Corrin drags Omna by the back of his coat across the floor and back into the main chamber, the ground still rumbling. Corrin pushed Omna onto the ground for all of the guards in the room to see. Corrin brought his sword to Omna’s nape. He takes a deep breath.

  “Omna has lied to you all! He is working with the enemy in an effort to save himself and his family! He does not work for the good of the people; he works only for himself!”

  The guards look down from Corrin to Omna. Some of them stand from the ground; the work of Tutsoi, no doubt. An uneasiness hangs in the air for far too long before Omna speaks.

  “Corrin Hisstion is right. I have been working with our enemy for my own sake. I am ashamed.”

  The guards erupt in frantic speech, Corrin steals a look at Tutsoi for a moment, afraid of what the crowd may do.

  “Kill him!”

  “Kill the bastard!”

  Corrin walks forward to the top of the stairs where they stand.

  “No! Stop! Don’t kill him!”

  Corrin knew it would do no good should a dozen guards, two elite soldiers, a captive from the enemy, and Omna’s Granddaughter exit the building carrying Omna’s head on a pike. In fact, Corrin thought it would only cause more trouble than is worth.

  The guards swarm up the stairs and towards Omna. Corrin and Tutsoi instinctively halt in front of them. Tutsoi takes a deep breath.

  “Are you people mad?! If we kill Omna, we’d be no better than Nevarii!!”

  The guards stopped.

  “Not to mention the fact that we have no proof against anybody else aside from his word, we’d practically be screaming at everyone to execute us for treason!”

  The guards backed off down the steps, and Corrin turned to Omna, who looked pale.

  “Tell us everything about Nevarii’s assault on the city.”

  Omna looked at the others. Another rumble interrupted his breath.

  “Nevarii was planning an attack on Avitou. He was planning on using his… nightmarish creatures to scale the walls and breach the gates. He told me to bring my family to the uppermost tower, where he would ignore us until the battle was over.”

  Corrin scoffed, A trap, surely, he thought. Omna looked up at the guards.

  “That’s all he told me.”

  There was a silence that was so paper-thin that if only somebody had breathed strangely, it would have shattered into speech. Corrin waited in the deafening silence for far too long.

  “What the hell are we waiting for? Rally the others, get anybody in charge, man the walls, ready yourselves!!”

  The guards instantly break their silent trance and run outside the building. Tutsoi looks at Omna.

  “How long did you have me under your spell?”

  Omna looked down in horror. Corrin could not see his face from this angle, but he was sure that fear, disgust, and guilt were written all over it.

  “Far too long, ever since your sister passed...”

  The silence lingered for a few moments before Omna continued.

  “...The longer I control somebody's mind, the older I become, and the weaker the connection is. That’s why some thoughts you had may have been sympathetic to Lukas in the past few months. The stronger the connection… the harder it was for me.”

  Lukas was lying on the floor. Tutsoi had let him down to hold back the crowd of angered guards. Omna looked at Lukas.

  “I wanted desperately for you, Tutsoi, to forget about Lukas. If you had simply focused on your training and not let the death of your sister and loss of your friend get to you in the way it did, then you would have been a great soldier.”

  Omna didn’t dare look at Tutsoi, instead shifting his gaze back to the floor. Tutsoi took a step back.

  “You disgust me.”

  Omna only nodded his head, agreeing with Tutsoi. Just then, Lukas groaned aloud. Corrin stood and walked over to him, looking at his face.

  “He's going pale.”

  Mary, who this whole time was in the back of the room away from the fighting, walked forward and knelt beside Lukas. She took a better look at him.

  “I’ve been taking care of Lukas since he got his wound for the most part. Since he got it, he’s been getting worse. He has maybe a day or two left to get the antidote.”

  Corrin couldn’t help but remember the time when Edwin was sick and was saved. Now he stood in the corner of the room, tied up, half of his fingers gone from Corrin, and numerous broken. Omna turned to Lukas, sensing an opportunity to regain his trust.

  “The antidote. It's the only thing that can save him now. It lay in the bowels of the beast that stabbed him.”

  Corrin turned to Omna, still distrustful, though there seemed no reason for him to lie to them any longer.

  “You must slay the creature and steal the acids from its stomach.”

  Tutsoi, as opposed to Corrin, did not trust Omna in the slightest.

  “Where did you get that information?”

  Omna didn’t dare look at Tutsoi, instead keeping his eyes occupied by Lukas’s pale face.

  “Nevarii.”

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  Tutsoi scoffed, but Corrin heard him out. This loose idea was the only thing that could save Lukas now.

  “We can’t afford to lose Lukas. Both for our sanity and because of his blood. We have to try.”

  Tutsoi nodded; he knew that. Only he trusted neither Nevarii nor Omna.

