A day before the solar eclipse, Kendrick, Sahni, and Tanathil all stood next to the pieces of their broken wagon. Bellara was hard at work repairing it with a spell Kendrick had never seen.

“As a student of battle magic at Redrune Academy,” Bellara explained, tying imaginary knots in the air with her aura-laced fingers, “I was taught how to repair things in one of my first classes. You do a lot of collateral damage learning battle magic.”

“Why did you never whip this out when demolished buildings needed repairing in villages?” Kendrick asked, leaning against a tree.

She shook her head. “No, no, this is far too delicate for a task like that. It would have taken me days to fix even a single building with a spell like this. I just need to mend this broken wheel and we’ll be on our way. Even this takes a good chunk of aura.”

He shrugged. “Ah. I see.” He bent a tree branch next to his head, pulled it as far as it would go, and then released it, listening to the sound of the leaves fluttering as it sprang back into place. “What about healing? Why not heal a broken bone or a cut or something with this?”

“Would you use a sledgehammer to reset a dislocated shoulder?"

“Ouchy.”

“Exactly. This spell works best on things without aura, things without life. I’ve never been good at actual healing spells. And Aldiel deliver us all if I ever had to try one of those again. If it’s come to that, we’re already doomed...”

Bellara had been working on the spell for some time now, but he could hardly see the difference. If he looked very closely, he could see the splinters of the wood and the crooked metal gradually bending back together, the wood fibers fusing, the dents in the metal swelling out again, all very slowly. He wondered how exactly the spell worked—magic in general confounded him. Pure aura was much simpler for him to manage.

“I knew orcs needed a great deal of sustenance,” Tanathil remarked distractedly, digging through one of their bags. “I never knew humans were such voracious eaters, too!”

“There are ladies present, you know,” Bellara retorted without taking her eyes off her task.

“You got any more of those little pastry things?” Kendrick asked. “The speckled ones? Those were good.”

The elf’s head swiveled directly toward him. “The feedloaves?!”

“Sure.”

“Each one of those is meant to replace an entire meal!”

Kendrick snorted. “Ha-ha. Very funny.” Tanathil stared at him in bewilderment. “Wait, you’re serious? I had about six of those. I thought they were, like, appetizers or something.”

“Aldiel above...”

“I think we may still have some dried meat in the bag,” said Sahni. “Oh, right, sorry—you're a vegetarian! Care for some mushplums?”

Tanathil smiled a little more lightheartedly. “Oh, I’d love to split one with you! I could never eat a whole one myself.” He patted his own slender abdomen.

“Do you guys think I’m fat?” Kendrick asked. No one said anything.

Just then, a guttural roar axed through the forest and scattered birds from their treetops.

“Overworld help us!” Tanathil gasped. “I’d know that sound anywhere now.”

“It’s still not done,” Bellara grumbled. “We’re still stranded here. Dammit!”

“It’s okay,” said Kendrick. “I only heard the one. I can handle this.”

“Alone?!”

“I did it the other night.”

“Yes, and you could have been killed! We should be fighting as a unit, Kendrick, not... ugh... I’m losing focus here!” She shook her head and paid special attention to the movements of her fingertips. “Look... I think laying low is the best idea right now.”

“What if someone out there gets killed because we chose to do nothing? What then?”

Bellara shook her head again and shrugged. “People die, Kendrick. You can’t save everyone.”

“So what if I die?”

“You’re not everyone! You’re—” She looked up at him, then at Sahni and Tanathil, and then back at her work. He thought he saw a hint of pink in her cheeks. He felt warmth in his own as well; he fought hard to ignore it. “You can't save the whole Ecumene. No matter how hard you try. I learned that lesson the hard way at the Rift.”

“Bell, I say this as a friend, you need to drop this hopeless—”

“I am not hopeless!” She shot him a glare. “I am not. I’m... pragmatic. More pragmatic than I was before. I’m not an optimist anymore, but I’m no pessimist. I’m a realist. And realistically, hundreds to thousands of people will likely die before this is over. If we die today trying to overextend ourselves, if we throw ourselves at the problem before we’re ready, we won’t be able to save anyone else, and we’ll be three more bodies on the pile.”

“There is an elf present, you know,” Tanathil added in the background.

“I don’t think that fighting one demon is overextending myself,” Kendrick argued. “Like it or not, the eclipse is tomorrow. Do you want to die running, Bellara? Or do you want to fight?” She said nothing, and she did not grant him her gaze again. Don’t push her, man. Take the hint for now. “It’s okay. You don’t have to come with me. Focus on fixing the wagon and I’ll be back before you know it.” He drew the Psysword and thuuum went the aural blade with a flick of his wrist—it came easier to him every time. “Sahni?”

“Kendrick, I can’t,” she answered. She brandished her bandaged hand; underneath, he knew it was still mostly rigid, naked bone, far from functional yet.

“Don’t sweat it—just thought I’d offer. Seriously, one demon? I can handle that. Just have to find it first.” With his free hand, he tweaked the golden arm of his lens, sweeping his head from left to right across the otherwise tranquil woods. “Let’s see...”

