Temki placed the staff on the old bed next to him, took a few steps back, and concentrated despite his exhaustion. He had never worked so hard for so long, but remained determined to help his friends for the first time. He transmitted his thoughts into one of the mind adepts that had trained him for the past eighteen hours. Pip watched him for a while with the other adept, before leaving the room again to receive an hourly update.

  In the “war room” of the rebel base, tired eyes scanned reports and blueprints as all of the shortwave radios were always fully attended to. Milla didn’t appear to be the least bit worn out, but Xavier and Lechi had been fast asleep for hours on a couple of broken love seats—the rebels took any piece of furniture they could get their hands on. In the corner, Zala was curled up like a cat and snoring deeply. Most were still frightened of her.

  “How’s it look?” Milla asked Pip as he finished being updated.

  “We might have to act within hours. A second scouting group has gone missing, and there are increased reports of City personnel combing the underground. They seem to be cracking down on us. I know that Hekens and Ms. Rachester did what they could, but…”

  “Temki should really get some rest,” Milla replied worryingly. “He’s just a child. How far do you think you can push him?”

  “We realize much of the chance for success relies on him…” one of the mind adepts assured, “But he hasn’t mastered feedback yet. If he can’t keep up with his target’s continually changing perception of his illusions, then the technique is nearly useless.” She sighed before adding, “That said, he has progressed at an astonishing pace. But he is a paradigm, so he never has to shove away the other elements to focus on mind alone.”

  “And is he able to keep himself under control better?”

  “He says he gets headaches whenever the staff isn’t near him, but he’s been fairly well off so long as we keep it within, say, thirty feet or so. Lechi told us how bad he used to be, so it’s good to see that he’s learning how to control his powers.”

  “Why don’t you let him rest, Kyler?” Pip said to the female mind adept. “He’s probably too exhausted by now to take much of anything in.”

  “Well, okay, if you say so.”

  “Is he at least able to overpower you?” Pip asked.

  “Most of the time; when he’s really trying.”

  “Then I think he can take on a non-mind adept. Let him sleep. We could be on the move sooner than we had thought.”

  “Right.”

  She returned to the room where Temki was practicing, and Milla took a seat near Pip on a couple of rusting metal chairs. The base’s lights flickered, and a distance boom echoed through the halls.

  “How safe are we down here?” Milla wondered. “Come to think of it, I’ve never ventured out of this room. I don’t even know where we are.”

  “It’s part of an old safe house for City officials. We’re right under the capitol, but deep underground. We’ve got enough sensors in place to give us about five minutes to evacuate, but I really have no idea when they’ll figure out where we are. We’re used to moving around, though.”

  “We haven’t heard from the groups that are supposed to take control of the train station for hours. Do you think something happened?”

  “Couldn’t tell you. As long as we can free Hekens, he’ll get back some control over the City, and we can make our next target the station. It doesn’t matter if the groups are still there; we have to take it no matter what happens or everything else is meaningless.”

  “And there’s the problem of Trinqit’s rairer…”

  Pip looked at Zala. “The pup might be our only chance.”

  “We don’t even know if she’s combat trained.”

  “Yeah, well… none of us are, really.”

  “So, Pip…” Milla spoke up again after a few minutes. “Who are those two mind adepts? I haven’t really met everyone here yet, and both of them have been busy with Temki all night.”

  “Kyler and Dak? They’re my cousins. Ah, we all have different parents; they’re not siblings. I’m the oldest.”

  “Oh. Do you have any other family in the City?”

  Pip shook his head. “No. The three of us returned to help free I after we heard what was happening. Our parents didn’t much like it here. Not everyone does. Unlike them, I’m a plant adept. We’re not exactly close, though. More like friends. But they’re very talented.”

  “Hm. I’ve always been interested in family relationships in Aurra. They’re a bit different than on Earth, I mean.”

  “A newsoul can have a kid who’s been reborn a hundred times. If that doesn’t make for an odd relationship, what does?” He laughed.

