The sound of horns echoed through the streets of Destol; the sounds of a battle. Mat, Sam and Spring ran out of the tower, Spring’s soul now radiating the power of an Emerald Ranker. Sam’s face was curious, Spring’s worried. A cold chill ran down Mat’s spine as the sound of an animalistic cry rang up the street. Other cries joined in throughout the city. Somehow, the monsters had gotten into the city.

  “BREACH!” A frantic voice shrieked. “THE WALL HAS BEEN BREACHED!”

  A green beast appeared behind him, shoving its claws into the man’s gut.

  He screamed in agony, begging for help. It didn’t come before the Garnlax ripped him in half. Spring, who was running toward the man, stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes changed from dark purple to bright orange, her fiery sword manifesting in her new Emerald hand. Her arm pulsed with a green light, and her sword went from burning orange to a dark green fire.

  Spring looked completely in control of herself as she rushed up to the Garnlax, striking it with her sword. It cut through the fur and thick skin like butter. The monster didn’t fall immediately but roared in pain, launching itself at Spring. As it pounced on her, a shield of green flames burst out from her, repelling the Garnlax, hurting it badly. Clearly it was prideful, as it didn’t give up the attack. Rather, it went invisible.

  Mat, who had now closed the distance, pounced on its neck, keeping a tight hold of it.

  Mat hadn’t actually tested his new Sapphire Rank but now that he was in action, the world felt… smoother. When he had arrived, the chaos throughout the city – of which there was much – would have been almost incomprehensible for him. Now though, he found that he could effortlessly track everything going on. His Eyes of the Tiger felt different too. Before, it had warned him of danger as it came, giving him a sensation of how to avoid or deflect it. Now though, he felt like he could really see the world around him. He could sense the people and monsters nearby, even though he couldn’t see or hear them. But he could see them.

  Sam had pulled out his wand and shot a bolt of lightning at the Garnlax. The creature cried out in pain as Mat stabbed his dagger, which Eritandellion had retrieved for him, into the creature’s back. It came back into vision. Spring launched herself at it, plunging her Sword of Eternal Flame into the Garnlax’s chest. It let out one last pitiful cry before it dropped to the ground.

  “We need to get moving. There are people in danger.” Spring said.

  ***

  George slipped his huge, claw-like blade into a Jadkert’s ribs, driving it into the beast’s heart. Letting out a huge sigh of relief, he looked for any more people in immediate danger. Wings grew out of his back, similar to his brother’s, though more bird like. Feathers fell to the ground as he surveyed the area. As he looked, he saw Mat, Sam and Spring running through the street. A pack of Mertiz’s were getting ready to launch an attack on them, and they didn’t even know. George shot toward them.

  ***

  Mat could see a group of monsters getting ready to jump them. Spring and Sam already knew, but they didn’t want to give up their safety to attack them. When Mat gave the signal, they would launch their own surprise attack. Suddenly, a person came into his radar, flying toward the monsters. George. Mat rolled his eyes.

  “Now!” He yelled. Spring and Sam turned instantly, Sam shooting a shard of ice into one of the monster’s necks, Spring pouncing on one of them, ramming her sword into its chest.

  George flew through the air, his huge sword decapitating three of them in one swing.

  One of them, believing itself unnoticed, crept up behind Mat, ready to kill. Mat turned and threw his dagger. It hit home, shattering on impact with the beast’s head. It reminded Mat of a velociraptor. The shards of the dagger caused significant blood loss, disabling the monster.

  “Everybody okay?” George asked.

  Everybody nodded, all of them out of breath besides Mat.

  “We’re good.” Mat agreed. “Thanks for the help.”

  “No problem.” George said. “You are all good fighters. Perhaps we could -”

  “Behind you!” Mat cried.

  George turned, startled, but deflected an attack from a flying creature.

  It looked strange to Mat’s eyes. It was like a mix between an eagle and a man. A bird centaur? Mat wasn’t sure of the correct terminology.

  George’s sword slit its stomach open and it fell to the ground, twitching in pain.

  “Come on!” George called. “We have people to save!”