  The left door to the main chamber burst open in a sudden flash, dust sweeping to either side. Elliot stood in the center of the doors. His right arm was battered and bruised beyond recognition; flesh and muscle would’ve been visible if not for the splintered bone and dripping blood. He lingered his hand just over his limp arm. Blood stained the brick flooring as he walked forward.

  “Omna… Omna…!”

  He walked forth and fell to his knees at the stairs.

  “You… have to… fortify…”

  Blood seeped from his mouth; it seemed a miracle he was even able to speak.

  “...They’re… coming… from–”

  Elliot collapsed onto the ground. Corrin and Tutsoi both ran to him. As they walked, they realized that it was not only his arm that was mutilated, but also his back; three claw marks dug inches deep, the blood soaking into his clothes.

  Corrin turned him over, and a closer look at his face told them that he was already dead. Corrin clenched his fist.

  “Dammit… Elliot…”

  Corrin couldn’t give any tears to him; however, he had to stay focused. Just then, a man with silver and steel armor came forth. He walked up and saw Omna sitting on the floor at the top of the small set of stairs.

  “Is it true, Omna. Are you really who they said you were? A traitor?”

  Omna looked up only slightly as he spoke.

  “Man the walls, Commander. I don’t believe I’m fit to be a part of this Council any longer.”

  The man took a deep breath and turned to Corrin and Tutsoi, then to Mary, who lingered over Lukas. His gaze shifted to Elliot, then finally to Edwin, who stood in the corner.

  “Is that an Erthari?”

  Corrin looked over at Edwin, then turned to the man who was a commander.

  “He’s an enemy.”

  “Lock him up, then. Put Omna in a cell as well. He has no business in this fight. Mary, run to your room and stay there. Bring Lukas to the barracks; we have nurses who can take care of him. You two are with me at the front gates. Meet me there in ten minutes.”

  With that, he left. The authority in his voice was not questioned by anybody in the room. Tutsoi escorted Omna, who went willingly, and Edwin, who had all but given up on any chance of redemption. Corrin walked with Mary as she went to her room.

  “Thank you, Corrin.”

  Corrin turned to Mary as they walked up to a door that Corrin assumed was her room. He realized that he had said very few words to her in all the time that he had known her.

  “For what?”

  She smiled.

  “You’re a truly kind person, Corrin, really. I’ve seen it in your eyes, in the way you speak. People tend to overshadow you, even though you’re so important. You mustn't let them do that. They have no business forcing you under their rule. If anything, they should be listening to you.”

  Corrin was a little taken aback, and rightfully so. He was sure that Mary knew next to nothing about him, but he was wrong; she was a very observant girl. Mary leaned forward and gave Corrin a peck on his cheek, which turned a soft, rosy color.

  “For good luck.”

  She turned and left her room. Corrin stood there for a moment longer before turning and leaving. No sense in lingering over a kiss on the cheek anyway. Corrin walked to the main chamber just as Tutsoi arrived from putting Edwin and Omna into cells. Corrin bent over and picked up Lukas, but winced in pain from his stomach, which had yet to fully heal. He and Tutsoi walked out into the Council Hall and down the steps. The shaking was greater outside. Soldiers ran through the streets, having just gotten orders to man the walls. Numerous soldiers carried bows; at one point, they crossed paths with four soldiers carrying a pot of boiling water. As they got to the barracks, they saw dozens of soldiers running out of them and towards the walls.

  A bell suddenly began to sound at the top of the tower in the distance, and shouts from soldiers exclaimed that the enemy was drawing near. Corrin and Tutsoi walk into the barracks as a nurse yells aloud and ushers them towards a bed.

  “I think I can give him something that will keep him alive for a bit longer, but he needs an antidote to the poison.”

  The nurse was broad and seemed to know what she was talking about. Corrin and Tutsoi both nodded and left in an instant. Before they could leave, however, a captain stopped them.

  “You two think you’re leaving for the walls without armor? You can’t fight in a battle with nothing but the clothes on your back!”

  Corrin and Tutsoi looked at each other for a moment.

  “We’re from the Information Division; they don’t wear armor.”

  “Well, you’re not sneaking through the tundra anymore. Come, we can find something to fit your size.”

  Corrin and Tutsoi both took far too long fashioning armor upon themselves. Both opted for armor that was more maneuverable than anything. They put chainmail under their clothes and light leather over them. They had pauldrons, a chest piece, and leggings before finally the captain let them go.

  As they finally arrived at the walls, 10 minutes late, the sight was horrifying. They quickly found the Commander as he stood at the edge of the walls. Corrin and Tutsoi walked up to him. He looked upon the enemies in the distance. As far as the fog allowed laid hundreds of mutilated creatures: Flesh Dogs, Flesh Birds, tall, short, round, skinny, all of them stood eagerly waiting for the moment they could devour Avitou City. The Commander raised his sword.

  “Ready archers!”