The winds were stronger with each passing second, but not strong enough to knock the imperial warships out of the air. Spotlights shown all around, and there was an announcement for civilians to stay in their homes. For Kamille, Kacyn, and Ayela, though, they stood face-to-face with the darkest witch ever born: Tallie.

  Her golden locks were tied into a finely brushed ponytail behind her head that fell to the middle of her back, and she wore a black coat that extended past her knees. Black leather boots were strapped up to her thighs, and Ayela could make out her lacy black top underneath her coat. Nothing compared, though, to the wickedness contained in those sapphire gems that served as her eyes.

  “What are you doing here, Tallie,” Ayela spat. Instinctively, she had already tapped into her reserves of divine logic. Imperial warships hovered overhead, amplifying the imposed martial law, and the storms raged harder with every passing second.

  Had she called forth an aethril?

  “I’m actually here for her, young blood elf,” Tallie said with a sly grin. “Did she tell you anything about herself?”

  Kamille scoffed at the witch. “She doesn’t need to. Kacyn, are you turning us in to the Kult?”

  Kacyn shook her head wildly. “Never,” she declared.

  “Then there you have it, ivory bitch. She’s on our side regardless of whether her stories about herself are true or not,” Kamille answered. Talle laughed maniacally.

  “You truly have no idea! This is rich!” She spat. Ayela could almost feel her blood boil with anger. “This girl is Songrivan, as I’m sure she’s no doubt told you: but she’s been with the Kult as long as she can remember! She ran away a year before our encounter, mighty dancer, but she was so determined to find you when she heard that a dancer existed outside of the royal family of the Sovereignty, that she actually came back to Enthedrill! It’s too funny!”

  Ayela was shocked at this sudden revelation. “Is this true?” She asked, slowly looking over at the Ebony elf. Tears flooded down Kacyn’s cheeks, and she could see the remorse and hatred in her eyes; she hated the Kult. She hated them as much as Ayela did, if not more.

  “They took everything from me!” She sobbed in anger and sadness. “They stole me from my parents when I was a baby… Her people were told by her demon-gods that I was a farseer, and then they raised me like I was a caged animal! I was always chained, always beaten, always starved! They lied, they stole, they destroyed… I never got the chance to have friends or see people my age, because whenever I did make friends, they killed them all! They’re monsters!”

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  Neither Ayela nor Kamille could blame Kacyn for lying about her past. Why would anyone want to admit ties to such a horrible order like the one Tallie belonged to? “I’m so sorry, Emira,” Ayela cooed. Kacyn buried her hands in her face and cried like an abandoned child. Then the dancer’s eyes turned to Tallie, and the same wrath she felt when she realized that it was her that killed Rhaja resurfaced. “You’re going to pay for all the things you’ve done!”

  “Am I? You darklings can’t kill… And you see, there were many infants stolen from all over the world, deary… You think Kacyn is the only one? Grow up! This is the way of the world!” Tallie spat before reaching for the sky. When her arm was extended fully, violet runes and circles etched themselves out of thin air, illuminating the space they hovered around her arm as a stream of purple energy spewed forth into the clouds above.

  Then, a massive rune was carved into the storm, and before they knew it, the winds raged as hard as they did the night Sümol was attacked. Ayela’s eyes widened; she knew exactly what was happening…

  …Tallie was summoning an aethril from the storms overhead.

  “Get the men out here, she’s calling down a god!” Ayela shouted over the wrathful storm.

  “Are you crazy?! What the fuck are you going to do?!” Kamille shouted. Kacyn approached both of them with her arm over her face as if to block the winds. One wrong move, and they could be swept up into the maelstrom that hovered overhead.

  “I can see aethrils!” She shouted. Ayela and Kamille looked at her as if she’d lost her mind.

  “We can all bloody see them, Kacyn!”

  “No, I mean I can see them! I know what they look like and where to strike them! That’s one of the reasons Tallie wants me so badly! I can see clearly what beings of higher dimensions look like!” She clarified. They looked even more confused, but Ayela understood what she was saying.

  “You go, get the guys! Kacyn and I will fight Tallie and her pet god!” She ordered.

  “But-”

  “These people in this town are counting on you fighting back the empire! Go!”

  Kamille wasn’t given a chance to protest. Ayela and Kacyn turned to face Tallie, who was laughing hysterically. Kamille ran like Hell for the bar they were staying at, careful to avoid the troops that were dropping all around from the dropships that descended from the massive carriers hovering above.

  “I’m with you, Majjai!” Kacyn declared. Ayela assumed her most favored martial artist’s stance, and they readied themselves to fight the Towl?lite witch.

  Time seemed to slow down as Tallie levitated off the ground. Her wicked smile never left her face, and as she held her hands out, orbs of purple light hovered above her palms while ethereal ribbons of light glowing the same color circle around her body. This was going to be her hardest fight, but Ayela knew that this was what she was meant for. Fighting off the Towl?lites was her calling. They posed a threat to her world, and she would fight dearly to protect it.

  “You think you stand a chance against the might of the gods of old?!” She shouted.

  “No,” Ayela retorted above the deafening winds. “Not alone, at least…”

  “…But together, Emira and I can do the impossible!”