When Vesaria shared the idea behind soccer and other sports with the other high angels, they instituted it for one hour a day in every fortress and in the capital. They realized that, because time in the world of the living had stopped, they needed new activities to bolster team spirit and help the guardians unwind from their duties, not just during evenings in the barracks. Within weeks, it was increased to three hours.

  The name of the guardian who had come up with it spread through the ranks. Lieutenant Rendil. The one Ariel herself had named.

  Rendil had long since mastered his lieutenant techniques: the Light Crescent, Light Beam, and Light Step, with only about a three?minute recovery time. His squads trusted him. He'd earned more than rank; he'd earned respect.

  Every morning, Rendil’s squad met in front of the main gate; their task was to patrol the area around the fortress. They trudged through deep snow, scanning the terrain for anything suspicious. Even though there were only forty-one of them, it was enough: Rendil was a fully fledged officer and help was nearby if anything appeared. They considered patrols mostly a formality; almost no one had ever seen a rift this close to the keep, and for the enemy it would be impractical.

  However, during one patrol, Rendil decided to go a bit farther from the others while they were having lunch. He thought he saw a strange pile of snow among the trees and decided to check it out. He didn’t expect anything special, but it looked as if someone had dumped the snow there and it hadn’t fallen naturally. It was very close to the fortress, so he thought maybe his senses were just deceiving him.

  When he got closer, he saw that someone really was hiding something there. He went farther to make sure, but suddenly the ground disappeared under his feet and he slid down a long tunnel into a large underground cave.

  After landing, he just shook his head in disbelief and brushed the snow off himself. I’m just like Yassin now, he thought, remembering how they had to pull her out of a tunnel just like this one. The cave he’d fallen into was surprisingly spacious. Around the place he landed, there was still snow and ice, but farther on, the surface turned into clean, cold rock. It was about the size of a tournament field, and in the distance, several other tunnels opened into it. They were lit by scattered torches.

  Then a familiar smell of sulfur hit his nose. He immediately became alert: he knew he wasn’t alone. Even though he’d have liked to alert the others, there was no way: the tunnel he’d fallen through was blocked, and above him he saw only solid rock. A Light Beam would have nowhere to go, and a Lumion could call for help, but only if there was no obstacle between him and the others.

  If there were rock, a wall, or earth in the way, its Light couldn’t reach another. He had to remain hidden and escape as quickly as possible so he could warn the others. If the enemy found and killed him here, it would take more than a year before he could share what had happened to him and where he’d disappeared.

  Suddenly, he heard something. He dimmed his Halo and Lumion, then crouched behind a nearby rock formation.

  A guttural growl came from the distance. Demons didn’t speak, but Rendil immediately knew who they were: ghouls.

  They shouldn't be here. How did they manage this?

  These creatures, dull?witted as they were, stood taller than most men, with overlong arms and rotting gray skin. They had big, bloody cat eyes with no eyelids, and their movements had a strange sway, as if they were just wandering aimlessly. He pressed himself deeper behind the rock. They’re patrolling. Are they really this close to the fortress? I have to find a discreet way out.

  He waited until the ghouls slipped into the next tunnel, then quietly followed them. They led him to a smaller cavern, where two more were digging intently. Keeping to the shadows, he waited for the patrol to leave. The remaining pair stood close together; he’d have to take them out at the same time. They were only low-level demons, so he wasn’t worried about handling them, but he couldn’t risk a single sound escaping.

  He readied his sword and spear, crept behind the first ghoul. It turned. He slashed its throat in one motion; blood flooded as it dropped to its knees. The second whipped around. He thrust his spear through its eye, felt the tip punch clean through the skull.

  If Tom and Sam could see me now. Their dad a secret agent.

  Both demons collapsed, and within seconds, their bodies dissolved.

  At least I don’t have to hide them, and they won’t be reborn in Hell to report anything; they are just empty shells without souls.

  Then he quietly continued down the corridor the creatures had come from.

  He was cautious, using his Lumion for light, but had to be ready to hide it at any moment; he didn't know what other creatures might be ahead or if anyone would notice the missing patrol. The corridors were fairly long and dimly lit, until he finally reached the end of one. He couldn’t believe his eyes: before him was a large room with a rift. It wasn’t big: at most, lesser demons and maybe some higher forms could pass through. Ghouls dug everywhere, and Rendil stayed in the shadows.

