Wax dripped on his fingers as he hurried to seal his letter. Hissing in pain, Dunn shook his hand as he rushed from the tent he shared with the other priests. A cloud of miasma swirled out of his way like hanging dust, wafting and shifting in the air as he jogged through the crowded battlefield camp. Barely seeing it in time, Dunn hopped over a pile of human excrement. By Jorhnak's Wrath! Dunn cursed under his breath. People were absolutely disgusting sometimes. At least dump it at the edge of camp instead of in the road! he thought.

Today, the miasma wasn’t nearly as thick near the ground. He caught sight of the courier as the man started jogging to head back to Lockton.

Panicked, Dunn pushed to a dead run to catch up. If he didn’t get his letter out now, Jerome wouldn’t be back for a whole month.

“Jero, wait!” Dunn called.

Jerome turned and grinned, expression visible in the light of the lantern hanging from a pole on his backpack. “I knew I could hurry you up if I pretended to leave.”

“You shit,” Dunn accused breathlessly as he slid to a stop in the powder-fine dust that coated the packed ground. He shoved his letter toward the man with a scowl.

The torches at the edge of the camp did little to illuminate the area. A swirl of miasma curled around them, briefly blocking the view of the tents. Only the echoes of men moving about in the darkness kept Dunn grounded. He didn’t know how Jerome could stand running back and forth between Grafton and Lockton by himself. The demon hordes had gotten worse over the last few months. They’d been fighting more ghouls than ever before. Their nimble speed and small stature made them much harder to hit.

“You’re looking better this month. I thought for sure you were gonna keel over last time I was here.”

Dunn shook his head. “I don’t know what they’ve got against me. I'd have starved to death if it weren’t for Mathew and the knights.”

Jerome laughed, “Fast Hands helped you?”

Dunn grinned. He glanced to the side, having seen what he thought was movement in the swirling, putrid clouds that surrounded them. He watched a second and determined it was nothing but miasma curling between the husks of ancient buildings. The hollow windows stared back, their uniform shape and even spacing a forlorn reminder that the world had fallen to ruin. Grafton had once been an ancient city. Only a handful of buildings remained. It was now occupied by tents and soldiers. Most of the demon hordes came from the western wastes. Grafton had been set up as a line of defense against them. There were a couple thousand soldiers here. Hundreds more had come to help take care of the camp. The population was larger than any of the allied cities of Krematon, Lockton, or Harthton.

The mass of nearly three thousand humans acted as bait for the demons, drawing them to this spot where they could be annihilated, thus protecting the other cities. For some reason, demons were drawn to people. No one knew why, though Dunn had his theories.

“How much longer you got?” Jerome asked as he opened his satchel. He shoved Dunn’s letter in with the rest of the packed missives. His question brought Dunn back to the present.

Looking toward the black sky as he counted how many letters he’d received from Willow. “Four more months.” Dunn had served seven of his eleven-month sentence. He had been sent to the tent city of Grafton as punishment after he’d pointed out High Priest Tanner’s flaws as a human. She had been looking for an excuse to punish him, and he’d finally given her one. His brilliance as a Healer hadn’t been enough to save him this time. She hated him with a passion for reasons he didn’t understand. Jade always said it was because Dunn was prettier than her.

Jerome hmmed. “You excited?” Buckling his bag closed again, he shoved long, greasy strands of hair out of his face.

“I would certainly rather be anywhere but here.” Dunn adjusted the tail of his own dark hair, realizing it had gotten loose when he’d broken into a run. “But I do need to apologize to Willow in person.” He sighed. “That’s going to be a task, for sure.” He would’ve offered Jerome the opportunity for a hot bath before he left, but he knew the man would refuse. He couldn’t help but smile at the idea of apologizing to Willow, though. They’d been in the temple together since they were children. They’d been lovers half their lives. He wasn’t always the best at making her feel appreciated, but he did love her with every fiber of his being, and he would find a way to make it up to her.

“Why?” Jerome asked.

“You’ve seen her,” Dunn pointed out. “I bet she’s been pissed every time you give her mail."

Jerome laughed. “That she has! Though I’m not sure if she’s pissed about receiving your letters or if it’s the baby.”

“Baby?” Dunn asked. Confused, he stared at Jerome.

Jerome stared at him in return for a long moment. “She’s about ready to burst, looks like. I don’t know how you two are going to hide a baby at the clinic, though.”

