“Hani! Go set off the emergency bell! Then go home and hide with Ma,” Leith commanded.

“What about you?” Hani asked, shifting from foot to foot anxiously.

“I’ll come join you guys soon, I’m gonna go get the hunters first.”

Hani nodded and dashed off, while Leith sprinted in the other direction. They hadn’t had a situation like this in nearly a decade. Still, he knew exactly what to do. Everyone in this town did because their proximity to the Rift made riftfiends a very real threat, even if they had barely experienced any attacks since the Surge War.

The end of the war had led to a treaty between Maksar and the Riftwalkers that permitted Maksar to send hunters into the Rift. Hunters would delve into the Rift and destroy the riftfiends before they could become a problem, making attacks on the surface much rarer.

That made this situation surprising, and Leith wasn’t entirely sure that they were properly equipped to deal with it. They didn’t have many hunters at Karya to begin with, and most of the few that did live here were out on the same expedition Leith’s father had set out on.

Who even was left? Leith was there to see off the hunters two weeks ago, so he racked his brain to try and remember who was missing. Roger, Gamal, and… Mikel, I think?

Three hunters wasn’t a lot, but it was better than nothing. He arrived at Mikel’s home first, panting as he knocked on the door. He waited a few seconds and knocked again, yelling his name. No answer.

He sprinted towards the next closest home instead. Mikel would hear the bell and hopefully run into Hani and know where to go. Leith needed to get at least one hunter prepared, every second would count.

By now, Leith was out of breath. He wasn’t in great shape, since his typical day consisted of brewing medicine and treating patients with room for little else. Still, he pushed on. He knew a quick response was imperative.

If the hunters didn’t know exactly where the fiends were approaching from, they wouldn’t have adequate time to stall them. Leith needed to make sure that the fiends didn't enter Karya.

He didn’t want a repeat of the last time there was an invasion. He had been helpless last time, complicit due to ineptitude. This time, he wanted to at least try and help the village survive.

Breathing heavily, he knocked on Roger’s door. That was a dud too. That no one opened was odd– Roger had a wife and three children– was there really no one home? Well, he didn’t have time to worry about that now.

Leith rushed towards Gamal’s manor next. Gamal, an old and decorated hunter who had retired here, owned one of the largest properties in Karya, with metal fencing around the perimeter that gated him off from the rest of the town. He skidded to a stop and rattled the gate as hard as he could. No answer.

Leith yelled his name, and still no one came out. Gamal was married with four children, and two of his children were also married with kids of their own. They all lived in the same place– there was absolutely no way that not even a single person was in the manor. Something was wrong.

The emergency bell began to ring in the distance, making him realize the extent of how screwed they were if he couldn’t find a hunter. He couldn’t shake the images of devastation from the fiends that had ravaged the town last time. The death that he had caused– no, he couldn’t let this happen again.

Leith clambered up the gate and hopped over, running towards the manor, grunting as his body screamed in protest. He knocked at the door as hard as he could and then attempted to kick it down. The door, seemingly reinforced with metal, clanged and didn’t even budge.

Leith looked around for a window, and then frustratedly realized that even those were reinforced, with metal bars running down its length. He peered through the windows and noticed that not a single light was on. Were they out of town?

….wait a minute… lights?

Suddenly, he had an idea that was perhaps a little insane, yet likely justifiable. While Leith didn’t really wish to be convicted as a criminal, a little breaking and entering couldn’t hurt, right?

He ran to the front of the house, and just as he expected, there were riftlights adorning the wall around the door. Leith reached up and grabbed one of the glowing glass orbs and pulled, breaking it off the wall and into his arms. He then shattered the orb against the floor and fished out the riftcore within– a white crystal that acted as a source of light.

Leith placed the riftcore against the door’s latch, holding it between his palms. He took a deep breath and imagined pushing the chroma within the riftcore out and into the door. A tingling sensation ran through Leith’s body and the air suddenly felt charged, as if it were humming with electricity. A bolt of white lightning arced from the crystal and through the door, blasting it open with vigor, the recoil powerful enough to launch Leith backwards.

Leith dropped the riftcore, now dull and powerless, and stumbled through the door. He ran through the house, checking rooms and soon enough came to a chilling conclusion.

They must have known.

Why else would the manor be completely empty? He noticed how the furniture was still there and how they seemed to have forgotten to take utensils and paintings. Wardrobes, however, were completely empty, and the pantry was nearly empty too. The entire family must have left, and judging from what was left behind, they must have left in a hurry.