  He wondered what strategy to choose, whether to go for reinforcements or try to close the rift himself. He decided not to rush in and to watch the situation for a while. It was a good decision, because something moved in a dark corner. He immediately knew what it was. Wraiths. Now he had to be really careful... He hid behind a large rock near the tunnel mouth and threw a stone. A sharp knock on the stone floor drew two wraiths; they swept across the ceiling out of the darkness.

  Only they noticed the sound, and began sniffing the stone and circling it. They didn’t see Rendil at all behind the rock. Come on, line up. When they were in the right position, he shot them both with a single silent arrow. As they fell, the overseeing baron heard something. He started pushing his way through the diggers. But by the time he arrived, the shadows and the arrow were gone. He began looking around suspiciously. It struck him as strange that the patrol was nowhere in sight, so he ventured farther. That was his doom: he stood with his back to Rendil, who leaped and cut off his head. He couldn’t risk any sound.

  Now only a dozen ghouls remained in the cave, scattered around the rift, digging. Rendil had to take them out quietly, one by one. They were trying to widen the chamber. When he dropped the fifth, it managed a wet gurgle that drew the digger beside it. Rendil slid onto a raised ledge, swallowed by the dark. The investigating ghoul didn't vanish in time; the digger turned, jaw lifting to howl; Rendil's blade fell first. Rendil’s blade punched up through its chin and the body folded wordlessly. Only six remained.

  Rendil used every trick he knew from spy games. Sometimes he threw a stone or made a noise to split up the remaining hellspawn and kill them one by one. The last two stood back-to-back; he quickly cut off the first one’s head and stabbed the second. Both fell. Now only he and the rift remained in the room.

  There were still two exits, but he couldn’t run and leave the rift open. He already knew the closing technique: he charged his sword and stabbed it into the rift. It began to close, and as the masses of rock sealed back into place, a deafening noise echoed. Just then, a light flared in one of the tunnels and a roar echoed

  He ran through the chosen path on the right. As he ran, the howling of hellhounds echoed behind him. The passage split again; one branch led upward, and it was obvious which way to go. He pushed himself to reach the surface as fast as possible.

  A short dash ahead, he spotted a rope-and-plank ladder, but a large baron blocked the way. The giant started forward just as another stepped from the shadows, each hefting a massive hammer. There were two now, and the hellhounds’ howls were drawing closer. He couldn’t kill them both at once.

  The enemies planted themselves side by side, the ladder behind them, his only way out. One swung; Rendil slipped aside and waited for an opening. The other edged out from behind his partner. He poured his Light into the shield and, on the next strike, angled it to send the blow exactly where he wanted.

  The parry kicked the hammerhead back and slammed it into the second foe’s knee; he crumpled, clutching the ruined joint. The other stared, stunned, his maul on the stone. Rendil’s heart raced: this was his only shot. He vaulted onto the weapon, stepped to the kneeling baron’s shoulder, and launched for the ladder’s top rung. He climbed for his life. The other baron lunged, fingers snatching at empty air.

  He climbed all the way up, but the exit was blocked by a huge rock. As he pounded on it and tried to lift it, he realized he didn’t have enough strength to get out. Going back was not an option. He focused, gathered all his strength, and shot a Light Beam into the air. The rock shattered and, with his last strength, he jumped out. He quickly cut the ladder’s ropes so they couldn’t follow and collapsed on his back as he started rolling down a hillside.

  That suited him; he wanted to be found by the enemy as late as possible. He knew he’d be out for at least three minutes. His vision was blurry, and with his last strength, he crawled behind a nearby tree to recover. He breathed deeply but couldn’t stand. He’d dropped the ladder, so he believed he had a head start. Two minutes had passed when he heard the hellish howling of dogs.

  There must be another exit nearby. I won’t make it. He raised his head and saw two dogs running straight at him. They looked like slender Dobermans in flames; they were really fast. But he didn’t even have the energy to stand; he just stared at them helplessly.

