Chapter 2: Chapter 2 - Vane/Gloria's

Geon led Astria along the trodden forest path, his eyes turned upward to gaze at the sunlight sprinkling through the canopy, carefree in a place they had often traveled. Astria followed more cautiously, her eyes flickering to each new sight line, remembering clearly the times they had been ambushed around this region. Even if they usually dealt with the threats easily enough, it would only take one unlucky hit to kill Geon before Astria could heal him up. Once your light was gone, even the best healer in the world couldn't bring it back.

“Could you please pay attention to the ground around us, instead of in the clouds?” she needled him. “Imps don't fly.”

Geon smirked at her from over his shoulder. “I have ears, too. Nothing but wind and trees out here right now.” He reached his hands up and stretched. “There hasn't been anything too big in these woods for weeks, now that so many new folks are coming out to the guild for work. You may as well relax now, before the jobs start pushing at the frontier. Those won't be like this.”

“Yeah, I know,” she said, prodding him with her staff. “That's why I want to know if you can actually play the part of someone careful before you get me killed doing something silly. If you're still this green once the work starts moving away, I'll have to find a new partner, or a team.” Geon could hear a sort of hesitation in her voice, like she was trying to get words out to him, but stumbling on exactly how she'd chosen to say it. He glanced back again, taking in her defensive posture before sighing and letting his arms drop back to his side. His jaw clenched, frustrated for being berated at, but if he was being honest, they were getting pretty close to where their targets had been spotted. And he did have a penchant for getting ambushed. He should be on alert. He drew his wand out of his sleeve and held it loose but ready at his side.

Astria had threatened to leave him behind a few times, but tight finances meant it hadn't held much weight – until the announcement a couple of days earlier.

The civil war was over. After sixty years of fighting with little shifting of the offensive line, the kingdom of Alacandra had allowed the seceded nation of Emmroh to keep the stretch of mountainous coast it had claimed from them. Tensions would still be fraught for a time as Alacandra continued to mourn the lost fisheries and mining rights, but both peoples were happy that their leaders had seen reason, and Alacandra had reclaimed a corner of Emmroh's shoreline that they held as compensation. With that war over, however, it was time to return to Alacandra's true quest: conquering the Demon Lands. There would be a period of rest, and of celebration, but soon the army and the militias would start moving their units to the other side of the kingdom, to push into the rest of their continent.

Geon smiled at the idea. It would be nice for the kingdom to go back to fighting demons instead of people. Maybe if he actually got his shit together he could join one of the bigger militias. If he did that, maybe he could make enough to buy his own house in Vane Gloria. Maybe he'd finally be able to talk to Bes.

A twig snapped. Geon's ears picked up the sound and he spun, staring into the woods behind him. There was something there at the crest of a hill, he'd seen it ducking out of sight. Astria followed his gaze, wide-eyed.

“What was it?”

“I don't know. Maybe a monkit, or a- ugh!”

A screeching weight slammed into Geon's shoulder, blasting sound directly into his ear and throwing him to the ground. In shock, he slammed the back of his fist against the face of the creature at his ear, then grabbed it and forced it off his shoulder and onto the ground. His sight grew hazy and his head rang from the piercing vocal attack, dizziness rocking him as he fought to keep the struggling animal pinned beneath him. He raised his wand to attack, only to realize the wand wasn't in his hand anymore.

The monkit, a short tree-climbing primate with black horns and no tail, scrabbled at Geon's restraining arm, tearing scratches into him that bled freely. Geon's other hand sought out the wand he'd dropped, rustling through leaves and rocks, trying to feel the smooth wood among rough branches and twigs.

Astria, scrambling herself in the seconds since the attack, positioned her hands for a physical strike and thwacked the pinned beast full in the face. It screeched again as its blood misted the air, but another thwack silenced it before it could compound any damage. Astria held up her staff defensively as she spun, listening, wide eyes darting toward the sound of scrambling feet on leaves.

“Crap, Geon, the other-” she started before her eyes found the other monkit, already in the air, mouth agape, chest puffed for a blast of sound.

FWOOOM!

