I woke up to a tremendous clamor. Although I hadn't been sleeping deeply for a good half hour, the clattering and continuous noise of movement didn't particularly frighten me. I got up, quickly freshened up, gathered myself, and tied my hair up as fast as I could. I put on my usual bulletproof protective clothing—which, as I later learned, was an extremely serious protective gear. It was covered with thick yet flexible fabric that didn't hinder movement but provided protection against most conventional weapons. The dark-colored material also offered camouflage, and there were additional armor reinforcements running along the shoulders to cushion stronger blows.
As I stepped into the stairwell, I first realized how ornate it had been before—as ornate as such places can be. The carved columns of the railings and the stone wall patterns suggested that it was never intended to be a castle. Downstairs, everything was in military order: weapons, equipment, and strictly lined-up people filled the space.
The soldiers were already lined up downstairs. The kind woman was there, as was the arrogant one—Dahlia, if I remember correctly. I hadn't seen the general yet, but as I started down, the door of the room next to me opened. The general stepped out and gave me a stern look.
"Did you sleep well?" he asked matter-of-factly.
I hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, thank you."
I considered returning the question, but then decided it was better not to treat him as if we were close friends. After all, I had crossed every line last night—I'm lucky to have gotten away with just an apology.
As we descended, my blood pulsed faster. The sight of the massive arsenal was somehow much more unsettling than the fact that we were heading into a war zone. There weren't many of us—barely twenty or twenty-two—but as the black-haired girl and the tall male figures appeared among the ranks, a sudden sense of relief washed over me. My team.
I was about to speak when Dahlia's sharp voice snapped: "Line up!"
Everyone immediately lined up. Dahlia stepped forward and surveyed the group with a cold gaze.
"The border you're going to is not like the rest of the city. Different laws prevail there, and different dangers lurk."
"Your task is to protect the city from what lies on the other side. No one can cross to the other side of the border. We don't know exactly what's there, and frankly, we don't want to find out."
A moment of silence ensued. The kind woman then stepped forward and continued in a much calmer voice:
"There won't always be reception at the border, so we'll ensure communication with these."
A person in dark clothing opened a box and distributed small, ear-mounted radios. New ones. I automatically reached for mine and placed it on my ear. It fit comfortably, and I barely felt it was there.
"This will be your ears and eyes. All communication will take place through this. If there's trouble, if you see movement, if you hear suspicious sounds—you must report it immediately."
Dahlia took over: "Now for the weapons."
She pointed toward the armory, where various types were lined up behind long counters.
"Short-range firearms, energy-based weapons, melee blades, and standard defensive shields. If anyone doesn't know what they're for, ask now, because there won't be time on the battlefield. But I hope you didn't come to the academy to sleep."
The general then stepped forward. "Those serving at the Rindanof border must remember three things. First: never lose sight of the border. Although there are dozens of traps and guards near the city, you cannot let anyone venture to the other end of the forest that crosses the border. Second: never ignore your surroundings. Third: never forget why you're here. If anyone hesitates or thinks too much about what's on the other side, they're already a dead person."
A deep silence settled over the hall. Then a faint hissing reached my ears, barely noticeable.
"Pssst-pssst-pssst."
I tilted my head slightly. It was Chloe, as I saw from the corner of my eye. I lowered my voice as if whispering a thought.
"I'm listening, Chloe."
I tried not to show anything on my face. But inside, I was very glad they were here. At the same time, a moment of fear ran through me. Why are they coming here? Why were they assigned to such dangerous service?
Before she could answer, Dahlia's sharp, measured voice cut in: "You may go!"
The kind woman also stepped forward, her voice softer, as if trying to hide something difficult to say.
"Look out for each other. The first days are the hardest. If anything happens, call through the radio."
A nod, and we set off.
As we headed out the gate, I looked at them. One by one. Faces, expressions, movements. I tried to understand what they felt. Who was more tense, who was calmer.
