Tolin was laid out in four major districts.

Market, Port, Garrison, and Residential. The city was surrounded by tall, castellated walls; and each district was separated by smaller walls with a single gatehouse acting as the point of entry from one district to another. A number of towers lined the walls that overlooked the city.

The market district began directly past the front gates. Two main roads winded through the city from there; the residential district was to the west, and the port district was to the east.

Beyond the rows of homes and villas in the residential district was another gate, that led to the garrison district which housed the Citadel. The size of that stronghold would allow tens of thousands of soldiers to be stationed there with ease.

In the east laid the sprawling port district, with its quay walls jutting out against the ocean waves. Warehouses and artisan crafting workshops dotted this district, it was the industry backbone of the lost Empire’s expanding frontier.

South of the port district, a massive steel-reinforced stone bridge spanned the length of the channel mouth. This engineering marvel linked to Tolin’s sister city, Ingmont, on the other side of the gulf.

It was late when the scouting parties reported back in.

The teams that scouted the walls around the city reported no hostile creatures and very little activity as a whole.

One party provided a detailed sketch of a section of the city wall that had crumbled near where a river ran through the city. The river flowed along the residential and market district border wall. They indicated that the damage appeared to be more likely from erosion, than from any monster.

The four parties that searched the city were much busier avoiding hostiles to fully accomplish their reconnaissance mission. After taking in all the reports, our adversaries included packs of wild dogs, demon hounds, and Capradaemns.

I asked each scouting party the same question, and each party had the same response…

Nobody saw anything that they would describe as a Terror Demon.

Once the last scouting group left and we were alone Hailey let out a sigh, whether it was in relief or from stress I wasn't sure.

"Airis, do you think we’re in the clear?"

"In the clear from what?"

"I mean, do you think we’ll have to deal with that... Terror Demon?"

"It could just be hiding. Or it may have moved on. We don’t have any actionable intel that can confirm either of those two options."

She sat down and buried her face into the table. Her mumbled words could barely be made out.

"Being in command sucks."

I laughed and gently brushed my hand through my hair.

"It really does sometimes."

"If I had known it would be this stressful I… I wouldn't have taken this position!"

Hailey raised her head up and looked at me in alarm as she blurted that out.

She started to push her chair back but I grabbed a hold of her shoulders. I raised an eyebrow at her, and in response she tried to pull away from me.

“Not fair. Let me go!”

She squirmed with all her might, but couldn't get out of my grasp.

“Not until you explain what you meant.”

Hailey crossed her arms, “Hmph.”

“You can sit here and pout, but I’m not letting you go till I find out what you’re hiding from me.”

"Fine, but the next secret you try to keep I’m gonna pester you until you tell me. I heard about an opening in Third Division when Commander Morgan was thinking of retiring. It came with orders to Axio, and I applied to be closer to you!"

Ohhhhh… wait what!?—

Before I had the time to really digest what she had said, the canvas door flung open wildly and Julius ran into the command tent. He bore a grim expression, and even grimmer news.

"Hostiles engaged the guards at the gate. A lot of them."

"Shit. Where are the others?"

"They're already there, and now that I've found you two we have to get out there!"

Hailey and I hurried after him, rushing out of the camp. The evening sun was setting, there would only be an hour of good light remaining.

The sounds of battle echoed over the hills.

Two wounded soldiers limped past us as we rode to the barricade. A fiery explosion flared in front of us followed by a tower of smoke that rose up into the sky.

The air around us thickened as we descended into the Aethermist that covered the battlefield.

The Divisional guards had hastily repositioned the barricades to form three hardened defensive positions.

From these makeshift positions, archers were taking opportunities to pick off their aggressors. On the front, a shieldwall had formed and was preparing to charge forward.

Humanoid figures swarmed from the battered gates. Their heads, however, were anything but human—more goat-like. Long, twisted horns arched back from their foreheads. Sickly pale skin was pulled taut against muscular upper frames with thick hair covering their lower halves, ending at cloven feet.

A quick scan of the demons revealed they weren’t as formidable as they seemed. But with sheer multitude of them, this was still going to be a hard pressed battle.

Just as Julius had said, our party members were already here. Mei was taking shots with the other archers. Soren and Alistaire were among the shieldwall, swords at the ready. The only person I didn’t have eyes on was Luke—and as soon as that thought came to mind, Luke's voice crackled to life from the Communirune in my ear.

"Glad to see you made it, Commander. The gate was overrun by a surprise attack, but we have managed to keep the defensive line."

I looked out among the pockets of red-clothed Divisionals, but still couldn’t find where he was hiding.

"Hey Luke, good to hear your voice. Where are you?"

"Eastern barricade. I'm spotting for the rangers here. None of these bastards are getting past us."

An unsettling chill ran down my spine. The pressure of the Aethermist was increasing, the demons were about to make another charge.

But, before I had a chance to warn him, Julius had already run forward and was shouting orders.

"Alcotts, Jameson. Get your asses over here. Let’s go! Form up on me. Alcotts you’re in cycle first. Jameson you stay two lengths back and watch our hides."

The two boys fell in with Julius. With all those training drills every night and morning, they had become very proficient in following Julius’ orders. As they moved forward, It felt like they had been fighting together for years.

Their strides were perfectly in-step with each other. Both of the junior warriors had picked up cycling quickly in training.