  “And some surrogates have been known to have a hundred kids in a lifetime, what with all the fertility treatments and multiples they carry.”

  “Crazy, right? Still, I’ve always seen families as something of a predetermined group of friends in Aurra, seeing as how your parents or siblings could turn out to be anyone at all. Personalities always vary greatly.”

  “I know what you mean. I had a sister a few lifetimes ago that turned out to be a deranged serial killer in her Earth life. Growing up with her in X for a bureaucratic reason was… a life experience I didn’t need.”

  Pip smiled. “I have my share of sibling horror stories, too, I assure you. It’s like the Aurrian equivalent of being bumped from first class on a flight, ha. ‘Oh, here’s your ranking, but we have to fill a gap in City Whatever and your number came up.’ Do you like Garder, though? What’s he like? I bet he’s not as… Well. Do you think he’s an ‘old soul’?”

  “Ah…” Milla coughed. “I don’t want to be mean, but he’s pretty dopey on everything but swordplay. That’s not to say he isn’t a nice person. He’s certainly one of the more… interesting family members I’ve had.”

  “And your parents?”

  “Died when we were young. Some kind of accident. I’m not really sure. From what I’ve heard, they weren’t particularly special. I would’ve liked to know them, but we grew up well enough without them.”

  “I see. I don’t mean to pry. I just like learning about people, their histories. And I’ve never met a former queen before, so…”

  “I don’t mind sharing, Pip.” Milla said with a small smile.

  “What about your past Earth life?”

  Milla’s smile disappeared instantly. “That’s… one thing I don’t really like to talk about.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry. I won’t ask again—”

  “It’s okay. I’m just… deeply ashamed of that life. Garder is actually the only person—other than the judges, of course—that knows what I did. I’m not ready to spread the story around.”

  Pip went quiet. He read a classic Aurrian book to pass the time, a rare piece from the world’s small pool of folklore, about a living suit of alchemagi-infused armor that could grant its wearer immortality—at the expense of trapping them forever within its metal confines. Nearly an hour went by before he mentioned something about his own past life.

  “This isn’t the first time I’ve been a rebel, you know. Might be why I got command over the I sector.”

  An alarm went off before Milla could continue the conversation. The rebels scrambled, sealed doors, collected their things, and armed themselves within seconds.

  “Looks like it’s time,” Pip sighed. “Wake your friends, Milla.”

  “Mayor, we’ve got intruders in the building. We fear they may be with the rebels.”

  Hekens opened his worn eyes and offered no response. The radio on his desk had been sporadically buzzing for an hour now, but this was the first time that there was a clear indication of what was going on. The spiteful look Trinqit gave him was answer enough for how he should act.

  He looked over at his son Jeremi, asleep on one of the couches in his room’s lounge area. The windows had been frosted over by a frozen air that had seen no sunlight in a week. Combined with everything else, the mayor had felt lost in one long blurring nightmare. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. But what chance did the rebels have, truly?

  “Well, Mayor?” Trinqit said angrily and slammed her hand on the desk. “Are you going to do something about that problem? Or should I?”

  He reached his arm over and tapped the transponder switch. “All available units… intercept… Intercept the rebels…”

  “I don’t appreciate your lack of enthusiasm, Hekens. If they get up here, your son might just be in the crossfire when I cut them all to bits.”

  “Threaten, threaten, threaten… that’s all you do,” Hekens moped. “Just go to hell already, you vindictive, arrogant, self-righteous bitch.”

  Trinqit felt her rage peak. She summoned a vector line from her fingertips and held it up against his throat, but he didn’t even flinch.

  “Just do it already,” he spat. “You know you want to. You’ve wanted to since you’ve come here. But there’s no reason to let me live. I’ve been nothing to a nuisance to you.”

  She raised her arm and prepared to swing it down on his head, but kept herself from doing the easy task and extinguished the atomic knife.

  “Pathetic,” Hekens scoffed. “So, which one of your superiors told you to let me live? But you hate them more than me.”