But then I returned to my role. Rigid posture, poker face. That's how those in dark clothing move. Simple rule.
We reached the vehicles lined up next to the convoy. There's an order to who sits where. There's no protected person, only the general, so the officers go ahead, and we travel in the rear cars.
As we approached the cars, I asked half-aloud:
"Why did you come?"
Chloe looked at me sideways, with a cheeky smile.
"Why do you look like that, girl? Do you think they draw lots, and whoever's unlucky goes to the border? No. Everyone chooses freely here."
I furrowed my brow.
"So you... decided for yourselves?"
Chloe nodded.
"You know what's the strangest about it?" David spoke up. "A lot of people sign up. A hell of a lot."
"What?" I was astonished.
"Really. More and more people are curious about what's beyond the border. But no one can cross."
"And doesn't that frustrate anyone?"
"Frustrate? Quite the opposite. It makes it even more exciting." The boy smiled.
The mood was starting to lighten. Dave and Zack were already arguing about who should drive.
"Dave, I'm driving." Zack nudged his friend.
"Yeah, right! Last time you almost hit a pole. There was only one pole in the whole damn district! And you still found it."
Standing behind them, Emily, Chloe, and I laughed as Dave and Zack tried to decide who would sit behind the wheel. But when they finally assigned the roles, we stopped in front of the cars. For a moment, everything went quiet.
We knew there was no room for lightness from here on. The mission was the essence.
But before I got in, one more question escaped me.
"Did you know?"
Everyone stopped.
Chloe was the first to look up at me.
"Of course. We knew that after your little outspoken stunt, they'd send you here."
"We just hoped they'd leave you in one piece." Dave laughed.
Chloe grinned.
"You were really cool."
"Absolutely." Zack nodded.
"Totally." David added his part.
I felt my body relax a bit.
Then Chloe opened the car door and leaned against it.
"Don't joke around. Thanks to you, our family won't go hungry for a year. The least we can do is not leave you to die alone."
She looked at me with a half-smile.
"If someone spanks your ass, we'll spank theirs."
Even the quiet Emily spoke up.
"Did you really think that after you saved our family from starvation and us from working for free for a year... we wouldn't stick with you?"
For a moment, I really thought about it. Then I just nodded gratefully.
The mood was still friendly and silly. But suddenly something changed. It was as if the air had cooled.
The general's orderly voice cut through the moment from afar:
"Avarka. Come here!"
I lifted my head.
The others froze for a moment. Then they quietly turned away and got into the car. As I passed them, they still grabbed my shoulder with a quiet farewell word.
And I headed toward the general.
I stopped in front of him. I showed respect, my face expressionless. I didn't show how much I didn't want to get into that car. How much I would have rather been with them. But here, it's not about what we want.
Meanwhile, the general was talking to the kind woman and Dahlia. For a moment, I heard them talking about the ruler.
"He's not here now. He won't be for a while. He won't be able to take responsibility for anything. The convoy should go safely."
Then the general looked at me.
"You'll come with me in the first car."
I didn't know why. I didn't understand.
We got in.
In the rear cars, they're probably laughing by now. But here... there was only silence.
Just the two of us.
Behind us, those in dark clothing watched silently.
I couldn't break the silence.
Because he was my boss.
We'd been on the road for quite a while.
The deep, growling sound of the engine slowly died down as the general stopped the vehicle. His hand, clad in a dark glove, slid along the steering wheel before tensing on it, as if trying to keep his thoughts to himself. The man cleared his throat—first softly, almost gently, then more firmly, indicating that I should focus all my attention on him now.
"Since your recent little show, they're keeping a special eye on you," he began, his voice sharp but not angry. Just matter-of-fact. "This isn't a jaunt for you; it's a serious task. One that could cost you your life."
He paused for a moment, as if weighing the gravity of his words. I felt he wasn't just trying to scare me but was stating facts.
