“Run!” Relker shouted to all the kids as they weaved their way through side streets and back alleys, his limp slowing his pace just enough for the kids to keep up.

  Naem looked up into the sky and saw hundreds of beasts flying above, some diving down toward the ground, accompanied shortly by loud crashes of destruction and screams. His heart pounded in his chest as he finally accepted the fact that they were under attack.

  The great city of Veltra was under attack by flying demons!

  “Everybody, keep up!” Relker yelled again from the front of the group, pulling Naem’s attention back to him.

  They all rounded a corner and entered an alleyway that led to a larger street at the other end. A small group of human guardsmen stood at its end, looking up into the sky in fear, until one of them looked back and noticed the group.

  “There! Look at them!” one of the guards said, pointing his drawn sword down the alleyway toward Naem and the others. “Th—the demons are attacking us because of them! Quick, get them!”

  “Shit...!” Relker cursed as he stopped and tried to send the kids back the way they came. “Hurry, run the other way!”

  He sent Sakiri just ahead of him with Naem, while he continued carrying Sakura, who still murmured nonsense just loud enough to be heard.

  “Follow me!” Seiker cried out as he led the group down this side street in the same direction they had been running.

  “Don’t let them get away!” another guard screamed from the back, before a loud scream rang out behind them all, followed by the crashing of heavy armor.

  Naem looked back at the mouth of the alley, and a moment later, another scream echoed from it. Looking back slowed his pace in front of Relker, but he couldn’t draw his attention away.

  It did not take long before two of the guards ran out of the alley toward them, their unhelmed faces showing even more fear than when Naem had seen them at a distance. Instead of running in pursuit, it looked more like they were running for their lives.

  “Run, Naem!” Relker growled before intentionally whipping his good leg around and kicking Naem in the backside to get him moving—and it worked. Naem ran at full speed to catch up to Sakiri, Sakaya, and the others, following them down another alley.

  “Oh no!” several of the kids cried out as they all stopped abruptly just inside the mouth of the alley.

  “It’s a dead end!” Sakiri said in a panic as she turned back to her older brother. Naem followed her gaze and saw Relker grinding his teeth in frustration and worry before grimacing and dropping to his knee in pain, his ears flat against the top of his head.

  “Of all the days…!” he cursed, looking down at his left knee and the wooden brace he had wrapped around it, seeing that a part had broken from the stress he had put on it.

  Relker and all the kids looked back at the mouth of the alley at the sound of a scream and pleading nearby.

  Naem’s breathing became heavy, as it did for the rest of the kids, some of whom began to cry. He looked down at Relker, who sat Sakura down at the base of Sakiri and Naem’s feet, then stood up to face the alleyway.

  “Everybody, stand back against the wall and don’t move,” he ordered before starting to limp toward the end of the highway, his gait far worse than usual as he tried to support his bad leg the best he could.

  “You can’t fight like that!” Naem protested, but Relker did not react.

  “Brother, no!” Sakiri cried as she reached out toward him.

  “Relker!” Sakaya and several of the other kids cried out before Relker took up his stance halfway between them all and the end of the alley.

  “I said, stay!” Relker growled back, slipping his arms out of his upper robes so they fell behind him to cover most of his tail, suspended by his cloth sash.

  Naem noticed several large scars raked across Relker’s back from his left shoulder, their pink hue grown with age. He couldn’t study them long before Relker’s entire body was engulfed in a blue flame.

  Naem’s eyes grew wide as he watched Relker’s frame grow larger and more upright. The brace around his leg cracked and popped under the strain before it exploded off his enlarged limb.

  In a matter of a few heartbeats, the blue flame disappeared, leaving behind a hulking beast covered in gray fur that stood upright on its hindlimbs, its forelimbs slightly enlarged. Relker held his arms out to the side, creating a barrier between the dangers at the end of the alley and the children behind Naem.

  “Brother…” Sakura murmured, drawing Naem’s attention to her bright blue eyes, wide as she looked at Relker, her ears lying flat atop her head and her chin quivering. She looked as if the sight frightened her, but Naem knew that wasn’t the case—every Saiyakin had the ability to morph into their true Beast form.

  Naem and the rest of his friends jerked violently as a large crash rang out from what sounded like the other side of the wall that blocked them, followed by more screams and gunfire. He looked back as one of the guardsmen barreled into the end of the alley, screaming in panic as he slammed against the wall—failing to slow down enough to turn properly. The man quickly fell to the ground at the sight of Relker, standing in his large Beast form.

