Parts of Kelwin's clothing were torn; his face was smeared with dirt and marked by wounds that were slowly healing. He coughed and spat blood onto the ground, trying to find something to steady himself.

  “Immesh! Where is Immesh? We were overrun! Lera and the others are probably already gone! It was a Deepest! WHERE IS IMMESH?” he roared, his eyes darting wildly around.

  “KELWIN!” a female voice cried, and Diga hurried to support him. Her face was pale, and she tried to conceal how closely she held him.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let you go, yet you survived. Thank the Goddess!” the hunt leader gasped, glancing at him.

  Some color returned to Diga’s face, though Kelwin was already shouting for Immesh again.

  “He’s meditating!” Diga explained quickly. “Kelwin, he has—”

  Uda flinched as Kelwin’s gaze locked onto her, burning with fury.

  “WHAT IS SHE DOING HERE, FREE?” he roared and lunged at her.

  The two guards jumped aside, and Uda was too startled to react. Although Kelwin’s speed slowed just before impact, she was too stunned to dodge.

  Nia… Is Nia really…? she thought as her body was hurled backward and slammed through the wall.

  She barely felt it.

  Kelwin began striking her, furious, wild, spitting as he raged.

  “You won’t escape me!” he bellowed.

  Uda could hardly hear him. His blows lacked force; he must have been running for half a day and spent all his Lucidity just to hold his body together. The fact that he had apparently smashed into several trees during his final steps only showed how exhausted he was.

  If he ran like that, something terrible must have happened. Damn it, Nia, what happened? Uda thought as more blows hit her face.

  She felt only distant touches and almost forgot, in her worry, that the aspirant was shouting and striking her.

  Then she made a decision that disgusted her. She had to try to speak to him. To help him.

  Do I really want to do this? Is it worth it? After everything that’s happened? He’s scum. But… he’s also human… she asked herself as a knee pressed lightly into her stomach and Kelwin snorted in anger.

  It doesn’t matter how. If Nia is somehow still alive… I have to go north. And maybe this miserable fool can help me… she thought, looking at the aspirant with revulsion.

  She took a deep breath and prepared herself.

  “Kelwin, calm down. I’m not possessed! Save your strength!” she snapped at him.

  She had expected him at least to flinch, yet he did not even react.

  FUCK! she cursed and shoved him away.

  The Aspirant was thrown back through the hole in the wall behind him and landed once more in the square, where the other hunters were now gathering.

  Damn, that was too strong. How am I supposed to calm him like this? But it felt so good to hurt him… Uda cursed again and rose to her feet, trying not to savor her own power.

  Slowly she climbed through the rubble, stepped through the hole in the house where she had been meditating earlier, and entered the square.

  “Kelwin! Damn it, listen! We—” she began, but his whip snapped and a small pulsing sphere of Light, barely more than a point, shot toward her and struck her directly in the eye.

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  Uda gasped, yet aside from a brief flash and a faint warmth, she felt nothing from his attack.

  He’s truly at his limit! How am I supposed to calm him? Shit!

  More flickering lights shot from his short whip and flew toward her.

  “Kelwin! I won’t attack you! But you won’t harm me either! Stop! I don’t want to hurt you! I’m not like you!” Uda shouted over the shimmering points of light that continued to send warmth across her skin and clothing, bursting against her in sparkling flashes.

  Kelwin froze mid-motion, his whip stilled as well. His face turned ashen, and he stared at her with wide eyes.

  He tried to speak, but the words caught in his throat.

  “What are you doing? Don’t stop attacking her! She has Immesh under her control, the others too! I’ll help you!” Diga screamed and hurled her spear at Uda.

  The projectile shot toward her, then soon slowed, and she stepped back to catch it in midair.

  “Stop, Diga! I don’t want to fight you either!” Uda called back and drove the spear into the ground in front of her.

  The huntress cried out, and Kelwin broke from his paralysis. Once more, points of light shot toward Uda.

  “You can’t get into my head, I won’t—!” Kelwin shouted, but a loud bang interrupted him, and he froze again.