  ***

  Zato watched the city through the eyes of a large flying beast he had tamed years ago. It was so high that he doubted any could see. In fact, he was certain none could see it. It had amazing vision, however, so Zato could view the events of the siege without any danger to himself. He needed to prepare himself for what was to come.

  The city would survive this time, he knew. In fact, he was counting on it. Still, the screams of pain and the sight of so many being ripped apart by his monsters was very pleasing to him.

  His pet let out a small cry of pleasure, and Zato began to laugh.

  ***

  As they cleaned up another group of monsters, Mat felt something different. It didn’t feel like a monster, but nor did it feel like an ally. Somehow, he could feel it. That would have to be looked into later.

  Turning, he saw a black cloaked man slipping into an alley. Tapping George on the shoulder, he pointed to the alley.

  “Somebody’s hiding back there.”

  A look of anger clouded George’s face.

  “I’ll look into it.” George said, running toward the alley. Relief flooded Mat, knowing that George would handle it honourably. He had to admit; he was growing quite fond of George. He was respectable and always put the lives of innocents before his own. Mat could respect that.

  As he leaned against a wall, panting tiredly, his Eyes of the Tiger flared. Spring was in danger.

  Looking at her, he saw a black cloaked figure jumping from the city wall onto her, a sword aiming directly at her brain. If it hit, she would die. Yet he had no time to warn her. By the time she registered his warning she would be dead. But if he tried getting her out of the way, he would be too late.

  Mat felt the cold hand of fear clutch his heart as he began running toward, no matter how useless it would be.

  Looking at her, he saw a black cloaked figure descending on her, a black sword aimed at her skull. When it hit, it would ram directly into her brain. As the figure was only a couple of inches away, the world went still.

  Mat looked around in shock, the world at a complete standstill. The black cloaked man remained a couple inches from Spring’s head, keeping her in her last second of life. Mat walked to her, feeling like he was wading through thick sludge. His Toh was being expended like gas from a car. Still, he held on. Spring needed him.

  His Sapphire soul reached out, touching and analysing the man. He was… strong. Mat didn’t know how strong, but it was stronger than Sam. If he had to guess, he would say the man was at least two stages above Sam. Could Mat even stop him. His eyes paused on Spring’s beautiful, blissfully unaware face.

  “I can’t lose you.” Mat muttered.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Looking around, Mat noticed a fallen piece of wood from a ruined building. Wading through Time itself, Mat grabbed the rubble. Surprisingly, it moved fluidly. It was heavy, but Mat’s advancement had improved his physical strength, giving him the power to move it without breaking his back. At the end of the wooden rubble was a sharp point. A perfect dagger. Mat waded back to Spring, exhaustion creeping up on him, and perfectly aligned the spear. As he let it go, it froze in time again, a perfect weapon. Before Mat let Time unfreeze, he looked beneath the man’s hood. He saw a cold, uncaring face.

  On that face were runes and symbols, all carved in dark blue. Revulsion crept through his body as he saw they really were carved. Perhaps he was in some kind of gang. Mat didn’t know, nor did he care.

  Finally releasing the burden on his soul, time returned to normal, the wooden spike impaling the man in the throat. Of course, a being of that Rank wouldn’t be so easily defeated by a simple stab through the throat. Mat had known that. It was merely to buy them time to notice the man.

  Mat fell to his knees, the exhaustion finally creeping up on him. He didn’t black out – he was too strong for that – but he couldn’t move. But Spring was okay. That was all that mattered.

  ***

  Sam looked in shock at Mat, who was now lying on the ground, his breathing jagged and hoarse. He had just frozen time; it was obvious. Mat couldn’t just teleport.

  Sam wanted to write down everything to help with his research, but his friends were in danger. His research could wait.

  Clenching his hand around his wand, he shot a powerful bolt of lightning at the man, who had pushed himself off of the spike. They couldn’t give him a chance to escape, or to heal himself. He was Lower Diamond Rank, and Sam had no confidence in fighting him.

  The man didn’t notice the lightning bolt coming his way, as Spring was engaging him in a fight.

  Her green sword shone with immense power as she cut and slashed at him. The man had dropped his sword but was blocking the attacks with his hands. Lashing out with his feet he began forcing Spring back. The lightning bolt struck him, causing his assault to pause for a single moment.

