The living space door is thrown open, and any remaining slumber completely evaporates as I see panic in Mallorc’s eyes. I’m so distracted by an emotion so unfamiliar on the Old Man that I don’t notice he’s wearing a tight robe like the ones adventurers wear, with a silver short sword sitting on his hip.

  “Cam, we need to go, now!” He throws me a robe similar to his, the dense material falling heavily in my arms. Sparked into action by his abrupt panic, I quickly pull the armor on and shove my feet into my shoes. I follow him out of the living space into the training room—he removes a panel from the wall revealing a long line of polished weapons.

  Confused and scared, I shout, “Mallorc, what’s going on?”

  He looks over to me and tosses a monk’s spade with a dark walnut-colored handle and leaves stamped into the metal head. The crescent on the bottom is made of a dark metal, reminiscent of a nearly invisible moon. He holds my gaze for a few seconds before he can’t hold it anymore and shifts to looking at the ground.

  His voice breaks, pure fear leaking into every word. “Devils, Cam. The portals are breaking and we are facing another wave of devils…” His voice trails off as he delivers the bad news.

  I look at him incredulously. I shake my head, not believing him—that can’t be right. We haven’t had an incursion in fifty years, the Devil King was grievously injured and most of his captains and princes were slain in the last war. It makes no sense that devils would be trying to push into our world after so long.

  I open my mouth to argue with him and tell him it’s not possible but my throat can’t find words. The only sound escaping my mouth is a croak.

  His face tightens into a grimace. “I know, Cam, but now is not the time to stew on this. I have someplace safe to take you for the rest of your training, but we need to go now before things get too bad.” He tosses me my messaging crystal, “with everything happening now, I wish I had let you have this a few weeks ago. Katrina has been messaging you non-stop. Message her while we run, because once we get there you’ll lose all outside contact.”

  Too many things are happening at once, and I have no choice but to follow after Mallorc who has already taken to running up the stairs. I hold the crystal in my hand, but I don’t know what to say. I really should have sent her something as soon as we got back to the shop from Sowing Day or asked the Old Man to let me send her something before I began training. I might already be too late, but I grip my hand in resolve.

  I’m sorry I haven’t messaged you. I’ve been in training since Sowing Day. Mallorc told me portals are breaking. Are you okay?

  I’m breathing heavily, and I don’t know if it is from the running or the anticipation. Hoping Kat is okay and she isn’t too mad at me. We are just now exiting the shop and I was not prepared to see the inner court burning or the flying monsters swooping down through the trees to their distant victims.

  Mallorc draws his sword and looks back at me. “Be prepared. Our destination is through one of the portals. Monsters will attack but they shouldn’t be too strong yet.”

  The running restarts as we head toward the screams and burning courtyard. We round the corner by the local bakery and see a group of five goblins trying to break down the door. Before I can even lower the spade into my first form, Mallorc is on the other side of the group—the five heads separating from their bodies just a moment later.

  He glances back for just a second. “Don’t stop running. You can focus on training later, for now I will handle all of the enemies.”

  I continue following behind him, my feet splashing through the puddles of blood left behind him as he cuts through groups of goblins, kobolds and a pack of fire boars. The smell of battle forces me to hold back from gagging. More and more adventurers begin to appear fighting off the monsters that they can—but it doesn’t stop bodies of civilians and adventurers being strewn about in the streets. After another ten minutes of running the portal pavilion comes into view swarmed with monsters and adventurers alike fighting a bloody battle. My heart tenses—from the corner of my eye I see something that I’ve only seen depicted in textbooks—dark crimson skin pocked with boils and scars, purple eyes, sharp fangs, and a furry mane wrapped around its throat—a devil. It's locked in combat with Kat’s dad and his party as they try to keep it contained within the pavilion arches.

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  The battle is more intense than I could have imagined. Powerful spells and weapons strike against the body of the devil with little damage being visible. Every one of its swings carries an air of lethality as its claws whistle through the wind blood flicking through the air as wounds accrue on the adventurers. I’m unable to track all of the movements on the battlefield as Katrina’s dad fights along his Tier Three party but the shocks of their strikes echo throughout the pavilion. I see Mallorc look to the battle, anger and longing evident in his eyes, but he continues forward—my safety being his top priority. The endless horde of monsters is cut down by a few at a time with every swing and a direct path eventually opens as I see our destination is a small portal tucked in the back of the pavilion.

  I scan the area quickly before seeing Kat and her party are about fifty yards away from the devil battle fighting small groups of the weaker monsters. I hold back my fear as I watch a goblin spear miss her by only a few inches. Her Phoenix Sparrow, Ash, dive bombing goblins with talons extended and shooting embers that seem to burn the monsters deeply. Her party is holding off the small monsters easily, until one of her party members gets a deep slash across his shield arm. I clench my weapon in anxiety and am ready to run and assist them, but the Old Man grabs my arm and pulls me in a beeline for a portal in the back of the pavilion.

  We are only a few feet away from the portal and I know my time is short before I lose all contact with my best friend until I am strong enough to get back. Kat, be safe. The Old Man is taking me somewhere I can finish training so I can contribute to this battle. Until then, take care and don’t put yourself in dangerous situations if they can be avoided. I’ll see you soon.

  With the message sent, I try to take in the view one more time before I am dragged behind Mallorc into my first ever portal.

  I blink my eyes against blinding light. As the new world comes into focus, a nasty cold bites at my exposed skin. Ice and snow cover the surrounding landscape with nothing to see around us for miles except for our breath. Mallorc reaches into his pockets and pulls out gloves and scarves for me to put on leaving himself exposed to the elements.

  He looks me over to make sure I wasn’t hurt in the brawl. “We should be safe here for a few minutes to catch our breath—so I will tell you where we are going.” A cloud of fog billows from his mouth as he takes a deep breath. “For unique classes like ours, there is a fort with the sole purpose of training and protecting those individuals until they can safely contribute to portal diving or in our now unfortunate case, the war effort. I already told you that when my Sowing Day came and I awoke Tea Sage, my master was already dead—this is where I went to train until I could help with the Devils Incursion.” He pauses looking at me to see if I had any questions.

  I look at him, confused. “So, we are just going to hide out in this fort until I’m strong enough to fight the monsters?”

  He looks down, guilt evident in his body language. “No, Cam. This is where you will stay to train. After I drop you off, I will return immediately to Verdance to see how I can help. When you are done with your training at the fort, you can return to the city and in between battles I will help you continue your training and progress your Inheritance. When I recommended you take this one, I didn’t realize that we would be at war at all, let alone this soon. I’m sorry.”

  I stand there letting that process for a moment. Of course having a low tier Inheritance in the middle of a war would be a bad thing. Any attempts to progress or experiment with it will put myself and those around me in danger. For just a second I am selfish and want to be mad at Mallorc for supporting my decision of picking Breath of the Petal, but at the end of the day I was the one who made the decision.

  I smile unconvincingly, my voice cracks as I fight my own disappointment. “Old Man, there’s nothing for you to apologize for. You gave me advice, but it was my decision. I will be the one to live with it and who knows maybe this war will be all the inspiration I need to take it to new heights.”

  He looks up at me. “Good, Cam. Optimism is a good thing to have when the days are dark like today. Let’s get going. It will take a few hours to get there.”

  He starts his trek through the snow with me following close behind him. Thirty minutes into the journey and already battling mental and physical exhaustion, I am aware this will be a very long day.