanin’ corpses again.”

“So we’re down a day…”

“Yeah… We’re kinda fucked. But we can obviously go faster, and Keal said they can ride through the night. So what we do is up to you.”

I felt time pressure bearing down on me and felt the crushing anxiety of the Migration. It wouldn’t be long before the beasts coming down reached us while we went up.