Blood oozed from the wound on Kyren's forehead, dribbling in front of his right eye. It created a red streak in his vision, worsened by the fear and anger pulsing in time with his heavy heart. His stomach twisted into knots, making it difficult for him to swallow.

The Zhols had taken both Naya and Rya out of the room and into a different cell. Even from where he was chained on the wall, he could hear Naya crying. "No!" she begged. "Please don't!" Her sweet voice rose in pitch, laced with fear, muffled by the stone walls that surrounded him.

Kyren yanked on the chains, jerking his wrists, but he didn't care. Crack! Fear and worry for his daughter and girlfriend kept him from feeling the pain shooting through his wrists.

"Do you know what your former guildmates, Syra and No One, are going to do to her?" Kyren's sister, Nassia grinned at him wickedly, other prisoners' blood soaking her dress as her blonde curls cascaded down her shoulders.

Kyren screamed at her unintelligibly, throwing himself at her. His already wounded shoulder wailed in protest, but he ground his teeth together. Pain zapped through him like electricity, following a path from his shoulder to his wrist and still he ignored it crying out to him. "It's me you want! I'll do whatever you want; just leave them alone!"

Nassia smiled at him. "I believe you would, if you could. Unfortunately, you being a Magi makes the process so much more... complicated for you than everyone else. You see, all it took was a few lies to Syra and before we knew it, she turned. With No One? Just a little bit of pain and an offer he couldn't refuse. With others, all it takes is someone threatening their loved ones first and they'll turn with ease. You? Even if you tried willingly, it wouldn't work. You see, we have to... help the process along a bit."

Kyren's jaw ached, but he shoved it aside and glared at her. "What do you mean? What are you talking about? I've lived with this darkness, what you claim is the Zhol nature inside me, for a long time. Why wouldn't it work?"

Nassia cocked her head with a shrug, as Naya's muffled shrieks echoed through the walls. Kyren cringed. "Because you've pushed it too far back, brother. You are not just a Magi that can turn into a Zhol. You're a Magi with actual Zhol blood inside you. That makes both sides stronger, which means that even though your Zhol side is stronger, so is your Magi side. You simply can't accept your Zhol side at will, like others can. It takes a special...push."

"What did you do to Naya? To my daughter?" Kyren demanded harshly.

Nassia gestured to the door as it swung open with a loud creak. Two Zhols shoved Rya inside, chaining her to the wall tightly so that she couldn't move. Tears streamed from her eyes like violent waterfalls and Kyren's stomach twisted.

"Rya, sweetie, look right at Daddy...!" Kyren pleaded with her.

Sobs tore through her, making Kyren nauseous.

Naya strode into the room. Her eyes were wild and wicked and her grin crazed in fury. Blackish green energy followed her every movement. Scars sliced open parts of her skin, glowing bright green to match her eyes and the energy.

"No," Kyren whispered. His entire stomach plummeted and he tasted bile in the back of his throat.

Naya cackled, but it wasn't her. Not the Naya he had come to love, the woman who had gotten him passed the grief, passed the nightmares, the same woman who had helped him love again. "You will never move on from Ashyra unless... Unless I take care of the one thing holding you onto your past!" Her evil eyes narrowed on Rya, who wailed and shook in terror.

"No, no, no, Naya, please don't do this!" Kyren begged, collapsing onto his knees, tears streaming from his eyes. "Please! I'll move on with you; I'll turn. I'll do whatever you want, just please don't kill her." He stared at her, pleading and desperate, heart racing.

Naya trailed a finger along Rya's little jaw and then squeezed it, making the young girl whimper.

"Please," Kyren whispered through tears falling past his lips. Terror and horror clawed at him, reminding him that once again, he was going to lose everyone and everything that he loved.

Rya's round, terror-filled eyes met his. "Daddy... help me!" she screamed. Ren's shrieks echoed and tore through Kyren's mind along with Ashyra's screams.

No.

Kyren leapt to his feet and lunged forward. Both his shoulders shattered from the pressure, but he cried out in fury. He charged toward his little girl, toward his precious Rya. I have to save her. I have to...

Naya closed her eyes as the green energy whipped around her like a hurricane.

Kyren screamed and felt Mathanos pulse through his veins, heating up his skin. It exploded away from him in a giant wave of darkness that consumed Naya and Rya both. Naya's heart pounded furiously. He could feel it through his darkness as his blackened energy filled the entire room. Heat poured through him. Naya's life force, a green, throbbing light, suddenly vanished. Glowing green light surged toward him and white-hot agony seared through his entire body. Kyren collapsed to the ground, balling his hands into fists.

"What's going on?" one Zhol's voice asked.

"He's gonna kill us all!"

Nassia's eyes met his through the haze, glowing bright green. "Something's wrong... He's - He's turned, but... He's still himself somehow...!"

"Let's get out of here!" another voice shrieked.

Kyren's voice exploded in a symphony of sheer hatred and vicious agony. In a single moment that seemed to freeze time itself, he could feel and hear the hearts of every Zhol in the room; thumping, thumping, thumping.

His fingers touched the stone beneath him, drawing dark energy and Mathanos from it. The stone crumbled. Their hearts all stopped, killing them mid-scream. Green energy surrounded by blackness slithered from their bodies into his. It tore from the walls, the stones, the wood, the earth beneath the stone that the building had been constructed on.

When it was over, Kyren's body writhed on the ground, exhausted. His origin no longer only held pure Mathanos, like Magi. No, now it merged with the blackened, green evil Mathanos of a Zhol. He was neither one and yet, he was also both. Blinking his eyes open, he stared into the lifeless eyes of his sister. For once, she appeared young again, like she had once been when she was too young to be either good or evil.