  When one of the dogs leaped at him from behind his cover, arrows whistled past his face. There was a yelp, and the dogs fell dead to the ground. It was Werner and Altan. “Here he is! We found him!” they shouted to the others. Werner grabbed his Lumion, which began to glow and pulse red. He then threw it into the air so their call would reach as far as possible. Both stood with their backs to Rendil to defend him. They killed four more dogs before the rest of his squads started arriving.

  “Protective formation around the Lieutenant!” Werner commanded. More and more dogs kept coming, but so did defenders, who arrived and formed an ever larger defensive ring. The first askaras started running out of the cave. But Rendil had regained his strength and stood up straight.

  “Now I’m really pissed off,” he muttered. He roared to the others, “Formation forward! Swords to the sides, and advance!” He ran ahead and hurled his spear hard at the first askara; it hit her in the chest before she could react. He dashed to her using the Light Step technique, swept her front legs out, and stabbed her stomach. Another came at him from the side, but he was ready; he dodged the claws, blocked the stinger attack with his shield, rolled under her, and sliced her from tail to chest with his sword. When she fell, he calmly walked over to the first and pulled his spear from her.

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  The first baron ran out of the hole. “Formation on me!” Rendil called. When the baron was close, he swung his sword and unleashed the Light Crescent, a holy attack he channeled through the blade and released with a single swing. A narrow arc of Light flew from his sword, struck the enemy in the shoulder, and carved a wide open wound.

  “Throw spears!” Several spears struck the wounded enemy, and he collapsed. After the attack, Rendil needed another three minutes to recover, so he knelt and leaned on his sword.

  Then another red baron with a hammer emerged from the hole, limping among the hellhounds: it was the one whose colleague had smashed his knee earlier.

  “Don’t try to block attacks with shields! Dodge!” Rendil ordered, gasping for breath. “Loosen the formation! Werner, you take command until I recover! For the Eternal Light!” he panted. The baron was surrounded: they formed two concentric rings around him, back-to-back. The outer ring faced the oncoming demons; the inner ring fought the baron.

  Rendil knelt in the gap between them, well protected on both sides. The baron swung at Yassin, but she slipped aside, and three spears stabbed him from behind. He roared as more defenders struck him with arrows from the front. Rendil watched with joy as they worked as a team, taking the enemy apart piece by piece without losing a single guardian.

  When the last one fell, they returned to their original formation. Rendil had recovered and taken his place at the front. He met Werner’s gaze and nodded in recognition. For about ten seconds, silence fell; the dogs retreated. A low growl and wet snorting rolled out. From among the rocks, a dark creature stepped out.

  It fixed its malicious gaze on the group of guardians. The demon had a black mane from which long, pointed ears grew, and below was a massive lion’s maw, while the upper part of its face resembled a bat. Its dark eyes glowed beside bulging, flared nostrils. Long human arms gripped a black two-handed ax adorned with dark opals, while its legs were flexible and ended in cat paws, with a lizard tail sticking out behind.

  The whole body was veined and muscular, powerfully built but corpse-gray. Long bat wings grew from its back, giving it an even more terrifying appearance. It was armored in dark, barbaric harness crossing its chest, and on its right shoulder was a massive pauldron. Its waist was girded by a wide belt from which hung plate flaps and a reinforced central plate that reached below the knees, strengthened with rows of metal studs.

  It snorted and slowly walked toward the group. He knew it was a high demon and that, even with the whole group, they couldn’t handle it.

  “Everyone fall back immediately!” he shouted. Everyone retreated, but he stood his ground.

  “Rendil, what are you doing?!” Mona yelled after him.

  He just turned and smiled. “You all have to make it to the fortress. Someone has to stay, right? See you in fourteen months. Everyone run. That’s an order!”

  With sword and shield drawn, he stood face to face with this colossal titan. A David-and-Goliath standoff. They stood across from each other, looking into each other’s eyes. Rendil didn’t feel even a hint of fear; he focused all his energy on his attack. The demon walked toward him, Rendil exhaled slowly, and finally charged. He swung with all his might, and his sword met the ax, an explosion blasted him backward; Rendil tumbled until he slammed into a nearby rock, where he lay.

  A filthy laugh crawled out of the smoke. As it thinned, he saw the demon standing opposite, completely unscathed. He tried to rise, then went pale: his right arm was gone. His body began to shake. For a split second he stared at the stump, then squeezed his shield handle hard. He slammed the shield rim against his own shoulder, using the pain to shock himself back to focus.

