When Kaz said run, nobody asked questions.

  I'd seen the man wade through hordes of nightmares without flinching. I'd watched him burn monsters to ash while laughing. The fact that he looked scared now sent my stomach plummeting faster than a comet dropping from orbit.

  My legs pumped beneath me, my boots pounding against stone as we abandoned the defensive position. Prisoners scattered like roaches when the lights come on, there was no formation, no strategy. Just pure, animalistic panic.

  "What the hell is happening?" I gasped, keeping pace with Zo as we sprinted across the uneven terrain.

  "SOMETHING THAT SHOULD MAKE YOU RUN FASTER," Mabel's voice was loud inside my skull.

  The massive tear swelled behind us, growing like an infected wound. The smaller tears around it began to warp, pulling toward the larger one as if they were being sucked in.

  I risked a glance over my shoulder.

  The tears were merging, collapsing into the central rupture like they were being devoured. The bloody light intensified, casting everything in a harrowing glow that made the battlefield look like a floor of a slaughterhouse.

  That's when everything went to shit...

  I watched as a massive claw punched through the dimensional membrane.

  Not a hand, not a paw… a fucking claw. Massive. Black-scaled, edged in deep crimson. Each talon was longer than I was tall. It gripped the edge of the tear like it was fabric and pulled, ripping the wound wider.

  "Oh shit," I breathed.

  A second claw followed as the tear screamed.

  My ears popped from the pressure change. Several prisoners around us dropped to their knees, clutching their heads.

  "KEEP MOVING," Mabel snapped. "UNLESS YOU WANT TO BE A LATE NIGHT SNACK."

  The monster's massive head pushed through the wound. Its three curved horns raking the sides of the tear causing dimensional sparks, angling them downward like a crown of bone.

  It was scarred, ancient beyond reckoning, with blackened scales that were cracked from battles fought before humanity existed.

  Bright smouldering red eyes opened, and began scanning the battlefield with terrible intelligence.

  It let loose a terrifying roar.

  The sound was so powerful it caused the bones in my skin to rattle and my nose bleed.

  The other prisoners collapsed around me, hands clamped over their ears. Even the monsters we'd been fighting moments before went still, then dropped to the ground like puppets that had their strings cut.

  "They're... bowing to it," Zo whispered, her face pale.

  The body forced its way through after the head, it was massive and broken. Its wings were shredded ruins, bones jutting through the membrane like skeletal fingers.

  Its front left limb was missing entirely, the stump scarred over. It propped itself on its wings giving it a hunched, lopsided posture that somehow made it even more terrifying.

  It pulled free of the tear. Twenty-five meters of hatred made flesh.

  The dragon drew in a breath, its chest expanding.

  I could feel the danger…

  "GET DOWN!" I shouted, diving behind a rock formation and pulling Zo with me.

  Her body pressed against mine tightly as a cone of fire swept across the battlefield, catching the rear of our retreat. The heat washed over us, singeing the hair on my arms as I held onto Zo.

  I could hear the screams of the burning prisoners and beasts from behind us.

  The dragon roared again, but this was different. It wasn’t a display of power.

  The remaining beasts on the field responded. Scattered Gnolls that had been fighting individually suddenly formed packs. Ghouls stopped feeding on corpses and turned toward us with intense focus.

  "The dragon is directing them," Zo realized, her eyes wide as she pulled herself out of my grip.

  Kaz and Sadie formed a rearguard, light and fire creating a momentary barrier between us and the horde. Golden flames and white light mixed, holding back the first wave.

  "Move it!" Kaz shouted. "We'll cover you!"

  We kept running, the fortress our only hope. Behind us, Kaz and Sadie fought like twin stars, their powers complementing each other, slowing down the horde during our retreat.

  But they couldn’t hold forever.

  We were halfway to the fortress when new tears ripped open ahead of us. The air split with that same terrible sound.

  "Fuck," I hissed. "The tears are cutting off our escape."

  A freakish monstrosity crashed through the nearest tear. It had the body of a lion, the head of a goat sprouting from its back, and a dragon head for a tail.

  Three minds, three sets of teeth. Fire breath scorched the ground where prisoners were running, turning three of them into human torches. They ran screaming into their companions like living molatov cocktails, setting their friends ablaze.

