Rick ran through the wet cobblestone with a singular objective in mind. The hole that had been blasted through the wall of the Baron’s manor.

Considering how the whole bottom floor looked like a bunker that had been pulled out of the earth, whatever had made that hole must have been terrifyingly powerful and destructive. The moment of hesitation about whether this was a good idea or not was gone. This was it.

Rain poured down on him, and he hoped the sound would mask his approach towards the manor. Mostly because there were ferals standing between himself and that hole. And he wasn’t going to stop, not when there was such a clear possibility of reaching Monica.

For a fraction of a second, he considered asking himself why he was willing to put himself in this situation. Why risk himself like this to save someone who, for all intents and purposes, he had only met less than a month ago?

And why had she risked herself to save him? He pushed the thoughts aside. The image of her heavily shackled and crying out his name tugged at something inside his chest.

“Duck.”

The word had not appeared through his ears, but in his mind. He did not hesitate, lurching low.

THUNK

The nearest feral dropped, an arrow embedded into her skull. The human flinched as he jumped over the corpse, not taking a second glance. Did this mean the Elf was lending him a hand?

“No, she’s keeping you alive. If she reaches you before you get to the mansion, she will pull you back to the Hunters.”

The voice was familiar, and it took him a heartbeat to connect from where. “You.” The faceless figure, the one who’d put him into the nightmare.

“Jump right.” The instruction slid over Rick’s thoughts as he realized the voice had just told him to head straight towards the next feral in his path. “Either jump or Freya catches you.”

Looking over his shoulder, the human realized the voice was not exaggerating. The Elf was closing in fast, eyes glowing as she held her bow at the ready. He complied with the command and threw himself towards the feral that turned around just as he’d approached. She stepped out of his way on instinct, then ducked under the arrow that had nearly brought her to an end.

“You’ve bought yourself five more seconds. Duck into the street to the right.”

And lose sight of his target? “WHAT!?”

“Jump or die.”

That sent a cold chill down his spine. He moved towards the side street. The attempt to continue running was interrupted by a sudden tingling all around him. The smell of blood in the air thickened. Without thinking, he dropped to the ground.

BOOM

The wall to his left had exploded outwards, debris peppered him as a monster emerged from the hole. Three meters tall, the creature was the tallest maiden Rick had seen. Her skin was a dark tan, and her back was covered in a thick black fur that looked as if she’d draped a cape over her shoulders. Her hands were claws, each larger than his head, massive paws that dripped blood.

The creature’s eyes had swung around to either side and then locked onto him.

“RUN RUN RUN!”

The voice had not needed to say it twice. Rick scrambled to get his feet under his body and move as quickly as possible down the street. Behind him, he heard several THUNKs and a roar that made his legs move all the faster.

“Take a left, NOW! JUMP!”

No questions, only instinct. Something barreled through the space he’d been occupying moments ago. Something that slid across wet cobblestone and slammed against the nearby wall with the force of a truck.

Thank fuck for sneakers.

“Why is it chasing me!?”

“Because you’re the easiest meal around.” The voice spoke with a growl. “At the next intersection take a right but stop dead in your tracks for a heartbeat. Then turn back to go the way you came from.”

“You want me to stop!?”

“You want to die!?”

Compelling arguments, did he trust the voice? Not really. Did he have a choice? Also no.

He lunged towards the right at the next intersection and, without waiting, turned around. His heart tightened, expecting to find the massive woman hot in his tracks. Instead the street was empty. “Wha-”

“DON’T STOP! RUN!”

There was a loud thud behind him, and his brain connected the dots. The monster had, somehow, gone over the building in an attempt to cut his escape. The roar made him feel as if his heart was about to escape his chest, and by the time his brain had kicked in, he was running again. Straight back where he came from.

The Elf, Freya, had been equally hot in his heels, and her surprise was clear when she saw Rick approaching. And in the flickering lights of the thunderstorm, he got to see her eyes widen in shock when she saw what was right behind him. Rick did not need to look over his shoulder, his hand reaching out to grab her collar and yank her along the way.

For a woman that had been able to pin Tomas with just one hand, she was surprisingly light.

“What are you doing?”

The words had, surprisingly, come from both the Elf and the voice in his head.

“Can you beat that thing?” The hesitation in the Elf’s face was all the answer he needed. “Then run!”

“She’s going to take you to the Hunters!” The voice warned, right as said Elf had found her footing, her steps overtaking Rick’s and her hand pulling him along. “Incoming, from above!”

“From above!”

Freya shoved Rick away, his body slammed against the wall as she pressed herself against the other.

That was going to hurt in the morning.

If he was alive by then.

The massive woman had dropped from the nearby house, claws slamming against the ground with such force the stone cracked. The creature was looking at Rick, and her eyes held an anger within them, a frustration of a predator and a particularly elusive prey.

“Jump towards the outside of her right leg, on my mark, ready?”

“No.”

“Too bad. Now!”

Several things happened at the same time.

First, Rick jumped towards his left. Second, the monster threw her claws forwards. Third, Freya had ducked from behind the feral and between her legs.

Rick, in all his glorious lack of coordination, jumped towards his left, flopping rather than tucking and rolling. His body hit the floor like a sack of potatoes right as the monster’s claws plunged through the reinforced concrete as if it were a meteorite striking Earth.

