Corrin's legs grew weaker by the second. The further he went, the more at risk he was of toppling over. His ears still rang from the whistle the creature had made only moments ago, and the fear welling inside him was at risk of bursting.

  His throat grew cold as he gasped for air. After what felt to him like hours, he finally made it to the end of the bridge, though he had no time to celebrate. He turned behind him and watched the creatures banging their large bodies on the barred gate in the distance.

  In front of him was yet another barred gate. Instinctively, he went for the door next to the gate, grabbing the handle. Only this door did not give as easily as the other. He tried again, then again. Out of fear, he began to pound on the door, but he knew it was useless. He ran to the barred gate and tried to squeeze through, but it was far too small for him to fit.

  “No, No!”

  He dropped Lukas onto the snow and got ready to burst through the door beside the barred entrance. His scar began to sting sharply, and he readied himself. But without him even moving, the door burst open; the brick shards cut his hands as he instinctively brought his hands up.

  He looked through the dust and saw a familiar face: a woman. She had blonde hair, yet had a darker streak along her right bang. In her hand was a metal spiked ball on the end of a chain. She flipped her hair back with a stern look on her face.

  “Don’t kill yourself now, Corrin.”

  Corrin had trouble remembering her name for a moment before he remembered suddenly that it was Janis. As the dust settled, Corrin saw Tutsoi standing there as well. He ran towards Corrin. His body sensing hope, Corrin collapsed, the weight of using the shard finally catching up with him.

  As Corrin’s eyes opened, he found himself in a damp brick room. Cold water dripped from the ceiling and tickled Corrin’s cool forehead. Corrin was lying in bed, which was surprisingly warm. He rose from the bed and looked around. The room was small, not unlike other rooms that he often awoke in. Nobody else was in the room, and, aside from the bed he slept in, the room was empty.

  “Why do I feel like I’m always in rooms like these?”

  Corrin whispered to himself softly as he rose. Sitting beside his bed was his sword, and he grabbed it without a second thought. He checked quickly to make sure the shard was still around his neck, which it was. He slid his katana into its place on his belt as he went to open the door. But he stopped as he reached it; he could hear voices. Most of them he didn’t recognize.

  “...Falcia isn’t here, Elliot.”

  It was the voice of a girl. He hadn’t heard her voice often before, but he could vaguely tell it was Janis’s, the girl who had saved him by destroying the door to the entrance from the bridge.

  “I’m only saying that we should wait for her to get here before we decide on a plan of action.”

  A light voice, but it sounded as though it were the voice of a man, perhaps younger. He must have been Elliot, Corrin thought. But soon a new voice spoke up, a deeper voice.

  “She could be dead for all we know. Nobody can take on Nevarii by themselves, and with that new guy with whatever those chain-blades are, the odds of her escaping by herself are lower.”

  Corrin hadn’t thought about it for a good few minutes, but he recognized the voice of the man who was standing beside Nevarii, but Corrin could hardly believe his own judgment. He had only heard the voice once; it had to be that he had heard incorrectly.

  Suddenly, the door swung open in front of Corrin, and Janis stood there, looking at him.

  “It's rude to eavesdrop, Corrin. Just come in next time, you’re part of this as well.”

  She turns and goes back to where she was before, a wooden chair by a cold fireplace. Around the area were a few other individuals, a man with a full blonde beard who looked older, and another man who looked closer to Corrin and Tutsoi’s age than to the others. Tutsoi was also sitting in the corner, observing them. Corrin was relieved to see Tutsoi, but instead turned to Janis.

  “How did you know?”

  “It’s my Resonance, I can see glimpses into others' minds, and I can know when somebody is near. Not useful in combat, but powerful nonetheless.”

  Corrin nodded and looked at Tutsoi. Tutsoi had the same cold face as always, and Corrin was sure he wouldn’t react kindly if Corrin asked him how he was doing. While Corrin was also curious to know where Lukas was, he wasn’t foolish enough to assume he was lying down recovering in another room elsewhere. What Corrin was truly worried about was how Lukas’s wound was.

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  “Is Lukas alright?”

  The last person he expected to answer the question was Tutsoi, and he was quite surprised that he did.

  “No. The poison has already seeped into his bloodstream. We need an antidote soon, or he might not make it.”

  The man without a beard that Corrin identified as Elliot spoke up after him.

  “Way to sugarcoat it, Tutsoi.”

  He turns to Corrin from his seat, straining his back slightly in the process, as he was sitting directly in front of Corrin, facing away from him.

  “He’ll be alright for about a week without the antidote; otherwise, he may have permanent eye damage, or worse. You can trust me, by the way. I’m a doctor. Oh, and my name is Elliot Haren.”

  He shifts and brings his hand up to shake. Corrin takes it gracefully.

  “Corrin.”

  He looks at the others again before taking a seat in a wooden chair opposite the side Janis sat in. Corrin’s mind wandered to Falcia and Mary, if they had made it.

  “Do we have any news of the others?”

  Janis shook her head.

  “When the ground shook, and we split up, I saw Falcia get caught, and a fight started. I never saw where the girl went, though.”

  Corrin took a deep sigh. This was not how it was supposed to go. They were all supposed to be capturing Nevarii at this point. Yet now they were all split up, and Lukas was infected with some disease that needed an antidote. The man with the beard leaned forward and offered his hand.

  “Might as well introduce myself, hm? Call me Ivas. Welcome to the remnants of the Information Division.”

  Corrin shook his hand.

  “Remnants? What happened to the rest of you guys?”

  He sighed and leaned back into the stiff couch that he sat upon.

  “The beasts—they knew where we were. Came at us in the dozens a few days ago, right after Falcia, Clyde, and Janis left. We were no match for their numbers. Eventually, we retreated, separated.”

  Suddenly, it clicked in Corrin’s brain, and he looked up quickly.

  “It must have been a setup! Nevarii knew that we were coming, and wanted us to be as weak as possible so that he could pick us off one by one!”

  Janis nodded, but with no surprise or shock on her face, only recognition.

  “Yeah, we figured that out already.”

  Corrin yet again felt useless, so all he did was bring his arms together to warm them. The room around them was small, easily heatable with a fire, yet there the fire was not lit. Corrin knew the reason: the smoke would give away their location.

  “So, where are we exactly, anyway?”

  “The heart of the city. A cage. The beasts roam everywhere outside, which means we’re stuck here.”

  Janis seemed to know all of the answers, and nobody dared question her. She was most likely the second in command of the Information Division. Corrin leaned on the side of the wooden chair and grabbed his temple. How could he have been so stupid? Nevarii was cunning; he wouldn’t have let such an opportunity slip away from him. Vesterii was smart as well, but Nevarii seemed different.

  Then Corrin realized it: Everything Nevarii had done so far was planned. He showed up and lost on purpose to instill fear in Corrin; he attacked both the Information Division and Corrin with the others before so that he had an advantage. He also specifically showed off his brand new piece while fighting, and specifically targeted Clyde, who was their navigator, so that all of them had to find their way to the city without one.

  This was a game to Nevarii, a board with many different pieces. At that moment, Corrin realized that Nevarii was winning, and every move he made brought him closer to checkmate.