A flash of roiling red fire washed over its face and seared a path down its throat. It crashed limply into the staff, then fell to the dirt, chest heaving, trying to force air into burning lungs. Astria looked over at Geon. Kneeling and gasping, his hand held out, he still pointed at where his flame had struck the beast out of the air. The rune on the back of that hand glowed a brilliant red, and then faded. With a sigh, he looked down at the creature, its back arching in agony. He glanced at the ground around him again, looking for his dropped wand. Not seeing it immediately, he rolled the first monkit's body over, revealing it laying there beneath it, thankfully undamaged. He snatched it up, then flicked his glowing-red hand up and down toward the writhing creature, a tiny ball of blue fire appearing in the air on the upswing, before being violently brought down on the monkit's neck with the downswing. It stilled, silenced except for the crackle of seared skin and hair. He repeated the motion over the first body, to be sure it was dead, then rubbed his ringing ear and spiked it again because it felt good to char that corpse in particular. It had hurt him more.

Once they had both taken a moment to make sure there weren't any other monkits around, they relaxed, and Astria prodded Geon with her staff.

“Here, let me see your arm. Can you lift it?”

Geon nodded sheepishly and stood up, holding the bleeding arm up for her to heal. Astria held her staff up level in front of her eyes, and as she peered over it to look at Geon's arm, the middle third of the shaft, the length of it right between her hands, glowed blue. Her left hand lit up with a light blue Telekinesis rune, her left glowed the white and speckled green of Healing. Next to her right eye, a small white Light rune - ticked with a tiny blue Piercing modification - lit up. With the enchantment on that middle portion of her staff, in combination with her specialized Light rune, she could see through Geon's clothes and skin and muscles to pinpoint the specifics of any injury. She did a quick spot check for the lacerations on his arm, then let the middle section dim, along with her Telekinesis, and lit up the white-glowing end of her staff near her Healing hand. Slowly, each of the six wounds started to seal up.

As she healed him, the air between them grew awkward.

Geon decided to start, even though the headache made it hurt to talk. “I'm sorr-”

“Don't,” Astria cut in, then paused. “I told you to stop looking up. I knew there were monkits around, even if they don't usually attack.” The last of the cuts healed, and all of Astria's runelight cut off. “I was mad about something else, and gave you bad advice because I was mad. Sorry.”

Geon opened his mouth, but stopped with a wince. “Can you heal my head up first? Then we can keep apologizing to each other. That screeching is rough.”

With a smile, Astria nodded and flashed the eye rune and diagnosis enchantment to make sure nor instead of a kind man that would delay his own meal a few minutes to sate someone else’s stomach. Part of being a guild cook was to put on an air of extra confidence, and even a bit of mystique, lest a ravenous horde of mercenaries smell your fear and commandeer your kitchen.

That’s what happened to her last few cooks.

A few minutes later, Aron gutted a long, fluffy bread and stuffed it full of protein and thick sauce for Glory, and she ignored the world for a few moments as she was lost in a feeling of home that even her mother’s own cooking couldn’t kindle. Aron smiled down at the oblivious guild leader, and checked the room, noticing a couple of people enter, see Glory, and move to approach her with papers in-hand, but Aron waved them back to the lobby until her meal was done. She had no idea he’d done it; she was practically insensate in the moment.

Once she was about halfway through, she admitted to herself that her nose and eyes had been much bigger than her stomach when she’d walked in, and asked Aron to wrap up the other half for her to finish later on, and he did so, stuffing it into rune-etched coldbox to keep until the evening. Then she thanked the man, and headed back into the main lobby.

Glory sighed as she made her back behind her booth and started to address the small crowd that had gathered around, clutching contracts that she hoped they were actually qualified for. They kept her busy for around half an hour, but fortunately, they were all pretty reasonable and didn’t pitch a fit when she told them why certain jobs could be a poor match for their skill-set.

Once they had all dispersed, two groups heading out on Rank 1 quests and another group mingling with others in the lobby to scrounge up help for a Rank 2, Glory sat back in her seat behind the booth and thought over what to do with all the new blood in her guild – a train of thought derailed by the front door getting shoved open.

Geon and Astria sprang into the lobby, faces weary and sporting worried frowns. They charged over to Glory’s desk in a rush that commanded the attention of the entire room.

“We’re back from a camp clearing. Has Vai been by yet?”

“N-no,” Glory replied, startled. “Did something happen, are you both alright?”

Geon took a few deep breaths, still looking concerned, but realizing that the report was more important than the worry. He kept his voice low as he answered. “Yeah, we should talk out of earshot, things got a bit crazy on watch after the job.”

Glory’s breath slowed. Did she neglect to rank up that job? Was it due for a large expansion?