And just as she was doing this, Freya rose from her crouching position and jumped upwards, her body like a spring. In her hands, two daggers glimmered in the darkness. Their sharp edges sought to dig into the feral’s eyes.

But those eyes were not dull or slow; they were sharp, cunning.

Dangerous. Angry.

The bear couldn’t move in time to dodge the attack, her arms stuck to the wall, unable to block it. So in response to the threat, she yanked herself forward towards the wall, using her claws to pull.

THUMP

The feral had slammed herself against the wall. And Freya had become the cushion to soften the blow.

“What the fuck,” Rick gasped under his breath, eyes widening, watching the feral pull herself free from the wall she’d just embedded herself into like it was nothing. There was a silhouette of her massive frame.

Freya crumpled like a puppet that had had its strings cut, the rain making a puddle around her. She was twitching, trying to get back up, but it was clear it would take her a while. The bear woman did not even pay attention to her, eyes fixed on Rick. The growl was like rumbling thunder.

“I called in a favor.” The voice was surprisingly calm, and Rick was fairly sure it had something to do with how the owner of the voice in his head was not face to face with a nine foot monster of muscle and rage. “You’re going to get one chance to get out of there.”

The sky glowed orange.

The rain stopped.

“Whatever you do, do not touch the feathers.”

An acrid smell reached Rick’s nose; it reminded him of burnt garlic. The air became bone dry, and his throat tightened. Something in the back of his mind screamed in alarm, and his skin tingled.

Both he and the bear looked upwards, just in time to see a singular flake of orange light slowly descend from the sky and land on a puddle of water right between the human and the feral. A sizzling sound escaped the point of contact, steam rising into the air with increasing force. Then, yellow flames burst up from the puddle, the puddle gone and in its place a roaring fire that shone with brilliant light.

Rick rolled away, covering his eyes as the heat washed against his face. Blinking back teary eyes, he saw more flakes falling down, surrounding the bear. Wherever it touched, yellow fire erupted.

A fleck fell on the monster’s right arm. It ignited instantly. The monster’s face went from smug to shocked. As if she expected the fire would not harm her. With a roar, she stumbled back. More flakes were slowly drifting downwards, latching onto her body.

And Rick’s eyes fixed on the Elf, crumpled on the ground, right next to the fireworks.

“DON’T!”

“Then stop me,” he growled, removing his drenched jacked to cover his left hand. His mind whirled, observing the blindingly sizzling light that was covering the feral as she tried to desperately slap it off of her body.

He only waited for long enough to remove his drenched jacked, rushing around the flames and straight towards the Elf. Her gaze was unfocused, and her body fortunately light. Gripping her uniform with his unprotected hand, he used the other one to protect himself from the fire the feral was covered in.

Stumbling onto the other side, the sound of rain returned to his ears, and an intense warm tingling sensation from his back.

Not waiting for a single instant, he dropped Freya and yanked off his shirt, tossing it away right as the fleck of fire that had fallen onto it burst into its full brilliance, reducing the piece of cloth to ashes in seconds.

“Is this white phosphorous? Yes or no.” As he asked, he looked above. There was a red winged angel that floated high in the sky. Her glowing feathers made the rain sizzle and turn to steam. Those same feathers were the source of the glowing flecks of fire. “Yes or no!?”

A heartbeat of hesitation. “No, it’s phoenix feather, it’s-”

“Fuck it,” Rick growled, leaning the Elf against the nearest wall, and keeping an eye on the bear as she kept flailing around, roaring, the fire burning bright. “Freya, can you hear me?” Through the muddy waters of an adrenaline high, he tried to sift through the safety protocol to follow when burnt by white phosphorous. Her hands were burnt- it was raining, that would help. “Don’t remove this from your eyes, some of the stuff might have gotten inside. Wash the burns with plenty of water.”

He pressed the drenched jacked against her face, shuddering as he stood back up, looking up and down the street.

There were no ferals. They’d likely run away as soon as the bear had shown up.

He did see several uniformed maidens approaching.

“If they reach you-”

“Yeah, yeah.”

He growled, turning towards the mansion. The bear’s roars echoed behind him- he hoped enough of a distraction to buy him time. The gap in the wall was still there, still open. With a grunt of annoyance, he approached quickly. The closer he got, the more apparent it was that what had made the hole had pummeled their way through.

“Call out that you’re a human in need of help. Don’t and you’re going to get cut down.” A slight pause. “From here on out you’re alone, I can’t pierce the manor’s protections.”

That froze Rick’s steps right at the lip of the entrance. He hesitated, frowning a moment. “Why are you helping me?”

“Not everyone here is a friend of the Baron, even if we have to obey his commands.” A pause. “If you don’t go inside soon, you’ll get caught up in the mess. The first wave is dying down, but there are still stragglers.”

Nodding, the human took a deep breath. “I’m a human in need of help!” He called out loudly.

The silence that followed felt like an eternity.

“Show us your hands before stepping in front of the hole and come in slowly with both hands in the air!”

Rick sighed and nodded.

He was met by no less than a dozen gray-uniformed maidens, each looking more battered and bruised than the last. He was fairly sure he’d seen some of them through the window at some point.

They relaxed as he stepped into the light.

“There’s a frenzy,” he said, keeping both hands above his head.

They didn’t even ask him what he was doing there; they practically yanked him inside.