IMP {36}

IMP {51}

IMP {22}

SHADE {7}

IMP {24}

Hmmm, Kendrick thought. The lens should be tagging it. If it’s close enough to hear, that is.

“RUAAAAHHHRGGHHH!” The second roar was even louder than the first. So loud that the hairs on the back of Kendrick’s neck stood up.

Okay, that one is definitely close. Maybe Bellara’s repair spell tipped him off. Come on, you sneaky bastard. Show yourself so I can end you!

IMP {49}

IMP {36}

IMP {22}

SHADE {6}

DEMON {956}

Uh-oh. He’s a big boy.

“Stay here,” he muttered to the witches. “Call for help if you need me. I’m going to try to put this thing down before it gets any closer.”

Before Bellara could talk him out of it, he ran in the direction of the demonic sound, Psysword aimed steady ahead of him. He skidded down the bank of a small creek and four imps were already rushing him from the other side. He killed them in two swings of his blade—three in one mighty slash, and the fourth with a methodical stab to the bloated gut. Ugly little suckers, he thought.

The aura left in the wake of their deaths was a grayish-black, meaning they must have fed somewhat recently. This only steeled his resolve.

A little chime sounded in Kendrick’s ear when his lens tagged a target again.

DEMON {870}

He slowed his trot for a moment to think, but then sped up again—there was no time to waste. I wonder if it’s already wounded.

“GRAAAAAUGHHH!” a demon roared again. This one was close enough for him to feel. It was nothing like the world-shaking volume of Urobius that Kendrick remembered feeling at the Rift, but it was louder than most other sounds he’d ordinarily hear in the Ecumene, maybe second only to a very close lightning strike.

DEMON {956}

Oh, he realized. That’s the one I tagged first. There are two of them.

At least.

Upon coming to this conclusion, he skidded to a stop at the edge of the forest line where trees gave way to rolling hills of grass. The demon north of {900} aura awaited him at the crest of the hill ahead. It watched him with hateful eyes, teeth bared, chest heaving with predatory anticipation. Meanwhile, a small horde of imps charged at Kendrick from either side of the demon, tripping over their own clumsy steps, clambering over rocks and each other to get at him. The demon reached down without looking, snatching an imp in its enormous clawed hand, and bit the creature in half, tearing at it like a turkey leg and chewing on the gray flesh as it sublimated into pure aura. The reading climbed before his very eyes.

DEMON {1,012}

“Hoo boy,” Kendrick said. “Okay then. Let’s dance, big fella!” Not wanting to give his enemy any advantageous confidence, Kendrick let out his own best roar—his voice didn’t even crack this time—and charged up the hill, cutting down imps like mere insects on his way to his true adversary. The demon responded in kind, releasing a battle cry and bounding forward on its hooves, trampling imps as it went.

You don’t necessarily need a higher aura to beat it, Bellara had explained to him one night in an inn. You just need the right application of what you’ve got. Remember, a single axe can fell the tallest tree.

The demon put its head down like a charging bull, twisted horns now at Kendrick’s eye level. If he didn’t get decapitated or impaled through the brain on one of those things, he’d be wedged between them long enough for the demon to reach up and snap his neck or spine with ease. Remember your attack plan, he told himself. Low and fast. Low and fast. Avoid the horns. Watch the hooves. Low and fast. You’ve done this before. Ready? Down!

He ducked as well at the last moment, avoiding the demon’s sharp horns, and slashed at the monster’s leg on his way past. Now avoid the hoof—

Thwack!

Kendrick took a hard hit to his shoulder courtesy of the demon’s hoof and rolled on impact with the hill. His heart skipped a beat as he felt the heat of the Psysword graze his nose during his fall. When he reached up to touch it, however, there was no blood. Close call. Okay. Don’t do that again!

He stood up and spun around. The gravity of the demon’s injury was now setting in—one of its legs had been taken out of commission, and it was forced down to one knee. He could hear it growling and gnashing its teeth even though its back was turned. He seized this opportunity to rush the demon from behind and plunge the Psysword into its neck. His sharpened aura pierced the demon’s tough hide with a wet shluck sound. When he yanked it free, the monster was already dead.

“Aaaaagh!” Kendrick yelled, the thrill of battle tingling in his blood. The body of the demon collapsed onto the hillside, crumbling into clumps of dark aura that oozed into the ground. “That’s right! Who wants some of that? Huh?” He beat his chest with his free hand in a simian display. “Who else wants some? I could do this all day!”

His lens chimed again.

DEMON {870}

It’s that other one, even weaker than the one I just iced, he thought cockily. No sweat.

Another chime.

DEMON {882}

Sure. More the merrier.

And more.

DEMON {904}

DEMON {776}

DEMON {791}

Okay... Whatever. I needed a challenge!

And then one more, a tag he’d never seen before, one he’d temporarily forgotten had even existed.

ARCHDEMON {6,393}

Oh, you have gotta be fucking kidding me! Maybe Bell was right. Okay, uh... New plan. Stall until the busted wagon wheel is fixed and then get outta here. Horses run faster than demons, right? I guess we’re gonna find out!

Kendrick was already running in the direction of his hiding friends when he heard Sahni scream.