“What?” Dunn asked.

“What do you mean what?” Jerome asked, grabbing Dunn’s shoulder as he stepped closer in concern. “Did you… not know?”

“Demons!” someone in the camp shouted.

Frozen as he tried to process Jerome’s news, Dunn stared at him. Willow’s pregnant? But…

Jerome shoved him. “Dunn!” he shouted.

Blinking back to reality, Dunn focused on Jerome, “What?”

“Demons!” Jerome shouted, shaking Dunn’s shoulders.

All around them, the camp had come to life, soldiers grabbing gear and running toward the horde. A rustling of leathery wings rose above the din. That sound was like ice water dumped over his soul, bringing him back to reality.

“Run!” When Jerome didn’t move, Dunn shoved him. “Run!” He turned to shout warning, “Wraith!”

Someone else echoed the warning. Jerome‘s footsteps retreated. The man was fast. Dunn had seen him outrun a ghoul once, but Wraiths were another matter entirely. They usually only appeared as one or two, but this sounded like multiple. He didn’t know if he could keep more than two busy.

Dunn scanned the sky. Unable to see past the roiling clouds, he pulled mana, made fire, and slung it upward.

His heart stopped as the explosion of light illuminated dozens of wings. They whipped and dived among each other in the miasma that blocked the sky and covered the world in pitch darkness.

Dozens?

“Shit…” Dunn whispered in despair. The wraiths began their attack. Shards of sharp ice rained down on another part of the camp. Someone shrieked as they were snatched from the ground and carried into the air to be dropped.

More fire shot into the sky; priests stationed elsewhere in the camp began attacking, depleting the already thin mana.

Not dozens.

Hundreds.

Men screamed in terror. Someone thumped into Dunn’s shoulder as they ran past.

Run?

There was a wraith per person at the camp. A demon that usually only appeared one or two at a time and could shrug off all but the strongest spells or a direct attack from sword aura had descended on the camp in droves. A swordmaster threw an Aura Strike into the air. They were so thick that he scored a hit. Another wraith dove on the man and carried him upward into the darkness. He landed in a tent with a wet thump, taking it to the ground.

Screams turned from terror to pain somewhere to Dunn’s immediate right. The fire spells had faded, leaving only the whoosh of wings in the pitch darkness above.

Willow is going to be… so mad at me, Dunn realized. I got myself sent here. This is my fault. I’m going to die, and it’s my fault… I’m going to leave her alone… With a baby? My baby? And it’s my fault.

Fingers slowly curling into fists, Dunn took a breath, aura vibrating with his emotions.

Anger welled in him. Anger at the stupidity of the Temple.

Jorhnak’s Teachings had caused this. He’d spent ages scouring the books in the Temple library while learning healing and magic. He’d come across accounts of the old world, and that had been the conclusion he’d come to. Suffering caused demons, and Jorhnak’s Teachings caused suffering. Tanner’s reaction to his accusations had made it clear that the High Priests knew, but they benefitted from it. So of course they didn’t care. As long as they weren’t suffering, nothing else mattered.

Staring up at the black sky with the sound of screaming men and shrieking demons in his ears, he activated his aura. He’d been left alone for the moment, but there would be no escape, and he wasn’t going down without a fight.

The greed of a few caused this whole situation, and now everyone was going to die. Lockton was fifteen days east, but how far was that for something that could fly? Lockton couldn’t handle something like this.

“Come get me, you sons of bitches!” Dunn shouted furiously.

Pulling mana, Dunn twisted it into the hottest fire he could and threw it into the swarm. He followed the first shot with six more, rapidly pulling and slinging his fireballs. The mana around him was oddly thicker than usual.

His attack hit the wing of a wraith. There were so many that it was impossible not to hit one. He had their attention now.

One of the wounded wraiths turned to target him. Two others, attracted by the attack, followed.

Immediately pulling mana and casting a windy shield, Dunn protected himself from the icy shards that rained on him.

Cutting away from the flock, a wraith dove for him, claws extended.

He didn’t have time to turn his mana pull into a solid. He threw the molten rock at the demon’s face.

Eyes covered by burning lava, it shrieked and tore at its head as it sailed over him to crash into the ground. It wasn’t dead and would soon get up.

Ice shards cut the air, and he aborted his next attack with a fiery shield. The melted shards pelted him with hot water. The steam wafted away as a wraith swept in from above, claws out.