My Old Friend

MICHAEL

I stayed with him longer than I had to, fearing what he said might be true. I heard the familiar clang of steel against steel. Heard the sound of flesh hitting the hard-packed earth. Heard the cries of anguish and courage that rang out on all sides.

Slowly I stood and turned.

All around me, humans lay. Warriors of The Hallowed, bleeding into the barren land.

The Svarts and Giants cowered from my wrath. Fiahre and her sisters, and the few humans that remained, still contended with the genii, and the fight was not fair. The humans were exhausted, almost to the point of being utterly useless. The Valkyrie fought with valiant, fierce determination. They fought as if they had only begun - but I knew the truth. They would pay the price - just not now. Not yet.

For now, they were all that saved this place from the genii’s crush.

I signaled to my Lieutenants to spare who they could and join with the Valkyrie against the small-but-lethal genii.