"But... considering you survived certain death, this won't be such a big problem for you," he added with a kind of raw humor that made my shoulders tense. I couldn't decide if it was a compliment or just a dry remark.
"When we arrive, you'll take your accommodations. There won't be luxury, no separate quarters."
I didn't respond. I just watched the black glove on the steering wheel as the material slightly creased under his fingers. The road became increasingly bumpy, and the stones crunched under the wheels.
"I won't always be there. I'm needed in the city, so..." he paused briefly, then continued. "You're on your own."
I couldn't explain why, but an unfamiliar, cold feeling began to spread in my chest.
As the car continued to roll, the landscape slowly changed around us. We left the flat, dusty roads and reached increasingly steep, rocky terrain. On the horizon, a massive cliff emerged, towering over us like a threatening, motionless sentinel. At one point, however, the rock tilted, and a hilly section interrupted the otherwise vertical wall. It was like a huge semicircular embrace: one side was a steep cliff, where a wrong step could have sent you plummeting into the depths, while the other side was a long, sloping descent that could be cautiously but surely walked down.
At the top of the rock stood a building. Its grim, cold stone walls blended into the environment as if it had been built there as part of nature.
The convoy was already ahead of us, the cars arriving in line at the entrance, but we slowed down. The general wasn't in a hurry. As we passed the hill, the fog suddenly changed around us. A moment ago, we were traveling through a sunlit landscape, but here, at this border, it was as if we had stepped into another world.
The fog was thick, dense, and didn't move, just swirled as if it had a will of its own. As if it were watching.
"Down there is the danger zone," the general spoke, keeping his eyes on the road.
I took a deep breath, but my chest seemed to tighten.
"Anything that falls down there doesn't come back up."
His voice was calm, but every word etched into me with cutting sharpness.
"Because it swallows what dwells there."
He slowly lifted his gaze to me. It was cool but not threatening. Commanding.
"Remember one thing," he said. "If any of your comrades, or anyone, ventures down there, or even accidentally falls..."
He paused for a moment, and I already knew what he was going to say.
"You don't go after them. No one goes after them."
The words almost shook me.
"But..." I began.
"No 'but,'" he cut in immediately.
"But if I could pull them out... if I went down with a fog lamp..." I tried to find arguments, but my voice trembled.
"No," he interrupted firmly. "You're not guarding them."
He gripped the steering wheel and, with a single motion, stepped on the gas. The car almost trembled with the force as we drove up to the top of the rock.
When I got out, John whistled beside me.
"Now, that's a crib," he remarked, staring at the building.
It was neglected. The walls were cracked, the metal sheets on the roof rusted. Nothing suggested that this place had ever been part of a civilized world.
The general and his entourage didn't stay long. The cars lingered at the entrance for a short time, then simply disappeared into the fog as they had come.
And we were left there.
Someone took a step forward. The woman with short hair, whose face radiated life experience. Someone who had seen everything.
"I'm Lieutenant Li," she said. Her voice rang clear. "But just call me lieutenant."
She looked us over.
"As long as you're here, I'm responsible for you. Take your rooms. There's no room number; you're not on a trip, and you're not at the academy. Women with women, men with men. First come, first served."
She paused for a moment.
"Then we'll meet downstairs. We need to assess the terrain. From now on, there's continuous duty. We eat when we have time. We sleep when we have time."
Chloe stepped closer to me and whispered:
"Did you know that those who guard the castle served here for years?"
"Well, then it's no wonder they're always so alert," I replied quietly.
The rooms were simple. Iron beds, cracked walls, cold concrete. One window was open.
The wind carried a salty scent.
A girl nearby spoke up.
"The sea is there. Although we can't see it, we always hear it."
And then, from somewhere deep below, a sound emerged.
As if the fog itself whispered...
We were already downstairs.
The lieutenant's voice rang clear and sharp as she gave the order.
"We're forming teams!"