  Trinqit grabbed the collar of his shirt and replied with contempt, “You just don’t get it, do you? When you come back to Aurra… Actually, no, not in the next lifetime. We’ll begin your punishment this lifetime when all of this is over, and then continue it the next. So many years spent in the dark confines of City Z. If only you had cooperated, Mayor, you could’ve avoided such a fate. We will teach you not to bite the hand that feeds.”

  “Oh, City Z. What a terrible place. Is that the worst a pretorian can do now? A real punishment used to be blasting someone out of existence. But it turns out that ‘nowhere’ is just another place, in another dimension, that is about to be returned to Aurra. Oh yes, and it’s full of really angry people. Seems the Guard is running out of places to stick those they don’t happen to agree with, those they don’t want to listen to.”

  “Be silent!”

  “Look around, Jenera. The Guard can’t even get its act together to quash a few rebels because they’re still getting over the fact that they aren’t immortal anymore. They stuck you in this frozen wasteland town—with the smallest, untrained group of Guardsmen who somehow managed to not be sent off to the Saharan purge. Do you think they even care about this place? Do you think they even perceive the threat? Why do you fight for them?”

  “I am warning you, Mayor. You’re on your last chance. You keep this up, and I’ll kill your boy right in front of you.”

  “You sadistic wretch…” Hekens chuckled almost wildly. “How do you know he can’t just dodge your lines? You can barely overpower the local suppression field, even from way up here. My boy is an athlete, Ms. Trinqit. Won a gold medal in the annual relay. I could’ve told him to run a long time ago, and he would’ve gotten away.”

  Trinqit dropped Hekens back in his seat and stared at him.

  “You are truly out of your mind, little man. Do your people know they’re being ruled by a psychopath?”

  “Glib threats and remarks. That’s all the Guard is good for these days,” Hekens muttered. “You’re going to lose, Jenera. You’re all going to lose in the end. You just can’t accept it.”

  Trinqit shook her head disappointingly and proceeded to remove the crossbow from her back, load it, and take aim at Jeremi. He had since awakened and now looked over at his father, unsure of what was going on.

  “Run, Jeremi,” Hekens said as he reached for the knife in his desk drawer. “Show the nice pretorian how fast you can go.”

  He remained trembling on the couch. Once Hekens heard the click of the crossbow’s safety go off, he swung out with his knife. Trinqit caught him in the corner of her eye just in time to turn around and defend herself.

  He managed to slice into her casting hand, also on the trigger of the crossbow. Her fingers reacted, and the bolt was fired at point blank, hitting Hekens in the side. As he hit the floor in pain, Trinqit ripped a bit of her scarf off and wrapped it around her hand, grimacing.

  Now completely fed up and willing to defy orders, she loaded up the next bolt and aimed down at the mayor’s throat. He smiled through his agony and prepared for what came next.

  “Stop!” shouted a familiar voice.

  She turned to see Milla and Pip, standing right outside the elevator. She smiled wryly and turned to face them.

  “Ah, Milla Noland and the rebel leader, Mr. Montag. I was wondering when you’d show up. The mayor and I were just finishing up a slight disagreement.”

  “We took down the suppression field,” Milla said. “We’re here to rescue the mayor and retake the City.”

  “I figured. But you made a mistake. If you have done what you claim, then there is nothing stopping me from ripping you to shreds.”

  “I’ve taken on a pretorian before. What makes you any different?”

  “And we managed to get all the way up here,” Pip added. “Your security forces weren’t as troublesome as we had expected.”

  “You know what…” Trinqit sighed, “I am really—really tired of this cold, miserable place. I think it’s time I go out and personally kill every last one of you miserable rabble. I don’t care what happens afterwards. So long as I destroy the tunnel system, you’ll all be trapped here, and then the just and caring Rivia will never go through with his schemes. I think that if the mayor had to decide between his plans and Rivia’s, he’d choose the safety of his people… Isn’t that right, Hekens?”

  She looked down at him and noticed the look of confusion he was giving her. When she noticed his eyes darting around, she picked up on exactly what was going on.