Ear piercing screams emanated from the gate and a horde of Capradaemns spilled out into the battlefield.

A warcry roared from the shieldwall, and they began pushing forward steadily. A flare spell rose in the air behind me, prompting a hail of arrows that peppered down upon the demons.

Divisional arrowheads were designed to inflict the most damage possible to monsters and demons; triple-bladed broadheads with another set of blades that winged out behind it. They caused a tremendous amount of damage, basically guaranteeing that a target would start to bleed out. In most cases they would leave a limb crippled if struck.

The advancing shieldwall made contact, blade and spear met claw and fang.

Hailey called out to me while she was casting a spell.

"Get up there and backup our boys. I can manage healing for now. I’ll call out to you if I need your help."

I nodded at her and stepped to move away, but quickly stopped.

I traced a focusing sigil and channeled energy to my palms. I placed one on her right shoulder.

“Peer past the infinite veil. Let the power hidden within our being come forth, Brilliance!”

Violet light enveloped us both and she grinned widely.

Julius, Soren, and Alistaire were to the west of the shieldwall. I took a position on the eastern side, giving Luke a clear line of sight to me. This way, I could call out for support if I got into anything too troubling.

The shieldwall formation was a standard pushing defensive formation. This one was on the smaller side, only being three rows by fifteen columns with three officers in the rear. They advanced in a wedge, gaining a few inches of ground against each demon they felled.

Arrows continued to inflict casualties, and the demons began to act more erratically. Instead of engaging directly with the force ahead of them, they started to focus their aggression on the archers raining hell down on them.

A group of five demons charged at the opening between myself and the shieldwall. A red glow illuminated each of them and a cry rang out far above me.

I unsheathed my blade, the dark-crimson flames erupted in a dazzling display of ferocity.

Valiance, Mei’s ebon-feathered companion had used her MARK TARGET ability. In addition to making them much easier to detect, it highlighted weak spots with an intense light.

I readied my blade in front of me, in an attack stance, leaning forward and crouching at the waist. I balanced myself for a quick slash and waited to strike. Once the first demon was close enough, I burst into motion.

My blade cut upwards in a diagonal arcing slash through the monster. Flames trailed behind the swing, erupting aggressively once the blade finished rending the flesh. The dark fire spread out in a nova, engulfing the group of demons.

They screamed in pain as their flesh burned in magickal fire.

The target of my BLADE SLASH was completely eviscerated by the attack. I had aimed at the brightest spot on its body, which happened to be its lower abdomen. The bloody carnage was made more appalling by the foul smell of burning flesh.

Nobody had seen the effect of SOULFIRE yet. Julius and I had only been training with practice weapons. We expected that it would be intense—but I was surprised at the power of the ability. The reactionary effect of the nearby Divisionals indicated that it was more than awe inspiring. A throng of slack-jawed soldiers gave their impressions.

"By the Celestials!"

"A single strike took all five of those bastards!"

An officer called out a rallying cry, "Witness the power of our Commander! These demonspawn stand no chance, we’ll cut them all down!"

The soldiers in the shieldwall let out a boisterous cry and advanced further.

I quickly reviewed my combat log for a detailed breakdown.

» BLADE SLASH HITS, INFLICTING MODERATE (132) DAMAGE

» BLADE SLASH CAUSES MAJOR WOUNDS

» SOULFIRE HITS, INFLICTING MAJOR (132) DAMAGE

» SOULFIRE SPLASHES, INFLICTING MAJOR (132) DAMAGE

» SOULFIRE CAUSES MAJOR WOUNDS

By the Celestials, that effect is staggering.

The splashing damage from the SOULFIRE looked like it applied the full amount of damage to nearby enemies, rather than a reduced area of effect like most Combat Class spells. I wasn’t sure if the effect did major damage because of the major wounds, or if that’s just standard for this ability.

Fortunately for me, there was a horde of these goat-man demons for me to test this out on.

My blade slashed through them, always followed by its ravenous flames that engulfed each target. Without fail, each swing resulted in fire bursting outwards to consume anything close by.

After the first few groups I stopped checking the combat logs. Every time SOULFIRE hit, it caused major damage and applied the same level of wounds.

» BLADE SLASH HITS, INFLICTING MODERATE (156) DAMAGE

» BLADE SLASH CAUSES MAJOR WOUNDS

» SOULFIRE HITS, INFLICTING MAJOR (156) DAMAGE

» SOULFIRE SPLASHES, INFLICTING MAJOR (156) DAMAGE

» SOULFIRE CAUSES MAJOR WOUNDS

» BLADE SLASH HITS, INFLICTING MODERATE (98) DAMAGE

» BLADE SLASH CAUSES MAJOR WOUNDS

» SOULFIRE HITS, INFLICTING MAJOR (98) DAMAGE

» SOULFIRE SPLASHES, INFLICTING MAJOR (98) DAMAGE

» SOULFIRE CAUSES MAJOR WOUNDS

Within an hour, we had control over the gatehouse. The sun was now barely visible on the horizon. Countless demon corpses lied slain in the dirt—not a single Divisional soldier had died. Though some were moderately injured, but not severely enough to warrant expending more magicka from the healers.

The injured were loaded onto carriages and carts and sent back to the main camp to be overseen by the field hospital staff.