It was still dark when Delair got up, the early hour something she’d long grown used to and left her eager to start the day, able to return to work after what felt like an overly-extended break.

  Sure, it had only really been a few days while her teacher was off focusing on different projects, and sure, it wasn’t like she hadn’t been able to practice a bit on her own, but no matter what she could do by herself at home, the quality of practice wasn’t the same. While she was in the village, she could work on a few different projects and she could help build or repair things for other people as needed too, but all of the best materials and equipment to use were at the shop and while she was home, there were always different things she needed to worry about as well.

  From training her plant magic and helping with their grove to helping manage some of the younger children when the older ones and the adults had other work to do, all of it cut into her time to practice.

  At least I can get Mora to help out when he’s here, she told herself, enjoying the fact that when her work was put on hold, she’d not only have an extra set of hands to help with whatever chores were placed on her, he also got enough lessons from Ben that when they did have the time, they could work on some different projects together too. He may not have been passionate about it the way she was, but at the very least, the boy seemed to get a bit of enjoyment out of it which was more than enough to make working together on something an activity they could both do.

  It had been all the more fun to have him with her while she was properly training under Ben as well, a companion close to her age and knowledge level she could bounce ideas off of and would help with whatever projects she felt like and it left a small pout on her face knowing he wouldn’t be there to drag into work with her that day when she was used to having him around, but she quickly forced it back. Mora left with Thera one or two times a week; that was just life. All it meant was that she’d have to think of something fun for them to try and make when he got back while she focused on starting the day.

  With her mother still asleep, that meant Delair was in charge of her own breakfast but there was more than enough fruit on hand from their garden, easy enough to dice up for a snack and she added a sweet sauce they had stored in their cold box, the girl not making anything more complicated when she’d forgotten to ask her mother if any of the other ingredients they had on hand were needed for anything else. Ben always had food with him though, if she needed something a bit more substantial later then she could always just ask and she let herself wonder if he had anything new and interesting stored away in his rings before preparing to get up and go, only stopping as a sound came from outside.

  Something she’d normally ignore. Their home was fairly remote, it wasn’t strange for an animal to pass through, but not that time. It didn’t just sound like a single animal out there; she could hear many feet pounding, along with deep snarls that wouldn’t have been enough to wake anyone else up. They were low and dull, and as far as she knew, most other dryads would rise with the sun. The only reason she didn’t was to make it to work on time, leaving her alone to peek out of her window to see what she would find, covering her mouth to keep any sounds from escaping from what she saw.

  Deep red scales and violet eyes, both only visible thanks to the few lights the village kept out in case anyone needed to get around in the middle of the night for one reason or another amidst the otherwise dark land, even without having seen them before, Delair knew exactly what they were. Demons. The same monsters killing their way across the world, with at least five of them in the village that she’d immediately seen and more sure to be spread out around it, forcing panic in her that she couldn’t entirely squash as she struggled to figure out what to do.

  Mom.

  The first answer that came to her head. Her mother was one of their village’s awakened, something they were lucky to have plenty of, even if they lacked variety in what skills they held. Her mother was powerful, all the more so for having her soul modified like so many others across the planet. She’d be able to do something, and with that thought formed, Delair moved as quietly as she could to her room, not wanting anything outside to hear and shaking her mother awake when she found her.

  “Mmh, Delair?” Fontesh asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “What is it?”

  “There’s demons outside.”

  The statement whispered, but it was more than enough to fully wake her, Fontesh shot up for what it meant, not needing to ask more. If her daughter said there were then there was nothing to question, leaving only what to do next.

  “Go get Sachel and Ralia and tell them what you told me and then stay on that side of the gate until I come get you. We’ll deal with this.”

  Fontesh wasted no time getting up, practically pushing her daughter through while she herself moved through the window to look, Delair not able to see whatever her mother did next. She was right; Sachel was more powerful than anyone else in the village and, unlike the rest of the dryads, she was used to fighting. Having even done so during the first two waves, she was used to killing demons and, wasting no time, Delair rushed through her cousin’s house to her room, finding both her and Ralia only just getting up, getting a surprise look as she did.

  “Huh, Delair? What-”

  “Demons are attacking the village!” she yelled, the fear of attracting any attention from them now gone after passing through the gate to let her greater fear of anyone in her home being hurt leak out, being more than enough to convey the severity of it as the two moved.

  “Stay here,” was all that was said as they ran, not bothering to change, with only Sachel grabbing her staff placed on the wall, her family’s life at stake more urgent to her than what safety armour could provide as they ran out the room and through the gate beyond, leaving Delair alone with her thoughts and panic.

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  Even if she didn’t deal with customers, she’d heard enough idle chatter walking to and from the shop each day. Demons eradicated villages. It was a fact that she’d never expected to apply to her. Sure, she knew that if the war didn’t go their way then things would end badly, but before it? Life had simply gone on, the few individual demons that had made their way close enough to her home all easily dispatched by the powerful plant mages living there. A herd of them though was another scale entirely, one she didn’t know if they had the power to take on. How strong could a big enough group be, and just as importantly, how strong was her family? With so many awakened plant mages and all the adults having had their souls modified, could she just be overreacting in her worry? Maybe it would be fine after all; the power her village held enough to make short work of such a group.