Her body crumbled and turned to ashes. A breeze from the forest around him carried the ashes into the surrounding trees. Kyren shoved wood and debris off himself and looked around. Half of the building they had just been inside was gone; nothing but a giant pile of ashes, soon dispersed by the wind.

"Ry - Rya!" he cried.

Somehow, deep inside his heart, he knew he had turned. He could feel the urge inside him to maim, to kill, to torture, to rip their bodies apart. Oh, how he wished that they hadn't all turned to ash. And yet... Despite those evil Zhol urges, he still loved his daughter. He wanted to find her. The only reason his mind could come up with was because he had been born a Zhol. More than that, he had been born a Zhol and raised to be a Magi. Even with the evil urges, Kyren still held the same loyalties, the same friendships. Only now, he was willing to do anything to save the ones he loved.

"Rya!"

There. To his left. Kyren lifted a wooden beam off the ground where Rya had been. The chains that had once held her wrists lay sprawled on the ashen earth. The instant Kyren's trembling fingers touched it, the chains crumbled and turned to dust.

"Rya!" he screamed, crying out in agony and horror. He desperately searched through the debris, which had now turned to gray ashes. It coated everything, creating a black-and-white world around him, bleached of all life and light.

Kyren stirred them until his palms were raw, until he had dug a hole into the earth. Nothing. Rya was gone; nothing but a pile of ashes upon the ground. His heart bled, tearing through him until he could no longer breathe.

What had he done?

In turning, he killed all of the Zhols, killed his own sister, killed the woman he had loved. All he had wanted to do was save Rya's life, but now...

Kyren had killed her.

*****

Red hot anger boiled through Jeythr's blood, causing his fists to shake as he glared at his guild master.

"I know you want to find Syra," Rovad started, "And we will; I promise you. But right now we need to finish this."

Jeythr shook his head, swishing his long hair passed his pointed elf ears. "A mere competition doesn't mean more than Syra's life. Or Kyren's, or Naya's, or Rya's, or No One's..."

Rovad placed a firm hand on the man's shoulders. "No, of course not. Once this final battle of the Magi games is through, then all of Black Dragon can search for them. Our entire focus will be on finding them and stopping whatever this Zhol threat may be. Finish this with us, Jeythr. With you out there joining the four others, the battle will be over in a few hours and then we can all search for the missing together. For everyone who is gone, not just our loved ones."

Jeythr slowly nodded and shifted his hard gaze to the archway leading into the arena. His other four companions - Benjo, Logan, Hywel, and Zenna - were already out there on the sand, among the other representatives for the other eight guilds. Rovad inclined his head and headed to the left up a stairway that led into the stands surrounding the arena. He no doubt would join the remaining members of Black Dragon to watch the battle with the other gathered guilds and the citizens of Kypha.

"Citizens of Kypha...!" Pimret began.

Jeythr jogged through the gate and prepared for the final battle. His palms heated up with his blood as he pulled some Mathanos from his reserves to prepare for his opening attack. The final battle wouldn't take long. No.

Syra was far more important.

*****

High in the sky in Tythan's atmosphere, large metal ships flew downward, diving toward the surface in great hoards. They headed west, straight toward the capital city of Kypha.

Kyren's empty heart stared at them blankly. In the distant part of his grief-stricken mind, he realized that his friends, Black Dragon, and the innocent citizens of Kypha were all in danger. The dragon-shaped starships were loaded with weapons from what he could see and in the far distance along the edge of the horizon, thousands of soldiers marched toward the capital. Smoke rose in pillars of gray and he realized the army must have been attacking other cities already.

Rya's dead, he thought as his chest clenched. What does anything else matter?

Forming a knife out of darkness, Kyren struggled to ignore the desire to draw Mathanos from the living world around him - from the insects and pixies skittling along the leaves in the brush, to the fairies and birds flying through the branches of the trees, to the trees and plants themselves and the essence they held.

It ends here. I may have given in to the Zhol powers within me, but I'm still a Magi. Nassia said I still held loyalty, despite the evil Zhol desires inside me, Kyren thought. Then I'll kill myself and prevent any further bloodshed. I can be with Ashyra, Ren, and Rya again.

His fingers gripped the knife's hilt, formed smoothly from darkness, and pressed it against his chest. All thoughts inside him came to a standstill, frozen with his breathing.

Suddenly, screams echoed across the fields and rolling hills. Kyren's eyes snapped toward the smoke and fire rising along the horizon. Dragons flew in the sky, spewing flames that consumed everything in its path. Soldiers marched forward into the distant city like a great wave of darkness.

Is killing myself the way to stop bloodshed? Whatever this army was, he could sense the dark, evil energy of the Zhols with them. In an instant, the dark dagger in his hands disappeared and his limbs pulled him forward. He would kill them all. Every single Zhol. He'd drain them dry until there was nothing left of them and then he would use that energy to slaughter the armies and everything in between.

Black Dragon. The name of his guild called to him, urging the Magi in him to return to Kypha. He could help them better there, fighting by their side.

Or he could continue onward and slaughter everything in his path. Being both Magi and Zhol, Kyren had a choice. He had no idea which he would choose. Being good had not saved his daughter. Yet being evil had killed her.

What would he do?

*****

Zenna fought back a yawn as the forty Magi each shifted into various stances and styles. The Mathanos in the air wavered in giant waves as each one sucked in what they needed for their opening attacks.

Everyone in audience held their breath and not one person made a move or a sound. To her left stood Jeythr, with Logan, Hywel, and Benjo lining on his other side. Across from her stood the Magi from Guild Valkyrie - their greatest rivals. Kyren's old friends, Eiridan and Jae, if Zenna remembered their names, were slightly to the left. Zenna's eyes focused on the next two; she couldn't remember their names, but the man used darkness and the woman used light.