We were almost at our designated spot, standing in line at the edge of the cliff, waiting for instructions. The lieutenant looked us over, then continued:
"Stand in groups of five!"
There were twenty of us, so four teams formed. Team one, team two, team three, and team four.
"Team one!" she pointed to those in the first row. "You're going into the woods. You'll watch for the shadows of intruders, pay attention to every rustle and every sound."
The air around us grew slightly colder. The forest. Dense, dark, full of hidden threats.
"Team two!" the lieutenant continued, her gaze sweeping over the next group. "You stay around the building. And at the ruins near it. You'll check the edges of the cliff, the hill section. You'll watch for any movement, any rustle. The only rule: avoid the descending path. If someone runs down the cliff or disappears on the hillside... you don't go after them."
I furrowed my brow. The lieutenant's emphasis was cold and final. But why? What could be so important that everyone emphasizes it so much?
Excessive curiosity is not one of my virtues.
"Team three!"
I lifted my head. I belonged here too. Beside me were Chloe, David, and Zach. Emily was with us. Dave, however, was in the fourth team.
"You'll map the abandoned meadow. There's no tree, no building on the hillside plain, just emptiness. But certain... mischievous spirits like to use it as a dance floor."
The lieutenant's face remained serious, but her words were unsettling.
"If you see anyone, don't hesitate to use your equipment. Especially if you detect a planar entity that can't be neutralized with a weapon."
I took a deep breath. Our special equipment consisted of radars and stun devices. They didn't target the physical body but the energy that moved the body. Even I had to get used to them.
"Team four!" the lieutenant concluded. "You're searching the lower rocks. The rocky sections on the other side of the building."
Each team had its advantages and disadvantages. One thing was certain: we all had to be cautious.
"Your duty will be eight hours. Watch for intruders. And when you return, you must remain vigilant. There's no real rest here."
With that, the lieutenant stepped back, and we set off.
My team and I headed down toward the meadow. Chloe spoke in a slightly offended tone.
"Seriously? No exciting terrain? No rocks, no forest, no buildings? Just this... field?"
"There's not even a flower here," David grumbled.
"But Dave gets to roam the rocks!" Zach retorted.
"But... what happened last night?" Chloe suddenly asked.
I looked up at her.
"What do you mean?"
Emily joined the conversation.
"We mean we heard things. Like you spent the night at the castle."
I stopped.
"And... other things could be heard from the club," Chloe added mysteriously. "But why don't you tell us instead?"
For a moment, my breath caught.
"I don't really want to talk about it," I finally replied.
Chloe and Emily exchanged glances but didn't press further. Instead, we walked quietly toward the fog-covered meadow.
Two and a half hours passed.
We saw nothing.
The fog thickened.
At first, it only hid the distant hills. Then even the ground at our feet blurred. I felt something was wrong.
And then I noticed...
Chloe's shadow began to fade. Emily's silhouette seemed to blur as well.
Those walking beside me... seemed increasingly distant, even though we were walking on the same path.
"Chloe?" I called.
"I'm here!" I heard her reply, but her voice was muffled, as if a wall separated us.
"Emily?"
"I'm here!"
We called to each other. But the fog swallowed our voices, as if we weren't even in this world.
And then...
I heard whispers.
At first, they were barely perceptible.
As if the fog itself had started to speak.
A faint, drawn-out fragment of a word...
"Don't... come..."
I froze.
Then another, a deeper, raspier voice...
"Stay... there..."
A chill ran down my spine. The fog was so thick now that I couldn't even see my own hand.
"Something's not right," Chloe whispered.
"Someone... is here," I replied softly.
The whispers grew stronger.
It was as if I heard soft songs, all jumbled together.
The fog was thick, milky white, and as we walked deeper into it, the world began to seem unreal. The sounds were initially barely perceptible, as if the wind had carried them from nowhere. There was nothing particularly unusual about them—just a soft melody, something indescribably old and unknown.
Then suddenly, laughter echoed. A little girl's giggle, playful, tinkling. A chill ran down my spine.