  She wanted to be optimistic at least as she sat there, hearing Sachel call out loud enough that it leaked through the gate that demons had arrived and hearing as people reacted, the sounds of running and screaming and combat, none of it subsiding by the time the first family came through, not escaping unharmed.

  Deep cuts across one of the adult’s backs and a broken arm on the other as they protected their children when they ran through, the sight of their injuries completely stealing her attention, her eyes locked on the wounds without the two even noticing her there, too focused on making sure their own kids were safe to be aware of her curled up in a corner while another group quickly joined them, the nearest neighbours having made their way through the gate, even if they weren’t unharmed either.

  It was obvious everyone was panicked. She was panicked, but she tried to contain it despite how much her fears fought back. Help would come; she just needed to be as brave as she could until then, she-

  Will help come?

  The thought hit her like a rock. No one in her village was a warrior. Some of them might have practiced spells that could be used as attacks if need be, but there were so few chances to use them, and in a situation like that, she doubted anyone was thinking clearly. She wasn’t thinking clearly, but still a question came to her mind. Had anyone hit the alarm Ben had left them when they’d run through?

  It was the first thing she should have done after telling her mother, but she hadn’t and she wasn’t sure if anyone else had had the clarity of thought to do it either. Sachel and Ralia were both fighters, but had they considered the need to do such a thing themselves? It had been made precisely to get them help if they were in danger, but without knowing if it was activated, how could she be sure it would come?

  She had to know and, with a few glances her way once she was noticed by more newcomers but left to herself when they saw she was unharmed to focus on the wounded instead, she had the leeway to slip back through, returning to her home and the chaos beyond.

  She could hear fighting through the doorway, the sounds of it all both loud and violent, demanding that she look but was held off as she moved to the side instead, her fears instantly confirmed. Unactivated, she pressed down on the button left in her home, releasing the time enchantment it held to free those countless souls within to scream out to Ben’s god, hopefully drawing that deity’s attention and allowed her to be pulled by her curiosity and horror to finally poke her head out to the village beyond, seeing what chaos was left.

  The five demons she’d first seen had quickly multiplied to over a dozen in her line of sight, with the sounds of yelling beyond telling her there were still more. Sachel and Ralia were both running around her home, killing what they could and leaving corpses to cover the ground while a few of the other awakened who lived there were fighting as well, looking all the worse for it. Bodies piled up, yet it didn’t feel like their numbers were falling at all, wearing on everyone there as attacks came through and injuries grew, but beyond that was an absence. She could see her family and neighbours, people she’d grown up with for all of her years, trying to make their way to the safety of her home, but one group was missing. The sirens, with all of their power, had yet to make their way there.

  Something that shouldn’t have happened. With the exception of Kalley’s mom and their high priestess, Delair had learned while trying to help the girl integrate that the three guards they’d brought along were all high leveled combatants, with one even holding a combat skill at the second tier there to protect the two in their charge and all of them had been experienced warriors. They should have been among the first there, rushing through them all to get Kalley and Mirrian to safety before going back to protect the rest of the village, so why weren’t they there?

  More panic amongst so much else that made it even harder for the young girl to think straight. That had to mean they were in danger. Kalley was in danger, and she’d been specifically asked by her teacher to help look after the girl. She couldn’t just leave them and with all of that in her head she stopped thinking and instead ran, going unnoticed by everyone fighting in her urge to reach them as she went through the village itself, avoiding anyone who’d stop her and the demons as well to instead get to where those six lived, finding enough to freeze her in place.

  Around those homes a swarm was forming, more of them there than she’d seen throughout the rest of the village while two of the guards fought to hold them off, creating a barrier of demon corpses between them and the house they were guarding, even if it wasn’t enough in the end. She could see from where they stood that injuries were breaking through, demons having numbers in their favour to throw against any level of skill, leaving those two warriors with only so much they’d be able to take unless that horde came to an end, but beyond that was something else. A pull, leaving her to walk towards the danger without even realizing her feet were moving.

  Really, she didn’t notice anything was wrong until she was already on the ground, a demon mere inches from her face after knocking her over, its hot breath beating down on her with its jaws open, about to bite down, leaving her only saved as plants sprung up around them, powerful branches piercing through the beast and leaving its blood to pour over her before its body was tossed to the side.

  “Grandma!”

  “What the hell are you doing here, you silly girl!” Hentath yelled, too concerned to be calm as she scooped Delair up, making the younger dryad realize she’d gotten right to the edge of the swarm, her previous daze broken, even if she could feel it trying to come back. “You should be- no, we don’t have the time, just stay by my side.”

  A tree grew from beneath their feet while Hentath held her tight, it carried the two of them over the swarm to where the sirens were fighting instead, defending the house behind them and left the older dryad to do what she could, scattering seeds from her pocket and bending to place a hand on the ground below her, filling it with her power to make a wall of trees emerge from beneath her touch, wrapping the house to keep anything from coming through and allowed the two siren warriors to focus instead on killing anything that came from above, securing their location in exchange for trapping them inside, left to await what rescue they could get in the middle of that devastation.