Astria saw her paling cheeks and waved her hand on front of Glory’s face. “Hey, stop that. It wasn’t something you could have expected. Vai didn’t, we didn’t, and you weren’t there, so you couldn’t either,” Astria hissed before glancing around, taking in the wide-eyed stares and nearby eavesdroppers pretending to still scan the contracts. “Now, let’s go to the back.”

Glory shook off the surprise and habitual self-recrimination and led them to the door behind the contract booth. Inside was a medium-sized room, it's main feature was a long table with a couple bobbles on the table and a few rune-engraved tools along the wall. Glory touched a rune set into the wall by the doorway, and they felt the walls hum before fading to background noise, blocking out the sound of the lobby. Then Glory sat down in the closest chair to the door, and Astria sat across from her, Geon sitting at the end.

“So,” Astria started, “the contract started out fine. A couple hiccups, but they were our hiccups. A monkit ambush caught us off guard, but we were still far enough away from the site that nothing heard us, and we were able to heal and regenerate before reaching their camp.”

Geon picked up. “When we arrived we met Vai, the scout for our mission, and he let us know that in the day since we’d registered intent on the contract, two more imps had shown up in the camp. That was fine, and we were able to clear it without too much stress.” He paused to breathe. “But then came the watch.

“Halfway through the night, an hour or so after Vai took watch, he woke us up, warned us something big was coming. We hid somewhere we could escape from easily. Then this tall demon comes up surrounded by twenty or so imps.”

Glory narrowed her eyes, head rocking back a little in thought.

Geon continued. “Vai made himself a distraction, and he led half the imps away, and then we ran, chased by the rest of them.”

“What did the big one do?” Glory cut in.

Geon shrugged. “We don't know. Or I don't know, maybe he chased Vai down instead?” He grimaced and tapped the table. “I was really hoping he'd beaten us here.”

“I'll keep an eye out...” Glory muttered, trailing off, pondering a tangent. “Did the tall one do anything else that you remember? Every detail is useful.”

Astria shrugged. “It made fire in its hand, used the light to look at the camp we cleared.”

“And he talked to us, too,” Geon said, then coughed an uncomfortable laugh. “He kinda hammed it up, actually. He was like, 'Raah, I smell your fear. Bring me more people to eat!' and told us to run away and tell you about him.”

Astria nodded. “He's not kidding. 'Bring me an army to feast on,' it said.”

“But we left as soon as he said that, and were chased by the imps. Astria had to pull some wild magic to get us through.” Geon said. “Didn't see him again.”

Glory sat back and thought for a few seconds. “It's bait. It's clearly bait,” she said, talking to herself aloud. “But three days after the war ends? Why attack now, when we're about to head back to the frontier in force?” She stopped talking out loud, but her thoughts kept going. This is the sort of thing Mom got so paranoid about. But she always thought the demons would attack while we were focused on the war with Emmroh. Augh, I'm going to have to talk with her.

“Alright,” Glory said and rubbed her face. “Keep quiet about that tall demon, for now. I don't mind you telling people about the big group of imps that came with it. If you see Vai before I do, let him know I'm looking for him. I want his side of things, too.” She stopped for long enough to realize she'd railroaded her thoughts, and looked them each in the eye. “I know you're alive, and you clearly got away from the imps, but are you both all right?”

They were quiet for a moment. Astria nodded. “I will be.”

Geon shrugged. “What's another new nightmare or two, right?” But the corner his eye winced a moment after the joke. The memory of his tendon getting sliced was going to haunt him.

Glory nodded at them. “Go eat. Get something to drink, too. It's on me.”

They thanked her and filed out of the room, closing the door behind them and leaving her alone to think. This was pretty big news. Getting an influx of twenty imps at once was unheard of, nevermind a demon that was clearly in a leadership role. Once she'd heard from Vai she would have to give a report to the King's Office directly. She wished it could wait until her meeting with the Inspectors and Officials that was scheduled in a couple days, but she couldn't start being lazy now. She rested her head on the back of her chair and spoke to the ceiling.

“Spectres. Huh.”enough that the plan would be foiled. Geon picked out the five imps that Vai had alerted them to, a couple of them milling in and around the large bushes that they were using as cover for their lean-tos of branches and moss. Two of the them were grouped around the tiny cave entrance as one of them dug around the rocks, clearing dirt and muck from the larger rocks that obscured the drainage pit. The last seemed to be doing a poor job of guarding, as it was asleep on the ridge opposite Geon.

