Lyra wants everyone to fan out in three directions. The goal is a feat in itself. She wants to clear Nebulas of the undead. My group will head northwest from the agency. I take point with Ulrika and Elred close by my side. Thubet doesn''t have the urgency that we do. She''s walking while we''re jogging.


    "Thubet, pick up the pace," I say.


    "Are you in a rush to die?" Thubet says. "Go on right ahead." An undead suddenly tackles a man through a door and onto the street a foot from her. She pulls her sword out instantly to sever the undead in half. It doesn''t die. Its upper torso tries to grab her legs. She gets behind and splits it in half from the crotch up.


    "By the gods!" The man says.


    "Run along, human. Find a better spot to hide."


    "Thank you!" He kisses her hand and then runs into a neighboring house.


    "Gross," she says, rubbing hand on her butt. "He left his saliva."


    "You are insufferable," Ulrika says.


    "Let''s not start whatever is about to happen," I say to cut off Thubet''s response. "We need to cooperate."


    "Yes, please," Elred says. "I don''t want to die because you two can''t get along."


    "Same."


    "Thubet, stop lollygagging and stay close."


    "I''m coming!" Thubet says. She marches over to him.


    "Shall we continue?" I say.


    "You may."


    It doesn''t take long for us to run into more of the undead. Most of them are rotting skeleton corpses. They stop ripping the civilians apart and sprint at us. Ulrika clears half of them with lightning. Their bodies fall over, burning. Her lightning doesn''t disappear from them. It continues to arch around as if it is orbiting. When the rest of the undead come near the ones on the ground, they die from the lightning.


    "That''s new," I say.


    "It''s called Constant Charge," Ulrika says. "I didn''t know I could do that."


    "Why''s that?"


    "I studied arte but could never obtain its power until months ago."


    "That fight with Garret?" I say the second I remember the battle behind the agency.


    "Yes," she says with a nod and a smirk. "I have yet to try all of its spells."


    "Well, you better use all the best ones you got, witch," Thubet says. "Here comes more. And they''re armed." One detail she is leaving out is that they''re protected with a shield.


    "Here," Elred says, manifesting shields for us to use. He changes his sword to a trident and throws it into one of the undead. The trident morphs back into his hand a second later. "These will stop anything." By the looks of it, I have my doubts. It is colored as if it is made of gold and silver. I can move it just as fast as I can swing my sword.


    "Will it?" I say.


    "I''ll show you!" He charges the closest undead. His shield blocks a swing and a thrust. "Do you see now?!"


    "Looks real," Ulrika says and taps her sword against my shield. "Sounds real."


    "Enough checking!" Thubet says, plowing between Ulrika and me. "Let''s kill them all!"


    Elred''s shield is light enough to prevent arm fatigue. We obliterate our way deeper through the streets. The undead''s bones litter the ground like crushed crackers. Nothing seems to stop our might until we are halted by a surprise attack. Archers emerge from the windows.


    "Thubet, give me some cover!" Elred says. The shield and trident in his hands turn into a bow and arrow. Thubet uses her body and shields as a wall for him to fire arrows behind. Every arrow he fires poofs back into his quiver.


    Amazing! Now I see more of why Coretha wanted you.


    Elred hits the last archer square in its chest. It falls halfway out of the window with one leg behind the wall. Ulrika and I walk shield to shield to the house, it is in. We stumble upon a horrific scene. There are mangled bodies everywhere.


    "Shit," Ulrika says. She moves ahead of me to get a closer look. "Kaio..."


    "Yes?" I say.


    "If there is a chance the Echo Ripper could resurrect them, we should burn them." The suggestion sounds like an awful thing to say, but she is right to be cautious. It doesn''t matter what state the dead bodies are in. Echo Ripper can use them against.


    "I''m afraid you might be right." She sheathes her sword and opens her hand out to me.


    "Give me an orb. I''ll do it."


    "Why?"


    "So you won''t have to."


    "Fine." I cast five fire orbs for her. She walks into the rooms, setting them on fire as I''m walking out.


    "Whoa! What is she doing?" Elred says.


    "Burning the bodies."


    "Why?"


    "To keep from coming back."


    "Should we?" He says, pointing at the houses on his sides. "Check for bodies?"


    "You''ll burn the whole damn city if you do that," Thubet says. The fire from the house begins to reflect in her eyes. "That would be crippling," she says, smirking. "Zadione is a smart advasary."


