"Aric?" Davin's voice seemed to come from a distance, as if through a thick fog.
"I'm—I'm fine," Aric said, though he wasn't sure it was true.
"Get Mages Diviandra and Sylas," Aric shouted to Davin, his voice barely audible over the noise. "I'll try to figure out what's happening."
But Davin was already gone, swept away in the current of panicking humanity.
Aric pushed his way through the crowd, his heart pounding in his chest. The air was thick with smoke and the acrid tang of burnt metal; the buildings that lined the square were in tatters, their windows shattered, and a dark, oily substance oozed from the cracks in the pavement.
The rift was growing larger now, the edges curling and flaring like the petals of a blackened flower. And from it, things were emerging—grotesque, impossible things, all teeth and talons and sinew.
Aric's stomach twisted as he recognized them—the lesser demons, the foot soldiers of the demon realm. He searched their armor for any kind of evidence. Any sign of which demonic House they served. Some hint that would expose, whether . . .
"Aric!" Davin surged up toward Aric through the crowd. Diviandra and Sylas were with him, their faces grim. "How is this happening?"
Diviandra shook her head. "We don't know. The wards should have prevented any rifts from opening, let alone one of this size."
"Then we need to close it," Aric said. "Before more of them come through."
But even as he spoke, he knew it was too late. The rift was widening, the air around it shimmering with dark energy. And the demons were pouring through, their shrieks splitting the night.
Diviandra was consulting with one of the guards, and turned toward them with a scowl. “Said there’s a dozen more just like it.
Aric's mind raced, trying to catalog the threats. There were too many demons, too many people in danger. The city guard was struggling to mount any kind of defense, clearly overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught.
It's up to me.
Aric drew a steadying breath. His magic was surging inside him, a golden flame that wanted to burn, to cleanse. But he couldn't let it loose, not yet. He needed to save it for when it would do the most good.
"Aric," Davin said, his voice tight with fear. "What do we do?"
Aric met his eyes, trying to project a confidence he didn't feel. "We fight."
"We need to get everyone out of here?—"
Diviandra's shout pierced the air, and Aric spotted the source of the chaos. From the rift, a shimmering wave of energy was spreading, warping the air, bending the very fabric of reality. Buildings twisted and melted like wax, people screamed as their forms stretched and snapped.
Aric tried to assess their resources. They had Diviandra and Sylas, two of the most powerful mages in the kingdom, and a contingent of palace guards. But they were badly outnumbered and outgunned by whatever forces had come through the rift.
“Get ready. We’ll need a great deal of energy to close it.”
But as the words left his mouth, the rift shimmered and flared, and a new wave of demons poured through. They were larger and more fearsome than the last, their bodies wreathed in dark flame.
"Fall back!" Diviandra ordered. "Get to the palace!"
The guards formed a protective barrier around the mages, and together they retreated, fighting off the demons as they went. But the demons only kept coming, a tidal wave of claws and fangs.
Aric's shoulders ached from the strain of his magic, his reserves running dangerously low. He needed to keep his strength up, to use it at the right moment, but every instinct was screaming at him to unleash it, to burn away the darkness that surrounded them.
"Aric—" Davin's voice was strained as he held off a demon that had broken through their lines. Its talons raked at Davin's throat, and a dark ichor oozed from the wounds.
"No!" Aric shouted, his magic flaring. He hurled a stream of golden fire at the demon, and it shrieked as it burned away to ash.
But there were still too many of them, and Aric could feel his strength waning. He needed to find a way to close the rift, to stop them from coming through. But how?
They couldn't be everywhere at once. As much as he hated it, he had to make the call to divide their forces.
"Davin, I need you to oversee the evacuation." Aric's gut clenched, remembering Davin's injury after their last battle. But he trusted Davin to protect the civilians, to get them to safety.