  Naem watched as the man quickly drew his sword toward Relker, then reached back and pulled out a gun holstered at his hip, pointing it at the entrance of the alley behind him.

  “Stay back! Stay back!” the man shouted in a panic, hobbling back and forth as he tried to retreat—either toward Relker or away from him.

  Naem didn’t have much time to question what the soldier was so afraid of before a large black figure stepped around the corner and into the alley. Its looming presence towered over the human, twice his height, and it brandished a large axe held out to the side. The giant’s two red eyes burned against the black of its skin, its figure outlined by the dim firelight from the street it had entered from.

  Naem’s heart dropped as the giant stepped closer toward them all.

  “A demon…!” Naem said to himself, unaware that he had spoken his thoughts aloud.

  The rest of the children behind Naem screamed in terror, along with the human guard, as he fired off six rounds from his gun—each bullet ricocheting off the demon's armor and smacking the brick walls that trapped them on either side.

  “Stay back! Stay away from me!” the human screamed as he drew his sword away from Relker and toward the demon, but his actions were worthless. The demon showed no interest in him, swinging its large axe with tremendous power and speed, slapping the human with the broad face of it. The human’s armor clanged loudly against the side of the axe before a grueling crunch and a series of crashes followed as the man’s body was sent through the brick wall to the left.

  In horror, Naem realized that the demon had set its sights on Relker and the rest of them… extending its axe out to the side again, ready to strike as it continued to walk closer. He batted his eyes between the demon and Relker, his breath growing labored as he mentally tried to pair Relker against the demon. But before he could think too much, a humming sound from above drew his eyes upward—right before a sword dropped a couple of feet in front of him and wedged itself between two cobblestones that made up the ground.

  It was slightly bent out of shape and garnished with a light hue of blood.

  A human sword!? Naem thought, seeing that the sword was twice as broad as a Vegan sword and had a sharp edge on both the front and back of the blade.

  Without thinking, he hurried over, pulled the sword from the ground, and held it out in front of him as best he could in defense. He spread his white wings wide to put himself between Relker and the demon. His anxiety rose as the demon continued to walk toward them, nearly right on top of Relker, and it was problematic that he could barely lift the sword—it was several times heavier and far clunkier than the Vegan swords he was used to.

  I have to do this… he thought to himself with determination, trying to swallow his fear with little success. This is what I have been training for!

  He stilled his breath before watching Relker dash toward the demon without warning. Relker’s growl echoed louder in the alleyway than the other screams and the loud pops of continuous gunfire in the distance.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  He watched as Relker narrowly ducked under the demon’s axe as it swung close to his head a moment before. Relker wrapped his arms around the demon's waist and heaved upward with a loud growl. The demon struck him twice in the back with its elbow, but it did little to help its escape.

  Naem watched the two giants fall to the ground with Relker on top. He began repeatedly pounding the demon in the face as it punched and kicked, trying to break free.

  “No…” Sakura pleaded softly behind Naem as she pulled her knees closer to her chest.

  Naem looked from her to the wall that blocked them, then back to Relker and the demon wrestling on the ground in a furious match of power.

  “Dillion, can you and Seiker get rid of that wall?” Naem asked, looking over his shoulder and wing back to the two wide-eyed boys standing behind him, pulling them out of their fearful trance.

  Seiker looked back at the wall with Dillion before shaking his head. “No, it’s not that big! Earth calling is only my secondary skill.”

  “Yeah…” Dillion continued. “That's too big for me to do.”

  “I don't mean get rid of it!” Naem argued frustratedly. “Just make a hole that's big enough for us to get through…”

  Dillion and Seiker exchanged a quick look, realizing that option was far more manageable.

  “I believe so…!” Dillion replied before the two boys slipped their way up to the back of the group.

  Naem watched as the demon continued its attacks on Relker, knocking him off balance. Both the demon and Relker quickly gathered themselves before slamming into each other again. Now, with the demon positioned between Naem and Relker—if that thing lands one good hit on Relker, he's done…! Naem thought in panic, scanning for anything that could give Relker the upper hand.

  Then he realized that while Relker had the advantage on the ground, now the demon controlled the fight as they stood. That became clear as he watched the demon prevent Relker from performing the same tackling move as before.

  Relker needs to get him back down to the ground!