  “So…” Trinqit smiled. “I see. You’ve been training little Temki, haven’t you? Trying to cast your little illusions? Precious.”

  “What are you talking about?” Pip asked.

  “Don’t be coy. Look.” She aimed down at Hekens again. “I know the mayor is still right beside me. Now come out of hiding or he’s dead, and so are thousands of others. Do you want so much blood on your hands?”

  Pip and Milla looked to the floor.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “That’s what I thought. Now come out of hiding. I know the suppression field is still up, and you should know that I can overpower it—if just enough to kill everyone in this room.”

  Pip and Milla faded away. Trinqit looked back at the ground to make sure Hekens hadn’t gone anywhere, and then looked back up again as Milla, Pip, and Temki came out of the elevator. In front of them was Jeremi, still looking over at his father in fear.

  “Good, good. Nice try. I’ll give you that.”

  “Let Hekens go,” Pip demanded. “We’re the ones you want, and I see we have no choice but to surrender. The truth is, your men were too much for us. We realize we can’t win… so I ask you humbly… Forgive us.”

  “Not. A. Chance.”

  She brought up the crossbow and fired it at Pip before anyone could react. The bolt hit him square in the chest, and he dropped to the floor. Milla knelt down and tried to get him back to his feet, but there was nothing she could do. He disappeared in a plume of orange, and tears began to roll down her eyes. Temki stood beside her motionlessly.

  “I’m sure it’s the way he wanted to go,” Trinqit scoffed and loaded the next bolt. “Now stand up, Queen Seriph. I’ll give you one last opportunity to work things out with us.”

  “My name… is Milla Nolland…” she replied angrily as she stood and dried her tears. “All I want is a better world. I will never bow down to you… and let the lives of Pip and the many like him be lost in vain.”

  “Then you can join your friend in Hold for all I care. See you in the next life, sweetheart.”

  Milla grabbed Temki, then turned and ran to the hallway behind them. The bolt barely missed its target, snapping in half with a loud twang after hitting the heavy steel, alchemagi-armored doors protecting the room.

  Trinqit swung the crossbow onto her back and fired off weak vector lines, each of which missed or were absorbed into the doors. After Milla and Temki were out of range, she took after them, swearing loudly as she did so. Hekens and Jeremi were left alone, each in a state of disbelief of what they had just seen—or rather, did not see.

  Trinqit’s shouts disappeared down the security hall. Then silence.

  “Let’s move,” a voice came from behind the open elevator doors.

  With Tanesh and Lechi guarding over Temki, the real Milla and Pip hurried into the office. Pip raced back to the security doors and sealed them off from the inside while Milla ran over to Hekens and checked him over.

  “He’s hurt!” she shouted. “She shot him in the side!”

  “What the hell did you do to her?” Hekens laughed through the pain as Milla got him up.

  “Fried her brain a bit,” Pip replied. “Mr. Mayor, Jeremi—we’re here to get you out of the City. We’ve got to move right now before Temki loses his grip and Trinqit comes back.”

  “How did you even get in here?”

  “We’ll tell you on the way. Come on, we’re leaving,” Milla replied.

  Pip helped her get the mayor into the lift, and then pushed the button for the ground floor right away. As the doors closed, Temki’s eyes opened again, and he would have fallen to the ground—if Lechi didn’t catch him first. As they plummeted downwards, Milla looked over the wound Trinqit had inflicted. Hekens was obviously about to attempt to take the bolt out, but Milla grabbed his arm.

  “Don’t—” she started.

  “It’s okay. It’s just a sharpened tip, and I don’t think she got anything important.”

  He went ahead and pulled it with a groan of pain before Milla could further protest against it. Hekens covered his wound with his hand, but didn’t seem the least bit concerned.

  “I can’t flee the City.” He coughed. “I’m going to stay with my people and share the shelters with those who stay.”

  “But Mayor, after all we’ve done… she’ll kill you if she finds you.”

  “She won’t stay. So long as we overpower her men, she won’t be able to take on everyone at once.”

  “And what about Jeremi?”