  With sheer will, he got back to his knees and saw his sword stuck in a nearby tree. He needed to buy the others more time, so, battered as he was, he got to his feet and raised his shield. The demon advanced to finish him, and Rendil poured all his strength into the shield and his guard. He knew he couldn’t hold for long, but he never closed his eyes. His defiance goaded the demon; it roared and swung its ax.

  Then, though he wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, an angelic figure flashed behind the demon and stabbed him mid-flight. Two more angels swept down from the sides, slicing his Achilles tendons. The demon roared, but his stance remained firm; he grabbed the angel who had stabbed him from behind and threw him over his shoulder. The angel recovered in midair and flew again; it was Vesaria! Rendil recognized the other two angels as Synaa and Radion. Captain Arion and other captains were loosing arrows from above.

  He realized his presence would only force the commander to hold back her full might, and he slipped back from the battlefield. He didn’t go too far; he had no intention of missing this fight. The demon took to the air after them: truly powerful, but now his ax had met its match. He swung, and the dark energy around his blade crashed against Vesaria’s two?handed sword; a concussive blast tore the air, yet the commander held steady and drove him onto the defensive.

  She had another advantage: the captains with her moved in tight coordination, offering no gap for the fiend to exploit. High above, Radion hovered unnoticed, searching for an opening; when the demon committed to another swing, Radion stooped and sheared off his right wing. The demon crashed to the ground with a roar.

  The captains raked him with arrows that bit into his hide. He lurched upright and bellowed through his lion’s maw. Vesaria swept in from behind and slashed across his back. He dropped to his knees, bracing on his hands. They gave him no chance to rise; three angelic blades slammed into his back and drove him down into the snow.

  He roared, but it was too late. Vesaria wheeled and, with one stroke, cleaved his face cleanly in half. The upper half skittered across the snow. Rendil walked over and crushed it under his heel.

  “You just can’t go for a routine walk outside, can you?” Radion joked, taking Rendil by the shoulder. He turned to Vesaria: “I’m taking him; he needs immediate care.”

  The commander took over and started giving orders: “Synaa, escort his squad to the fortress With a sharp nod, a loose strand of her blond hair slipped from under her helmet, contrasting with the dark skin of her face and lips.

  “Arion, fly for Ariel immediately; we don’t know what might be waiting for us underground. I’ll stand guard here so nothing gets out.”

  Radion carried him straight to the pond, then landed and eased Rendil onto a nearby bench. Rendil was panting, leaning on the bench, holding a cloth soaked red against his elbow where the rest of his arm was missing.

  “Why not use Light from the Lumion?” Rendil asked.

  ”We’re so close to the Source that it’s more potent this way,” the captain explained.

  After Radion applied the Light, Rendil immediately felt better; the bleeding stopped and the regeneration process began.

  “It’ll take at least two weeks to grow back,” Radion said as he bandaged the stump and wrapped a strip of cloth around his torso to keep what was left of his arm still.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “My curiosity again... I saw a pile of snow, but it wasn’t natural. When I got closer, I ended up on an ice slide and boom: enemy base. Ghouls, barons, wraiths, everything in one cave! I closed a small rift there, but there must be at least one bigger somewhere. Be very careful; who knows what else got through. They might have tried to close the entrances too, so be ready for anything.”

  “And you handled all that alone?” Radion said, a hint of pride touching his tone.

  He just shrugged. “I played a lot of games...”

  Radion continued seriously: “This close to the fortress?”

  “It seemed impossible to me too,” he admitted after a moment of silence. “It's always darkest under the lighthouse. I’d have the area around all the fortresses checked.”

  “Why didn’t you call anyone right away?”

  “The exit behind me collapsed; a Light Beam wouldn’t have gotten through. And calling for help with a Lumion wasn’t possible; there has to be a clear path between Lumions, which there wasn’t through those rocks.”

  “Come on, I’ll help you to your room so you can rest! Afterward I’m going to Vesaria; we’ll make a plan and go clean up these underground vermin.”

  “Go now, captain! I can manage the rest myself; let’s not waste time!”

  The captain didn’t hesitate and flew off immediately. He got up and went to lie down in his room to gather new strength and wait to hear what happened when everyone returned.