  “Sakaya! Sakiri! Quick, turn the ground to ice over near the demon!” Naem shouted, not bothering to look back a second time, determined to keep his focus on the fight as it drew closer. After watching Relker make another attempt to tackle the demon—only to be kicked into the sidewall—he heard nothing from the girls behind him.

  He whipped his head around to see them both still, frozen in fear.

  “Guys, now!” he screamed, but nothing happened. They sat speechlessly, watching the fight unfold in front of them.

  “Damn it!” Naem thought, glancing back to see that Seiker and Dillion had already managed to create a decent-sized hole in the wall. The stone bricks slowly crumbled away and fell as dust—like fire overtaking a piece of paper—though the hole was not yet large enough for all of them to pass through.

  “Anyone!?” he asked desperately, looking over the rest of his friends as they all shied away into the corners and darkness as best they could. Most of them cried or sat in a trance as a large crash quickly pulled Naem’s attention back onto Relker and the demon.

  He looked back to see the large demon had wedged its axe in the wall to their right, with Relker narrowly missing it underneath.

  “Get him, Relker!” Naem screamed in encouragement before watching as Relker’s giant, elongated maw barked angrily at the demon while he scrambled toward it on the ground, grabbing the demon by its leg and biting down on its knee between the plates of armor.

  The demon let out a loud wail that echoed deeply in the alleyway, prompting several of Naem’s friends behind him to scream in fear. Naem clenched his teeth against the loud scream but did not look away. He watched as Relker let go of the demon's knee and tried to gather his feet, but the demon whipped its leg around and slammed Relker into the left wall, causing part of it to collapse around them.

  Relker whimpered loudly as he tried to pull himself free from the rubble, but he did not move much. After a few quick attempts, he reached out his clawed paw toward the demon’s feet. A bright blue light formed instantly in his palm, and ice froze the demon’s iron boots to the cobblestone in response.

  However, Naem watched as the demon struggled once before ripping its foot from the ground and then setting it back down on a new sheet of ice that had formed around him. With no traction under its feet, the demon slipped and stumbled back away from Relker and toward Naem, falling hard to the ground in front of him with a large thud. The curved horns of its head came mere steps away from Naem.

  He held his breath as he looked up to see if Relker was coming, but saw that his friend was still stuck under part of the collapsed wall, desperately trying to free himself.

  “No…!” Naem thought, panicked, before looking back down at the demon in front of him as it started to raise itself off the ground.

  Naem’s eyes focused on the sword he held out in front of him, its blade rattling with the shaking of his hands. He began to breathe heavily again, biting down on his teeth harder as he tried to force away his fear.

  It's right here… I could do something to help! he thought, before gathering every bit of courage he had.

  Naem screamed loudly as he dashed forward and struck the tip of his bent sword into the base of the demon's neck, but it did not sink very deeply at all. However, it was just enough for the demon to instantly react—wailing loudly again as it jerked back and slammed the back of its head into the ground, leaving the sword tip bloodied with black oil as it jutted out of the demon's throat.

  Naem stood there with wide eyes as he watched the demon’s body slowly relax after coughing up more of its black blood. The rage that had filled its eyes slowly began to fade before it let out one last breath.

  “I… I killed it!” Naem said softly to himself before glancing over at his friends a couple of feet away, all of them looking from the demon up to Naem in disbelief. Some of their worried expressions slowly turned into smiles and laughter.

  “You killed it!” Seiker laughed loudly as he stood up, his shaking legs giving out from underneath him a moment later.

  The sound of rubble moving made Naem look over to Relker, who was finally pulling himself out from under the collapsed wall. His giant Beast form was slowly burning away in the same blue flames that had engulfed his body before its transformation—the blue flames consuming the fur and flesh until he returned to his actual size and human-like form.

  “Thank you, Naem,” he said with a nod of respect as he limped over and studied the hole in the wall that Seiker and Dillion had nearly finished. His blue eyes burned many times brighter than Naem had ever seen before.

  “Nice thinking,” Relker said gruffly as he stopped to take in Sakiri and Sakura’s tearful embrace. He glanced up at the sky with Naem and took in the sight of demonic beasts and streaks of light—both magical and physical—flying above in a battle of oppression, with screams ringing out loudly all around amid the chaos.

  “Naem, we are heading back to the river district. That's where the rest of us live,” Relker said, pulling Naem’s attention back to him. “So, stay close, so we don't get separated. It's not too far from here now.”