  “Get him out of here on the first train. And go with him, Milla. I know that your fight is elsewhere.”

  “Dad…” Jeremi whispered.

  “It’s okay, son. You’ll be taken care of. I’ve got to settle business here. Don’t worry about the bad lady. She won’t find me. Now, really, how did you get up here?”

  “Pretty simple, actually,” Pip replied. “We were stationed below the building. We had weapons. We overpowered the Guardsmen in the lobby within minutes with a surprise attack. Nothing to it.”

  “But it wouldn’t have worked if it weren’t for Temki,” Milla added and stroked the exhausted child’s ruffled golden hair. “An illusion good enough to fool a pretorian… Not bad, kid.”

  “What all ‘happened’?” Pip wondered. “What did you show her?”

  “I did that ‘double’ trick Kyler and Dak suggested…” he replied quietly. “The tough part was killing you when she fell for it.”

  “Wait—you killed me?” Pip sounded disappointed.

  “Yeah.” Temki smiled. “She fired the crossbow at you. I didn’t know if I could do a good death or not… but I guess it worked.”

  “I’m still a bit let down that I didn’t get to do more.”

  “If it makes you feel better, Milla cried and you died in her arms.”

  Pip went from a grin into a laugh in moments. “Ha, I suppose that makes it okay, then.”

  Milla laughed a bit herself and then became serious again. “We’re heading straight to the train station. With any luck, we can get the first batch out before the rairer or Trinqit show up.”

  “An evacuation alert has already gone out,” Pip explained to Hekens. “I know they won’t exactly feel like doing it all a second time, but given the circumstances, I think they’ll listen.”

  “Are you going to use the train the Guard brought in?” he asked.

  “Well… they brought it to us, so why not use it?”

  “Right…”

  “Temki?” Lechi murmured to him.

  “Y-yeah?”

  “Hey… good job.”

  “Oh…” He smiled back. “Thanks.”

  They stepped into the lobby, which had been turned into a war zone. Guard and rebel uniforms littered the marble floor, and the sound of gunfire and incoming buzzers surrounded the building. Xavier was in the middle of it all, trying his best to give commands alongside Kyler and Dak.

  It was obvious that he had been getting quite a workout despite alchemagi being inaccessible. Milla was somewhat disappointed that she still wouldn’t get a chance to finally see just what the tagalong could do.

  “You guys made it!” he exclaimed. “Wow. So Temki actually pulled it off. All the things he made me go through… Guess it was worth it.”

  “Yeah, and Trinqit is going to be more pissed off than ever, so we’d better get going,” Milla replied. “Mayor, our destination is straight down. Your people will definitely want you to see them off.”

  “Yes, of course. But I’ve got to make an announcement first.”

  “Figured you would,” Xavier said and handed him his radio. “Make it quick. We could lose control of this building any minute.”

  Hekens cleared his throat and spoke clearly, “To all inhabitants of City I, this is your mayor. As of now I’m asking City I to cease their support of the Guard. City security and military personnel are ordered to use lethal force against them—capturing for imprisonment if possible. That is all.”

  “You’re going to create quite a mess out there, Mayor,” Pip replied as he was handed back the radio.

  “That’s what I’m hoping for. We can flee under cover of chaos.”

  An explosion went off right outside the building, shattering several of the glass windows around the lobby.

  “They’re bringing in the artillery. Time to go.” Pip shouted out to his men, “Everyone, pull back! We have to get the mayor to safety!”

  They fell back in an orderly and professional manner and formed a protective circle around Milla and her friends. Continually exchanging fire with the incoming Guard, the small band of rebels inched their way down into the underground access and back through the way they had come.

  The sound of fighting diminished as they went through the crumbling halls of the facility on the way to the trains. The underground had mostly been secured, although they occasionally passed scattered rebels rather excitedly mopping up what remained of the enemy patrols.

  The station was packed. Confused, frightened, and eager-to-leave citizens clogged the walkways, even as minor skirmishes continued on the tracks and in the tunnel. The ruins of the train Trinqit had destroyed still remained, but its ominous presence seemed to be ignored. It was clear just by looking at the faces that people had been brutalized by Trinqit’s brief reign, and Milla became even more determined to free the City.

