Lore gasped again, a shallow rasping sound.

  Kar released the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. Her eyes focused on his face, then flicked past him toward the open Causeway below.

  “They’re still coming,” she said.

  Below them, that grinding chorus rose again. The shadowcryst were climbing, scores of them through the Causeway already, and hundreds more just behind. The sound echoed along the nearby streets. Doors opened and shouts rang out, as townsfolk emptied from their homes to investigate.

  “You should rest—“ Kar started to say. But Lore was already struggling to rise.

  “We don’t have time for that,” she said, “these people can’t be here. Someone has to tell the Fortress.” She paused, noticing the man laying on the ground next to them. “What happened to him?”

  Kar reached out a shaking hand to check. The man wasn’t breathing. He pushed him over. Sightless eyes stared from an ashen face.

  A terrible weight pressed upon Kar, as he realized what he had done. He hadn’t meant to kill him. What he’d taken shouldn’t have been enough to do so, “I—“

  A shrill scream erupted to their far right, then cut off suddenly with a dull, wet thump.

  Kar and Lore both reflexively turned to look, and saw the first of the shadowcryst had finished its ascent. It stood on three legs astride the top stair, a fourth, spear-like appendage outstretched. Impaled there dangled the motionless body of a woman. One of the townspeople whose curiosity had brought them too close.

  The shadowcryst shuddered as it Absorbed the last of the woman’s vitality, then grew subtly in size, dark void-cryst expanding around its torso and limbs.

  An alien clicking noise emanated from the beast, and it tossed the woman’s body aside.

  It saw Kar and Lore then, and stalked their way with a newfound poise and agility none of the shadowcryst had yet shown. It was as if the more these monsters fed, the more alert they became.

  “Where’s my hammer?” Lore asked, her voice eerily calm.

  “It’s right here.” Kar answered, picking it up as he pulled her away from the creature. The heads of more shadowcryst appeared above the top step. None of them had eyes set into their angular faces.

  “We can’t stay here.” Kar said, his chest tight. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. The bodies of that woman and the man he’d killed were emblazoned in his mind’s eye like afterimages. They were dead, because of him. And he could only imagine they were the first of many.

  He turned up the street, meaning to drag Lore with him.

  “We can’t just leave!” she yelled, resisting.

  Behind them, people started screaming.

  A piercing shriek of, “Shadowcryst!” Rang out from an upper balcony, and with that, panic ensued. People began running, shoving each other aside in their rush to escape, to be anywhere but on this street.

  Kar had meant to escape this way, to get Lore away from danger…

  “Kar!” Lore yelled, tugging him around to face her.

  His eyes darted back and forth, looking for a path through the chaos. A way out. The shadowcryst were coming.

  Lore slapped him, hard, across the face.

  “Snap out of it!”

  He focused on her, ignoring the pain in his face. There were tears in her eyes. Fear. And Determination. “We did this, Kar. I don’t know what’s happening, and I know you don’t either. But we can’t just run away from this.”

  Kar nodded mutely, ashamed of himself. She was right, of course. He took a deep breath, feeling fortified and grounded by her resolve.

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  The hammer felt heavy as he let go of Lore and handed it over. She grasped it, cringing in pain as she widened her stance to support her weight fully. From where they were tucked away behind his back, Kar pulled out both of the stilettos that had been gifted to him. The forge mistress had said these were designed to break shadowcryst shard-hearts. Whatever that meant.

  Kar knew what had to be done, regardless. “You’re still hurt. Try to hang back until I can Forge you some protection.”

  She nodded, and Kar stepped forward to face the shadowcryst bearing down on them. It was only ten or so paces away now. It’s void-cryst form defined by brutal ridges and sharp edges. It scrambled toward him, its gait unnerving, unpredictable.

  Kar crouched low, waiting for his opening.

  Something sliced through the air and slammed into one of the beast’s legs. The appendage shattered, and the shadowcryst stumbled, un-balanced.

  Kar swiveled. Trying to trace the source of that strike. He’d sensed Focusing behind him.

  There, on a nearby rooftop, crouched a figure looking down the length of one of those Cylinders; like those they’d seen in Mistress Sharien’s forge earlier.

  This was the opening he needed.

  He twisted back around and leapt for the wounded shadowcryst. It was struggling to right itself, the stub of its broken leg in the process of reforming.