Zenna used her prism eye to zoom in and see what weapons they were holding, if any. The red-headed woman's hands simply opened up, as if she was preparing some sort of light spell. Flipping her bow around, Zenna nocked an arrow and pulled Mathanos from her reserves and poured it into the arrow and the next one, which was already at the edge of her quiver.

"...Begin!"

The instant Pimret's voice echoed across the arena via a magical projection, Zenna's hands released the arrow. Orbs of light flashed in her face, temporarily blinding her, but direwolves appeared and darted across the sand toward Jeythr. Flames erupted around her in massive pillars; Jeythr wasn't messing around.

Lightning flashed in the sky overhead as trees and branches pulled up from the ground. Earth flew toward Zenna's left and part of the arena wall came loose, hurling passed her. Zenna ducked and rolled across the ground, grabbing for an arrow. It wasn't the one she had prepared, so she poured Mathanos into it quickly and stood to her feet.

The light woman from Guild Valkyrie had disappeared, but about thirty yards from Zenna, with his back turned as he faced another opponent, was the good-looking man from Iscariot Sin. Just as she released her arrow and it flew toward him at speeds higher than most humans could see, thunder exploded across the sky.

The wind picked up, blowing her hair around her and blocking her vision. The magical energy attacks continued on all sides of the arena - fire, light, dark, conjured animals, weapons, metal spikes, ice shards, water bubbles, and more. Darkness appeared overhead and Zenna glanced up but couldn't see the sun. For a moment, she assumed one of the Darkness Mages were doing a large attack, but then her eye caught a gleam of metal.

"What is that...?"

"Marsa!" Hywel's voice called over the chaotic arena. Zenna heard his pet giant white hawk screech and her prism eye caught the bird, Marsa, flying through the air above them.

Zenna glanced at Logan, who was nearest to her as he was locked in battle with an animaloid wolf who knew how to fight well; he kept up with Logan and she thought he was from Knight's Watch. "Something's wrong," Zenna snapped.

Logan nodded and jumped backward as the wolf hesitated its attack. "I agree."

"What is that?" the wolf asked.

The crowd gasped in awe as a massive metal plate hovered toward them. It blocked the top of the arena, but Zenna zoomed in as tightly as she could. To the far right was a tiny gap between the object and the walls of the arena, so her prism eye could see through the gap and beyond. More of the objects hurled from the sky and they appeared to be metal dragons, each one diving toward the arena. Screams and shrieks resounded through the arena's walls, coming from the city.

"The city's under attack!"

"All Magi join the army at the gates!" came one of the Gamemakers' voices through the magical loudspeaker.

Suddenly, smaller metal shapes poured from the massive sized one directly above them, also shaped like dragons. They hurled toward the Magi in the arena in numbers too great for Zenna to count. Shots fired, like beams of magical energy, except it was made from fire.

"Dragon fire!" Jeythr called.

"There are Zhols among them," Rovad called from the balcony. He leapt into the air and landed on one of the metal ships as he pulled Mathanos around him. Zenna knew then just how dire their situation was. Rovad only fought if they were desperate.

It irritated her that she knew nothing of what was happening outside these walls. No One was still missing, the city was under attack, and for now, they were stuck here. How bad was it? Who were these enemies? Why were the Zhols with them? What did this have to do with the missing?

Her unanswered questions fled from her mind as the dragon fire erupted from the smaller metal dragon's mouths. From what she could see through the smaller windows, making up the eyes of the dragons, they housed men inside. She suspected that they were some sort of starship, but from what planet or solar system, she had no idea.

Zenna twisted to her right and rolled across the ground as the flames shot between her and Logan. The wolf howled as the flames caught his skin on fire. His shrieks of agony made Zenna cringe and she looked away from the orange flames as they ate through his black fur.

She grabbed an arrow and poured every bit of Mathanos she could in it. Perhaps if she made it strong enough, it could penetrate the metal, though she doubted it. Just as she nocked the arrow and followed one of the ships' movements, the one who had killed the wolf, more beams of dragon fire shot toward her. It forced her to dodge and she lost her shot. "I can't get a good shot! Jeythr, can you get rid of those flames?" she screamed into the fray, hoping he could hear.

"No! I can't control dragon fire!" he called.

"Neither can I," said another fire Magi from one of the other guilds.

Zenna growled. How could she help fight them with her pathetic arrows against these beastly machines?

*****

"We need to make a way out of this arena! We're gonna get slaughtered down here!" Benjo glanced at the voice who had spoken. It was the teenager from Miria. A fairy hovered near him, opening up portals to teleport attacks and direct them toward the metal dragons above them. "What about your portals, Nylissa?"

"I can't make one large enough for everyone and even then, I wouldn't be able to teleport them out of the arena," the fairy responded.

Benjo grabbed Opal's hand as she screamed and they dove behind Hywel as flames exploded all around them. Hywel formed a massive windstorm that carried the flames back toward the ship. Keeping Opal's hand in his, Benjo helped her stand as he pulled more Mathanos from the air around him. His illusion magic was all but useless in a massive battle like this one.

"Earth Magi!" Rovad shouted.

Conan from Iscariot Sin stepped up. "I control plants."

"I'm an Earth Mage Magi," a beautiful woman from Crimson Shadow stated.

A blind woman from Silent Phoenix also joined them.

"What are you thinking, Rovad?" The guild master of Knight's Watch asked.

"They can create a massive wall of earth as high as possible to block off those ships' attacks, giving us enough time to break through the attackers at the gates. I need the strongest Magi in the front, the weaker in the middle, with the citizens in the direct center to protect them. The Guild Masters will join the Gamemakers to bring up the rear. I will not leave this arena until everyone else is out," Rovad said.

He and the guild masters joined the Gamemakers with the three earth Magi.

"Don't let go of my hand," Benjo told Opal.