Geon took one last look at Astria, who nodded at him with confidence.

The red of Geon’s Fire rune lit up, spreading to the tip of his wand. Standing tall, he charged power into three lashing strikes. Points of furious blue appeared in the air over the miner, his guard, and the sleeping watchman, then whipped down and killed two instantly, but the third sunk sizzling into the ground when its target, the guard down by the one worker, noticed the attacks and charged forward with a shout. Alerted, the other two imps by the tents whipped their heads around before charging at the hill where Geon stood. Astria stood tall to his side, staff held in one hand while her telekinetic rune lit up a light blue in the other, readied in case one of the imps got past Geon’s offensive.

Geon smiled as he turned his wrist to hold the wand in a reverse grip. This time when he struck, his hand whipped up from his side out to his front, burning blue trails from next to his knee out to the three targets spread out in front of him. Three shots; one killed its target, one missed, and the third only struck a glancing blow, but the injured imp screamed and tumbled into the dead imp, sending them both tumbling back downhill. The last, uninjured imp charged ahead with no thought to his companions. Astria thrust her glowing hand out, enveloping the imp in a wave of repelling force, stalling his forward progress, but not bowling him over. Its legs struggled against the pressure, feet digging ruts into the earth, but it could not overpower Astria’s magic. With the cover provided by Astria’s push, Geon took a deep, recovering breath, staring at the repelled imp as it struggled against the barrier. Its face contorted in struggle, but it knew it was a hopeless fight; its face screwed up with the desperate frustration of a dead thing, lashing out with the last bit of will it would ever experience. It was almost sad.

“Geon!” Astria grunted. With a start, Geon remembered she was wasting power on not-Healing in the seconds he'd spaced out. With a flick, he cast a strike down through the immobile imp’s head, and its chin struck the ground before sliding down the hill, dead and trailing smoke. With another flourish, he cast a strike at the injured imp at the bottom of the hill, who was only now coming to his senses and trying to scramble away from them. The strike hit it in the spine, and it flopped to the ground, smoke rising from blackened bone.

They both stood around for a moment, just breathing and recovering from the stress of magic. Scanning the trees surrounding their basin, Geon saw Vai making his way back towards them on a winding path across branches, then he stepped into the air and floated down to them on a vortex of air.

“Well, I have to say, that was a faster clean-up than I expected. Thorough, too,” Vai finished with a grimace. He hadn’t been able to claim any of the kills for himself. “Could've at least left me the sleeper.”

Geon shrugged. “Well, we still have the watch, don’t we? There might be more that show up overnight.” He'd definitely targeted that sleeping guard in the first strike for that reason. Scouts took a small cut of the contract payout when they claimed hazard bonus on a mission. That was his money, dammit.

“Yeah, maybe. I wouldn’t be too sure, though. This was a very new camp, even if it was a pretty good location. I’ll have to make a note of this area, I’m sure another group will try to set up shop here at some point in the future, but I think it was too short-lived to have garnered much attention. Still, we have the night to find out.”

Vai paused and looked around the camp. “Honestly, I vote we stay right here for the night. We can move the corpses over by the rocks there to keep the smell at bay, and the hills here are really good cover. They even already built a fire pit for us.”

Astria nodded. “That sounds like a plan. I vote we take first watch so you can get some sleep, you’ve been out here a couple weeks, right?”

Vai nodded. “Aye, and I appreciate that. It wasn’t so bad, though. There’s another hidden cave nearby I was able to cover – and trap – to get solid sleep there, but it has been a couple nights since I was there last. I've been napping. Was expecting you at some point.”

Plans made, they set about making the camp suitable for their night, moving the soiled corpses away and rummaging through what meager belongings the imps had managed to steal from the few human neighbors they had out here. There were only a few scraps of meat among the imp-loot that none of them trusted enough to cook, relying on the rations they each had on-hand for dinner. Everything else the imps had were trash weapons and a couple mining tools that didn’t seem like they had gotten a lot of work in the days since they’d been stolen, all covered in rust, like discarded workshop refuse that someone was too busy or too lazy to properly scrap.

With the loot and the bodies sorted, they settled in for a relaxed evening before the sun finished its descent.

Hours later, after Astria had woken Vai from his rest and settled in near Geon to sleep, Vai came back and shook them awake.

“Incoming. Something big, get ready for a fight.”