  Two of the mayor’s bodyguards came rushing up as soon as they spotted him. Noticing his wound, one of them quickly took off his jacket and tied it around him, while he assured them that he was fine.

  “Everyone, listen!” Hekens called out. “These are troubling times, as you are well aware. But we must evacuate for reasons that I can’t share at this time. Surely many of you wouldn’t give it a second thought now, given what has controlled our City as of late. And this time, I promise that we will succeed! Now please, fill every train—including the big one the Guard brought in. Be orderly but quick. We need to be as efficient as possible!”

  The picked up their pace, and now having a confirmation, the City personnel slid open all of the train doors and began ushering people in.

  A loud, recognizable roar erupted from down the tunnel. Everyone froze and went silence. Panicking rebels fled the tunnel as they fired their weapons behind them madly—at a large, spider-like silhouette.

  Trinqit’s personal rairer, fully armored and larger than Milla had remembered, tore through the tunnel, slamming the rebels unable to outrun it against the sides. The people who had filled the station fell into an uproar, and now expecting a repeat disaster, began clamoring for the exits.

  After the rairer had slithered through the tunnels and over the emptied Guard train, it howled into the air and looked down at the frightened crowds below, preparing to take aim at them with alchemagi, acid spines, or a combination of both.

  Unsure of what action to take, Milla’s group stood and watched. They barely had to wait—the rubble they had hid behind before suddenly exploded outward, scattering debris all over the unused or damaged tracks.

  Coming out of the concealed service tunnel behind the pile were the rest of the rebels, led by Pip’s cousins and Zalatrya herself.

  The people of City I first thought that they were being surrounded by rairer, but one by one, they quickly noticed the lack of Guard uniforms. Curiosity followed the confusion, and almost everybody went quiet and still once again as they watched the much smaller rairer eye the other, leap onto the roof of a train, and growl angrily.

  The large bull rairer grunted as if shrugging off the threat and held its ground. Then an expected spectacle of a rairer death match commenced.

  Trinqit’s beast lowered its body and shook its back—a clear sign that it was preparing to fire its acidic spines into the crowds. Zala picked up on the gesture and lunged at the enemy twice her size. She tore into one of its frontal legs with two of her own, gnawing and clawing at it violently.

  The enemy combatant lost its grip on the train and nearly tumbled off. It jabbed at Zala mercilessly, but couldn’t get close enough to cause any significant injury. It then howled angrily and leapt down to the ground.

  Zala didn’t react in time and got slammed against the side of the train by the helmeted iron skull of the beast. The crowd gasped like they were watching an alchemagi duel. Lechi flinched upon seeing Zala in pain.

  She then parried a second blow, and the bull instead hit the train directly, leaving a large dent. It snarled, shook its head in pain, and then tried to relocate its target. Lechi noticed that its vision was limited, because of the helmet protecting its head; it gave Zala perhaps her only advantage.

  After dodging an arm swipe, she reached up to the bull’s chest plates in an attempt to rip them off. It snarled again and shoved Zala away, and followed with repeated scorpion-like jabs from its fifth tail.

  “Pip, how are we supposed to take these things down?” Milla asked as the desperate fight continued in front of them.

  “I’m not sure. I heard something about using electrified spikes, but I know we don’t have anything like that up here…”

  “I could make spikes big and sharp enough if I used Temki’s ability to enhance alchemagi spells,” Lechi suggested, worrying for Zala’s life.

  “Maybe, but we’d have no way of electrifying them,” Milla replied.

  The bull pinned Zala in a corner with its repeated attacks, clawing violently with its front arms. She screeched in pain, but still found the strength to repel her enemy. Using her small size to maneuver around the brutish but sluggish bull, she slithered underneath its cumbersome armor and bit into its back leg as hard as she could.

