F I N N

Surveying the battlefield inside the upper story of the fortress, I screamed into Jaxon's earpiece, "Riley, Delphinium, where are you guys?"

There was no response. No one underground had responded to my calls for the past twenty minutes. Jaxon was the only one who I could still get through to now.

They were supposed to be here a while ago. I was meant to meet them at the top of the stairwell, keeping away any Imperium soldiers that might have broken through the lines of our army, and escort them out. Until they got here, the army would be forced to continue fighting.

And fighting, they were. The entire hall was darker now due to the closed door and it shook with the screams of a thousand furious soldiers. The place was so massive that it could easily accommodate both armies. Sounds of gunshots and guttural yelling was deafening, along with the blaring alarms.

So far, there was no visible winning side. For now, it was all blood, screaming and death. I could barely tell the armies from each other at this point. But what I did know was that the Imperium army was building as more and more soldiers from downstairs were ordered to come up here to fight. They knew we were keeping them stuck in here and therefore, were trying to push us out. If they had as many men in this fortress as Riley had estimated, we would surely lose when all of them joined the battle. That was why I was in such an anxious state while waiting for them to finally show.

After glancing at the ground under the soldiers feet and seeing a horrible number of crushed bodies and severed limbs, I averted my eyes back down the passage.

There, as if my prayers had been answered, were two figures making their way into the light. Riley and Kane. Two soldiers threatened to break away from the group and come toward us, but I shot out a column of flame to keep them at bay.

My two teammates made it through the doorway to the hall. I glanced behind them but no one was there. Stepping close so that they could hear me over the commotion, I asked, "Where are the others?" And I was afraid to hear the answer.

"I don't know," Riley said in a grim tone. "We waited for them at the base of the staircase as long as we could, but none of them came."

"Delphinium went to fight a wave of Imperium soldiers who saw us come from the engine room," Kane told me. "She said that she would make it out, but..." He trailed off and I was glad he didn't finish that sentence. Delphinium had to make it out. We all did.

"There's been no word from Jake or the Czech man he went with. The only indication they even got their job done was through the fact I could access the keypads."

"I see that." My attention turned to Kane. "So you were able to plant the bombs?"

He nodded. "They're ready to be detonated."

"Good. Now..." I glanced back down the dark passageway they'd come from, "We just need the others here to get back out."

We waited in that corner for a few minutes, sheltered away from the chaos. The tension was rising with each passing minute Jake and Delphinium didn't arrive.

Finally, Riley took the earpiece out of her ear and yelled into it, "Jake, Delphinium, where are you?" No response.

"The signal likely won't make it down there," Kane informed her. "Imperium's cut off all radio waves, so-"

She ignored him to yell into the earpiece again. "If you two are off having a moment somewhere, I will kill you before Orion can."

Jake and Delphinium? My face contorted. "You...really think they are?"

Kane shrugged, not wanting to insert himself into the situation. Over the earpiece, Jaxon gave a barely audible, "Absolutely."

"I suppose we'll simply have to wait for them to arrive," Riley said, heaving a sigh. "Until then..." She turned toward the battle.

"No," I chided. "That wasn't part of the plan. I'm meant to escort you out of here, not farther into the fighting." I left out the fact that I didn't want to see any of them unnecessarily beaten or killed by the Imperium soldiers.

"Delphinium fighting off a small army herself and Jake going silent wasn't part of the plan either. This is what we came for, after all: Imperium's blood. I want to repay them for all they've done to us."

When I still hesitated, she continued, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry. You can wait here for Delphinium and Jake if you want. We'll help fight."

With that, she and a silent Kane went to join the battle. I was torn between watching them and turning away, wanting to know they were alright but also not wanting to watch if they were slaughtered like Imperium was doing to the rest of our army.