She nodded silently as tears fell from her eyes. "We're going to be alright, aren't we?" she whispered as Black Dragon, Black Shadow, and the other Magi Guilds gathered around them.

Yes, he wanted to say, but the words caught in his throat.

Up ahead of them, the more powerful Magi were using their magic to break through the enemy lines. They appeared to be normal soldiers from what Benjo could see, but it looked like a few of them had scales. No matter how many attacks the Magi threw at them, however, a dozen more soldiers took the place of any that fell.

"We're never going to break through!" Opal screamed.

Benjo glanced behind them where the Earth Magi had worked together, combing their Mathanos to create a gigantic earth wall, formed of the sand and dirt from the arena, the stones surrounding it, and strong tree roots. It looked as though orange and red flames from the other side were burning through it.

"We can't hold it for much longer!" the woman from Crimson Shadow, Xenia, yelled.

Conan grunted and more roots sprouted out of the ground.

"Guys! You gotta break through, now!" Benjo shouted toward the Magi in front of him. They shouted to the ones in the front, but from what he could see, more of those soldiers just kept coming toward them.

Suddenly, an explosion of darkness shot off in the distance behind the soldiers. That gave the Magi in front the chance they needed. They hurled darkness and shadows, beams of light and spikes of metal and water toward the soldiers in front and finally broke through their lines.

Behind them, the flames tore through the earth wall and Xenia's body was completely covered. Her shrieks of agony made tears from in Benjo's eyes, but no one could help her. The other Earth Magi desperately tried to repair the wall, and the Gamemakers and Guild Masters were fighting the ships that had already gotten through.

Benjo kept hold of Opal's hand as citizens beside and behind them began to scream and panic. Someone's elbow jabbed into Benjo's ribs and another one stepped on his foot.

Some of the medium sized metal ships landed and more soldiers poured from them behind the group of Magi and citizens. Evina rained down fairy dust upon the soldiers, which burned their skin to the touch. High above her, she didn't see a soldier about to leap from another metal ship, sword in hand.

"Evina!" Pimret screamed. He dove toward her and the sword peirced him from behind as the soldier landed on him. Evina shrieked in horror and shifted her fairy dust toward the soldier who had killed Pimret. The metal ship behind her fired a succession of fire bolts toward her and the flames caught her wings on fire.

Evina screamed and collapsed onto the ground, writhing in agony. Without her fairy wings, her body would weaken; Benjo knew this.

"The Gamemakers!"

"Oh my God!"

"Help us!"

"Benjo!" Opal screamed. Benjo pressed her into his arms as his legs carried him forward with the thick crowd.

"Come on! The Magi can't hold their army off for long!" Zenna shouted, shoving them forward.

Thulok cried out in anger as he, Rovad, Conan, and the few remaining Guild Masters stood together, preparing to attack the metal ships.

Suddenly, a large red dragon appeared out of the sky and charged at them. As Benjo rounded the corner leading out, the dragon's flames exploded throughout the entire arena behind him. Even from the distance Benjo was at, he could feel the heat of the dragon's fire. The force of the explosion threw he and Opal forward. They landed on the ground outside the arena in a heap, as Hywel jerked them to their feet. "Go!" he called.

*****

Kyren called Mathanos to his hands from the earth below him to fuel a dark explosion spell. It distracted the soldiers lining up outside the arena, giving Eiridan, Jaeyria, Mordzar, Eriswen, Jeythr, Hywel, Tulok, Thorson, Michael, and a few other powerful Magi time to break through the soldier's front lines.

Kyren threw dark beams from his hands, impaling three soldiers through the chest. As his beams tore them apart, he growled and sent dark tendrils to choke three more of them. One soldier charged toward him, so he used the tendrils to rip off the three men's heads. Horrified, some of the soldiers paused their attack, but two more lunged toward him.

Without even moving, Kyren sensed for their life force. Seconds before their swords touched him, he drained their life energy away. Their bodies crumbled to ash. With a wicked grin on his face, he threw out all of that energy in a massive explosion of glowing green and black energy.

When the dust settled, the Magi at the arena had broken through. A dragon flew overhead, joined by four others, from what Kyren could quickly count, and the arena itself was aflame. Hywel, Jeythr, Benjo, and Opal stared at him in utter shock.

"What happened to you, Kyren?" Jeythr murmured. "Are you one of the - the Zhols?"

Kyren's jaw clenched.

Eiridan stepped forward. "Yes, and no. His aura's changed and he has their energy but... I can still sense him in there. He's - still himself. What happened to you, old friend?"

Kyren shook his head. "No time to talk. I'm here to get you guys out of here alive. That's it."

The Magi all nodded.

"Our best chance is if we return to the city and help stop the soldier's advance," Hywel said. "Marsa saw their camp outside Kypha and says that there's more of them."

Kyren glanced up at the sky. Judging by the number of metal dragon-starships still hovering in the atmosphere, there were bound to be a lot of more of them.

Crystal from Black Shadow had joined a few other girls, one from Dragon Claw and another from Crimson Shadow, to help the citizens escape to safety. "The city isn't safe, so we should take them to the caves nearby," Crystal said.

Hywel nodded. "That's the best idea. Alright, everyone follow Crystal! Anyone who knows how to pilot a ship, come with us!"

Most of the citizens left with Crystal and the other girls, but some of them stayed behind.

"I'm not an expert, but I can fly," a member of Black Dragon named Coro said.

Kyren nodded. "Any ships we can get into the air will help."

"The Republic has already gotten a few up," Jardonka from Knight's Watch said. "Look."

Sure enough, Republic starships joined the dragon-ships in the air. Magical energy from Magi pilots who obviously hadn't been in the games fired toward the enemy ships above them.