  The larger rairer let out a roar of agony and with no place to go, slammed its head against the wall as it tried to turn and escape. It swung its back leg, throwing Zala off—but by only a few dozen feet. She landed upright and immediately leapt on top of the bull. Using the openings in its armor plating, she could keep a strong grip as she crept up to its neck.

  The bull swung its body around wildly as it stampeded around the station, nearly hitting the three trains several times. Sensing a possible victory, Lechi soon found herself cheering for her rairer companion. She even managed to rile up the nearby crowd, some of whom joined her in egging on the supposed “hero rairer.”

  Clinging to its back like a spider with hooks, Zala refused to let herself be thrown off. Once she was within reach of the helmet, she used all of her strength to pry it off—causing her opponent great pain. Once the bull’s neck was exposed, the fight was already won.

  She sunk her serrated teeth into the bull’s upper spine, lodging them in deeply. It howled and flipped over, tearing up parts of the nearby useless railroad tracks. But it soon quieted, and fell lifelessly to the ground.

  Zala had bitten so hard that she couldn’t free herself. But the laws of Aurra took effect, and her teeth soon clamped down on nothing but air.

  The crowds, though not entirely sure what they had just witnessed, went into an uproar. Lechi ran to her companion to comfort her and check her wounds, with Tanesh equally worried for the rairer at her side. All Zala wanted to do was sniff and examine the armor that had been left behind, perhaps trying to understand why it had been attached to one of her ilk.

  “Um, wow…” Xavier muttered. “We just witnessed a rairer battle.”

  An excited Jeremi at his side, Hekens replied, “Those creatures… They still give me shivers just looking at them.”

  For the first time in weeks, the people of City I had their spirits lifted, and in a most peculiar way. A rairer had just become a local celebrity.

  “Impossible!” screamed a voice all in the City were used to by now.

  Trinqit stormed down the entrance ramps and through the crowds of people that moved aside for the pretorian. Her usual serious demeanor was gone, now replaced by an attitude of disbelief and utter loathing.

  “My pet was beaten by this miserable, traitorous pup, and you all stand here and cheer them on? Is that what I just witnessed?”

  “Ah, so Jenera shows us her true side,” Hekens scoffed loudly. “She’s just something of a spoiled, angry child, really.”

  “You…” she hissed towards Milla. “You people make me sick. Why—won’t—you—just—die?”

  Unable to restrain herself, Trinqit summoned up the bulk of her powers and formed a complex, large mandala with more lines than Milla could count. She was taken off guard, and Trinqit didn’t give a moment’s hesitation before blasting it towards her with the upmost contempt.

  But a stream of powerful electricity ignited into existence just feet from Milla and Hekens, and blew apart the deadly lines completely. All eyes turned towards the small old woman on the train platform, now kneeling over on the cane always waiting for her at her side.

  “What?!” Trinqit shouted. “You hag! You can’t be that power—”

  “Young lady,” Tess interrupted. “Young lady… I think it’s about time you left this place.”

  The crowd cheered in agreement. Trinqit fell into a look of disgust.

  “You will not talk down to me!” she yelled. “Die, old woman!”

  She powered up a long-ranged vector beam that she knew would prove deadly accurate, but found herself covered by a green glow before she could fire it off. She looked around to see that she had been surrounded by a large prison, made of several layers of aligned and charged atomic lines.

  She found the source quickly. Temki, holding onto Milla’s hand tightly, was glaring at her without fear.

  “I’m not going to let you harm my grandmother,” he said sharply. “I’m not going to let you hurt anyone in this City anymore.”

  “Well, isn’t that sweet…” she said through her teeth. “Nasty brats and arrogant fathers protecting the ones they love. I’m inspired.”

  Temki’s brows tilted down a little more as he closed in the vector lines more tightly. Trinqit finally took a deep breath and shook her head.

  “Fine. So be it. Enjoy your victory!” she shouted. “God knows you’ve earned it. You can take yourselves and your hideous, freezing home straight to hell for all I care. That’s where you’ll all going soon, anyway.”

  Realizing that she might have been under control for the first time since she had arrived, the crowds steadily worked up some boos and jeers.

