-Mother Lidia-

  After the disaster at the vault gates I found a chance to sneak away back to my apartments, more than ready to let the excitement of the day slip away. The ruckus the guards were stirring up made it clear that whatever they had been trying to trap had escaped. The only silver lining I could find in the whole disaster was that the administrator who had been interested in dragging me onto his team was too busy to pursue my recruitment further. Exhausted from the extensive paperwork filing, I let a heavy sleep drag me into an extended sleep. The following week slipped into a familiar if uneventful week. I would supervise the morning prayers for the sisters of my floor and record those present and those missing to check up on later. However, in the back of my mind the potential for some monster to be running loose on the citadel made me especially keen. During the supervisor meeting I noticed the pale frightened expressions on some of the higher floor leaders. Something was very wrong.

  At the end of the week I slipped out of my room late at night and secretly left to investigate the higher-floor dormitories. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting anything to be wrong, but when checking through a door that had been left ajar, I found the room empty. I quietly moved from room to room, finding every room empty with the doors unlocked. Most rooms weren’t disturbed, but that didn’t mean none. In one case I found a table smashed into pieces that had been positioned to block entry. The discoveries made my saliva thick and hard to swallow as I slowly made my way back down to my floor. Reaching the familiar location, I almost let myself relax in relief when right before I reached the doorway to my floor, a hand zipped out from behind me, wrapping over my mouth and dragging me back up the stairs. In a moment of panic, my first instinct was to resist, but I managed to calm myself down when I realized the person who grabbed me was a younger boy wearing paladin gear. The moment I stopped struggling, the boy cautiously loosened his grip over my mouth and silently pointed around the corner to the door of the stairs below.

  “Miss, the vault guard has been abducting people and dragging them down to the dungeons. They missed me when I was staying out late to train, but your floor is among the last to be taken.” I press against the wall behind me as I recognize the gear the boy was wearing. It was standard paladin trainee gear, but it was also worn and had a slightly ripe smell from having gone for some time unwashed. Well, that or the boy himself was what so pungently offended my nose. On instinct I almost start berating the boy for letting himself become so unclean, but the door of my floor heavily slams as it is flung open. The rhythmic sound of countless heavy boots marching down the tower mixed with the muffled groans of the girls living under me were clearly apparent to me. The thought of charging down and confronting the guards jumps to mind, but fear and cowardice immediately overwhelm me. Instead I clutch my mouth, fighting the sobs that come up unbidden.

  Looking up, I see the steady and determined gaze of the young trainee, and as he holds a hand out to me, I shakily take it, letting him lead me away from the sounds of the girls I considered my family being taken away. He led me up two floors to the level of one of the boy dormitories, and despite my hesitation, I didn’t resist as he led me into one of the rooms in the far back of the dormitory. He carefully knocked on the door with a very specific rhythm, and on the other side I heard the sounds of some kind of barricade being manually removed. The door opened, revealing two young sisters of the order. Looking between the two, I noticed remarkable resemblance. They weren’t identical twins but fraternal, likely not possessing the legendary connection between identical twins that many nobles covet. We enter, and the boy wastes no time shifting the heavy piece of furniture back in front of the door, sealing us into the relatively small room.

  “I’m David." The paladin trainee breaks the silence, gesturing to himself, and then points to the girls and continues. “This is Alexa and Abigail.” The sisters nod in greeting and acknowledgement when each of their names is called. “My floor was abducted three days ago, but the sisters have been hiding since the start nearly a week ago. We’ve met others, but anyone who reports the situation to the paladins gets taken, and those in hiding are targeted by the paladins." I can’t help the slight gasp escaping my lips as he shares the situation. Why would the Vault Guard and Paladin order be working together to abduct all the residents of the tower? Before I could ask, I noticed the boy's head suddenly snap towards the window. Looking outside, I saw a fierce battle between paladins. The weekly harvest was being interrupted by armed paladins rushing forward, seizing and burning the carts of food. For a moment I don’t understand the significance until the memory of filling thousands of forms for the requisition of food jumps to mind. How much food did the central tower still have in reserve? The paladins of the central tower struggled to rally against the invaders but failed to protect the food. With the damage done, the invading paladins withdrew on their own.

