Panic spread through the caravan. Screams rang out from every direction.
Dominic's eyes widened in shock as he stared at the third creature looming beyond the barrier. He had not expected this. One was already terrifying and two felt impossible.
Three… just felt unreal.
The guards felt it too.
Several of them faltered. One of them stumbled backward, nearly dropping his spear.
Another guard froze in place, staring at the beasts as if his mind refused to accept what his eyes were seeing.
"This is insane!" one of the guards shouted, voice cracking. "I'm not paid enough for this!"
Before anyone could stop him, he broke formation and ran.
For a heartbeat, no one followed.
Then another guard turned and ran after him.
Then another.
"Where are you going?!" the burly man from the caravan shouted after them, fury and desperation mixing in his voice. "You're supposed to protect us!"
However, none of the guards looked back at him.
They kept running, abandoning the wagons, abandoning the people who had trusted them.
Dominic's chest tightened in cold fear as he watched them disappear into the darkness.
The third creature shrieked and slammed into the barrier.
The translucent wall shuddered violently. Ether rippled across its surface. The second creature joined in, battering it from another angle, claws and beaks hammering against the glowing shield.
Mara groaned.
Her arms trembled as she held the barrier. She clenched her teeth, sweat pouring down her face.
The strain was visible now. Ether bled from her palms in thick streams as she struggled to keep the shield intact under two big Labyrinth creatures attack.
Behind her, Kel swore under his breath.
He stepped forward.
Riven moved as well, but his steps slowed after the first pace. The ether around him flickered unevenly, no longer flowing cleanly.
He had used it too much. He could feel the hollow ache in his body.
He had pushed his Signature ability too hard and too fast. If he had known two more creatures would arrive, he would never have burned through his ether so recklessly.
But he hadn't known.
No one had told him that more than one creature from the Labyrinth would emerge here. That mistake had cost him dearly. For someone with a small ether pool like him, fighting the way he had was dangerous.
Now Kel was forced to act.
Riven's jaw tightened.
Kel was not built for close combat. Both Riven and Mara knew it. His strength lay elsewhere, in perception and control, not steel and proximity.
But there was no one else left to step forward.
"At least he has the enchanted sword like me," Riven thought.
Kel's sword gleamed faintly as ether settled along its edge.
Still not ideal. But not hopeless.
Riven steadied his breathing and forced his ether to calm, eyes locked on the battlefield as the barrier groaned again under another massive impact.
Kel moved.
He launched himself forward, his steps leaving the ground as ether surged through his legs.
His jump was clean and controlled, the kind of movements drilled into every Arcanist at the Academy. It was the fruit of training that they all went through.
He came down hard near the second creature and slashed low.
His enchanted blade bit into the monster's leg.
Black ichor spilled across the dirt as the creature shrieked and snapped back at him.
A claw swept toward his chest. Kel twisted and jumped backward, barely clearing the strike as talons tore through the ground where he had stood.
He landed, breath sharp, resetting his stance.
The creature did not pursue him.
Instead, it turned its head back toward the barrier and slammed into it again, claws hammering against the glowing surface with renewed force.
Kel's eyes narrowed.
So that's it.
They will not bother with him. Both creatures were intent on getting inside the circular barrier, where dozens of terrified people huddled together. Wanted to get their food as fast as possible.
The realization chilled him.
These creatures understood priority. They had a certain level of intelligence.
That made them far more dangerous.
Kel clenched his teeth and rushed in again. He slashed at the same leg, then the other, keeping his strikes low and fast. Not killing blows. Just enough to slow them and draw pressure away from the barrier.
He did not look back.
Riven needs time, Kel knows it. They didn't expect something like this to happen.
Another strike. Another spray of black ichor. Another shriek that meant nothing because the creature still battered the barrier with single-minded intent.
Kel stayed with it, his breath quick and his muscles screaming as he pushed himself harder than he should have.
However, while Kel focused on one creature, the other seized the chance.
"Kel!" Mara shouted. "It's breaking!"
The other side of the barrier flared violently as the third creature slammed into it again. Cracks of light spiderwebbed across its surface.
There was a sharp cracking sound.
The translucent wall shattered.
Ether burst outward in a violent surge as the barrier collapsed, fragments of light dissolving into the air.
The creatures roared.
Dominic and the other four kids in the same wagon stared in frozen shock.
Their minds lagged behind.
Then the creature's head lowered. Its eyes fixed on them and it advanced.
Dominic's body locked up. His breath caught in his throat as the creature closed the distance far too quickly.
Then something slammed into his back hard.
Dominic cried out as he was shoved forward, stumbling out and straight toward the monster.
His feet tangled. He barely managed to keep himself upright.
For a moment, his mind went blank.
Luckily, his survival instinct screamed in time.
"Blitz."
Ether surged through him in a violent flash. His body blurred as he vanished from where he stood just as the creature's beak snapped shut where his head had been.
Air exploded behind him.
Dominic reappeared several steps away but momentum carried him off balance. His foot slipped on loose dirt and he fell hard to the ground.
The creature shrieked and lunged at him. Its eyes gleaming with bloodlust while looking at him.
Dominic didn't have time to move before its beak clamped down around his leg.
Pain tore through him.
"Argh!" Dominic screamed. "My leg again!"
The creature beat its wings.
The ground vanished beneath him as he was yanked upward, dragged into the air.
His fingers clawed uselessly at nothing as the people and caravan shrank below him.
Wind roared in his ears. Panic swallowed everything.
As he was lifted higher, Dominic twisted his head back.
And saw him. Alaric. The noble stood and watched. His face was twisted into a grin.
Dominic's blood burned with hate.
"He pushed me."
The realization hit him hard.
—