  She shook her head, laughed, and extended three fingers. Temki prepared to close in the lines completely, but Trinqit disappeared into a single large green line before he had the chance.

  Using one of the most difficult techniques known to Aurra—vector elemental travel—Trinqit shot herself up, then fired outward and zigzagged down the tunnel. Once the vibrant green glow was completely out of sight, there was a collective sigh of relief mixed in with plenty of cheers. It felt like a major victory had just transpired.

  After the lines for boarding were at long last organized and the people got ready to leave their City behind in a relative calm, Milla’s squad and their rebel friends gathered together for their farewells, and to ensure that they all the general idea of what was happening next.

  Pip wiped his forehead with his beret. “I’m sure we’ll see her again.”

  “Just not anytime soon with any luck,” Milla replied.

  “Yeah. Good thing we have this Guard train here covered in alchemagi plating to take out first… I doubt she’d be down the tunnel waiting for us, but who knows. She’s a crazy one.”

  “She really is little more than a nasty child,” Hekens said. “But anyway, I’m very thankful for your help, Milla.”

  “Do I really have to go, Dad?” Jeremi asked. “Couldn’t I stay with you in the shelters?”

  “They’ll take good care of you. Jeremi. I don’t know when I’ll see you again—and I’m being truthful here—but I promise that I will.”

  “Okay… I just wanted to make sure.”

  Hekens smiled. “Ah, he’s finally growing up a bit.”

  Lechi looked over at Zala, who was now being treated by medical personnel. Despite her patient demeanor, they still looked a bit nervous as they worked on her wounds.

  “Zala and I will stay for the time being,” Pip said. “We could use her for labor; maybe get this place running a bit better for efficiency. Labor isn’t as bad as it sounds. We’ll pamper her plenty,” he added with a smile.

  “Do you think everything will work out?” Milla wondered.

  “There should be enough room in the shelters for half the City, and as long as the Guard doesn’t send reinforcements—which would be very difficult now so long as D is secured, I think we’ll make it just fine. In the meantime, we’ll look for the local suppression device and take it down. That’d make it much easier to run the City properly.”

  “Tess, I had no idea you were a lightning adept,” Milla said.

  She laughed. “Mind you, I was a bit better back in the day.”

  “I know that powerful electricity can scatter vector atoms, but it’s not easy to pull off… Shin would be impressed.”

  “Think nothing of it. Just watch over my grandson, would you?”

  “I will, Tess. I wish the best of luck to you and Hekens.”

  “Bye, grandma.” Temki hugged her and boarded the train.

  Milla knelt down and gave Tess a hug as well; all the thanks she needed for saving her life. Pip, with his cousins at his side, waited for Milla to finish before continuing.

  “I’ll keep in contact, updating you on the evacuation when I can. I’ll also try to find Osk and his men, and maybe try to help get the rebellion here organized. As for these two… I think they should come with you.”

  “Temki has proven that he can be very helpful,” Dak explained. “I think it’d be worth the time to complete his training.”

  “Of course, when he eventually surpasses us, there’s little more we can do,” Kyler added. “Once that happens, we’ll fight for you.”

  Milla welcomed them with handshakes. “Go on in. I’ll bring you up to speed once we get moving.”

  “So, we’re going to reunite with the others soon, right?” Xavier asked Milla. “Do you think they’ve had as much trouble as we have?”

  “Hopefully we’ll find out soon enough. Anyway, Pip, keep working on a name, would you? I think the rebels are going to need one soon.”

  “Yeah, I’ll try. Get in touch if you come up with one first.”

  “Sure.”

  They exchanged a friendly handshake and parted ways.

  As the train began to lurch forward, a moment so many had been waiting for, Milla looked out from her window at her friends outside.

  The question of whether or not the victory would mean anything didn’t matter to her at the moment. As far as she could see, she had just been part of a small moral victory—one that had been waiting to emerge for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

  Rivia’s plans had almost come to fruition, and the moment felt to her like the end of one journey and the beginning of another.