For a moment, I thought someone from my team was laughing.
"What's so funny?" Chloe spoke up beside me, nervously.
"It wasn't me." I replied almost immediately, instinctively looking back, but only the fog swirled.
"I didn't laugh either." Emily's voice rang out firmly.
"That was a woman's voice." David's voice was already harder as he placed his hand on his weapon.
Then Chloe suddenly stopped beside me. Panic vibrated in her voice as she shouted:
"Zach! Zach, are you here?!"
I felt a cold grip in my chest. Zach had been here just a moment ago—he couldn't have just fallen behind.
The fog seemed to be moving around us now. It wasn't blown by the wind, it didn't roll naturally, but... it breathed.
The sounds then intensified.
I no longer heard just a little girl's laughter but dozens, perhaps hundreds of whispers, giggles, songs, and gasps. It was as if an entire crowd surrounded us, an invisible but unmistakably present cacophony. They didn't speak understandable words, just muttered, hummed, sang—like guests at a distorted, ghostly ball.
My radio suddenly began to vibrate.
I flinched as the signal started to break up inside it.
"Hello? Hello? This is Avarka! Hello!"
On the other end of the line, there was only static. A faint, ragged breath.
Someone was listening to us.
But they said nothing.
"Hello!" My voice was now irritated. My radio gave one last, distorted vibration, then went completely silent.
"The signal's gone!" Chloe's voice was now desperate.
"Mine too!" Emily joined in.
"Boys?" Her words vanished into the void.
But the boys no longer answered.
Something was wrong.
"Weapons ready!" I shouted, reaching for my tactical belt.
The others moved too. My hand automatically wrapped around the grip of the Lichtbringer 9, but something told me not to shoot hastily. I pulled out my radar, hoping it would detect something.
The display flashed chaotic, scrambled signals. The whole thing seemed to have gone mad.
"Damn it! Work!" I pounded the device, anger taking over. "Or I'll destroy you."
And then everything went silent for a moment.
In the next second, a whispering voice emerged from the depths of the fog.
"Shut up, Mother Teresa..."
The blood froze in my veins.
The voice was thin, yet sharp, cold, and eerie. Another, deeper voice joined it, as if speaking from the depths of a shadow:
"And don't you want to be destroyed?"
"Why are you here?" I asked back.
My stomach knotted. These creatures... they weren't just mere shadows.
They were speaking to me.
I could no longer hear the others. The fog had completely swallowed them.
"You won't scare me!" I almost spat the words to strengthen myself. "I'll ask you one more time: why are you here?!"
The answer was a tug.
Something grabbed my hair. In the next moment, I fell to the ground, my face hitting the damp grass. Another force grabbed my leg—bites, sharp, tearing pain, as if something with tiny teeth was gnawing.
I kicked, struggled, pulled myself free, and started running.
The fog wouldn't let go.
My hand trembled as it slid to my tactical belt, pulling out two frequency smoke bombs. These were filled with special gases that could temporarily reveal the outlines of otherworldly beings.
The smoke bombs exploded with a soft hiss, releasing a sulfurous, pale green mist into the milky nothingness. My radar still flashed wildly, indicating everything and nothing at once. Every fiber of my being was tense—my leg ached where something had grabbed me earlier, my hair still stood on end from the unknown touch.
After the hiss and explosion, the world cleared for a moment—and I saw them.
From the darkness, shapeless, shadowy column-like beings emerged. Some seemed to take on human forms—but not entirely. Their bodies were distorted, grotesque, as if a faint memory of their former human selves.
They had no faces, no eyes, just that chilling presence.
In my hand was the Lichtbringer 9—a weapon operating with ionized energy waves that didn't affect the body but the essence. But something told me not to shoot now.
"Get out of here." My voice rang out firmly, but my throat was dry.