  He slept like a log; regrowing an arm took a lot of energy. In the morning, he looked at the stump where his arm had been in the mirror. Before, it was just broken; now this was a new kind of experience for him. Managing with only one arm would be an adjustment.

  When he opened the door to the barracks, everyone rushed to him; he felt like a local celebrity as boots thudded on the floor and voices rose all at once.?

  They closed in around him in a tight circle.

  “Wait, wait!” Elion shouted, pushing through the crowd. “Let him at least start sipping his coffee! Oh, sorry, actually, his “cocoa.” He laughed as he brought it to the table.

  “Come on, we all want to know what you got up to yesterday!” Mona continued. “We couldn’t find you; you were with us and suddenly, poof, you’re gone! We split up into groups and searched the area, but you were nowhere! Suddenly we saw Light in the clouds; we knew it was bad. But it wasn’t easy to locate you exactly either; luckily, Werner’s Lumion drew us in.” She spoke very quickly, eyes wide, then suddenly stopped and waited for his side of the story.

  He told them about the pile of snow and the slide down. Right after, he got punched in the arm by Yassin.

  “See, I’m not the only one something like that happens to!”

  “This arm was still working,” Rendil noted, wiggling the stump a little, and continued: “I had to kill them quietly, about sixteen ghouls, not counting the double headshot on the wraiths.”

  “I like your style,” Artur interrupted, raising his glass.

  Hans fixed Artur with a glare, as if to say, “Let him finish.”

  “I also took out a baron. Then I decided it would be a genius idea to patch the rift I saw there, but I miscalculated the decibels of noise I’d cause. Then I lured the whole group you already know onto myself, including an angry demon. By the way, does anyone know what that was? Some kind of lion, bat, and human mutant? Big, lush mane... no one?”

  As Lorian started to explain, the barracks door swung open. Every voice fell silent. Ariel stepped through with the captains, her armor blazing with inner Light, her presence filling the hall like dawn breaking over frozen peaks.

  “It was a gorlon,” she said smoothly, with a smile. Everyone quickly stood and watched as the Archangel walked past their table. She looked Rendil over with interest.

  “An admirable performance!” she praised him.

  He managed only a brief, “That’s their training,” and pointed at Elion and Radion.

  She smiled and added, “I’m sure we’ll meet again.” She bowed her head slightly and walked out the main entrance of the barracks.

  Everyone was stunned, just staring; he’d been praised by an Archangel. The silence was broken only by Vesaria’s serious voice: “Squad! Back to your duties now. Lieutenants and captains, meeting with me.” They entered her residence, located directly in the main citadel; by Rendil’s guess, somewhere under the main pond and Tree, at the very top of the main hall.

  Inside was a stone bath, with water flowing in like from a small fountain. In the center stood a large round work table made of ice and chairs, all covered with leather. Warmth came from a living Light branch that grew down through the ceiling, bathing the room, and from a large decorative gray?stone fireplace.

  “Sit down!”

  Everyone took a seat at the round table.

  “Since we’ve already heard what happened, I won’t need your summary, Radion, but it would be good for you to know what we found while you were recovering. After Ariel arrived, we searched all the tunnels. Resistance was minimal, and we found two more rifts. One was big enough for an enemy like a gorlon to get through. It wouldn’t have been long before they could have summoned some of the lords.

  “We immediately sent messages by Light to all the strongholds, as well as patterns to look for and where something similar might be hiding near the fortresses.”

  She sighed once, letting it carry. “At the moment, we’ve found two more such places behind this Gate, but they’re also searching behind the second and third Gates. A lot of luck and chance was on our side, and I must admit, your skills played a huge part as well. To pull off something like this without losses, you have my recognition too. You gave us the perfect hole in the enemy’s defenses to attack at the right moment, use the element of surprise, weaken the enemy enough, and then defeat him.”

  Everyone in the room nodded in appreciation.

  “May your Light shine true!”

  “And may your Light shine as well!” he replied.

  “And one more good piece of news,” she continued, something easing in her deep brown eyes as her long dark braid slid over one shoulder. “I got a message from command. We’ll be transferred to the capital in several months.”

  At that, Elion threw his chair back and raised his hands in the air. Everyone was overjoyed to be able to leave this frozen land.

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