After a few muffled curses, they both scrambled to pick up their weapons, then walked outside, ears scanning the audial horizon. Geon could hear the thumping steps from somewhere over the ridge. He glanced over to Vai, who was standing by the remnants of the fire, having extinguished the last embers. The night was still dark enough that the billowing cloud of smoke kicked up by the dousing wouldn’t be seen by normal eyes. But with the sound of that approaching beast or being, normal wasn’t something they could expect.

They crept up the short hill on the side of the basin opposite to the approaching steps, crouching by thick bushes just over the ridge to keep out of sight and get an idea of what they were up against, while also making sure they had a clear path to retreat from the incoming forces if it, or they, were too much for their small party to kill. They waited as the regular thud of steps grew louder, drawing out the tension that already frayed their nerves. Then it quieted slightly, and they knew it was walking up the hill across the valley. An inky shadow rose up from the crest of the hill and stood at the top. Geon assumed he was peering in, trying to see what exactly had happened to its people.

Suddenly, with a click and a roar, a huge fire sprang to life in the tall beast’s hand. It illuminated the entire camp, casting flickering shadows along the ground and hills as a grotesque horned face peered at every unnatural construction, every footprint, every pungent pool of drying imp blood. It sniffed the air, then huffed loudly, nearly a bark.

“I can smell you here, humans,” it growled through clenched teeth. “I see your footprints and I smell your piss and fear and I taste your sweat.” As the beast spoke, more imps crawled over the crest of the hill, quiet like mice. Five, ten, twenty of them. “I think that, maybe, you should run. Run away, and tell everyone of my arrival. Bring me an army to feast upon.”

Vai glanced over at Geon and Astria. He nodded, then pointed to himself. Geon tried to shake his head back at him, but Vai only placed a finger over his lips. He gestured to himself, then the clearing, then pointed to Geon and Astria before pointing at the path away from the clearing. Back the way they had come. He would make a distraction for them.

It felt wrong. Geon wanted to object. He looked Vai in the eyes, tried to hold his gaze. He had to know. If Vai was going to really do this, Geon had to know that he could get away. But the night was still dark, and the silhouette of his face gave Geon no clear answer. In the end, Geon’s head won out, and he nodded at Vai, who nodded back. Astria reached forward and grabbed his sleeve before he could move away. Then she pulled a small vial from her belt and passed it over to Vai. A mana potion.

Vai tucked it away, then turned and ran up the slope to stand at the crest opposite the large demon. Astria passed a second vial over to Geon as Vai opened a challenge to the tall creature.

“What are you doing here, demon? These are human lands you trespass upon!”

Geon and Astria heard a throaty hum from behind them as they began to descend, away from the valley and whoever was coming. When they reached the bottom, they heard the demon's reply.

“No. No banter. Kill him.” The crowd of imps started forward, as the tall demon sniffed the air.

“Ah, hells,” muttered Vai, before he dashed away, running along the crest of the hill and leaping into the trees, away from the others. Ten imps followed him. Ten others stopped at the top and looked out, and one pointed at Astria and Geon's escaping forms before that half of the group chased after them.

Neither Astria or Geon had the kind of movement runes that Vai used in his line of work. For Geon, being a Lancer-class rune user meant that he sacrificed having multiple runes in order to focus as much of his mana output as possible though a single channel to maximize his single-target damage. Taking multiple runes means having to use part of your focus to mentally close off any mana channels you aren't trying to use, otherwise some of the pressure you direct to a rune will leak from your other runes. But, this approach's biggest downside is not having a backup plan, or an escape option.

Keep it level. Shoulder-height. Geon spun quickly and lashed out at the imps, sidearm casting a streak of blue flame at where they had grouped up the thickest. Simple strikes. This is a numbers game, he thought as he turned back to keep up with Astria.

Astria concentrated on running and breathing and cycling mana, her runes occasionally glowing for a second, then fading for long moments. As she ran, she yearned. From her heart. From her core. She yearned for the strength to heal, and the power to repel those that attacked them. And her core filled with energy just a bit faster, until it was full again, a little bit sooner than normal. Her runes flash again, a sigh of mana. A gasping breath as she runs. Keep to the path. Yearn for the power. She cycled.

Geon spun again, another flash of red runelight and blue fire. Thin the herd. One at a time. One at a time, yes, but as he spun yet again, he realized they were gaining faster than he was killing them. He wasn't going to make it. He couldn't fend them all off.

“Soon,” he gasped to Astria, who ran slightly ahead of him.