  The stiletto in Kar’ right hand stabbed into the thing’s side with a satisfying crack. He held on to its handle tightly and swung his left stiletto forward, aiming to drive it home too. He wasn’t fast enough.

  The shadowcryst jerked sharply, and Kar swung at empty air. He cursed, dropping the weapon.

  Another sharp crack rang out, however, and the creature stumbled again, screeching furiously.

  A steady staccato of blasts followed—Kar saw more figures on other rooftops now—and the dozens of shadowcryst that had reached street level hunkered down or fell back under that steady barrage. Kar took the chance and thrust his left hand against the shadowcryst he fought. The beast shuddered as he began Absorbing its Dark Energía.

  Almost as soon as that influx of power began, though, it slowed. Kar found himself straining. He’d caught it off guard, but now the creature was trying to claw back what had been stolen.

  Kar set his teeth together and clenched his jaw. He had no intentions of surrendering anything he’d taken.

  A seething hatred pulsed through him. He wasn’t sure what of. Himself? These things? It didn’t matter. Kar channeled the emotion, bent it toward his foe, and overwhelmed its resistance. It let out one last screech, then ripped itself away from his grip and scrambled back towards the steps.

  The power he’d successfully acquired flooded into Kar. It was markedly more potent than what he’d Absorbed in the past from other Cryst. He didn’t hesitate. A suit of armor coalesced around him, starting with plate around his torso. It settled into place with a comforting click.

  Every Shadowcryst in the vicinity had fallen still. They turned towards him warily, as if unsure how to respond to his presence. Kar Forged a shield and tossed it to Lore, then utilized the last of what he’d taken to make a chain that he dangled in his left hand.

  Kar glanced back to check on Lore. She’d done as he’d asked, staying back. There was no trace of her usual smile or recklessness, though. She looked terrified.

  Figures emerged out of the side street behind them. Acolytes. Mostly teenagers. Kar recognized some of them from past training sessions at the fortress.

  “Out of the way!” A lanky youth yelled to those townspeople who had yet to flee. All he held was a training blade.

  The townsfolk responded by pressing themselves up against the nearby buildings, allowing these newcomers to pass.

  “Get behind us!” The lead boy yelled to Lore. The rest of his companions spreading out to block the street.

  Behind them, the crowd was thinning already, only stragglers now left this close to the causeways. There was hardly a dozen of the Acolyte troupe altogether. They were all so young.

  Kar moved to join Lore, when their leader squared with him and pointed his blade in his direction. “Get back!”

  Kar looked around, not realizing at first the boy was talking to him. The Shadowcryst were avoiding this part of the street where Kar was. But they were unencumbered elsewhere. There were hundreds if not thousands fanning out along the other streets of Darby now.

  Kar also saw then that the rooftop Focusers were repositioning, blasting off to impede the shadowcryst’s advances where they could.

  “He’s not a threat.” Lore said, an edge to her voice.

  “He looks like one!” One of the girls in the troupe said.

  Kar wasn’t offended. “Stay with them, Lore. Try and get to the others, at the Inn. Get them to the fortress if you can.”

  She shook her head vehemently. “No way.”

  “These Shadowcryst are scared of me. I’m just going to slow them down for a bit, and then I’ll meet you at the fortress.”

  She didn’t look convinced, but when one of the Acolytes grabbed hold of her gently by the arm, she didn’t resist.

  To the lanky boy still threatening him, Kar said, “Help her, warn everyone you can to get to the fortress.”

  “We don’t take orders from you.

  “ He said, frowning. “We’re here to stop the Shadowcryst.”

  Kar laughed harshly, “All you’ll do is get yourselves killed.”

  “Benjan, he’s right…” one of the other’s said.

  Still, the boy wouldn’t budge.

  “Do you have family?” Kar asked them. They all nodded uneasily, including Benjan.

  “Then that’s where you all need to be right now,” Kar told them. “making sure they get to safety. I’ll buy you time, but you need to go now.”

  With a frustrated shout, the boy Benjan lowered his practice sword and turned back. Lore shared one last look with Kar, then let herself be led away. She could hardly stand, he realized. There was a lot of damage he hadn’t been able to heal.

  This was better, though. Safer. For her.

  A milling crowd of Shadowcryst was waiting for Kar when he turned around. He strode toward them. Toward the Causeways.

  He’d lied to Lore.

  Kar had no intention of leaving this place, not until he was dead or that Causeway was closed.