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "So, what''s the plan?" Elred says.


    "I don''t know," I say.


    "Then I''ll make one for you," Thubet says seconds before Ulrika asks her what she''s talking about. "We''ll have to burn all bodies we find.


    "They could be inside of these houses," Elred says.


    "Hand me an orb, Kromagian."


    "No," I say.


    "Do you want those things to come alive?"


    "Hey! Those things are my people," Ulrika says. "And no, that would be a problem."


    "So let''s set them on fire," she says and then shoves her hand in my chest. "Cast it!"


    "Okay!" I hand five fire orbs. She hands them to Elred.


    "Give me more." She takes the orbs, sets a house ablaze, and then asks for five more.


    "I think we should move on from this," I say.


    "Hand me the orbs!"


    "No! We''re done. I don''t want to do this anymore."


    "Hand me the fucking orbs, you idiot!" Ulrika pushes me two steps back so she can stand in front of me.


    "Back off," Ulrika says softly with a slow, stern voice. Thubet doesn''t take a step back. "My man said no."


    "If you want to get ripped apart by them, go ahead."


    Thubet abandons the mission to pursue her alternative method of fighting the undead. Elred stays by her side despite giving me his displeasure for disobeying Lyra''s command. Ulrika says to let them go instead of trying to convince him to stay. She believes we''re better off not working with them. Thubet''s ego and disdain for humans are an unfortunate problem. I''m partly glad she''s gone. But now we are down two men.


    "Is it wise to continue?" I say.


    "Let''s get away from the fire and then we''ll talk," Ulrika says. "The smoke is burning my eyes." I follow her into a house further in the city. We check every inch to make sure there aren''t any undead hiding. I find nothing alarming on the right side of the house. It''s just empty bedrooms. "It''s clear over here," she says. "Kaio?"


    "We''re clear," I say, stepping out to the hallway to meet her. I lean Elred''s shield on the wall and sheathe my sword. She does the same. "Do you have an answer?"


    "I don''t think we should. That''s too much destruction on our hands."


    "So, what''s our next move?"


    "We''re going to make our way to Lyra and my brothers."


    "What? Is that even possible?"


    "We''ll fly," she says and pulls my sword out.


    I levitate my sword waist level. Ulrika balances herself on it as I walk outside with her. I sit facing left and tether our bodies to prevent slipping off. Once we''re high in the clouds, I fly east. I scan the roofs and keep my shield up just in case an archer feels tempted. Unfortunately, we come under fire. Ulrika puts a wall of air around us. The force behind the wind snaps the arrows in half.


    "Kaio, I can''t keep this up for very long," Ulrika says. "I expunged too much mana from the first attack."


    "Save what you have left," I say. "Get your shield ready."


    "Kaio, stop!" She says suddenly. I make my sword come to a complete stop. "They''re right below us." I lower us down to the street. Lyra is talking with a group of soldiers when one of them points their sword at us.


    "Who goes there?" The soldier says.


    "Friends!" I say and untether Ulrika and me from my sword.


    "What are you doing here?" Lyra says.


    "That bitch abandoned us," Ulrika says. "She''s off doing her own thing with Elred." Lyra grabs the nearest soldier to lay her forehead on.


    "Gods!" She growls. "Why did she leave you two?"


    "Conflict of interests."


    "She wanted me to burn all the bodies the undead killed in the houses," I say.


    "Why?" Lyra says.


    "We were afraid they might come to life." Lyra takes her head off the soldier''s chest to look at me. She hums and raises an eyebrow.


    "That is a great concern."


    "Thubet wanted to burn everybody we found. Most of them were in houses."


    "Damn. We saw bodies too. Some are in these houses."


    A scout approaches us from the direction of the city. He falls on all fours, huffing and puffing for air. One of the soldiers asks him what''s going on. As he speaks to everyone, the heavy rain lessens for a brief moment. It happens again but lasts longer. Seconds later, the rain freezes.


    "Shush for a second," Lyra says. She touches a water droplet floating in the air. It deforms as if she''s smearing it across something solid.


    "Has time frozen?" A soldier says.


    "If that were true, wouldn''t we be frozen?" I check the skies. The storm is quiet. So is the wind. "Scout," she says, curling her finger. "What has your reconnaissance identified?"