Leith didn’t have time to think of why they did that, not now. He knew that at least one hunter was gone, and he could assume that the rest had likely left too. Why they left and how they knew of the attack were questions for later, Leith had to worry about the town for now.

Could he try and evacuate Karya? No, that was too risky. There certainly weren't enough horses and carriages to get everyone out, and those monsters would assuredly catch up to those traveling on foot. They would simply end up as bait, allowing only the richest who owned horses to escape.

Bait… Leith was struck with a foolish idea. Hurriedly, he looked around the manor for something he could use, ignoring the slight twinges of guilt he felt given he was more or less committing a burglary.

Before long, he found what he needed. Gamal, being a hunter for who knows how many years, had collected a plethora of weapons and tools throughout his life. Evidently, he had collected so much that he couldn’t take everything with him.

Leith picked up a riftlight, one of those handheld ones meant for exploring caves and the darker parts of the Rift. Then, as an afterthought he grabbed a sword, a short one with a core laid in its guard, its scabbard attached to a belt that he quickly tightened on to his waist.

He rushed out the back door of the manor, running around to the stables in hopes of finding a horse. Of course, every horse was gone. They were too valuable to leave behind even if Gamal left in a hurry. That’s okay, Leith had another idea.

He sprinted to the nearest part of the fence and climbed, jumping over and running again, ignoring how awkwardly he landed and how much his legs hurt. Leith ran towards the town center and climbed yet another fence, landing right inside of the mayor’s property instead. He circled it quickly after opening the gate, finding the stables and unhitching a horse, jumping atop it despite the lack of a saddle. He leaned over the bewildered horse, kicking it into a gallop and heading straight through the gates and back towards the edge of the town where the riftfiends were approaching.

People were peering out their windows, some calling out to Leith in disarray. Leith ignored them, continuing forward as fast as the horse allowed. Soon enough, he found himself at the edge of Karya, directly facing the approaching riftfiends.

The monsters were still far enough away that Leith could probably run away, but instead he stood there, partly due to indecision and mostly due to fear.

The riftfiends were massive deer with antlers that seemed to stretch in random directions, curving haphazardly and ending in sharpened points. They didn’t seem to have fur– instead they had taut black skin with dark red streaks running down their bodies. The riftfiends seemed to be following a leader– an exceptionally large version of themselves, with more prominent red streaks and an even larger set of antlers.

What shocked Leith the most was their size. A few of the riftfiends stampeding towards him had other creatures impaled upon their antlers. The largest one had a rothound hanging from its head, dripping blood down its body as it charged. Rothounds were as tall as Leith… and that thing must have been at least three times larger than the rothound with how casually it was running with another beast adorning its head like a grisly crown.

Leith was afraid. He had never done anything like this before and the monsters charging at him reminded him that he’d most likely die. For a moment, he seriously considered just running away. He had a horse which meant he could leave. Maybe he could pick up his mother and brother along the way…

No. Leith knew that his mother would insist on staying. His parents were both brave and would face a situation like this head on, even if they knew it was hopeless.

Despite how his whole body was trembling in a combination of fear and exertion, Leith came to a conclusion. He’d try to stop this, even if it took his life. He wouldn’t allow a repeat of last time. That time had been his fault, after all. Maybe this would be his way of making up for it.

Leith squeezed the sides of his horse, having it run straight towards the horde of riftfiends, hopping over the stone wall at the edge of town. The horse started resisting a little, slowing down even though Leith didn’t want it to. Eventually, they cantered to a stop, the horse trying to turn around on its own. But that was okay, they had come far enough.

He let the horse turn a little and urged it to run parallel to the riftfiends. Leith then smashed his pilfered riftlight, awkwardly using the pommel of the stolen sword. He lifted the freed riftcore into the air with one arm, wincing when glass shards pierced painfully into his hands and arms. This time, instead of forcing out the energy all at once at a target, he imagined the stone’s current luminescence amplifying. Leith felt the riftcore heat up just enough to be painful, but he ignored it, trying to turn the chroma into light instead of heat. The riftcore obeyed his command and began glowing dazzlingly bright.

The radiance was so much that the shadows from the setting sun were completely offset around Leith, illuminating everything around him in bright light.

The deer-monsters began veering off course, away from the town and instead towards the boy holding a miniature sun.