"We should hurry. The soldiers will be back soon," Jeythr said. "Kyren... Where's Syra?"

"She turned."

The Magi dashed around them on all sides in escape, but Jeythr stayed still, staring at Kyren in shock. "No. You're... you're lying."

"I'm not. They turned us both. No One too."

Zenna gasped. "He turned into a Zhol? That can't be possible. They're... just myths!"

Before he knew what he was doing, Kyren drained her energy just enough to scare her. He towered over her as she collapsed onto the ground with a whimper. "Haven't you seen what I've done? Isn't that enough proof for you?"

"Kyren!" Hywel shouted, pulling on his shoulder. "We don't have time for this. Zenna and Jeythr are both just in shock, alright?"

Kyren yanked his shoulder out of Hywel's grasp. More than anything, he wanted to finish draining Zenna and her beating, pulsing heart, her Mathanos reserves, rich and full of life and energy. Grinding his teeth together, he turned away and finally released her.

She gasped and whimpered as Hywel and Jeythr helped her stand.

Benjo's wide and terror-filled eyes gaped at Kyren. As he walked by, Benjo stepped in front of Opal protectively.

Kyren expected it to twist his stomach with regret or guilt or shame, but he felt nothing. Only emptiness and a black void inside him.

*****

Even in Greo's pain-riddled state, he could clearly hear the sounds of fighting; the humming of magical energy, the clanging of swords, the shouting of soldiers, the clanking of their armor, the whirling of the starships overhead, and the buzzing of the shots being fired back-and-forth.

A little girl, sick with a cold lay on a bed next to him. Her mother, a beautiful ice elf woman, clutched rested her arms around her daughter's shoulders.

Thuds of hundreds of footsteps echoed on the stones outside in the hall.

Across from him, a dryad with a broken leg sat up cautiously, grabbing a dagger. Bekka's frightened eyes met his from where she reclined in a bed two down from the dryad, her badly burned leg still in a cast.

Greo sat up and the movement sent storms of agony rolling across his torso. Gritting his teeth, he pulled Mathanos from his reserves and formed an orcish dagger in each hand. When his leg landed on the ground and held his full weight, pain shot through him like lightning.

He cried out, but kept his teeth clenched, so it came out a growl.

The door splintered open and two soldiers clad in strange metal armor darted into the room. They wielded swords made from a strange metal even Greo hadn't heard of with both sides serrated.

Twist, he thought, using Mathanos from inside himself to bend the metal of their swords. As he did so, they didn't seem surprised and they charged toward him anyway. He ducked below one's fist and the other tackled him to the ground. "Get in the corner!" he shouted to the twenty or so sick and injured. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the dryad and Bekka limp to to the corner of the room in the back left, while the elf mother held her little girl and went to the other.

The soldier on top of him choked him. Air fled him as he tried to stab the man with his dagger. With a smirk, the other soldier stepped on his hand, shattering his bones with a wildfire of agony. He screamed and his vision blurred for a moment.

Behind them were a hundred more soldiers, waiting at the hallway for their chance to slaughter the innocent, the weak, the ones who couldn't fight back.

In this state, Greo couldn't fight back. He knew what he had to do. He'd heard about it from many different Elite Magi, but he wasn't sure if he could do it. No, he had to or everyone in this room would die.

Greo pulled Mathanos from the air and refilled his reserves quickly as his vision began to blacken from lack of oxygen. Instead of pushing it back out of his reserves in an attack, he took it from inside his reserves and pulled it into himself.

If it worked, the Mathanos would overload and cause a massive explosion. The entrance would collapse, trapping the sick and injured inside. Yet the soldiers would be unable to get to them and eventually, after the soldiers were defeated, the others could come dig them out.

By now, a few more soldiers had managed to squeeze in the room. One of them grabbed Bekka. Greo struggled to press the soldier's arms off his neck, but he couldn't. Before his vision blackened, he saw the other soldier stab Bekka in the chest and then start toward the crowd of others.

Bekka's body fell next to his and Greo felt her hand brush against his arm with a twist of his stomach. It will all be over in a moment, Bekka, he wanted to reassure her as he heard her dying gurgles and rasps.

He was happy to give his life in battle, saving innocent lives from being lost. The Mathanos reserves inside his body pulled into itself. White light surrounded him and then...

Nothing.

*****

Benjo struggled to comprehend the death and destruction all around him as they escaped into the city of Kypha. The foreign soldiers were joined by others, humanoid dragons and strange beings with blue skin and red glowing eyes and others with swishing tails and sharp claws. The armies swept through the city as the Magi charged into the fray.

To Benjo's right, a dragonoid soldier jammed his claws into a gnome man and his wife. Blood pooled onto the street below them. Overhead, bulky dragons circled around, their scales glistening of the sun, their spikes sharpened and ready for war. A blue one dove downward, striking a building with his tail. The wall of the building collapsed on three young elf-teens to Benjo's right. Stones hurled at him, so he grabbed Opal and darted out of the way.

They collapsed onto the ground and for a second, the world around him spun. All he saw was a dragon as black as night opening its mouth above them.

Opal screamed and clutched Benjo tightly. "Come on, Benjo, we have to go!"

Benjo tried to move, but his leg wouldn't work. He glanced down. A massive stone had collapsed on top of his leg and now entrapped him. He couldn't feel it. Deep inside, he knew that wasn't a good sign. "I can't move."

Opal shoved against the rock, as orange and gold flames appeared in the back of the dragon's mouth.

"You can't! Opal, you have to go. You can turn into phoenix and fly away. Go!"

Opal shook her head, tears streaming down her face. "I - I can't leave you. I love you, Benjo!"

"I love you too, Opal." Fear gripped him, but he swallowed it and pressed his lips against hers. "Go. I'll distract it so you can get away."