  “All right,” Naem said, maneuvering around the demon and toward Relker.

  “I can only morph one more time before I’m out of mana,” Relker continued as he took both Sakiri’s and Sakura’s hands into his. “I will save it for when we really need it. But we do not want to draw any more attention than we already are, okay?”

  Everybody in the group nodded in understanding before Relker nodded toward the hole that Dillion and Seiker had finished making. All the kids began to crawl through one at a time as quickly as they could.

  Naem looked back up at the sky. It would have been much faster for him to fly over the wall, but the sight of some demon beasts flying right over the tops of the surrounding buildings made him think otherwise.

  I think I'll just stay down here… he thought, before looking back as Relker sent Sakiri through the hole, followed by Sakaya and then Sakura. He stopped before squatting down to go through himself, as Relker grabbed his shoulder.

  Naem looked back at the older boy, whose eyes peered brightly down at him in the darkness.

  “Hey, thanks for your help back there… really,” Relker said. “Nice thinking with the wall, and the ice as well.”

  Naem raised his brows, not expecting Relker to have heard him before.

  “Keep it up…” Relker continued as he shoved Naem down toward the hole. “Your kind will have this mess cleaned up here in a little bit. We just need to hold out until then.”

  The thought of Vlad crossed Naem’s mind as he started to crawl through the hole, agreeing with Relker.

  Yeah, I'm sure Vlad will kick all of these monsters out in no time…! he thought as he emerged into a large room on the other side, seeing the rest of his friends scattered throughout the room, trying to peer out the windows to see what was going on.

  However, Sakura, Sakiri, and Sakaya sat in the corner of the room to his left, huddled together as they tried to stay as far away from the windows as possible.

  Naem glanced from them back to the rest of the kids just before a loud explosion shook the entire room from outside. Mortar pieces fell from the crumbling walls as the vibrations freed them from their grasp.

  “I can't believe this is happening again…” Sakura murmured to herself as she held her ears to the top of her head, trying to block out all the sounds around her.

  “I'm sure everything's gonna be alright, Sakura,” Naem said, trying to comfort his friend while secretly harboring doubts and worry. “My brothers will have everything under control here in no time. I'm sure of it.”

  “Will that be before or after everybody's dead, Naem?” Sakaya finally spoke up, tears streaming as she clenched her fists. “You saw that thing back there…! How can an army of those things be beaten!?”

  Naem bit his tongue, but Relker spoke up before he could reply as he approached the hole.

  “There’s no time for us to worry about that,” Relker said, drawing all of the children's attention to him as he awkwardly stood up off the ground. “Naem’s kind have been protecting kingdoms from the demons for as long as history itself. I seriously doubt they’ll let the biggest kingdom they protect now fall…”

  The ground trembled beneath everyone’s feet as a loud explosion rang out from just outside the building, causing most of the children to scream in fear and run away from the windows.

  “The only thing we need to worry about now is getting back to our homes,” Relker continued as he limped over and took both Sakura’s and Sakiri’s hands, beginning to move toward the door. “We just have to cross one more street and then we’ll be fine. Everybody can come to our house if you want to stick together or go your own way to your homes—but I need to know now.”

  Naem watched as everyone briefly looked at the person beside them, then returned to staring at Relker in silence.

  Relker waited for a moment to see if anybody would speak up, then nodded his head in agreement. “All right, everybody, stay as close to me as you can. Do not spread out…”

  Naem and the rest of his friends gathered behind Relker by the door and prepared to run. Naem found himself toward the back of the group next to Dillion. They exchanged nervous glances before looking up at Relker as he opened the door and rushed outside, with everyone following right behind him.

  All the kids followed him out as they poured through the doorway, but their fast pace quickly came to a halt when they saw that all the homes and other buildings outside had been reduced to rubble. Fires roared as people and beasts ran for their lives—giant, horned demons cutting them down in the streets while even bigger winged beasts, as black as night, stooped down and devoured both the dead and the living.

  Continuing forward felt like a death wish. The desperate pleas for help and the anguished moans of the dying echoed relentlessly in Naem’s ears, each sound etching itself deeper into his mind. As the reality of the devastation sank in, Naem’s mind reeled, and his limbs betrayed him. He was gripped by a paralyzing fear that left him numb and isolated amongst the horror.

  This was where they were all going to die.