  That was all Spring needed however to begin her counterattack. Metal, which was all over the city with the destruction going on, begam levitating in the air. At the same time, all of them shot into the man’s chest. That wasn’t enough to kill him though. Despite his movements being slower, he was still a threat to them.

  A winged man plummeted into the fight, his clawed sword impaling him. While he kept fighting, they all knew the fight was over. Sam didn’t let up with the attacks, George and Spring fighting the man from the back and front. He couldn’t deflect all the attacks, let alone fight them all at once. It took time, but the man eventually stopped fighting, falling to the ground.

  His breathing, unlike Mat’s, had fully stopped.

  Now that the battle was over, Sam pulled out his notebook and pen and frantically wrote every slight change in Toh, in the world, that he had felt the moment Mat had frozen time.

  ***

  “You’re okay my sweet boy.” Spring said, cradling her beautiful boy in her arms. Mat was slowly getting his energy back, but he still couldn’t get up. Spring ran her hands gently through his soft hair.

  “I’m not going to let you go.” She promised lovingly. “You’re safe in my arms. I’ll never let anything harm you.”

  When a monster came near, Spring shot fire and metal at it, or activated her Shield of Eternal Flame, while the other two killed it.

  “You’re a good fighter.” George commented to Sam.

  “Oh – um – thank you.” Sam stuttered.

  George smiled at him.

  “Do you know what is better than that though?”

  Sam shook his head.

  “You’re honourable. Instead of fighting to save yourself, you stand by people you have known for a few weeks. I like that.”

  Sam didn’t know what to say.

  ***

  Zato knew it was almost time to finish the attack, but he wanted to enjoy it for a moment longer before sending the monsters on a suicide attack. All the death pleased him. Any who defied him or his God must be destroyed. The only failure if this attack was Eritandellion’s student surviving. He had been sure that the Lower Diamond – Zato didn’t care to learn his name – would be able to kill her. Then that boy had somehow teleported a wooden piece of rubble into the battle, along with himself.

  Zato wasn’t angry, quite the opposite in fact. If he could transform the boy into an ally, it would be worth the death of the Lower Diamond. Still, the lose wasn’t actually going to affect him. It was merely an irritation.

  Tutting, he sent a signal to the monster’s brains, telling them to drop what they were doing, no matter the danger, and attack Eritandellion’s tower.

  His mission was complete. The Order was in the city. All he had to do was wait.

  ***

  As a horde of monsters closed in on them, Spring still holding her love, something strange happened. Each and every monster raised their heads at the same time, almost as if they were listening to some hidden call that no others could hear. In unison, almost like they were in a trance, they turned and ran in the direction of Eritandellion’s tower. The sound of the gravelly pathway crunching beneath their feet got slowly quieter and quieter until it couldn’t be heard any longer. No matter how much she wanted to know what was happening, she refused to leave Mat’s side until he was at least able to walk again. Though, even if he recovered enough to do that, she couldn’t imagine herself leaving his side anyway.

  She whispered soothing words into his ear, kissing his cheek. Rosey cheeks met her as she pulled away. How was it fair to make a boy as cute as him? Spring wished she had met him much sooner than she actually did.

  ***

  “What the hell is going on?” George asked.

  “I’ll go and check.” Sam said. Resting a hand on his shoulder, George stopped him.

  “We don’t know what’s happening. Going alone may not be a good idea.”

  “We can’t not check. Aren’t you curious?” Sam asked.

  “I am. But we can’t leave them.” George said, gesturing toward Spring and Mat.

  Sam felt instantly guilty. How could he be so callous as to leave his friends.

  “I’m sorry.” He said. “I wasn’t thinking.”

  George grinned at him.

  “No need to apologise. We can just bring them with us.”

  ***

  Eritandellion peered out of his window as the hoard of monsters bunched up out of his window. The sounds of them pounding through the streets to his tower were clear to his ears. A stench of blood and death reached his nostrils.

  Touching his glass to his lips, he felt the hot liquid slide down his throat.

  “Very refreshing.” Eritandellion commented. The glass made a low thud as he placed it on his long, brown table. The table was so large it almost touched both ends of the room. It was rather thin though.