Sobs wracking her body, Opal's body turned into a phoenix as he created an illusion of her with him using his Mathanos. He formed another illusion around the real Opal as she flew slightly higher, so that the dragon couldn't see her.

The flames erupted from its mouth and hurled at him. Intense heat seared Benjo's body and he felt a great agony unlike anything he had ever felt.

I love you, Opal, he thought. In a split second, he could see their life together if they had survived. Maybe they would have married one day, and eventually had children of their own. They could have lived in a little cottage in the peaceful woods, enjoying every bit of their life together.

Benjo's heart slowed to a lull. His life flickered in and out of darkness.

The dragon charged toward him after its flame attack had ended and opened up its jaws. From somewhere in the sky, a phoenix cried out in agony as she watched the dragon consume Benjo.

*****

Bodies littered the ground, some stabbed but most burned beyond recognition. Most of them were citizens, some were Magi, and others were soldiers. Dozens of Zhols joined the main army attacking Kypha's main street toward the palace. Somehow, Jeythr and a few other Magi had gotten separated from the main group. He knew some of the others were there facing the Zhols. More than anything, he desperately wanted to help them, but he, Mora, and other members of Silent Phoenix, along with two mermaid girls from his own guild, Iri and Aimi, were trapped behind a line of humanoid dragons.

High in the sky above them, the metal dragons continued to battle against the Republic ships. All but one had already fallen in the distant fields outside the city and only three remained that Jeythr could see. Below that, massive dragons flew overhead, lightning the entire city on fire. He was used to the heat, but the smoke was becoming unbearable. Iri collapsed to the ground as Aimi desperately tried to shake her. "Iri! Iri, wake up!"

Jeythr bent down and checked for a pulse on Iri's neck, but there was none. Aimi coughed and gagged, pounding on Iri's chest. "She's gone, Aimi," he murmured softly.

"No, she can't be! Iri!" Aimi's screams tore at his heart, and Jeythr pulled her away and into his chest.

Avonmora's eyes filled with tears and he suspected she knew them since she was a mermaid also. She exchanged a look with Eriswen as Jeythr looked up at the sky. "The dragonfire will kill us all and if it doesn't, the smoke will. But we cannot kill them all," he said.

"You and I are both fire Magi... I can't control it, but..."

"Maybe together we can." Jeythr released Aimi, but she fell to her knees. His eyes worriedly stayed on her, but Eriswen nodded at him and placed a comforting hand on the trembling mermaid's shoulders.

Satisfied Aimi would be protected and comforted, Jeythr stood by Mora's side and looked up. Two dragons flew side-by-side and opened their mouths. The heat from their attack would be excessive, enough to catch the few remaining buildings on fire. If he and Mora didn't stop it... They would all die.

He lifted his hands into the air and Mora did the same. Mathanos was heavy in the air, so he pulled those into his reserves and prepared to sense for the flames as they erupted from the dragons' mouths.

They were hotter than normal fire and each flame had a strong heartbeat of its own. Scarlet, orange, and gold wrapped around he and Mora, but together, the used their Mathanos to latch onto it. Slowly, the flames pulled back some, keeping it from consuming Eris, Mora, and the few citizens hiding what was left of in the buildings.

To his left, flames licked the walls of a house as it finished collapsing. Smoke bellowed away from the fire and he glanced behind him. Eriswen had formed a shield around her and Aimi, but more soldiers poured in from the alleyway on either side of them.

Jeythr grunted as his Mathanos levels drained drastically and his head swam. Mora collapsed on him, but he tried to hold her up. "I - I can't..." she murmured.

"Yes, you can!" he grunted, using his shoulder to prop her up.

An arrow whizzed by and his elf reflexes allowed him to twist to the right in time to avoid it. Doing so made him lose his concentration and the flames exploded around him. The last house left in the neighborhood easily caught flame and they danced from it to another farther down.

Jeythr stumbled to his feet, but his weakened limbs refused to work properly. Mora wheezed and gasped, unbothered by the flames. He frowned and crawled to her to figure out what was going on.

An arrow stuck out of her chest and he knew that the wound had punctured her lung. Blood oozed from the side of her mouth and nose as Eriswen cried out and darted toward her friend's side, sobbing harshly. "Mora...! Mora, no!"

Jeythr's head shot up, just as two soldiers snatched Aimi's arms. "No!" He forced Mathanos from his reserves and flames shot toward them, small and weak from his lack of magical energy. As he stumbled toward them, one dragonoid soldier opened his jaws wide and bit her throat.

Aimi's shrieks of agony cut off, morphing into harsh gurgles. Jeythr cried out in fury and grabbed a sword off the ground. He stabbed the first soldier in the throat and clanged his blade against the second one's. That soldier whipped his tail around, slicing Jeythr's arm, but he didn't feel it. His boiling blood sped forward in time with his racing heart. The soldier struck him with his sword in one hand and his claws on his other hand.

Jeythr blocked his attack, but the dragonoid was far stronger. On either side of them, flames surrounded them, forming thick layers of sweat on Jeythr's skin. Smoke created a black fog around them and his vision flickered as he struggled for breath.

The dragonoid flapped its wings and dove into the air as Jeythr collapsed onto the ground. No air would filter through his lungs, just the burning, intense smoke.

Suddenly, the smoke stopped. Jeythr gasped and took in a huge gulp of air as he looked around. Eris stood beside him, trembling as she held up a shield. "I'll keep it up as long as I can but we have to go."

His eyes glanced at Aimi's body, coated in a pool of blood, and then shifted to Mora. Her eyes stared at the world around her, lifeless.

Exhausted, Jeythr's shaking limbs barely obeyed him as he and Eris headed into an alley on their left. It led into more of the housing district, but they could follow more back alleys until they met up with the other Magi near the palace.