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  “Why are they targeting the food?” I snap my attention back to David before realizing most people wouldn’t understand why someone would target the grain. After all, just a week ago the reserves had been more than enough for a decade-long siege to mean nothing. The urge to answer springs up, but I force it back down. It would probably be best not to senselessly reveal the crisis about to hit. After some time, we pull back from the window, as it is apparent there is nothing more to watch. Immediately I noticed the others looking at me expectantly and realized I haven’t introduced myself yet.

  “I’m Matron Lidia. I was in charge of the 3rd girls' dormitory, but while I was out investigating the other floors, mine was targeted. David pulled me away and alerted me before bringing me here.” Immediately I can see the cautiousness in the eyes of the girls. As it was, I had something of an infamous record for punishment among the sisters of the order. However, they wouldn’t understand that my attitude was at the request of the pope to help arrange for my girls to receive positions higher up in the tower. I was strict so that my girls would have the chance to rise high and flourish. Regardless, I didn’t intend to reveal that now it was irrelevant to the circumstances. There was something far more important to consider in the grand scheme of things. If the central tower were being besieged and the food stocks were critically low, then confining the population might be the authorities' intention to prevent panic during the rollout of food rationing.

  “I think we should turn ourselves over to the authorities.” My statement broke the silence that settled after the earlier introductions. Seeing the confusion and rejection of the idea in the eyes of the others, I hesitated before choosing to elaborate. “I probably shouldn’t be saying this, but if they started a week ago, then I understand why they are confining the residents. Especially if there are enemies besieging the tower.” My voice slipped into its habitually haughty and superior tone. After all, I was the elder and someone with experience leading it; it only made sense that these children obey. Instead Abigail turned to David and flatly requested.

  "Dave, can we kick her out? She’s the old hag of dorm three.” I blinked in shock at the bluntness of the request. David also looked caught off guard by both Abigail and my statements. The audacity and rudeness of the girl were almost mirrored by the recognition of the slanderous nickname immediately being recognized by David. Before I could say a word, the door slammed inward violently as a guard kicked it open even with the makeshift barrier supporting it. I gasped in shock as a team of vault guards forced entry. David rushed forward, stabbing with his training blade. He landed two good hits before one of the vault guards decisively slashed the wooden sword in half and another punched the boy in the face, sending him flying backward. Immediately I launched myself forward, interposing myself between the guards and David.

  "Wait! He doesn’t understand what is going on. We will submit peacefully!” The girls didn’t look ready to surrender but accepted defeat under the overwhelming force of the team sent to subdue us. The guards, however, didn’t care in the slightest, and immediately a fist flew into my face. The impact rattled my skull, and darkness immediately consumed me.

  I woke slowly as the unpleasant aching of a severe headache assaulted me. My limbs were stiff and tangled, and my back ached from the awkward position of my body. I tried to push myself upward but could only gasp in exertion from the weight of whatever had been laid atop me. I finally realized what the weight was when a pained groan from David echoed out because of my shoving. My eyes slowly adjusted, and I recognized we were in a cleaning supply closet. Why of all places did the vault guard bring us into a closet? My struggling managed to awaken the others, and they shuffled off me awkwardly. Alexa, noticing the cupboard was unlocked, opened the door, letting us out. We shuffled out, looking around in confusion until Abigail’s cry of shock led us over to a nearby hallway. The bodies of the vault guard were strewn about haphazardly, all dead via precise strikes to their vitals.

  We saw the fighting from a considerable distance earlier, but up close like this, I couldn’t control myself as I heaved violently to the side. Vomiting induced by shock, fear, and rejection. David grabbed a sword from one of the bodies and gently led us away. I barely had any time to recover when we arrived at the main hall of this floor’s dormitory. David sat us down, letting the girls watch over me while I tried to stabilize from the shock. The girl's snide remarks about leaving me behind were like daggers stabbing into my anxiety. David eventually returned, announcing the rest of the floor was empty, and Abigail decided she would go gather whatever she could from the kitchen. The moment she left, the sound of someone crashing to the ground drew our attention to a familiar girl crashing onto the platform landing pad of the dormitory. My eyes widened in shock as I recognized the new girl, Callia, covered in injuries. We all rushed to her side, and just as she collapsed, I heard her squeeze out a single warning.

  "Demons control the tower.” I immediately rejected the absurdity of the statement, but David and Alexa have a look of realization come over them.