One of the shadow figures stepped forward—or rather glided. It swirled around me like black smoke, then for a moment took on the form of a thin, grotesque woman. Her mouth smiled, but there was nothing human in it.
"Too late, Mother Teresa."
In the next moment, everything exploded around me.
The fog turned dark red in an instant, as if the air itself were bleeding. Hallucination and reality blurred—suddenly it was as if walls surrounded me, as if I had been pulled into another place, a world woven from shadows. I heard my comrades' cries again from afar, but as if they were coming to me through glass.
Then it hit me: they wanted to pull me into their own dimension.
If I stayed here, I was done for.
My only chance was the way back—or using a force these beings couldn't handle.
My hand slid to my tactical belt. I had one more weapon, one we could only use in emergencies: the Götterdämmerung 13—a frequency resonator capable of breaking such entities' space-time anchors.
I had one chance.
I pulled it out, turned it on.
In the next moment, the whole world trembled.
Everything became motionless. I heard no movement, no sound.
The fog still swirled around me, but now it seemed denser, heavier, as if every step I took met resistance. My ears buzzed from the previous shockwave, but I knew I couldn't stop.
My eyes darted nervously in the milky haze, and finally... finally, I saw something.
Someone lay in the depths of the fog.
For a moment, I froze. Was it one of our comrades? Or something... else?
I couldn't think any longer. I ran.
The body lay motionless on the ground. As I got closer, I could see the clothing. Emily.
"Emily!" My voice was firmer than I felt. I knelt beside her, shaking her by the shoulder.
Nothing.
My heart pounded wildly. I quickly touched her neck with my finger and felt her pulse with relief. It was weak, but it was there.
"Emily, wake up!" I hissed, gently turning her onto her back.
Her face was pale, her eyes closed. It was as if she wasn't unconscious but... something else. For a moment, it seemed as if her breathing was too regular, too deep.
As if she were dreaming.
But this wasn't sleep. Something was holding her.
Instinctively, I shook her again.
Nothing.
The fog around me began to vibrate. For a fleeting moment, I had the feeling that someone was standing beside me.
I spun around—but there was nothing there.
Yet I felt the cold breath on my neck.
Panic began to settle on me, but I couldn't afford it. The others!
I quickly looked around. Among the shadows, I saw more bodies lying on the ground. Chloe. David.
Zach was nowhere to be seen.
My fingers clenched into fists.
Something was toying with us. And I wasn't willing to play its game.
Clara spoke ahead.
Only reasoned arguments matter.
My team couldn't stay like this.
I reached for my radio again to speak into it—but it remained completely silent. As if there was no sign that it had ever worked.
Then I heard it.
A faint whisper.
It wasn't words. It wasn't a human language. Just a buzzing, swirling fragment of sound, simultaneously too close and too far.
Then a soft laugh.
Childlike.
No. This can't be.
Instinctively, I crouched beside Emily, grabbed her shoulder, and as a last attempt, shook her.
With one hand, I still held Emily's shoulder, while with the other, I reached for my waist and quickly unbuckled my belt pouch. Who knows what might be useful?
I rummaged through the pockets, and in a moment, I dumped everything onto the ground.
Maps. Glow sticks. A broken radio. Cards. A small metal tube.
Nothing that would provide immediate help. Damn it!
I quickly ran through my mind that perhaps a stimulant or some small energy ampoule would help Emily's condition, but in my gut, I felt this wasn't exhaustion.
This was something else.
I knelt on the ground, my hands frantically searching through the items. There had to be something. Anything!
And then Emily moved.
Behind me, she sat up without a sound.
I felt my breath catch.
Then I heard her voice.
Softly, but she wasn't speaking to me.
As if she were speaking to someone else.
"I see you."
The blood froze in my veins.
Slowly, very slowly, I turned my head toward her. Emily didn't even look at me.
Her pupils were wide, her face pale, as if she were walking in a dream. But her mouth... it moved softly, forming barely audible words.
"I see you," she repeated.