  Drakes poured from another tear, wingless dragonkin, four of them, scales glowing with internal heat. They fanned out, blocking our escape routes.

  "WE'RE BEING BOXED IN," Mabel observed, her voice tight with what sounded like fear.

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  A shadow passed overhead. I looked up to see a Human face twisted in cruel amusement. It had a scorpion tail that was launching spikes that punched through armor and flesh with equal ease.

  It spoke down to us, its voice disturbingly human. "Run, little humans, your flesh tastes better basted in fear!"

  Our group skidded to a halt. We had horrific nightmares in front of us. The dragon and its army behind us.

  "This way!" Sophie's voice cut through the chaos. She was already moving toward a set of rock formations. "There's a path this way!"

  I didn't question how she knew. I just followed, and the others did the same. No better options.

  The Chimera charged toward us, all three heads roaring. Zo stepped into its path, her stance wide and solid.

  "Zo!" I shouted.

  She absorbed the Chimera's first strike, her body glowing as she redirected the energy. Her counter-punch sent the beast staggering backward, buying us precious seconds.

  "Go!" she shouted, falling back to join us.

  We reached the rocks. Narrow passages twisted between them, barely wide enough for a person to squeeze through.

  "In here," Sophie urged, slipping into a crevice.

  The Chimera reached the entrance to our escape route and roared in frustration, all three heads screeching. Its lion body was too large to follow. It paced back and forth, clawing at the stone.

  The dragon's answering roar shook the ground beneath our feet.

  "It doesn't sound happy," I muttered as we pushed deeper into the rock maze.

  "GOOD," Mabel replied. "I HOPE IT CHOKES ON ITS OWN FIRE."

  The passages twisted and turned, the walls pressing close on either side.

  Temporary safety.

  The rock walls rose high on either side, blocking most of the light. We moved in single file, Sophie leading, then Zo, myself, Rafe.

  Outside, the larger beasts raged at the entrances, unable to reach us. But I could hear smaller things slipping in behind us.

  "What's following us?" I asked Mabel.

  "Nothing good," she replied.

  A scream cut through the darkness behind us. We had lost one of the stragglers. Then another. The sounds of struggle, wet tearing noises, then silence.

  "They're picking off the rear," Rafe said, his voice tight.

  We turned a corner and found ourselves face-to-face with the first Wyvern. Serpentine body, wings folded tight against its back, venomous tail-stinger scraping against stone.

  It struck before anyone could even react.

  A prisoner I didn't know took a stinger through the chest, his body convulsing as venom flooded him. He was dead before he hit the ground.

  Zo stepped forward, her Origin flaring.

  The Wyvern's jaws snapped at her throat, but she caught the force of its attack, her body absorbing the energy. She twisted, releasing the stored power in a counter that sent the creature crashing into the stone wall.

  The Wyvern hissed, wounded but not dead. It retreated into the darkness of a side passage.

  "It'll be back," Zo said, her voice grim.

  We pressed on, the passages growing tighter.

  The second Wyvern was smarter than its companion. It waited, patient, stalking us from the parallel tunnels.

  "BEHIND YOU," Mabel shouted suddenly.

  I spun just as the Wyvern struck from a fissure in the rock. Another prisoner went down, the stinger punching through his back and out of his chest. Sophie's Blood Shadows lashed out, crimson whips slicing through the air. The Wyvern retreated, hissing.

  "How much further?" Zo demanded.

  Sophie shook her head. "I don't know exactly.”

  "I can help," Mabel said, but only I could hear her. "LET ME LEAD."

  "How?" I muttered.

  "I CAN SENSE VIBRATIONS, MAP THE PASSAGES. RELEASE ME."

  I hesitated, then nodded slightly. A single worm emerged from my wrist, pale and gleaming in the dim light. Several prisoners recoiled.

  "What the hell?" one of them gasped.

  "Shut up," I snapped. "She can help."

  The worm—Mabel—extended herself, her segments undulating as she tasted the air. "LEFT HERE," she said, her voice now audible to everyone. "THEN RIGHT AT THE FORK. THERE'S A WYVERN WAITING IN THE PASSAGE STRAIGHT AHEAD."

  Zo stared at me, then at Mabel, her expression unreadable. "Your worm can talk?"

