Gene’s unconscious body laid among the dozens that littered the ground before the Warrior, Kyrie Winthrop. Kyrie was gripped by existential dread, frozen with his blade still raised in defense of the man who fell from the sky and brought with him a storm of death. He glanced at the nearest Forsaken, afraid to look. There were no injuries on the body, no signs it was even dead. Glassy eyes stared back at him and he shuddered.

  “What was that?!” exclaimed the Pact Witch, Winifred Thistlebottom. She hung off of the Ranger, Eonis Everfalls, shoulders, bobbing through the air as she bounced on his back. Her witch’s hat trailed air behind her, held aloft by a spell. It had been long abandoned in the flurry of their escape.

  Her voice snapped Kyrie out of his daze and he looked at them in confusion. Eonis walked over with Winnie, their twin pointed ears synching up every time she bounced high. He was a Wood Elf, born of nature in the spring of the new world’s dawn. She was a Smidgen and her diminutive form hid an arcane beast of yet untold power.

  “Graces guide me!”

  Eonis raced over to Kyrie whose eyes were frantically searching for his twin sister, Kyra.

  The darkskinned woman took tentative steps towards her brother. Her gold eyes were wide in shock. The Cleric of the goddess Aliyah, Keeper of the Undying Torch, had never seen anything like what transpired here. Not even her most powerful Revelation spell could kill that many with one attack. She held her staff tight as she approached her twin brother, hand held out, searching for him in a daze.

  Kyrie reached for Kyra as her steps wavered, catching her in his arms before turning back to look at the unconscious Gene.

  His chest raised and lowered with every labored breath he took. The party, Silvayn, all looked at one another as Winnie shouted her question again to no one in particular. She knew no one had the answer.

  They all took cautious steps to Gene and Winnie spoke.

  “No no no no. This isn’t right. That wasn’t right! That wasn’t magic! There’s no mana in the air.”

  She hopped off Eonis’s back, trotting over to take a closer look at Gene. Her hat floated effortlessly onto her head, covering her messy mop of dishwater blonde hair. She formed a ring with her index finger and thumb before leaning closer and then jumping back suddenly.

  “This–this is impossible. That creature doesn’t have any mana at all! What is it? It fell out of the sky. Could it be some celestial invader? A fallen god, maybe? Does Biris have an aspect that can do that?”

  Winnie paced as she questioned what she saw and Kyra winced when she said the word god. After seeing that display of power, the same thought had crossed Kyra’s mind but she was still in a daze and after a moment of realization at the pain in her leg, still quite injured. They all were.

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  They had only just barely escaped the cadre before this creature fell from the heavens and saved them, displaying powers unlike any of the gods, the four Graces, had ever wielded. Kyra panicked, eyes glued to Gene until her brother spoke.

  “We need to get out of here.”

  Kyrie moved from Kyra to pick up the unconscious Gene and the others all tensed up when he touched him, fearful his strange power would take effect again. They all let out a collectively held breath when nothing happened.

  “Umm…should…should you be moving him? After….you know…” Eonis pointed up to the sky cautiously and then pantomimed Gene’s ungraceful fall from heaven, making an arcing motion with his hand that ended in him slapping his hands together and making an explosion sound. Kyrie pursed his lips.

  He looked at Gene and hesitated to move him. He was covered head to toe in bruises, his strange clothes ripped to shreds where tree branches and impact with the ground tore large gashes into his flesh. His left arm was fractured in two places. Kyrie held his breath.

  “Ky…” he started before glancing in his sister’s direction, “Can you heal him? Please?”

  Kyra’s gold eyes flashed at the audacity of her brother’s request and she wondered if he was being serious. She couldn’t help but think Gene was dangerous.

  Kyrie knew what that look meant but he wouldn’t back down.

  “Just enough so that we can transport him? Please, he’s badly injured and he saved us. This is the least we can do.”

  Kyra considered his words for a moment before Winnie spoke for her.

  “Just enough to move it, Kyra. Nothing more, nothing less. Whatever this creature is, we can’t leave it here. If the Dark Lord captured something like this…”

  Winnie’s words trailed off. She didn’t need to say much more. They all winced at the thought of what the Dark Lord would do if he could harness this creature’s power, let alone what he would do if he found a way to spread its power among his Forsaken Fleshbound.

  Kyra took a deep breath and began casting a spell to mend flesh and splint bone but she stopped short of fully restoring him. Even if she wanted to, they’d wasted enough time there.

  Eonis said as much, lessening the blow of guilt she felt from her lackluster casting.

  “Come, we need to hurry before anyone notices a whole Forlorn Spire is empty of its inhabitants.” Eonis urged them forward, picking up Winnie and running ahead as Kyra followed with Kyrie in tow, carrying the unconscious Gene.

  They ran far to a clearing miles from the Forlorn Spire to the secluded waystation Eonis set up before they started their quest. In the trees, Eonis’s skin shifted in patterns, mimicking the leaves around him. The others strained to spot him as his reflexive camouflage kicked in. Kyrie and Kyra struggled to keep up with him and he struggled to tamp down his speed increase in the woodland environment.

  They finally reached a clearing and one by one, they stepped through a seemingly normal looking tree and stepped out into their prepared and warded camp several miles in the opposite direction.

  They collapsed into the camp, breathing heavily, all except for Kyrie. He raced to the tent he shared with Kyra as she watched him, depositing Gene into his bedroll before stepping out of the tent in silence.

  He closed the tent flaps, turned to the others and said, “We need to talk.”

  The air was tense and all eyes were on Kyrie. Kyra simply walked over to the firepit and waved a hand over it to produce flame before sitting and saying, “Yes. Let’s talk.”