She didn't respond. Run. Yearn. Breathe. Flash. Yearn. Refill the core.

Another blue flame lashed out behind her. And another moments later.

“Soon,” Geon's voice called again, more insistent. It was farther away, falling back with each attack. And they were both slowing down, muscles and lungs burning.

They've spread out now, too, Geon thought as he tried doggedly to catch back up to Astria, and failed. I'm missing, and then he turned around to miss another strike. His own core was getting so low.

“Running dry, Astria!” he yelled as he fumbled for the vial of mana potion and popped the cork to plug it with his thumb instead. He couldn't choke it down while running.

Astria needed only a few seconds. Seconds! She yearned for her core to fill. She prayed for it. Where's the wind? Where?

Inhale. Her lungs filled. Please! Her core filled.

And like a deep, tidal breath, her core over-filled.

“NOW!” Astria yelled and spun, planting her feet, and raising her staff.

Geon raised the vial to his mouth as he caught up to her, six imps nipping at his heels, daggers flashing in their tiny hands. He stood up straight in front of Astria, gulping the potion as the blades plunged into them.

Then the butt of Astria's staff hit the ground, and green light exploded. It washed over the ground under the entire group, and a pillar of green shot out of the ground, illuminating the forest. Healing energy washed over everyone inside the green light, friend and enemy alike. Daggers tore and stabbed, but the skin sealed back up. Teeth bit down and tried to rip out gouges of flesh, but the strength of the field repairing each toothy puncture held their bodies intact. An imp climbed up his chest, and Geon dropped the empty vial and yanked back on the imp's head at stall it from reaching his head.

In the sea of stabbing, rending pain, the mana potion hit Geon's stomach, and mana flowed back into his core. His eyes flashed with adrenaline rage as he whipped his wand up.

The Healing field would repair injury, yes. But it couldn't repair instant death.

Blue flame ignited by Geon's ear, then wand and flame both streaked downward. It struck the imp on his chest in its eye and burned through its skull to the brain stem. It dropped to the ground, trailing boiled gray matter and smoke, leaving its dagger in Geon's shoulder. Geon ripped the blade out as he kicked an imp away, then threw another off his back before it could get to his head. His wand flicked again, and he lanced an imp off of Astria's hip.

Astria focused on her cycle and the Healing cast, finding reassurance in the feeling of wind passing through and around her and into her, while trying not to panic at how quickly her core was still draining. Fifty percent, then a breath of mana, then back down to forty! She willed Geon to kill faster, but said nothing for fear of distracting him. She knew he was already focused. She felt the heat of his flames, smelled it scorching her hair when he killed her next assailant, saw the red and blue flashes of runelight clearly even though her eyes were closed so tightly with concentration.

Geon spun and killed. He felt iron slice behind his heel and he dropped, screaming as a muscle whipped up his leg before Healing energy yanked it taut again and reattached it. Geon roared and lashed out at that imp with a vengeful strike. He remembered to cycle since the mana wind was, somehow, so strong now, keeping his core from draining completely. He punched an imp off Astria as he climbed back to his feet, then struck it down with a flash.

Now he was empty. His eyes darted around, looking for what was left. Only one more imp, who lunged at Astria. Geon booted it out of the air, then stamped down on it in fury. He quickly yanked a dagger out of his gut, pulled another out of Astria, and yelled: “Clear!”

Astria pushed Healing for a moment longer before dropping the spell with a gasp, the pillar of green light vanishing. She cycled in earnest for a few breaths, before shaking her head at the puddle in her core and pulling her last mana potion out of her belt. “We've got to go,” she said, voice shaking with stress, too pressured to relax. She uncorked and drained the potion as she eyed Geon, then glanced at the flailing imp under his foot, its broken arms and ribs fluttering in painful desperation after being broken twice in quick succession.

Geon was shaking his head, and eyes flicked in Vai's general direction. “Shouldn't w-”

“No,” Astria said through a potion-coated throat, and swallowed again. “No. No hero games.” She turned and started walking away. “Vai is a Scout, he can get away from that. We're slow, and I just lit a big green beacon. We move.” Her walk sped up to a jog. She listened to the sounds behind her – of slicing flesh and a quiet, breathy rattle – then heard Geon trailing behind her.

Through the pre-dawn light, and the rising sun, until the sun arced up past noon, they escaped. They didn't stop moving until they reached Vane/Gloria's.