  "Yes," I said. "And she's very annoying about it."

  "I am a delight," Mabel huffed. "And currently your best chance at survival, so perhaps some gratitude would be appropriate."

  "We'll follow your worm's directions," Zo decided after a moment. "But if this is a trap—"

  "You'll kill me," I finished for her. "I know the drill."

  Mabel led us through the labyrinth, her directions keeping us from ambushes. Left, right, straight for twenty meters, duck under a low overhang, squeeze through a narrow gap.

  "You're welcome," she said pointedly as we emerged onto a rocky ridge overlooking the fortress approach. "I just saved all your lives and not a single thank you, mabel, queen of navigation and savior of—"

  She fell silent as we took in the scene below us.

  Kaz was fighting the dragon. Alone.

  His Origin blazed at maximum, it was like a miniature sun against the nightmare. Golden light enveloped him as he darted around the massive beast, his axes leaving trails of fire through the air.

  The dragon was toying with him. It could have ended this. Instead, it was testing him, like a cat with a mouse.

  "We have to help him," I said, starting forward.

  Rafe caught my arm.

  Kaz landed a hit, concentrated solar energy punching into the dragon's scarred shoulder. The beast's red eyes narrowed.

  Playtime was ending.

  The counterattack came with shocking speed. A tail whip caught Kaz mid-dodge. Sending him flying, his body cratering the ground when he landed. His golden light flickered like a candle in the wind.

  "KAZ!" Sadie's scream tore through the air, the first real emotion I'd heard from her. She charged forward, her white light blazing around her, a light spear forming in her hands.

  "Sadie, don't!" Rafe shouted.

  The dragon caught her attack on its wing. The light spear shattered against the black scales. Its tail swept again, aiming to crush her.

  Rafe moved faster than I'd ever seen him move…

  Quickstep carrying him to Sadie in a blur of motion. He grabbed her and pulled her clear of the attack just as the tail smashed into the ground where she'd been standing.

  I watched from the ridge, frozen.

  Then the dragon turned its head. Red eyes found me across the battlefield. For a moment that stretched into forever, it looked directly at me.

  Then it smiled.

  This one did, it was intelligent, and cruel.

  The dragon turned back to Kaz, who was struggling to rise, golden light barely flickering around his body.

  "We need to get down there," I said, searching for a path.

  "And do what, exactly?" Mabel demanded.

  "Help them!"

  "With what? Your charming personality?"

  But Kaz and Sadie were down there. And Rafe. And they needed help.

  "Fine," Mabel sighed dramatically. "If you're determined to die, let's at least make it interesting."

  I started down the ridge, picking my way through loose rocks. The others followed, some reluctant, others determined.

  The dragon had Kaz and Rafe cornered against a stone outcropping.

  "We need a distraction," Zo said beside me.

  "I volunteer literally anyone else," Mabel responded.

  I looked around desperately. There had to be something we could use. The terrain, the remaining prisoners, anything.

  That's when I saw another tear forming behind the dragon. It was small but growing. And something was coming through.

  "That's not good," Mabel observed.

  "No shit," I muttered.

  The tear widened, and through it stepped a figure in black armor. It wasn’t a monster but a man. Or something man-shaped, at least.

  His armor was ancient, covered in intricate filigree, his sword looked like it was carved from one of the dragon's horns and hung loosely at his side.

  The dragon sensed the newcomer and turned, its massive head swiveling in surprise.

  The armored figure drew his sword and pointed it at the dragon.

  The armored figure's voice cut through the chaos—hollow and distant yet somehow filling the entire battlefield. "Klaus."

  The dragon whipped its head around. Smoke leaked between its teeth as it glared at the newcomer.

  "You've strayed far from your cage," the man continued, standing unafraid.

  "Keeper," the beast rumbled back. Each word scraped out like mountains grinding together. "Always cleaning up after your masters."

  "Return to your prison," the Keeper raised his sword, "or I will send you back in pieces."

  The dragon made a sound of laughter. It made my bones vibrate with it, my nerves screaming to run.

  "You and what army, little warden?"

  "This army," the Keeper replied simply, and lifted his blade.

  Klaus reared back and bellowed rage that shook the ground beneath my feet.

  In one fluid motion, the massive beast coiled and launched into the air.