    "Mass casualties, ma''am," he says. "Our king has called upon the order of Saint Thomas Defense."


    "What is that?" I say.


    "All current and former Saint Thomas''s knights must return to active duty," Ulrika says.


    "For what reason?"


    "To defend our homeland," Kendric says. He and his brothers emerge from the crowd of soldiers to form a circle around us. "Spyro, Maxwell, and Vladimir will not be pleased by this."


    "Does that mean you must be called too?" I say to Ulrika.


    "Fortunately, no. When the corps found out she was a woman, they stripped her rank."


    "You were a knight?" A soldier says. Ulrika doesn''t confirm or deny the question. All she does is look at me and smirk.


    "We''ll have to somehow make our way to the capital and report for duty."


    "That''ll be a challenge," Gnaeus says.


    "Maybe not. Take one of these," Lyra says. She offers him a portal ring. Ulrika puts her hand between their hands.


    "He doesn''t wield magic," Ulrika says and puts the ring on her finger. "None of my brothers do."


    "Are you going to take them there?"


    "Yes," she says and then gives me a stern gaze. "Don''t do anything crazy while gone."


    "I''ll try my best not to," I say.


    Ulrika takes her brothers to the capital. Lyra and I, along with the city''s troops, continue fighting. The weather remains frozen for a few more hours, then abruptly clears up. A magical explosion decimates the thunderstorm. All of the rain falls to the ground. The clouds wither away, and the undead turn to ash in a flash of green fire.


    Lyra orders the soldiers to quickly burn the deceased to avoid them coming back to life. She gives me the authority to oversee their work while she portals around the city to tell the other Paladins and soldiers to do the same. I can''t stand seeing the dead go out in a raging fire. I observe from afar to keep the stench of smoke and burning flesh from flooding my nose. Once the soldiers complete their task, they move on to gathering other bodies.


    I watch them into the night. The next morning, while I''m sleeping in an empty shop in the corner of the entrance, I feel the wind graze my face. I open one eye the moment it stops. Ulrika walks past me, unaware I''m in the corner. She takes a few glances before turning around.


    "I thought he was here," Ulrika says.


    "Trust your instincts," I say. She helps me to my feet and holds my face still to sneak a kiss on my cheek. "You were gone for a day. Anything happened?"


    "Come and look." She points outside with her hand. I stand in the doorway to see what''s out there. Four knights in golden armor stand before me. On their chests is the crest of a three-headed bird, a symbol of Shemore.


    "Are those..."


    "My brothers. They are assigned to set Ambargara free."


    "Just the four of them?"


    "No," she says, and walks me outside, locking her arm around mine. She points to her right, down the road, where knights gather around soldiers. "Reports came in last night. Zadione''s forces are here."


    "Which ones?"


    "We''ll soon find out. They have orders to head west. I''m going with them."


    "Why? What about heading north with Lyra?"


    "Ulrika is worried about our safety," Gnaeus says and takes a step forward. His voice doesn''t sound muffled. It sounds like it is amplified. "Essentially me," he chuckles. "We''ll be fine, little sister."


    "Stay with the Paladins," Geminos says. "The battles that await us won''t be pretty."


    "Our battles aren''t pretty either," Ulrika says.


    "Don''t try and argue with us," Kindric says. He puts his right hand on her shoulder. The individual metal pieces on his fingers clank open when they grip it. "I won''t let him die," he says gently. "You have my word."


    "All of you make it out alive, you hear me?" All of her brothers nod their heads and then walk to the other knights. She watches them with a sad look on her face.


    "Are you okay?" I say.


    "This is about to get ugly."


    Ulrika''s words come true. Zadione sends a mixture of human and drow troops to seize the city. An all-out brawl hits the streets. I get to see Saint Thomas''s knights battle firsthand. What makes them unique is their armor. It''s enhanced with protective magic. None of the elemental magic from Nite''s mages has any long-lasting effect on it. Despite their resistance, they are not invincible.


    One week after the attack, Saint Thomas''s knight loses ten percent of its forces. Haleema and Zadock are nowhere to be found. Lyra is currently the acting head of the Paladins. She''s trying her best to keep tabs on all of the agents. We are spread all over the city, trying our best to defend it. Zadione''s mixed army is doing a good job at splitting our forces, and it isn''t the majority of what can unleash.