As they rounded a corner, about to head into another alleyway, green energy wrapped in blackness surrounded them. It shot through Eriswen's shield and she screamed. A wound on her side pulsed and throbbed, glowing the same color. Evil radiated in every direction and Jeythr stepped away from her in horror. "You're - you're a Zhol..."

Eriswen screamed again, clutching her side. She spoke through gasps. "N - No, but - th - they did... something...!"

Jeythr looked all around them. Hundreds of Zhols surrounded them on all sides. He formed flames in his fists with what little Mathanos he'd managed to suck from the air in the small amount of time of their escape.

Green beams of energy shot out toward him and he suddenly felt weaker. His Mathanos disappeared and he couldn't keep his eyes open. "Hello, Jeythr," a sweet voice murmured softly in his ear.

Jeythr wanted to open his eyes, but he couldn't. As his mind was pulled into unconsciousness, through the haze, he knew who it was.

Syra.

*****

"We can't break through their lines," Kyren said. "They have too many soldiers - humanoid dragons, regular dragons, Zhols, other strange armies... We can't beat them."

His eyes met the gazes of the other Magi around him.

"We have to escape with as many citizens as possible." Hywel lifted his arm into the air and Marsa took off flying.

Kyren's eyes met Jae's. They both knew that no one could escape from here. Not without help. "We'll hold off the soldiers while the rest of you escape," Jae said, surprising Kyren.

She met Eiridan's gaze and he nodded.

"I will join you then," Mordzar added.

Kyren stepped beside them. "Count me in." His blood boiled, urging him to drain the life of everything around him. He wanted to slaughter and butcher the Zhols and the soldiers for what they had done and he wouldn't stop until he bathed in their blood.

Eiridan cast him a worried glance as Hywel gathered the citizens. Logan joined Tilani, Nylissa and a few other Magi from Black Dragon and Miria as they fought soldiers attacking their flanks.

"Kyren... If you keep this up..." Eiridan started in a whisper.

Kyren shook his head, forming two green and black flames in his hands. "I've got it under control." The dark Mathanos felt alive in his hands and Kyren grinned as the Zhol's power surged through him. He threw the flames at a Zhol, who blocked it with a wave of green energy.

Kyren shifted his own green energy and shot beams of it toward the Zhol. It unsheathed a sword, not unlike ones typically used by Magi, except this one was dark. With a curse, Kyren formed a black blade with dark Mathanos that he drained from the stones beneath his feet just in time to block this attack.

"Eriswen, you're alive!" Mordzar said. Kyren pushed against the Zhol and backed up so that he, Eiridan, Jae, Mordzar, and Eriswen formed a line between the Zhols and the escaping Magi and citizens.

"Jeythr was captured by the Zhols. I couldn't save him." She cried out and collapsed into Mordzar's arms. He caught her with one hand, forming metal spikes in front of the Zhols. "I'll - keep up the shield... as long as I can..." she murmured. A magical, transparent shield appeared around the Magi and citizens as they dashed through the streets and disappeared.

Enemy soldiers charged after them. Jaeyria manipulated the shadows around the soldiers and prevented many of them from following.

Kyren hurled green shards toward the Zhols ahead of them as they all began to form a massive sphere of energy. Beside him, Eriswen's skin paled and the green energy in her wound consumed her entire body.

It sizzled as it touched Mordzar's skin and he gently lay her on the ground.

"Mordzar, we need you!" Jaeyria shouted.

"We'll protect her," Kyren reassured him, but he trained his focus on the Zhols. He couldn't wait to tear them apart.

Eiridan and Jaeyria clutched hands. Eiridan gave her energy and she and Kyren formed a sphere of their own with darkness combined with Kyren's new Zhol energy. Mordzar filled it with his metal spikes as the Zhols continued enlarging their own.

Simultaneously, the Zhols and the old Magi friends threw their combined attacks at each other. For the last time, just like they had in the war with Vaxon, Kyren and his friends desperately tried to save the world.

As the Zhols green energy hurled toward them, Kyren formed his own around each of his friends. The Zhols' energy exploded toward him and he felt his own draining from him faster than he could take it from anything else.

Eiridan and Jae collapsed on each other and cried out pain as Mordzar clutched Eriswen's body against him.

Kyren finally collapsed as the Zhols all drained him of his energy, far quicker because it was also their energy. You can still escape, a dark voice whispered in his thoughts. Use your remaining energy to teleport away and save yourself.

Mordzar couldn't teleport and Jaeyria and Eiridan were both drained. Their bodies all writhed in agony on the ground as Eiridan covered Jaeyira with his own. Kyren met his old friend's eyes.

You killed Rya, Kyren thought to himself. Deep inside him, a flicker of pain flashed through him, all too briefly, before it was consumed by the empty vessel he had become. Closing his eyes as the Zhols finished draining what was left of his energy, Kyren mentally gripped the Zhol's heartbeats. He felt their energy and grinned. With a wild cry of wickedness, elation, and pain, Kyren ripped the energy from the Zhols' bodies and used it to form darkness around his friends.

He was both Magi and Zhol. As Eiridan's eyes widened in shock, Kyren finally understood the truth. Being both allowed him to do whatever it took, to use the Zhols' Dark Mathanos, even if he used it to fuel his Magi energy.

Kyren's darkness wrapped around his friends in a warm embrace and for a single moment, it was almost as if Kyren had never become a Zhol. Eiridan met his friend's eyes.

This is it, isn't it? You and I will never see each other again, Eiridan thought.

If we do, I won't be the same, Eiridan. I can feel the Zhol inside and I - I can't fight the urges for much longer, Kyren mentally responded.

Eiridan, Jaeyria, Mordzar, and Eriswen disappeared as his darkness teleported them as far as it could - to the edge of the city.

