With Anso in the lead, I stood out of the way and followed through last with Augur Stanis.

On the other side of the portal, we had entered a grand hall where a panicked Velorian woman stood on a dais ordering giant, hippo-like soldiers about in a hysterical scream.

"What is going on?" Anso barked.

She turned rage-filled eyes on the Warden, and her anger went out like a gutted flame. "Warden Anso! Thank the Union you're here. The Siroth have attacked my Arena. Thousands are dead. They have destroyed my walls. The Earther too, they kidnapped him.

He slid his sword from the sheath, and the room seemed to darken around him. "Which direction did they go?"

An old Velorian came to stand by her side. "South-East," he replied. "The streets are heaving with tournament fans and Siroth sympathizers. We cannot give chase."

"Do you have any marks of dominion or other means of scrying for him?" Augur Stanis asked.

She shook her head and glared at the old man. "We do not."

He held up his hands in defense. "The Earther was a very unusual specimen. There are reasons why it was not reasonable to do so, but we can discuss them later. I am in possession of his finger if you are able to use that?"

Augur Stanis nodded. "Show me. And I will see your equipment."

"We must be fast," Anso said. "They will have an escape route."

Stanis nodded. "We have a direction, I will be fast."

The two men strode off to a side room, leaving us all to stand and wait. I looked at the other soldiers to see what they did and was satisfied to find that like me, they waited, as emotionless as statues.

They returned a few minutes later. Stanis was practically bouncing. "We have him."

Anso nodded and barked out commands. "Soldiers, ready! Battle lines. When we go through, it will be carnage. Our focus is to retrieve the Earther, but kill as many Siroth as you can."

Eager assent followed, and before I knew it, Stanis had another portal open. Without any kind of hesitation, Anso charged through like a man possessed, sword held high, ready to murder.

The others filed through just as fast, and again, I followed through with Stanis.

It was carnage beyond, and the brief glimpse I dared take of the levels of our enemy was enough to turn back around. There were more of them, and their levels weren't too dissimilar from the Archon guard.

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I caught sight of Anso who had become a tempest. He hacked and slashed, but with the grace of an eagle. He looked untouchable in the maelstrom around him.

The other soldiers had more trouble, but we were slowly pushing forward toward the portal the Siroth had set up.

A warrior, who looked terrifyingly like Yoru, came at me, and I realized to my shame that I hadn't pulled my sword. I ducked under his attack, and sent a thundering right into his armored torso. He didn't even stagger from the force.

Spinning away, I tried to coat my hand with Spirt Strike, but it was so crazy that I didn't have time to focus and had to avoid another blow.

I finally took out my sword. By that time, Stanis had seen, and blasted the mountain of a man in the chest. He didn't die, but a gap appeared in his armor. I took my chance and lunged at it with the sword.

His desperate attempt to bat it away failed, and I felt both relief and horror as the sword slipped deep into his chest. He writhed, ripping the sword free from my hands.

The same time, I heard Stanis shout, "I've found the Earther!"

I kicked the still-breathing Thuris in the face, my armored boot making a mess of his nose, and then I wrenched the sword free as Anso replied to Stanis.

"Secure him, I will focus on the Siroth."

I frantically searched for Stanis. He had just saved me, and I felt a debt needed to be repaid as he crossed the battlefield. Other Archons attempted to follow the powerful mage but were caught up in their own mini battles too.

I moved forward, trying to stay calm and aware of my surroundings. An Archon guard was about to die from an axe to the head on my left. I rushed forward and thrust my sword into the green-skinned brute's armpit. So many races I had no idea about, and my first meeting was to try and kill them.

I moved on, catching a glimpse of Stanis up ahead. He had cast a sphere of power over someone. I hurried to catch up.

The figure in the sphere had their back to me, but they were bent crooked and looked badly injured. A Siroth tried to enter the barrier and was stopped dead.

Some kind of containment field, I reckoned. I avoided a gray-skinned, horn-headed monster of a man carrying a huge hammer as he finished off one of the Archon guards. That was a fight I wanted no part of. I intended to protect Augur Stanis' back if I could.

I turned back to the him just as he reached the containment sphere. The man inside turned far faster than his body had suggested he could, and he thrust with his spear.

A stupid move as he was completely trapped. Not to mention we were coming as friends. I helped another of the guards by chopping down on the back of a ferocious Grunir, swinging a battle axe to great effect. The distraction was enough for the Archon to regain the upper hand, and I refocused on Stanis.

I had to do a double take as the Augur's legs gave way and he fell bonelessly to the floor. The spear had somehow gone through the barrier and hit Augur Stanis in the face. I looked from my fallen comrade to the human attacker. His face was contorted in gleeful rage as he leaped forward to finish the job.

I froze, helpless, feet rooted to the floor as I gazed on my worst nightmare come true.

Earl Henshaw smashed a wicked one-two combination into the swaying mage's helmet, somehow leaving dents in the metal.

I wanted to run away. I wanted to run toward him. I wanted to kill him! All of that made sense, but the one emotion that left me sick to the core was that I wanted to say hello. I wanted him to apologize for everything. I wanted him to protect me like an older brother should. Instead, I watched numbly as he mangled a powerful mage with his gloved hands.

I watched as hands of the Siroth warriors gripped hold of him and dragged him away through the portal. I watched as Anso tried to stop them and took an arrow in the chest.

I watched as the portal closed, and my whole world had changed again.

The End of Book One

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