But it wasn't me she saw.
Slowly, almost paralyzed, I turned my head to see what she saw.
And then I noticed the shadows again.
Beyond the fog, around us.
They didn't move. They didn't come closer. They just stood there... and watched.
But these were different.
So human.
I simply couldn't focus on who was watching and why.
Only one thing mattered: Emily.
As she lay there on the ground, her face pale, her eyes wide open, yet she saw nothing. It was as if she had fallen into a sleep paralysis. Her body was motionless, only her chest rose and fell, irregularly.
I didn't think. I just acted.
I placed my palm on her forehead, my other hand on her chest. For some reason, I felt this was what I needed to do. As if the motion had been deeply encoded in me. Like an old memory, an ancient knowledge.
Her skin was cold. Too cold.
"Emily!" I whispered. "Come back!"
I felt something stir beneath my fingers. Not a physical movement, more like a subtle flow of energy. Something momentarily tore from her body... then slowly fell back into her.
Emily's eyes fluttered.
In the next moment, she took a deep breath, as if surfacing from underwater, and suddenly sat up.
"Avarka..." she looked at me confused. Her eyes were still glassy, but no longer empty.
I had just breathed a sigh of relief when I sensed the approaching shadows.
Black, swirling shapes, distorted, nightmare-like forms. They had no faces, no bodies, but they were there. And they were approaching.
First just a step away.
Then another.
And another.
And then... smoke bombs exploded around us.
The thick, dark smoke engulfed everything in an instant. They crashed to the ground, swirled in the air, obscured the world.
A figure ran toward us.
It was Zach.
"Run!" he shouted.
Emily shakily climbed off the ground, and I grabbed her to help. There was no time to ask questions, no time to think.
Behind him, the others appeared. Their faces frozen into masks in the fog.
Zach looked at me and said one word.
"Soulcatchers."
My stomach clenched.
"Don't look into the dark hole where their face should be!" he continued. "Then they won't notice you! They only sense your outline! They attack if you face them, and they'll see you!"
I felt the blood freeze in my veins.
"Come on! We'll avoid them!"
Emily grabbed my hand, and we started running.
It was like running through a forest. Except the trees were shadow figures.
We crept. Silently, soundlessly.
The smoke still swirled, but the soulcatchers waited motionlessly within it.
I knew that if I even glanced into that empty darkness where their face should be... they'd notice. And then we wouldn't escape.
I no longer knew how long we'd been running. Did it feel like minutes or hours? My legs burned, my lungs seared. The milk fog refused to dissipate.
Zach kept throwing smoke bombs around. Chloe and the others tried to regain their strength.
And then... a building?
No. Just a concrete slab.
But it didn't matter now.
We rushed onto it.
Four columns. Concrete roof. No walls, no windows.
But it served as a shelter.
We collapsed to the ground, panting, trembling.
Emily was still beside herself. Zach's hand trembled as he took out another bomb.
"Set up the crystals." My voice was hoarse, ragged.
I pulled the four thin, almost glowing crystals from my backpack, which we had received for this purpose. We placed one at the base of each column.
As they touched the ground, a faint, pulsating light emanated from them.
A small barrier formed around us.
It wasn't strong enough to protect us, but at least it would warn us if something approached.
A deep, muffled silence descended upon us. I think it was then that we truly realized we had survived.
Zach slowly lifted his head. His gaze was tired and serious.
"These are the moments... when you really have to be a good soldier." His voice was hoarse. "Guarding the castle, or the academy... or the gates... or escorting the great ones..." he paused for a moment, then shook his head. "It's nothing compared to when you actually have to protect even yourself."
The faint pulsing of the crystals suddenly changed.
Emily spoke softly:
"How long will the protection last?"
"If they don't attack directly... a few hours."
David looked up. His face was pale.
"And if they do?"
No one answered.
But we all knew the answer.
The light of the crystals began to vibrate.
And then I realized.
We're not alone.