  Uda looked around, searching.

  Something crashed into one of the buildings at tremendous speed, accompanied by another thunderous impact not far from them. Debris and dust were hurled into the sky. Kelwin spun around and almost reflexively fired another of his light-points at the building, which flared brightly and exploded with a hiss, dispersing the smoke.

  Then the Aspirant let out another scream, though this one was laced with pure panic, disbelief, and despair.

  A figure lay inside the shattered structure, half-covered by rubble and dust. It was coated in a black substance, except for the head, from which tangled red hair protruded. Uda could barely make out that the person’s back was not covered by the dark layer, and bloody gashes between the shoulder blades had been freshly torn open, glistening in the sunlight.

  “Exorcist Lera!” Kelwin shrieked like a madman and tried to run to her.

  He did not get far.

  A wave of black sand suddenly shot out from an alley and rose into a wall that blocked his path. The Aspirant collided with it and, to Uda’s surprise, was flung backward. He hit the ground hard, groaned in pain, and sent up a cloud of dust.

  “What the—” she gasped.

  She could say no more. Another wave of sand burst from the alley and spread around Uda until nothing else was visible. The grains lashed her face, and although it did not truly hurt, she felt a constant assault against her skin, which kept repairing itself. When the howling wind subsided, she stood inside a cage of the finest, darkly shimmering sand that carried an unpleasant dryness, making her long for water.

  She saw Kelwin push himself up, trembling yet determined.

  He searched for the attackers, and at last two men stepped out of the alley and positioned themselves beside Lera, who still had not moved. Uda knew she had not wakened.

  One of the men was tall and bore a scar across his face that made him look savagely wild. His dark skin was covered in a network of gray lines. The other man was shorter, with dark hair and wrinkled skin. Black spots were scattered across his pale face, and he grinned maliciously.

  “An Aspirant. I was beginning to think I wouldn’t get the chance to catch one of those…” the taller man muttered.

  “Yes, this will make a fine substitute,” the other one said eagerly, stepping toward Kelwin.

  “Stop,” a warm voice hissed, echoing across the square.

  Uda’s blood froze as she recognized it.

  No…

  “We are not here for amusement. When I decide it is time, you may indulge yourselves. We have other plans…” the voice said, both gentle and firm.

  Uda went rigid.

  No, that can’t be. She was—

  Then Nia stepped out of the alley.

  Uda’s breath caught. Her friend had changed. She now wore a tight black dress that accentuated her figure, and her dark hair was woven into intricate patterns, set with a beautiful hairpin whose mere sight made Uda dizzy. Her skin was white again, pale yet healthy, almost soothing. Her eyes were different colors: one blue, as when Uda had first met her in the ruins, the other red, a final trace of possession. Or something else? Something distantly familiar…

  Nia walked forward slowly, each step of her boots echoing across the square. Uda might have called her elegant, confident, yet something within her warned of terrible darkness, and the words of the golden-haired woman rang again in her mind.

  The darkness is evil!

  Although Uda still held a different view, it was undeniable that the darkness Nia adorned herself with carried a fragment of evil. Destruction and corruption… Yet it was controlled. That control was, in its own way, even more terrifying than the wildness of the Nightmares.

  Slowly, savoring the moment, Nia advanced, wrapped in a dark sheen. A sweet smile played on her lips as she surveyed the hunters, who remained utterly confused, though some had by now ignited their spears and taken up positions to attack. At last Nia stopped, sighed deeply, and raised an eyebrow as though explaining something very simple to people too foolish to understand.

  “Kelwin, you really are slow, but what did I expect? How is it that I’m faster while dragging this whore behind me than you are without her? Ridiculous. In any case, the time for games is over. Now comes seriousness,” she announced, offering a knowing, almost eager grin.

  No… Uda thought again and sank to her knees.

  What happened to her? What happened…?

  Numbness flooded her mind, and the emptiness, the void left by Nia’s former presence, by their connection, sent cold grief through her thoughts.

  What am I supposed to do?