Leith craned his neck, watching behind him with a strange combination of triumph and dread. The massive riftfiend, the one with a rothound still hanging from its antlers, was following Leith. Most of the other fiends followed the large stag, though a handful still headed towards the town. Still, he had most of the herd focused on him, and that would hopefully be enough.

He was glad to see that his gambit had worked. It was common knowledge that riftbeasts were attracted to sources of chroma since they had to consume it for their riftcore to grow stronger. The dazzling chroma-induced light he held was a perfect bait.

What now? Leith urged the horse to move faster, trying to lead the herd as far away from the town as possible, panickedly deliberating what he should do next. His heart was beating so hard that he could hear it in his head.

The riftcore was flickering, its energy nearly depleted, so Leith lowered its luminosity in an effort to make it last longer, watching behind him all the while. Thankfully, the herd continued to follow him, despite the decreased brightness.

With a start, Leith realized that the monsters were gaining on him. He squeezed the horse tighter, trying to get it to move faster, but it couldn’t outpace the monsters behind it. The largest beast leading the pack was inching closer and closer with every passing second.

He racked his brain, trying to think of what to do next. He initially was hoping to kite the deer when they were far enough from the town and eventually circle back himself, but that was certainly impossible with the horde of monsters so close to catching him.

Leith didn’t have to think much as the horse made his decision for him, jumping up onto its hind legs and launching Leith off its back. The horse galloped off into the distance freed of its load, its rider sacrificed to the horde.

Alcide rode as fast as he could, urging his steed to go faster and faster. He was rather tired as this was his third day of consecutive riding, having slept only a handful of hours, most of them while sitting atop his mount. Any normal horse would have given out by now, but Alcide’s ride was an aonbharr, a riftbeast that could quite literally outrun the wind.

He patted her neck affectionately, noting to himself that he’d feed Lily some sugar cubes when they finally arrived at Karya– she deserved as much for meeting Alcide’s unreasonable expectations.

Alcide and his associates had been tracking the sudden influx of attacks upon towns in the outer regions of Maksar. At first, they had thought it was simply a series of unfortunate coincidences, but eventually they realized that there was a clear pattern to the attacks. They had to have been deliberate.

Armed with realizations that came perhaps too late, they had outlined the next possible areas of attack and had identified four different towns at risk. Thus, they set out, trying to make it to these villages as fast as possible, hoping to get there before it was too late.

Karya finally came into view, barely visible in the horizon. Alcide was still quite far, but he was almost there. His heart began to sink as he noticed something approaching the town. A cloud of dust, presumably created by rampaging monsters, was quickly approaching Karya. Alcide was moving fast, but the horde of monsters had a head start.

He groped inside his leather satchel, finding a scope and lifted it to his eyes. He was still too far to make out details. Alcide pressed his finger to an indentation on the scope, and the scope buzzed for a second, awash with energy. The riftcore embedded in the base of the scope began bending the light in front of it, thereby magnifying the image it presented.

Alcide frowned as the monsters came into focus. The horde consisted of monstrous deer, known as bloodstags due to the strings of red skin running down their sides and their horribly bloodthirsty nature. Bloodstags rarely left the confines of the Rift and its forests and would certainly never venture miles away from it.

Something is wrong. This was clearly deliberate, all but confirming what he and his colleagues were assuming. Alcide hoped that the town's hunters could hold off the riftfiends long enough for him to arrive.

“Come on Lily, just a little faster,” he murmured. The aonbharr whinnied in protest– it could not move much faster after riding for three consecutive days. Alcide bit his lip with growing dread, squeezing his legs tighter around the beast, willing it to gain speed despite its protests. He knew that he was still much too far, that the herd would certainly reach Karya before him, and that the casualties would be immense.

For a few minutes, he and Lily rode as fast as they could, heading directly towards Karya, eyes trained upon the horde of monsters that were about to attack it, when suddenly, a pinprick of light appeared in the horizon.

Streaking out of the city was a man riding a horse, holding a blindingly bright light above his head. Alcide watched as the horde of monsters turned and took chase, presumably attracted by the amount of chroma that the man was emitting from his hand.

The man was moving diagonally away from him, perhaps a few miles north from where Alcide was now.

He leaned down and told Lily, “Hey, make sure to come to me, okay? I’m gonna go on ahead.”

Alcide imagined the riftcores strapped around his calves streaming energy downwards into his boots. He then leaped off his steed and landed on the ground, sprinting next to Lily as chroma streamed down the contraptions on his legs and air flowed out the back of his heels, eventually propelling him forward so fast that the aonbharr could no longer keep up.