Purple flames erupted from dozens of locations simultaneously.
The strange crystals scattered throughout the village ignited all at once.
Fire raced across rooftops.
Across walls.
Across roads.
Wood burned.
Stone burned.
Even damp soil seemed to burn.
For one bewildered second, nobody understood what they were seeing.
Then panic exploded.
"FIRE!"
The lamias moved immediately.
Buckets appeared.
Water splashed across the flames.
Blankets smothered them.
Dirt was thrown onto them.
Nothing worked.
The fire only grew larger.
"What is this?!"
"It won't go out!"
Then someone screamed.
Jake.
His entire body was engulfed in purple flames.
He writhed on the ground in agony.
Ayine rushed toward him.
She grabbed a blanket and desperately tried to smother the fire.
The flames ignored her efforts.
They continued burning.
Hungry.
Relentless.
Ayine's heart dropped.
Without hesitation, she wrapped her thick lamia tail around Jake, trying to protect him from the worst of it.
It changed nothing.
The fire continued to consume him.
"Stop trying to put it out!" she shouted.
Her voice cracked through the chaos.
"We have to evacuate! NOW!"
Ayine dragged Jake through the chaos as purple flames consumed everything around them. Heat bled through her scales, burning deeper with every passing second. She clenched her jaw and forced herself forward, refusing to let go.
The villagers immediately began moving.
Then someone pointed upward.
"What are those?"
Everyone looked toward the sky.
Red balloons drifted above the village.
Dozens of them.
Hundreds.
One balloon drifted too close to the heat.
It burst.
Something fell.
A small red crystal.
It struck the ground.
BOOM!
The explosion tore through the village square.
Screams erupted.
A lamia caught in the blast was hurled through the air.
Bones cracked.
She collapsed without a sound.
For a moment, everyone froze.
Then more balloons began popping.
One.
Two.
Ten.
Twenty.
Red crystals rained from the sky.
The village became a battlefield.
Explosions echoed everywhere.
Buildings shattered.
Flames surged higher.
People screamed.
"RUN!"
Ayine's voice rang across the chaos.
"RUN!"
The balloons continued bursting overhead.
And the village began to burn.
"What is that?"
Lucas stared toward the location of the village.
A thick column of smoke rose above the trees.
His stomach sank.
The village.
"This isn't good."
Raisa's expression darkened.
"Lucas, stay with them and protect them. I'll go ahead."
Before anyone could object, she shot toward the village.
Lucas swore under his breath.
Then a gunshot cracked through the forest.
Instinct took over.
He grabbed Rosaline and Milena.
"Down!"
The three dove into the undergrowth.
Lucas immediately climbed into a nearby tree, searching for the shooter.
Nothing.
No movement.
No target.
"Damn it."
Then he spotted someone.
A man carrying a rifle.
Lucas dropped from the tree.
The attack happened so quickly that the gunman never had a chance to react.
A kick shattered his ribs.
A punch crushed his jaw.
The man collapsed unconscious.
Lucas grabbed the rifle.
"Put that down."
His body froze.
Three men emerged from the trees.
Rosaline and Milena were being dragged forward.
Gun barrels pressed against their heads.
Lucas clenched his jaw.
Slowly, he lowered the weapon.
He crouched.
Placed the rifle on the ground.
Then moved.
Two knives flashed from his sleeves.
Thud.
Thud.
The blades buried themselves directly into the foreheads of two captors.
The men collapsed instantly.
The third gunman spun toward Lucas.
Rosaline acted first.
Her palm struck his face with enough force to snap his head sideways.
Lucas closed the distance.
His kick slammed into the man's jaw.
The gunman crashed into a tree and dropped unconscious.
Silence followed.
Then came applause.
Slow.
Measured.
Mocking.
Lucas and Rosaline turned.
A woman stepped from the shadows.
Elegant.
Beautiful.
Terrifying.
Sigrid Valen-Hyde carried an enormous ivory shotgun across one shoulder.
Behind her stood more than a dozen armed men.
The former Queen of the Underworld smiled.
"Very impressive."
Lucas immediately moved in front of Milena.
Sigrid's attention never left her daughter-in-law.
"Stand up, my dear."
Her voice was warm.
Almost affectionate.
"Come with me, and nobody else needs to get hurt."
Milena trembled.
She had only met Sigrid once.
Just once.
When Ysilvern introduced them.
Sigrid had barely acknowledged her existence.
She had looked at Milena the way someone might glance at a passing insect.
Now that same woman was smiling at her.
The sight was far more frightening.
"Please," Milena whispered.
She stepped forward.
"Don't hurt them. I'll go with you."
"Milena!" Lucas shouted.
Several guns were immediately pointed at him and Rosaline.
Milena closed her eyes.
Then continued walking.
One of Sigrid's men seized her arm.
The former Queen smiled.
"Excellent."
The group disappeared into the forest.
Leaving Lucas and Rosaline standing helplessly behind.
Far away from the village, Jemina froze.
The spider-deer stopped beneath her.
The entire parade slowed.
A thick column of black smoke rose above the trees.
For a moment, she didn't understand what she was seeing.
The village was still several kilometers away.
The smoke looked distant.
Unreal.
Like it belonged to somebody else.
Then another explosion echoed through the forest.
The sound reached them several seconds later.
A deep rumble.
The ground trembled beneath the spider-deer's feet.
Silence followed.
Jemina's face drained of color.
"No."
The word escaped automatically.
No.
No.
No.
The smoke continued rising.
Another explosion followed.
Then another.
Her heart immediately began racing.
The village.
Raisa.
Rosaline.
Lucas.
Ayine.
The children.
Everyone.
A hundred terrible possibilities flooded her mind at once.
The spider-deer sensed her distress.
The creature lowered itself slightly.
Ready to run.
Jemina's hands trembled.
Beside her,
Ysilvern stared at the distant column of smoke.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he laughed.
A short sound.
Humorless.
Dangerous.
"Well."
His smile appeared slowly.
Sharp.
Cold.
"I was wondering how long it would take her."
Jemina looked at him.
"You know what's happening?"
"I know my mother."
Another explosion echoed through the forest.
Ysilvern watched the smoke rise higher.
His expression never changed.
But something in his eyes did.
Something darker.
"Milena."
The name left his mouth quietly.
Not weak.
Not broken.
Possessive.
Like a threat disguised as a prayer.
Another explosion echoed through the distance.
His face darkened.
Something changed inside Jemina.
The fear remained.
The panic remained.
But something colder began growing beneath it.
Something dangerous.
She climbed onto the spider-deer's back.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Then looked toward the smoke.
The village.
Her village.
The place she built with her own hands.
The place that accepted people nobody else wanted.
The place where she finally became happy.
Someone had touched it.
Someone had burned it.
Someone had hurt her people.
The air around her trembled.
"Get on."
Ysilvern looked up.
"What?"
Jemina's eyes never left the smoke.
"I said get on."
The spider-deer lowered itself.
Ysilvern hesitated only briefly before climbing aboard.
Jemina pointed toward the distant column of smoke.
"I can't believe I will say this, but we need to work together."