The dark passage remained empty. I didn't want to think about Jake's dead body next to the Czech man's, both slain by Imperium soldiers. I forced away the image of Delphinium being cut down by the soldiers she willingly went after. There was no way they were dead. There had to be some sort of mistake down there that we didn't know about. A mistake was fixable, but death was the end. There were no second chances once you were sucked into oblivion.

Almost out of instinct, my eyes found my teammates in the masses of fighting people. They fought for their lives, side by side—Riley with a knife she'd been getting better at wielding and Kane with his spears. I watched them for a moment, looked on as they danced over dead bodies and fallen men.

And as I looked around at that great hall, I saw the beauty of it. Though this place had been built by evil, evil people, it had taken much time and effort to build; the architectural integrity was obvious to even me. Everything was shiny steel, ivory marble and red accents. Imperium's endless money supply clearly was being put to use with this pristine place.

My eyes dropped. This was the ugly part. The bloodshed. The war. This was what other humans did to each other. Rather than share their knowledge of beautiful and intelligent things, they sought to keep it for themselves. People were greedy, horrible creatures sometimes. That was what we were really fighting over here.

It was always the worst people—like Orion and Imperium—that had the loudest voices, the largest outreach. They were always the ones who wanted power. Everyone wanted to rule the world but never stopped to think about if they should. They weren't even close yet and look what was already happening. Sometimes I was ashamed of what we'd become.

But then I saw people like Riley and Kane, offering to fight when they didn't have to. People like Delphinium, who had held off Imperium soldiers so that the others could get to safety. People like Arlo, who were slowly wasting away but still giving all they had. It made me believe that there was hope. That was what our team was fighting to protect. Once it was lost, Imperium would already have won and the world would be delved into infinite darkness.

For now, I would put my fear aside to fight against this rising evil. We always had to keep fighting against people like them. If I didn't, I would be just as bad. I surged forward, fire spitting from my fingers.

Riley gave me a wicked grin when I marched to her side, my flames now licking the air. "Nice of you to join us, Peterson."

I did know how to handle myself in combat. After all, I had been training to become an ONNT soldier before I joined the team. I knew exactly where to hit my opponent to knock them unconscious. I knew how to get a blade from an assailant. I was not helpless in that sense.

But this was different. This was no small fight. This was a battlefield. This was the beginning of war. It was all blood and sweat, blurring the line between friend and enemy. Killing again and again and again, endless death.

There were thousands of them. Thousands. So many that my mind could hardly wrap around it.

But I supposed that I should start making a difference. So I lunged for the closest enemy and hit him as hard as I could in the throat. He stumbled backward, clutching his neck with both hands. It was enough of a distraction for Riley to plunge her knife through his chest and swiftly move on.

When another swung a dagger for my throat, I ducked. The momentum of the swing caused the dagger to slice into another Imperium soldier's back.

It went on like that for a while, ruining soldier after soldier. Normally, I didn't condone such violence and murder. But these people were evil. They wished to hurt innocents, and would succeed if we didn't stop them.

I took a few blows, but hardly noticed in the chaos of the battle. Now, I finally understood why people like Jaxon and Kane loved fighting so much. The uncertainty. And the emptiness of it all. You didn't have to think, have to worry. You just plunged your knife through another persons chest and moved on without giving yourself time to think about it.

Pushing through the crowd, I was on the edge of the battle again, edging nearer to the passage—still dark and empty. Jake and Delphinium were nowhere to be seen.

There was a glimmer of movement behind me. Another enemy. Close enough to stab me in the back, close enough to kill me. Every second now was precious.

So I whirled around, wretched in flames. My hands—hot as an iron—clamped onto the man before I was even aware of what I was doing. He yelled but I barely heard it over the battle. And I did not let go of him as my flames shot into his body, burning him alive. The smell of burnt human flesh was nauseating.

But I did let go when I realized what I'd done out of instinct. The body fell to the floor, burns covering every inch of skin. But the uniform he wore—it was not the black and gold of Imperium. This was an ONNT soldier. And I'd just murdered him.