The dragonoid soldiers joined by more Zhols and other beings lunged toward Kyren. His eyes glowed bright green as he brought his green dark Mathanos out of the ground's energy and used the tendrils to rip the soldiers apart.

Kyren cackled as he drained their lives and relished in the feel of it filling him with power.

*****

As soon as Eriswen's shield disappeared, the enemy soldiers surged at them from all sides. Hywel lost track of so many; Zenna had disappeared and by Marsa's mental information, she had been taken prisoner by the Zhols.

Marsa joined them in the fight as Hywel sent gusts of wind to throw back two humanoid dragons lunging toward him.

Tilani, a young teenager from Miria, charged toward another on his right, flashing bright light in the soldier's eyes. "I got 'em!"

A thundering roar echoed overhead and Hywel pulled as much Mathanos from the air as quickly as he could.

"Tilani, get out of there!" a voice screamed.

Using the Mathanos from his reserves, Hywel formed a giant tornado over the dragon. He opened his eyes and kept his Mathanos pouring into the maelstrom of air. The dragon flapped its wings furiously as the wind slowly forced it backward. With a furious roar, the dragon flicked its tail toward Tilani just as the wind threw it sideways.

The spikes on the tail stabbed Tilani's chest as Hywel's tornado disappeared and he collapsed to his knees, exhausted. His chest clenched as a fairy flew over to the young teen and cried out in utter agony. "Tilani!" she shrieked. "No! Tilani, come back! Tilani!"

Hywel shakily stood to his feet and placed his arm around the woman. "We're nearing the gates. He's gone, Nylissa. There is nothing you can do."

Nylissa's entire body quivered as she took off flying through the air before Hywel could stop her. She lunged toward the dragon, but Hywel's gaze was forced away as someone's screams at the front of their group caught his attention.

"Go, go, go!" a young girl from Dragon Claw shouted. Ice spikes formed from her and pelted several soldiers.

Nall, the giant in Black Dragon, charged toward the city gates as they started to collapse. With a grunt, he caught them in his hands. "Go!" he bellowed.

Men, women, and children of all ages and races, each one defenseless, dashed toward the gates and fled as quickly as they could.

Hywel unsheathed the sword at his hip and fought alongside the ice-Magi from Dragon Claw. An arrow hurled toward them and Hywel shoved her out of the way. It slammed into his shoulder, as she formed ice over her skin to block more of them.

A humanoid dragon leapt off a building and grabbed her neck. He threw her and the poor girl slammed against a wall with a cry. Her body collapsed on the ground in a broken heap, unmoving and unblinking.

Hywel cried out in apin. So much death. He couldn't take it anymore. His sword met the claws of the humanoid dragon, but his exhausted body lost its strength. It raked its claws across his chest and he stumbled backward.

Marsa cried out and charged toward the humanoid dragon, but her beak could barely penetrate its skin.

"We have to go," Kuvo, a humanoid lion from his own guild, said. Logan sliced through the humanoid dragon as they darted toward the gates.

The humanoid dragons and other alien soldiers threw spears and swords at Nall. Still, he clutched the gate even as his body trembled. Hywel couldn't count his wounds as he, Kuvo, and Logan dashed beneath the gates. The instant they were through, Nall collapsed onto the ground as the heavy metal gates crushed him with a loud squelch.

They turned, gazing at Nall's body in grief and shock. Seven spears embedded into his legs, chest, and neck, his arm and face were scorched, and well over a dozen swords peirced him all over his body.

Nall's eyes blinked once, meeting the gazes of his friends from where the closed gate had crushed him. He exhaled once and Hywel cried out and collapsed to his knees.

Kuvo and Logan both fell with him as pain exploded in his side. Marsa landed on him, nuzzling her neck against his head. He blinked his eyes, struggling to stay awake. "Hywel..." Logan started, tears falling down his wolf-snout.

Kuvo glanced at his own chest, filled with four arrows in him. "Kuvo... No...!" Logan sobbed. "Bekka's gone and now you... !" The humanoid wolf screamed unintelligibly as Hywel glanced down at himself. Blood spurted from one of the lacerations on his chest and he blinked his eyes again. Sleep called to him and his body felt too cold.

Marsa squawked and he petted her wings gently. "Go, Logan," Hywel whispered. His eyes glanced over at Kuvo, whose eyes stared into space. "Take care of Marsa."

"There's no one left..."

Hywel wanted to tell him that there was, but he couldn't think anymore. Heaviness overcame his mind and the pain seared through him. More than anything, he just wanted it to end, so he gave in to the sleep calling him.

*****

Word count: 8,937

Deaths:

The Gamemakers - *SOB*

Rhengar from Knight's watch - wolf - FIRST DEAD

Xenia from Crimson Shadow- earth mage magic SECOND DEAD

Conan from Iscariot sin - plant mage, grow trees THIRD DEAD

Mora from Silent Phoenix - FOURTH DEAD

Tilani - sunlight magic, light mage magi from Miria - FIFTH DEAD

Miyuki is an ice mage magi, water mage magi from Dragon Claw - SIXTH DEAD

My two representatives: Benjo and Hywel *SOBS AGAIN*

7 to 10 other members of my guild: Greo, Bekka, Nall the giant, Kuvo the animaloid lion, the two mermaid girls (aka Iri and Aimi), and Rovad all died - SEVEN DEAD

5 random citizens; a gnome couple and three elf teens (lots more too) -5 DEAD

Zenna and Jeythr are both taken prisoner by Zhols - JEYTHR and ZENNA TAKEN

Awards I went for: Suspense, Multiple POV, Tearjerker. I did all the ballot punishments except the spy one (though technically, Syra and No One's betrayal sort of counts for that). Don't forget the deadline for you guys is September 11th, 6pm central unless you have a perk. Don't be late! :)