  Rolling his eyes, Eritandellion walked to his cloak rack, picked up his gold and black cloak, and jumped out of the window. Falling from the forty first floor gave him plenty of time to put his cloak on. Unsheathing his golden katana, he swept it through the air. A golden wave of Toh burst out, crashing into the monsters directly below Eritandellion. It sounded like a crash of thunder striking the land. An angry God letting his wrath be known.

  Landing in the newly opened spot, Eritandellion adjusted his clothes.

  “Apologies. I got something on my boots.” He said, shaking the dust of the monsters he had killed off of his boots.

  “Let us begin.” He announced.

  ***

  Spring carried Mat easily as they followed the tracks of the monsters.

  Sam ran in front of them eagerly, George trailing a little behind to make sure they weren’t being followed.

  “I can walk.” Mat argued weakly.

  “And I can run.” Spring retorted. “Just hang on to me.”

  Mat grinned.

  “That shouldn’t be too difficult.”

  Spring took a mock gasp.

  “Behave.” A gentle blush rose in her cheeks though.

  Sam came to a halt by the gate surrounding Eritandellion’s training grounds. Peeking around Sam’s white robe, she saw Eritandellion standing in the centre of the grounds, wiping monster blood from a golden katana.

  A bright grin spread across his face as he spun on his heel, his cloak sweeping the ground graciously, and retreated into his tower.

  ***

  Mat was back in good health by the evening, Spring clinging onto him tightly. Sam sat opposite the two of them, George pacing the room thoughtfully.

  Sam slid his notebook across the table, showing Mat and Spring his work.

  “I believe,” he said, “that I’ve worked out how to get your time powers working properly. Even better news! Since nobody has ever had this type of Bloodline before, you get to name it.”

  Mat shared a look with Spring, who was still clutching on to him tightly.

  “What should we name it?” Mat asked her.

  “W – we?” Spring asked. “But I – its your Bloodline.”

  Mat stroked her beautiful rosy cheeks.

  “Of course.” Mat said quietly. “I love you. And I want to share my life with you.”

  Spring smiled warmly and kissed him passionately.

  “Get a room.” George joked when they broke away.

  Spring cracked a grin.

  “So how do we get it working?” Mat asked.

  Sam turned the page, showing a large picture of a core.

  “I believe that to stop time, you have to forcibly halt the flow of your Toh. Don’t cycle.”

  Mat frowned.

  “But if I stop my cycling entirely, shouldn’t that stop power from flowing through my body.”

  “Theoretically yes.” Sam agreed. “But your Bloodline power has changed how your Core fundamentally works. Stopping the flow and activating your power won’t stop the power flowing through you, because at the moment of frozen time your body splits from the frozen time. Your body continues to retain power.”

  “I see.” Mat said.

  Closing his eyes, he followed Sam’s instructions. Carefully at first, then much quicker. After all, he had done it twice. How hard could a third time be?

  ***

  Spring, still clutching onto Mat’s body, felt it marginally change. Looking at his face, she saw wonder and awe.

  “Did it work my love?” She asked.

  Mat nodded, his eyes wide.

  “Incredible.” He murmured.

  Spring leaned into him, her cheek touching his own. He turned suddenly, his eyes looking calmer.

  “I’ve never seen anything quite like that.” Mat said.

  Sam slammed the table.

  “So it worked!” He sounded genuinely shocked. “My calculations were correct.”

  “Oh yes! They were brilliant!” Mat agreed.

  “You needn’t sound so shocked Sam.” George said. “Have more confidence in your own abilities. My uncle – he died a few years ago – but he used to say to me “if you believe in your own ability, you will succeed. If you doubt yourself, it can only lead to failure.” Believe in your abilities Sam. You have a brilliant mind.”

  “I’ve never met anyone as intelligent as you Sam.” Spring agreed.

  Sam looked utterly bewildered.

  “I haven’t done anything that great.” He argued.

  “Haven’t done anything great.” Spring scoffed at the absurdity. “So you think that discovering how to activate an unknown Bloodline at will is something that just anyone could do?”

  “Well, I suppose it’s not particularly likely.” Sam conceded.

  “Exactly!” George declared like the matter was decided. “You did a grand job.”

  Sam looked around at all of his friends and smiled.

  “Thanks.”